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Meet your next mayor
Prosperity districts approved; funding uncertain
Parkrose teacher strike averted
Teacher of the Year Harrell takes students the next step
Longtime Gateway hair stylist passes
Fritz claims accomplishments in seeking re-election
Powell Plan gets support, some dissent
East Portland neighborhood associations operating illegally
Nolan challenges Fritz for seat on City Council
Tax abatement boundaries may change
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Memo Pad...

To fully serve the community, the Mid-county Memo offers this section to showcase upcoming special events, celebrations of milestones in our readers' lives, those seemingly small accomplishments that often do not receive the recognition they deserve, and everyday events that should be shared with friends and neighbors along with opportunties to participate in the community. Memo Pad submissions for the June issue are due Tuesday, May 15. For best results, e-mail Darlene Vinson at editor@midcountymemo.com. Or mail submissions to 3510 N.E. 134th Ave, Portland, OR 97230. To leave a phone message, call 503-287-8904. The fax number is 503-249-7672.

More local athletes sign NLI
Orlando Vance, far right, of Parkrose smiles as he signs a National Letter of Intent to play basketball at Eastern Arizona College next season. Jeremiah Harris of David Douglas, applauding, also committed to EAC. Sharing in the moment are Harris' brother, from left, Drae Harris, grandmother Pamela Harris and mother Jemeiah Harris.
COURTESY HEATHER ABNEY
As area high school athletic programs improve, so do opportunities for student athletes. On Thursday, April 5 another Parkrose High football standout, Jerry Hunter, signed a National Letter of Intent confirming his intention to play at the next level. He will join the roster of Rocky Mountain University in Montana next season. Hunter told a supporter that he is “very proud to be a member of the Parkrose community and truly appreciates the excellent support he has received from friends, family, teammates, coaches and fans of the Parkrose Broncos.” He went on to say he is proof that hard work pays off.

On Tuesday April 10, Orlando Vance of Parkrose and Jeremiah Harris from David Douglas signed National Letters of Intent to play basketball at Eastern Arizona College. Vance, a 6'9” center for the Broncos and Harris, the Scot's 6'4” standout forward, are the latest of a string of mid-county athletes to extend their careers to the collegiate level.

Parkrose talent is off to state
The Parkrose High School Band and A-Choir qualified for their respective state championships at the Northwest Oregon Conference League festivals. The Oregon School Activities Association state choir competition is May 3 through 5 at George Fox University in Newberg. Bands will travel to Corvallis for the OSAA state competition May 9 through 12 at Oregon State University.

Royal's goalie in Timbers system
Portland Christian High School alum Keegan Rogers will return for a second season with the Portland Timbers U-23 team as goalkeeper. Rogers, PCH class of 2011, also plays collegiately for Western Washington University.

Reynolds hires new superintendent
Ontario School District superintendent Linda Florence will assume the same post in the Reynolds School District on July 1.
COURTESY OREGONLIVE.COM
The Reynolds School Board has selected Linda Florence as the next superintendent of the Reynolds School District. Her background includes 20 years in administration in Oregon. She is the current superintendent in Ontario. She served as supertintendent in the Culver School District, and was director of curriculum and instruction and a high school principal int the Central School District. She was a principal at Gervais High School and an assistant principal at McNary High School. Florence has completed her doctoral course work, except the dissertation, and her studies to qualify for administrator and superintendent licensure at Portland State University. She assumes her duties July 1.

East Portland gets new community garden
Grow Portland, a non-profit dedicated to expanding urban gardening and agriculture is offering 100 new community garden plots at Eastminster Community Garden, located at Northeast Halsey Street and 125th Avenue. This Grow Portland garden is a partnership with the Eastminster Presbyterian Church. The garden is located adjacent to a dense commercial corridor, and places a large lot into productive use for the first time in over fifty years.

Working with nonprofit, private and municipal landowners, Grow Portland transforms underused spaces in the city into productive gardens. This comes at a time when the city of Portland's community gardens program has large waiting lists.

“Community gardens are more than just a place to grow healthy food, they provide a means for gardeners of diverse backgrounds to learn from each other,” said David Beller, Grow Portland director. Interest in gardening is especially strong among limited income families and the immigrant and refugee population for whom garden plots are rarely accessible.

For more information on Grow Portland's Community Gardens, visit www.growportland.org/grass-roots-community-gardens-program.

Rose Garre, 76-year volunteer
Chris Kugel and her mother Rose Garre pose at the 2012 St. Rita Spaghetti Dinner. Between them, they have more than one hundred years of volunteering at the dinner.
Mid-county Memo photo/Tim Curran
You're on an east Portland centric version of Jeopardy. An answer in the St. Rita Catholic Church category is Spaghetti Dinner. You ring in and say, “Rose Garre.” You are correct. If you answered Bert Garre or the Garre family, the judges would give it to you.

Since its beginning in 1936, a Garre - Rose, her husband Bert (until his passing in 2001) their children, grandchildren and cousins - have been part of every spaghetti dinner.

Over the years, Rose has headed every dinner committee and her husband Bert pretty much ran the dinner for years.

The St. Rita Spaghetti Dinner and Rose, was profiled in the March 2004 issue “Church spaghetti dinner blends cultures, community, families.”

One year, including to-go orders, they served nearly 5,000 meals.

Setting the example for her children was not hard because Rose enjoyed planning, cooking and serving the dinner so much, “We were always happy doing it,” said Rose. “Seeing your friends there eating makes you happy.”

Rose's daughter, Chris Kugle, who has been volunteering at the dinner for more than forty years herself said, “Mom and Dad worked so hard as children, to them, the work to put the dinner on wasn't work to them.”

Rose, who turns 92 this year, said she does not do as much anymore. “They have me cutting bread. You cut bread just before you go to the cemetery. That's the last job.”

Free street trees from Friends of Trees
When Friends of Trees came calling, Argay resident Cal Calloway said yes to planting six trees along his parking strips, all free as part of the FOT effort to plant in neighborhoods most deviod of trees. Calloway chose the Golden Raindrop Crabapple variety to match his neighbors trees (backround).
Mid-county Memo photo/Tim Curran
In March, homeowners and other Friends of Trees volunteers planted 245 trees in the Argay, Parkrose, Parkrose Heights, Russell, Sumner and Wilkes neighborhoods.

Following the planting, Friends of Trees' nonprofit partner, Verde, planted an additional 310 trees from Friends of Trees in the same neighborhoods.

The 555 tree orders were the result of an overwhelming response to a special offer of free trees to residents in some of Portland's neighborhoods most in need of trees.

Argay resident Cal Calloway said he had to double check with FOT to make sure the trees were free, then went ahead and ordered six Golden Raindrop Crabapple trees to match his neighbors. “I like the way they look,” he said. “When they (Friends of Trees) confirmed they were free, I picked the crabapples to match the look on our street.”

The March planting was a part of Friends of Trees' multi-year Plant It Portland! campaign, in partnership with Portland's Bureau of Environmental Services, to raise awareness of the need for street trees through whimsical graphics and grassroots efforts.

Preventing sewer overflows into our rivers, trees reduce the amount of stormwater, saving Portland $36 million a year in stormwater treatment.

Since 1989, Friends of Trees has planted more than 430,000 trees and native plants in the Portland-Vancouver and Eugene-Springfield areas.

Learn more at www.FriendsofTrees.org.

Shaver edible garden gets some work done
At the Shaver Edible Sidewalk Garden work party last month, Onterious Justice, from left, Andrea Munzer, son Hansel Munzer and Isaiah Mulz help plant berry and herb starts.
Mid-county Memo photo/Tim Curran
A year ago, with help from partner GrowingGardens, Shaver Elementary installed a community garden, “Kids Dig Gardens” June 2011.

According to Amanda Hart, Shaver's AmeriCorps BEST community involvement specialist, students have taken ownership and garden education has taken root in the curriculum with the creation of the Shaver Garden Club.

Students learn horticulture, biology math, science and social skills working together measuring plots and figuring out which plants goes where.

Besides the mentoring from GrowingGardens, Hart said she could not have been successful without the help of Portland Nursery and the Northeast Portland Tool Library.

Getting busy at the pool
Northwest Blue Crush Aquatic Club offers competitive swimming and water polo instruction to all ages from youth through masters. Practices are held at the Parkrose High School Aquatic Center, 12003 N.E. Shaver St. BCAC's primary purpose is to provide a well balanced training program so that all athletes may achieve their maximum potential. The programs are overseen by Head Coach Gary Muzzy.

Spring is a busy time for BCAC; it marks the beginning of the Water Polo season and the beginning of the short course swimming season. In addition to swimming and water polo events, the club will also host a big Spirit Mountain Casino fundraiser to help raise funds for the girls 16U team to go to the Junior Olympics in Northern California in August. For more information on the fundraiser, contact Charlette Evans, BCAC president at charlette_evans20@yahoo.com.

Parkrose graduate coaches' volleyball team to championship
This season, the girls of the Rose City Mizuno Volleyball Club team Black, dominated league and tournament play, In the first row, left to right are Coach Julie Taylor, Maddie Johnson, Meghan Teeter, Olivia Gabriel, Reed Jacobson, Courtney Paxton, Kalina Rivera and Assistant Coach Patty Jayne. In the second row, standing, are Rachel Berger, Kiki James, Kendra Padden, Kylie Skalbeck, Selena Batiste, Emily Jayne and Assistant Coach Kelly Sherman.
COURTESY RON RIVERA
Amassing an impressive season record of 43-1, including two 16U tournaments in which they competed, the Rose City Mizuno Volleyball Club Black, an under 14 team, dominated the season and the Columbia Empire Volleyball Association Regional Championships held in April.

They entered the season-ending tournament seeded number one and emerged in the top spot, finishing 32-0 in their age bracket. For the November to May season, they won 87 sets, losing only six.

“I am so proud of these girls for what they have accomplished,” said Julie Braman Taylor, head coach, and 1990 Parkrose High School graduate. “They learned to trust each other and really step into each role they are assigned. They matured individually. Most importantly, we are deep off the bench; every girl contributed to these wins."

Taylor's reputation as a winning coach is well known. She is the assistant varsity coach at Central Catholic. In her 17 seasons with head coach Rick Lorenz, Central has won five 6A state titles and six 2nd place trophies, never finishing out of the top 16.

The Black is comprised of players from metro area Catholic schools; three attend east Portland's St. Therese Catholic School, Olivia Gabriel, Selena Bastiste and Kalina Rivera.

Taylor said, “It's been a remarkable season and these girls will no doubt continue to shine. It will be exciting to see them continue to grow as student athletes in their high school careers.”

Taylor and husband Thad live in Troutdale. Their son Keegan, 12 and seven-year-old daughter Mallorie attend St. Therese. Their oldest, 15-year-old Koby, attends Central. Besides coaching volleyball, Taylor works at Oregon Catholic Press.
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