Senior Times - May 2023

For this music man, it was never about the spotlight

By Sara Schilling sara@tcjournal.biz

There’s something about Ron Rolla that not many people know.

He isn’t much for small talk, so he doesn’t often bring it up. But if you happen to be in his Kennewick home, he may show you framed album covers from his time in The Eligibles, a quartet that shot to success in the 1950s and ’60s. Rolla, 86, sang bass in the group, which made records, backed up Hollywood stars of the era and appeared on TV and the big screen.

“One couple (from church) knows. In fact, I gave them a CD of (one of our albums), and when they drive down to Arizona every year, they listen to it and sing along. One of the songs is ‘Rollin’ Dust,’ with me going, ‘rollin’ dust, rollin’ dust,’” Rolla said, singing the last bit in his rich bass.

For Rolla, music has never been about the spotlight. It’s about joy, pure and simple.

“It is such a large part of me. I find it difficult to spend any time without

having music playing. I go to sleep to music, I wake up to music,” Rolla said.

“It makes me happy.”

A musical gamble

Rolla, who grew up in Renton, didn’t

set out to be a musician.

Instead, he was studying engineering at the University of Washington and working the overnight shift at Boeing as an inspector. But music came call-

ing, and Rolla answered.

“I was in a fraternity (at UW). There were four of us from Renton High School who were in that fraternity,” Rolla said. They formed a quartet and started singing at college events.

Around the time Rolla was a junior, the friends decided to head to Los Angeles.

They stayed with another friend from Renton who was living in L.A. and started performing around town. “I remember one time, we went into the lobby (of a hotel) and just sang there. A fella came up and gave us $50 for singing a particular song (he liked),” Rolla said.

The group found a manager and their profile began to rise.

“We’d go to the colleges around there and sing. We went to Las Vegas with Eartha Kitt, singing background. We sang at the Dunes (hotel and casino) with Zsa Zsa Gabor,” Rolla recalled. They also booked corporate gigs and special events.

Tri-Cities’ last stop for collectible car parts is for sale

By Laura Kostad for Senior Times

A sturdy man, long of beard and hair, walked before a lineup of American metal, wearing an insulated plaid flannel, reinforced work pants secured by a GMC belt buckle, and dusty engineer’s boots.

A late model Audi pulled up and a man leaned across the console to call out the window, “Are you Dan?”

“I am,” he replied, and they began talking cars and parts.

“I have to keep a low profile,” said Dan Stafford after the car pulled away.

“That happens a lot.”

Stafford is the longtime owner of Dan’s Garage in Kennewick. It’s tucked in alongside Twin City Metals and between two sets of railroad tracks in an old Union 76 Gas Station, fronted by a row of aging muscle cars spanning the decades.

After over 40 years of collecting an extensive repository of automobile history from around the Northwest and more than 4,000 vehicles passing through his yard, Stafford said it’s time to pass the labor of love on to someone new. He’s ready to sell the business. Behind the unassuming old gas sta-

tion stretches stacked antique and vintage car bodies and parts, some outside, some in outbuildings, all meticulously labeled and identified with wax pencil and organized by type of part.

Once upon a time, there were homes on the property. Their long-ago tree plantings now tower over, dropping leaves on the vehicles preserved by the dry climate.

It’s a 2.5-acre car restorer’s paradise, especially for General Motors enthusiasts.

“It’s kind of like an amusement park, except all the rides are broken,” Stafford quipped.

The 71-year-old said wrecking yards devoted to restoration are a vanishing species.

“Sometimes the property gets too valuable to stay in business. They sell off and the buyer usually has the cars crushed up and the ground cleaned up and that’s the end of it. Sometimes I don’t hear about it until it’s too late. A lot of great stuff has been lost that way,” he said somberly.

“If you want a wrecking yard, it’s easier to buy an existing one than to start a new one. Zoning has to be

Photo by Sara Schilling

Ron Rolla, 86, of Kennewick, sang bass in The Eligibles, a quartet that rose to success in the 1950s and ’60s and recorded albums including “Along the Trail.” Music is still a big part of Rolla’s life, decades after his time in the spotlight with the group. He sings in the choir at Kennewick First Lutheran Church

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Making albums and moving on The quartet — which included tenors Ron Hicklin and Stan Farber and baritone Bob Zwirn, along with Rolla — also made albums. The first was a Western album for Capitol Records called “Along the Trail.”

On the cover, Rolla and the crew — decked out in cowboy hats, with Rolla in the white shirt — are described as “a smooth new singing group from out of the west.”

The albums “Love is a Gamble” and “Mike Fright! The Eligibles at Vegas’ New Frontier,” for Capitol Records and Mercury Records, respectively, followed.

The group also was featured on a number of other releases, backing up artists including Sonny James. They appeared on the small screen, including in “The Danny Thomas Show,” where they performed as a singing telegram group, and on a variety show hosted by Bob Newhart. And, they’re in the clas-

Chiawana High School’s plant sale is May 5-6

Chiawana High School’s plant sale is from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, May 5, and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, May 6. Students will be selling hanging

sic movie “The Music Man,” singing in the background.

It was a thrilling time— personally as well as professionally.

While in Los Angeles, Rolla fell in love.

He performed one last gig with The Eligibles before going off to get married, and it was memorable. They sang on a cruise ship to Hawaii. “Our payment was, we had the ride over and then we stayed in Hawaii for about four weeks and performed there” before sailing back to California, Rolla said.

A new chapter

After The Eligibles, Rolla signed on with The Johnny Mann Singers.

“We sang up in Lake Tahoe, at the Cal Neva (resort and casino), with a fellow, Vince Edwards. Then we went to the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Then after singing with Johnny Mann for a while, I went with Jimmy Wakely,” another star of the era, Rolla recalled.

When his kids came along — he’s

baskets, annuals and perennials, succulents, veggies, herbs and geraniums.

The plants sold during the sale are all grown and cared for by agriculture students throughout the school year. Students gain hands-on experience by planting seedlings at the beginning of the year, using techniques learned in horticulture classes to nurture the plants to full bloom.

The sale is at the school, 8125 W. Argent Road, Pasco.

Cash or credit cards are accepted.

All proceeds will go to supporting student activities through the national FFA organization and school agriculture programs.

Vietnamese Heritage Day scheduled for May 6

A Vietnamese Heritage Day event is planned from 2-4:30 p.m. May 6 at Chúa Việt Nam, 1105 N. 26th Ave., Pasco.

The event will include a founding fathers commemoration, an exhibition on the culture and ancient history of Vietnam, speeches, slideshows, musical videos, a proclamation from the city of Pasco, and food and beverages.

There’s no charge for admission, although donations are welcome.

The event is presented by the TriCities Vietnamese Buddhist Association and the VietnameseAmerican Senior Association of Spokane.

Participants 50 and over sought for research study

The WSU Neuropsychology and Aging Lab is seeking participants 50 and over for research studies that can be done remotely or at home.

dad to son Hans and daughter Kristine with his first wife — he moved into film editing. That career eventually took him back to the Seattle area, and then Alaska. Rolla also spent time in Oregon before settling in the Tri-Cities, where he lives with his significant other, Karen.

He has five grandchildren.

Rolla is a leader in the local Sons of Norway lodge, where he celebrates his Norwegian heritage.

And music remains a significant part of his life, decades after his time in the spotlight with The Eligibles. He now sings with another group: the choir at Kennewick First Lutheran Church.

Asked why he loves music, Rolla couldn’t help himself.

“It brings that joy, joy, joy, joy down in your heart,” he sang, in that booming bass.

“It’s just joyful,” he added. “I don’t know what else to say about that.”

Participation is free and those who participate in the study receive a cash honorarium and a cognitive assessment report to take to their doctor.

Participants can be cognitively healthy or reporting memory complaints. Those who are hoping to receive help in improving memory are encouraged to participate.

The long-term goal of the work in the lab is to keep older adults functioning independently at home with high quality of life.

The duration of the studies varies. Meetings with researchers are held via Zoom.

Call 509-335-4033 for more information.

Steptoe-Gage intersection construction is underway

Construction is underway on improvements to the Steptoe StreetGage Boulevard intersection in Kennewick.

Work will occur between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. and will require temporary single lane and sidewalk closures northbound between Tucannon Avenue and Gage. Drivers can expect delays and using an alternative route is recommended.

The project will add double left turn lanes, double through lanes and right turn lanes in all directions of the intersection.

The project will consist of widening on all corners of the intersection, new curb, gutter and wider sidewalks, retaining walls, landscape revisions, a new traffic signal, an asphalt overlay and lane striping revisions.

The estimated completion date is January 2024.

For updates, go to: bit.ly/SteptoeWork.

uBRIEFS

MUSIC MAN, From page 1

Who cares for the caregiver?

The financial and emotional challenges of caring for a spouse wear on Sammamish resident Michael O’Connell. As the sole caregiver for his wife, who has Alzheimer’s, he wonders if their savings will last through her illness.

They did all the right things you would expect of a solidly middleclass family, planning carefully for retirement, but he is facing a situation where their savings may not last. And, with a family history of Parkinson’s disease, he worries about how he will fare if something happens to him.

“It keeps me up night and day,” O’Connell said.

Taking care of an aging or ill family member can be enormously rewarding. But, as any current or former caregiver can attest, caregiving can be physically, emotionally and financially draining. The unpaid care provided by our family caregivers is critical to our nation’s health and long-term care systems.

In a 2021 AARP study about the financial toll of caregiving, about

Report shows state’s economy continuing to recover

A recent Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast shows that the economy continues to recover, although high inflation threatens to slow economic growth. The state economy continued to expand through the end of 2022, the report said.

The March report shows lower personal income and housing construction but higher inflation than in the November forecast. Job growth is stronger in the near term but slightly weaker after this year. A slowdown in taxable activity is

half of caregivers say they have experienced financial setbacks. This may mean they have had to curtail their spending, dip into personal savings, or cut back on retirement contributions. The recent Covid-19 pandemic magnified sacrifices for caregivers, with 42% of respondents spending more time and money on caregiving.

and depression. The effects on physical and mental health also are well documented. Often complex and prolonged caregiving leads to a decline in health for the caregiver. Moreover, family caregivers are less likely to engage in preventive health behaviors.

Connections network. It helps individuals, their caregivers, legal representatives and families navigate and connect with information and access to long-term and home- or community-based services and supports. You can call them toll-free at 855-5670252 or visit waclc.org.

Christina Clem AAPR

The AARP study highlights the need for effective public policy to support families financially. One such piece of legislation introduced in the U.S. Congress, the Credit for Caring Act, would provide a tax credit of up to $5,000 to eligible working caregivers.

Caregivers report increased rates of physical ailments, chronic conditions, diminished immune response and an increased risk of heart disease

expected to start during the current biennium, the report said. However, forecasted revenue for the current biennium has been increased despite the expected slowdown due to surplus collections.

The report expects the state to see a decline in real estate excise tax, which has come in below the November forecast and is expected to decrease further due to higher mortgage rates.

To read the full report, go to bit. ly/40RebL8.

New food co-op signs building lease

The Tri-Cities Food Co-op’s Steering Committee signed a lease for its new home on April 6.

There are several resources available to help caregivers find some balance. AARP Washington has a list of resources at aarp.org/wacaregiverresources. We also have a dedicated, toll-free family caregiving line.

While our agents cannot provide specific advice to callers, they can suggest resources on several topics, including caring for the caregiver, financial issues, home care, legal issues, long-distance caregiving and veteran caregiving.

Agents can take calls from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday at 1-877333-5885. The support line is also available in Spanish at 1-888-9712013. You don’t have to be an AARP member to call the support line.

Another good place to start is Washington’s Community Living

Alan Schreiber, who is leading the effort, said the co-op will be able to move in within a month or so.

“This gives the landlord time to fix it, polish it, make sure it is up to code,” he said.

Schreiber also reported that the group has conditional approval for its financing.

The building for the future co-op is at 1420 Jadwin Ave., the former home of Atomic City Thrift.

New restaurants open their doors

Several new restaurants have opened around the Tri-Cities, including the following:

• Fable Craft Bar, Wine Saloon

As his wife’s sole caregiver, O’Connell spends most of his day doing everything she used to do –paying bills, food shopping, cooking and housework, in addition to caring for her needs.

“These are supposed to be our golden years, yet Social Security is failing to keep up with the cost of living. We need to do more as a nation to make sure those who need care, like my wife, have quality care and that those who care for them don’t become poor and work themselves to death in the process,” he said.

We could not agree more.

Christina Clem is a communications analyst with AARP Washington.

and Food Joint has opened at 1705 Columbia Park Trail, Richland. It’s a riverfront full-service restaurant, owned by Bookwalter Winery’s John Bookwalter, serving beer, wine and craft spirits and upscale pub foods. Contact: 509-396-7443.

• Underground Taphouse has opened at 4525 N. Road 68, Suite J, in Pasco. The taphouse offers 32 taps of beer and cider and a selection of wine. Contact: 509-8517273; undergroundtaphouse.com.

• Picante Mexican Taqueria has opened at 20 S. Auburn St., Kennewick. The former food truck recently moved into a brick-andmortar restaurant in downtown Kennewick. Contact: 509-585-7500; picantemexicantaqueria.com.

GUEST COLUMN

MAY 5

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

• Pasco Farmers Market: 8 a.m.-1 p.m., 101 S. Fourth Ave., Pasco.

• Bebop Bingo: 6:30-8:30 p.m., Sage Brewing, 910 S. Columbia Center Blvd., Kennewick. Listen to music from Desert Dahlias while playing bingo. Free.

MAY 6

• Classy Chassis Car Show & Shine: 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; Street dance, 6-10 p.m., downtown Kennewick, West Kennewick Avenue, between Dayton and Washington streets.

• Pasco Farmers Market: 8 a.m.-1 p.m., 101 S. Fourth Ave., Pasco.

• Chalk Art Festival: 7 a.m.-3 p.m., Uptown Shopping Center, 1317 George Washington Way, Richland.

• Milestones Concert featuring 2023 Young Artist Competition winners: 7:30 p.m., Art Fuller Auditorium, 500 S. Dayton St., Kennewick. Tickets available at midcolumbiasymphony.org.

MAY 9

• Alzheimer’s Program: Healthy Living for Your Brain & Body: 1-2 p.m., virtual event. Call 509943-8455 or register online at kadlec.org/KNRC.

MAY 12-13

• 30th annual Master Gardener plant sale: 9 a.m.4 p.m. Friday, May 12; 9 a.m.2 p.m. Saturday, May 13 at Highland Grange Park, 1600 S. Union St., Kennewick.

MAY 12

• Creating Mental Wellness through Yoga & Meditation: 10 a.m.-noon, Richland Public Library, 955 Northgate Drive, Richland. Call 509-943-8455 or register online at kadlec.org/ KNRC.

• Drink for Pink fundraiser: 4-7 p.m., Columbia Gardens Wine and Artisan Village, 325 E. Columbia Drive, Kennewick. Tickets: $50, includes rosé wines at each participating tasting room and a nibble from each participating food truck.

Bring your grandchildren and families to events with a star.

MAY 13

• Annual high tea at the museum annex: 11:30 a.m., Franklin County Historical Society Museum Annex, 423 W. Bonneville St., Pasco. Cost: $30. Tickets at franklincountyhistoricalsociety.org/ events.

• Middleton’s Asparagus Fest and Brews: 4-9 p.m., Middleton Farms, 1441 Kahlotus Road, Pasco. Tickets available at middletonfarms.com.

• Pasco Farmers Market: 8 a.m.-1 p.m., 101 S. Fourth Ave., Pasco.

MAY 18

• Spreading HOPE (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences): 3:30-5 p.m., Richland Public Library, 955 Northgate Drive, Richland. Call 509-943-8455 or register online at kadlec.org/KNRC.

MAY 19

• Pasco Farmers Market: 8 a.m.-1 p.m., 101 S. Fourth Ave., Pasco.

• Bebop Bingo: 6:30-8:30 p.m., Sage Brewing, 910 S. Columbia Center Blvd., Kennewick. Listen

to music from Desert Dahlias while playing bingo. Free.

• Richland Senior Association dance: 1 p.m., Riverview Room, Richland Community Center, 500 Amon Park Drive, Richland. Cost: $10. Dance to a five-piece band led by Clark Hodge.

MAY 20

• The Teddy Bear Tea: 11 a.m., Gesa Carousel of Dreams, 2901 Southridge Blvd., Kennewick. Cost: $25 per person over 2 years old, includes free teddy bear and carousel ride for children. Tickets available at viproductions.org.

MAY 24

• Healthy Ages Wellness program on strokes: 1-2 p.m., Central United Protestant Church, 1124 Stevens Drive, Richland. Call 509-943-8455 or register online at kadlec.org/KNRC.

• Spring fundraiser benefiting Walk to End Alzheimer’s: 11-3 p.m., WindSong at Southridge, 4000 W. 24th Ave., Kennewick. Buy hydro-dipped potted flowers for $5-$10, kids planting station with mini pot and seedlings, $5.

He fought with a future president and to expand the West

By Gale Metcalf for Senior Times

It is 840 miles or so as the crow flies between the borders of Washington state and Missouri, but close enough one of Missouri’s most storied citizens to have a Washington county named for him. Benton County.

Created in 1905, the county name honors Thomas Hart Benton, Missouri’s first United States senator and a man who had one of history’s most notorious fistfights with a future president.

The fight left Andrew Jackson with a gunshot wound to the arm and Benton lying at the base of a flight of stairs where he had been thrown head first during the brawl.

But in his lifetime, Benton championed the Pacific Northwest, pushed for the inclusion of the western territories into America’s domain, and described the land that would become Benton County as comprising “a clear sky, pure air, and a supreme salubrity.”

He was the father-in-law of noted explorer, military officer and U.S. Sen. John C. Fremont.

Born in 1782 in Orange County, North Carolina, he began studying law as a young man but was called to take over family affairs after his father passed away. It led him to run 40,000 acres of bequeathed land outside of Nashville, Tennessee, where he met perhaps the state’s most prominent citizen, Jackson.

When the War of 1812 broke out, Jackson, liking what he saw in

Benton, gave him a rank of lieutenant colonel and named him an aidede-camp.

It wasn’t long after that when Benton learned that Jackson had made insulting remarks about his brother, Jesse.

The two hot-tempered men were soon in a bitter quarrel. Jackson even made it publicly known he would “horse-whip Benton.”

They came to blows in Nashville’s City Hotel, with several combatants involved. Jackson took a bullet in the arm, reportedly fired by Jesse Benton, and men backing Jackson threw Thomas Hart Benton down the stairs.

As Jackson was receiving medical attention, Benton seized the general’s sword, went into the street and broke it over one knee in ceremonious triumph, even though his own body had taken a terrific beating. He and his brother, thinking prudently, retreated to Missouri.

Ironically, Benton, the first man to serve 30 years in the U.S. Senate, became a close ally of Jackson, who was elected president in 1828 and re-elected in 1932. They crusaded against eastern capitalists and monopolies.

Missouri was a historic turning point in his life. When Benton was just 33, he began practicing law in St. Louis, became involved in politics and was editor of The Missouri Enquirer newspaper.

His greatest passion became development of the West, championing such causes as opening the

Oregon and the Santa Fe trails, interior highways, the pony express, the telegraph and transcontinental railroads.

He wanted Texas annexed and wanted a settlement of the Canadian-U.S. border dispute in terms favorable to the U.S. He overcame obstacles that didn’t meet his preference and in 1846 the present boundaries met with his approval. He was a force in achieving today’s boundaries.

Benton fervently believed in the potential of the land that had become part of the U.S.

On May 22, 1946, standing on the floor of the U.S. Senate, Benton described the area between the mouths of the Snake and Yakima rivers that would one day carry his name as a county in Washington state.

Courtesy Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum

Thomas Hart Benton, for whom Benton County is named. This photo is a circa 1850 daguerreotype, an image made from an early photographic process.

sombre aspect of the gloomy artemisia – and desolate from volcanic rocks, through the chasms of which plunge the headlong streams.”

“In some respects it is a desert –barren of wood – sprinkled with sandy plains – melancholy under the

“This desert has its redeeming

Memorial Wall Veterans

Stephen F. Collins

Lionel D. Sams

Dale A. Bennett

Roger P. Lahti

Ronald E. Noggles

Nick L. Stelma

Ronald A. Nelson

William A. Smith

Ernest A. Burd

DeMont G. Taylor

James C. Flory

Michael P. Merrick

Clifton L. Sanders

Danny P. Garrison

Robert E. Marple

Clayton P. Wick

Danny L. Weibling Sr.

Charles A. Lamica

Jay W. Larsen

Maurice L. Schmidli

Larry J. Zilar

David D. Schultz

Bernard H. Stewart

Harold W. Stewart

Farrell O. Andrews

Kerry L. Hicks

Preston L. Moore

Lowell D. Engebretson

David Ortiz

Monty W. Rathbun

Eddie L. Petross

Clyde J. Reynolds

Robert C. Ormson

William L. Sales Sr.

Andrew H. Chapman

David J. Vilhauer

Bruce L. Shepherd Sr.

Jim L. Anderson

Charles B. Bailey

Rodrick M. Regan

William C. York

Dennis C. Lansing

Charles L. O’Daniel

James R. Bleichner

Joe S. Flood

Simon V. Villarreal

Robert A. Tippett

Robert A. Swan

Roscoe C. Slade Jr.

James N. Laughlin

Dexter B. Brown

Wilmer M. Ricard

Raymond L. Meyer

Garrold F. Lyon

Billy E. Berry

Ronald E. Hatch

Sandra L. Kerr

Austin G. Anderson

Robert G. Laymon

Sam M. Hindman

Joseph B. Hines

William R. Wright

L. Irl Hobble

Bill E. Hofert

Richard C. Anderson

Arista B. Personett Jr.

Richard E. Johanson Sr.

Justin J. Reiland

Robert L. Miller Sr.

Darrell F. Newman

Gregory J. Galeski

Terry L. Holdren

Wayne A. Kunkel

Irvin W. Mills

Timothie M. Millsaps

David H. Hunter

Gilbert I. Henjum

Otto K. Selle

Carl B. Voss

Vernon L. Hubbard

Dennis G. Collins

Henry K. Beswick

Larry R. Gooldy

James J. Rasmussen

Michael L.

Huntington

Donald E. Crane

Lucian L. Merryman

Norman C. Murphy

Thomas N. Danner

Charles C. Beaver

David M. Selph

Virgil D. Maupin

Stephen E. Knutzen

Donald V. Hobbs

John A. Pelletier

Elmer E. Ayers

Jack D. Smith

James L. Lipscomb

Albert E. Kathan

The Veterans Memorial Roll Call Wall was dedicated in 1997 and includes the names of over 3,000 veterans who are buried at Desert Lawn Memorial Park. Every year before Memorial Day we add the names of the veterans that passed away during the last year. These are the names that we added this year:

MEALS ON WHEELS MENU

Mid-Columbia Meals on Wheels senior dining sites serve hot meals from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday (Tuesday through Friday in Connell). Meals are free for seniors age 60 and older.

Seniors must make reservations 24 business hours in advance by calling 509-735-1911.

Friday, May 5: Beef tacos, rice and beans, salsa and sour cream.

Monday, May 8: Swedish meatballs, egg noodles, broccoli, tossed salad.

Tuesday, May 9: Apple pork chops, mashed sweet potatoes, mixed vegetables.

Wednesday, May 10: Teriyaki chicken, fluffy rice, Asian vegetables.

Thursday, May 11: Cheese and beef pasta, green beans, tossed salad, breadstick.

Friday, May 12: Chicken salad sandwich, pea and cheese salad.

Monday, May 15: Barbecue chicken, roasted carrots, potato salad, cornbread.

Tuesday, May 16: Beef stroganoff, garlic noodles, green beans.

Wednesday, May 17: Chef salad with ranch dressing, wheat roll, pineapple.

Thursday, May 18: Roast beef with gravy, mashed potatoes, Italian vegetables, wheat roll, ice cream.

Friday, May 19: Chicken enchiladas, Spanish rice, black beans, Mexican coleslaw.

Monday, May 22: Turkey tetrazzini, green peas, tossed salad.

Tuesday, May 23: Cranberry chicken, confetti rice, garden vegetables.

Wednesday, May 24: Sloppy Joes, mixed vegetables, apple-cabbage slaw.

Thursday, May 25: Roast pork with gravy, mashed potatoes, beets.

Friday, May 26: Tuna pasta salad, broccoli salad, crackers.

Monday, May 29: Closed for Memorial Day.

Tuesday, May 30: Baked cod with dill sauce, herbed potatoes, squash medley.

Wednesday, May 31: Chicken chop salad, salad greens, carrot sticks.

Dining site locations:

• Kennewick Community Center, 500 S. Auburn St.

• Pasco First Avenue Center, 505 N. First Ave.

• Pasco Ray Pfleuger Center, 253 W. Margaret St.

• Richland Community Center, 500 Amon Park Road North.

• Benton City Desert Rose Facility, 510 14th St.

• Prosser Senior Center, 1231 Dudley Ave.

• Connell Community Center, 211 E. Elm St.

• Meals on Wheels Cafe, 1834 Fowler St., Richland. No reservations required at this site.

Meet the new owners of the iconic Spudnut Shop

By Sara Schilling sara@tcjournal.biz

Mike Bishop and Ryan Pierson know the Spudnut Shop is something special. They’ve known it for years.

Both men – who have long histories and deep ties in the community – spent time there growing up.

Pierson is the son of teachers, and when his family ate out, they ate at local spots like the Spudnut Shop, which serves as an anchor of the Uptown Shopping Center in Richland.

And Bishop has sweet memories of grabbing a spudnut or two on the way to school or on a Saturday morning as a kid – a tradition he’s continued with his own children.

So now that the longtime friends are buying the business from the family that started it all, they aren’t planning to make big changes. Instead, they’re aiming to preserve the charm and the feeling of community that’s made the shop a local icon and an unqualified success for the last 75 years.

And, of course, they’re learning the ins and outs of creating the famed spudnuts, which are pastries made from potato flour.

“We’re observing the baking process. We’re frosting,” Bishop told the Journal. “We’re getting pretty darn good!”

Selling the shop

The deal with Spudnut Shop owners Val and Douglas Driver is expected to close soon. It includes the Spudnut Shop, plus neighboring space holding a barber shop and a beauty salon.

The exact terms aren’t being disclosed, but Bishop and Pierson are using Small Business Administration financing.

The spudnut pastries that can draw long lines at the Richland shop were developed in 1940 by two brothers in Utah. The brothers franchised

spudnuts after perfecting a dry mix.

Val Driver’s father, Barlow Ghirardo, and her uncle, Jerry Bell, opened the local Spudnut Shop in 1948. It started out in the Richland Wye, then moved to the Uptown one-and-a-half years later, where it’s been ever since – and where it’s grown a loyal following.

Retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, former secretary of defense and a Richland native, is among its avowed fans.

Val Driver started at the shop when she was 15, eventually taking over the business. It’s the only place she’s ever worked.

And, boy, does she work.

She logs long days at the shop, doing everything from baking to stocking to greeting customers. At age 69, she’s looking forward to retiring, traveling and leaving her shop in the

hands of locals who care about its legacy.

“It took me a couple of years to find good people, who want to work it, who don’t want to make a lot of changes. I think they’re both good guys and both being from Richland –born and raised here, like me – that’s pretty exciting,” she said.

As she talked, she didn’t take a break from working. She prepped hamburger patties for the next day. The new owners

Bishop and Pierson have that same kind of work ethic. They’re spending this time as the deal closes working long hours at the shop themselves, learning every aspect of its operations.

They’re soaking up all the knowledge they can from Driver and they’re introducing themselves to

customers.

Of course, some customers are already familiar faces – Bishop and Pierson are local guys, after all. They’re Tri-City natives who graduated from Richland High a year apart, in the late 1990s.

They chuckled as they told how an old P.E. teacher of theirs came into the shop the other day.

“I said, ‘You were one of my teachers!’” Pierson recalled. “Then one of the other staff members goes, ‘You were my teacher, too!’ And then Val goes, ‘You were my teacher, too!”

For all its growth, “when you’re talking to each other, having those conversations, you realize that the Tri-Cities isn’t all that big” and connections run deep, Bishop said.

After Bishop graduated from Richland High, he attended Northwest University in Kirkland and earned a business degree. He went onto work in management at Safeway and Target stores. He and his wife, Ronica, have nine children.

Pierson attended Columbia Basin College and also has extensive business experience, ranging from Costco to the auto industry to a previous stint in the restaurant world.

He and his wife, Bethany, have three kids.

The men are looking forward to continuing the shop’s family business tradition by having their own children frequent the place.

“My (youngest) are official taste testers. They are disappointed if dad doesn’t come home with spudnuts,” Bishop said.

“Basically, we’re captains of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory,” Pierson added with a laugh.

They envision sponsoring sports teams and finding other ways to support and involve the shop in the community.

uSPUDNUTS, Page 12

Photo by Sara Schilling

Mike Bishop, left, and Ryan Pierson are taking over the iconic Spudnut Shop in Richland’s Uptown Shopping Center. They pledge to maintain the charm and feeling of community that’s help the shop thrive for 75 years.

Pasco First Avenue Center

505 N. First Ave., Pasco 509-545-3459

pascoparksandrec.com

• Billiards: 9 a.m.-noon. Mondays; 1:30-4 p.m. Wednesdays; 9 a.m.-noon, 1:30-4 p.m. Fridays.

• Mexican train dominoes: 1:30-3:30 p.m. Mondays.

• Pinochle: 1:30-4 p.m. Tuesdays.

• China painting: 9 a.m.-noon. Wednesdays.

Keewaydin Community Center

500 S. Auburn St., Kennewick 509-585-4303 go2kennewick.com

• Bunco: 1-3 p.m. Fridays. Cost: $1 per day.

• Bridge: 12:30-4 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Cost: $1 per day.

• Mahjong: 12:30-4 p.m. Wednesdays. Cost: $1 per day.

• Dominoes: 12:30-2 p.m. Tuesdays and Fridays. Cost: $1 per day.

• Pinochle: 1-4:30 p.m. Wednesdays. Cost: $1 per day.

• Creative palette art: 9 a.m.-noon

SENIOR ACTIVITIES

Tuesdays.

• Sewing: 1-4 p.m. Tuesdays.

• Woodcarving: 1-3 p.m. Wednesdays. Cost: $1 per day. 9 a.m.-noon Fridays. Bring supplies or borrow from the class.

• Billiards: Daily. $2 per day or $20 monthly pass.

Richland Community Center

500 Amon Park Drive, Richland 509-942-7529

ci.richland.wa.us

• Fitness room: 8 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays-Fridays; 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturdays; noon-4 p.m. Sundays. Location: Fitness room. Cost: $2 per day or $8 per month.

• Billiards: Daily. $2 per day.

• Greeting card recycling: 1-3 a.m. Tuesdays. Cost: free.

• Pinochle players: 6-8:30 p.m. Fridays. Location: game room.

Cost: $1.

• Party bridge: 8:30-11:30 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays. Location: game room. Cost: $1.

• Senior duplicate bridge: 12:303:30 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays.

Location: game room.

• Table tennis: 6:30-8:45 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, 12:30-3:45 p.m. Sundays.

Prosser Senior Community Center

1231 Dudley Ave., Prosser 509-786-2915 cityofprosser.com

• Pool: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. MondaysFridays. Cost: free. Location: pool room, membership is required.

• Mahjong: 1-3 p.m. Tuesdays Location: living room, membership is required.

• Daytime bingo: 9 a.m. Wednesdays. Location: dining room Cost: 3 cards/$1.

• Evening bingo: First Friday of every month. 5 p.m. Cost: $10. Location: dining room.

• Foot care: Second Wednesday of each month: Appointments can be made by calling 509-790-1905.

• Pinochle: 1 p.m. Thursdays. Location: living room, membership is required.

• Crafts: 10 a.m. Tuesdays. Register by calling 509-786-2915.

• Bunco/Game Night: Fourth Friday of month, 5 p.m. Location: dining room.

• Tai chi quan: 6 p.m. Mondays. Contact Kraig Stephens at 509-4301304.

• All-you-can-eat community breakfast: Last Sunday every month, 8-11:30 a.m. Location: dining room. Cost: Suggested donation $8 per person and $5 per child, 8 and under.

West Richland Senior Center

616 N. 60th, West Richland 509-967-2847

• Bunco potluck: noon, first Wednesday and third Friday of the month.

• Exercise: 9 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.

• Bingo: lunch starts at noon, game starts at 1 p.m., last Monday of the month.

• Sewing: 10 a.m., fourth Tuesday and fourth Wednesday of the month.

• Pinocle: noon, first and third Monday of the month.

• Painting: 1-3 p.m., every Saturday.

Just for Fun

Solutions on page 13

Word search - May

STR8TS

How to beat Str8ts: No single number, 1 to 9, can repeat in any row or column. But rows and columns are divided by black squares into compartments. Each compartment must form a straight, a set of numbers with no gaps but it can be in any order, eg: 7, 6, 8, 9. Clues in black cells remove that number as an option in that row and column, and are not part of any straight.

Rules of Sudoku - To complete Sudoku, fill the board by entering numbers 1 to 9 such that each row, column and 3x3 box contains ever number uniquely. For more strategies, hints and tips, visit www.sudokuwiki.org and www.str8ts.com.

©

©

How to beat Str8ts –

How to beat Str8ts –

Like Sudoku, no single number 1 to 9 can repeat in any row or column. But... rows and columns are divided by black squares into compartments Each compartment must form a straighta set of numbers with no gaps but it can be in any order, eg [7,6,9,8]. Clues in black cells remove that number as an option in that row and column, and are not part of any straight. Glance at the solution to see how ‘straights’

Like Sudoku, no single number 1 to 9 can repeat in any row or column. But... rows and columns are divided by black squares into compartments Each compartment must form a straighta set of numbers with no gaps but it can be in any order, eg [7,6,9,8]. Clues in black cells remove that number as an option in that row and column, and are not part of any straight. Glance at the solution to see how ‘straights’ are formed.

To complete Sudoku, fill the board by entering numbers 1 to 9 such that each row, column and 3x3 box contains every number uniquely.

To complete Sudoku, fill the board by entering numbers 1 to 9 such that each row, column and 3x3 box contains every number uniquely.

For many strategies, hints and tips, visit www.sudokuwiki.org for Sudoku and www.str8ts.com for Str8ts.

For many strategies, hints and tips, visit www.sudokuwiki.org for Sudoku and www.str8ts.com for Str8ts.

If you like Str8ts and other puzzles, check out our books, iPhone/iPad Apps and much more on our store.

If you like Str8ts and other puzzles, check out our books, iPhone/iPad Apps and much more on our store.

—

Find the words in the grid. When you are done, the unused letters in the grid will spell out a hidden message. Pick them out from left to right, top line to bottom line. Words can go horizontally, vertically and diagonally in all eight directions.

heavy industrial and there’s a lot of environmental regulation.”

He said a lot of specialty places move their parts indoors and break down cars in a warehouse.

He’s had a number of people interested in the property, but they aren’t interested in the wrecking side.

Stafford’s not in a rush to sell.

“The right person will see the value in this organized chaos,” he said. “It will have to be someone with a pretty broad knowledge of older GM vehicles, but I’m a pretty good teacher. For the right deal, I’ll stick around and help advise.”

Staying on might be necessary as the inventory system for Dan’s Garage currently exists only on Stafford’s mental hard drive.

“If you can identify what you have, you can sell it. If you’re buying someone’s barn full of car parts, you’ve got to be able to spot the nuggets in the gravel.

“It’s not a gold mine, you have to work at it, but you can make a pretty good living doing this. It’s a bit of an antiquated business model and that’s why I like it.”

The asking price for the property, buildings, inventory (cars and parts) and equipment (forklift, ramp truck, truck scale, functional antique crane) is $950,000.

‘Plans to own a junk yard’

A fascination with old cars and their parts runs in Stafford’s blood.

“My dad was an antique car guy, one of the founders of the local antique car club,” he said.

For Stafford, it started with an obsession for collecting license plates as a

kid growing up in Kennewick.

“Back in the ’20s and ’30s, there was no city dump, so I used to go with my dad and find these old dumps scattered around the sagebrush.”

What gave Stafford his start in parts was an unexpected opportunity that arose while visiting his dad’s hometown of Whitehall, Montana, for his grandfather’s funeral.

He was still in high school and had recently walked away from a crash that totaled his ’41 Chevy.

“The Chevrolet dealer there my dad had worked for during the war driving a wrecker had closed. Used to be an auto parts store,” Stafford said.

Peering inside, he saw all the inventory still on the shelves. He got in touch with the owner, and, using his insurance money, bought the contents of the building for $700.

“There were new parts on the shelves clear back into the ’20s. Kind of a fluke,” he said.

Stafford said he’s proud to be one of the few in his Kennewick High class of 1969 to realize the career goal listed under his name in the yearbook: “Plans to own a junk yard.”

“A lot of what I’m dealing with now were new cars when I was in high school,” he said with a laugh.

His plans didn’t materialize right away, but after being laid off from a pipe company related to Hanford and restoring Camaros in his backyard, he realized it would be quicker money to part out cars.

A friend moved the 1954 Union 76 gas station building from Washington Street in Kennewick to its present location at 508 E. Bruneau Ave.

It had been where Stafford pumped up his bike tires before he had four

wheels of his own.

Last Chance Wrecking, which had been at the site since the 1950s, rented it out, then later let it go and moved to East Lewis Street in Pasco, which gave Stafford the opportunity to step in in 1981.

In 1983, Stafford bought the property and he’s been there ever since, with a few business evolutions along the way.

A big gamechanger was the advent of eBay in the early 2000s.

“I have an eBay store with 600 items,” he said. “A lot of it is stuff that no one ever comes in looking for, but it is valuable. You have to get it out there.”

Stafford acquires his inventory through word of mouth, visiting people with cars and parts to sell, buying old parts from auto part dealers ready to clear them out. He used to make the swap meet rounds.

He also sells whole cars. Current listings can be found on his website: dansgarage.net.

Until recently, he sold a lot overseas, from Europe to the United Arab Emirates, to Australia and New Zealand. High shipping rates have put a damper on the market.

Man cave decor

A popular trend that he said has cropped up in the last 10 years or so is decorating man caves or garages with old car parts like truck grills, hub caps and the license plates he used to collect as a kid.

“Even the crappy stuff that no one would want for a reconstruction project, they’ll take it for decor,” he said. “So now I’m a decorator.”

Though he’s looking to retire, Stafford has an antique booth at Skye’s Finds in Richland he’s planning to keep up, as well as his long-term retirement investment: several of the best cars from among the many that populate two other lots he owns down the street and uses for overflow.

These he’ll work to sell over time. “I like buying and selling cars. It’s fun,” he said.

Back out front, another car pulled up and a man got out.

“How much for the Camaro?” he asked.

search Dan’s Garage: 508 E. Bruneau Ave., Kennewick. Contact: 509-5862579; dansgarage.net: Facebook.

Photo by Laura Kostad

more than 40 years in business, Dan Stafford, owner of Dan’s Garage at 508 E. Bruneau Ave. in Kennewick, is looking to sell. The 2.5acre property has become Eastern Washington’s destination for finding vintage and antique General Motors vehicle parts, as well as whole cars.

2 menus, 1 roof: Kennewick restaurant caters to diverse dietary needs and palates

By Laura Kostad for Senior Times

It’s not often that a vegan, a meat eater, a keto dieter and someone with celiac disease or a peanut allergy can all order from the same menu.

Especially a menu that’s a mash-up of French and Mexican food.

Al Avelar, co-owner of Crepe Haus + El Compadre, knew he wanted his Kennewick restaurant – the fourth he’s owned – to not only accommodate the full spectrum of dietary needs, but really cater to them and make customers feel at home. The restaurant is at 2100 North Belfair St. in Kennewick.

“When you’re going out to eat, it shouldn’t be out of the way of how you normally eat. Here, I want the experience to be: ‘this is how I would cook if I had the time to make this dish at home,’ ” Avelar said.

This means stocking his kitchen with top-quality ingredients and maintaining prep and cooking spaces safe from cross-contamination for those with food allergies or celiac.

Diners with special dietary needs won’t be left with only the option of asking for half the ingredients to be held to accommodate them.

“Just the other day, a vegetarian came in and ordered one of our more meat-heavy dishes. So, for her I did three kinds of mushrooms from Columbia Basin Shroomery and jackfruit,” he said.

Whether it’s gluten-free graham crackers, the full lineup of synthetic meats or veg-friendly sour cream, Crepe Haus + El Compadre’s got it.

“I want this restaurant to be a huge educational piece because food is complex and I want to simplify that for people,” Avelar said.

Avelar wants to offer “super clean, whole food from scratch.” He only cooks with avocado oil and evaluates

and vets all ingredient lists before putting a product on his prep line.

“Everything that I’m feeding people here is what I would feed my family,” he said.

The restaurant offers Pepsi products and cane-sugar sodas, but in the bar, it doesn’t use anything with high fructose corn syrup.

When asked how he manages to do it while other establishments decry higher-quality ingredients as prohibitively expensive, he countered that customers want high-quality food.

“There’s no cap at the top. If you keep bringing in high-quality food, it can always go higher, you can always provide better. But there’s a cap at the bottom because if your focus is on what’s the cheapest, there’s a point at which you can’t go lower, you can’t get cheaper. It limits you,” he said.

2 menus, 1 roof

Crepe Haus + El Compadre’s tagline is “Come for the Mexican, stay for the crepes.”

It’s at the crossroads where spicy meets sweet.

“Half the people that come in know crepes, the other half don’t know crepes and think it’s just a Mexican restaurant or that a savory crepe is unorthodox,” Avelar said.

It turns out 75% of the crepes Crepe Haus sells are savory.

Sales are split roughly 50-50 between the two menus, he said.

Some people come in for breakfast, then come back later for dinner, picking one cuisine for each meal.

“The bar is just a bonus,” he said.

One popular dish on the El Compadre menu is Aquachile, which is shrimp marinated in chile water made up of lime juice, jalapenos, salt and seasonings, served on a bed of cucumbers, onions, cilantro and avocado and served with either saltine crackers or tostadas.

Another is the Molcajete which consists of carne asada, pollo asada, camarones al mojo de ajo, whole

beans, chorizo, bacon and one nopal served in a molcajete.

On the crepe side, Avelar said the Big Kahuna is a hit, featuring pulled pork, pineapple, pepperjack cheese, jalapenos and barbecue sauce, as well as the Greek Myth, a crepe loaded with spinach, cucumber, tomatoes, kalamata olives, feta, onion, balsamic vinegar, hummus and choice of meat (or not!).

As for sweet crepes, the Smoreo is popular and comes with the option of vegan marshmallows. The Raspberry Delight and Berry Blitz feature fresh fruit.

Entrepreneurial spirit

Avelar’s idea for the restaurant blends three aspirations: his, which was to provide a place where inclusive food was the focus; his wife Jackie’s, which was to have a creperie; and business partner Marvin Figueroa’s, which was to open his own Mexican restaurant.

The Avelars had served crepes at their previous restaurants in Bellingham and Camano Island, but expanded on the idea at Crepe Haus.

“I actually didn’t want to do restaurants at all … then when I was 17 or 18, I just started loving being around the people and the difference I could make in that one hour of interaction,” Avelar said.

His wife grew up in Tri-Cities and Avelar said his father-in-law told him that the Tri-City market was ripe for the kind of restaurant he envisioned.

Four years ago, the couple and their two kids moved back to the Tri-City area to be closer to her family. Jackie worked full time and Avelar worked for three years keeping the books for their three restaurants while a stay-athome dad.

“I’m the kind of person that I just

uCREPE HAUS, Page 12

Photo by Laura Kostad

Al Avelar stands in the open concept crepe kitchen at his new restaurant, Crepe Haus + El Compadre, at 2100 N. Belfair St. in Kennewick. The restaurant features two diverse menus, crepes and Mexican.

TRI-CITY BOOK CLUBS

• 6:30 p.m. May 15, Richland Public Library, 955 Northgate Drive, The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich is the May 15 book. Road to Valor by Aili and Andres McConnon is the June 19 book.

The group typically meets the third Monday of the month. Contact: Sue Spencer, sue_ spencer_england@hotmail.com or 509-572-4295.

• 6 p.m. May 16 at MidColumbia Libraries West Pasco branch, 7525 Wrigley Drive, Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid.

• 1 p.m. May 17, Mid-Columbia Libraries, Pasco branch, 1320 W. Hopkins St., Pasco, Why We Dream: The Transformative Power of Our Nightly Journey by Alice Robb. Facing the Mountain: An Inspiring Story of Japanese American Patriots in World War II by Daniel James Brown is the June 21 book.

The group typically meets the third Wednesday of the month. Contact Susan Koenig at 509302-9878 or SMKoenig@ymail. com

• 1:30 p.m. May 18, Richland Public Library, 955 Northgate Drive, The Arsenal of

Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War by A. J. Baime. Books for next year will be chosen at the June 15 meeting. The group meets the third Thursday of the month but takes summers off. Contact: Evelyn Painter, ec_painter@ yahoo.com or 509-420-4811.

• 5:30 p.m. May 18 at MidColumbia Libraries Kennewick branch, 1620 S. Union St., “Bring Your Own Book” Book Club. Come and chat about books you’ve read lately. There will be an emphasis on selfhelp and mental health awareness this month.

• 6 p.m. May 23, Mid-Columbia Libraries, Benton City branch, 810 Horne Drive Benton City. Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro.

• 7 p.m. the first Friday of the month, Caterpillar Café at Adventures Underground, 227 Symons St., Richland. Contact Sarah at 509-946-9893 for upcoming titles.

To add your book club to this list, email details to info@tcjournal.biz.

points – much water, grass, oasis, mountains capped with snow to refresh the air, the land and the eye – blooming valleys, a clear sky, pure air and a supreme salubrity.”

He also talked about the wild horses running free: “It is home of the horse, found there wild in all the perfection of first nature – beautiful and fleet – fiery and docile –patient, enduring, and affectionate.”

And about how men would bring

out its promise: “The country that produces such horses must also produce men and cattle, and all other animals; and must have many beneficent attributes to redeem it from the stigma of desolation.”

Gale Metcalf of Kennewick is a lifelong Tri-Citian, retired Tri-City Herald employee and volunteer for the East Benton County History Museum. He writes the monthly history column.

sold their other three restaurants.

trust it will all fall into place. My philosophy is no rush. It’s what I tell my customers all the time – ‘No rush, we don’t close until 8 p.m.’ I feel like that’s how I’ve done my life. Every time that I have rushed, I end up just giving up on the rush, and then it happens,” Avelar said.

His parents have owned “dozens” of Mexican-style restaurants – buying convenience stores and converting them into restaurants, then selling them.

“My dad is always looking for a new spot. His realtor has looked at properties in every city I’ve lived in and seen vacant places and asked if I wanted to do something with it,” he said.

The 5,700-square-foot Belfair Street building that once was home to other Mexican restaurants over the years had been vacant for a couple years.

The Avelars made an offer and then

Learning the business

The shop has nine employees, who are staying on as Bishop and Pierson take over. The spudnut memorabilia on the walls is staying put, and so are the colorful decorations that Driver and her crew put up around holidays, such as the bunnies, flowers and Easter eggs that recently brightened the shop.

They’ll still be owned by Driver, but Bishop and Pierson will be able to use them as part of the deal for the shop.

The men say they see opportunities for optimization and for modernization, such as updating the point-of-sale system to allow for options like Apple Pay. They may also bring the Spudnut Shop to social media, as another example.

But, for now, their top priority is learning the business – from the processes, to the vendors, to who to call when a piece of machinery breaks, to the art of spudnut-making itself.

After the property sale went through, Avelar’s dad suggested he take longtime employee Figueroa under his wing to realize his ambition of owning his own restaurant.

“I’m just here to kind of bridge it,” Avelar said. “I’m the one with the business experience, I’m the anchor. I crunch the numbers on ingredient cost and portioning to help bring to life what Jackie and Marvin envision.”

He said Crepe Haus + El Compadre is his 10-year plan. He hopes the food philosophies the team brings to the table will help open the door for others who champion similar values to gain a foothold in the Tri-City food scene.

Those looking for entertainment with their meal can drop in from 8-11 p.m. Fridays for family-friendly karaoke.

search Crepe Haus + El Compadre: 2100 N. Belfair St., Kennewick. Contact: 509-396-9526; Crepehauswa. com; Facebook; Instagram.

“Mike has the best (explanation),” Pierson said. “He says, ‘I want to get to a point where I can make a set just like my bakers can make. If I can make a full dough all the way to a spudnut and nobody can recognize the difference, then we’ve got ahold of this area of the business. We’re both invested in knowing every part of this business.”

Another 75 years

Bishop and Pierson recently sat in a back booth at the Spudnut Shop, talking about the past and the future. A banner hung on the wall, celebrating the recent 75th anniversary.

The weight of that history – that legacy – isn’t lost on them. They embrace it and cherish it as they look ahead.

“We’re excited about the opportunity and grateful for the opportunity. We’re hopeful for continued community support and growth with this business,” Bishop said.

“Now,” Pierson added, “there’s a whole other generation, a whole other couple of families, that are able to carry this on.”

BENTON, From page 5

SPUDNUTS, From page 7

CREPE HAUS, From page 11

Revamped planetarium helps community understand universe

By Sara Schilling sara@tcjournal.biz

It’s dark in the theater, except for the 36-foot hemispherical dome suspended from the ceiling that projects an image of a blue sky with bright white clouds.

A woman in a crisp uniform appears on video.

“Greetings from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas,” says Richland High School graduate and NASA astronaut Kayla Barron. “...If you’re here at the Columbia Basin College planetarium, you’re clearly curious about what lies beyond our home planet. This is a fantastic place to feed that curiosity, learning about our solar system and the vast universe beyond.”

The video featuring one of the Tri-Cities’ most famous scientists and adventurers plays for visitors at the CPCCo Planetarium at the Pasco college. It’s one of several new features at the facility, which has reopened after a two-month break for upgrades, including new projection and lighting systems in the theater and a revamped lobby that now has learning elements.

“We’re incredibly grateful to our partners who made this hap -

pen,” said CBC President Rebekah Woods. “These kinds of things don’t happen alone.”

Those partners include Central Plateau Cleanup Company, or CPCCo, which is donating $350,000 over

10 years for the planetarium, and HAPO Community Credit Union, whose $150,000 donation is covering the upgrade of the lobby. The college’s facilities team also painted and made some other updates as part

of the project.

Bechtel was the planetarium’s founding sponsor.

Creating an experience

The facility first opened in 2012, and it’s welcomed more than 147,000 visitors since then, including community members, area school children and CBC staff and students. It offers public shows on alternating Fridays and Saturdays, and it’s a popular field trip destination, with more than 44% of those total visitors being students in preschool through high school.

The upgrade included replacing the old 2K projection system with a 4K system, which makes for brighter images and better contrast. The lighting system also got an overhaul.

“Our old system had LEDs around the dome itself, but they were all or nothing — one color or another. With the new system, each bank of LEDs is programmable, so we can put a rainbow up on the dome, make lights chase each other. It adds to the experience of the whole thing,” said Erin Steinert, director for the planetarium and observatory.

A typical presentation lasts about

uPLANETARIUM, Page 16

Photo by Sara Schilling

NASA astronaut and Richland High School graduate Kayla Barron appears in a new video shown to visitors at the CPCCo Planetarium at Columbia Basin College in Pasco.

Longtime DJ, audio services business spins into new hands

By Kristina Lord kristina@tcjournal.biz

The new owner of Sight and Sound Services already has mapped out his succession plan, even though he only bought the business a few months ago.

Marty Mielke purchased the longtime DJ and entertainment services business based in Kennewick from Bob Kreider at the beginning of the year.

Kreider, 71, launched Sight and Sound in 1984. It offers a variety of services, DJing for weddings, school dances and other events, photo booth rentals, video production, and film and photo transfer services. It also does video depositions for attorneys.

“I had a passion for it and still do, that’s why it was hard to sell it because it was kind of like giving up one of your children, you know?” Kreider said.

That’s why Mielke, 57, of West Richland, is letting Kreider stay on as long as he’d like.

“He still has a key to the office. He has access to everything he has acquired for his whole life. And I’m not about to take that away from him until he’s ready to walk away,” Mielke said. “It’s his happy place.”

Future successor

Another fixture at the Kennewick shop is Mielke’s son, Freddy.

The 9-year-old, who attends Wiley Elementary School in West Richland, likely will be ready to take over the business when he’s grown up, judging from his enthu-

siasm for entertaining an audience –he recently sang a Backstreet Boys song for his school’s talent show.

“He loves video editing, he loves DJing, he just loves music and dance. And he is in third grade now, so by the time I’m ready to retire, he’s going to be old enough, and he’s going to already know how to

do this stuff. So the goal is for now to be around for the next 70 or 80 years,” Mielke said.

On the same beat

Mielke hired Kreider for his daughter’s wedding in 2015. The two chatted and Kreider learned Mielke also knew his way around a microphone.

Mielke was a DJ in Yakima for years. Soon after, he began DJing for Kreider. He also opened Marty’s Mobile Music in 2016. But, he said, as the new guy in town, he only got a handful of jobs.

At first, Mielke wasn’t sure he wanted to take on the responsibility of Kreider’s bigger operation, but he saw the potential and wanted to preserve the business’ legacy.

“All these people, wherever we went, we’d walk in, and everybody’d go, ‘Hey Bob.’ Everybody knows him by name. They know him by reputation, and I thought, you know, I’d hate to see that business just fold up and be gone,” Mielke said.

Mielke took out a small loan from HAPO Community Credit Union and tapped into his savings to buy the business. Terms weren’t disclosed but he said the investment

uSIGHT AND SOUND, Page 16

Photo by Kristina Lord Freddy Mielke, 9, of West Richland, center, is comfortable with a microphone and on a stage. His dad, Marty Mielke, right, hopes his son will take over the family business someday. He recently bought Sight and Sound Services in Kennewick from Bob Kreider, left.

At this Kennewick bakery, a taste of home – and a dream realized

By Sara Schilling sara@tcjournal.biz

When Adnan Al Hayyawi moved to the Tri-Cities from his native Iraq nearly eight years ago, he missed the tastes of home.

The sweet, flavorful pistachio baklava.

The fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth samoon bread.

The zesty meat and vegetable pizzas and the shish kebabs.

He doesn’t have to miss them anymore.

Al Hayyawi and his wife, Thekra Jasmin, opened Somer Bakery at 5601 W. Clearwater Ave., Suite 111, in Kennewick last summer.

The bakery – offering breads, sweets, dips, pizzas and other fare from Iraq and the Mediterranean – fills a hole in the local market. And it helps Al Hayyawi and Jasmin feel connected to their past and to their home country as they build a new life and chase their dreams in the Tri-Cities.

“We’re trying to produce something good for the Tri-Cities,” Al Hayyawi said. “Many customers, they try our bread (once) and then every day they come back. Every morning, I make it fresh. Everything here is fresh. We’re trying to do something for our community. We hope we will succeed.”

They certainly have the culinary chops.

Al Hayyawi worked in his cousin’s bakery for many years before moving onto other jobs and Jasmin “has the magic touch” in the kitchen, in the words of her husband.

They’ve been married for 19 years.

In Baghdad, Jasmin was a middle school history teacher and Al Hayyawi worked for the Ministry of Education and helped the American military as an interpreter. That latter job even-

tually meant it wasn’t safe for him or his family to stay in Iraq.

In 2015, Al Hayyawi, Jasmin and their three kids, who are now in middle and high school, began their refugee journey to the United States and, ultimately, the Tri-Cities. It was difficult to start over in a new place, so far from home, they said.

Al Hayyawi worked small jobs at first and then was hired by Lamb Weston. As he and Jasmin and their kids began to settle into their new home, a dream started to take root.

Al Hayyawi and Jasmin noticed that while there were many bakeries in the Tri-Cities, there wasn’t one selling the kind of food they could offer. They decided to take the leap.

Somer Bakery opened last August. Its name is a nod to one of the world’s first civilizations, in what’s now Iraq.

Al Hayyawi and Jasmin are at the bakery every day, making their bread, baklava, cakes, hummus, baba ganoush, tabouleh, pizza and other sweet and savory items. Their children, Dalia, 18, Daniah, 16, and Hussaein, 12, also sometimes help out.

The bakery also offers strong, rich Turkish coffee, and it has some grocery store items, from spices to nuts and more.

Somer Bakery has a loyal following, and it’s not uncommon to see Al Hayyawi or Jasmin warmly chatting with customers-turned-regulars as they serve up treats or otherwise attend to the customers’ needs.

At the bakery, they make and serve their food with love and “we focus on quality,” Al Hayyawi said. “There are a lot of bakeries in the U.S., but our bread, our sweets – they’re different because of our quality.”

Al Hayyawi and Jasmin seem excited about the future they’re building

in the Tri-Cities. Almost eight years after they first landed here, they’ve managed to create a place that offers a taste of their old home in their new one.

Their children are doing well in school and thriving, with Dalia applying to college, Al Hayyawi said with obvious pride.

“It wasn’t easy (to leave Iraq), but

we were thinking about our kids. We (left) for them and we are working to help our kids have a better life,” Al Hayyawi said. “We are very, very proud of our kids. We are very proud of ourselves. We started here from zero and now we have this business.” search Somer Bakery: 5601 W. Clearwater Ave., Suite 111, Kennewick; 509-820-2146; somerbakerywa.com.

Photo by Sara Schilling

Adnan Al Hayyawi holds a tray of pistachio baklava in his Somer Bakery at 5601 W. Clearwater Ave., Suite 111, in Kennewick. The bakery offers a taste of home for Al Hayyawi.

has already paid off.

“I’ve actually been the owner now for about three months, and I have actually already recouped my total investment as far as my funds that I put out of my pocket. That’s how busy this business is,” Mielke said.

He wants to turn Sight and Sound into an inclusive shop for weddings. The one service missing from its offerings is photography, which Mielke plans to rectify soon.

“Then it becomes a one-stop shop

an hour.

“The first part is live. That’s where we’ll use our software and projectors to show the night sky and talk about where to find planets and stars and constellations. We talk to the audience about astronomy news and give them the chance to ask questions,” Steinert said.

The second half includes a fulldome film from the planetarium’s inventory. Most focus on astronomy, although other science-related topics also are available — from cells to volcanoes.

The theater also is able to stream events such as shuttle launches, depending on the timing.

The immersive experience makes

for all your needs for a wedding, as far as audio-visual goes,” he said.

Sound business

Kreider, 71, said selling the business allows him to spend more time with his wife and family. He said working as a DJ for weddings and high school dances kept him young.

“I keep up with all the current popular songs and still rock a school dance like I’m a teenager,” he said.

Kreider said the pandemic hurt the business with all the event and venue shutdowns. “I probably had

astronomy — with its enormous scale that’s measured in millions or billions of miles or lightyears — easier to process and understand, Steinert said.

And that’s important because astronomy and space are worthy of exploration.

“Humans are wired to want to go out there and learn more about the universe around us,” Steinert said. “This facility helps us to do that.”

A STEM focus

Before visitors head into the theater, they pass through the HAPO Learning Lobby. The remodel saw learning elements added, including wall wraps and photo/text panels on the sun, planets and other celestial

no income for almost 18 months,” but he was able to get a forgivable loan through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, which he said helped immensely.

Kreider didn’t intend or plan to have such a long career in the entertainment business. He DJed on the weekends while working full time in construction, but after five years, he launched the business full time.

“I just thought it’d be kind of a cool thing and didn’t realize where

bodies. The panels have information in both English and Spanish.

The lobby also has an area with interactive activities for kids.

Part of the goal of the planetarium is to stoke interest among young people in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math — and to get them excited about learning, imagination and exploration in general. The next Kayla Barron could be sitting in the audience, taking in the heavens projected overhead and dreaming of visiting them someday.

The planetarium also aims to share the wonder of science and the cosmos with the community as a whole.

John Eschenberg, president of

it would lead me or anything else. And, after I got into it for a few years, why it just seemed to continue to work out well and so consequently, I just never stopped,” Kreider said.

Mielke plans to continue Sight and Sound’s legacy. “This is a business that’s worthy of sticking around for a long time,” he said. search Sight and Sound Services: 6201 W. Clearwater Ave., Suite D, Kennewick; 509-735-8433; videoanddj.com.

CPCCo, recently got a look at the remodeled planetarium.

“It’s a multimodal learning system,” he said, sitting in the learning lobby after a glimpse of a theater presentation. “It’s a wonderful venue for teaching and learning.”

His company, which is a prime contractor for Hanford cleanup, is invested in helping build the workforce of tomorrow, as legacy employees retire and demands grow, he said. And it’s invested in the community, he said.

“We are over the moon at the opportunity to sponsor (the planetarium),” he said. “It’s just part of our commitment as a member of a growing community to give back in some small way.”