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SENIOR TIMES • AUGUST 2020
AUGUST 2020 Volume 8 • Issue 8
Blue bridge gets fresh coat of paint By Senior Times staff
Necessity is the mother of invention for Tri-Cities innovators Page 5
Beloved ‘Uncle Jimmy’s Clubhouse’ show put kids front and center Page 10
Right on schedule, food follows wine at Kennewick’s Columbia Gardens Page 13
MONTHLY QUIZ For whom is Dallas Road in East Benton County named? It is accessed by taking Interstate 82, Exit 104.
PLEASE DELIVER TO CURRENT OCCUPANT Senior Times 8524 W. Gage Blvd., #A1-300 Kennewick, WA 99336
Answer, Page 9
As blue bridge traffic speeds by overhead, workers beneath are cleaning and painting the metal surfaces. It’s been 25 years since the steel arch-through bridge connecting Pasco to Kennewick received a fresh coat. But don’t worry — the paint colors will remain the same — blue and gray. The 66-year-old bridge spanning the Columbia River wasn’t always blue. When it first opened in 1954, it sported green paint. This summer’s bridge work is taking place under the wheels passing above on Highway 395 so the painting project will not affect traffic. The existing steel bridge surface needs to be repainted as it is deteriorated and peeling, exposing the steel to the elements, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation. Workers are cleaning and repainting the surface to prolong the life of the Tri-City landmark. The first stage of the $8.8 million project will prevent further deterioration and preserve the steel truss elements supporting the roadway deck and the horizontal section defining the lower part of the truss. This stage is set be completed by fall 2020. The second stage involves painting the remaining steel elements of the bridge, the truss spans. It’s set to start in 2023. Go to https://bit.ly/wsdotbluebridge to see what it looks like beneath the bridge.
By Wendy Culverwell Jerry Rhoads, founder and chief executive officer of KC Help, explains how the Pasco nonprofit sanitizes donated medical equipment before preparing it for area residents who lack insurance or Medicare coverage for wheelchairs, walkers and other home medical items.
Private donation boosts Pasco nonprofit to help region’s most vulnerable By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz
A $40,000 private donation is helping a Pasco nonprofit and the people it serves stand a little taller. An unidentified supporter contributed the money to the Knights Community Hospital Equipment Lend Program, better known as KC Help, through the Three Rivers Community Foundation. The donation supports KC Help’s mission to help the most vulnerable TriCitians — people who need wheelchairs and other durable medical equipment that isn’t paid for by insurance or Medicare. It serves about 200 people each month and has exported its model across
the Northwest and to Mexico. KC Help spun out of the Tri-Cities Chaplaincy House in the mid-1990s after beginning as a group of volunteers who refitted homes to accommodate ill residents and their medical gear. Jerry Rhoads, founder and chief executive officer, said it branched into durable medical equipment when it spied a gap — insurance and Medicare wouldn’t always pay for the equipment people needed. It tested the idea with a pilot in 1996. “We were overwhelmed,” he recalled. Rhoads, who spent his career as an electrical engineer in the Navy and then uNONPROFIT, Page 14
Friends of Badger Mountain readies its new vineyard trail for a fall debut By Senior Times staff
The local nonprofit that built public trails on Badger and Candy mountains is preparing to open a new trail as it presses for a 20-mile through-trail linking Amon Basin and the Yakima River by way of Little Badger, Badger, Candy and Red mountains. Friends of Badger Mountain, which marked its 15th anniversary in June, will celebrate by opening its newest trail this fall. The Red Mountain Vineyard Trail should open by Thanksgiving, said Sharon Grant, a member of the board and spokeswoman. The newest trail follows a recent win for local hikers: The city of Richland
completed its drawn-out project to replace the uneven steps at the trailhead to Badger Mountain Centennial Preserve this spring. The project was partially completed in April 2019, leaving a steep gap in the path. For the next year, most visitors detoured around the closed section. Heartier souls scrambled the steep hillside beside the closed trail. Badger Mountain debuted in 2005, thanks to a partnership between the allvolunteer conservancy-minded nonprofit and Benton County. The team followed that up with a new trail network on Candy Mountain in 2017. uBADGER, Page 2
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