2A Wednesday, April 12, 2017 Appeal Tribune
State lawmakers push for dam safety
TRACY LOEW
STATESMAN JOURNAL
Oregon’s “high hazard
potential” dams would get
stepped up inspections
and would be required to
develop emergency ac-
tion plans under a bill in-
troduced Monday in the
Oregon House.
House Bill 3427, spon-
sored by Silverton Rep.
Rick Lewis, would require
emergency exercises to
be conducted at high-haz-
ard dams at regular inter-
vals. And it would require
the Oregon Water Re-
sources Department to
conduct periodic exami-
nations of those dams.
Under current law,
high-hazard dams are en-
couraged to have an emer-
gency action plan, Lewis
said. House Bill 3427
would require one.
“Having an emergency
action plan and consisten-
cy in safety inspections is
crucial to emergency pre-
paredness for dams that
are high hazard,” Lewis
said in a statement. “Ore-
gonians who live below or
within proximity of one of
the numerous high-haz-
ard dams in our state
should have confidence in
their level of safety.”
The U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers maintains
the public National Inven-
tory of Dams (NID) data-
base.
It classifies some dams
as “high hazard poten-
tial,” meaning dam failure
could result in the loss of
at least one human life,
and likely would result in
property or environmen-
tal destruction. Other
dams are classified as
“significant hazard poten-
tial,” “low hazard poten-
tial,” or “undetermined.”
In February, following
the crisis at Oroville Dam
in California, the States-
man Journal reported
that of the 869 Oregon
dams in the NID database,
150 are rated “high hazard
potential.”
Twenty-four of those
high-hazard dams are op-
erating without emergen-
cy action plans, docu-
ments that lay out every-
thing from inundation
Oregon’s troubled dams
Oregon considers seven
Oregon dams to be in
unsatisfactory condition:
» Big Creek Reservoir #1
(Lower) Dam, in Lincoln
County (21 feet high).
» Big Creek Reservoir #2
(Upper) Dam in Lincoln
County (56 feet high).
» Crowley Dam in Malheur
County (90 feet high)
» Willow Creek 3 in Malheur
County (110 feet high)
» Ferry Creek Dam in Curry
County (65 feet high).
» McMullen Dam in
Josephine County (33 feet
high).
ANNA REED / STATESMAN JOURNAL
The upper Big Creek Reservoir near Newport is one of seven dams in Oregon that have been
deemed “unsatisfactory” by the Oregon Water Resources Department.
maps to notification flow-
charts to emergency re-
sponse duties.
Oregon considers sev-
en high-hazard dams to be
in “unsatisfactory” condi-
tion, meaning they could
be declared unsafe if re-
pairs aren’t made.
In Marion and Polk
counties, high hazard
dams include Franzen
Reservoir, Silver Creek
Dam, Croft Reservoir and
Mercer Reservoir.
Detroit Lake in Linn
County, which supplies
Salem’s drinking water, is
a high-hazard dam. It does
have an emergency action
plan.
The House Committee
on Veterans and Emer-
gency Preparedness has
» Johnson Creek Dam in
Crook County (44 feet high).
scheduled a public hear-
ing on the bill at 3 p.m.
Tuesday in Hearing Room
E at the Capitol.
tloew@statesmanjour-
nal.com, 503-399-6779 or
follow at Twitter.com/Tra-
cy_Loew
Aurora man sentenced for hiding dad’s body
WHITNEY M.
WOODWORTH
STATESMAN JOURNAL
After he admitted to
stuffing
his
father’s
corpse in a vacuum-
sealed bag, hiding his
body in the freezer and
pocketing his father’s so-
cial security checks and
PERS
payments
for
months, an Aurora man
was sentenced to 7 years
prison April 4.
Edward Conley Fitch-
ett, 59, pleaded guilty to
second-degree abuse of a
corpse and six counts of
first-degree theft.
He was arrested in
February
after Mar-
ion County
Sheriff’s
Office dep-
uties dis-
cover the
Fitchett
body
of
Henry Conley Fitchett Jr.,
87, stashed in a freezer
next to Edward’s trailer.
Another family mem-
ber reported Henry miss-
ing on Jan. 29. Neighbors
reported last seeing Hen-
ry between August 2015
and early 2016, but Ed-
ward insisted he lived
with his father until Au-
gust 2016.
He told deputies his fa-
ther had moved in with his
girlfriend. Four months
earlier, however, he told
his landlord his father
went to live with his
brother in eastern Ore-
gon.
A local doctor’s office
last treated Henry in De-
cember 2015. In August, a
person claiming to be
Henry called the office,
said they were fine and no
longer needed treatment.
Investigators discov-
ered Henry was still re-
ceiving about $2,000 a
month in retirement
funds from PERS and so-
cial security payments.
Edward
admitted
to
spending the money on
personal
purchases
through Amazon, rent,
electricity bills and stor-
age payments.
The conflicting stories
and Edward’s admission
of theft led deputies to
serve a search warrant at
Edward’s home on the
21300 block of Hubbard
Cutoff Road NE. They
found Henry, naked and
sealed in a bag inside the
freezer.
An Oregon State Medi-
cal Examiners Office au-
topsy determined Fitch-
ett died of natural causes
in December 2015.
Edward told investiga-
tors he put his father’s
body in the fridge but de-
clined to give further de-
tails.
He was arrested and
charged with second-de-
gree abuse of a corpse and
13 counts of first-degree
theft.
In each theft count, he
was accused of stealing
more than $1,000 on at
least 13 occasions from
January 2016 to January
2017.
In a notice filed in Mar-
ion County, prosecutor
Keir Boettcher stated Ed-
ward has demonstrated a
violation of trust, was part
of an organized criminal
operation and showed a
lack of remorse. He also
identified Henry as a vul-
nerable victim and his
son’s action cause great
harm.
As part of his sentence,
Edward was also ordered
to pay for his father’s fu-
neral and to pay further
restitution. The remain-
ing charges were dis-
missed.
For questions, com-
ments and news tips,
email reporter Whitney
Woodworth at wmwood-
wort@statesmanjour-
nal.com, call 503-399-6884
or follow on Twitter
@wmwoodworth
Senate chooses osprey over meadowlark as state bird
DIANE DIETZ
STATESMAN JOURNAL
A proposal to dump the
western meadowlark in
favor of the osprey for the
Oregon state bird flew
through the Senate this
week, drawing lofty rhet-
oric from lawmakers.
“The osprey is like
Oregon,” Sen. Elizabeth
Steiner Hayward said.
“We are fierce. We are in-
dependent. We are ubiqui-
tous across our state. You
can find an osprey nesting
along any body of water in
this entire state whether
it’s urban or rural.
“You can see osprey.
They’re big. They’re obvi-
ous. They have a unique
flight patterns. They’re
fascinating to watch, and
they can engage people in
a way that a small bird —
that’s tough to see — can-
not engage people.”
Now the state bird bill,
Senate Concurrent Reso-
lution 18, awaits action in
the House, likely in May.
Sen. Fred Girod, a fish-
erman and Republican
senator from Stayton, in-
troduced the bill. He said
meadowlarks are too
small — scarcely bigger
than a robin — and not
much to see, if they’re
even around, which is sel-
dom.
The osprey, a fish-eat-
ing bird of prey, on the
other hand, has a 5-foot
wingspan, and they are
clever fishers, diving
headfirst into the water
and cleverly calculating
their target despite the
water’s misleading lens,
he said.
Defenders
of
the
meadowlark and its song,
which the Cornell Orni-
thology Lab calls a “buoy-
ant, flute-like melody,”
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and additional offices.
Send letters to the editor and news releases to
say if the state dumps the
meadowlark Oregon will
be turning its back on a
vulnerable species, which
is losing its habitat and
dwindling in numbers.
Audubon
members
point to Oregon’s cultural
history involving the
meadowlark. In 1927, the
bird-watching organiza-
tion asked Oregon school
kids to vote on a bird to
represent the state. In ad-
dition to the meadowlark,
they had the western blue-
bird, varied thrush, Ore-
gon junco, white-crowned
sparrow to chose from,
according to the testimo-
ny of a Eugene bird
watcher.
The children “rallied
around a delicate little
songbird as our state
bird,” Sen. Betsy Johnson,
D-Scappoose, said in an
impassioned defense of
the meadowlark.
But Girod said the
meadowlark was never
officially made the Ore-
gon state bird.
By fiat, governor Isaac
Patterson made it so by
proclamation. The Legis-
lature never weighed in,
he said.
“The major problem
with the meadowlark is
that it’s the state bird for
five other states. (Kansas,
Montana,
Nebraska,
North Dakota and Wyo-
ming) That’s just not the
Oregon way,” Girod said.
But Chris Thomas of
Eugene testified that sim-
ply swapping out the
meadowlark for the os-
prey “ignores and disre-
spects the rich history” of
the meadowlark’s rise in
Oregon.
“The ‘Oregon’ thing to
do would respect the past
and embrace the future,
let Meadowlark be voted
down, ratified or given
the chance to stand for re-
election as incumbent
against osprey, duck or
whatever, in a new poll of
Oregon schoolchildren,”
he said.
Audubon
chapters
across Oregon volun-
teered to sponsor a new
poll of schoolchildren to
settle the matter.
Much of the debate in
the Senate was on the sur-
face about the birds but
other issues lurked just
beneath the surface. Eng-
lish majors will be able to
spot the subtext.
“Maybe this bill is in-
dicative of the spirit of
this session when we
move to replace an iconic
herbivore with a domi-
nant carnivore,” she said.
“We offer up this gen-
tle avian friend into the
talons of a raptor with
precious little public
process,” Johnson said on
the Senate floor.
“(We) drive a dagger
through the soft downy
breast of this feathered
harbinger of spring. We
should be ashamed. ...
“We should consult the
public. Don’t validate the
caprice of possibly well-
intended individuals who
wish to replace this gentle
presence with a fierce
predator and an instinctu-
al killer who visits death
on fish from above. I beg
you to maintain the melo-
dic song of the meadow-
lark.”
Sen. Brian Boquist, R-
Dallas, said he hadn’t in-
tended to speak on the
subject but “was moved
by the rapturous speech
by my fellow colleague
about the dark-of-the-
night (legislation).”
But it’s too early, he
said. “We’re not halfway
through session. We’ll be
doing the dark- of-night
things in rules committee
around the seventh or
eighth of July.”
The decision about the
bird included public no-
tice and testimony and
followed the appropriate
process. As a Republican
in a state where Demo-
crats hold the governor-
ship, the Senate and the
House, Boquist said he
pays attention to due
process. “We know what
the railroad looks like, at
least when it runs over
us.”
Just before the vote,
Republican Girod tried to
turn his outsider status
into an asset, at least for
the sake of elevating the
osprey.
“Most of you for a long
time have had strong feel-
ings about me,” Girod told
his colleagues. “Give me
what you’ve always want-
ed to give me: Give me the
bird.”
ddietz@statesmanjour-
nal.com, 503-399-6615 or
follow at twitter.com/
diane_dietz