Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 11, 2020)
2A | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2020 Turnout Continued from Page 1A Marion County Clerk Bill Burgess on Tuesday afternoon couldn’t give a number of how many voters walked into the clerk’s election office down- town on Election Day to vote, but said “the flow keeps coming.” Burgess said some people had to wait to enter the voting room to main- tain social distancing, but they were serviced quickly. By mid-afternoon, he said, the coun- ty had 73% returned ballots, with 155,000 ballots submitted at that point. There can sometimes be a surge just before the ballots close at 8 p.m., but he said they were ready for anything. At this rate, he said, there’s a good chance the rate would surpass 80%. COVID-19 has prompted people across the country to reevaluate voter access and look to more vote-by-mail and early voting options to ensure their vote is counted in a contentious presi- dential race. Priscilla Southwell, longtime politi- cal science professor at the University of Oregon, said this presidential race has been so politicized the past few years — multiple Supreme Court ap- pointments, an impeachment, etc. — that stakes are high for people on both sides of the aisle. | APPEAL TRIBUNE “Politics has just been underscored three or four times and so that does make people pay (attention) — even if they’re discouraged and disenchanted often with politics,” she said. Activism around voting this year also has been intense. Over the past few months, celebri- ties, local campaigns and sports teams have been pushing people to register to vote, and to cast their ballots ahead of time if possible. Social media has been flooded with efforts to capture new or previously disinterested voters. Youth voters age 18 to 29 have shown up in record numbers, with more than 10 million voting early as of Monday, according to data from the CIRCLE re- search center at Tufts University in Massachusetts. But Southwell said she wasn’t con- vinced youth voters who registered will, in the end, have voted at the high rates many expected. In Oregon, there aren’t many high-profile races outside of the presidential race, and trends show first-time voters who aren’t en- thusiastic about presidential candi- dates are more likely to wait until they are. Reporter Natalie Pate contributed to this story. Contact reporter Jordyn Brown at jbrown@registerguard.com or 541-338- 2203, and follow her on Twitter @the- jordynbrown and Instagram @regis- terguard. Commission Continued from Page 1A equipment is passing by a 2-1 margin in early returns. Keizer’s vote on adopting a new home rule charter is Detroit Continued from Page 1A age has been done to the rest of the water distribution system – much of which was only a few years old – and if there are harmful compounds in the water. Residents returning to Detroit After the wildfire destroyed about 250 buildings in the idyllic lakeside resort community, restoring water is one of the most important tasks that needs to be ac- complished. “We actually have people moving back, some of them just because they want to, some of them because they’re being housed by the insurance company,” Trett said. “They had to move back, even when we told the in- surance they don’t have water. And then the Red Cross is beginning to stop keeping people in hotels and rent- als and people are anxious. A lot of people who still have homes, they still can’t clean them. It’s our high priority.” Marion County has been supplying potable water at the city park from noon to 4 p.m. as a short-term solu- tion, but water needs to flow for the city to become via- ble again. In other cities that have dealt with the aftermath and rebuilding after wildfires, water quality has been a significant concern. After the Camp Fire hit Paradise, California in 2018, the city had no residents for months and didn’t run its water treatment for nearly six months after the fire. Then when it did, it found significant amounts of benzene, a volatile organic chemical, in parts of the Due to the holiday, our offi ce hours and obituary placement times may vary. Please contact us at 503-399-6789 or Fax: 503-399-6706 Email: sanews@salem.gannett.com Web site: www.SilvertonAppeal.com Staff News Director Don Currie 503-399-6655 dcurrie@statesmanjournal.com Advertising Westsmb@gannett.com Classifieds: call 503-399-6789 Retail: call 503-399-6602 Legal: call 503-399-6789 Missed Delivery? Call: 800-452-2511 Hours: until 7 p.m. Wednesdays; until 3 p.m. other weekdays To Subscribe Call: 800-452-2511 $21 per year for home delivery $22 per year for motor delivery $30.10 per year mail delivery in Oregon $38.13 per year mail delivery outside Oregon Deadlines News: 4 p.m. Thursday Letters: 4 p.m. Thursday Obituaries: 11 a.m. Friday Display Advertising: 4 p.m. Wednesday Legals: 3 p.m. Wednesday Classifieds: 4 p.m. Friday News Tips The Appeal Tribune encourages suggestions for local stories. Email the newsroom, submit letters to the editor and send announcements to sanews@salem.gannett.com or call 503-399-6773. Main Statesman Journal publication Suggested monthly rates: Monday-Sunday: $22, $20 with EZ Pay Monday-Saturday: $17.50, $16 with EZ Pay Wednesday-Sunday: $18, $16 with EZ Pay Monday-Friday: $17.50, $16 with EZ Pay Sunday and Wednesday: $14, $12 with EZ Pay Sunday only: $14, $12 with EZ Pay To report delivery problems or subscribe, call 800-452-2511 To Place an Ad Published every Wednesday by the Statesman Journal, P.O. Box 13009, Salem, OR 97309. USPS 469-860, Postmaster: Send address changes to Appeal Tribune, P.O. Box 13009, Salem, OR 97309. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID: Salem, OR and additional offices. Send letters to the editor and news releases to sanews@salem.gannett.com. bpoehler@statesmanjournal.com or Twitter.com/ bpoehler Support local journalism by subscribing to the Statesman Journal. water system. It took 18 months and the replacement of miles of pipe to make the water safe to drink. “That was a big mistake,” said Rob Henry, a city en- gineer for HBH Consulting Engineers who works with Detroit. “They should have been flushing the water system and checking the VOCs as they go.” How do they pay for it? How much damage was done? Detroit won’t know how much damage was done to the water distribution system until it can get water flowing back into the pipes. Much of that damage could be underground, occur- ring when the wildfire heated distribution lines. “They will have to flush out all the debris that has accumulated in the pipes,” said Andrew Whelton, as- sociate professor for the Lyles School of Civic Engi- neering at Purdue University. “Think of flushing out a bathtub after a kid goes and plays in the mud. They’ve got to flush out all of that debris and re-pressurize it and when they re-pressurize it, they will find leaks. “They’ll have to go and shut those valves or they’ll have situations where hydrants are leaking and they’ll have to find that.” Once water is flowing again, it will take three weeks to flush the pipes and longer for the water to be tested to make sure it meets water quality standards by the Oregon Health Authority to make sure it is safe to drink. “Any drinking water we provide has to be OHA ap- proved treatment,” Henry said. Even if they don’t crack, some plastic pipes can let off harmful compounds. In many areas impacted by wildfires, such as in California, benzene has been found at harmful levels. Whelton said testing for benzene requires water to sit in the pipes for 72 hours to determine how much harmful compounds are there, though the OHA is re- quiring eight hours of stagnation. And potentially impacted pipes need to be tested repeatedly. “The theories are that benzene is produced when structures burn,” Whelton said. “Plastics decompose and it goes into the air as a VOC. Then it goes into the air as an ash. When it depressurizes, it would be sucked in. “There’s also well-established literature showing that forest fires, when you burn vegetation, it can pro- duce benzene and other VOCs.” for further details. OR-GCI0529959-01 LOCAL ADVISORS Salem Area Member SIPC Phone: 503-399-6773 passing by a 2-1 margin. It’s current charter, which was enacted in 1983, in- cludes dated language including a section that dis- criminates against people based on their sexual ori- entation. Bill Poehler covers Marion County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at obituary@statesmanjournal.com www.edwardjones.com Address: P.O. Box 13009, Salem, OR 97309 Michael Wooters Garry Falor CFP ® FINANCIAL ADVISOR South | 503-362-5439 FINANCIAL ADVISOR West | 503-588-5426 Caitlin Davis CFP ® Chip Hutchings FINANCIAL ADVISOR West | 503-585-1464 FINANCIAL ADVISOR Lancaster | 503-585-4689 Jeff Davis Tim Sparks FINANCIAL ADVISOR Mission | 503-363-0445 FINANCIAL ADVISOR Commercial | 503-370-6159 Tyson Wooters FINANCIAL ADVISOR South | 503-362-5439 Keizer Area Mario Montiel FINANCIAL ADVISOR Keizer | 503-393-8166 Surrounding Area Bridgette Justis Kelly Denney FINANCIAL ADVISOR Sublimity | 503-769-3180 FINANCIAL ADVISOR Dallas | 503-623-2146 Tim Yount David Eder FINANCIAL ADVISOR Silverton | 503-873-2454 FINANCIAL ADVISOR Stayton | 503-769-4902 OR-USW0002200-01 Billing residents for drinking water was one of the few revenue sources the city has, but it hasn’t been able to bill since the fire. Estimates are the water filtration unit Detroit is leasing will cost about $15,000 per month and the ini- tial costs of getting it to Detroit and operating is over $30,000. The city has applied to USDA for grant funding to pay for the unit. Trett said FEMA has told the city it is looking into what it can do for a permanent solution, but funding between that agency and the city’s insurance compa- ny has to be determined. Whelton said under federal law, public water sys- tems like Detroit’s are the responsibility of the state. “One issue is whether or not the state considers what happened to the city of Detroit’s water system as catastrophic. If they do, this kicks in,” Whelton said. “If they don’t, then they’re probably threading the nee- dle so they’re not responsible.” Detroit considered buying the unit it will rent from Westec, but that would have cost about $200,000. And once it was used, it would have been worth less than half of that if the city wanted to sell it. One short-term option considered was to use water treated at the plant of neighboring Idanha, which in- stalled a membrane water treatment facility a year ago. But it was estimated that could cost is $900,000 due to the necessity of a new line. The city historically took water from Breitenbush Creek to treat for its drinking water and used Mackey Creek as a secondary water source. But there was significant fire damage around Mack- ey Creek. “We’re concerned that’s not going to be a viable wa- ter source for the city for a while,” Henry said. The previous water treatment facility was on Brei- tenbush Creek, which is likely where the permanent replacement will be located. Trett said Detroit has $1 million in its insurance pol- icy that could help cover water treatment, but the city is trying to maximize the money it receives. “It’s just who’s going to pay what,” Trett said. “Then FEMA is still looking at what they could do with the permanent water treatment plant.” Bill Poehler covers Marion County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@statesmanjournal.com or Twitter.com/ bpoehler
