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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 2021 | SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK Did Forest Service botch battle with fire? Records detail agency’s response to Beachie Creek Fire before blowup Zach Urness Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK Fire crews dropped 620,000 gallons of water on the Beachie Creek Fire while it was still small and confined to a remote part of the Opal Creek Wilderness. But they also went nine days without dropping any water, never used fire retardant, and didn’t engage the fire on the ground, according to U.S. Forest Service records The records, released after a Freedom of Informa- tion Act request filed by the Statesman Journal, detail the early response to a fire that stayed small for almost three weeks before exploding Labor Day night and bringing widespread destruction to the Opal Creek, Little North Santiam and nearby areas. The records bring a new level of detail to the ques- tion of whether the Forest Service could have extin- guished a fire that contributed to one of the biggest ca- lamities in Oregon history. The Statesman Journal looked at multiple records called “fire decision documents” from the earliest days of the fire, along with daily public records and infor- mation released by the Forest Service last week to cre- ate a detailed narrative. Among the findings: h After an initial attack that attempted to put the fire out, crews stepped back and didn’t drop water for 9 of 10 days from Aug. 21 to Aug. 30. h Smokejumpers, hotshot crews and a rappel team attempted to access the fire, but it was deemed beyond the “realm of acceptable risk,” leading to a contain- ment strategy. h Crews wrote on Aug. 21 that the containment strategy “is vulnerable to resource availability and to critical fire weather events (east winds for example).” h Later, the Forest Service said calls for additional The Opal Creek and a large area around it were closed due to the Beachie Creek Fire burning in a remote area of the Opal Creek Wilderness. ANDY ATKINS / SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN JOURNAL See FIRE, Page 4A Silverton teacher is first principal at online school Bill Poehler Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK A longtime educator in Silverton is the first princi- pal at a new online charter school. Miranda Pickner has lived in Silverton for 16 years and was the principal at Silverton’s Community Roots for 10 years. She was the first principal when the new Oregon Connections Academy opened Feb. 1. The new online public school was chartered under the umbrella of the Prairie City School District, a five- hour drive from Silverton. But Pickner will continue to live in Silverton where her two children attend school. “My unconventional path has taken me to a lot of amazing places, given me exposure to some phenom- enal opportunities for student growth, and I find my- self excited every day and to engage with the school on a daily basis,” Pickner said. “It’s very student-centered, very individualized. It just meets the needs of the kids and I’m excited to be part of a school that does that.” Oregon Connections Academy currently has 67 students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade and will expand to a K-12 curriculum next year. “She has a full 360-degree view on how to ensure a child optimizes their learning,” Oregon Connections academy board chair Kevin McAdams said. “Miranda is a very talented and passionate education leader who will help our students be successful in the class- room and beyond.” The new online school will be the second in Oregon utilizing the Connections Academy program. Willamette Connections Academy, which is char- tered through the Scio School District, opened in the fall of 2019 with 50 students and reached its self-im- posed enrollment cap of 2,100 students this past fall. Oregon Charter Academy, which was formerly known as Oregon Connections Academy, was found- ed in 2005 and operates from Mill City, but changed its affiliation and name last summer and now uses a different educational program. Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Oregon in March 2020, most students have attended school online at one point or another. As schools begin to reopen for in-person learning, some have chosen to continue that route. “I think what the pandemic has really brought to awareness for many families is truly understanding the unique educational needs of their child in a way that they would have never seen before,” Pickner said. Mark “Rudi” Rudolph works in his shop in Eugene producing bowls and other round objects on his lathe as “Wooden Apple Woodturning.” Rudolph has been battling the State of Oregon for unemployment benefits since early last year. CHRIS PIETSCH/THE REGISTER-GUARD Lives on hold Oregon Employment Department’s phone system frustrates those seeking benefits Miranda Pickner of Silverton is the first principal of the new Oregon Connections Academy based in Prairie City. BILL POEHLER | STATESMAN JOURNAL Originally from South Dakota, Pickner has taught at North Cheyenne Tribal School in Montana, Siletz Tribal Head Start of Newport, Sagewood School (a Waldorf school) in Bend and in the St. Paul School District. Pickner was among the group that founded Com- munity Roots as a public charter school with a Mon- tessori curriculum in 2011. She took over as principal and was in that role until 2020, when she left to finish her continuing administrative license from Univer- sity of Oregon to go along with her initial administra- tive license from Willamette University. She said the new school would differ from other Connections Academy programs as it grows. “The thing about Montessori, it’s very much about individualized education, it’s about following the child, 100% at a very core level,” Pickner said. “It’s about scientific observation and communication and building rapport and those pieces and what Connec- tions Academy is doing is the exact same thing.” Bill Poehler covers Marion County for the States- man Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@statesmanjournal.com or Twitter.com/ bpoehler. Local theaters hope patrons are ready to return to the big screen Bill Poehler Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK Jeff Mexico was cautiously optimistic as he pre- pared to reopen the doors of the Star Cinema in Stay- ton and Dallas Cinema last weekend. After being forced to close both theaters he owns in November for the second time in a year due to restric- tions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, he was hopeful people might finally be willing to venture to indoor venues to sit at a distance and wear masks for two hours to watch a movie. When Gov. Kate Brown lowered the risk level of Marion and Polk Counties a week ago, it gave movie theaters like the ones Mexico owns three days to pre- pare to reopen, if they chose to. That guidance was changed the following day so See MOVIE, Page 2A News updates: h Breaking news h Get updates from the Silverton area Photos: h Photo galleries Misty Lavallie and Niles Johanson were doing what they could to get by before the COVID-19 pandemic. She worked as a personal care provider for a woman with disabilities in Coos Bay. He worked in landscap- ing. They both had side jobs of recycling metal and for- aging for wild mushrooms to make ends meet. Like a lot of people in their early 30s, they didn’t have a large financial cushion. Since the start of the pandemic in March, they have been unable to find work and have been homeless for nearly a year with their dog, Dot. Over the past three months, they have applied for unemployment – they didn’t know they could apply for it previously – without success and have called the Oregon Employment Department thousands of times to try to get the benefits earmarked in federal legisla- tion for people in their situation. So far, all they’ve gotten is frustration with the de- partment and its phone system. “Hours and hours and hours sitting on the phone and just a busy signal and trying back,” Lavallie said. “When I did get put on hold, I would sit there for two hours on hold and they would drop my call.” A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, it hasn’t gotten any easier to reach the employment department by phone. Problems with claims that seem to be easily fixable by a short phone conversation for people like Lavallie and Johanson linger for months while people desper- ately try to reach the department without success. Oregon Employment Department acting director David Gerstenfeld said the department’s phone system – much like its antiquated computer system – was not prepared for the initial influx and continued heavy vol- ume of calls it has received since the start of the pan- demic. “Frankly our system was originally designed for really good one-on-one customer service, where if people had questions, they would call us and we would quickly answer the call and answer the issue,” Gersten- feld said. “That’s not possible when you have hundreds of thousands of claims in a week.” ‘More stressful trying to get benefits’ Salem Cinema is scheduled to begin showing four movies on March 12 after the county’s risk level was lowered in late February. PHOTOS BY BRIAN HAYES / STATESMAN JOURNAL Vol. 140, No. 12 Online at SilvertonAppeal.com Bill Poehler Salem Statesman Journal | USA TODAY NETWORK Serving the Silverton Area Since 1880 A Unique Edition of the Statesman Journal QEAJAB-07403y ©2021 50 cents Printed on recycled paper When the pandemic forced the closures of business of all kinds in Oregon and put hundreds of thousands of people out of work, the Oregon Employment Depart- ment rapidly hired hundreds more employees. Gerstenfeld said the department has expedited the training of those employees and has received assis- tance from Oregon National Guard members to spread the work of answering phones around. But training those employees on complicated claims systems – especially with new programs added every few months – takes time. People say they call the department’s phone num- bers hundreds of times each day before they finally get something other than a busy signal, and many wait for hours until they talk with someone, or the calls are dis- connected. “I can’t tell you how many times I called,” said Rudi Rudolph, a woodworker from Eugene. “I never got be- yond the busy signal.” For the past 27 years, Rudolph, 63, has worked as a
