LOCAL
MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2019
MCNARY
Continued from Page 1A
well enough through spring and
summer, but was installed in an in-
convenient location. The U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers bought the
second laser in September, which
will be mounted onto the outfall
pipe this spring.
The cost of both lasers, along
with solar panels and mounting
hardware, came to a total of about
$22,200, according to USACE biolo-
gist Tim Wik.
“The exact predation rate for
juvenile salmon at McNary Dam
can vary, but it is obvious that birds
are actively feeding in the river
near the dam at various times of
the year,” Peery said.
He said millions of juvenile
salmon are eaten along the lower
Columbia River each year.
Director of Blue Mountain
Wildlife Rehabilitation and Educa-
tion Lynn Thompkins said the
birds eating juvenile salmon near
McNary Dam likely include gulls,
cormorants and waterfowl.
“The dam slows all the fish
down, and they use the fish ladder.
It’s like having a bird feeder in our
backyard,” she said. “They ought to
hire a falconer.”
And while the Walla Walla District
doesn’t appear to be hiring a bird of
prey to scare the salmon-eating birds
THE OBSERVER — 5A
away anytime soon, it might pur-
chase a Long Range Acoustic Device
that would emit distress calls from
predatory birds and accompany the
lasers. This too, would be installed in
the spring or summer.
The Walla Walla District and
the U.S. Department of Agriculture
have an agreement which dictates
that each spring, the USDA’s Wild-
life Services group comes and hazes
the hungry birds.
The hazing includes setting off
fireworks and shotgun blanks, as
well as using boats to scare away
lingering birds, and will continue
this spring.
Studies suggest that bird abate-
ment lasers might harm a bird’s
eyes. In 2016, the University of
Washington conducted a study on
the effectiveness of lasers as bird
abatement against seagulls at fish-
eries which stated that not much
was known about how lasers might
affect the retinas of gulls.
In 2018, a researcher from Pur-
due University told NPR he was
conducting a study about whether
lasers could harm an animal’s reti-
nas, which could affect their ability
to mate, hunt and seek shelter.
“The manufacturer indicates
that it is possible that a laser can
injure a bird’s eye if it directly
strikes the retina, this is why the
lasers will not directly target birds,
instead they will move through
HOMELESS
Continued from Page 1A
Dwight Johnson, the execu-
tive director of Neighbor 2
Neighbor.
Johnson
spoke with
pride about
a man who
landed a job
Johnson interview while
staying at the
shelter in 2012. The man
was disheveled and had
nothing appropriate to wear.
The warming shelter’s lead-
ers stepped forward.
“We paid for a pair of
slacks, a haircut and new
shoes,” Johnson said.
The improved look helped
at the interview.
“He still has the job today,”
Johnson said.
The Pendleton shelter is
in its second home after ini-
tially opening near a grade
school. Johnson, a part-time
sergeant with the Umatilla
County Sheriff’s Office, said
neighbors and parents of
schoolchildren expressed
concerns that homeless peo-
ple might pose a threat and
create messes in the area.
The warming station person-
nel met with neighbors and
addressed concerns, such as
prohibiting loitering around
the shelter until 15 minutes
before opening and banning
registered sex offenders. The
warming station repeated
the outreach when it moved
to its second home in 2015.
Johnson is one of two law
enforcement officers serving
on the station’s board. He
said having two people with
police backgrounds is a plus
because they are better able
to detect and address poten-
tial problems.
The shelter operates with
volunteers and opens only
when the combination of
temperatures, wind, rain and
snow puts people outside at
risk of freezing. Guests check
in from 6:30-9 p.m., lights
out is at 10 at night, and the
wake-up call comes at 5 a.m.
Everyone must be out an
hour later.
The shelter has about six
minor incidents a year, John-
son said, ranging from argu-
ments to guests who refuse
to leave. The worst incident
occurred outside the building
when one guest knocked an-
other to the ground. No one
was hurt, but the skirmish
resulted in police arresting
one man for harassment.
Johnson said guests are
generally well behaved and
obey the shelter’s rules. He
said breaking the rules is
grounds for expulsion, and
“there is peer pressure” to
toe the line.
The Pendleton shelter
bans alcohol and drugs, but
volunteers don’t check to see
if guests are under the influ-
ence. Johnson said he does
not want the staff to have
to learn how to do this. And
rejecting those with drugs
and alcohol in their systems
Staff photo by Phil Wright
Top: Someone left behind these belongings Sunday morning in Max Square in down-
town La Grande, a popular spot for the homeless.
Bottom: Sunday morning reveals more signs of homelessness in Max Square in
downtown La Grande.
would be contradictory to the
shelter’s mission of protect-
ing people from the cold.
The shelter’s staff also
does not check to see if
guests have warrants.
Johnson said this would
be a time-consuming and
impractical process. He said
law enforcement officers
are welcome to come to the
shelter, especially if they
suspect someone of having a
warrant. He said there have
been several such arrests at
the shelter.
The Pendleton shelter
can host 28 guests and last
winter often was filled to
capacity and sometimes
beyond. Johnson said the
shelter had as many as 34
people on some nights, a far
from ideal situation.
“We had people sleeping
on the floor,” he said.
That crowding carries
a greater potential for
incidents. This season, the
shelter has a strict limit of
28 per night unless there are
extreme weather situations.
All of those using the
Pendleton warming station
must be at least 18 years
old. Families with children
receive motel vouchers.
“We do not feel it is a
healthy place for children,”
Johnson said of the shelter.
“We do not want to put them
in that environment.”
La Grande shelter. And he
and other board members
met with La Grande Police
Chief Brian Harvey to go
over concerns.
Harvey described those
conversations as productive.
He said he generally made
suggestions on how the
Union County Warming Sta-
tion could improve policies
and procedures. For exam-
ple, he said, the shelter was
tight-lipped about revealing
anything about guests. Even
if volunteers overheard
guests talk about a robbery
or sex crime, the chief said,
polices prevented them from
bringing that forward.
“Basically, I made it real
clear not to run the shelter
in a way that it becomes
a sanctuary for a criminal
element,” he said. “They
need policies to have leeway
to keep the shelter and com-
munity safe. If there’s some
reason that brought us to
come there, we want them to
be free to talk about that.”
Harvey emphasized the
La Grande Police Depart-
ment is not weighing in on
how the council should vote
on the appeal. He also said
he would like to see the
community organizations
dealing with homelessness
come together for a more
comprehensive solution.
While the Pendleton facil-
ity does not allow children,
the La Grande shelter ad-
mits families with children.
Audrey Smith, a member of
the Union County Warming
Station Board, explained the
Third Street building has
rooms individual families
can stay in.
“We like to keep families
together,” she said.
Smith noted all of the
school-age children who
stayed at the station in
2018-19 were able to attend
classes after spending a
Enjoy what matters!
Vela said the same peer
pressure dynamic for follow-
ing the rules occurred at the
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night at the shelter. If not
for the shelter, she said,
the children
probably would
have missed
school because
they would not
have eaten a
Smith
nutritious meal,
had a good
night’s sleep and been able
to clean up.
Smith said the Union
County program provides
adults with help to get them
back on their feet, and the
station recently won a grant
for two counselors to work
with guests to that end.
Volunteers at the Pend-
leton Warming Station also
strive to help their guests get
their lives on the right track.
They not only prepare them
for job interviews but help
them obtain birth certificates
and other documentation to
apply for jobs. But Johnson
said this is not the most criti-
cal objective.
“Our mission is to keep
them from freezing to death,”
he said.
The Union County station
was open each night dur-
ing its first two seasons and
would continue that plan if
it is able to open at the Third
Street location. Smith said be-
ing open every night provides
a sense of stability to guests,
which allows them to seek
services and search for jobs.
“It is hard to plan for the
future when you are always
in survival mode,” she said.
HOMELESS ARE LOCALS
Vela said the majority of
the people who have been
guests at the Union County
Warming Station have ties
to the area. The same is true
of the Pendleton warming
station. Johnson said most
guests indicate they used
to live in Pendleton or have
relatives there.
“Nobody has admitted
that they came (to town) be-
cause of the shelter,” he said.
The people with no Pendle-
ton connections often are tran-
sients on their way to another
city and rarely stay long.
“They usually move on
after about two weeks,”
Johnson said.
Whatever the La Grande
City Council decides on the
permit at the Wednesday
night hearing, warming sta-
tion supporters or detractors
have 21 days to appeal to the
Oregon Land Use Board of
Appeals.
Adelsberger said he has
not decided if he would take
that route. Since filing the
appeal, he said, there has
been a “lot of talk and things
happening” regarding the
warming station. He said
the key is to figure out the
right solution and operate
the shelter in the best way
possible.
Vela said the Union County
Warming Station Board is
ready to do whatever it takes
to open the shelter, but the ap-
peals process makes pinning
down that date difficult. If the
21-day window closes without
opposition, Vela said the work
begins on getting the place
ready, but that would be after
Christmas, and contractors
have not been willing to even
give cost estimates because of
the uncertainty caused by the
appeal.
“As soon as we can, our
doors will be open,” he said.
ANOTHER NIGHT
IN THE COLD
That Wednesday night
at the recycling center, the
homeless man hauled a
large canvas backpack con-
taining a warm sleeping bag
and a laptop computer. He
also owns a tarp, he said, but
tends to stash that where no
one would look. He said he
carries the mass of belong-
ings everywhere he goes to
protect them from theft.
He said he uses public
internet connections to com-
municate with friends and
family via social media, and
he watches YouTube before
settling in at night among
the bushes at downtown’s
Max Square.
When he wakes, he said, he
will go looking for more cans
and bottles to turn into money
so he can buy a little food. He
said he will repeat the hunt
in the afternoon, eat again,
and get ready for another cold
night under his tarp, just a
couple blocks away from the
empty building awaiting the
warming shelter.
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the area we would like to keep the
birds from,” Peery said.
He added the laser targets move
slowly to allow birds time to avoid
being in close contact with the light.
In April, according to the district,
the lasers will be evaluated.
“Project biologists will count the
number of birds that are in the
area near the juvenile fish outfall,
and the number of those birds
that appear to be actively feeding,”
Peery said.
If the lasers are effective at
warding off birds this spring, the
Walla Walla District will consider
adding them to other area dams,
according to a press release from
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
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