2A — THE OBSERVER
SaTuRday, OcTOBER 17, 2020
LOCAL/REGION
Daily Wyden talks infrastructure, forest management
Planner
By Ben Lonergan
TODAY
East Oregonian
Today is Saturday, Oct. 17,
the 291st day of 2020. There
are 75 days left in the year.
PENDLETON — Infra-
structure and forest man-
agement were among the
primary topics of concern
during a Wednesday, Oct.
14, virtual town hall held
by Sen. Ron Wyden for
Eastern Oregon residents.
Nick Powers, of Enter-
prise, opened the meeting
by expressing concerns
about broadband infra-
structure in rural Eastern
Oregon and the unusu-
ally high load placed on
systems due to remote
learning, telehealth and
working from home as a
result of the COVID-19
pandemic.
“The fact is we can’t
have big league quality of
life in rural Oregon with
little league connectivity,”
Wyden said.
Wyden cited the Move
America Act as a pri-
mary piece of legislation
in dealing with ailing or
insufficient infrastruc-
ture issues, such as rural
broadband.
The bill, introduced
by Wyden and Sen. John
Hoeven, R-North Dakota,
in 2019, would allow
tax-exempt bonds and tax
credits to support infra-
structure projects, such
as airports, railroads,
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN
HISTORY
On Oct. 17, 1933, Albert
Einstein arrived in the Unit-
ed States as a refugee from
Nazi Germany.
ON THIS DATE
In 1777, British forces
under Gen. John Burgoyne
surrendered to American
troops in Saratoga, New
York, in a turning point of
the Revolutionary War.
In 1814, the London Beer
Flood inundated the St.
Giles district of the Brit-
ish capital as vats of beer
ruptured, sending more than
320,000 gallons of liquid into
the streets.
In 1939, Frank Capra’s
comedy-drama “Mr. Smith
Goes to Washington,” star-
ring James Stewart as an
idealistic junior U.S. senator,
had its premiere in the
nation’s capital.
In 1973, Arab oil-produc-
ing nations announced they
would begin cutting back oil
exports to Western nations
and Japan; the result was
a total embargo that lasted
until March 1974.
In 1979, Mother Teresa
of India was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1989, an earthquake
measuring 6.9 in magnitude
struck Northern Califor-
nia, killing 63 people and
causing $6 billion worth of
damage.
In 2014, the World Health
Organization acknowledged
it had botched attempts to
stop the Ebola outbreak in
West Africa, blaming factors
including incompetent staff,
lack of information and
budget cuts.
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Powerball: $72 million
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DELIVERY ISSUES?
If you have any problems
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CORRECTION
The Observer brief
on Oct. 15, “La Grande
Police participate in
Drug Take Back Day”
incorrectly identified
the drop off location.
The correction loca-
tion for drop-off is at the
Safeway parking lot at
2111 Adams Ave.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Sen. Ron Wyden speaks during a virtual town hall at the East Oregonian in Pendleton
on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. The town hall, held virtually by Town Hall Project, allowed
residents of Umatilla, Union, Morrow and Wallowa counties to pose their questions to
the senator.
flood diversions and rural
broadband.
“In 2021, probably
one of the very first bills
will be expanding infra-
structure,” said Wyden.
“I’m going to make sure
it includes broadband and
opportunities to expand
education and health care.”
Fuji Kreider, a founder
and board member of the
La Grande-based Stop
B2H Coalition, took the
opportunity to discuss
renewable energy infra-
structure and forest man-
agement as they relate to
the proposed Boardman to
Hemingway transmission
line. She asserted that the
proposed 500-kilovolt B2H
transmission line from
Boardman to Hemingway,
Idaho, would pose severe
fire risk to the region.
Wyden emphasized
his support of renewable
energy infrastructure,
citing his intent to repeal
Wolf kill illegal, ODFW says
Baker City Herald
BAKER COUNTY —
Oregon State Police are
investigating the unlawful
killing of the breeding
male wolf from the Cor-
nucopia pack in eastern
Baker County.
The wolf died from
a gunshot wound on or
about Sept. 24, according
to OSP.
This incident occurred
northwest of New Bridge
in the Skull Creek
drainage of the Wal-
lowa-Whitman National
Forest. Forest Service
Road 7741 accesses the
Skull Creek drainage
and the wolf was found
off the 125 spur road.
That’s about 1 mile east of
Eagle Forks campground.
Anyone with information
can contact OSP Sgt. Isaac
Cyr through the Turn in
Poachers (TIP) hotline at
1-800-452-7888.
Biologists from the
Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife (ODFW)
Oregon State Police/Contributed Photo
A collared gray wolf was found shot and killed in east-
ern Baker County in late September.
trapped the wolf and fitted
it with a GPS tracking
collar in December 2018.
According to ODFW,
the breeding male and
female of the Cornucopia
pack bred for the first time
in 2019. The breeding
female is a radio-collared
wolf that dispersed from
the Pine Creek pack, also
in eastern Baker County,
and the breeding male
that was killed in Sep-
tember had dispersed from
the Walla Walla pack in
Union, Umatilla and Wal-
lowa counties.
The pair produced
three pups that sur-
vived to the end of 2019,
according to ODFW. Data
from the wolves’ collars
showed the pack used
a 162-square-mile area
in the Pine Creek and
Keating wildlife man-
agement units, with 92%
of the location points on
public land.
Student breaches Pendleton’s digital classrooms
By Antonio Sierra
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The
Pendleton School Dis-
trict is shoring up its cyber
security system after a stu-
dent gained access to its
emails and classroom plat-
forms on Monday, Oct. 12.
Superintendent Chris
Fritsch said the student
used the district’s email
system to send cyberbul-
lying messages to sev-
eral district students that
morning. The district
already was looking into
the breach when the stu-
dent hacked into the dis-
trict again to post por-
nographic material into
virtual classrooms at
McKay Creek Elemen-
tary School and Sun-
ridge Middle School in
the afternoon. Fritsch said
teachers noticed the por-
nography within a minute
and removed it from their
classrooms.
In an Oct. 13 email to
staff, Fritsch discussed
some of the consequences
the student may face.
“Police will be con-
tinuing with their inves-
tigation and working
with the District Attor-
ney’s Office regarding any
charges,” he wrote. “The
District, for its part, will
be determining the appro-
priate level of sanctions.
The District is still gath-
ering evidence as well and
will determine the appro-
priate course of action
once its investigation
and review of the facts is
completed.”
Pendleton Police Chief
Stuart Roberts identified
the student as a 13-year-old
boy, but he wouldn’t go as
far as to call the student’s
actions “hacking.”
“Frankly, it’s not overly
complex,” Roberts said.
Roberts said the stu-
dent figured out the pat-
tern to the passwords stu-
dents were issued to access
their emails and digital
classrooms. The student
then spent hours using the
pattern to make educated
guesses at what other stu-
dents’ passwords were.
Roberts said he found
out about the incidents
Oct. 12, and by the next
day, police were able to
trace the messages back to
the student with the help of
the district’s IT contractor,
the InterMountain Educa-
tion Service District. Rob-
erts said police met with
the student and his par-
ents, where he admitted
to accessing the school’s
systems.
Roberts said the dis-
trict will refer the case to
the Umatilla County Dis-
trict Attorney’s Office, but
he added the outcomes for
youths can vary.
La Grande School Board OKs contract with sheriff
By Dick Mason
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The
La Grande School Dis-
trict’s School Resource
Officer program has
received a boost.
The school board voted
Wednesday night, Oct.
14, to approve a one-year
intergovernmental agree-
ment for the program,
which has been in place at
least five years.
The program provides
the La Grande School Dis-
trict with a deputy from
the Union County Sheriff’s
Office. The deputy works
throughout the academic
year, visiting schools and
meeting with students, fac-
ulty and staff.
The school district first
had an SRO about 15 years
ago. That SRO was an
officer from the La Grande
Police Department. The
school district later had to
discontinue the program
because of financial prob-
lems before it was rein-
stated in 2015.
Robin Maillie, chair
of the La Grande School
Board, said having a
school resource officer cre-
ates a safer environment
and promotes positive atti-
tudes toward law enforce-
ment by making it possible
for students to get to know
sheriff deputies.
“They are less afraid
when they can interact and
develop personal relation-
ships (with school resource
officers),” Maillie said.
The new contract
calls for the school dis-
trict to pay the Union
County Sheriff’s Office
$39,657 for the September
to December period.
The money will be pro-
vided in two payments of
$19,828.50. The amount to
be paid in the January to
June period will be billed
at a prorated amount based
on the salary and benefits
of the deputy assigned to
the position.
The reason the Sep-
tember to December
amount for 2020 is not cer-
tain is Cody Bowen will
be the SRO for this period.
Bowen has been the school
district’s primary SRO
since 2015. However,
it is not clear if Bowen
will continue serving as
SRO in 2021 because he
is a candidate for Union
County Sheriff in an elec-
tion that will be conducted
Nov. 3. The school district
will thus be billed in the
January to June period in a
prorated amount based on
the salary and benefits of
the deputy assigned to the
position.
dozens of federal tax
breaks for fossil fuels.
“One of my first bills
will be to take those 44
energy bills that are really
monuments to yesteryear
— those energy tax laws
— and throw them all in
the garbage can and sub-
stitute the ones for clean
energy and an alternative
vision for Oregon and the
country,” Wyden said.
In addition to renew-
able energy infrastructure,
Wyden added that a com-
bination of smart forest
management and climate
science are needed to help
mitigate wildfire risks.
Wyden cited the National
Prescribed Fire Act that
he has before Congress as
a key piece of legislation
in the prevention of cata-
strophic wildfires.
Introduced in Sep-
tember, the legislation
would support pre-fire
season controlled burns
as a way to help reduce
hazardous fuels on the
forest floor and reduce the
severity of wildfires.
“Some people say the
issue is all forest manage-
ment or climate science,”
he said. “I think the two
are very much intertwined,
smart forestry policy in
rural Oregon is smart cli-
mate science policy.”
Wyden added that he
feels the recent wild-
fires throughout Oregon
and other states have
opened eyes to the severity
of threat fire poses to
communities.
“These last few months
have really been transfor-
mative in a lot of respects,”
he said. “People night after
night — for weeks — trag-
ically saw how close fire
was getting to population
centers.”
News Briefs
U.S. Bank to close
32 Oregon branches,
including a branch
in Elgin
PORTLAND — U.S.
Bank plans to close 32
branches in Oregon, most
in the Portland metro area,
including three in Van-
couver, Washington.
Nine Oregon branches
outside the Portland area
will close, including a
branch in Elgin.
The bank, which was
founded in Oregon and
based in Portland until
1997, told The Oregonian
last week that it will begin
the process of closing more
than 25% of its Portland
metro area branches on
Nov. 1.
The bank will close 26
branches in the Portland
metro area. Nine branches
will close in Portland,
including one in down-
town. The bank will also
close two branches in
Gresham, two in Hillsboro
and one in Beaverton.
The bank will be laying
off employees at the
affected branches. Evan
Lapiska, a spokesman for
the company, said that U.S.
Bank will not be com-
menting on the number
of employees losing their
jobs because many will
be allowed to reapply for
new roles within the com-
pany. Employees who are
being laid off will have the
option to remain in their
current roles until Jan-
uary, even if their branch
is closing before then.
U.S. Bank originally
announced in 2019 that it
would close 10% to 15%
of its branches nationwide
by 2021, but the company
put a pause on the plan
earlier this year due to the
pandemic. Since, the com-
pany has seen a move to
digital banking speed up,
and Lapiska said it is likely
that U.S. Bank will ulti-
mately close more than
15% of its branches as
the company responds to
the economic impacts of
COVID-19.
— The Oregonian
State forestry ends
fire season after rain
dampens area
LA GRANDE — The
Oregon Department of for-
estry announced the end of
the fire season in the North-
east Oregon District effec-
tive Saturday, Oct. 17, at
12:01 a.m.
“The last few days
have brought quite a bit
of precipitation across the
region,” according to a
press release from the for-
estry department. “While
the district is comfortable
with removing the general
fire season restrictions, it
is important to remember
that weather patterns could
change and conditions
could return to dry and
windy.”
The termination of fire
season means landowners
can begin burning in burn
barrels or yard debris
piles, though safety proto-
cols must still be followed.
A permit for burn barrels
or yard debris piles is not
required.
The Oregon Department
of Forestry does require
a permit for burning as a
result of forestry and log-
ging activities and the for-
estry department must be
notified at least seven days
prior to the ignition and
burning accomplishments
must be reported within
seven days after the burn.
The Northeast Oregon
District encompasses lands
in Union, Baker, Umatilla
and Wallowa counties as
well as small portions of
Grant, Morrow and Mal-
heur counties.
U.S. Department of
Agriculture invests
in rural counties
UNION COUNTY —
The U.S. Department of
Agriculture is investing
in rural counties to help
with economic recovery
in five rural Oregon and
Washington counties. The
USDA is investing a total
of $110,000 in the non-
profit Rural Development
Initiatives.
“Rural Development Ini-
tiatives will use the grant
to establish a program to
build the capacity of com-
munity main street organi-
zations and equip them to
serve key functions in the
local business support eco-
system,” a press release
from the U.S. Department
of Agriculture said. “This
technical assistance will
give them greater resources
and support, help them
build more productive rela-
tionships among busi-
nesses, and assist commu-
nities with implementing
economic vitality initiatives
in their downtown areas.”
The nonprofit will give
funding to five main street
hubs in Klamath, Malheur,
Umatilla, and Union coun-
ties in Oregon, and a hub in
Skamania County in Wash-
ington State.
The USDA’s Rural Com-
munity Development Ini-
tiative is providing funding
and the money can be used
for improving housing,
community facilities and
community and economic
development projects in
rural areas.
The Rural Develop-
ment Initiatives could not
be reached for further
comment.
— EO Media Group