2A — THE OBSERVER
TuESday, NOVEmBER 10, 2020
LOCAL/REGION
Daily Nez Perce Tribe invests in conservation easement
Planner
By Ellen Morris Bishop
For the Wallowa County Chieftain
TODAY
Today is Tuesday, Nov. 10,
the 315th day of 2020. There
are 51 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN
HISTORY
On Nov. 10, 1775, the U.S.
Marines were organized
under authority of the Conti-
nental Congress.
ON THIS DATE
In 1766, Rutgers, the
State University of New
Jersey, had its beginnings as
William Franklin, the Royal
Governor of New Jersey,
signed a charter establishing
Queen’s College in New
Brunswick.
In 1919, the American Le-
gion opened its first national
convention in Minneapolis.
In 1938, Kate Smith first
sang Irving Berlin’s “God
Bless America” on her CBS
radio program.
In 1944, during World War
II, the ammunition ship USS
Mount Hood (AE-11) ex-
ploded while moored at the
Manus Naval Base in the Ad-
miralty Islands in the South
Pacific, leaving 45 confirmed
dead and 327 missing and
presumed dead.
In 1951, customer-dialed
long-distance telephone
service began as Mayor M.
Leslie Denning of Engle-
wood, New Jersey, called
Alameda, California, Mayor
Frank Osborne without
operator assistance.
In 1982, the newly
finished Vietnam Veterans
Memorial was opened to its
first visitors in Washington,
D.C., three days before its
dedication.
In 2018, President
Donald Trump, in France to
commemorate the 100th
anniversary of the end of
World War I, canceled a visit
to a cemetery east of Paris
where Americans killed in
that war are buried; rainy
weather had grounded the
presidential helicopter.
LOTTERY
Megabucks: $4.1 million
12-20-35-38-39-41
Mega Millions: $142 million
18-24-27-34-60—2 x2
Powerball: $149 million
14-16-37-48-58—PB-18 x2
Win for Life: Nov. 7
52-55-60-70
Pick 4: Nov. 8
• 1 p.m.: 2-5-4-8; • 4 p.m.: 0-2-3-7;
• 7 p.m.: 3-8-4-2; • 10 p.m.: 7-2-4-6
Pick 4: Nov. 7
• 1 p.m.: 9-0-8-2; • 4 p.m.: 1-7-3-9;
• 7 p.m.: 6-8-7-9; • 10 p.m.: 6-2-0-1
Pick 4: Nov. 6
• 1 p.m.: 5-8-0-7; • 4 p.m.: 8-9-8-2;
• 7 p.m.: 6-6-5-2; • 10 p.m.: 0-8-8-5
DELIVERY ISSUES?
If you have any problems
receiving your Observer,
please call 541-963-3161.
WALLOWA LAKE —
A long-held dream of rein-
troducing sockeye salmon
to Wallowa Lake is one step
closer for the Nez Perce
Tribe.
The tribe secured a
conservation easement in
October on the 9.22 acres
at the head of the lake and
along the Wallowa River
owned by Wallowa Lake
Lodge LLC.
“The main reason we
have wanted this ease-
ment is for protection of the
inlet for sockeye salmon
and protecting the waters
and the habitat around that
area expressly for sockeye
reintroduction and for the
fisheries,” said Shannon
Wheeler, Nez Perce Tribal
Executive Committee chair.
“The other reason — it’s
a place that’s very mean-
ingful to the tribe.”
The conservation ease-
ment covers all 9.22 acres
of the lodge grounds. It
maps out three conser-
vation zones, each about
one-third of the property.
One, around the lodge and
cabins, allows for expan-
sion of the lodge and cabins
in areas that will not impact
habitat or old-growth trees.
The second zone
includes the lodge’s
renowned lawn, shaded
by old-growth trees, and a
small wetland to the east.
Ellen Morris Bishop/For the Wallowa County Chieftain
The new conservation easement will preserve the Wallowa River’s eastern channel and
wetlands areas from future development.
Here, the easement allows
weddings, parties and gen-
eral access that will not
negatively impact the hab-
itat values of the site.
The third zone is the
wild and wet west side of
the property. It includes the
river, springs and wetlands
that provide spawning hab-
itat. This zone is designated
as an aquatic habitat and
will remain undeveloped.
The specifics will be
spelled out in a manage-
ment plan that is under
development, Wheeler said.
“For me, the easement’s
everything because it
cements together both the
reality of buying the lodge
and everybody’s hope that
the tribe would be able
to protect the head of the
lake,” the lodge’s managing
partner, James Monteith,
said.
The Nez Perce Tribe
purchased the conserva-
tion easement for about
$686,000, which was less
than the original appraisal
of $941,300. The funds will
allow Wallowa Lake Lodge
to retire most of the bridge-
loans from Craft3 Bank and
the Bank of Eastern Oregon
that helped acquire the
property in 2016.
Wallowa Lake Lodge
was constructed in 1923.
When it went on the auc-
tion block in 2015, a part-
nership of more than 100
shareholders, many of them
Wallowa County residents,
purchased the lodge for $3.1
million with the intention
of maintaining the historic
building and preserving its
natural setting.
The property had been
zoned to permit 32 homes
or 122 condominiums. Sev-
eral hotel and development
companies placed sealed
bids on the historic building
and grounds, according to
Monteith.
“The tribe worked
closely with the Lodge
ownership beginning in
2016 to design a conserva-
tion easement that would
protect land and water
resources surrounding the
historic Lodge property,”
said Ann McCormack, a
Nez Perce tribal member
and Wallowa Lake ease-
ment project leader. “With
the help of grant writer
Karen Antell and our legal
staff member, Dave Cum-
mings, fundraising began in
2018 and was accomplished
in 2020.”
The easement is part
of a growing presence of
the Nimiipuu (Nez Perce)
people in their Wallowa
County homeland. That
includes the preservation of
the Iwetemlaykin State Her-
itage site, Nez Perce partic-
ipation in management of
the county’s 1,800-acre East
Moraine property and work
restoring coho salmon, lam-
prey eels and eventually
sockeye to the rivers here.
“Our efforts will con-
tinue to interact with
the land,” Wheeler said.
“That’s where our people
are from. When the Nez
Perce people were leaving
(in 1877), one of the elders
asked people to turn
around and look at the land
because it might be the last
time that they would see
it. So any chance that we
get to come back, I see a
lot of smiling faces when
our people are there, and I
think the land smiles when
the Nez Perce are there.”
La Grande police make arrest in Sunday shooting
By Sabrina Thompson
The Observer
LA GRANDE — La
Grande police arrested
one man in connection to
the shooting Sunday, Nov.
8, that left another man
injured.
Police Chief Gary
Bell reported his depart-
ment arrested Mung Trong
Bui, 37, of La Grande, on
suspicion of second-de-
gree assault, unlawful
use of a weapon and reck-
lessly endangering another
person. Bui is held at the
Union County Jail, La
Grande.
Second-degree assault is
a Class B felony in Oregon.
Conviction for the crime
carries a mandatory min-
imum sentence of five
years, 10 months.
La Grande police
received a 911 call at
9:48 a.m. Sunday about
a disturbance between
two men on Depot Street
near Washington Avenue,
according to Bell. The
caller reported there had
been one or more gunshots.
Members of La Grande
police, Oregon State Police
and the Union County Sher-
iff’s Office responded. Bell
reported the investigation
determined Bui and Long
Duc Truong, 40, of Port-
land, met Sunday morning
in front of TT Nails, a salon
at 108 Depot St. The two
men know each other and
“have a history of disagree-
ment,” according to Bell,
and during the meeting
Bui fired a small caliber
handgun, striking Truong
in the leg.
An ambulance took
Truong to Grande Ronde
Hospital, La Grande,
which transferred him to
an out-of-area hospital,
Bell reported, but he did
not have information about
Truong’s condition.
Police blocked off
Depot Street near Wash-
ington Avenue for a
number of hours during the
investigation.
Bell also said the inves-
tigation is ongoing and
any witnesses or others
with information about the
shooting should contact the
La Grande Police Depart-
ment Investigations Section
at 541-963-1017.
Sabrina Thompson/The Observer
The La Grande Police Department, Union County Sheriff’s
Office and Oregon State Police investigate a shooting Sun-
day morning, Nov. 8, 2020, in La Grande on Depot Street
near Washington Avenue. La Grande police Sunday after-
noon reported arresting one man in connection with the
shooting.
Law enforcement boosts training Pendleton recements Confederate history
Digital simulator offers practice for dangerous encounters
By Samantha O’Conner
Baker City Herald
BAKER CITY —
Police need to be pre-
pared for anything.
To that end, mem-
bers of the Baker County
Sheriff’s Office and other
local agencies, in collab-
oration with the Oregon
Department of Public
Safety Standards and
Training, used a digital
simulator Wednesday
afternoon, Nov. 4, to hone
their skills in scenarios
focusing on the use of
force and techniques to
calm potentially harmful
situations.
The Range 3000
system was set up in the
former Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation
maintenance station on
South Bridge Street in
Baker City.
Baker County Under-
sheriff Jef Van Ars-
dall said the main take-
away from the scenarios
was how fast things
can happen during an
encounter.
Among those partici-
pating were deputy Eric
Colton and the sheriff’s
office’s newest patrol
deputy, Matt Rosin, along
with Lt. Ryan Downing
and deputy Rich Kirby of
parole and probation.
Colton and Rosin
stood before a large video
screen that displayed sce-
narios. They spoke to the
people on the screen as
though they were having
a real encounter during
their work.
Kirby and Van Arsdall
controlled how the situa-
tion played out, including
Samantha O’Conner/Baker City Herald
Members from the Baker County Sheriff’s Office used a
digital simulator Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2020, to practice in
situations involving the potential use of force.
having the simulated
subjects react — either
aggressively or cooper-
atively — based on how
the deputies responded.
They also judged how
the officers handled the
circumstances.
In one scenario, Colton
and Rosin responded to
a trespassing complaint.
Colton recognized the
male suspect was intox-
icated. And although the
man grabbed a brick,
Colton did not unholster
his pistol.
Colton explained
because Rosin was there
to help, he didn’t feel it
was necessary to draw his
gun to handle the suspect.
During another sce-
nario, Colton and Rosin
responded to two shooters
— one shooter behind
hostages and a second
shooter hiding among
them.
“This is a bad situa-
tion,” said Kirby, who
also is an instructor in
tactics.
Kirby also noted
people have different
reactions in traumatic
situations. Although the
person who might have
been a second shooter
didn’t fall to the ground
when shots were fired,
that could mean the
person wasn’t a shooter
but an innocent hostage
who was too frightened
to move.
Colton and Rosin’s
final scenario involved a
home visit.
The first man was
compliant but his friend
was aggressive, embold-
ening the first and
causing the situation to
go south.
Colton said if the
friend had gone out as he
was instructed, he would
have followed to speak to
him calmly.
By Antonio Sierra
East Oregonian
PENDLETON —
The city of Pendleton is
keeping one old feature of
Southeast Byers Avenue
during its reconstruction.
For the past several
months, city contractors
have been working on the
$1 million effort to rebuild
and widen the crumbling
street. The city also is
making an effort to pre-
serve a set of historical
relics on the street: side-
walk stamps that go back
to the time when several
Byers cross streets were
named after figures from
the Confederacy.
Public Works Director
Bob Patterson said con-
tractors are removing the
stamps then reinstalling
them to placing them with
new stamps while redoing
sidewalks.
The stamps, etchings
made into sidewalk cor-
ners that denote the street’s
original name, are in the
city’s older residential
areas, such as Byers and
the North Hill. Following
World War II, the city
changed many of its street
names, but the stamps
remained.
In the late 19th century,
several streets intersected
this section of Byers.
Those streets were named
after prominent Confed-
erate figures, including
Robert E. Lee, Stonewall
Jackson and Jefferson
Davis.
Despite never being
a slave state and staying
loyal to the Union
throughout the Civil War,
Black exclusion laws sur-
vived Oregon’s transi-
tion from a territory to a
state in 1859 and stayed
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A concrete block referencing Jeff Davis Street sits on the
sidewalk on Southeast 11th Street in Pendleton on Friday,
Nov. 6, 2020. The block, and others referencing the original
Pendleton street names, were removed during reconstruc-
tion of Southeast Byers Avenue.
on the books for decades
afterward.
Following the conclu-
sion of the Civil War, Con-
federate Army veterans
from Missouri and Illinois
settled in Umatilla County,
according to East Ore-
gonian archives. Nearly
all were Democrats, and
the city of Pendleton was
named after Ohio politi-
cian George Pendleton, the
Democratic nominee for
vice president in 1864 and
an opponent of the 13th
Amendment, which abol-
ished slavery.
In recent years, activ-
ists from the Black Lives
Matter movement and
beyond have questioned
why monuments, struc-
tures and institutions con-
tinue to commemorate fig-
ures from the Confederacy.
They argue these com-
memorations aren’t just
neutral markers of history,
but instead enduring sym-
bols of white supremacy
and the Lost Cause
ideology.
The street stamps along
Byers are being preserved
at the direction of Pend-
leton Historic Preserva-
tion Commission, a four-
member body tasked with
identifying, preserving and
promoting historic prop-
erties. Commission Vice
Chair Kate Dimon said
the group talked about the
best way to preserve the
sidewalk stamps but also
touched on the politics of
trying to preserve them in
2020.
Dimon said the com-
mission’s mission is to
preserve history, regard-
less of what it depicts. As
an adjunct professor at
Clatsop Community Col-
lege in Astoria, Dimon
said she warns her students
about politics interfering
with the work of historic
preservation.
“We have nothing left
but to preserve,” she said.
“People die, but old trees
don’t, or old stones don’t,
or pavement (doesn’t).
That’s really important, I
think, and I’m standing by
that commitment.”