6A — THE OBSERVER
TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2021
STATE
Without power for 12 days
Couple get by with
help from neighbors,
a wood stove and
meatloaf
California Department of Fish and Wildlife via AP
This February 2021 photo shows OR-93, the young
male wolf that has been traveling near Yosemite Na-
tional Park, the farthest south a wolf has been tracked
in California in more than a century.
Wolf tracked near
Yosemite park for
fi rst time in century
BRIDGEPORT,
Calif.— A young male
wolf has been traveling
near Yosemite National
Park, the farthest south a
wolf has been tracked in
California in more than a
century, offi cials said.
Researchers have
been monitoring the wolf
dubbed OR-93 via his
tracking collar and said the
animal departed Oregon
earlier this year, likely in
search of a new territory,
the San Francisco Chron-
icle reported Sunday.
After trekking through
Modoc County and
crossing state highways 4
and 208, OR-93 recently
moved into Mono County,
just east of Yosemite, the
newspaper said.
“Given the time of year,
we assume OR-93 has
traveled such a long way in
search of a mate,” Center
for Biological Diversity
wolf advocate Amaroq
Weiss said in a statement.
“I hope he can fi nd one.”
Previously, the farthest
south a gray wolf was
spotted in recent decades
was the Lake Tahoe Basin,
according to the Chronicle.
That wolf, OR-54, eventu-
ally headed back north.
Earlier this month,
another male wolf, OR-85,
was tracked to Califor-
nia’s Siskiyou County, just
south of the Oregon state
line.
Gray wolves were erad-
icated in California early
in the last century because
of their perceived threat to
livestock. Their reappear-
ance in the state has riled
ranchers, who say wolves
have preyed on their live-
stock on public or private
land.
Wolves are protected
under California’s Endan-
gered Species Act. Trump
administration offi cials in
November stripped Endan-
gered Species Act protec-
tions for gray wolves in
most of the U.S., ending
longstanding federal safe-
guards and putting states
and tribes in charge of
overseeing the predators.
“We’re thrilled to learn
this wolf is exploring deep
into the Sierra Nevada,
since scientists have said
all along this is great
wolf habitat,” Weiss said
of OR-93. “He’s another
beacon of hope, showing
that wolves can return
here and fl ourish as long
as they remain legally
protected.”
— Associated Press
By JAIMIE DING
The Oregonian/OregonLive
BEAVERCREEK — Bill
and Karen Johns were not
able to shower for 12 days.
The two went without
electricity after the snow
and ice storm three week-
ends ago knocked out
power to more than 420,000
Portland General Elec-
tric customers in northwest
Oregon at various points —
nearly half of the compa-
ny’s customers.
Like many of the homes
in their small unincorpo-
rated area of Clackamas
County, the couple depend
on electricity to pump
water from their well. No
water means no showers,
using only bottled water for
drinking and cooking, and
fl ushing the toilet using jugs
of pond water from gen-
erous neighbors.
The couple, who live
in Beavercreek outside
Oregon City, were among
the more than 6,000 homes
and businesses still without
power Feb. 23 in the region
as electrical crews work
around the clock to bring
the lights back on.
As of last week, PGE has
restored about 389 miles
of transmission lines and
brought power back to thou-
sands of homes and busi-
nesses. They fi xed more
than 9,800 wires down, 775
transformers and 686 poles.
The company reported
restoring more than
700,000 customer outages
total, which includes cus-
tomers who may have had
more than one outage.
But this last stretch is the
hardest.
Just down South Larkin
Road from the Johnses,
PGE crews were moving
Oregon to reconsider coyote-hunting
derbies, drawing one lawmaker’s ire
By STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
SALEM — A bill out-
lawing coyote-killing con-
tests has made its way back
to the Oregon Legislature.
Oregonians can hunt
coyotes year-round, and
current regulations do not
limit the number of coyotes
hunters can kill.
Rep. Mark Owens,
R-Crane, said coyotes are
predators that affect the
livelihood of ranchers. He
said the hunting contests
are one way to keep the
populations down. Owens
said, in the past, the state
has put bounties on coyotes.
Owens said doing away
with coyote derbies takes
away an economic oppor-
tunity for the communities
in his district. When a coy-
ote-hunting contest comes
to Burns, he said some
restaurants, bars and hotels
“It’s wrong that we allow people
with a different moral view of
subjects in rural communities to
pass laws against them.”
— State Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane
make just as much money
as they would during the
biggest weekend of the year
at the fair and rodeo.
Owens said the bill’s
chief sponsor, Brad Witt,
D-Clatskanie, has a “pas-
sion” to get the legislation
through and said incen-
tivizing coyote hunts is
“immoral.”
Owens said he has sat
down with Witt a couple of
times and told him that he
thinks he is wrong.
Owens said it would
“take a lot” to stop the bill
from going through.
“We’re not going to get it
stopped,” Owens said.
Owens said this is
another example of the
west side of the state
attempting to legislate on
rural matters they are unfa-
miliar with.
“It’s wrong that we
allow people with a dif-
ferent moral view of sub-
jects in rural communi-
ties to pass laws against
them,” he said. “It seems
like a majority of Oregon,
over the last decade, have
passed laws that allow for
more custom and culture,
and personal choices to be
acceptable.”
Enjoy Life
more,
Stress Less
at
GRANDE
Ronde
Retirement & Assisted Living
1809 Gekeler Ln.
La Grande
541-963-4700
PROTECTING our
Residents during this
Pandemic
Sean Meagher/The Oregonian
Beavercreek residents Karen and Bill Johns pose recently for a photo in front of the wood
stove in their living room, the lone source of heat amid a power outage that lasted nearly
two weeks following a storm.
from pole to pole to replace
blown fuses and re-energize
power lines.
One crew on nearby
South Beavercreek Road
started at 6 a.m., said Rich
Johnson, a line manager
for PGE in charge of all the
crews in the area.
Crews have been
working 16 to 18 hour days
since the start of the out-
ages, and “the days are
starting to run together,”
Johnson said.
A main transmission line
carries power through the
Beavercreek area, but tap
lines that shoot off the main
line serve only handfuls of
residents.
Each damaged tap line
— thousands in Clack-
amas County alone — must
be individually repaired,
Johnson said. A blown fuse
may take 45 minutes to fi x,
but a downed pole can take
an hour or two and a broken
transformer even longer.
Beavercreek was hit
especially hard by trees that
fell and damaged power
lines, Johnson said. He’s
seen large trees split in half,
uprooted trees and even a
whole front porch broken
off a house because of the
weight of snow and ice.
“This is by far one of
the most signifi cant events
we’ve experienced within
this organization with the
number of poles and trans-
formers we’ve replaced,”
he said. “It’s something you
really can’t prepare for.”
The Beavercreek United
Church of Christ got its
power restored after fi ve
days.
The church has the only
emergency food pantry in
the area, and it’s been dis-
tributing food and hygiene
supplies, said Skipper
Maine, who’s been a
member of the church for
30 years.
Maine remembers when
the county was hit by fi re
evacuation warnings last
fall, but it’s been even more
diffi cult this time to help
people because of the lack
of power, internet and cell
service, she said.
“We had a really hard
time checking on people to
fi nd out if they even have
need,” Maine said.
As for the Johnses, they
coped with the help of their
neighbors.
“We feel lucky living out
here,” said Karen, 77. The
two have been in their home
for more than 20 years, but
this is the longest they’ve
ever gone without power.
One of their sons in
Sherwood offered to let
them come over for warm
showers, but they didn’t feel
the need, said Bill, 79.
Their wood stove keeps
their house cozy and they
can cook on it, too — even
meatloaf.
A few days after their
generator broke, a neighbor
lent them a backup,
allowing them to keep the
fridge and lights on.
“We got heat, we got
water,” Bill said.
“We can read,” Karen
said, “and we can really do
anything we want to do.”