INSIDE
FRESH GROWTH WILL HELP DEER, ELK AND UPLAND BIRDS PREPARE FOR WINTER |
November 13, 2021
OUTDOORS & REC, B1
WEEKEND EDITION
$1.50
Walking
out of
prison?
Governor meets with
prisoners one-on-one for
possible commutation
By NOELLE CROMBIE
The Oregonian
SALEM — Last month, a con-
victed felon about three years into
an eight-year prison stint found
himself face-to-face — via Zoom
— with Gov. Kate Brown.
Brown was considering com-
muting Sean Pen’s sentence for
methamphetamine possession,
allowing for his almost immediate
release.
The governor impressed upon
Pen, 33, that her decision would
come with restrictions typical for
anyone on probation. Violate them
and he’d be back in prison to fi nish
out his sentence, she warned.
In their brief conversation as
Pen sat in an offi ce at the Eastern
Oregon Correctional Institution
in Pendleton, the governor talked
with Pen about his life, his time in
prison, his plans for treatment and
what he’d learned from his experi-
ence behind bars.
Pen will walk out of prison next
week.
His commutation comes as
Brown undertakes an extraordinary
— and ongoing — eff ort to reduce
the prison sentences of dozens of
people in Oregon’s prisons.
She announced in October, for
instance, that she would review
more than 200 juvenile cases
for commutation, in some cases
making longtime prisoners imme-
diately eligible to pursue parole.
Earlier this year, she granted con-
ditional commutations to 41 incar-
cerated people who helped fi ght
historic wildfi res last year.
In the meantime, her staff con-
fi rmed Thursday Nov. 11 that
Brown has met quietly with a total
of 11 incarcerated people over the
past two months, all of them by
Zoom.
Leading advocates for reha-
bilitation, including Pen’s lawyer
Aliza Kaplan, have praised Brown
and recommended prisoners for
her consideration.
Some prosecutors and families
of crime victims have expressed
outrage at what they say is the lack
of forewarning and consultation.
The video chat with Pen fl oored
the Union County district attorney
and a longtime probation offi cer
familiar with Pen’s case. Neither
were invited to the Zoom call, and
both learned about Brown’s deci-
sion after the fact.
See, Prisoners/Page A5
Competing
interests
PUBLIC INPUT ON
POTENTIAL MERA LOGGING
PUTS PLAN IN LIMBO
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Chuck Sarrett, a forester contracted by Union County to assist with planning an upcoming logging project, speaks to a crowd of people at the Owsley Canyon Trailhead
at Mount Emily Recreation Area outside of La Grande on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021. A number of residents, including volunteers who helped create and maintain the
hundreds of trails along MERA, voiced their concerns.
By DICK MASON and
DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The time-
line for forest management
work in the Red Apple portion
of the Mount Emily Recreation
Area is being pushed back due
to the large number of people
who expressed concerns about
it at a public fi eld review on
Wednesday, Nov. 10.
Sean Chambers, parks coordi-
nator for Union County, said that
the deadline for proposals for the
project from potential bidders,
originally set for Nov. 15, will be
set back. The delay, the length of
which has not been decided, will
be used to give Union County
and its MERA advisory com-
mittee more time to consider
public input.
“I think we have work to do in
order to get everyone on the same
page,” Chambers said. “We need
to work through this so we can
do it right. We are not at a place
where everybody is in agreement
on the right path forward. We are
working toward that.”
Some who spoke at the public
forum, held at MERA’s Owsley
Canyon Trailhead and attended
by about 50 people, said they
were worried that the logging
would damage trails and won-
dered if the money raised from
the operations would be enough
to pay for repairing the trails.
Others questioned whether the
thinning work would reduce the
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Union County residents, including La Grande Mayor Steve Clements, center,
city councilors and county commissioners, on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021, attend
a fi eld review of a potential upcoming logging project at the Mount Emily
Recreation Area.
likelihood of intense wildfi re.
Chambers said he can under-
stand why there are diff ering
opinions on the MERA project.
“Everyone views forest man-
agement through a diff erent lens,”
he said.
Many people at the forum said
they did not know about plans
for the forest management work
until recently even though plan-
ning meetings open to the public
had been conducted. Some of
these people suggested that the
forest management project, which
is set to start in December, be
delayed for one or two years so
that more people have a chance to
provide input.
Chambers said that this
remains a possibility, noting all
options are still on the table.
“Some feel that this is a done
deal. It is not. We are changing as
we go,” he said.
Chambers explained that the
Red Apple area requires atten-
tion because for many years,
dating back a century, it was
managed only for timber produc-
tion and not for forest health. This
has resulted in the area being
fi lled with inferior trees that
are growing too close together.
The stands are vulnerable to fi re
because they are so close together
and are weak because they are
competing for limited water, light
and soil nutrients.
“This is not a timber har-
vest,” said Chuck Sarrett, a for-
estry consultant contracted by
Union County. “This is a salvage,
clean-up and forest health issue.”
Sarrett noted that the county
estimates a $150,000 profi t from
the project after paying off the
loggers, which will be put back
into funding for the Mount Emily
Recreation Area.
“All of the revenue that we
realize is going right back into
MERA,” he said. “It will address
weed management, trail damage
and further forest management.”
Some at the forum suggested
that forest management in the
Red Apple area be conducted in
smaller segments at a time over
several years, but Chambers said
he would prefer to do it all at
once because this would result
in less damage to trails over the
long term.
The public wants a say
A major concern that most
in attendance at the fi eld review
could agree on was not having
a say in the decision making.
Many in the audience, including
La Grande City Councilor Nicole
Howard, spoke up on behalf of
delaying the forest management
process until a full public con-
sensus can be reached.
“I just think process is really
important. I feel like a lot of the
reason people are upset is because
they feel left out of that process,”
she said. “It would be great if the
See, Logging/Page A5
Newsroom tax credit will keep a light on our democracy
HEIDI
WRIGHT
OTHER VIEWS
I
magine this page was blank
except for one question:
“What if there were no local
reporters?” That was the front-page
question posed by our friends at
Pamplin Media last week.
It’s a good question, and regard-
less of how you get local news —
by watching TV, listening to local
radio or reading a story in the
newspaper or on a news organiza-
tion’s website — it’s not hyperbole
to say communities suff er when
there is no local news coverage or
when independently owned media
companies are gobbled up by hedge
funds that gut newsrooms.
And it’s a timely question
because there is a bipartisan provi-
sion in the federal budget reconcil-
iation bill working its way through
Congress that will give media com-
panies a temporary payroll tax
credit to hire and retain journalists.
Oregon’s Sen. Ron Wyden chairs
the Senate Finance Committee
that will have a great deal of say
on whether this provision makes it
WEATHER
INDEX
Classified ......B2
Comics ...........B5
Crossword ....B3
Dear Abby ....B6
TUESDAY
Horoscope ....B3
Lottery ...........A2
Obituaries .....A3
Opinion .........A4
Outdoors ......B1
Sports ............A7
State ............ A10
Sudoku ..........B5
through to the fi nish line.
Wyden is a co-sponsor of the
bill written by Sen. Maria Cant-
well, D-Wash. Being the son of a
prominent journalist, he is a long-
time champion of a free press. In
a recent interview with the Seattle
Times, Wyden responded to a ques-
tion about the potential for some
to dislike government helping the
press. He said, “This is not the gov-
ernment putting its hand on cer-
tain types of speech. This is about
generally empowering local jour-
nalism in a big way. By the way,
there are plenty of local journalism
outlets that span across the political
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Sunday
48 LOW
59/50
Clouds, a shower
Mostly cloudy
LA GRANDE EYES SEWER REHAB EFFORT
spectrum, left, right, center, you
name it.”
On the House side, the bill was
co-authored by Rep. Dan New-
house, R-Wash., and Rep. Ann
Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., and it is
strongly supported by two key
Oregon representatives — Peter
DeFazio and Earl Blumenauer.
For anyone who follows the
challenges of media companies and
the reality of growing news des-
erts around the country, this tempo-
rary tax credit known as the Local
Journalism Sustainability Act is a
See, Tax/Page A5
CONTACT US
541-963-3161
Issue 133
2 sections, 16 pages
La Grande, Oregon
Email story ideas
to news@lagrande
observer.com.
More contact info
on Page 4A.
Online at lagrandeobserver.com