REGION
A6 — THE OBSERVER
TuESday, MaRcH 1, 2022
Baker City resident finds skinned coyote beside street
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
BAKER CITY — Brian
Blomster wondered what
caused the neighbor’s dog
to jump into the bushes
beside the street and later
attracted his cat’s attention.
Then he saw what it was.
And wished he hadn’t.
The carcass of a skinned
coyote was discarded atop
some shrubs beside Hill-
crest Drive just across the
street from the home, at 305
Hillcrest, where Blomster
has lived for four years.
He found the carcass
Monday, Feb. 21.
“I was freaked out
because it looked like a
dog,” Blomster said.
He called the Baker
County Dispatch Center.
Officer Rand Weaver of the
Baker City Police Depart-
ment arrived around 9:30 a.m.
He said he took the carcass to
the Animal Clinic of Baker,
where a veterinarian identified
the carcass as a coyote, not a
domestic dog.
Blomster said he’s
convinced that whoever
dumped the carcass did so
the previous night. If it had
been there on Feb. 20, he’s
certain he or someone else
would have seen it.
Blomster said that
although he’s glad the carcass
wasn’t a domestic dog, he
still is bothered that someone
would toss a dead animal
beside a residential street
rather than outside town.
“It just feels offensive,”
he said. “Why would you
do that?”
Blomster and Weaver
both said that inside the car-
cass was a surgical rubber
glove and a length of red
cord. Weaver figures the
person who skinned the
coyote wore gloves while
doing so, and used the cord
to suspend the carcass
while skinning it.
Weaver said if police
could identify who dis-
carded the carcass, the
person could be cited for
offensive littering. But he
conceded that’s extremely
unlikely to happen, absent
an eyewitness or security
camera evidence that identi-
fies at least a vehicle.
Weaver said the state
crime lab isn’t going to
try to extract human DNA
from the carcass for what is
a misdemeanor offense.
Blomster said he under-
stands that it’s improbable
anyone will be punished.
But he’s still upset about the
incident.
“It was extremely
creepy,” he said. “Why
didn’t they just leave it out
in the wild?”
Pendleton Planning Commission gives OK to 5th cannabis dispensary
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Across
several meetings in 2015,
residents and elected offi-
cials used the Pendleton
City Council to debate
whether the city should
allow legal marijuana sales.
There were points during
the debate that the council
seemed poised to ban the
practice outright.
Nearly seven years and a
couple of successful ballot
measures later, the Pend-
leton Planning Commission
approved a conditional use
permit for the city’s fifth
cannabis dispensary with
only modest opposition.
The application came
from Bimalpreet Bath, a
Walla Walla resident who
owns a small chain of
headshops. With the help
of Wave Design Group, a
Kennewick, Washington,
design firm, Bath intends
to build a 5,000-square-
foot dispensary at 31
SW Nye Ave., east of the
Hampton Inn.
Macy Griffiths, an
architect for Wave Design,
explained the building
plans and answered the
commission’s ques-
tions about the building’s
parking lot, dumpster
placement and drainage
system.
Phil Wright/East Oregonian, File
A new cannabis dispensary plans to open at this vacant lot at 31 SW Nye Ave., Pendleton, between the Social Security Administration office
and the Hampton Inn. The Pendleton Planning Commission at its meeting Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022, unanimously approved the conditional
use permit for the store.
But those weren’t the
primary concerns of the
two people who spoke
against the project at the
meeting.
Jim Swearingen said
he lives near the proposed
dispensary. He added the
site was too close to school
bus stops and would attract
unhoused residents to the
area. He proposed the city
adopt a cap to limit the
number of new dispen-
saries that could open in
Pendleton.
“I’m 100% opposed to
this,” he said.
Anthony Bowman said
he drives in the area fre-
quently and was concerned
the increase in traffic
would cause more acci-
dents, a trend that could be
exacerbated by dispensary
customers illegally con-
suming marijuana before
leaving the premises.
Given time to rebut the
dispensary’s opponents
claims, Griffiths said the
facility would be well
outside the 1,000-foot
buffer zones for schools
and the design of the
property should offer a
clean f low of traffic.
“We’ve covered all our
bases as far as the site
goes,” she said.
Commissioner Ryan
DeGrofft said he was sym-
pathetic to Swearingen’s
complaint about the dis-
pensary’s proximity to
school bus stops. But he
didn’t know of a good way
to add it into the rules
because school bus stops
frequently change based on
where children live.
In response to Swear-
ingen’s proposal about
a cannabis retailer cap,
Hull said the city’s rules
might provide a natural
limit to future growth.
The city requires all dis-
pensaries to be in com-
mercial zones and pro-
hibits their location within
1,000 feet of schools,
parks and other marijuana
businesses. Given all the
restrictions and the exis-
tence of four other dis-
pensaries, there are only a
few other patches of land
where they could establish
themselves.
The commission ulti-
mately unanimously
approved Bath’s applica-
tion. While Bath and his
associates are free to pro-
ceed with the project,
opponents could appeal the
commission’s decision to
the city council.
Morrow County ditches dispatch of Boardman Fire Rescue District calls
East Oregonian
BOARDMAN — The
Boardman Fire Rescue
District in a press release
Friday, Feb. 25, announced
the Morrow County Sher-
iff’s Office no longer dis-
patches the district to med-
ical calls.
Morrow County Sheriff
Ken Matlack informed
Boardman Fire Rescue
District Chief Hughes on
Feb. 22 about the change,
according to the press
release, due to a complaint
Donna Sherman, the emer-
gency medical services
coordinator of the Morrow
County Health District,
had with the way fire dis-
trict’s personnel provided
medical treatment to a
patient.
However, according to
the press release, neither
Matlack nor Sherman have
been willing to provide suf-
ficient details for the fire
district to investigate the
complaint.
Boardman Fire Rescue
District reported that
since March 16, 2020, it
has responded to 630 fire
calls and an additional 814
EMS calls.
The fire district requires
all full-time firefighters
to be state licensed emer-
gency medical technicians
or higher and provides 24/7
service from the Boardman
fire station, according to the
press release, with assis-
tance from volunteer fire-
fighters/emergency medical
technicians.
“The Boardman Fire
Rescue District has set and
maintained a minimum
response time of 90 sec-
onds or less for staff to be
en route to emergency calls,
from the Boardman sta-
tion,” the release stated.
“This allows the fire district
to provide the highest level
of care and assistance to
the community in times of
emergency or crisis.”
Neither the Morrow
County Sheriff’s Office nor
the Morrow County Health
District manage the fire dis-
trict. Instead, an elected
board of directors oversees
the district.
“The Boardman Fire
Rescue District is dili-
gently trying to work out
$22.7 million in upgrades coming to McNary Dam
cies to serve the public. This
is a great benefit for our com-
munities and the Nation.”
Additional funding from
the Infrastructure Invest-
ments and Jobs Act be made
available to the Walla Walla
District in fiscal years 2023
and 2024.
Hermiston Herald
UMATILLA — McNary
Lock and Dam on the
Columbia River near Uma-
tilla is in line for almost $23
million in improvements.
The U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers, Walla Walla
District, in a press release
announced it has allocated
approximately $55 million for
area dams. The federal Infra-
structure Investments and
Jobs Act, which was signed
into law in November 2021,
provides funding for the
projects.
The act allocated approxi-
mately $17 billion in funding
for Corps’ infrastructure proj-
ects for fiscal years 2022-24.
Among the 2022 projects
in the plan is $22.7 million
for work on McNary Lock
and Dam, including replacing
downstream gate gudgeon
anchors, spillway hoists and
gates, the acquisition and
installation of a second der-
the issues at hand in order
to continue to provide the
best emergency medical
care when seconds matter,”
according to the press
release. “Public safety and
patient care is our highest
priority.”
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East Oregonian, File
McNary Lock and Dam on the Columbia River near Umatilla is in line
for upgrades totaling $22.7 million in 2022 thanks to the federal
Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act.
rick crane, dredging and sur-
veys, rehabilitating levee
drainage pump stations,
upgrades to Hood Park’s
septic system and reconstruc-
tion of Third Street’s road at
the lock and dam.
There are additional proj-
ects at waterways in the
region. The McNary project,
however, is the largest of all
the listed projects.
“This funding will allow
us to complete critical proj-
ects the District has been
striving to fund for several
years,” said Alan Feistner,
Walla Walla District’s deputy
district engineer. “When
completed, these funds will
have helped us lower the risk
of infrastructure failure and
flooding, protect the environ-
ment, and improve efficien-
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