FROM PAGE ONE
SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 2022
THE OBSERVER — A7
VA
Continued from Page A1
modestly and largely outside
of Walla Walla. According
to the Walla Walla paper,
the recommended strategy
is to invest in new outpa-
tient facilities and expand
services in existing clinics
to meet future demand,
while “rightsizing” services
at the Walla Walla VA, offi -
cials said.
The full set of rec-
ommendations call for
closing a total of 17 VA
medical centers nation-
wide while building 14
new ones and 140 new
clinics, according to the
Spokane Spokesman-Re-
view, and encourages vet-
erans, especially in rural
areas, to seek care from
private providers.
Under the proposal,
Walla Walla would
become an outpatient
clinic similar to those in
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho,
and Wenatchee, Wash-
ington, per the Spokes-
man-Review. Along with
ending surgeries and other
inpatient treatment at the
Walla Walla hospital, the
plan proposes relocating
the residential rehabili-
tation treatment program
housed there to Spokane,
where such a program
doesn’t exist.
The Observer, File
Proposed changes to reduce services at the Jonathan M. Wainwright
Memorial VA Medical Center in Walla Walla should not impact
services at the La Grande VA Clinic, according to Walla Walla VA
Medical Center Public Aff airs Offi cer Linda Wondra.
Andy Porte/Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, File
Patrick Brennan, a “living history restorer” with the 10th Cavalry Regiment, talks with Harold King and
Terry Drinnon in 2017 about the regiment’s role in the Spanish-American War during a “Welcome Home
to Historic Walla Walla VA” job and information fair at the Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial VA Medical
Center. The Department of Veterans Aff airs in March 2022 released a report proposing to make the center
an outpatient clinic.
No changes in La
Grande
According to Walla
Walla VA Medical Center
Public Aff airs Offi cer Linda
Wondra, the proposed
changes to Walla Walla
will not lead to any changes
at the local level in La
Grande, which has provided
services to veterans from as
far away as Pendleton.
“At the current time, we
have no knowledge or con-
cern that the La Grande
clinic will be aff ected in
any way,” Wondra said.
“All our sites of care are
expected to continue pro-
viding care as before.”
Per the Spokane paper,
relocating services to Spo-
kane and Richland would
serve a larger number of
veterans than the Walla
Walla area, the VA report
says. According to an
assessment of VA’s Inland
Northwest market, about
5,000 veterans enrolled in
VA health care services
live within an hour drive of
Walla Walla, while more
than 9,100 live within an
hour of Richland and nearly
29,000 within an hour of
Spokane.
Not all local veterans
oppose the plan to move to
outpatient services. Vietnam
War destroyer sailor George
Oblisk, of Athena, said
that’s how he uses the Walla
Walla VA now.
“The change wouldn’t
HOG WILD
Continued from Page A1
The Observer, File
The piggy train rolls along during the 2012 Hog Wild Days celebration
in Island City. The Island City Lions Club canceled the event for 2021
— the second year in a row — due to the pandemic.
WOLVES
Continued from Page A1
state’s wolf population as
they expand in distribution
across the state and show
a strong upward popula-
tion trend,” Brown said in a
statement.
Environmental groups
argued the report shows
Oregon’s wolf population
is in crisis due to poaching
and other human-caused
mortality.
Danielle Moser, wild-
life program coordinator
for Oregon Wild, said the
deaths reported by ODFW
are “only known mortali-
ties and there are certainly
many more unaccounted
for deaths and poaching of
uncollared wolves.”
Zoe Hanley, Northwest
representative for Defenders
of Wildlife, said the group
is concerned Oregon’s wolf
recovery is not adequately
addressing threats like
poaching.
“This year’s report is a
call to action for agencies
like (ODFW) and Oregon
State Police to recognize
the severity of poaching
incidents and take addi-
tional steps to protect Ore-
gon’s vulnerable wolves,”
Hanley said.
John Williams, wolf
committee co-chairman
for the Oregon Cattlemen’s
Association based in Enter-
prise, said he was surprised
by the wolf population
being mostly unchanged,
considering ranchers are
seeing wolves in areas
where they’ve never seen
them before.
“We know their areas are
expanding. We know the
numbers are expanding,”
Williams said.
Most wolves in Oregon
inhabit the far northeast
corner of the state, though
they are branching into new
territory. ODFW estab-
lished four new areas of res-
ident wolf activity in 2021,
covering parts of Grant, Jef-
ferson, Klamath and Union
counties.
The state now has 21
known wolf packs — 16 of
which qualify as breeding
pairs — in addition to eight
other groups of two or three
wolves.
Wolves also continued
to prey on livestock in
2021. ODFW confi rmed
49 cases of wolf depreda-
tion, up from 31 in 2020. In
all, wolves killed or injured
95 animals, including six
cows, 44 calves, 17 ewes,
11 lambs, 14 goats and three
guard dogs.
The vast majority, 92%,
of those depredations
occurred between July and
November, with 86% on
private land and 14% on
public land.
Williams said
wolves are becoming an
increasing problem for
ranchers across the state,
with the impacts extending
beyond killed or injured
livestock to lower birth
rates for cows and lower
birth weights for calves.
He urged the state to take a
more proactive approach to
managing the predators.
“The rancher is taking
the brunt of it,” Williams
said. “It is becoming one
of the major expenses for
the producer.”
Between August and
October, ODFW killed
eight members of the
Lookout Mountain pack in
Baker County after wolves
repeatedly attacked cattle.
Under Phase III of the
Oregon Wolf Manage-
ment Plan, wolves can be
killed east of highways
395, 78 and 95 if they meet
the state’s “chronic depre-
dation” threshold of two
confi rmed depredations in
nine months.
Ranchers must fi rst be
using non-lethal deterrents
and remove all potential
wolf attractants in order
for an incident to qualify
toward lethal removal.
Western Oregon wolves
were restored to the federal
endangered species list fol-
lowing a court ruling earlier
this year.
The Oregon Department
of Agriculture’s wolf com-
pensation program awarded
$130,814 in grants to 10
counties in 2021, which
helps pay for non-lethal
deterrents and provides
and other organizations to advertise.
“It will be a great way to promote
summer activities,” Tolan said.
The parade has been a part of Hog
Wild Days for possibly all of its his-
tory, said La Grande Middle School
Librarian Keri Myer, who grew up in
Island City and remembers its early
days more than three decades ago. She
saw some unusual sights in the parade
during those early years.
“One year my brother walked a
chicken in the parade with a leash,”
Myer said.
The street fair lined with vendors
will again be a big part of Hog Wild
Days. Tolan has sent invitations to
direct payment for ranchers
covering dead and missing
livestock.
“After a calm spring
with few incidents, we saw
a much higher number of
depredations from July
through November despite
livestock producers’ exten-
sive non-lethal eff orts to
reduce confl ict,” Brown
said. “We thank all pro-
ducers who have taken pre-
ventative measures and
encourage all those in areas
with wolves to reach out for
assistance.”
Brown did express con-
cern about an uptick in
poaching that included the
poisoning of eight wolves,
including all fi ve members
of the Catherine pack in
Union County, in 2021.
So far in 2022, three
wolves have also been
poached in northeast
Oregon.
All cases are being
investigated by the Oregon
State Police Fish and Wild-
life Division.
aff ect me,” he said. “They
just expanded dental ser-
vices and eyeglasses there.
They put up a whole new
building.”
And if he needed sur-
gery, the VA would send
him to Portland or pay for
it at St. Anthony Hospital,
Pendleton, or Providence
St. Mary Medical Center,
Walla Walla.
“I wouldn’t want to
undergo surgery at the
Walla Walla VA,” he said.
A statement from the
Walla Walla VA stated
the proposals are strictly
recommendations, with
nothing set in stone to date.
Any potential changes
to the infrastructure of
health care within Vet-
80 vendors asking them to partici-
pate. Hog Wild Days had between 35
and 40 vendors at the 2019 Hog Wild
Days, the last one conducted before
the pandemic hit. Vendors in the past
have sold arts and crafts items, food,
clothing and much more.
The Island City Lions Club’s
popular piggy train, long a Hog
Wild Days fixture, will be rolling
again this year during the street fair
on June 4 and June 5. The train is
a collection of pig-shaped cars for
children made from plastic barrels
that are pulled by a riding mower
whose blades have been removed.
The piggy train is so popular that
it provides rides at other events,
including the Union County Fair,
Tolan said.
All of the money the Island City
erans Aff airs could be sev-
eral years away, depending
on congressional decision
making.
The Walla Walla VA
is continuing eff orts to
strengthen its regional
health care services in
areas with a high volume of
veterans, such as Richland
and Yakima. Moving for-
ward, the Asset and Infra-
structure Review Commis-
sion is set to conduct public
hearings on any new rec-
ommendations heading into
January 2023 — input and
feedback at these hearings
could impact the extent of
the recommendations to the
Jonathan M. Wainwright
Memorial VA Medical
Center in Walla Walla.
Lions Club raises at Hog Wild Days
is spent on its community service
projects, which include a schol-
arship program for students who
attended Island City Elementary
School.
De Long said the return of Hog
Wild Days is a victory of sorts over
COVID-19.
“It is good to know that the pan-
demic did not destroy something
that has been so important to the
community,” De Long said.
Karen Howton, Island City’s city
recorder, said the absence of Hog
Wild Days the past two years left a
void.
“This is an event that has defi-
nitely been missed in our commu-
nity,” she said. “It kicks off the
summer.”
Pendleton Whisky Music Fest
announces full 2022 lineup
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Pendleton Whisky
Music Fest returns July 9 to Pendleton
with an all-star lineup.
Country Music Association Enter-
tainer of the Year Eric Church is the
headliner of the festival at the historic
Pendleton Round-Up rodeo grounds
alongside Grammy award-winner Mack-
lemore. Country artists Dylan Scott and
Ashley Cooke as well as Oregon-based
singer-songwriter Nate Botsford join the
“Party in Pendleton” lineup.
Church and Macklemore were to per-
form at the Pendleton Whisky Music Fest
in 2020, but the pandemic led to resched-
uling, according to a news release from
the festival, so they will make their debut
this summer at the sixth annual Whisky
Fest. Fans who purchased tickets for
the sold-out 2020 event were given the
chance to rollover tickets for 2022 so only
a limited number of relinquished tickets
are available for purchase this year.
“Following the cancellation of the 2020
festival and capacity restrictions in 2021,
we’re thrilled to give fans the full festival
experience this year,” Andy McAnally,
Pendleton Whisky Music Fest co-orga-
nizer, said in the press release. “Thank
you to Eric Church, Macklemore and the
fans for your patience in rescheduling this
event, it’s time to party in Pendleton once
again.”
Pendleton Whisky Music fest will kick
off with a party in downtown Pendleton
on Friday, July 8, featuring Kurt Van
Meter, Precious Byrd and DJ Sovern-T.
This event is free and open to the public.
Ticketing information
A limited number of tickets from the
originally scheduled 2020 sold-out festival
went on sale Friday, April 22, through the
Pendleton Whisky Music Fest website. All
ticket buyers who chose to roll over their
tickets from 2020 will receive their tickets
30 days prior to the event.
For more information on the 2022
Pendleton Whisky Music Fest, visit
www.pendletonwhisky-musicfest.com.
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