REGION
Saturday, June 11, 2022
tHe OBSerVer — A3
BMCC board approves budget, faculty layoffs
Five full-time faculty
members to be let go
By JOHN TILLMAN
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The Blue
Mountain Community College
Board of Education has approved
the administration’s retrenchment
plan, laying off five full-time fac-
ulty members.
The board voted on the plan
Monday, June 6, in a special
meeting.
The college laid off the instruc-
tors in business, criminal justice,
English, music, and chemistry,
according to Blue Mountain Fac-
ulty Association President Sascha
McKeon.
The board also passed adjust-
ments to its current budget and
changes to the proposed 2022-23
budget, then adopted the new
budget. Board member Kim
Puzey, of Hermiston, voted
against adoption. All other agenda
items passed unanimously.
Six board members attended
in person and Bill Markgraf, of
Baker City, remotely.
The board had met in executive
session at 5 p.m. to conduct delib-
erations with the college’s labor
negotiations team.
Faculty union negotiators,
administration met June 3
BMCC administration met
with the faculty union team for a
final time June 3 to negotiate lay-
offs in the new budget.
“The meeting was short and
not unexpected,” BMCC President
Mark Browning said. “The union
did not bring any new ideas. They
just wanted to know who is on the
layoff list.”
But it’s not the role of the union
to notify employees, he said, but
rather the college’s because it’s
the employer.
Layoff notices went out June 7,
Browning noted.
“We need to move forward,”
Browning concluded, “and
address student needs. It’s time to
wrap this up.”
McKeon regarded the meeting
as an implementation session.
“We came to the table for a
polite conversation on options to
save jobs,” she said. “The admin-
istration didn’t act on them back
when there was time.”
Puzey calls for selling
college property, more
Board Chair Don Rice asked
for comments from fellow board
members. Chris Brown, of Hep-
pner, responded to comments from
some speakers.
“This proposed budget was
not drafted in isolation,” he said.
“The budget committee met
three times, rather than the usual
once, and with citizen and faculty
involvement. It was forthright fact-
seeking. I believe that our students
are our greatest resource.”
Puzey noted actual cuts don’t
have to go through until 120 days
after notifications. He suggested
selling or leasing buildings and
seeking scholarships from business
partners, county governments and
the ports of Umatilla and Morrow.
He also urged faculty members to
leverage the channels to the com-
munity that they’ve developed to
help increase enrollment.
“I’m hopeful it’s not over yet,”
he said.
Kent Madison, of Echo,
stressed the importance of out-
reach to high school juniors and
seniors, who might not even know
that their parents’ taxes support
the college.
“BMCC is not for profit,” he
said. “The layoffs aren’t to provide
dividends to shareholders. We just
don’t have the money. Enrollment
has dropped 65% in 10 years.”
Vice Chair Jane Hill, of Pend-
leton, also held out hope that more
money could be found and enroll-
ment increased before classes start
in September.
“Every faculty member is
important,” she said. “I hope we
can all come to the same table.”
Hill noted that adjustments up
to 10% can be made to an adopted
budget. She asked Browning if the
faculty cuts would fit under that
share. He said they would.
“At least having the names will
help with our grievance cases,”
McKeon said in the hall outside
the conference room after the
meeting.
She lamented the revised fall
schedule and need to notify stu-
dents who signed up for classes,
which now may have to be
canceled.
Police seize fentanyl, other drugs and weapons
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
BAKER CITY —
Oregon State Police found
40 grams of fentanyl powder
and almost 16,000 fentanyl
pills in the car driven by a
Washington man arrested
Wednesday, June 1, in Baker
City.
Police also found almost 3
pounds of methamphetamine,
2 pounds of marijuana, 21.8
grams of cocaine and “evi-
dence of manufacturing and
distribution of controlled
substances,” according to an
OSP press release.
The driver, Darren Glenn
Yeater, 32, of Richland,
Washington, remains in the
Baker County Jail on arrest
warrants from Ada County,
Idaho, and from Benton
County, Washington.
Fentanyl is a synthetic
opioid that is much more
powerful than heroin or mor-
phine. Police say fentanyl is
largely responsible for a rise
in overdose deaths nation-
Oregon State Police/Contributed Photo
Oregon State Police found fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and
other drugs during a Thursday, June 2, 2022, warrant search of a car
driven by Darren Glenn Yeater, 32, of Richland, Washington. He was
arrested June 1 in Baker City.
wide over the past few years.
According to the Drug
Enforcement Administra-
tion, 2 milligrams of fentanyl
can be a lethal dose for most
people.
The 40.2 grams of fen-
tanyl powder that police
found in Yeater’s car equates
to 40,200 milligrams, or
approximately 20,100 lethal
doses.
The OSP press release did
not say how many milligrams
each of the fentanyl pills
contains.
Baker City Police Chief Ty
Duby on June 8 said the sei-
zure of drugs from Yeater’s
car is an indication of a signif-
icant operation, particularly
the quantities of fentanyl.
“It’s all over the country,
and that’s what people are
overdosing on,” Duby said.
He said police try to focus
on people who are respon-
sible for supplying large
amounts of drugs to Baker
County.
The incident started about
12:48 a.m. on June 1 when
an OSP trooper stopped a
vehicle that supposedly had
been involved in a crash near
the Campbell Street inter-
change on Interstate 84.
According to OSP there
was no crash.
Yeater didn’t have a driv-
er’s license, and according to
OSP he gave false informa-
tion to the trooper.
Once the trooper identi-
fied Yeater, he was arrested
on the Idaho and Washington
warrants.
The Idaho warrant is for
possession, introduction or
removal of certain items into
or from correctional facilities.
Yeater’s charges from
Washington are failure to
appear and second-degree
escape.
Duby said the trooper also
called Sgt. Wayne Chastain,
the Baker City officer who
works with Capa, the depart-
ment’s drug-detecting dog.
Capa alerted to controlled
substances in Yeater’s car,
which was towed and stored
while police applied for a
search warrant.
That warrant was
approved and the search
conducted on June 2, Capt.
Stephanie Bigman, a spokes-
person for OSP, wrote in a
June 8 email to the Baker
City Herald.
According to Oregon
court records, no additional
charges have been filed
against Yeater.
Duby said it’s possible the
drug charges will be filed in
federal court.
The Baker County Dis-
trict Attorney’s office con-
firmed that there had been
discussions about which court
system charges against Yeater
would be filed in.
Bigman wrote in the
email that “at this time no
other information will be
released due to continuing
investigation.”
Duby said Baker City
Police had received informa-
tion within the past month
or so that Yeater might be
involved in distributing drugs
locally.
In addition to the fentanyl,
meth, cocaine and marijuana,
police found 21 dosage units
of suboxone.
Duby said suboxone is a
prescription opioid used to
treat narcotic dependence.
He said police often find that
people who use drugs such as
fentanyl and heroin will have
suboxone, which can help
ease symptoms of withdrawal
for people who don’t have
access to the drugs.
Besides the drugs, police
seized six guns from Yeater’s
car:
• 9 mm pistol
• .223 rifle
• .17 rifle
• .38 Special pistol
• .22 pistol
• .45 pistol
Police also seized ammu-
nition and magazines, along
with “evidence of identity
theft,” according to the OSP
press release.
Longtime CUTIR leader to be honored
Antone Minthorn to
have board room
named after him by
Ecotrust
By WIL PHINNEY
For the Confederated Umatilla
Journal
MISSION — Ecotrust
will name the board room
in their Redd East offices
after Antone Minthorn,
a longtime leader on
the Umatilla Indian
Reservation.
As part of its June 23
Indigenous Leadership
Awards, Ecotrust will
honor Minthorn with the
naming of the “Big Dawn”
Board Room. Big Dawn
is the Cayuse/Nez Perce
translation of Minthorn’s
Indian name.
The event, open to the
public, will begin with a
reception at 6 p.m. fol-
lowed an hour later with
the Leadership Awards
ceremony.
The awards will be pre-
sented in the Main Hall
of Redd East, located at
831 SE Salmon Street in
Portland.
This year’s awards rec-
ognize the outstanding
work of Indigenous
leaders from Alaska and
Oregon. They are Julie
Kiska (Chugach Eskimo),
Paul Lumley (Yakama),
Spring Alaska Schreiner
(Chugach Alaska Corpora-
tion and the Valdez Native
Tribe), and Michelle Week
(Sinixt).
Minthorn served in sev-
eral capacities in addi-
tion to his 16 years as
an elected leader of the
Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation.
He has been a board
member for Ecotrust for
more than 20 years.
Spencer Beebe, founder
of Ecotrust in 1991 and
Salmon Nation in 2019,
recruited Minthorn as a
Confederated umatilla Journal/Contributed Photo
Antone Minthorn, left, stands at Pendleton Airport Tuesday, May 26,
2022, with Spencer Beebe in front of the airplane they flew to San
Francisco. Ecotrust, started by Beebe in 1991, will honor Minthorn at
its 2022 Indigenous Leadership Awards June 23 in Portland.
MORE INFORMATION
Antone Minthorn’s list of other board memberships is more than
impressive and includes:
• Northwest Area Foundation
• Indian Country Conservancy
• Trust for Public Lands
• Portland State University Institute for Tribal Government
• Oregon Trail Coordinating Council
• American Leadership Forum
• Crow’s Shadow Institute for the Arts
• Celilo Wyam village redevelopment project
• Oregon Historical Society
• Washington Historical Society
• Confluence Project
• Rural Development Initiatives, Inc.
• Columbia River Gorge Commission
• Potlatch Fund
• American Legion George St. Denis Post 140
• Salmon Nation Trust
THE PENDLETON BRANCH OF D.A. DAVIDSON & CO.
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Financial Advisor
mjhales@dadco.com | (541) 304-7065
Michael Hales has earned his CERTIFIED FINANCIAL
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Michael’s achievement allows him to serve clients concerning
retirement planning, estate planning, insurance, and other
board member in 2002.
Beebe said Minthorn
brings a tribal perspec-
tive to Ecotrust’s mission
of taking care of the planet
for future generations.
“Antone always
reminded us of the power
of the Treaty and the
Tribes,” Beebe said. “He
said we could litigate or
legislate, but also nego-
tiate. He told us Tribes
haven’t always recognized
the power they have with
their Indigenous rights.
Antone would say, ‘You’ve
got to use that to restore
your lands and build your
own communities.’”
Minthorn has had many
major accomplishments
over the years, but he con-
siders his most important
contribution the restoration
of water and salmon, after
an absence of 70 years, to
the Umatilla River.
The years-long Uma-
tilla Basin Project required
“win-win” collaboration
and cooperation, as well
as negotiation, between
Indians, irrigators, and
government.
He was a key player in
the adoption of a major
salmon policy for the
Columbia River Inter-
Tribal Fish Commission
(CRITFC) to stop salmon
extinction in the Columbia
River Basin.
As evidence of this
achievement, CRITFC
honored Antone with a
Lifetime Achievement
Award.
comprehensive wealth management issues.
In a partnership approach and with guiding principles of
communication, education, tailored solutions, and trust,
Michael serves his clients. We commend Michael on these
accomplishments.
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