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July 28, 2022
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PA GE 12
Voters: Debate
season is
about to begin
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Oregon governor candidates will
make pitches starting July 29
By HILLARY BORRUD
The Oregonian
SALEM — Debate season for the Oregon
governor’s race will kick off Friday, July
29, with Democrat Tina Kotek, Republican
Christine Drazan and unaffi liated candidate
Betsy Johnson all scheduled to participate in
the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Associa-
tion debate.
The debate will take place in Welches at
2 p.m. and be streamed live online by The
Oregonian/OregonLive. It’s the start of what
could be a busy calendar of debates for the
three former state lawmakers running to be
Oregon’s next governor.
So far, the only other debate
that all three women have com-
mitted to participate in will be
hosted by NBC affi liate KOBI
in Medford, according to their
campaigns. Gov. Kate Brown,
Drazan
a Democrat, and former Rep.
Knute Buehler, a Republican,
faced off in three debates in
2018.
Oregon voters are in for a
highly unusual governor’s race
this year between three viable
candidates.
It is rare for third-party or
Johnson
unaffi liated candidates for gov-
ernor to line up the big money
and political professionals nec-
essary to mount a serious cam-
paign, but Johnson has done so.
Johnson, who served as a Dem-
ocratic state lawmaker from
Kotek
2000 until 2021, left the Dem-
ocratic party last year in order
to run unaffi liated. She supports abortion
rights and voted with Democrats on many
issues, but also joined Republicans to oppose
high-profi le Democratic priorities including
gun regulations and a greenhouse gas cap-
and-trade plan.
To get on the November ballot, she must
collect signatures from a number of voters
equal to 1% of the votes in the last presiden-
tial election, which equals 23,743 valid voter
signatures. She has raised $9.4 million and
has $4.5 million on-hand, according to state
campaign fi nance records.
Kotek, who won the Democratic pri-
mary in May, was elected to the state House
in 2006 and served as House Speaker from
2013 until she stepped down from the Leg-
islature in early 2022 to focus on running
for governor. Under Kotek’s leadership,
majority Democrats in the House passed a
Dick Mason/The Observer
Mark Girard poses with his yellow Labrador retriever, Bo, on Tuesday, July 26, 2022, in Union. For the last few years, Girard has spent about
$2,000 a year on spaying and neutering the cats that show up at his farm.
Dogged patrol for
FERAL CATS
Union man wants
community to address
growing problem
of county’s stray cats
By DICK MASON
The Observer
UNION — Mark Girard, a retired
Union hobby farmer, has an easy time
monitoring the number of new feral
kittens coming on his property thanks
to Bo, his four-year-old yellow Lab-
rador retriever.
The friendly canine begins barking
and leads Girard to the newcomer.
“Bo goes on point,” Girard said.
“She does not want to hurt it. She
wants me to know it is there.”
The yellow Lab in the past two
years has been leading Girard to more
feral kittens on his property than he
would like. Girard said people are
stopping outside his farm and letting
cats out. The cats put him in a bind
because there is nowhere he can take
the felines — he said the La Grande
See, Debate/Page A7
MORE INSIDE
The top candidates for governor continue to pile
up stacks of cash in the race to the top of Oregon’s
political pyramid. Page A8
animal shelter operated by the Blue
Mountain Humane Association does
not accept feral cats.
“The bottom line is that there is no
place to take them,” Girard said.
Maria Carmichael, vice president
of the Blue Mountain Humane Asso-
ciation’s board of directors, said the
animal shelter does not accept feral
cats because they can spread dis-
ease and they typically are not adopt-
able because of their antagonistic
dispositions.
“You cannot tame a feral cat,” Car-
michael said.
Addressing the problem
Girard said the problem he is expe-
riencing in dealing with feral cats is
shared by many in Union County.
It is why he is encouraging people
to join forces and address the area’s
cat problem. One option would be to
develop a low-cost spay and neuter
clinic, where people could bring in
cats and pay on a sliding scale based
on their income.
Girard believes there is a core of
local animal lovers who could make
such a program, or other alternatives,
become a reality.
“A lot of people here have good
intentions. They need to rally together
to get it done,” he said.
Union County Sheriff Cody
Bowen, who Girard has asked for
advice, agrees that there is a cat
problem in the county.
“There are feral cats everywhere,”
Bowen said.
The sheriff said it is
important to remember
that any solution will
ultimately involve
money.
“It all falls back on
funding,” he said.
Bowen
The sheriff said he
will be working with
Union County Commis-
sioner Matt Scarfo on
the issue. The commis-
sioner is now in the pro-
cess of contacting other
Scarfo
counties and cities to see
how they are addressing
feral cat populations. Scarfo said he
wants to be careful before spending
money on a program until he is confi -
dent it will make an impact.
See, Cats/Page A7
Firebreaks helped to stop June blaze
Officials say firebreaks built 22 years ago, and
maintained annually, gave firefighters a major assist
containing Oregon’s 40,000-acre Willowcreek Fire
By CLAYTON FRANKE
Baker City Herald
BAKER CITY — A tractor that
plowed swathes through rangeland
in northern Malheur County more
than two decades ago is a major
reason why the Willowcreek Fire,
the biggest blaze in the area so
far this year, stopped when it did
in late June, according to offi cials
from the Bureau of Land Manage-
ment’s Vale District.
A series of fi rebreaks dug 22
years ago made “all the diff erence
with suppression eff orts on the
Willowcreek Fire,” according to a
July 15 press release.
The blaze, which started on pri-
vate land north of Vale on June 28
and burned 40,274 acres, mostly
on that day and the next, was fully
contained as of July 11, said Larisa
Bogardus, public aff airs offi cer for
the Vale District.
The cause of the fi re is still
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under investigation, Bogardus said.
The fi re didn’t burn any struc-
tures and no one was hurt. The fi re
burned about 24,400 acres of pri-
vate land, 15,300 acres of public
land managed by the BLM and
about 572 acres of state ground.
Flames likely would have
spread across more of the sage-
brush and grass range if not for
those fi rebreaks, said Marcus
Johnson, who was incident com-
mander on the Willowcreek Fire.
“As an incident commander, it’s
a huge benefi t for us because a lot
of us know where these lines are
and have a good idea of where we
See, Fire/Page A7
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Friday
64 LOW
102/61
Clear
Very hot
Kristen Munday/BLM, File
An aerial photo shows how Oregon’s
Willowcreek fi re in late June 2022 was
stopped when it reached a fi rebreak that
was made about 22 years ago. The break
is maintained annually.
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