More questionable work
by Oregon’s fi rst lady
BUCKS BEAT
LA GRANDE
BASKETBALL/1B
53/36
STATE/8A
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2015
139th Year, No. 74
WINNER OF THE 2013 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
HERMISTON
ROOM TO PLAY
One dollar
Ranchers get
more latitude
to kill wolves
Success in Eastern Oregon
moves species to Phase II
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Elizabeth Collins of Kennewick walks along the exercise path at Riverfront Park Tuesday in Hermiston. Collins said she is
in Hermiston to be with her ill mother and often takes a break to go on a “walkabout” in the park.
City considers adding
new parks for skaters,
dogs, east-side residents
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Hermiston’s population has
outgrown its park system, ac-
cording to Parks and Recreation
director Larry Fetter.
Fetter told the city council
during a Monday work session
that the city needed to start seri-
ously looking for opportunities
to add another park.
“We are under-served rela-
tive to the national standard,”
he said.
That national standard sug-
gests cities have 10 acres of
park space per every 1,000 res-
idents. Hermiston, then, should
have about 175 acres of city
parks but has only 101.
That shortage is particular-
ly noticeable to families living
on the east side of town, Fetter
said. Highway 395 splits the
city’s population roughly in
half, but 94 of the city’s 101
acres of parks are located west
of the highway.
That is because, he said,
Hermiston “has enjoyed park
growth mostly through donated
See WOLVES/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Sunset Park is one of three Hermiston Parks on the east
side of Highway 395. The city plans to double the size of
the park and add new equipment.
property.” The result has been
that the increased property val-
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borhood parks have mostly fall-
en to residents on the west side.
The city did just purchase a
See PARKS/8A
Toddler suffers stroke
“This is a reality check —
Tiny stroke victim might
anything could happen
be youngest person ever to
at any time.”
receive clot-busting drug
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Photo by Kayla McKinstry
Ezra McKinstry rests in the hospital in
Phoenix after having a stroke Sunday. The
toddler is likely the youngest person in Ar-
izona to receive the clot-busting drug tPA
to improve odds of recovery.
Eastern Oregon’s wolf population reached
a key milestone in 2014 that not only gives
ranchers more leeway to protect their livestock,
but could lead to removing the predators from
the state Endangered Species List entirely.
For the third year in a row, the Oregon De-
partment of Fish & Wildlife counted at least
four breeding pairs of wolves among packs
east of highways 395, 78 and 95, triggering
Phase II of the agency’s Wolf Management and
Conservation Plan.
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pair of adult wolves which produce at least two
pups that survive to the end of the year. Of the
nine wolf packs in Oregon, seven were breed-
ing pairs in 2014 — six in the state’s north-
east corner. Only the Imnaha pack was found
without a breeding pair, and the Umatilla River
pack has not yet been surveyed.
Under Phase I of the management plan,
ranchers were already allowed to shoot wolves
in the process of biting, wounding or killing
livestock. Now under Phase II, ranchers can
shoot a wolf caught chasing after herds on the
The average stroke victim is older
than 65.
So forgive parents Casey and Kay-
la McKinstry that they didn’t instantly
realize their 11-month-old son Ezra was
having pre-stroke symptoms Sunday.
The toddler had woken up that morning
out of sorts.
“He was kind of off, irritable and
drooling more than usual,” Casey said.
“He didn’t have much of an appetite.”
Midday, Kayla put him in his high-
chair and gave him lunch. He used his
left hand to feed himself, but the food
— Casey McKinstry, Ezra’s father
fell from his mouth. His alarmed parents
also noticed that the little boy’s right
arm hung limp and started twitching.
“His right hand was spasming,” Kay-
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The couple called 9-1-1. In short
order, EMTs loaded the toddler into an
ambulance and drove about 30 min-
utes to the Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
Doctors started him on a battery of tests
including an MRI, heart echocardio-
gram and blood tests. The MRI revealed
a swollen section of brain with no blood
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See EZRA/8A
Driver charged
in car wreck
that killed
Hermiston man
East Oregonian
A Klamath County grand jury Monday in-
dicted the driver in the Dec. 28 crash that killed
22-year-old Hermiston man Garrett Zimmer and
another passenger.
Gauge Lee Gray, 22, of Klamath Falls was
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ond-degree manslaughter and driving under
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hicle rollover that killed Zimmer and Marri D.
Young-Wellbaum, 26, of Eagle Point.
Gray was arrested without incident and is
lodged in the Klamath County Jail.
Zimmer and Young-Wellbaum died in the
early morning wreck on Highway 140 near
Klamath Falls. They were traveling west when
the Ford Ranger pickup driven by Gray left the
roadway. The vehicle collided with a lamp post
and highway sign before rolling several times
and coming to rest in a pasture.
The two passengers died at the scene after
being ejected from the vehicle and emergency
workers took Gray to Sky Lakes Hospital with
non-life-threatening injuries. None were wear-
ing seat belts, according to Oregon State Police.
Zimmer had recently stepped into the shoes
of longtime insurance agent and his grandfather,
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tire Jan. 1. He was also the youngest member of
Hermiston Rotary.
Kitzhaber to offer ideas on
Measure 91 implementation
Favors merging recreational, medical systems
ic recommendations are likely to
emerge later as the OLCC and law-
makers work through the process.
Although Kitzhaber plans
SALEM — Gov. John
to draft a letter to the
Kitzhaber plans to re-
OLCC, he acknowl-
lease a statement soon
edges that lawmakers
about what he wants
will have to be in-
the Oregon Liquor
volved in some of the
Control Commission
ideas he wants studied.
and lawmakers to con-
7KH ¿YH PHPEHUV
sider as they implement
of OLCC has begun a
recreational use of mar-
statewide tour soon to
ijuana in Oregon.
shape its rulemaking
Kitzhaber, at a meet-
ing Tuesday sponsored Gov. Kitzhaber process, and lawmak-
ers begin their 160-day
by The Associated Press,
FILE/Associated Press
said he would present a “series session on Feb. 2.
A sample of marijuana is shown inside the dispensary at Collective Awaken-
of principles” probably later this
ings in 2014 in Portland. Gov. John Kitzhaber said he supports merging the
See MARIJUANA/8A
medical marijuana system with newly passed recreational uses.
week. He said his more specif-
By PETER WONG
Capital Bureau