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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 29, 2015)
REGION Wednesday, April 29, 2015 East Oregonian HERMISTON City cleanup nets 60 tons of junk 25 tons of tires, 11 tons of concrete Photo contributed by the city of Hermiston City crews help unload some of the 25 tons of tires that were dumped as part of the “Clean Sweep” Saturday in Hermiston. upholstered furniture and nearly 1,000 gallons of paint. The city’s Faith-Based Advisory Committee recruited volunteers for the event on April 25 in the Umatilla Electric Coopera- tive parking lot. In preparation, Marcum handed out warnings and information about the event to people whose properties were not compliant with city’s nuisance codes. For property owners who continue to ignore warnings to clean up their properties, the city retained Demos Enterprises to clean up the land and send the bill to the noncompliant property owners. Fetter told city council he plans to make the event an annual one to encourage people to keep their yards clean. He said he would look into providing paper shredders and disposal of hazardous chemicals, two things he heard requests for this year. Mayor David Drotzmann said he hoped word spread and next year it would be a “bigger, better attended event” in the future. ——— Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdowell@eastorego- nian.com or 541-564-4536. BRIEFLY One dead, another critical after I-84 wreck agreed to only bill half price for travel, saving the city an estimated $60,000 a year from what it currently pays .ennedy-enks. The contract came before the council during its April 13 meeting but city attorney Gary Luisi recommended the council ask city staff to reopen negotiations after he spotted a few provisions that concerned him, including the stipulation that engineering drawings of city projects would be owned by the ¿rm instead of the city. On Monday Luisi said he was satis¿ed with the updated contract and the council voted unanimously to approve it. MEACHAM — A Cove man died early Sunday morning in a single-vehicle crash on Interstate 84 between Pendleton and La Grande. Steven Gardner, 60, was pronounced dead at the scene after the 2003 Chevy Tahoe he was driving in the eastbound lane went through the median and struck a guardrail, then rolled into the westbound lane and landed on its top. His passenger, Bryan Yeager, 53, of Elgin, was Àown to .adlec Medical Center in the Tri-Cities with critical injuries and remained in the intensive care unit on Tuesday. The wreck occurred a little after 2 a.m. at milepost 238, according to Oregon State Police, and both men were wearing seatbelts. Icy conditions are being investigated as a contributing factor to the crash. The highway was closed for four hours during the investigation. contractors. It is scheduled for completion by -une 1, after which the district will announce a market baseline price and accept sealed bids, awarding the home to the highest bidder. The money from the sale will be used to ¿nance construction of another student-built home in the Fieldstone subdivision next to Armand Larive Middle School next year. An open house will be held -une 1 for interested bidders or members of the public who want to see the ¿nished 2,050-square-foot house. Bid documents and other information about the project can be found at www.columbiabasin studenthomes.org. %RQGUH¿QDQFH to save Umatilla taxpayers $451,000 Firewood permits UMATILLA — go on sale Friday Hermiston approves city engineer contract HERMISTON — The city of Hermiston once again has a city engineer. City council approved a contract with Anderson Perry & Associates Monday night. The La Grande-based ¿rm has agreed to have engineer Chas Hutchins work out of Hermiston two days a week, allowing city staff to pop in and ask questions or have Hutchins run out and look at something when necessary. The council sought proposals from regional ¿rms after deciding it could save money by not having to pay .ennedy-enks Consultants out of Portland for a six-hour round trip every time an engineer needed to sign off on a component of a project. In addition to having Hutchins in town two days a week, Anderson Perry also Craigen gets 2½ years for having explosives rent sentence to the life imprisonment because the explosive devices were part Convicted murderer of the murder case, while George West Craigen of the state argued they were Milton-Freewater will separate and thus required a spend a bit more time than consecutive sentence. That was the opposite of life behind prison walls. what the state and He received a defense argued two-and-a-half before Craigen’s year sentence murder trial. Monday for Perkinson said ¿ve counts of West used Oregon possessing explo- law to determine sives. the sentence A Umatilla was consecutive County jury because the earlier this explosives repre- month convicted Craigen sented a different Craigen of the level of danger, charges. The case sprang from the police particularly to of¿cers that investigation of Craigen found the devices during at the end of 2011 for the the search for Craigen. Craigen’s trial for having shooting death of Cecil Carter of Milton-Freewater. a shank in 2013 while A jury convicted Craigen he was in the Umatilla in late 2014 for the murder, County -ail, Pendleton, is and visiting Circuit -udge on hold. Perkinson said he Russell West of La Grande just received notice there sentenced Craigen to life in could be a hearing on that in August. That could mean that case. West also presided Craigen will return to Snake over the explosives trial River Correctional Institu- and sentencing. Craigen’s tion, Ontario, rather than attorney, Will Perkinson stay in the county lockup of Pendleton, explained where he has been for the Oregon law required latest trial and sentencing. Umatilla County District merging the ¿ve counts into a single conviction and Attorney Dan Primus did sentence. Perkinson said not return a call Tuesday he argued for a concur- before deadline. By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian Hermiston did its share of spring cleaning this weekend, helping residents haul away more than 60 tons of junk during the city’s ¿rst Clean Sweep event. The recycling event cost the city $4,000, but city codes enforcement of¿cer Mike Marcum said that it was worth it. “That’s a lot of junk that isn’t going to stay stacked up in people’s yards, garages and driveways,” he said. “I couldn’t be happier with the turnout.” Parks and Recreation director Larry Fetter, who helped spearhead the event, told the city council Monday that about 200 people took advantage of the opportunity to drop off hard-to-get-rid-of items for free. The most popular item dropped off for recycling was tires. Residents brought in 25 tons of tires, 11 tons of concrete, eight tons of scrap metal, four tons of wood, four tons of electronics, two tons of plastic, two tons of Page 3A Taxpayers in Umatilla will save about $451,000 after the Umatilla School District re¿nanced its general obligation bond. The bond, approved by voters in 1998 to build Umatilla High School, will be paid off in 2022. -odi Durfey, business manager for the school district, said in a news release that the district started the process last fall to re¿nance the debt, giving the district a lower interest rate that will save taxpayers money over the life of the bond. “We want to show taxpayers we are doing everything we can to be ¿scally responsible with their money,” Durfey said. District prepares to sell student-built home HERMISTON — The Hermiston School District board of education approved a plan Monday to sell the district¶s ¿rst student-built home. The three-bedroom home at 895 West Angus Avenue is being constructed by high school students in the Columbia Basin Student Homebuilding program, supervised by professional PENDLETON — Firewood permits will go on sale Friday, May 1 on the Umatilla National Forest. Permits are available for $5 per cord, with a minimum purchase of four cords. The maximum limit for personal-use ¿rewood from the forest is 12 cords per household. Vendors include the Southgate Mini-Mart in Pendleton; Smitty’s Ace Hardware in Hermiston; Ment]er & Elliot and -&D’s Food Mart in Pilot Rock; Athena Grocery; Heppner Shell Station; and Rhode’s Supply in Ukiah. Firewood cutters will be required to keep track of the date, time and quantity of wood they remove from the forest. A chart on the front of the permit, called the “Produce Quantity Removal Record,” is provided to record the information. Cutters must also carry an ax, shovel, 8-ounce capacity ¿re extinguisher and have their chainsaws equipped with an approved spark arrester when out collecting ¿rewood. Public use restrictions may be in place over the summer months that would limit or prohibit ¿rewood cutting for the day. Updated restrictions will be posted CONCEALED CARRY PERMIT CLASS on a recorded message at 1-877-958-9663, or online at www.fs.usda.gov umatilla. Firewood season ends Nov. 30. %D]DDUEHQH¿WV Relay for Life PENDLETON — A spring bazaar will raise money for Pendleton Relay for Life. The event is Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Mc.ay Creek Estates, 1601 Southgate Place, Pendleton. Vendors include home business products as well as craft products. For more information, call Gert Hawthorne at 541-215-9767. ——— Briefs are compiled from staff and wire reports, and press releases. Email press releases to news@ eastoregonian.com John Sm ith 07 /08/7 2 05/02/12 You w ill forever b e in ou r hearts. M om & D ad A ctu al size of ad (1x2) Mushrooms arrive in Blue Mountains East Oregonian Spring mushrooms have arrived in the Blue Moun- tains, along with a growing number of commercial and recreational mushroom hunters to the area’s national forests. Anyone can pick up to one gallon of wild mushrooms for personal consumption in Oregon. Otherwise, a commercial mushroom permit is required to harvest more than a gallon of mushrooms for sale. Commercial mush- roomers must also buy an industrial camping permit if they plan to camp over- night on Forest Service lands, and are not allowed to camp in developed campgrounds. Commercial mushroom picking is also prohibited in wilderness areas. Mushroomers in the Umatilla and Wallowa- Whitman national forests must display a recreation pass in their vehicle windshields when using a designated fee trailhead. Passes are $5 for the day or $30 for the year, and can be bought at any Forest Service of¿ce. The Malheur National Forest does not require a pass. It is up to the individual hunter to recognize the difference between edible and poisonous mushrooms. Guide books are available at the Umatilla National Forest headquarters, 72510 Coyote Road in Pendleton. R em em ber you r loved one by placing a M em orial ad for them . O n ly $ 25 Ru ns Satu rday, M ay 23 rd in the Please have you r info in by F riday, M ay 15th N am e of D eceased: D ate of Birth: D ate of Passing : M essag e: (please lim it to 20 w ords inclu ding "from ") Oregon - Utah - Valid 35 States PENDLETON Red Lion - 304 SE Nye Ave. May 19 th • 1:00 pm or 6:00 pm Walk-Ins Welcome! OR/Utah: (Valid in WA) $80.00 or Oregon only: $45 www.FirearmTrainingNW.com • FirearmTrainingNW@gmail.com 360-921-2071 You r N am e: A ddress: C ity: State: Z ip: Phone N u m ber: Fill ou t this form an d su b m it it alon g w ith a pictu re to: Pau la Sm ootz at 211 SE Byers A ve., Pendleton, O R 97 801 or em ail psm ootz@ eastoreg onian.com • 541-27 8-267 8