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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 29, 2015)
Page 8A OFF PAGE ONE East Oregonian PARKS: ‘There’s been less damage to equipment, less JUDI¿WLOHVVWKLQJVEURNHQ¶ new rules unfairly single out teenagers, who need places warnings already, and one to hang out together and like person has been issued three being able to spend time warnings since the ordinance outdoors. was put in place two months “They’re good parks,” he ago. If their behavior persists, said. Edmiston said, the next step Larry Fetter, the city’s would be to ban them from parks and recreation director, the park for anywhere from a said measuring progress day to a month. is subjective, but he feels “If someone is warned for there has been a noticeable doing the same thing three difference at McKenzie Park times in a month they’re not and the Funland playground getting it,” he said. at Butte Park since trouble- Most of the warnings have makers have been put on been given at McKenzie notice. Park — not a surprise given “There’s been less damage its proximity to both the high WR HTXLSPHQW OHVV JUDI¿WL school and the police station. less things broken,” he said. And in most cases, Edmiston Fetter said for many teen- said, the misuse of equipment agers it seems enough just that drew the warning has WRKDYHDSROLFHRI¿FHUZDUQ been students sitting and them that they will no longer putting their feet on the be welcome to hang out with equipment and counters at the their friends at the park if they Rotary cook shack. cause problems. Edmiston said the main Even though the parks get draw of the cook shack is the used more in the summer, electrical outlets, where teens Fetter said there tends to be can plug in their phones. If the fewer nuisances because the FLW\FDQ¿JXUHRXWKRZWRFXW people who cause trouble are the power to the cook shack pushed out by young families when it’s not reserved for an and groups reserving spaces activity, that might migrate for activities. students away from sitting on He encouraged people to the counters. give him a call or send him Some teenagers say they an email if they see anyone can see why the police would vandalizing equipment or want more say in students’ misusing park facilities in a behavior at parks. Daniel way that could damage them. Robinson, 18, said he spends If families just retreat in the a lot of time at city parks and face of disruptive behavior, has seen police tell people if he said, then the teenagers they didn’t stop mistreating ZKR JUDI¿WL YDQGDOL]H RU the cook shack at McKenzie trash the parks “have won a Park they need to leave. victory.” “They were nice about it,” “They’ve claimed that he said. space as their own,” he said. He said he understood that ——— the ordinance helps “keep the Contact Jade McDowell at park in order.” jmcdowell@eastoregonian. Josh Yeigh, 15, said the com or 541-564-4536. Continued from 1A TREES: Thin-barked trees suffered the most damage Continued from 1A Ryan’s death in 2014. The tree die-off might seem a bit mystifying. The freezing temperatures that arrived in mid-November weren’t anywhere near the coldest on record, but they came at a vulnerable time. On Nov. 15, the mercury dropped to 2 degrees after some abnor- mally warm temperatures earlier in the month. ³7KH ¿UVW ZHHN RI November, we had high temperatures in the 50s and 60s. On Nov. 5, it was 70 degrees,” said National Weather Service Forecaster Mike Murphy. “Then it ÀLSSHG D VZLWFK :LQWHU started almost immediately.” The quick reversal spelled doom for varieties of trees that usually shut down gradually as temperatures drop, said retired U.S. Forest Service silviculturist Dave Powell, of Pendleton. Ideally, he said, temperatures decline gradually, descending a stair- case rather than plummeting off a high dive. “Trees have all these vessels going up and down in the cambium layer between the wood and the bark,” Powell said. “It’s just like pipes — sugars and glucose move down to feed the root system and water moves from the ground to the foliage.” Powell said thin-barked trees such as cherries and ÀRZHULQJ SOXPV SDLG WKH biggest price for the tempera- ture plunge. Their cambium zones remained full of mois- ture and the pipes burst. This spring, Greg McLaughlin, owner of McLaughlin Landscaping, KDV ¿HOGHG FDOOV IURP numerous homeowners worried about dead or dying vegetation. ³7KLV ZDV D VLJQL¿FDQW event,” he said. “I don’t know if I can recall this much damage to shrubs and trees.” McLaughlin has observed damaged or dead plants all over town. ³7KHUH ZDV VLJQL¿FDQW shrub die-off,” he said. “Roses got hit really hard — at least a quarter of the roses in town.” McLaughlin said his land- scapers generally use plants rated for hardiness by the U.S. Department of Agricul- ture for Zone 5. That means they can handle temperatures as low as -20 degrees. This year, however, some Zone 5-rated plants didn’t survive temperatures of 2 degrees. Since the land- scaping company guarantees plants for a year, that means free replacements if they die. For trees and shrubs that are still showing slight signs of life, it is hard to know whether to wait for possible recovery or get out the chainsaw. The browning cedars that Cook noticed at Riverfront Plaza in late January are now showing tinges of green, so he is holding off, though his crews have already removed other trees. “Some of the smaller ones we’ve already yanked,” he said. “When you bend a limb and it snaps, you know it’s dead. If it bends, it has potential.” McLaughlin advised waiting until the end of May or early June to take out sickly trees and shrubs. “I’ve been amazed. 6RPHWLPHV WKH\ ¿JKW WKHLU way through and put on new growth,” McLaughlin said. “But, it’s getting time to call it.” John Robertson might give his Siberian elm a little more time, but in case the tree doesn’t pull through, he’s already looking for someone who has the expertise to take it down. The elm’s huge stump, he said, might become a bench or a table. ——— Contact Kathy Aney at kaney@eastoregonian.com or call 541-966-0810. Tom Phelan Auto Health Home Life Tom Phelan, CISR Family Insurance Agent 541/276-2302 • 800/225-2521 The Stratton Agency Pendleton / Hermiston • stratton-insurance.com Friday, May 29, 2015 WIND: Sherman County produces over 1,000 megawatts of energy Continued from 1A tling other wind projects. “I appreciate the signif- icance of your agencies’ responsibilities in Eastern Oregon, and I strongly support your efforts to ensure national defense and safe skies,” Wyden said in his letter. “I do not, however, believe that these missions should preclude further development of wind energy resources.” The Defense Depart- ment did not respond Thursday to a request for comment. Allen Kenitzer, spokesman for the FAA’s Northwest Mountain Region in Renton, Wash- ington, said they have received Wyden’s letter and will respond in a timely manner. Meanwhile, wind devel- opers are left with uncer- tainty over moving forward on projects that could interfere with the radar and scare away potential investors. Jerry Rietmann, an Ione farmer and CEO of Wheat- ridge Wind Energy LLC, is currently in the process of permitting a 500-megawatt wind farm in Morrow and Umatilla counties, though he said more than 70 percent of the project’s 292 turbine sites have been LGHQWL¿HG E\ WKH )$$ DV potential hazards. Despite meeting with leaders in Washington, D.C., Rietmann said they haven’t been able to come to a solution. It’s been a huge source of frustration, he said, but he remains positive moving forward. “It’s hard for me to believe, at the end of the day, there isn’t a reasonable solution to continue wind development in the region,” Rietmann said. “If not, then I guess we made a good bet and lost.” It is not known exactly how much it would cost to replace the radar, but Sherman County Judge Gary Thompson said it pales in comparison to the billions of dollars in potential investment from wind companies looking to locate in rural areas like his. Sherman County is Oregon’s second-smallest by population, with just 1,765 people. Thompson said the county is now home to more than 1,000 megawatts of wind gener- ation, bringing in more than $8 million in annual revenue. “It’s our biggest industry, currently,” Thompson said. “In county revenue, it surpasses farming substan- tially.” That money has already gone toward building a new library and Oregon State University experiment station in Moro, Thompson said. If something isn’t done about the radar, it could essentially put a cease-and-desist on new wind farms and cut into their economic growth. Wyden agreed, saying the issue threatens to place rural Oregon and Washington in “economic VDFUL¿FH]RQHV´ “Updating the radar system in Fossil will allow communities in rural Oregon to keep growing their economies and taking advantage of the clean energy resources that are so abundant in our state,” Wyden said. “I’m urging the Obama administration to update this system — as it did with Shepherd’s Flat Wind Farm — to keep the skies safe, give rural Oregon a boost and advance low-carbon, renewable wind energy. ——— Contact George Plaven at gplaven@eastoregonian. com or 541-564-4547. Get $150 back instantly. Plus, we’ll pay off your old contract. Get a $150 U.S. Cellular ® Promotional Card for every new line of service you activate with a new Smartphone. Plus, we’ll pay off your old contract up to $350 per line. A better value than Verizon and AT&T Lines U.S. Cellular Verizon AT&T 100 * / 8GB $ 100 * / 6GB $ 120 * / 6GB 2 $ 4 $ 120 * / 8GB $ 130 * / 6GB $ 170 * / 6GB *Per month. 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