Fourth
of July
events
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LITTLE LEAGUE/1B
REGION/3A
THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2015
139th Year, No. 185
WINNER OF THE 2013 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Keeping the fire
out of fireworks
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Fireworks that look like an M-1 Abrams tank on display at the
TNT Fireworks stand Wednesday in Pendleton.
Regardless of how hot or cold
its going to be, the Pendleton Fire
Department is expecting Fourth of July
festivities to cause some damage.
In Assistant Fire Chief Matt Bene-
dict’s estimate, the department responds
to ¿ ve to 15 ¿ rework-related ¿ res per
year.
While the recent spate of hot
temperatures could exacerbate ¿ re
conditions — the National Weather
Service is forecasting a high of 100
degrees Saturday — Benedict said ¿ re-
work accidents cause blazes every year.
To help mitigate and respond to
¿ res more easily, Benedict said the ¿ re
department will patrol the city on Inde-
pendence Day.
Benedict said Pendleton residents
See FIREWORKS/8A
More than
skin deep
Boating accident led to
career as plastic surgeon
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Until a boat propeller tore
into his legs and buttocks, the
idea of becoming a plastic
surgeon wasn’t anywhere on
John Felder’s radar.
The Pendleton High
School graduate, who this
month completed a six-year
plastic surgery residency at
the Georgetown University
Medical School, said the
journey started after a water-
skiing mishap in Florida in
1999.
Felder, then 16, drove the
ski boat that day, but fell into
Perdida Bay after he relaxed
his grip on the steering wheel
to look over his shoulder at
the skier he was pulling. The
wheel unexpectedly jerked
hard in one direction and the
teenager was launched into
the water. He and his friend,
both unhurt, dogpaddled and
watched the boat making lazy
circles around them. Felder
swam to the boat, grabbed on
and started pulling himself up
over the side.
He slipped, however, and
sank into the bay.
Feeling the propeller
sucking him in, he dove,
but not fast enough — the
propeller blades sliced into
his backside. A man who
saw the accident called for
help. The boy was plucked
out of the crimson water and
airlifted to a hospital with
broken bones and damage
to muscle, nerve and deep
tissue.
His parents, Dr. Jerald and
Mary Felder, got the call back
in Pendleton, where Jerald
was medical director at the
Eastern Oregon Correctional
Institution. It would be more
than 24 hours before they
could get to their son’s side in
Florida where John had spent
a few days with a friend. The
severity of their boy’s injuries
took their breath away.
“It was devastating to see
your child in a condition like
that,” Mary said. “They told
us very few people survive
that type of trauma.”
She said the surgical team,
including a plastic surgeon,
“put pieces of his body back
together.”
If not for the accident,
John never would have met
Dr. Ian Rogers, a Pensacola
plastic surgeon who repaired
the damage. Rogers, who
Felder describes as having
a lilting Irish accent and an
upbeat attitude, captivated
him. Rogers later got
national media interest after
he reattached an 8-year-old
Mississippi boy’s arm after
a 7-foot-long bull shark bit it
off near Pensacola Beach.
Conversations with the
gregarious and talented
surgeon kick-started Felder’s
own desire to help trauma
victims.
“He made an impression
on me,” Felder said. “The
light bulb went off.”
That impression, along
with a sense of responsibility
triggered by the boating acci-
dent, attracted him to plastic
surgery.
“My memory of the
By JONATHAN J. COOPER
Associated Press
SALEM — Expiring tax
credits that primarily bene¿ t
working-class taxpayers will
be saved from expiration
under a deal that cleared a
legislative committee on
Wednesday.
The passage by the Joint
Tax Credits Committee
comes after House and
Senate Democrats resolved
an impasse over whether the
tax credits — which reduce
revenue — should be offset
with tax increases.
House Democrats dropped
their attempt to raise taxes on
cigars and some individual
taxpayers, along with an
expansion of the earned-in-
come tax credit for low-in-
come taxpayers. With that
dispute resolved, the measure
is likely to win easy passage
in the House and Senate in the
coming days.
The tax credits package is
one of the ¿ nal pieces of the
budget before lawmakers end
the legislative session and go
home. The measure passed
the committee unanimously,
but Republicans said they may
vote against it on the À oor.
Most Oregon tax credits are
set to expire every six years,
See CREDITS/8A
Contributed photo
Woman
charged in
fatal crash
ABOVE: Dr. John Felder
(right) and a Cambodian
surgeon do a cleft palate
surgery while on an Op-
eration Smile trip in Cam-
bodia in March. Felder and
four other surgeons from
around the world complet-
ed about 100 cleft palate
and cleft lip operations.
people for using city park
equipment in a manner other
than its intended use, and the
ordinance has been used at
Butte Park before.
Vandals are hard to catch
in the act, however, which
means volunteer work
groups have had plenty to
do.
On Saturday members of
New Hope Church and the
See FUNLAND/8A
See CRASH/8A
LEFT: Felder poses with his
parents, Dr. Jerald and Mary
Felder, after his graduation
from a six-year plastic sur-
gery residency at George
University Medical School
in Washington, D.C.
Contributed photos
Volunteers erase vandalism at Funland
teenagers seem to like to
kick out after they’re weak-
ened by water damage.
“Funland is a wooden
structure and it’s showing
its age,” Fetter said of the
structure now almost 15
years old.
He said some of the
vandalism is intentional
— recently someone used
some sort of tool to actively
tear up slats on the deck —
but some things are broken
in the course of teenagers
running around on the
structure that was built with
children in mind.
“It was not constructed
to support that kind of use,”
Fetter said.
He said he plans to put
up signs reminding people
the play structure was
intended for use by children
12 and under. This spring
the city passed an ordinance
allowing police to trespass
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
A 31-year-old Prineville
woman is accused of driving
drunk when she rolled her
pickup truck Saturday, June
20, killing Cayle Henry
Krebs of Ione.
Crook County authorities
arrested Jamie Sue McCor-
mack on a warrant Tuesday,
charging her with second-de-
gree manslaughter, crimi-
nally negligent homicide,
driving under the inÀ uence of
intoxicants, reckless driving
and two counts of reckless
endangering another person.
McCormack
posted
$250,000 bail and was
released from jail on
Wednesday.
According to the Crook
County Sheriff’s Of¿ ce,
McCormack was driving
along Southeast Bear Creek
Road about 50 miles south
of Prineville when she lost
control of the vehicle and
crashed around 11:45 p.m.
Two of three passengers,
including Krebs, were riding
in the bed of the truck and
thrown from the vehicle.
Krebs, 30, was found dead
at the scene. Both alcohol
HERMISTON
Vandalism is a persistent
problem at the Funland
playground in Hermiston,
but a steady stream of
volunteers continue to come
in and repair the damage.
Parks and recreation
director Larry Fetter said
work groups have painted
over graf¿ ti and helped
replace wooden slats that
Working
families
keep tax
credits
Cayle Henry Krebs was
killed June 20 in a rollover
wreck near Prineville.
See SURGEON/8A
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
One dollar