Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 8, 2015)
Wilderness retreat for veterans 3A PENDLETON WINS IN EXTRA INNINGS LITTLE LEAGUE/1B 98/66 WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 2015 139th Year, No. 189 WINNER OF THE 2013 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD HERMISTON One dollar PENDLETON EOTEC gets extra funding City will add $1.5M comes at end of 2015 legislative session By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian The end of the 2015 legis- lative session came with a $1.5 million gift for the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center. The money was one of several Eastern Oregon projects to receive funding in a À urry of budget bills passed in the ¿ nal days of the session. EOTEC board chair Ed Brookshier said the money was “absolutely critical” in ¿ lling funding gaps to make sure the project will be fully ready to host the Umatilla County Fair and Farm City Pro Rodeo in 2016. “We could not be happier, we really couldn’t,” he said. Brookshier said the board has been in touch with Rep. Greg Smith (R-Heppner) and his staff during the session, watching as he fought for funding for the project. “We cannot say thank you enough,” Brookshier said. He said without the money it would have been very dif¿ - cult to get everything done by early 2016. With the money, the board is con¿ dent that EOTEC will be farm and fair ready by next summer. “I will breathe a little easier tonight,” he said. The money will be allocated to the Port of Umatilla, which is a partner on the project. Blue Mountain Community College also got some good news. See EOTEC/8A Staff photo by E.J. Harris Kimber Rohde, 2, of Helix plays in a wading pool outside of her family’s home on Tuesday in Helix. Rohde nearly drowned on the Fourth of July during a family outing to Camas Creek near Ukiah but was resuscitated by two bystanders that performed CPR. Her mother said Kimber was eager to get back in the water after the ordeal. ‘Make her breathe’ Strangers unite on Fourth to save drowning child By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian Fourth of July almost turned to tragedy for a Helix family. And while little Kimber might not long remember how she nearly died, her mother and those who saved her won’t soon forget. Gailen Phillips, her children, including 2-year-old Kimber, traveled with Justin Rohde, Kimber’s father, to meet friends and family for fun and food at the Camas Creek recreational site off Highway 395, about a four-minute drive from the small community of Ukiah. “There was a lot of us there. We were playing games that day and having fun down at the river swimming,” Phillips, Denton Aguilar 36, recalled Tuesday. “My daughter loves the water, loves it. She was having so much fun.” Near dinner time the group headed from the creek to the grill. Children were running still around, Phillips said, when someone asked, “Where’s Kimber?” “I just got this feeling,” she said, “and I ran down to the river.” Her 11-year-old son, Sean, was right behind her. Phillips said they scanned the water and Sean saw his sister’s dress. Phillips rushed into the cool water and found her daughter. “I picked her up and she was gone,” Phillips said. “She was blue and cold and not breathing, and I grabbed her up and smacked her on the back a few times and she coughed up a little water, but she wouldn’t start breathing.” Phillips said she trudged through the water to Vanessa King, Justin Rohde’s cousin, who took the limp child and See KIMBER/8A $5 utility fee Will attempt to pass 5 cent gas tax on November ballot By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian Two facts emerged from Tuesday’s Pendleton City Council meeting: To pay for street preserva- tion, the city will pass a $5-per-month transportation utility fee and put a 5 cent gas tax on the November ballot. Everything else was up for debate and even the issues that were eventually agreed upon were hotly contested. The meeting started innocuously enough, with several residents voicing their support for the gas tax as long as the city maintained a public list of streets that would be addressed with the tax money. But the positive vibes didn’t last long as the council settled into debate that carried over from the infrastructure committee meetings about when to pursue which taxes. Councilwoman Jane Hill said she was not in favor of placing any tax measures on the November ballot and she would not participate in a campaign. “I’m not trying to be Debbie Downer,” she said. “I’m trying to be objective about experience and how long it takes to do these things and you can’t just put up a sign and assume people will make the connection between their self interest and what we’re recommending.” Hill added that she supported all of the measures, but felt there was not enough to time to properly mount a strong campaign. See TAX/8A Eastern Oregon speed limits won’t jump until March East Oregonian Although a bill increasing speed limits on several stretches of Eastern Oregon highways recently passed through both houses of the Legislature, local drivers will have to wait until next year to put the pedal to the metal. In time for the summer travel season, the speed limit hike will go into effect March 1, 2016, assuming Gov. Kate Brown signs it into law. With nearly a year to prepare, Oregon Depart- ment of Transportation spokesman Peter Murphy said state of¿ cials will begin to replace speed limit signs a month before the law goes into effect. Murphy said ODOT will also have to move some curve warning signs further ahead to account for drivers traveling at higher speeds. In total, the new law will boost speeds on nine different eastern and central Oregon highways, including Interstate 84 from the Idaho border to The Dalles, U.S. Route 395 from John Day to Burns and U.S. Route 26 from John Day to Vale. Murphy, the spokesman for ODOT’s Central Oregon of¿ ce, said the changeover would cost his district $400,000 in sign replacement and moving costs, and estimated it would cost the Eastern Oregon of¿ ce a similar amount. While he hasn’t received of¿ cial word yet, Murphy anticipated an ODOT public awareness campaign before the new limits are instituted. Appeals Court considers ‘Big Mountain Jesus’ case By STEVEN DUBOIS Associated Press PORTLAND — The home for a six-foot-statue known as Big Mountain Jesus rests with a three-judge appeals panel after a lawyer representing a group of atheists asked for it to be removed from U.S. Forest Service property in Montana. A federal district judge in 2013 said the Flathead National Forest could reissue a 10-year permit for the statue that has stood along a ski run at the White¿ sh Mountain Resort since 1954. The judge, Obama appointee Dana Christensen, said no reasonable observer would conclude the Forest Service was endorsing Christianity by permitting a private party to place it on land it leases from the government. In hopes of getting the decision reversed, attorney Rich Bolton told “It’s usually wearing a ski helmet. There’s noth- ing about its context that suggests devotion is encouraged.” — Joan Pepin, U.S. Justice Department attorney the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel Tuesday that the statue violates the constitutional prohibition on Congress making any law regarding an establishment of religion. He said the private ownership of the statue does not trump the constitution’s Establishment Clause: “The question is whether there’s a perception of See JESUS/8A Linda Thompson/The Missoulian via AP, File In this 2011 photo, University of Montana students visit a statue of Jesus Christ at Whitefi sh Mountain Resort in Whitefi sh, Mont.
