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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 16, 2015)
REGION Thursday, July 16, 2015 East Oregonian Page 3A John Day River salmon killed by low-flows Die-off estimated at 109 spring chinook By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian Contributed photo by Oregon Department of Transportation. Highway dedicated to late ODOT employee Maintenance crews with the Oregon Department of Transportation installed two signs July 9 designating a stretch of Highway 395, between Highway 74 and Ukiah, as the Don Kendall Memorial Highway. Kendall, a 54-year-old ODOT employee and longtime Eastern Oregon resident, was killed last year in a work site acci- dent near Echo. State lawmakers passed Senate Bill 628 during the 2015 session designating the memorial highway, sponsored by Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, and Rep. Greg Barreto, R-Cove. HERMISTON Umatilla County Fair offers robotics camp East Oregonian A day camp featuring building, designing and programming working robots is planned during the Umatilla County Fair. The fair is partnering with the Umatilla School District and InterMountain Education Service District to offer the opportunity to students entering sixth through ninth grades. The camp is limited to 35 participants. The camp is Wednesday, Aug. 12 and Thursday, Aug. 13 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the fairgrounds in Hermiston. Also, campers will showcase their robots during a special demonstration day, Saturday, Aug. 15 at 4 p.m. on the fair’s Coke Stage. Cost of the Robotics Camp is $20 per student, which includes lunch and a T-shirt. Fair admission is provided for registered students for the three days of the event. Students will not keep the HERMISTON Good Shepherd ready to open new surgical center By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian EO Media Group file photo Four area teams compete during a robotics tournament in 2014 in Hermiston. The Umatilla County Fair, in conjunction with the Umatilla School District and Inter- Mountain Education Service District, are offering a Robotics Camp during the fair. robots, but will get to enjoy the building process and experience the challenge of engineering and manufac- turing. Registration forms are available at the Umatilla School District Of¿ce, 1001 Sixth S., Umatilla, and the fair of¿ce, 515 W. Orchard Ave., Hermiston. Campers need to register by Monday, July 27. For more information, contact 541-567-6121 or fair@umatillacounty.net. BRIEFLY Meeting highlights earthquake preparedness For more information or to register, contact Sharon Neuvirth at 541-276-3322 or sharon@dvs-or.org. HERMISTON — A discussion about Umatilla County’s plans and preparations for a major earthquake off the Oregon coast is the topic of an upcoming meeting. Jack Remillard, manager Umatilla County Emergency Management, will discuss the possible local implications of the Cascadia Earthquake. The meeting is Thursday, July 23 at 6 p.m. in Room 134 at Blue Mountain Community College, 975 S.E. Columbia Drive, Hermiston. The event is sponsored by the Tour of Knowledge. For more information, contact 541-656-5895 or hermistonleo@yahoo.com. Registration for fair day camp Roll a strike for domestic violence HERMISTON — The public is invited to knock down pins during a fundraiser for Domestic Violence Services. The Bowl-a-Thon is Saturday, July 25 beginning with check-in at 5:30 p.m. at Desert Lanes, 1545 N. First St., Hermiston. Bowling runs from 6-8 p.m. The cost is $30 per person or $120 for a team of four. The entry fee includes three games of bowling and shoes. Also, prizes will be awarded. Players are encouraged to form a team of four or join a team and help support the organization in providing shelter, meals and support services for victims of domestic/sexual violence. Low Àows and high water temperature are proving fatal to Eastern Oregon’s salmon runs. An estimated 109 wild spring chinook died last week on the upper section of the Middle Fork John Day River, apparently exhausted by the intense heat. Like many rivers throughout Oregon, the Middle Fork John Day is Àowing extremely low this summer due to hot weather combined with historically low mountain snowpack. That’s left water temperatures in the mid-70s, choking out dissolved oxygen needed for ¿sh to thrive. Staff with the Oregon Department of Fish & Wild- life ¿rst observed die-off in the Middle Fork John Day on July 7, near Windlass Creek. A survey uncovered more dead salmon over a 17-mile reach downstream of Highway 7. The discovery follows con¿rmed reports of ¿sh die-offs on the Willamette and lower Deschutes rivers. Biologists are also bracing for high pre-spawn mortality in the Umatilla and Grande Ronde rivers. Those surveys, conducted by ODFW and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reserva- tion, should begin this week. Brent Smith, ¿sh biol- ogist with ODFW in John Day, said the Middle Fork John Day River has a wide, shallow channel that leaves it exposed direct sunlight. The river also lacks riparian vegetation where ¿sh would otherwise depend on shade for relief along the shore- lines. Smith expects to see more salmon killed through the rest of the summer, until spawning occurs in early September. It could also make things dif¿cult for fall chinook, steelhead and coho runs unless the weather begins to improve. As a whole, the John Day and Umatilla basins have seen strong salmon returns for the year, which gives biologists hope that despite the conditions, enough ¿sh will survive to spawn. Recent summer rains have also brought some relief to the area, Smith said. ——— Contact George Plaven at gplaven@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0825. HERMISTON — Fun at the Fair Day Camp features arts and crafts, science experiments and music. Featuring exhibits and activities at the Umatilla County Fair, the camp provides a program for students entering ¿rst through ¿fth grades. It runs Aug. 11-14 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Hoeft Hall at the fairgrounds, 515 W. Orchard Ave., Hermiston. Campers will perform Friday, Aug. 14 at 3 p.m. on the fair’s Coke Stage. The cost is $65 and includes a camp T-shirt, a week-long fair admission pass and a carnival bracelet ($30 value) that will be handed out at the end of the week and can be used either Friday after camp ends or all day Saturday. Participants need to bring a sack lunch each day, sunscreen, a water bottle and a backpack. The camp will provide a daily snack. For more info, contact 541-567-6121 or fair@ umatillacounty.net. Discover your inner clown HERMISTON — Richard Melendy, aka Big Top the Clown, a former Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus clown, will lead a clown workshop. Discovering the Clown in You includes clown history, character development, pantomime, physical comedy, juggling, skits and applying makeup. The classes are July 27-31 with sessions form 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. or 12:30-4:30 p.m. They are held at the Hermiston Conference Center, 415 S. Highway 395. Open to ages 7 and up through adults, the cost is $50 for residents or $63 for non-residents. For more information, visit www.hermistonrecreation. com. To register, call 541-667-5018 or stop by the recreation of¿ce, 180 N.E. Second St., Hermiston. Adult program highlights heroes PENDLETON — A special adult summer reading program encourages people to create a story about their personal hero. The event is Thursday, July 23 at 6 p.m. in the Karaoke with Ron Martin! Pendleton Public Library Community Room, 502 S.W. Dorion Ave. For more information, call 541-966-0380. The Arc plans free pool party HERMISTON — The Arc Umatilla County is splashing into summer with a free pool party and barbecue. The event is Saturday, July 25 from 6-8 p.m. at Hermiston Family Aquatic Center, 879 W. Elm Ave. People are encouraged to grab their swim trunks, a towel, some sunscreen and be ready for some fun. The Arc will provide hot dogs, chips and water. The Arc is committed to expanded opportunities for people with intellectual and development disabilities, including inclusion with others in the community. For more information, including activities offered through The Arc Umatilla County, visit www.facebook. com/arcofumatillacounty or call 541-567-7615. The second phase of Good Shepherd Medical Center’s $15.3 million surgical services expansion is complete and the public will have an opportunity to tour it Tuesday. The hospital is inviting everyone to a ribbon cutting at 5 p.m., followed by group tours of the project that will run until 7 p.m. “This will be the only opportunity for the public to see this new space prior to it being cleaned and prepped for our ¿rst surgical case on Monday, July 27,” spokes- person Kelly Sanders said in a news release. The expansion includes two new surgical suites, 15 day surgery rooms and a new central processing area for sterilizing surgical instruments. It also includes a sepa- rate central utility plant behind the hospital, which will house the hospital’s utilities, chilled water, pumps and gases. At the same time the plant was being built Good Shepherd also installed what Sanders said is the largest fan wall in Eastern Oregon on the hospital roof. According to Tiffany Palmer, interim surgical services manager, the new surgical suites are much larger — in some cases twice as big — as the hospital’s older rooms, which will make it easier to accommodate modern robotic equipment used in today’s surgeries. She said in addition to the $15.3 capital improvement project, $2.3 million worth of medical equipment will also be used to stock the new area. The new building was designed by Peterson Kohl- berg and Associates and construction was completed by McCormack Construc- tion of Pendleton. Program screens Alcatra] ¿lms East Oregonian A pair of documentary ¿lms about the occupation of Alcatraz Island by American Indians of many tribes in 1969-1971 will be shown during Pepsi Primetime@ the Museum. Admission to the ¿lms is free Saturday at 1 p.m. at Tamastslikt Cultural Institute, located near Wildhorse Resort & Casino. Complimentary refreshments will be served. On Nov. 20, 1969, Alcatraz was occupied by American Indians and held for 19 months. The action protested government policies designed to eliminate tribal rights regarding land, hunting and ¿shing. “Alcatraz Occupation: 35th Anniversary 1969- 2004” celebrates the occupation and honors the original occupiers through songs, stories and dance. “We Hold the Rock,” a documentary about the Indian occupation, was produced by the National Park Service. Each ¿lm lasts about half an hour. The program is in conjunction with the current exhibit, “Alcatraz: Life on the Rock,” which runs through Oct. 24. It includes the “Alcatraz: The Last Day” photo exhibition, a collection by Life Magazine photographer Leigh Wiener. For more information, visit www.tamastslikt.org or call 541-966-9748. Pepsi Primetime @ the Museum ´1DWLYH$PHULFD $OFDWUD]2FFXSDWLRQ WK$QQLYHUVDU\ µ DQG ´:H+ROGWKH5RFNµ Saturday, July 18 1pm Free Movies A local favorite July 18, 7 pm - 10 pm In the Red Lion Lounge FIRST FRIDAYS ARE FREE! 304 SE Nye, Pendleton 541-276-6111 Open Mon-Sat 10am-5pm 541.429.7700 www.tamastslikt.org
