Page 8A
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
REHAB: Ultimate cost is still unNnown
ELGIN: Fire 5% contained
Continued from 1A
shifted their to focus to stop
the ¿re’s spread east along
Middle 5idge
The Ela]e is Must 5 percent
contained, and the cause
remains under investigation
Highway 204 remains
open, though travelers can
expect delays Eetween miles
32 and 36 as pilot cars steer
traf¿c around ¿re¿ghting
eTuipment The Oregon
Department of Transporta-
tion has advised travelers to
consider alternative routes
Numerous forest roads have
also Eeen closed for puElic
and ¿re¿ghter safety
Fire information of¿cer
Kathy Arnoldus said the
¿re is still Eurning actively,
though cooler weather is
expected to help ¿re¿ghters
gain the upper hand Engines
from Union &ounty ¿re
departments have Eeen
assigned to protect structures,
property and livestocN
all went up in Àames, along
with the dried grass and
sageErush
That’s forced Eirds and
mammals to taNe up asylum
in other nearEy wildlife
areas, Marvin said, such as
the Umatilla or Cold Springs
refuges near Hermiston
%ecause Coyote Springs is
so small, ODFW does not
expect any proElems for
farmers dealing with a huge
inÀux of wildlife
“We’re talNing aEout
a pretty small parcel The
area doesn’t hold that many
animals,´ Marvin said
Coyote Springs remains
open to the puElic, though
with upland Eird and
waterfowl hunting seasons
on the hori]on, Marvin said
hunters might have Eetter
lucN trying elsewhere
“<our success will liNely
Ee lower,´ he said “,t’s
value for wildlife haEitat has
Eeen diminished until it can
start to recover´
Marvin is not sure how
much money it will ulti-
mately cost to rehaEilitate
Coyote Springs ,n the
meantime, not everything
aEout the ¿re is Ead the
damaged trees could actu-
ally provide some refuge
for other species of Eirds
liNe woodpecNers, he said,
and Eurned up material does
introduce nutrients EacN into
the ground
“Fire de¿nitely has a
place on the landscape,´ he
said “,t does play a Eene¿-
cial role´
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
NIGHT OUT: Connections reduce crime
Continued from 1A
Staff photo by Phil Wright
Richard “The Reptile Man” Richey of
Colton draps a young reticulated python
around the neck of a volunteer Tuesday
evening during National Night Out at
the Pendleton Family Aquatic Center.
South said the neighEors all
Neep an eye on the neighEorhood,
which maNes it a Eetter and safer
place to live
NeighEor 9irginia Hoeye agreed
She said neighEors will watch other
people’s houses when they travel
and picN up newspapers so noEody
Nnows they are gone
“, have never seen any crime
happen in the 15 years , have
lived here in this neighEorhood,´
she said “NoEody has ever hurt
anyEody NoEody has ever EroNen
into a house And that’s why , liNe
it´
Hoeye said the community held
a ElocN party aEout 14 years ago,
Eut many of the residents have since
moved She said the party this year
provided a great opportunity for the
neighEors to interact
Hannah Garver said the neigh-
Eorhood is nice Eecause people do
looN out for their neighEors
“We Nind of Neep an eye on
everything for the most part,´ she
said “, thinN Eecause of the fact
that we are out so much and we do
watch, , haven’t heard of anything
really Ead happening here ,
thinN Must maNing yourself present
Nind of helps reduce a lot of that
too´
MARIJUANA: Committee douEts OHA’s aEilities
Continued from 1A
failed Ey at least 55 percent
Umatilla County voters
trounced Measure 91 Ey
almost 63 percent Olsen
said Umatilla is one of 12
counties that Tualify
H% 3400 speci¿es six
categories of mariMuana
Eusinesses, he said, and
the Eoard can vote to Ean
all, some or Must one sort
The draft of the county
ordinance shows the Ean
would cover all six: medical
mariMuana processing sites,
medical mariMuana dispen-
saries, retail mariMuana
producers, retail mariMuana
processors, retail mariMuana
wholesalers and retail mari-
Muana retailers
A memo from MaEEott
to the Eoard explained
the committee found the
Oregon Health Authority
lacNs the aEility to regulate
medicinal pot, which the
state agency oversees The
county committee would
reconsider its stance in the
future, if the state health
agency shows it can handle
the MoE to “address local
concerns aEout exposure to
youth, leaNage to the ElacN
marNet, inadeTuate moni-
toring, inadequate testing,
changes to federal laws´
and so on
And Umatilla County,
she continued, also “lacNs
the resources to develop and
implement rules and regula-
tions for medical mariMuana
dispensaries that satisfy
committee memEers´
%anning recreational pot
also made sense, she stated,
given how county voters
said no to Measure 91
The
mariMuana
committee also is recom-
mending the Eoard adopt
changes to the county’s
land use laws to regulate
pot Eusinesses
,n
other
Eusiness
Wednesday, the county
Eoard will consider:
•A plan from the election
department to install Eallot
drop Eoxes in every city
with a population of at least
1,000 within the county
•And allowing all-terrain
vehicles on certain county
roads
Continued from 1A
“We’re always concerned
with protecting private land,´
Arnoldus said “, thinN we’ve
gained a lot of ground in the
past day or so´
3ortions of the ¿re are
located in steep terrain and
heavy timEer, Arnoldus said,
which maNes it dif¿cult for
ground resources to access
Air tanNers and helicopters
dropped water and ¿re retar-
dant Monday to help slow its
movement
The ¿re is Eurning mostly
on the national forest, Eut has
crossed into some adMacent
private land Fish haEitat is
also threatened
For more information
aEout the ¿re, including
road closures, visit www
Eluemountainfireinfoorg
The Umatilla National Forest
information hotline can Ee
reached at 1-877-958-9663,
and the Union County Emer-
gency Center at 541-963-
1049
FORESTS: Fire danger ‘extreme’
Continued from 1A
only if: they are placed in the
center of an area at least 10
feet in diameter and cleared
of all ÀammaEle material
placed in the Eed of a picNup
trucN cleared of all ÀammaEle
material or factory installed
in a recreational vehicle, with
the exhaust discharged in the
center of an area at least 10
feet in diameter and cleared
of all ÀammaEle material
6moNing is allowed
only in enclosed vehicles,
Euildings and developed
recreation sites, or when
stopped in an area cleared of
ÀammaEle material
The restrictions come
as the ¿re danger rating has
Eeen Eumped to extreme, and
a 1,500acre ¿re threatens
homes and property on the
Umatilla National Forest
near Elgin
“The forest vegetation has
cured to a highly ÀammaEle
condition and our upper
elevations are much drier
than usual due to the lacN of
winter snowpacN,´ said %rian
*off, ¿re staff of¿cer for the
forest “5ecent ¿res in the
area have spread rapidly and
are reTuiring consideraEle
effort to contain´
For more information and
a list of designated recreation
areas where camp¿res are
permitted, the Umatilla
National Forest can Ee
reached at 5121
The Malheur National Forest
can Ee reached at 5155
000
The
Wallowa
Whitman National Forest
can Ee reached in /a *rande
at 541-962-8679, in Joseph
at 541-426-5552, or in %aNer
&ity at 541-52-124
August 2015
more winners. more often.
a summer of
music
tributes
a tribute to journey
by dsb band 8.21.15 8pm rivers event center
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