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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 13, 2015)
REGION Thursday, August 13, 2015 East Oregonian Page 3A Tribal language +RPHVFRUHVZHOORQHQHUJ\HI¿FLHQF\ program adopts new curriculum PENDLETON Owner can expect to save more than 20 percent on energy bills By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian There is plenty to like about the newest house under construction at Sunridge Estates: three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms and a welldesigned Àoor plan But its greatest selling point might just be the number That’s the home’s Energy Performance Score, or EPS, issued by the Energy Trust of Oregon, which rates overall energy consumption and ef¿ciency The house, at 103 S: Second 'rive, is the ¿rst in Pendleton to receive an EPS rating EPS is a voluntary rating requested by builders before a new home is built The scores range from zero to 200, with zero being the most ef¿cient ² a netzero rating means the home makes just as much energy on site as it consumes :ith a score of , whoever buys the house can expect to save more than 20 percent on their energy bills compared to if it had been built to minimum standard “Energy performance is really another indicator of quality,” said Susan Badger- Jones with the Energy Trust of Oregon “<ou buy a house that you like, it looks good, it looks nice, and then it keeps you warmer, cooler and costs less to operate over time” 0ore ef¿cient windows, lighting, heating and insu- lation all contributed to the home’s score in Pendleton Tim Sprenger, owner and contractor of Aspen &onstruction 'evelop- ment, said it cost roughly $5,000 more to do the added work Financing for the home and energy upgrades was possible through a partner- ship with the Round-Up &ity 'evelopment &orpo- By WILL PHINNEY Confederated Umatilla Journal Staff photo by George Plaven The house at 1903 S.W. Second Drive in Pendleton is the city’s first to receive an EPS rating from the Energy Trust of Oregon, which scores overall energy use and efficiency. ration and Bank of Eastern Oregon, which years ago in the wake of the recession secured community block grant funding to come up with a lending program for much-needed new housing ,n 2013, the nonpro¿t Round-Up &ity 'evelop- ment Corporation connected with the Horizon Project, a group that provides services to people with developmental disabilities in Milton-Freewater, to use a portion of defederalized grant money for home- building loans Under the program, Bank of Eastern Oregon now covers 60 percent of the loan; Horizon covers 30 percent; and the builder 10 percent The house at Sundrige Estates is the ¿fth project to be funded through this alliance, and the ¿rst to include an EPS rating Sprenger said the home should be ¿nished some- time after the Pendleton Round-Up in September He expects the built-in energy ef¿ciency measures to give him an added edge in the market “I just thought it was an opportunity to have a different feature that isn’t common in Pendleton,” Sprenger said “There’s a lot more insulation than a typical house Everything is very ef¿cient” To receive an EPS rating, Sprenger worked with Energy Trust of Oregon as a third-party veri¿er, which inspected the home and assigned its numerical score Had the home been built to minimum standard with the same Àoor plan, Energy Trust ¿gures it would score 101 At , the home should rack up approximately 20 percent savings on utility bills, with an estimated average annual energy costs of $1,13 Badger-Jones said EPS has been calculated at several homes in Hermiston, and she expects it will become a more common practice in Pendleton “This is really sort of a jump-start here,” she said “It gives people a chance to jump in and see it’s not that hard to do” Mike Short, commer- cial loan of¿cer for Bank of Eastern Oregon and board vice president of the Round-Up City 'evelop- ment Corporation, said they chipped in $1,600 toward the EPS process to help Sprenger share some of the risk “<ou put a little money into a house on the energy ef¿ciency side of things, and you hope to get it back on the backside,” Short said “<ou put these investments in, and you hope the buyer recovers that value” Sprenger said the asking price for the house is $235,000 The additional $5,000 spent on energy ef¿- ciency should equal roughly an additional $25 per month on a 30-year mortgage, which he said could easily be recouped in utility savings Sprenger said he would likely do the process over again, but added he’s just focused on getting this one ¿nished for now “I don’t think we’ll have any trouble getting it sold,” he said For more information or to inquire about the house, contact Sprenger at 51-3-103 ²²² Contact George Plaven at gplaven@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0825. BOARDMAN PILOT ROCK City council avoids Facebook ‘BS’ for now By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian Most Pilot Rock City Council members said they did not see any reason for the city to step into the social media pool, let alone to take a swim The council held off giving staff the OK to respond to comments on Facebook at Tuesday night’s meeting City recorder Teri Porter told the council there were inaccurate statements about city police scheduling on the Facebook page for Pilot Rock Community :atch, a private group dedicated to informing its members about suspicious activity in the area Joining the group requires an invitation or approval from members She said she wanted to post correct information to the group and asked for the coun- cil’s opinion Porter on Monday, Aug 3, wrote that of¿cers work Friday and Saturday nights in response to concerns about police coverage, but on Aug 1, of¿cer Gary Thompson checked out early due to a family emergency Still, he let the Umatilla County dispatch center know so other agencies could respond Thompson is the city’s only certi¿ed of¿cer 1ew police hire 'aniel Badal must ¿rst complete Oregon’s police training to earn his certi¿cation Councilman 'eacon Perkins said the East Orego- nian’s Tuesday story about the issue raised several concerns, including about public records laws That story also pointed out a quorum of council members on a Facebook page could violate Oregon’s public meetings law Councilwoman Kacie Moss said she posted on Facebook to encourage people to bring up concerns at council meetings She said she commented as a concerned citizen, not as a council member Councilman James Hinkle said freedom of speech extends to city of¿cials Perkins, though, said there need to be safeguards in place and the city already has a newsletter and other means to communicate with residents Oregon law speci¿es three criteria for public records, including if something relates to a government activity That could include encour- aging people to attend a city council meeting Posts from a personal Facebook page also might not offer much shielding to a government of¿cial in light of the Cylvia Hayes’ email situation The ¿ancpe of former Oregon Gov John Kitzhaber must allow a judge to determine which of her personal emails concern public business and are subject to records requests Mayor Virginia Carnes, who is a member of the Facebook group, asked guest Pendleton Police Chief Stuart Roberts to weigh in Pendleton police is about to provide administrative oversight to Pilot Rock’s small department for $4,000 a month until a new chief is in place Pendleton City Council approved the inter- governmental agreement last week Roberts said Pendleton police staff do not to respond to comments on Facebook, and the department generally uses local news organizations to get out information He said Pendleton and other agencies would provide police help to Pilot Rock, and his biggest concern with the Facebook group was a “vigilante movement” to encourage citizens to take up arms He and Carnes agreed Pilot Rock did not need that Of¿ces Badal and Thompson were at the meeting, and Thompson told the council while it is good people are using social media to inform others, someone should call for police :ithout that, he said, police do not know there is a need and there is no record of an incident, and thus no police response Councilmen Bob 'eno and Raymond 'oherty joined Perkins in taking the strongest stands against the use of Facebook, and Councilman Ray Corwin expressed some concerns 'eno also asked Porter how she had time in her work day to keep up with Facebook “It just takes a second, and you’re done,” she responded 'oherty said the city just needs to stay off Facebook “It’s all BS,” he said “It’s just a place to start a ¿ght” “I agree,” 'eno said Perkins moved to table the discussion until Porter could get some advice on the matter from the League of Oregon Cities That passed 6-0 Thompson’s words came to fruition as the council was about to adjourn A citizen In a “last ditch effort” to save tribal languages, a curriculum is being put in place to teach teachers how to teach on the Umatilla Indian Reservation The Tribal Language Program in the Confederated Tribes’ education department will replicate the system being used at the Salish School, where teachers are using immersion to teach children from infancy to third grade That will require translation of the Salish curriculum into Umatilla, :alla :alla and 1ez Perce Meanwhile, students at 1ixyaawii Community School will learn only Umatilla this year Thomas Morning Owl, Fred Hill and Mildred 4uaempts, Àuent in Umatilla, will instruct the high school students in that language for the next year Currently, there are no Àuent speakers in :alla :alla or 1ez Perce that are pro¿cient enough to teach Morning Owl heard about the program, which teaches Okanagan Salish, and made a day trip to expe- rience it ¿rsthand “It Àoored me I was absolutely amazed,” he said “From the time I got to the school until it ended they spoke in nothing but Okanagan Salish” Morning Owl started “snooping around” and learned that the Salish School had developed its curriculum around just one Àuent speaker The system trains teachers in a beginner, intermediate and advanced program with six books ² one teaching book and one literature book for each step “It’s comparable to a curriculum presented as a secondary language such as Spanish, French or German,” said Morning Owl, who can speak all three :hat’s fascinating is that the Salish system was created by a college-level Spanish teacher and his wife, both of whom are non-Indian The Okanagan program, which now has 1 Àuent speakers who are available to teach, is working with as many as 30 children Modesta Minthorn, the current language program manager, said she probably will be the “¿rst guinea pig” for teachers, but her main focus will be as coordinator to help the program achieve its goals “People think it would be easy, but there’s a lot of coordinating,” Minthorn said “:e’ve over-com- mitted before My number one task is that whatever comes up it doesn’t get in the way of what we’re focusing on this year” The Salish group came to the Umatilla Indian Reservation and shared how they built the program in a two-day workshop in late July Because they believe so much in the program, Minthorn said, the curric- ulum and facility is being offered for practically free “This is going to require the language program to make a one-year commit- ment to see it through,” she said “Everyone in the program is committed to it” The program is an effort to keep native languages alive “People really have to understand the critical level of our languages,” Minthorn said “:e need support from the community, of every individual, to save the languages” walked in, asked about the social media issue and said there was “a cho-mo” on the street Council members looked at her with confusion and some asked what she meant The term is slang for child molester, and she said she wanted to give the council a description of the man The council and staff directed her to call the local non-emer- gency dispatch line In other business, the council approved changes to the city’s zoning laws and gave librarian Susan Hilliard permission to apply for the annual $1,000 Ready to Read grant that helps the city’s summer reading program The council also met in a closed-door session with city attorney 'avid Blanc to discuss possible litigation And Corwin announced he might have to step away from the council due to scheduling conÀicts with new duties as a junior high football coach That prompted Moss to ask Corwin to stay on because she may have to leave due to selling her house ²²² Contact Phil Wright at pwright@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0833. Editor’s note: Reporter Phil Wright joined the Pilot Rock Community Watch Face- book group Wednesday for news-gathering purposes. H AMLEY S TEAK H OUSE /DQGOHDVHRSWLRQVZRXOG VXSSRUWUHQHZDEOHHQHUJ\ By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian The Port of Morrow approved two land lease options :ednesday that, if exercised by developers, could become home to a proposed solar farm and biofuel re¿nery Port commissioners extended one option for the Colorado-based ZeaChem, which has tried for years to build a commercial-scale facility making ethanol from wood chips and wheat straw ZeaChem already oper- ates a demonstration plant at the port, which successfully produced cellulosic ethanol for the ¿rst time in 2013 However, the company soon failed to secure a bridge loan that resulted in layoffs 'espite the setback, Gary 1eal, the port’s general manager, said ZeaChem continues to run tests at the demonstration plant and anticipates breaking ground on a commercial biore¿nery by next spring or summer ZeaChem’s lease option now runs through June 2016, at $2,100 per month for 25 acres of land In another deal, the port commission approved a lease option for 175 acres just north of Airport Indus- trial Park and west of Tower Road OneEnergy Renew- ables, of Seattle, is interested in building a 30-megawatt solar farm on the otherwise rocky and unfarmable land The option is for three years: $5,000 for the ¿rst year, $10,000 the second and $20,000 the third If exercised, OneEnergy Renewables would spend $475 per acre per year to build on the land “It’s on property that would probably be dif¿- cult to develop for other purposes,” 1eal said “It was a good ¿t for us” AUGUST 14-15, 2015 Friday Aug. 14th 9pm HINDER Saturday Aug. 15th 9pm WARRANT Pick your Barnyard Favorite BEEF • CHICKEN • LAMB PORK • TURKEY $ 15.00 Reserved Tickets On Sale Now! $12 (does not include admission) In the Watering Hole: LIVE MUSIC: Fri & Sat - Blue Tattoo Call or stop by the Fair Office, 515 W. Orchard, Hermiston 800-700-FAIR (3247) www.umatillacounty.net/fair ~Visa & Mastercard Gladly Accepted~ 541.278.1100 • COURT & MAIN, PENDLETON
