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