REGION
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
East Oregonian
Page 3A
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merged into larger infernos, feeding
on bone-dry forests and whipped
Evacuations have been lifted by high, unpredictable winds. Both
around the Canyon Creek and also destroyed dozens of structures,
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Oregon as rain and snow helped &UHHNDQG¿YHPRUHLQWKH*UL]]O\
dampen their intensity over the Bear Complex.
The Canyon Creek Complex has
weekend.
The Grant County Sheriff’s charred more than 110,000 acres
2I¿FH OLIWHG DOO HYDFXDWLRQ OHYHOV south of John Day, and continues to
for the Canyon Creek Complex burn east into the Strawberry Moun-
on Monday, including all of tain Wilderness in the Malheur
Strawberry Road and all of Prairie National Forest. At 75,000 acres,
City. Meanwhile, evacuations were the Grizzly Bear Complex started in
lifted Saturday on the Grizzly Bear the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness
Complex after seven inches of snow before threatening the small commu-
fell over Godman Campground in nity of Troy in Wallowa County,
the Umatilla National Forest near near the Oregon-Washington border.
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Dayton, Washington.
Both blazes started as small light- the weekend’s wet weather helped
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
crews reinforce containment lines
around communities, which allowed
them to lift evacuations and begin
demobilizing resources.
The Canyon Creek Complex
is now 85 percent contained. Fire
lines are secure along the north,
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while rapellers work to protect Slide
Creek and Strawberry Lake in the
Strawberry Mountain Wilderness.
The wilderness area remains closed
to the public.
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but still burning actively in the
Wenaha-Tucannon
Wilderness.
Containment lines should hold up
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Wilkins said.
A smaller Type 3 management
team took over operations of the
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National Guard soldiers deployed to
the area have been sent home. The
remaining crews hope to transition
to patrol duty by Friday, Wilkins
said.
Though wetter, cooler weather
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during mop-up activities, Wilkins
said it would take seven straight
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and buck drought conditions in the
forest. The extended forecast calls
for warmer days ahead, which
should quickly dry out larger fuels
capable of burning for a long time.
“With the extended drought
we’ve had in the inland Northwest,
those fuels are just so dry,” Wilkins
Semi tips
on Paterson
Ferry Road
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
FISH: Proposal meant to lower rate bass prey on salmon, steelhead
cited an ODFW study from
Continued from 1A
1999 that concluded small-
might open the doors to a mouth bass are not major
potential cottage industry.
predators of spring chinook
“We’re very concerned and steelhead smolts in the
about what’s the writing on John Day, since the bass are
the wall here,” Johnson said. not particularly active when
ODFW has said the smolts migrate in colder
proposal is meant to lower water.
the rate at which bass prey on
On the other hand,
native salmon and steelhead northern pikeminnow prey
smolts, especially in the John on smolts year round,
Day River where rising water Fleming said, and bass have
temperatures have lured actually helped decrease
smallmouth bass higher into pikeminnow numbers in the
the watershed.
river.
But Steve Fleming, of
“I just don’t see the
0DK+DK2XW¿WWHUVLQ)RVVLO science supporting this deci-
sion-making,” Fleming said.
Fleming, who has guided
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Day for 27 years, said the
vote to remove bag limits on
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less. He doesn’t expect his
business to suffer, though he
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rural communities, will all
be impacted.
“The word will get out
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unless you have a boat,” he
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will die down.”
The new rules are part
of an effort to simplify
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regulations statewide. Other
changes adopted by the Fish
& Wildlife Commission
include eliminating the April
trout opener and removing
bag limits on non-native
brown and brook trout in
streams, with a few excep-
tions.
Johnson said Oregon
B.A.S.S. will work with
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what their options are
moving forward.
“Needless to say, it’s very
frustrating,” he said.
POW WOW: All of the
participants received prizes
in the non-competitive dances
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Lewis Allen, 7, dances during the 5th Annual Kidz Pow
Wow on Saturday at the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute.
September 10 th , 2015
4:30 pm to 7:00 pm
Stillman Park (SE Byers and 4 th )
Adults: $ 7.00 4-12: $ 4.00
Kids under 4 FREE
Eggs, Pancakes, Ham, Coffee, & Juice
Entertainment Drawings Door Prize
Sponsored by:
Main Street Side Saddlers Pendleton, OR
The Rivoli
Restoration
Coalition recognizes
and thanks the
Wildhorse
Foundation for their
support of the Rivoli
Coalition
Architectural and
Engineering Project!
EO file photo
Weston-McEwen band instructor Rob McIntyre
stands in front of the Gem Theatre in Athena in
March 2015. He has been a driving force in the resto-
ration of the theater.
Theatre renovation
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Old movie house
fell silent in 1968
East Oregonian
ATHENA – The effort to
renovate Athena’s old Gem
Theatre got a boost recently
with the awarding of three
grants totaling $244,000.
Volunteers are bringing
the dusty time capsule,
shuttered in 1968, back to
life as a space for movies,
plays and school functions,
as well as streaming
concerts and other perfor-
mances. A museum inside
will feature vintage Hodaka
motorcycles, once assem-
bled in Athena.
The Meyer Memorial
Trust, founded by the late
Fred G. Meyer who built
a chain of retail stores
throughout the Northwest,
has awarded $200,000. The
theater received another
$35,000 from The Collins
Foundation, founded by
the family of E.S. Collins
to give greater expression
to humanitarian endeavors
in Oregon. Another $9,000
was awarded by Trust
Management
Services,
which emphasizes educa-
tion, community service,
culture, youth activities and
historical preservation.
The project to renovate
the old movie house kicked
into high gear earlier this
year funded by commu-
nity donations and two
$200,000 grants from the
Ford Family Foundation
and the M.J. Murdock
Charitable Trust. So far,
volunteers have replaced an
outside brick wall, gutted
the theater and replaced
the saloon’s façade, along
with various other tasks.
The renovated theater will
include some of the original
balcony seats.
HERMISTON
Hansell town hall set for Sept. 21
HERMISTON — The Hermiston Chamber of
Commerce is hosting a town hall
with Sen. Bill Hansell (R-Athena)
on Monday, Sept. 21.
The senator will be on hand from
9-10 a.m. at Nookies Restaurant,
125 N. First St. in Hermiston, to
discuss “the good, the bad and the
ugly” of the 2015 legislative session.
He will also provide an overview
of bills passed, discuss his goals for
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Hansell
questions from the audience.
PATIENT APPRECIATION EVENT
Please join us at Community Park
September 10th from 4-6pm
for a BBQ Dinner catered by Dickey’s
Compliments of Dr. Hibbert!
No Ticket Required
Admit One
Tribal
elder
Tessie
Williams had commenced
Franklin, of Tamastslikt, the gathering with a prayer
sported a neon pink shirt in which she had lifted up
with the words, “5th Annual “our precious children.”
Kidz Pow Wow.” After She watched the powwow
each age group danced, wrapped in a Pendleton
she helped award prizes to blanket and nodding her
all who participated in the head at the beat produced by
non-competitive dances. The the drummers.
idea, she said, was to provide
“The drummers are
a pressure-free venue to wonderful,” she said. “The
allow children, native or kids are wonderful.”
non-native up to age 12,
Randy Minthorn sat at
to experience powwow. a table with a microphone,
:KHQ$OH[¶VJURXS¿QLVKHG acting as emcee.
(age 0 through 4), each
He praised the parents
dancer received a backpack and others who had made the
containing something home- gathering a priority.
made.
“We are here supporting
Franklin grinned as she our children,” Minthorn
watched the dancers, some- said. “This is big medicine
times taking out her phone to to our people. To pass on this
shoot video.
knowledge in contemporary
“It’s amazing to see them times is important.”
out there,” she said. “They’re
———
so excited. It makes all the
Contact Kathy Aney at
stress of planning so worth kaney@eastoregonian.com
it.”
or call 541-966-0810.
Continued from 1A
ATHENA
Admit One
An overturned semitruck
blocks Paterson Ferry
Road parallel to milepost
177 on Interstate 84 after
the driver lost control
while driving westbound
on Monday shortly before
10 a.m., spilling his load
of corn meal on the road
and blocking traffic for
several hours. The driver
was uninjured.
said. “It’s hard to imagine them
being any drier.”
State and county roads remain
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public. Roads are closed north of
the Grande Ronde River from the
Umatilla National Forest boundary
to the Oregon-Washington border;
north of the state line to Washington
Highway 129; west of Highway 129
to the intersection at Highway 100;
and north again to the national forest
boundary.
For more information about
ZLOG¿UHV LQ 2UHJRQ YLVLW ZZZ
inciweb.nwcg.gov.
———
Contact George Plaven at
gplaven@eastoregonian.com
or
541-966-0825.
Free box of
hearing aid
batteries with new
aid purchase!
Certified,
Licensed
Audiologist
Here for you!
Monday - Thursday 8 AM - 5 PM
2237 SW Court, Pendleton, OR 97801
541-276-5053
www.renataanderson.com