GRIFFEY
HEADED TO
HALL OF FAME
34/28
HERMISTON
STARS READY
TO DANCE
REGION/3A
BASEBALL/1B
Look out
for IRS
scam calls
REGION/3A
THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2016
140th Year, No. 59
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
‘Pick up and go home’
Local tribe, community
voice opinions on
armed protesters
By TERRENCE PETTY
and MANUEL VALDES
Associated Press
BURNS — The leader of an
American Indian tribe that regards
an Oregon nature preserve as sacred
issued a rebuke Wednesday to the
armed men who are occupying
the property, saying they are not
ZHOFRPH DW WKH VQRZ\ ELUG VDQF
tuary and must leave.
The Burns Paiute tribe was the
latest group to speak out against
the men, who have taken several
buildings at the preserve to protest
policies governing the use of federal
land in the West.
“The protesters have no right to
this land. It belongs to the native
people who live here,” tribal leader
&KDUORWWH5RGULTXHVDLG
She spoke at a news conference
at the tribe’s cultural center, about
D KDOIKRXU GULYH IURP 0DOKHXU
National Wildlife Refuge, which
is being occupied by some 20
men led by Ammon Bundy, whose
father Cliven was at the center of
a standoff in Nevada with federal
RI¿FLDOVLQRYHUXVHRISXEOLF
lands.
Ammon Bundy is demanding
that the refuge be handed over to
locals.
5RGULTXHVDLGVKH³KDGWRODXJK´
at the demand, because she knew
Bundy was not talking about giving
Transfer of
depot lands
hinges
on water
‘solution’
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Water remains the pivot
point to transferring land
at the former site of the
Umatilla Chemical Depot to
the Columbia Development
Authority’s local control.
Rep. Greg Smith of
Heppner said he remains
hopeful the transaction will
happen in the near future.
Smith is the project
manager for the development
authority. The bottom line,
he said: “We’re getting
really close to being ready to
transfer the land.”
Just how close is close,
See DEPOT/8A
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
Harney County Sheriff David Ward listens to concerns during a community meeting at the county fairgrounds Wednesday in Burns.
the land to the tribe.
7KH DFUH %XUQV 3DLXWH
Reservation is north of the remote
town of Burns in Oregon sagebrush
country. The reservation is separate
from the wildlife refuge, but tribal
members consider it part of their
ancestral land.
As with other tribes, the Burns
Paiutes’ link to the land is marked
E\ D KLVWRU\ RI FRQÀLFW ZLWKZKLWH
settlers and the U.S. government. In
the late 1800s, they were forced off a
sprawling reservation created by an
WUHDW\WKDWZDVQHYHUUDWL¿HG
Some later returned and purchased
property in the Burns area, where
about 200 tribal members now live.
Bundy’s group seized buildings
See STANDOFF/8A
More inside
Diverse interests split on best
way to manage public land
Page 8A
PENDLETON
City sets crosshairs on old wood stoves
Zero interest loans
available to those with
XQFHUWL¿HGVWRYHV
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
*UDGXDOO\ LQHI¿FLHQW ZRRG
stoves are vanishing from Pendleton
homes, but the pace has slowed.
In 2000, the city started offering
zero interest loans of up to $3,000
to homeowners with wood stoves
WKDWDUHQ¶WFHUWL¿HGE\WKH(QYLURQ
mental Protection Agency or Oregon
Department of Environmental
4XDOLW\'XULQJWKH¿UVWWZR\HDUV
93 residents replaced their stoves
with cleaner burning gas, electric or
FHUWL¿HGZRRGXQLWV
Though the city boosted the
loan amount to $3,500 in 2004, use
of the program has dwindled over
WKH SDVW IHZ \HDUV ,Q ¿VFDO \HDU
QRERG\DSSOLHG/DVW\HDU
there were only two. Altogether,
172 stoves were replaced using city
loans since the program’s inception.
City employee Steve Quinn
DSSOLHG WR UHSODFH DQ XQFHUWL¿HG
¿UHSODFH LQVHUW DERXW HLJKW PRQWKV
ago when he moved into a new
home on Jay Street. On Tuesday, the
new Neptune gas unit glowed in his
OLYLQJ URRP ÀDPH YLVLEOH WKURXJK
a glass door. His yellow lab puppy,
Rudy, lay near the brick hearth as
Quinn rubbed the dog’s ears. Quinn
said he loves the new stove for a pair
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Steve Quinn of Pendleton replaced his uncertifi ed fi replace insert with a new gas burning one using a
loan program through the city of Pendleton.
of reasons.
Number one — “I don’t have to
chop wood,” he said. “It’s nice to
push a button and be done with it.”
Secondly, his expenses dropped
to $120 a month in the winter for
electricity and $35 for gas.
Pendleton’s regulatory specialist
Klaus Hoehna and Umatilla County
Public Health Director Meghan
DeBolt hope more people will use
the loan program. The city seeks to
UHLJQLWH LQWHUHVW DQG ¿QLVK WKH MRE
RI FRQVLJQLQJ DOO WKRVH LQHI¿FLHQW
stoves to the recycling center.
“There’s been a steady decline
in use of the loan program,” said
DeBolt, who is a member of the
Pendleton Air Quality Commission.
The commission doesn’t know
if most of the stoves have been
replaced or if people are unaware
See STOVES/8A
Backers of track event donated heavily to Kitzhaber campaign
world championships in Eugene, they
ZHUH PHW ZLWK FRROQHVV DQG VNHSWL
cism, newly released emails show.
$IWHU /DQDQQD JDYH DQ LQSHUVRQ
EUGENE — When Vin Lananna,
president of TrackTown USA, and pitch to Kitzhaber on July 7, Kitzhaber
Paul Weinhold, president of the economic policy adviser Vince Porter
University of Oregon Foundation, sent a scathing assessment of the
¿UVW FRQWDFWHG WKHQ*RY -RKQ UHTXHVW WR WKH JRYHUQRU DQG KLV WRS
.LW]KDEHU LQ PLG WR UHTXHVW D advisers.
Talks should continue, Porter
PLOOLRQ VWDWH VXEVLG\ IRU7UDFN
Town’s bid to hold the 2019 track wrote, but “there are a lot of hurdles
By SAUL HUBBARD
The Register-Guard
to get over before it becomes much
more than a pipe dream.”
1RQSUR¿W 7UDFN7RZQ¶V UHTXHVW
contained “probably as much as $20
million that we would never want to
consider subsidizing,” he added. “I
don’t think the state should be even
considering something larger than
$20 million” to help fund the event in
Eugene, he wrote.
7KH VXEVLG\ UHTXHVW ² ZKLFK
ZRXOGUHTXLUHWKUHH¿IWKYRWHVLQERWK
chambers of the Legislature — also
was met coolly by Salem’s two most
powerful legislators, Senate President
Peter Courtney and House Speaker
Tina Kotek, both Democrats, Porter’s
emails indicate.
<HW RQO\ ¿YH PRQWKV ODWHU
Kitzhaber publicly pledged to “use all
See KITZHABER/8A