REGION
Friday, February 5, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 3A
PENDLETON
Senators press
Vandals wreck public restrooms FCC on bogus
equipment fees
East Oregonian
Pendleton Parks & Recre-
ation has closed some city
park restrooms after vandals
destroyed toilets and tore a
stall door from a wall.
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vandalism has been a
problem for a number of
years and it is not getting
any better.
Interim parks director
Donnie Cook said his
department on multiple
occasions closed restrooms
at Trailhead Park, Roy
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Park because of repeated
vandalism. He said the
recent repair bill for the
restroom at Trailhead Park,
where culprits smashed
porcelain to pebbles, could
come to $200, while he
estimated repairing the door
at Roy Raley Park at $2,000.
Cook has been working
with the parks department
since 1991 and has always
encountered vandalism, he
said, but it has been more
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in recent years. Pendleton
Police Chief Stuart Roberts
said the destruction peaks
during colder months as well
as in the height of summer,
and the crimes occur in
spurts and most happen at
night.
Cook said transients
disable electronic locks on
the restrooms so they can
live in the facilities, yank
out ventilation fan wiring to
charge cellphones and defe-
cate and urinate on the walls.
Others rip off and destroy
toilets and sinks and spray-
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Roberts noted some people
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restrooms. Drunks leaving
downtown
bars
often
damage the restroom in
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Street.
Photo provided by Pendleton Parks and Recreation
This photo taken recently of the public bathroom at Brownfield Park shows the
complete destruction done by vandals of a toilet and other fixtures.
The city parks depart-
ment is trying to combat the
ongoing rack and ruin. Cook
said staff are repositioning
security cameras to get a
better look at people going
in and out of bathrooms and
replacing porcelain sinks
and toilets with stainless
steel ones. The department
also reduced operating hours
for the Roy Raley bathroom.
The city caught a group
of three or four youth they
believed had vandalized
bathrooms in the past, Cook
said, but there was not
enough evidence to prose-
cute them.
Roberts
encouraged
anyone who sees anything
suspicious at a restroom
along the city’s river
parkway or in city parks to
call police. The vandalism
is costly, he said, and timely
reports may help police
catch any miscreants.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
— Oregon’s U.S. sena-
tors joined four of their
colleagues Wednesday in
pressing Federal Commu-
nications
Commission
Chairman Tom Wheeler
about companies charging
consumers for equipment
they do not use.
Consumers
of Internet and
TV
service
complain more
about
billing
than
another
other problem,
according to a
statement from
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Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden
Wyden.
More
than 30 percent
of
consumer
complaints
in
2015 to the
FCC were about
Internet service
billing and 38
percent
were
about TV service
Merkley
billing.
Wyden
and
fellow Oregon Sen. Jeff
Merkley, both Demo-
crats, joined Senators Al
Franken,
D-Minnesota,
Edward J. Markey, D-Mas-
sachusetts,
Elizabeth
Warren, D-Massachusetts,
and presidential candidate
Bernard Sanders, I-Ver-
mont, in writing a letter
to Wheeler about what the
Live Music
This recent photo shows vandalism done to a
partition in a public restroom at Roy Raley Park.
The Oregon Farm Bureau to better quantify drought
is neutral on H.B. 4113 and effects.
Several
committee
would like to see resources
SALEM — Despite dedicated to understanding members said they supported
generous
amounts
of WKH ¿QDQFLDO LPSDFW RI the idea but cautioned that the
snow and rain this winter, drought across the state, said task force alone doesn’t solve
Eastern Oregon is expected Mary Anne Nash, public the drought problem.
“This does not check the
to continue experiencing policy counsel for the organi-
box. We have a crisis in water
drought in 2016 based on low zation.
April Snell, executive VXSSO\´ VDLG 5HS 0LNH
soil moisture levels.
In light of this prediction direct of the Oregon Water McLane, R-Powell Butte.
———
from the National Weather Resources Congress, said
The Capital Bureau is a
Service, the state’s water the task force is a step in the
regulators want to set up right direction but she agreed collaboration between EO
a “Task Force on Drought that Oregon State University Media Group and Pamplin
(PHUJHQF\5HVSRQVH´WR¿QG or the Oregon Department of Media Group.
tools for alleviating drought Agriculture should be funded
impacts.
The idea recently won
approval
from
Oregon
lawmakers on the House
S ATURDAY & S UNDAY , F EB . 13 & 14
Committee on Rural Commu-
nities, Land Use and Water,
which unanimously referred
a bill to create the task force
to the Joint Ways & Means
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Fire Roasted Salmon with Mango Salsa
recommendation on Feb. 3.
Reservoirs levels in
Live Music Saturday
Oregon and across much of
AT 9 PM IN THE SALOON
the West are below average,
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F R E E
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C O V E R
which means it’s too early
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CALL FOR
RESERVATIONS 541.278.1100
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Saloon Opens at 4 PM • Dinner beginning at 5 PM
in 2015, said Tom Byler,
director of the Oregon Water
Resources Department.
“We’re still not where we
COURT & MAIN • DOWNTOWN PENDLETON
want to be, despite the good
year we’ve been having so
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long-term weather forecast
for spring anticipates above
normal temperatures and
below average precipitation
in the Northwest.
The task force proposed in
House Bill 4113 would consist
Come, relax and enjoy the
of roughly a dozen members,
game at the Red Lion Lounge.
with the governor appointing
Doors open at 1:30 pm
up to 11 and leaders in the
House and Senate appointing
February 7 th
four, said Racquel Rancier,
senior policy coordinator for
OWRD.
Members would examine
short-term tools for dealing
with drought, such as emer-
gency groundwater usage and
temporary transfer of water
rights, as well as longer-term
solutions, such as water
storage, she said.
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The task force would also
improve information sharing
among the diverse stake-
holders, Rancier said.
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Bureau
The Place for Lovebirds
H AMLEY S TEAK H OUSE
Join us
Superbowl Sunday!
9:00
PM
FRIDAY,
FEBRUARY 5
Photo provided by Pendleton Parks and Recreation
Task force recommended
for recurring drought
shady practice.
“We are troubled upon
hearing complaints of
consumers being charged
the modem rental fee
after they have returned
the rented equipment to
Comcast or being charged
the rental fee having never
rented a modem
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their letter states.
“Not only are
the
majority
of
customers
using automatic
payment systems
and may not
personally autho-
rize every erro-
neous
charge,
many consumers
report having to
call and remedy
this
problem
throughout
several
billing
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h
e
lawmakers asked
if and how the
FCC regulates
erroneous fees,
how many unauthorized
charges the FCC is aware
of, the number of consumer
complaints about erro-
neous equipment fees and
what — if anything — is
the FCC doing to address
such complaints.
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the letter at www.wyden.
senate.gov.
Cale Moon
8 S.E. COURT, PENDLETON
541.278.1100