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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 2016)
OFF PAGE ONE ROUNDABOUTS: ODOT has ¿nal say on projects Page 8A East Oregonian Continued from 1A for any projects not included in the plan, however, so he said it was important to include all projects that the city might be interested in pursuing. Spencer said the amend- ment process began after conversations with a “large retailer” interested in devel- oping a portion of Highway 395 between Hermiston Foods and the Wal-Mart Distribution Center. Planning commission documents in the agenda packet identify that retailer as farm supply and sporting goods store Ranch & Home. He said the retailer had begun the application process with the city to build a 100,000 square foot store and develop several “lease pads” that could end up hosting restaurants, gas stations or other small retailers. Spencer said without a traf¿c signal being installed at what is currently known as the “Hermiston Foods driveway” traf¿c would be limited to a right turn in and right turn out, discouraging visitors to the stores. “The store itself could function without a traf¿c signal, but you would need one with the lease pads,” Spencer said. City councilors agreed that a traf¿c signal at the development’s entrance — as well as previously-proposed ones at places like Airport Road and the Wal-Mart Distribution Center — were likely necessary but they needed to be stop lights, not roundabouts. “It de¿nitely slows traf¿c way down,” councilor Rod Hardin said. Spencer said merely adding the possibility of roundabouts to the Trans- portation System Plan didn’t mean they had to go in. But he acknowledged that ODOT has the ¿nal say on highway projects, meaning putting them in the plan as an option would “leave the door open.” Councilor Doug Smith said he didn’t like putting up roadblocks for potential developers, and the longer the city took to approve the amendment allowing for a signal to be placed at the Hermiston Foods driveway the longer the developer would not have certainty moving forward. However, councilor Doug Primmer said he didn’t think waiting a couple of weeks would really make much of a difference, and in the end councilors voted unanimously to continue the public hearing on the matter until their March 14 meeting, allowing staff to discuss with ODOT whether the state transportation commission would still sign off on the Transportation System Plan without adding the recom- mendation for roundabouts. ——— Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdowell@eastorego- nian.com or 541-564-4536. HOMELESS: Camp is now very visible from the road Continued from 1A to replace his social security card, which had been in the wallet. The process took months. His new ID shows his address as “Under I-82 overpass, Old River Road, Umatilla.” “I just got those replaced, so now I’m looking again,” he said. “Right now, I’m just unemployed, waiting for the facto- ries to pick up, which is next month.” Most of the campers were moved from their campsites in Umatilla in August when the city passed a ban on longterm camping within city limits. The campers moved to a spot further upriver, but had to move again this month because of rising waters. When the move order ¿rst came down, Douglas moved his items then helped others. He found a spot in the trees next to a collapsed tent and moved in. He left the tent and its collection of clothing and items untouched. “I ¿gured it was none of my busi- ness,” he said. “How would I feel if I took that over and then the owner came back? I’m not a thief.” The current residents of the Umatilla camp each repeat the same refrain: we’re not thieves, we’re not criminals, we’re not bad people. We don’t steal anything from anyone. For James Johnson, life snowballed, tragedy following tragedy — his father died, he lost his job, his wife left him, he was arrested. Now on probation, Johnson said he did not want to be a burden on his mother and took to life in the camp. “I was taught survival when I was a kid by my dad, and I’ve been camping most of my life,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of pride. I don’t want to live off anyone.” Johnson has been homeless for about two years. In addition to working side jobs and searching for full-time employ- ment, Johnson is the camp’s designated ¿rewood cutter, helping those without the bene¿t of survival training survive in the camps. Most of the campers use ¿res to cook meals, and some take the embers into their tents to keep warm but must watch for carbon monoxide poisoning. When they can afford them, the campers hook Coleman stoves to propane tanks to cook meals and heat their tents at the same time. The campers have little, but all say they share food, sleeping bags and ¿re- wood with others who stop by. “Anyone who needs a place to stay or a meal, people send them to us. We can’t help much, but we try,” said Laurie Love, one of the newest members of the camp. Homeless for about six months, Love is one of the newest members of the camp. After losing her home due to divorce, Love found herself on Beyer said the amend- ment strengthened the role of the Public Utility Commis- sion, in response to criticism the earlier version would have weakened commission oversight. Utilities objected to a provision in the amendment that would lower the annual cost cap for the renewable energy mandate from 4 percent to 3 percent. The existing renewable energy mandate allows utilities to ask the Public Utility Commission to approve rate increases based on costs incurred to meet the law. “I’m not sure why changing it advances the policy now,” said Scott Bolton, a vice president at Paci¿Corp. Ry Schwark, a spokesman for Paci¿Corp, said he expected the bill might still undergo changes. “Since this now will likely need to go to conference, much will depend upon what comes out the other end of that process,” Schwark wrote in an email. Beyer’s amendment also expanded the types of energy JAIL: Should not have much effect on staf¿ng Continued from 1A about $120,000 a year, and he and his jail commander, Capt. Stewart Harp, plan to meet with 5ogers to ¿gure out some details. Rowan said they could have a contract by early March. Rogers and Rowan are both seeking re-election this year. Rogers said the decision to move had been up in the air for two years, but once the talk got serious it took about six months for Rogers to ¿nali]e the deci- sion. Another three months passed by before it could be implemented to give Union County notice of the switch. Rogers said while he gives notice to other county departments, such as commissioners, the judges and district attorneys of important decisions such as this, the jail is his, and the decision was his alone to make. He added while it may seem like the additional distance would cost more money, this is not the case. “I think it’ll be a wash in the long run. It’s a little more expensive to transport the prisoners, but the cost per prisoner per day is cheaper,” Rogers said. “It’ll work out pretty close.” Rowan said the Umatilla County Jail can handle the few inmates Wallowa County will send without much of an effect on staf¿ng. And the new revenue stream will have to cover the cost of housing inmates, he said, but this also could mean more programs and services to help offenders stay out of jail. “We look at all this as an opportunity to improve,” Rowan said. Of course, commis- sioners of both counties will have the ¿nal approval of the contract. The jail already has contracts with Morrow County, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservations, the county’s parole and proba- tion department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ——— Phil Wright of the East Oregonian and Steve Tool of the Wallowa County Chieftain contributed to this report. YOUNGMAN: Said she found DeGeneres to be quite genuine Continued from 1A Staff photo by E.J. Harris The homeless camp on Umatilla River Road was down at this spot on the banks of the Umatilla River before rising water levels forced the campers to move up closer to the road. “No one wants to have a town with homeless people in it, but most of the people here didn’t do anything wrong. Something bad happened, and it happened fast.” — Laurie Love, one of the newest members of the camp the streets. She said she has an RV, in storage, but has been turned down by RV parks because she is now homeless and has a record for being unable to pay ¿nes. “I never dreamed I would end up here,” Love said. “I used to be very judgmental, but sometimes God wants to put you on the other side of the tracks. I’ve learned a lot, and I’ll never forget it. It can happen to anyone.” Love points out people treat her differently when they ¿nd out she is a “river person” now. Some people close off or assume she is a criminal; other people offer help or food or clothing. “People think all the worst things, that we’re thieves, liars, vagrants, but this community also has really awesome people,” she said. “No, no one wants to have a town with homeless people in it, but most of the people here didn’t do anything wrong. Something bad happened, and it happened fast.” The most recent move has been dif¿- cult on some in the group, because the camp is now very visible from the road. “I’m beginning to wonder if they’re using us to clean up the river. We move to a site, we get it cleaned up, we haul off the trash that’s been there for years — then they tell us to move,” she said. “Now, here we are by the road, and it’s embarrassing.” Umatilla City Manager Bob Ward said the city council will discuss ¿nding a set space for campers to stay where they can meet hygiene needs and have access to law enforcement. “We have been getting a lot of complaints here from people about the presence of the tent camp,” he said. “It’s not really growing, it’s that as the river waters rise, the people who have been camping are moving to higher ground. At this point, all of the calls we have received have been complaints and not necessarily suggestions.” The council may discuss the campers and homeless situation at its next meeting. Meanwhile, Umatilla County is working on a solution to move the camps off the roadside. “We have been working collabora- tively with out code enforcement, plan- ning, and board of commissioners to put together a plan to deal with things out there,” Umatilla County Sheriff Terry Rowan said. “It is still in its infancy, but I do foresee a plan in the near future.” That plan will likely involve identi- fying everyone in the camps, arresting anyone with warrants and posting signs for no overnight camping or parking in the area, Rowan said. The campers continue to work on ¿nding food and shelter while trying to get back on their feet. “We don’t plan to live here forever. Going to college, you live in a dorm before you graduate. Until we get another job, this is where we are,” Love said. “Just because someone doesn’t have anyone to turn to doesn’t make them a bad person. It doesn’t make them a loser. It makes it hard.” ENERGY: The bill might still undergo changes Continued from 1A Tuesday, February 23, 2016 the utilities could use to meet the renewables mandate to include certain hydropower projects, biomass and power plants that burn municipal solid waste. That provision did not appear to be contro- versial. Beyer was also trying to shore up support for the bill after news reports last week that Gov. Kate Brown’s administration silenced state energy regulators who critiqued the bill, and that those regulators had not received enough information from the utilities to vet cost projections for the bill. “There was lots of concerns expressed in the press and everybody else about how this bill got here and what it did and whether the regulator was left out or not,” Beyer said on Monday. House Bill 4036 would double Oregon’s existing mandate to increase renew- able energy and require Port- land General Electric and Paci¿Corp to use renewable power sources such as wind and solar to serve at least 50 percent of their customers’ energy demand in Oregon by 2040, up from the current state mandate of 25 percent renewable energy by 2025. The bill would also require the investor-owned utilities to stop using coal to serve Oregon customers, but there are questions about whether the bill would actually do much to impact the phase-out of coal power in Oregon. Portland General Electric has already committed to close Oregon’s only coal plant, in Boardman, by 2020, and Beyer said the bill would have a greater impact on the types of power utilities use to replace coal. Beyer invited Susan Ackerman, chair of the Public Utility Commis- sion, to testify before the committee on Monday, something Senate Republi- cans had called for last week. Ackerman said the Public Utility Commission had long considered a carbon cap-and-trade system to be the most ef¿cient way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Lawmakers introduced a bill to create a cap-and-trade system this session, although it seems to have lost momentum and is currently assigned to the budget writing Joint Committee on Ways and Means. Ackerman said she was concerned that if the renew- able mandate bill passes, it could use up the political capital that would be neces- sary to pass cap-and-trade legislation. Leadership Training at BMCC tivity. The hashtag trended with tweets originating around the world. A producer ¿nally invited <oungman to Ày to Los Angeles and observe an “Ellen” taping, and last Thursday, Youngman and two family members settled into their seats among the audience to watch the show. The episode would feature “X-Files” actor David Duchovny and air the following Monday. During the show, DeGeneres approached Youngman in the audience for a conversation about attitude. The comedienne invited Youngman to stand and talk about facing chal- lenges. “It’s totally about atti- tude and I also think it’s totally about being kind to one another,” Youngman said. “I get my inspiration from you and your show. Be kind to one another. Kindness and spreading it to other people is a great message. It helps you get through these times.” “These times” referred to Youngman’s breast cancer, which requires chemo treatments every two weeks. At the show, DeGeneres ¿xed her blue eyes on Youngman’s ha]el- brown ones. “You know, I love talking to interesting people and we have a lot of famous people that come on the show,” DeGeneres said, “but it’s stories like yours that actually I … think about when I go home at night.” She gave Youngman a long hug. DeGeneres’ staff heaped red carpet treatment on Youngman, Àying her to LA on Wednesday, sending a chauffeur to collect her entourage (her niece, Katie Montchalin, and daughter, Becky Youngman) and drive them to a hotel near Universal Studios. The next afternoon, the driver whisked them to the Warner Brothers Studios where “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” is produced. They were shown to a private green room and fed lunch. Youngman’s mother, Marie Groshong, and sister, Rebecca Barlow, joined them there. Later from her seat in the audience, Youngman laughed at Duchovny and DeGeneres’ banter. During commercial breaks, staff members kept the audience in a high-energy fren]y with dance contests and pulsing music. Though she had worried about having enough stamina for the trip, Youngman just relaxed and enjoyed the adventure. “She was so high and energetic. Her adrenaline was Àowing,” Groshong said. “She had accom- plished one of her dreams and she was in the clouds.” “It was ama]ing,” Youngman said. “It surpassed my expecta- tions.” After the show, the producers treated the ¿ve women to dinner at an expensive Italian restaurant. Youngman said she found DeGeneres to be quite genuine. “She means what she says and she truly cares about other people,” the teacher said. “The people who work for her promote her values.” That’s important to Youngman. She is using her third battle with cancer as a platform to promote her own values and the impor- tance of being kind. The day the show aired, Youngman had returned to reality with a crash. She spent the morning in chemotherapy. It was a lot of downtime to think about her surreal adventure in LA and all the folks who had made it happen. The busi- nesses that held fundraisers for her medical fund. The students and their plethora of tweets. After watching the show again at home, she expressed her gratitude. “I’m so thankful to all the people who supported and encouraged me — the high school students and the community and the campaign that allowed me to go down there and spread the message of kindness.” ——— Contact Kathy Aney at kaney@eastoregonian.com or call 541-966-0810. 37 TH ANNUAL HERMISTON SPORTS BOOSTERS STEAK FEED & AUCTION Saturday, March 5th • 5:30pm Auction starts at 7:00pm Hermiston Community Center FOR TABLE RESERVATIONS, $ 40 on per pers Business Technologies 541-278-5868 www.bluecc.edu call Paul 541-567-5215 or formore info., call Joe 541-571-4478 Everyone 21 years & over welcome. All proceeds will assist Hermiston High School boys and girl athletic programs. This ad generously donated by SIMPLOT GROWERS SOLUTION a proud community supporter HERMISTONSPORTSBOOSTERS . COM
