OFF PAGE ONE
PLUTE: :LOOFRQWLQXHWRPDQDJHSURSHUWLHVIURPDIDU
Page 10A
East Oregonian
Continued from 1A
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ered running for mayor,
before a succession of local
controversies soured him on
Pendleton politics.
Pendleton
Plumbing
sued Plute’s development
company in 2013 over a
billing dispute, and the two
sides battled in court for years
before reaching a settlement
agreement this winter.
To pay for his legal fees
during his lawsuit, Plute fell
behind on his property taxes,
although he said he’s now
mostly caught up.
Plute’s political career was
no less contentious during
that time.
Plute led a campaign to
enact a 5-cent gas tax to help
pay for road repairs across
the city, but voters widely
rejected the measure in
November.
In December, Plute joined
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approving a $5 street utility
fee, an additional funding
mechanism the council had
previously decided to enact
whether the gas tax passed or
not.
A group called Pendleton
Citizens United used all
of these events and more
to launch a recall petition
against Plute in January.
³:KHQ SHRSOH VWDUWHG
questioning my character, it
was time to leave Pendleton,”
he said.
Plute said one of the
reasons he and his wife
decided to move to Eugene
is its city government already
has funding measures like a
gas tax in place.
Pendleton Citizens United
treasurer Larry Anderson said
he was unsure if the group
would continue collecting
signatures for a recall, but
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Plute resignation.
To trigger a recall election,
Pendleton Citizens United
needs to collect 705 signa-
tures by April 25. Anderson
said they have already
collected 600 signatures.
A
characteristically
outspoken
Plute
was
unsparing in his description
of Pendleton Citizens United
and their ilk, calling them the
“village idiots.”
As for the three down-
town buildings that have
been a source of both praise
and scrutiny, Plute said he
will continue to manage
them from afar and return
to Pendleton once a month
to take care of his tenants’
needs.
Mayor Phillip Houk said
Plute should be proud of his
time on the council and the
investment he has made in the
downtown area, while also
noting his blunt demeanor.
“Al just said what he
thought ... you always knew
where he stood,” Houk said.
Plute plans to stay on the
council through May, which
would allow him to give input
during the city’s budgeting
process.
Plute said his work on the
city council wasn’t for the
title or prestige but for the
betterment of Pendleton and
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revenue and sustainability
will be vindicated.
“I’ve given (the city) a
road map to success, and its
up to them whether to follow
it,” he said.
Plute’s last city council
meeting will be May 17, he
said.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
MEDALS: ‘He served our country and he earned them’
Continued from 1A
II Victory Medal.
Mellick watched with
emotion as she stood in the
background.
After the short ceremony,
guests gave Jones rock star
treatment. They shook his
hand. Members of the color
guard saluted. Many took out
their phones and got photos
of Jones and his medals.
Jones looked a tad dazed.
“I didn’t know this was
going to happen,” he said.
He said he simply hadn’t
applied for the medals. He
had returned to the United
States in 1945 to be reas-
signed, likely for an assault
on Japan, but the war ended
with the dropping of nuclear
bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. Thoughts of
medals drifted away as he got
back to civilian life.
Mellick thought her uncle
should receive his medals.
“He served our country
and he earned them,” she
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
A photo of William Jones sits atop of a cake to
celebrate the World War II veteran receiving long-
overdue medals Saturday at the Columbia Grange Hall
in Hermiston.
said. “I’m very thankful for
him and what he did.”
She got offers of help
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Oregon Congressmen, Rep.
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One of Jones’ fans on
Saturday was Galen Jones,
23 years younger than his
brother Bill, who said he has
long admired the man.
“He’s my hero,” Galen
said.
Galen said he noticed
emotion on Bill’s face as
he received the medals, but
something else, too.
“I could feel his sensitivity
because of all the others who
died, while he didn’t have
to,” Galen said. “It takes a lot
for him to open up about the
war.”
He said his brother isn’t
hazy about the past or the
present, and though he was
having trouble hearing with
all the background noise at the
grange, Bill remains sharp.
His brother, Galen said, is a
world-class cribbage player
who still plays in invitational
tournaments in Reno.
Near Galen, Halverson
watched Jones with a smile.
He had traveled 80 miles
from where he lives now in
.DKORWXV :DVKLQJWRQ WR
award the medals, but said it
was worth the drive.
“It was really an honor
for me to do this,” Halverson
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all of them are recognized
as much as possible. It was a
privilege.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or call 541-966-0810.
DEPOT: Pentagon insists it needs the water rights to wells
“Their dilemma
— and I think
they’re sincere on
this — is that they
have a national
security issue.”
Continued from 1A
Guard and have two wells
split between entities.
“It comes down to well
number one,” Smith said.
He said the Pentagon
insists it needs the water
rights to that well, but has
also said it is open to leasing
most of those rights to the
authority if they worked
together to put in infrastruc-
ture needed to get the defunct
well working again.
“I genuinely think they
want to reach a good reso-
lution,” Smith said. “But
their dilemma — and I think
they’re sincere on this — is
that they have a national
security issue.”
That issue is wanting to
make sure they have the infra-
structure in place, should the
water be needed once again
to support a war effort. They
also want to have the water
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Those
issues
were
discussed when Smith and
board members Kim Puzey
(Port of Umatilla) and Gary
Neal (Port of Morrow) met
with Defense Base Closure
and Realignment Commis-
VLRQRI¿FLDOVLQ:DVKLQJWRQ
D.C. in March. Puzey
said the atmosphere of the
meeting started off “bristly”
and “prickly” but Smith did
a good job of practicing the
SULQFLSOH³VHHN¿UVWWRXQGHU-
stand, then to be understood”
— Greg Smith,
executive director
to the federal government
and show them the types of
projects that are being held
EO file photo
up because the conveyance
Some structures involved in the destruction of
chemical agents at the Umatilla Army Deport remain process was taking so long.
The Columbia Devel-
after the incinerating facility had been demolished.
opment Authority is a part-
and the tension in the room a Seattle-based company nership between Umatilla
lowered considerably as specializing in utility-scale County, Morrow County,
things went on.
solar farms, was interested in Port of Umatilla, Port of
Puzey said even though the leasing a section of depot land Morrow and the Confeder-
water discussion was taking for a solar panel installation.
ated Tribes of the Umatilla
a long time, he believed that
“I’ve been out there and Indian Reservation.
taking the time to negotiate saw some sites we think are
———
was, in the end, going to be absolutely phenomenal,” she
Contact Jade McDowell
PXWXDOO\ EHQH¿FLDO IRU ERWK said.
at
jmcdowell@eastorego-
the development authority
:KHQDVNHGKRZELJRID nian.com or 541-564-4536.
and the National Guard.
project they were looking at,
Smith said he felt that she said things could change
DQRWKHU WULS WR :DVKLQJWRQ but they would consider
D.C., in the next couple of somewhere in the ballpark
weeks while Congress is of 20 megawatts. The solar
going through the appropria- array Umatilla Electric
tions process would be highly Cooperative just brought
productive for moving things online in Umatilla County
along. The board agreed.
is 1.3 megawatts and puts
At the beginning of the out enough energy for 112
meeting the board heard homes.
from a potential client. Taylor
Puzey said he thought One
Steele said her employer, Energy Renewables would
One Energy Renewables, be a good example to take
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
WORLD BRIEFLY
Supreme Court
bolsters political
iQÀueQce oI US
Latinos
:$6+,1*721$3
— The Supreme Court
unanimously endorsed
election maps that bolster
the growing political
LQÀXHQFHRI$PHULFD¶V
Latinos on Monday, ruling
that states can count
everyone, not just eligible
voters, in drawing voting
districts.
The decision rejected
a challenge from Texas
voters that also could have
diluted the voting power
of urban Democrats,
WRWKHEHQH¿WRIUXUDO
Republicans.
The case offered a
test of the principle of
“one person, one vote,”
the requirement laid out
by the Supreme Court
in 1964 that political
districts be roughly equal
in population. The issue
here, though, was what
population to consider:
everyone or just eligible
voters.
All 50 states use total
population as their basis
for drawing district lines,
but the challengers said the
rural state Senate districts
in which they lived had
vastly more eligible
voters than urban districts,
making their votes count
for less, in violation of the
Constitution.
In Texas, and other
states with large immigrant
populations, urban
districts include many
more people who are too
young, not yet citizens,
in the country illegally
or otherwise ineligible to
vote. All of them, recorded
by the census, count for
the purpose of drawing
political districts.
Civil rights groups
said forcing states to
change their method of
constructing districts
would have damaged
/DWLQRSROLWLFDOLQÀXHQFH
The court stopped
short of saying that states
must use total population.
And it also did not rule on
whether states are free to
use a different measure, as
Texas had asked.
Federal report:
global warming
maNing US sicN
:$6+,1*721
(AP) — Man-made
global warming is making
America sicker, and it’s
only going to get worse,
according to a new federal
government report.
The 332-page report
issued Monday by the
Obama administration
said global warming
will make the air dirtier,
water more contaminated
and food more tainted. It
warned of diseases, such as
those spread by ticks and
mosquitoes, longer allergy
seasons, and thousands of
heat wave deaths.
Environmental
Protection Agency chief
Gina McCarthy said if
that’s not enough, climate
change affects people’s
mental health, too.
“It’s not just about polar
bears and melting ice caps.
It’s about our families.
It’s about our future,”
0F&DUWK\VDLGDWD:KLWH
House event unveiling the
report.
Climate change affects
more people in more ways
than anything doctors
have seen in the past, said
Surgeon General Vivek
Murthy. He said the report
allows doctors to better
quantify “the sheer number
of pathways through which
climate affects health.”
That includes air
pollution worsened from
power plants, pollen and
HYHQZLOG¿UHVKHVDLG
CRASH: Also investigating Monday
morning crash near Baker City
of .16 percent, twice the
legal limit.
to avoid the wrong-way
Oregon State Police also
driver. An ambulance also are investigating a crash
took her to St. Anthony Monday morning near
Hospital.
Baker City that left an adult
State police did not and a child dead.
know yet if drugs or
State police reported
alcohol were a factor in the preliminary information
crashes.
indicates Monday at 5:34
The Oregon Department a.m. a 2006 Chevy Cobalt
of Transportation, Umatilla was westbound and for
Tribal Fire and Ambulance, unknown reasons left the
Pendleton Fire and Ambu- roadway and rolled several
lance, Umatilla County times, ejecting a child.
Sheriff’s
Department,
The child and an adult
Pendleton Police Depart- passenger died at the scene.
ment and the Umatilla $QDLUDPEXODQFHÀHZWKH
Tribal Police Department driver to Saint Alphonsus
responded to the scenes.
Regional Medical Center
:KLOH RI¿FHUV ZHUH in Boise, Idaho, for treat-
investigating the fatal ment of serious injuries.
crash, a 1994 Ford Ranger State police closed one
drove through the closed westbound lane of I-84 for
scene.
Tribal
police approximately four hours
stopped the pickup and following the crash.
arrested Joshua Haynie,
$QG-DPHV:&URZ
32, of Pendleton, for of Kennewick died March
GULYLQJXQGHUWKHLQÀXHQFH 28 after crashing his semi-
of intoxicants. He later tractor hauling a double
provided a breath sample tanker of milk on Interstate
with a blood-alcohol level 84 just west of Boardman.
Continued from 1A
The Forest Plan and You
TRAVEL THE WORLD’S
LEGENDARY RIVERS
THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016
6:30 PM
AAA Pendleton
1729 SW Court Avenue
RSVP: 541.276.2243
Join AAA Travel and river cruise expert,
Michael Weldon, as we explore the value
and comfort of a deluxe all-inclusive
river cruise aboard award-winning Viking
Longships. Spend less time getting there
and more time being there.
All events are open to the public and free
to attend, but space is limited. Please RSVP.
AAA.COM/TRAVEL
4.9 million acres of public land
in Eastern Oregon are operating under
plans and science that date back to
1990. Oregon Public Broadcasting will
sit down with Malheur National Forest
Supervisor Steve Beverlin and
representatives from environmentalist,
recreation, tribal and timber interests
to talk about confl icts of interest
and the path forward.
This conversation is brought to you
by Oregon Public Broadcasting
and the East Oregonian
Wednesday, April 6
6:30- 8p.m.
(Arrive before 6:30p.m.
for seating, forum will
begin at 7p.m.)
Blue Mountain
Community College
ST-200 Lecture Hall
The forum will be broadcast
on Think Out Loud
on Thursday at noon and 8p.m.