REGION
Thursday, May 5, 2016
East Oregonian
HERMISTON
Senators Wyden,
Merkley working
on ish screens bill
Legislation would
reauthorize cost-
share program
East Oregonian
Staff photo E.J. Harris
A rainwater collection basin was created in the softball ield of Newport Park to stop looding in neighborhood
houses around the park in Hermiston.
Newport Park’s new drainage
basin collecting stormwater
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
After turning into a
pond for parts of the winter,
Newport Park in Hermiston
is expected to be back in
business as a softball ield
before the end of June.
In the fall the city
removed
elements
of
the park’s softball ield,
including the dugouts,
and lowered the ield 18
inches so that it would act
as a drainage basin during
storms.
Right now the ield
doesn’t have any grass on
it, but Parks and Recreation
director Larry Fetter said
the city will hydroseed the
playing ield in the next
week or so, and it will take
four to six weeks after that
for the grass to be ready for
use.
“It’ll come up pretty
quickly,” he said.
The project was contro-
versial for community
members with fond memo-
ries of playing Little League
baseball and softball at
Newport Park. But the city
council greenlighted the
project after hearing the city
kept having to pay insurance
claims to neighbors whose
homes sustained substantial
water damage when it rained
enough to overwhelm a
nearby city pump system.
Fetter said after the
softball ield’s elevation
was lowered there were
two storms that would
have looded the neighbors’
homes in the past, but the
water was diverted to the
park instead. Both times the
ine silt in the soil kept the
park looking like a lake for
days afterward, but Fetter
said a series of gravel “dry
wells” the city has since
installed under the surface
of the ield should make
the water drain much more
quickly in the future.
“It did a great job of
collecting water, we just
want it to drain out of there,”
he said.
The city doesn’t schedule
Newport Park for regular use
by any teams, but there are
some groups that use it unof-
icially for extra practices.
Fetter said once everything
is put back together they
should be able to still use the
ield for batting practice or
pick-up games unless there
was a recent storm.
“We appreciate the neigh-
borhood being patient,” he
said.
He said the city is incor-
porating a similar but much
smaller drainage basin into
its expansion of Sunset Park
on Fourth Street to combat
looding there.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
HERMISTON — A
Hermiston woman was
hospitalized after a rollover
wreck near Plymouth,
Wash., on Tuesday evening.
Angelica J. Avila, 22,
of Hermiston, was driving
a 2003 Honda Civic on
Highway 14, two miles west
of Plymouth. At 8:16 p.m.,
Avila over corrected and
rolled the vehicle onto an
embankment, according to
a report from Washington
State Patrol.
The vehicle was totaled,
and Avila was taken by a
private vehicle to Good
Shepherd Medical Center.
Drugs and alcohol were
not involved in the crash,
and Avila was wearing a seat
belt, according to WSP.
Local man
returning to
take emergency
manager post
PENDLETON —
Umatilla County has hired a
familiar face for its full-time
emergency manager.
Tom Roberts, 42, of
Irrigon, accepted the job. He
is a graduate of Hermiston
High School and has 20
years experience as a
volunteer ireighter with
Hermiston and Irrigon. He
also built a career in the
federal Chemical Stockpile
Emergency Preparedness
Program.
He worked at the
Umatilla Chemical Depot
from 2007-2012, when
the U.S. Army inished
destroying chemical
weapons there. He moved
on to the Pueblo Chemical
Depot in Pueblo, Colorado,
and since November
has been with the Blue
Grass Chemical Activity
at the Army’s depot near
Richmond, Kentucky.
Roberts said his daughter
attends Hermiston High
School and lives with
family, so he has been
looking for a job to bring
him back home. He said his
parents live near Hermiston
and his brother is a sergeant
with the Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Ofice, plus he has
other strong ties to the local-
irst responder community.
Roberts has to wrap up
his work with the Kentucky
site and is aiming to start
the county job in June. The
position pays $57,480 a year
plus beneits.
Free workshop to
focus on lowering
energy use
PENDLETON — The
Umatilla County Climate
Change Focus Group
will host a free workshop
Saturday, May 21 at Blue
Mountain Community
College to discuss ways the
public can reduce energy
consumption and conserve
resources.
It is the second in a series
of meetings from the focus
group concentrated on
various impacts of climate
change. Participants will
learn about options to make
energy eficiency upgrades
at their homes or businesses,
and assistance programs
that can help them cover
the cost. Representatives
also will be available to
provide information on solar
energy, weatherization and
xeriscaping to cut back on
water consumption.
Sponsors include Oregon
A third bighorn ram was shot and left to waste
along Interstate 84 in Gilliam County.
State University Extension
Service, the Energy Trust
of Oregon, Umatilla
Electric Cooperative, the
city of Pendleton, city of
Hermiston, Umatilla County
and the East Oregonian. The
workshop will run from 1-4
p.m. at Umatilla Hall on the
BMCC campus.
Salvation Army
offers estate
planning resource
In celebration of National
Salvation Army Month, the
organization has produced
an estate planning resource
booklet.
“Our Legacy is Hope” is
available to seniors ages 65
and over who are interested
in learning more about the
importance of having a
current will. The booklet
includes information on how
to protect one’s inheritance
and legacy they wish to
leave to loved ones and the
communities they care for.
Bill Olson, director
of gift planning for The
Salvation Army in Oregon
and Idaho, said some of
the concepts for bequest
gifting to loved ones and
charities are very simple.
However, he said it’s
recommended that everyone
have a valid will and trust,
CONSIGNMENT
STORE OPEN!
20%-70%
OFF
Mom loves a gift certificate from Marla June’s!
Mother’s Day SALES Thursday Friday & Saturday
Special SALES all 3 days
217 SE Court, Pendleton, OR 97801 • 541-276-0778
5215 W. Clearwater, Kennewick, WA 99336 • 509-820-3187
811 W. Bannock, Boise, ID 83702
www.marlajunes.com
Enjoy the
Jazz sounds of
Brass Fire
May 7th, 2016
7 pm - 10 pm
In the Red Lion Lounge
304 SE Nye
Pendleton
541-276-6111
Oregon Sens. Ron
Wyden and Jeff Merkley
are pushing to reauthorize
a voluntary, cost-share
program with the U.S.
Department of Fish and
Wildlife that pays for
installing ish screens and
passage devices in four
Northwest states.
The Fisheries Resto-
ration and Irrigation Mitiga-
tion Act was initially passed
in 2000 before expiring last
year. Over the years, it has
funded 127 projects that
have reopened more than
1,130 miles of habitat to ish
passage in Oregon, Wash-
ington, Idaho and western
Montana.
Wyden and Merkley,
the Democratic duo, want
to extend FRIMA for
$25 million from 2017 to
2024. The program not
only protects native ish
runs, but helps farmers by
maintaining their irrigation
canals.
“This
bill
allows
continued
collaboration
among water users, farmers,
ishery managers and
conservationists so that
protected salmon runs and
irrigation can sustainably
coexist side by side,”
Wyden said.
The bill has the support of
the Oregon Water Resources
Congress, which represents
the state’s agricultural water
providers including irriga-
tion districts, water control
districts, drainage districts
and water improvement
districts. Since it was estab-
lished, FRIMA has paid
for removing 56 barriers to
ish passage and installing
screens on 130 irrigation
channels.
April Snell, OWRC
director, said the program
catalyzes
partnerships
between agencies to beneit
both conservation and
agriculture. Fish screens
and passage help keep
protected species like
salmon and steelhead out of
water canals, and allow ish
to safely bypass dams and
reservoirs.
Merkley reiterated the
program is a critical piece to
protecting ish while safe-
guarding farms and ranches.
The senators introduced
their reauthorization bill on
April 28.
Photo contributed by Oregon State Police
BRIEFLY
Hermiston
woman injured in
Plymouth wreck
Page 3A
when appropriate, which
do require the assistance of
legal and tax advisors.
Most Americans,
Olson said, do not have a
current will. This can cause
problems with inheritance
and extra costs when
probate courts sort through
the property and assets of
individuals who die without
a will.
“We underestimate
how much good and relief
of stress to others we can
do with a little advance
planning,” Olson said.
”The legacy booklet will
help people get started in
considering their many
options and opportunities
to bless family, friends and
communities they care for.”
For a free copy of the
booklet, call 800-481-3280
or write to The Salvation
Army, Ofice of Gift
Planning, 8495 S.E.
Monterey Ave., Happy
Valley, OR 97086.
Additional rewards offered
in bighorn poaching case
East Oregonian
Additional rewards have
been offered for informa-
tion leading to the arrest and
conviction of the poachers
who killed a bighorn ram
along Interstate 84 last
month in Gilliam County.
The Oregon Hunters
Association was already
providing $500 through the
Turn-In Poachers program
with Oregon State Police.
The OHA Clatsop County
chapter is now chipping
in another $500, and the
Oregon Foundation for
North American Wild
Sheep is offering $1,000.
Anyone with informa-
tion should contact OSP
Senior Trooper Mark Jubitz
at 541-705-5330.
State police found the
ram on April 10 after
receiving tips from passing
motorists. The carcass
was discovered along
the highway at milepost
118, east of Rufus. The
area is home to a herd of
about 80-100 California
bighorns, with no legal
hunting season.
Two men are accused
of poaching two bighorns
from the same herd in
almost the exact same spot
a week earlier, though OSP
states there is no indication
the incidents are related.
Cody Plagmann, 37,
and Justin Samora, 32,
were arrested stemming
from the investigation, and
will be charged in court on
Friday.