FEDS ANNOUNCE
$10 MILLION FOR
WILDFIRE PROJECTS
74/50
THREE
T-WOLVES
MOVING UP
NATION/6A
VOLLEYBALL/1B
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2016
140th Year, No. 158
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
HERMISTON
New substation could curb outages
Costs $985,000,
would raise rates
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Hermiston
Energy
Services is recommending
a rate increase and bond
refi nance to pay for projects
that should decrease the
number of power failures in
Hermiston.
HES superintendent Nate
Rivera told city council
Monday night that the city’s
electric utility was in need of
several upgrades, including
a new substation and smart
meters.
After two power outages
so far this month, city coun-
Staff photo by Gary L. West
Two Hermiston Energy Service electrical meters mea-
sure energy usage at a downtown Hermiston business.
cilors were inclined to agree.
“I think people are willing
to pay for (fewer) outages,”
John Kirwan said.
The fi rst major project
would be a new substation
called Hermiston East, which
would cover territory east of
Highway 395 that is currently
covered by the Butte and
Feedville substations. The
project would include a new
transformer and new feeders,
taking the load off of some
of Hermiston’s overworked
feeders that are at more than
90 percent capacity during
peak load times.
Rivera said the new
substation would reduce the
number of power outages
and their length — if one
substation was down, resi-
dents could be switched to
another while crews worked
to fi x the problem.
“This would minimize
the size of the outage and get
people back up faster,” he
said.
The project would cost
an estimated $985,000
and be completed during
the 2016-2017 fi scal year.
Rivera also recommended
other maintenance projects,
including pole replacements,
a switch to LED street lights,
sectionalizing the system to
reduce the spread of outages
and a more proactive tree
trimming program.
“Typically the outages we
see are wind and tree related,
so the more aggressive we
can be about that the better,”
Rivera said.
He also recommended
the adoption of smart meters
that would tell HES when the
power is out.
Currently, the utility
depends on customers to
report when their lights go
out, and then depends on a
visual check of the neighbor-
hood to assess how far the
blackout extends.
“We’re
still
driving
around with our head out the
Pendleton man survives
By SEAN HART
EO Media Group
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
See BEAR/8A
See ENERGY/8A
Palmer
responds
to one suit,
sued again
Wounded
black bear
attacks
hunter
A Pendleton hunter
was attacked by a black
bear Sunday evening in
the Starkey Unit near La
Grande.
Shane Thomas was
hunting by himself at Tony
Vey Meadows about six
miles up Forest Road 5160,
said Sgt. Nick Pallis with
the Union County Sheriff’s
Offi ce. Thomas told offi cers
he had shot the bear with
his rifl e and had walked
into a thicket to retrieve the
animal.
Except the bear wasn’t
dead. It attacked Thomas,
who was unable to reach
for his pistol and forced to
fi ght back by kicking and
yelling. Thomas was able to
get away and drive himself
back to the highway despite
puncture wounds to his legs
and backside, Pallis said.
Thomas texted his mother
about what happened, and
she called 9-1-1. Pallis
said he paged Search and
Rescue, though before they
could respond his deputy
actually passed Thomas
on Highway 244. Thomas
followed medics back to
Grande Ronde Hospital in
La Grande, where Pallis said
window,” Rivera said.
A smart meter system
would alert HES as soon
as the power goes out and
give a map of the outage,
allowing crews to more
quickly pinpoint the problem
and begin working to fi x it.
It would also save on opera-
tional costs for meter reading
and allow HES to give
customers a more detailed
account of how their power
use fl uctuates throughout the
day.
The estimated cost would
be between $1.5 million and
$1.75 million.
On Monday Rivera
presented the reliability
numbers for HES, noting
Contributed photo
Etta Conner gives a Pendleton blanket to Dwight Eisenhower during one of the president’s visits to
the Northwest.
Beloved horsewoman
rides to the sky
Etta Conner raced horses at Round-Up, competed in Miss Indian America
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
A
mong mourners saying
goodbye to Etta Conner on
Monday was a horse in full
regalia.
The riderless bay stood silently
at Olney Cemetery as Conner’s
body was interred. Family and
friends said reluctant goodbyes to
the beloved Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
elder. Conner, who died Friday,
May 20 at 82, was buried near her
parents, three brothers and a sister.
Those who knew the mother of
nine say she lived up to her Indian
name, Wyassus, which means
“dance.” The big-hearted woman
had an omnipresent smile and
seemed to have fi ngers and toes in
a multitude of community activities.
Though she battled stomach cancer
in her fi nal months, the longtime
Happy Canyon volunteer took part
in the 2015 Happy Canyon Night
Show.
As a young woman, she raced
around the Pendleton Round-Up
oval in the competition for Indian
women.
Etta L. Conner
April 9, 1934-May 20, 2016
“She was a good horsewoman,”
said Cayuse Chief Jesse Jones, who
is a cousin of Conner.
“She was someone who looked
up to her big brothers,” said Conner’s
daughter, Camilla El Shoura. “She
wanted to be like them. She wanted
to ride like them.”
Conner’s nephew, Brian Conner,
held the riderless horse, Hero, in
place during the interment. Hero
belongs to Conner’s niece, Bobbie
Conner, who stood nearby. Later,
Conner said the tribute honored her
aunt’s prowess as a horsewoman
and spoke to the void she left
behind.
“It’s recognition of the missing,”
Conner said. “It’s not just the loss
of my aunt, but to all the women on
horseback who have gone before.”
Riding horses was only one
of Conner’s passions through the
years. The high-energy Conner
also excelled in baton twirling as a
majorette at Pendleton High School.
“She was one of the best of the
best,” said Bobbie. “After high
school, she went to Sheridan,
Wyoming, and competed in the
Miss Indian America Pageant. Her
talent was baton.”
Conner twirled her way to fi rst
runner-up wearing a headband,
fringed skirt, beaded vest and
moccasins.
A black-and-white photo at the
Pendleton Post Offi ce shows Conner
presenting a Pendleton blanket to
then-President Dwight Eisenhower
during a stop in Pendleton.
See CONNER/8A
The same day Grant
County Sheriff Glenn Palm-
er’s attorneys responded to
allegations he deleted a public
record, a lawsuit was fi led
asking a judge to force him to
release other records.
On May 20 Palmer’s attor-
neys, Benjamin Boyd and D.
Zachary Hostetter, released
a statement
responding
to
a
complaint
fi led with
the Oregon
p o l i c e
licensing
agency by
John Day
Police Chief
R i c h a r d Palmer
Gray.
In addition to stating
Palmer supported the occu-
piers of the Malheur National
Wildlife Refuge and endan-
gered the public, Gray accused
Palmer of “tampering with
public records” by deleting
an electronic record of a 2012
incident that involved Gray.
Palmer’s attorneys said
in the statement the sheriff
followed state law: “Although
the electronic copy of the
incident report was deleted,
Sheriff Palmer retained hard
copies of the initial report and
fi nal report in the records of
Grant County Sheriff’s Offi ce,
where these public records
have always been available
for inspection and copying
by the public, representatives
of the press, the Department
of Justice, and the (police
licensing agency), as required
by Oregon’s public records
laws.”
The statement did not
respond to the rest of Gray’s
complaint or other complaints
fi led with the licensing agency
by at least seven others.
The police licensing agency
forwarded those complaints
to the Oregon Department
of Justice for further inves-
tigation in February. A DOJ
investigation into an unspeci-
fi ed complaint is ongoing.
Also on Friday, the The
Oregonian and reporter Les
Zaitz fi led a complaint against
Grant County Sheriff’s Offi ce,
Palmer and civil deputy Sally
See SHERIFF/8A