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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 25, 2016)
REGION Wednesday, May 25, 2016 East Oregonian Page 3A PENDLETON Swearingen withdraws from council race Cambier, Rabitaille apply for Plute’s vacant seat By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian Pendleton business owner Jim Swearingen submitted paperwork Tuesday to remove his name from the November ballot for Pend- leton City Council. City recorder Andrea Denton conirmed she received the candidate withdrawal form from Swearingen. According to unoficial results, Paul Chalmers received 48.7 percent of the vote in the May primary, more than the three other candidates for the at-large seat. To avoid a contested race in November, however, Chalmers needed more than 50 percent of the votes cast in his name. Swearingen inished second with 26.7 percent. He previously said he intended to drop out of the primary race but missed the March 11 deadline to remove his name. Now Chalmers’ name will appear alone on the November on the ballot, although residents can still vote for a write-in candidate. Denton said she had to talk to the ofice of the Oregon Secretary of State to get conirmation, and even the staff there had to double- check how to handle this election situation. “Apparently this does not come up very often,” Denton said. The city council is also taking applications to ill the vacancy of Al Plute, who recently resigned from the council. Two people so far put in for the seat: radiologist Jacob Cambier and Paul Rabitaille, who was the fourth-place inisher against Chalmers with 4.9 percent of the vote. Denton said the council will meet June 6 to review the applications. Then at 6:30 p.m. on June 7 — 30 minutes before the council’s regular meeting — they will inter- view candidates and appoint someone to the council. ——— Contact Phil Wright at pwright@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0833. Cemeteries host Memorial Day ceremonies Reward for East Oregonian With Memorial Day approaching, local veterans organizations are organizing ceremonies to remember the service and sacriice of those who died while in military service to our country. Information about events have been received for ceremonies in Pendleton, Hermiston and Irrigon. In Pendleton, Friends of Olney and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 922 will host an event Monday at 11 a.m. at Olney Cemetery, 865 Tutuilla Road. It will include the posting of colors and a ceremony. Those who plan to attend are encouraged to bring lawn chairs. There will be no service at Pendleton Pioneer Chapel Folsom- Bishop. In Hermiston, the Avenue of Flags will be erected Friday at 5 p.m. at the Herm- iston Cemetery, located off Highway 395 South. People are invited to assist with the project, which includes 500-600 lags. In addition, the lags will be retired at 5 p.m. Monday. Assistance is again welcome with the task of taking the lags down. A ceremony led by VFW Post 4750 and American Legion Post 37 is planned Monday at 10 a.m. at the Hermiston Cemetery. Everyone is invited to attend. People may bring lawn chairs to sit in during the service. Also, the two posts will lead memorial services Monday at 11 a.m. at the poached bighorn tops $15,000 Animal was killed April 10 in Gilliam County By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian EO ile photo An audience lines the Avenue of Flags during the 2015 Memorial Day ceremony at the Hermiston Cemetery. This year’s event is Monday at 10 a.m. Olney Cemetery graveside policies In observance of Memorial Day, artiicial lowers, grave decorations and live lowers are allowed Thurs- day, May 26 through Friday, June 3 at Olney Cemetery in Pendleton. The mowing season policy will resume Saturday, June 4 — no artiicial lowers or grave decorations are allowed during this time. Live lowers are allowed year- round, but are removed when they become unsightly. If people wish to keep items placed on graves for Me- morial Day, they need to remove them by dusk Friday, June 3. Beginning Saturday, June 4 at 6 a.m., items left on gravesites will be removed and disposed of. For more information, call 541-276-8100. Desert Lawn Memorial Cemetery, located off Highway 730, Irrigon. Originally called Deco- ration Day, Memorial Day was irst observed May 30, 1868. The day was initially designated to place lowers on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Ceme- tery, according to the Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Now, as a federal holiday, it is observed each year on the last Monday in May. ——— Additional Memorial Day observances can be added to the East Oregonian coming events calendar. Submit information to: commu- nity@eastoregonian.com or drop off to the attention of Tammy Malgesini at 333 E. Main St., Hermiston or Renee Struthers at 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton. Call 541-564-4539 or 541-966- 0818 with questions. BRIEFLY Pendleton public can give input on new ire station site PENDLETON — The Pendleton Fire & Ambulance Department will conduct multiple informal public meetings at Fire Station No. 1, 911 S.W. Court Ave., to hear from the public on potential sites for the relocation of the station. Fire Chief Mike Ciraulo in a written statement said department staff will discuss the need for replacing the station and give station tours. Prospective locations for a station will be on display, and the public will be able to provide feedback on each site as well as take the opportunity to vote for their preference. Morning meetings starting at 9 a.m. are on the following Fridays: June 17, June 24, July 1, and July 8. The ire department will provide coffee at the morning sessions. And evening sessions begin at 7 p.m. on these days: Thursday, June 23; Wednesday, June 29; and Wednesday, July 6. Those session will have beverages available. Four-day chinook season opens Saturday PENDLETON — Anglers will have just four days to ish for chinook salmon on Lookingglass Creek beginning Saturday, May 28 through Tuesday, May 31. The stream will be open from the Moses Creek Lane Bridge up to the conluence of Jarboe Creek. Tim Bailey, district ish biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife in La Grande, said this year’s salmon run should be relatively small compared to recent years on Lookingglass Creek. “This year’s run is expected to be around 500 adult chinook, the majority being hatchery ish,” Bailey said. “Even though the season is short, we want to provide an opportunity to ish for the prized spring chinook whenever we can.” Lookingglass Creek is a tributary of the Grande Ronde River at Palmer Junction in Union County. A Columbia River Endorsement is required to ish on the creek, with a daily bag limit of two in-clipped adults and ive jacks. All unmarked or wild ish must be released safely. For more information, contact the ODFW Northeast Region Ofice at 541-963- 2138. Survey: 63 percent support Hermiston school bond HERMISTON — A survey by Hermiston School District indicates a majority of residents are in support of the district going out for a $104 million bond next year. The survey showed 63 percent of respondents rated the bond idea favorably after being told that it would include substantial security upgrades and reduce overcrowding in schools. More than half of them voted in at least three of the four past elections. The results also showed that most community members agreed that the most urgent priorities for the district were replacement of Rocky Heights and Highland Hills elementary schools, construction of an additional elementary school and expansion of Hermiston High School. When asked to choose between a $104 million package or an $84 million one that would not replace Highland Hills, 37 percent preferred the $104 million bond while 26 percent The Boys are back! Don’t miss this great Portland area band! Sat. May 28, 2016 8:00 pm preferred the $84 million. The rest preferred no bond or another option. Dr. Fred Maiocco, superintendent, said in a statement that the district would continue to share more about the district’s challenges with growing enrollment throughout the summer and fall. “This initial survey result is very favorable and indicates the community recognizes the challenges that come with student enrollment growth,” he said. More than $15,000 is now on the table for infor- mation that leads to the arrest of whoever poached a bighorn sheep last month along Interstate 84. The Oregon Hunters Association has increased its reward to $5,500 through the Turn-In Poachers program, along with $1,000 from the Oregon Foundation for North American Wild Sheep. Nineteen individual OHA chapters combined to kick in another $9,050 to help bring the poacher to justice. “This particular poaching case has incensed hunters across the state, as this is an iconic species that was once extirpated from Oregon by settlers,” said OHA Conservation Director Jim Akenson in a post on the group’s Face- book page. “Sportsmen helped bring bighorns back, and sportsmen shep- herd this lock vigilantly.” On April 10, Oregon State Police received multiple tips from drivers on I-84 about a ram that had possibly been killed at milepost 118, east of Rufus. Troopers from the Fish and Wildlife Division found the carcass on top of a rock slide, and deter- mined it had been shot with a high-powered rile and left to waste. The incident came just one week after two men were arrested for poaching bighorns in almost the exact same location along the highway. Cody Plagmann, 37, and Justin Samora, 32, face multiple charges for allegedly killing and beheading two bighorns from the I-84 herd. Plagmann, of Albany, has been charged with two counts of taking a bighorn sheep; two counts of unlawful possession of a bighorn sheep; two counts of wasting a game mammal; and one count of hunting on enclosed land, all Class A misdemeanors. Samora, who lives in Utah, was charged with two counts of aiding in taking a bighorn sheep. The men were to be arraigned May 6 in Gilliam County District Court, but District Attorney Marion Weatherford said their dates were extended to allow more time for inves- tigation. Plagmann will be arraigned on June 3, and Samora on July 15. “It’s kind of an important case,” Weath- erford said. “We want to make sure we get it right.” If convicted, the duo could face up to $50,000 in restitution — $25,000 for each animal. Drawing a bighorn hunting tag is a once-in-a-lifetime oppor- tunity in Oregon. Akenson said some hunters will even pay up to $100,000 for a tag at auction. That said, there is no legal hunting season for the I-84 herd, which has roughly 80-100 California bighorns. OSP has said there is no indication the third poaching was related to the irst two. The combined reward from OHA is one of the largest ever offered for a poaching case in Oregon. Anyone with informa- tion should contact OSP Senior Trooper Mark Jubitz at 541-705-5330 or the TIP hotline at 1-800- 452-7888. Callers can remain anonymous and still collect the reward. ——— Contact George Plaven at gplaven@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0825. 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