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
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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.
McKay Creek Estates
Celebrate Life
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Join us for one of our complimentary educational seminars that promote
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THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 2:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M.
iPads and Smart
Phones, Oh My!
Presented by Kimberly Goodhue, Sales & Marketing Director, U.S. Cellular
Feeling challenged with all of the smart phones, iPads and new devices, and
want to keep up with theGrandchildren? We’ll provide tips and tools on how
to be as smart as your phone.
Space is limited for this FUN educational series. For more information and to
reserve your seat please call (541) 276-1987.
McKay Creek Estates
1601 Southgate Place
Pendleton, Oregon 97801