FOUR OFFICERS KILLED,
SEVEN INJURED DURING
DALLAS PROTEST
NATION/8A
FRIDAY, JULY 8, 2016
140th Year, No. 190
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
HERMISTON
Your Weekend
Pursuit ends with
crash near high school
•
•
•
By ALEXA LOUGEE
East Oregonian
Hermiston Funfest in
Downtown Hermiston
Caledonian Games at
Athena City Park
Brews by the Blues
festival, Milton-Freewater
For times and places
see Coming Events, 5A
Weekend Weather
Fri
Sat
Bjurlin
An attempted traffi c stop
Thursday morning led to a brief
pursuit and crash near Hermiston
High School that left one person
injured and another in handcuffs.
David A Bjurlin, 31, of Kenne-
wick, was lodged at the Umatilla
County Jail on charges of attempt
to elude in both a vehicle and on
foot, felony failure to perform the
duties of a driver, third-degree
assault, reckless driving and
driving without a license.
The name of the injured
female driver was not immedi-
ately available.
Valerie Juul of Hermiston was
See CRASH/10A
Staff photo by Alexa Lougee
Emergency responders inspect a pickup hit by a fl ee-
ing car on Highland Avenue in Hermiston.
Sun
BMCC
78/57
74/53
Pool’s fate
in hands of
community
72/54
ALBERT CLOUGH
OF ARLINGTON
By ALEXA LOUGEE
East Oregonian
Enjoy a free trip to the
Pendleton Underground Tours
Several members of the
Pendleton Swim Associa-
tion stood in solidarity to
encourage board members
to save the Blue Mountain
Community College pool
at Wednesday night’s board
meeting.
Michelle Cramp, a swim
parent and board member of
the PSA, started the public
comment period by saying,
“I’m here to fi ght for our
pool. These kids would be
devastated if they lost their
pool.”
The BMCC pool is used
by both the Pendleton and
Hermiston high school swim
teams as well as the Pend-
leton Swim Association. PSA
also runs a Learn to Swim
program, teaching younger
kids water confi dence and
swimming skills. The pool
also has open swim times
for lap swimming and family
swimming as well as offering
a variety of classes for adults,
including water aerobics.
A recent Pendleton High
School graduate, Dylan
Clemons, has been swim-
ming since he was 6 years
old, and is headed off to
college this fall to be a colle-
giate swimmer. He attributes
his time at the BMCC pool to
his success.
Oregon State Police
Senior Trooper Amy Ford
also stood in support of the
pool on Wednesday. Ford
moved to Pendleton about
16 years ago from The
Dalles. She said at age 40
she was pretty out of shape
and decided to make some
changes. She started swim-
ming in January, three days
Grant County
commissioner
will face recall
in August
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Another elected offi cial in
rural Eastern Oregon is facing
a recall by local voters.
This time, it’s Grant
County Commissioner Boyd
Britton up against a campaign
to remove him from offi ce.
County Clerk Brenda Percy
said she certifi ed 505 signa-
tures as of Thursday to place
a recall on the ballot for Aug.
16. At least 490 signatures
were needed for the petition
to move forward.
The effort to recall Britton
comes a little more than
a week after residents in
neighboring Harney County
voted overwhelmingly to
keep Judge Steve Grasty,
who earlier this year denied
Ammon Bundy and other
members of the Malheur
National Wildlife Refuge
occupation from meeting at a
county fairgrounds building.
A prospective petition to
recall Britton was fi led March
28. It accuses him of failing
See BRITTON/10A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The border collie Teddy runs up the back of owner Greg Gustafson in a move called vaulting to catch a
Frisbee during an exhibition by Border Collie International on Thursday at the Pendleton Public Library.
Border collies need love, too
Show teaches kids to be
responsible pet owners
By WILL DENNER
East Oregonian
Greg Gustafson has seen his fair
share of border collies abandoned.
He remembers riding his bike
through a park in Corvallis and seeing
a stray, two-month-old pup named
Ritsa wandering without her owner.
When the owner fi nally showed up, he
asked Gustafson if he wanted the dog,
explaining that he and Ritsa didn’t get
along very well. Gustafson took in
Ritsa, and shortly after adopted more
border collies.
In an effort to give dogs a home
and keep them active, Gustafson
See DOGS/10A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The border collie Read bounces a basketball off of his nose after it
was thrown by Greg Gustafson during an exhibition by Border Collie
International on Thursday at the Pendleton Public Library.
“If we can teach them to have respect and love for the animals
when they’re kids, now we’re a step ahead.”
— Greg Gustafson, founder of Border Collie International
See POOL/10A
PENDLETON
After turbulence, SeaPort reports better performance
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The fi rst half of 2016 was unkind
to SeaPort Airlines, but clearer skies
could be ahead.
Between February and June,
SeaPort, a Portland-based commer-
cial air service that runs passenger
fl ights between Pendleton’s Eastern
Oregon Regional Airport and
Portland International Airport,
shuttered all but six of its routes,
declared bankruptcy and saw the
U.S. Department of Transportation
threaten to strip Pendleton of its $1.8
million subsidy to provide commer-
cial fl ights. SeaPort’s service also
suffered around this time, hitting its
nadir around the time the company
declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
According to data provided by
SeaPort, the airline was only on time
for 40 percent of its fl ights during
the fi rst week of February. The very
next week, SeaPort’s completed
fl ights percentage hit a new low,
bottoming out at 64 percent.
Although SeaPort attributed most
of its cancellations in February to
mechanical repairs, it also attributed
some of them to a nationwide pilot
shortage, which airline offi cials say
is one of the reasons the company
went through bankruptcy.
SeaPort’s metrics have steadily
rebounded since then, and the
company is starting to publicize the
upward trend.
According to an email from
SeaPort Director of Marketing
Claire James, between April 1 and
June 10, Pendleton completed 99
percent of its fl ights, 96 percent of
which were on time.
A June 10 press release touted
a 97.5 company-wide completion
rate.
“We’ve been investing in
improving our operational reli-
ability in recent months, and I’m
pleased to say that those efforts have
been paying off,” SeaPort President
Tim Sieber said in a statement. “We
know that our customers expect
timely departures and arrivals, and
we want to exceed their expectations
in all areas of our business.”
Sieber did not return requests for
further comment.
A Thursday press release said
SeaPort has only gained steam since
then,
SeaPort now reports a 99 percent
completion rate across its six routes,
with Northwest fl ights in Pendleton
and Portland on-time 90 percent of
the time.
SeaPort states that it considers a
fl ight “on-time” if it departs within
fi ve minutes of the public schedule,
a method more stringent than the
U.S. Department of Transportation’s
15 minute benchmark.
SeaPort also announced that June
29 marked the 75th consecutive
day the airline has gone without a
controllable cancellation, a record
streak the company has continued to
extend.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or
541-966-0836.