SUSAN KLEIN
OF PENDLETON
WILDFIRE
ERUPTS IN
BAKER CO.
RECORDS/5A
Visit Antiques and Art on Main
in Pendleton for a vintage
cookie cutter and $10 coupon
REGION/3A
GENE
WILDER
DIES AT
AGE 83
82/54
TUESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2016
140th Year, No. 227
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PENDLETON
McKay water fountains over lead limit
Sunridge Middle School faucets pass all tests
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Two schools in Pendleton have
water sources that tested above the
Environmental Protection Agency’s
acceptable limit for lead, including
10 drinking fountains at McKay
Creek Elementary School.
Lab results also found elevated
levels of lead in two sinks in the
gold gym girls’ locker room at
Pendleton High School. District
Superintendent Andy Kovach said
Commercial
drones about
to take off
all of the fi xtures will be replaced
and re-tested.
One drinking fountain at McKay
School registered 95 parts per
billion of lead, which is nearly fi ve
times higher than the EPA limit
before action must be taken. Kovach
said each of the fountains will be
replaced before kids return to school
after the Pendleton Round-Up. He
did not know exactly how old the
fountains are.
“The Pendleton School District
is working hard to comply with
Oregon state guidelines and to
address each site with elevated lead
levels,” Kovach said in a statement
Monday. “The district will continue
to work diligently on this until all
issues are resolved and all water
levels are within acceptable limits.”
Results were also released
Monday for Sunridge Middle
School, which detected no elevated
lead levels in that building. Testing
was done at Table Rock Analytical
Lab in Pendleton.
Kovach said the two sinks at PHS
See LEAD/10A
Hermiston second fastest growing school district in state
FAA forecasts 600,000 drones
in the skies within the year
By JOAN LOWY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — There will be 600,000
commercial drone aircraft operating in the
U.S. within the year as the result of new
safety rules that opened the skies to them
on Monday, according to a Federal Aviation
Administration estimate.
The rules governing the operation of
small commercial drones were designed to
protect safety
without stifl ing
“With these
innovation, FAA
Administrator
rules, we have
Michael Huerta
created an
told a news
conference.
environment in
Commercial
o p e r a t o r s which emerging
i n i t i a l l y
technology can
complained
that the new
be rapidly
rules
would
be too rigid. introduced while
The
agency
protecting the
responded
by creating a
safety of the
system to grant
world’s busiest,
exemptions to
some of the rules
most complex
for companies
that show they
airspace.”
can
operate
— Michael Huerta,
safely, Huerta
FAA Administrator
said.
On the fi rst
day the rules were in effect the FAA had
already granted 76 exemptions, most of them
to companies that want to fl y drones at night,
Huerta said.
“With these rules, we have created an
environment in which emerging technology
can be rapidly introduced while protecting the
safety of the world’s busiest, most complex
airspace,” he said.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx
said people are “captivated by the limitless
possibilities unmanned aircraft offer.” The few
thousand commercial drones that had been
granted waivers to operate before Monday
have been used to monitor crops, inspect
See DRONES/10A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Fifth-grade teacher Daylee Lathim helps a student navigate a tablet while teaching in one of the modular classroom units
on the fi rst day of school Monday at Rocky Heights Elementary School in Hermiston.
Growing pains
Rocky Heights facilities stretch
to keep up with enrollment
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Fifth-grade teacher Daylee Lathim helps a student navi-
gate a tablet while teaching in one of the modular class-
room units on the fi rst day of school Monday at Rocky
Heights Elementary School in Hermiston.
Jerad Farley doesn’t have
to look far to fi nd signs of his
school’s issues.
As the second year principal
of Rocky Heights Elementary
School speaks about some of his
school’s challenges in his offi ce,
an electric fan buzzes in the
background, a whirring reminder
of some of the measures the
oldest school in the Hermiston
School District takes to continue
operating.
Farley had already fi elded
some comments on the school’s
heating and cooling system on
the fi rst day of school Monday,
which frequently renders class-
rooms too hot or too cold. Farley
estimates the school’s heaters
and air conditioners aren’t func-
tioning properly 60 percent of
the time.
See SCHOOL/10A
PENDLETON
18-year-old dies after suffering severe burns
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Pendleton fi refi ghters and police respond to a reported fi re at
521 S.W. 19th Street on Monday in Pendleton.
An 18-year-old Pendleton man died
Monday morning after he was severely
burned outside a home at 521 S.W. 19th St.
Police and fi re crews were called out
shortly before 10 a.m. to a fi re in the side
yard of the house. Assistant fi re chief
Shawn Penninger said they put out a small
fi re, but could not provide any further
details.
Medics treated the man at the scene and
took him to St. Anthony Hospital, where
he was later pronounced dead. The victim
has not been identifi ed, nor has the cause
of death.
The Pendleton Police Department is
investigating what happened, in coop-
eration with the Oregon State Police
Arson Unit and Oregon State Medical
Examiner’s Offi ce. Offi cers cordoned off
an area consisting of several blocks around
Southwest Goodwin Place and Southwest
19th, though the roads were reopened by
early afternoon.
Amber Sullivan, a neighbor, said she
was alerted by her 8-year-old son that there
was a person on fi re across the road. The
boy had seen smoke, Sullivan said, and
when he went to look, he saw the victim’s
leg and could hear moaning.
Pendleton Police Chief Stuart Roberts
said there is no prosecutable criminal act
at this time, and no ongoing threat to the
public. He did not release any other infor-
mation.
———
Contact George Plaven at gplaven@
eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0825.