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East Oregonian
EOCI: Only
city in state to
have ban on
work crews
Continued from 1A
nity. Two weeks later, the council
voted 8-0 in favor of allowing
minimum-custody inmates to
work outside the prison. The
program will be reconsidered
after one year after studying its
results.
Pendleton City Councilor
Chuck Wood serves on the
advisory board for EOCI. He
said Pendleton was the lone
city in Oregon to have such a
ban on prison work crews. Yet
people under the supervision of
Umatilla County Community
Justice Department have worked
on crews in the community with
success, he said, and inmate
crews from Two Rivers have
worked in area forests and on
occasion in Pendleton. And the
program beneits inmates as well.
“You end up with really good
workers that can do good for
the community, and this helps
them reintegrate when they are
released,” Woods said.
Pendleton Police Chief Stuart
Roberts said in an email he has
been involved in meetings
about inmate work crews, their
management, capabilities and
the cost.
“I am not opposed to the
action,” he stated.
EOCI spokesperson Jackie
Peck said the inmate workers from
Umatilla would work eight days
over about the next two weeks
and only on prison property. That
way, she said, the community
can acclimate to seeing the crews
outside the fence.
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
SEAPORT: Airport manager says it will
be without lights for at least 30-60 days
Continued from 1A
one at the SeaPort check-in desk.
Norquist said the sign noted the
company had gone out of business and
all lights were canceled.
She said the group was confused at
irst.
“We tried to page them to see if they
are actually going to come, if it was a
joke or whatever,” she said.
They quickly realized it was no
joke, and that they needed to ind a new
way to get home. The four, who had
their plane tickets purchased by their
company, said they decided to rent a car
and drive home Tuesday night.
“We thought we had a nice quick
light home but that’s not the case
anymore,” Norquist said from PDX.
According to a status report iled by
SeaPort’s attorneys Tuesday, SeaPort’s
reorganization plan had been contingent
on retaining the Pendleton-Portland
route it has operated since 2008.
Yet when the Pendleton City Council
selected Boutique Air over SeaPort to
supply air service starting in 2017, the
Portland company believed it could
overcome the loss of business because
of the high expenses associated with
operating out of the Portland airport.
The deciding factor came when
Fountain Village Development, a prop-
erty management company that had
previously agreed to loan SeaPort up to
$1 million, told the airline it was cutting
its credit line.
Regardless of the reason behind
SeaPort’s demise, Sieber said losing
Pendleton was a tough loss that spurred
existential questions.
“The loss of Pendleton was a shock
to us,” he said. “When you lose to a bid
that’s higher, with higher fares and an
airplane that seats one less passenger,
you really have to wonder how you can
compete in this business over the long
term. That’s where we are. That really
shook our company to the core. We
really had to question whether we could
sustain ourselves on an ongoing basis.”
Doug Pahl, an attorney representing
SeaPort’s creditors, said the airline will
now liquidate its remaining assets and
most likely dissolve.
“It’s unfortunate for small communi-
ties like Pendleton,” he said.
Given SeaPort’s inancial dificul-
ties, Pendleton Airport Manager Steve
Chrisman said this latest development
didn’t come as too much of a surprise.
Chrisman’s focus is now centered
around inding an airline to provide
service through the end of the year.
Chrisman said the U.S. Department
of Transportation’s standard practice
is to issue an emergency request to
cover the remainder of the Essential Air
Service contract, which ran through the
end of 2016.
Chrisman said he has talked with
Boutique about starting service to
Pendleton before its scheduled 2017
start date.
“We would like to see them come in
as soon as possible,” he said.
Chrisman estimated the Eastern
Oregon Regional Airport would be
without lights for at least 30-60 days.
The longterm future of commercial
operations in Pendleton is complicated
by the fact that the DOT is considering
stripping Pendleton of its EAS subsidy
because a lack of boardings caused the
airport to exceed its $200 per passenger
cap.
The city is currently working on a
waiver petition explaining the exten-
uating circumstances surrounding
SeaPort’s pilot shortage and bankruptcy,
which is due to the DOT by Sept. 28.
The petition has already earned
the support of Sens. Ron Wyden and
Jeff Merkley, and Rep. Greg Walden,
R-Hood River, who wrote to U.S.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx
urging him to issue a waiver.
RAIL: Oct. training class
scheduled for Salem
Continued from 1A
boom in the Columbia River
after detecting a sheen on the
surface of the water, though
it was later determined the
contamination did not come
from the oil spill.
Michael Heffner, assistant
chief deputy of emergency
response services for the state
Fire Marshal’s Ofice, said
there are a number of obser-
vations to take away from
the incident. He pointed out
communities need to make
sure they have a sustainable
supply of water to support
emergency responders, while
agencies need to make sure
they have all appropriate ofi-
cials available at the scene for
as long as necessary.
“When you get to an
event of this size, it’s really
important you have all
agencies understand the role
they play in the operation,”
Heffner said.
Heffner
recommended
agencies local agencies bring
in an incident management
team — similar to those
assigned to large wildires —
to help coordinate agencies,
provide consistent informa-
tion and make sure the right
people are able to access the
right place at the right time.
Union Paciic has railroad
lines that cross through
downtown
Pendleton,
the city of Echo, south of
Hermiston and along the
Columbia River near the Port
of Morrow.
Tom Roberts, emergency
manager for Umatilla County,
said their main concern is
with a possible derailment
near a population center.
Tuesday’s meeting was
an opportunity to learn from
what happened in Mosier,
Roberts said.
“It was a reminder
that anything can happen
anytime, anywhere. We need
to be prepared for any kind
of incident that could occur,”
Roberts said. “We like to
apply new processes and
procedures that are learned
from real-world responses.”
The Umatilla and Morrow
county LEPCs voted to
pursue grant funding together
not just for a rail safety plan,
but for additional training
that could beneit irst
responders and city leaders.
Doug Paine, chairman of the
Umatilla County LEPC, said
grant applications should be
submitted around the begin-
ning of next year.
Paine said it makes sense
for the two counties to band
together, since they share so
much in common.
“We’re both rural areas,”
Paine said. “It just its in with
the way we work together.”
According to the Fire
Marshal’s Ofice, oil trains
now move through 15
counties and 80 ire districts
across Oregon. The agency is
working on putting together
a hazardous materials rail
emergency response class,
which will be held Oct. 28-29
at Chemeketa Community
College in Salem.
———
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at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
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