REGION
Saturday, November 26, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 3A
MILTON-FREEWATER
Grant could bring clean water to trailer park
Has been without drinking water for more than six months
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Residents
living
in
a
Milton-Freewater trailer park
could finally get clean drinking
water.
E. coli bacteria has been a
problem for years in the well that
supplies water to Locust Mobile
Village, 1501 N. Elizabeth St., on
the outskirts of Milton-Freewater’s
north end. At least 30 people,
including families with small
children, live there and have been
without clean drinking water for
more than six months.
But Scott Fairley of Pendleton,
the coordinator of the governor’s
Regional Solutions team for
Eastern Oregon, said relief could
be coming.
“This is a new opportunity that
just came up in the last week,” he
told the Umatilla County Board of
Commissioners during its meeting
Wednesday morning in Pendleton.
Fairley, speaking on the phone
from La Grande, said the Oregon
Health Authority found a federal
grant to provide clean water to the
park. The funds, though, require
a public entity to act as the fiscal
agent, and he asked the county to
take on the role.
Commissioners voted 3-0 in
favor.
Fairley also told the board the
next steps will look at the possi-
bility of a new well or extending
city services to the park. A new
well, though, could run into the
same contamination problems
as the existing well. Fairley told
the board Milton-Freewater city
officials in “preliminary conver-
sations” indicated they would
consider an extension.
Commissioner
George
Murdock said Friday the scope of
the project would determine the
size of the grant, which the county
would receive funds to oversee.
But the deeper incentive for the
county’s involvement, he said,
were the county residents in dire
need to clean water.
“If we have a solution to help
them, so be it,” Murdock said.
Locust Mobile Village owner
Nancy Shaw called the grant “an
answer to a prayer.”
Shaw said she has made repairs
to the park’s plumbing and water
tank and is catching up well testing
the state requires. But a large test
to check for radioactive materials
will have to wait, she said, until
she has the $1,700 to cover its cost.
Until she completes all the tests
and they come back negative, she
said, the park remains under a boil
water alert.
Still, she said she felt positive
the grant would deliver the help
she has been seeking for years.
Commissioner Larry Givens
in other county news Wednesday
announced the public works depart-
ment qualified for $2.8 million in
federal funds to pave part of Mill
Creek Road, Milton-Freewater.
Public works director Tom Fellows
said the Federal Lands Access
Program provides the funds and
requires a 10.72 percent local
match, but the money would allow
for reconstruction and paving on
2.6 miles of the road.
“We do get — in this particular
instance — we’re getting a lot of
bang for the buck,” he said.
Givens also announced the
public works received a $12,500
state parks grant and almost
$16,000 from the Wildhorse Foun-
dation.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.com or
541-966-0833.
PENDLETON
BRIEFLY
Giving Tree spreads holiday spirit
Lybrand released on bail, but money
may pay $62,000 child support debt
East Oregonian
With the holiday season
in full swing, people are
invited to help in spreading
Christmas joy to area children
and youths in need.
In its 16th year, the Giving
Tree provides an opportunity
for people to brighten the
holiday season for kids facing
an uncertain Christmas. The
ages, sizes and needs of
youths are on gift tags on the
Giving Tree, which is set up
at Hamley’s Western Store,
30 S.E. Court St., Pendleton.
Local citizens, businesses
and service clubs can pluck
tags from the tree and shop
for items on the list. For those
with limited time to shop,
monetary donations will be
accepted to purchase gifts.
Tags on the tree are
connected to children and
youths in the community,
whose names were provided
by the Pendleton School
District, Umatilla County
Youth Services and Oregon
Department of Human
Services
Thanks to the generosity
of the local community,
the Giving Tree has served
hundreds of families each
year since 2000.
Staff photo by Tammy Malgesini
Tags wait to be taken from a past Giving Tree. The 2016 tree is now set up at Ham-
ley’s Western Store in Pendleton. People are invited to remove a tag and shop for
children and youths in need.
The new, unwrapped
items need to be returned
to Hamley’s by Sunday,
Dec. 11. In appreciation of
donations made, participants
will receive a special Hamley
discount.
The gifts will be wrapped
and distributed to the recipi-
ents by the agencies involved.
For more information,
call Melvalee Carter at
541-278-5447 or Hamley’s at
541-278-1100.
———
For other area giving
trees, submit information,
including the location of
the tree, date items must
be returned, if gifts should
be wrapped and contact
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.
PENDLETON
High school to hold career day talks and tours
East Oregonian
Pendleton School District
students will get a glimpse of
the careers they could pursue
after high school, not only
from the people they could
be working for, but at the
workplaces they could be
employed at.
Pendleton High School
will host a career day
Thursday, the first under the
School to Careers program,
an effort jointly supported by
the district, Blue Mountain
Community College and the
Umatilla County Board of
Commissioners.
Panel discussions and
workplace tours will be
organized around the six
career clusters recognized
by the Oregon Department
“Our hope is that this event helps
students envision themselves in one of
these career fields and as a vital mem-
ber of our region’s future workforce.”
— Christina van der Kamp, Schools to Career coordinator
of Education — Human
Resources;
Agriculture,
Food, and Natural Resource
Systems; Industrial and Engi-
neering Systems; Business
and Management; Health
Sciences; and Arts, Informa-
tion and Communication.
In the morning, students
from Pendleton High School,
Nixyaawii
Community
School and Hawthorne
Alternative High School will
hear from professionals that
work for the city of Pend-
leton, Umatilla County, the
Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation,
St. Anthony Hospital, North-
east Oregon Water Associa-
tion and other business and
government agencies.
Students will then load
onto buses and go on
workplace tours of some of
Pendleton’s top employers
including Newly Weds
Foods, the Umatilla County
Courthouse, the Columbia
Basin Agriculture Research
Center, Wildhorse Resort &
Casino, and Interpath Labo-
ratories.
“We are excited to be able
to offer tours as part of this
year’s event. Students will be
able to connect what they’ve
heard from the speakers in
the morning to actual work
sites and job opportunities in
the community,” Schools to
Career coordinator Christina
van der Kamp said. “Our
hope is that this event helps
students to envision them-
selves in one of these career
fields and as a vital member
of our region’s future work-
force,”
For more information
contact van der Kamp at
541-969- 6748 or christina.
vanderkamp@pendleton.
k12.or.us.
The Hermiston School
District takes over the
fairgrounds on Dec. 31. The
district plans to demolish the
structures on the property to
prepare for future develop-
ment, but has agreed to hold
off for a few months in order to
give events like college rodeo
and the Hermiston Horse Sale
Extravaganza a place to hold
their event in Hermiston until
the Eastern Oregon Trade and
Event Center’s rodeo arena is
complete.
According to a memo
from city manager Byron
Smith, the move would result
in a “minimal” fiscal impact
for the city but would be a
“good partnership” to help
keep the events in Hermiston.
Also on the city council’s
agenda is the naming of the
new public bus system that
will open Jan. 2. The results
of an online survey show
that 51 percent of voters
preferred the HART (short
for Hermiston Area Regional
Transit) with the Watermelon
Express coming in second at
21 percent of the vote.
The city council meets the
second and fourth Monday of
each month at 7 p.m. at city
hall, 180 N.E. Second Street.
HSD to hold meeting on school bond
HERMISTON — Having discussed at it at the school
board level, the Hermiston School District is now ready to
discuss the details of a $104 million bond proposal.
The district will hold a community meeting about
its facilities and the bond at Hermiston High School on
Monday at 5 p.m. Child care will be provided.
Under the current proposal, the bond would include a
Hermiston High School expansion, a new parking lot at
Sandstone Middle School, and new elementary schools at
Rocky Heights, Highland Hills and the district’s Theater
Lane property.
An October public opinion survey commissioned by
the district showed that 48 percent of registered voters
were against the bond while 46 percent were for it.
Shop local and win in Boardman
BOARDMAN — A $200 gift certificate from
Boardman Select Market is the grand prize for the
Boardman Chamber of Commerce’s shop local campaign.
Shoppers in Boardman are encouraged to gather
receipts for purchases made Nov. 1 through Dec. 16 for a
chance to win prizes through Shop & Win in Boardman.
Each valid receipt will receive one entry in the drawing.
Valued at more than $100, the second prize — an
AR-15 tool kit from Predator’s Den — would make a
great gift for the hunter on your Christmas list. A $75
shopping spree at Boardman Hardware is the third place
prize. Additional prizes include gift certificates from local
businesses.
People can have their receipts validated between now
and 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16 at the chamber, located at the
SAGE Center, 101 Olson Road, Boardman.
For more information, call 541-481-3014.
———
Briefs are compiled from staff and wire reports,
and press releases. Email press releases to news@
eastoregonian.com
ORDER YOUR HOLIDAY
CENTERPIECES EARLY!
COUNCIL: Will also name new public bus system
Continued from 1A
PENDLETON — Prosecutors in the drug case of a
Pendleton business owner aim to apply his bail money to
his child support debt.
Umatilla County Circuit Court records show Judge
Lynn Hampton denied Jason Lybrand’s
request to get out of the Umatilla
County Jail, Pendleton, on his own
recognizance following his arrest on
Oct. 11. On Oct. 24, a relative posted
$15,000 bail to free him.
Bail money remains in the custody
of state courts pending the outcome of
a case. The district attorney’s office on
Monday filed a motion asking the court
to apply Lybrand’s bail money to his
Lybrand
back child support. Lybrand, according
to the state’s documents, owes $62,772 in support for his
two children, as well as $660 for the month of November.
Hampton on Tuesday ordered the court to keep the
money until the motion “is resolved.”
The local anti-drug trafficking police team arrested
Lybrand following an investigation. He faces seven
drug-related charges in all, including felonies for possession
and delivery of methamphetamine. He pleaded not guilty to
all counts.
Lybrand owns and operates a tattoo and adult shop at
132 S. Main St. in downtown Pendleton. His next court
hearing is Dec. 13.
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