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East Oregonian
STOVES: ‘Pendleton has been really proactive’
Continued from 1A
flame dancing over realis-
tic-looking imitation logs. He
said family gravitates to the
fireplace these days to relax
in its cozy ambiance.
“It simulates a regular
fireplace quite nicely,” Oja
said. “It heats the whole
(2,500-square-foot) house
and supplements the forced
air heat.”
Oja said he stumbled
on the stove replacement
program.
“I looked around for
incentives,” he said. “I came
across the city’s program
through a Google search.”
He learned he could
borrow up to $3,500 and pay
the interest-free loan back
over five years. The city
website listed all the condi-
tions. He must apply, select
an approved heating system,
select a contractor, get a
mechanical permit, undergo
an inspection and provide a
certificate from Pendleton
Sanitary Service verifying
disposal of the old stove or
insert.
The to-do list might seem
daunting, he said, but in
practice it was simple.
“The contractor came and
took the old stove out, hauled
it to the transfer center and
got a certificate of disposal
to prove it was out of circula-
tion,” Oja said. “They did all
the paperwork and it couldn’t
have been easier.”
That’s music to the ears
of regulatory specialist
Klaus Hoehna, who works
with Pendleton’s Air Quality
Commission to educate the
public about air quality,
oversee the stove replacement
program and generate daily
air quality forecasts during
the winter. The commission
consists of volunteers from
the healthcare community, the
National Weather Service and
other areas of interest. Hoehna
came out of retirement after a
military career several years
ago to become the city’s
regulatory specialist.
He estimated that the
number of polluting wood-
stoves in the city has dropped
from about 900 to 400 – 188
were replaced using city
loans. The air got steadily
clearer since the program’s
launch in 2000 until 2007
when it hit a plateau after
use of the program slowed.
Air quality still dives period-
ically when the air becomes
cold and stagnant.
In June, the commission
recommended that the city
council expand the program
geographically to three miles
outside city limits.
“The commission felt
there was still an issue with
particulate matter coming in
from the south and south-
west (Reith and McKay
Creek areas),” Hoehna
said. “Everyone will benefit
— both city and country
dwellers. The council saw
the wisdom in that.”
He said the three-mile
increase isn’t a hard and fast
rule and allows for some
professional judgment to
determine eligibility. He
said going outside city limits
meant involving non-city
agencies and getting the
blessings of Umatilla County,
the state Building Codes
Division and the DEQ.
Sakata, of the DEQ,
described
Pendleton’s
program as unique, innova-
tive and self-sustaining.
“Nationally, lots of folks
look to what Pendleton is
doing,” Sakata said.
Statewide, she said, two
cities — Klamath Falls and
Oakridge — are considered
“nonattainment
areas,”
meaning they aren’t meeting
EPA standards. Eight more
cities, she said, are on the
bubble. Pendleton isn’t one
of them.
“Pendleton has been
really proactive,” she said.
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or call 541-966-0810.
PERKINSON: Will be sworn in at council’s Dec. 20 meeting
Continued from 1A
bench in the past, Perkinson
said he was compelled
to apply for the job after
receiving
encouragement
from some of the colleagues
and judges he works with.
Jeff Wallace resigned the
bench in November.
Perkinson said one of the
municipal court’s greatest
weaknesses is that it isn’t a
court of record, which means
cases can be appealed to
the circuit court and receive
a different ruling. But he
added that the municipal
court still plays an important
role in city government.
“Part of the beauty of
having a municipal court is
the fact that it enables local
management of local issues
by a local person,” he said.
Perkinson also addressed
concerns from Mayor Phillip
Houk about his ability to
juggle an active law practice
with his judicial duties. The
municipal court is in session
three times a week, mostly in
the mornings, with the occa-
sional day-long jury trial.
“Planning far enough
in advance eliminates that
issue,” he said.
The
triumvirate
competing with Perkinson
for the position was a group
of judge pro tems who have
filled in for the municipal
judge when he wasn’t avail-
able.
The group was comprised
of Tim O’Hanlon of the
Mautz & O’Hanlon law
firm in Pendleton, former
Umatilla County district
attorney Dave Gallaher and
Hermiston attorney Tom
Ditton.
Under the group’s plan,
O’Hanlon would act as
the presiding judge while
Gallaher and Ditton would
regularly rotate in to handle
duties. The goal would be for
each judge to handle one day
each week.
In a letter of to the city
council, O’Hanlon wrote that
he proposed the plan because
of the scarcity of lawyers
willing to take the job.
“One of the biggest
problems is that the higher
qualified attorney attorneys
in town generally have
busy, lucrative practices or,
if retired, have busy, active
lives,” he wrote. “(Retiring
municipal court) Judge (Jeff)
Wallace is no exception. His
criminal practice grew after
he retired as Circuit Court
Judge to the point he could
not dedicate the time neces-
sary to serve as municipal
judge.”
In an interview after
the meeting, Houk said the
group proposed billing the
city at an $150 per hour rate,
using the municipal judge’s
$27,900 salary as a budget
they could draw from. If
the salary ran out before the
year ended, the trio would
work the remainder of the
year for free until they could
negotiate higher pay.
Despite
the
novel
concept, councilor Tom
Young said he preferred the
judge’s seat be occupied by
only one person.
“I’m a traditionalist,”
he said. “I definitely prefer
having (one) judge. I think
there’s consistency that’s
beneficial.”
Councilor
McKennon
McDonald said she like
the idea of a shared bench
because it gave the city a
chance to keep the seat filled
for a longer period of time.
The council voted 5-2
to appoint Perkinson to the
municipal judgeship, with
McDonald and councilor
Jake Cambier voting against.
Councilor Neil Brown
recused himself from the
discussion and vote, saying
that Perkinson was handling
a lawsuit that could affect his
family.
Despite their defeat, the
group agreed to stay on as
judge pro tems.
Perkinson will replace
Wallace at the beginning of
the year and will be sworn
in at the council’s Dec. 20
meeting.
Perkinson will earn the
same $27,900 salary in
addition to health benefits
and $1,150 city contribution
to a health savings account.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
TRUMP: Gen. Kelly has a reputation as a border hawk
Continued from 1A
tainment, Linda McMahon,
to head the Small Business
Administration.
Trump’s long presidential
campaign was in large part
defined by searing rhetoric
and his steadfast promises
to build an impenetrable
wall on the border with
Mexico and crack down
on immigrants living in the
U.S. illegally. But he struck
a softer tone in an interview
published Wednesday after
he was named Time Maga-
zine’s “Person of the Year.”
“We’re going to work
something out that’s going
to make people happy
and proud,” Trump said.
“They got brought here at
a very young age; they’ve
worked here, they’ve gone
to school here. Some were
good students. Some have
wonderful jobs. And they’re
in never-never land because
they don’t know what’s
going to happen.”
He offered no details
about a policy that would
make that clear.
During the campaign,
Trump’s tough comments
— including a vow to
overturn President Barack
Obama’s executive orders
on immigration — have led
to fears among immigrant
advocates that he will end
Obama’s Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
program. Hundreds of thou-
sands of young immigrants
have gained work permits
and temporary protection
from deportation under the
2012 program, which aides
to Trump have said would be
revisited.
Others
continue
to
press the immigrants’ case.
Chicago Mayor Rahm
Emmanuel presented Trump
a letter Wednesday from 14
big city mayors urging him
to keep the program intact.
“They were working
hard toward the American
dream,” Emmanuel told
reporters in lobby of Trump’s
skyscraper. “It’s no fault of
their own their parents came
here. They are something
we should hold up and
embrace.”
Though some immigrant
advocates hope Trump’s
words were an olive branch,
others were skeptical.
Meanwhile,
Trump
moved toward making
another addition to the
collection of generals in his
Cabinet, settling on Kelly
to head Homeland Security,
according to people close to
transition. Gen. Kelly, who
joined the Marine Corps in
1970, retired this year after a
final command that included
oversight of the Guantanamo
Bay detention center.
He has a reputation as
a border hawk after a time
in the Southern Command,
which is based in South
Florida and regularly works
with Homeland Security
on missions to identify and
dismantle immigrant smug-
Holiday Remembrance Program
Please Join
in our
our 8th
4th annual
annual remembrance
remembrance program
in
program honoring
honoring and
and
celebrating
the loved
loved ones
ones we
we have
have lost
lost
celebrating the
the special
special lives of the
Tuesday,
December
2016
• 7:00
Tuesday,
December 13th,
13, 2011
• 7:00
pm pm
131 SE Byers Ave • Pendleton, Oregon
Please call us and we will place the name of your loved
one on an ornament for you to place on the tree.
(541) 276-1221
Fellowship and refeshments following
gling networks.
Trump
also
picked
Pruitt, a longtime critic of
the EPA, to head that same
agency, according to person
close to Pruitt who was not
authorized to speak publicly
about the choice before it
was announced. The move
comes just after Trump met
with former Vice President
Al Gore, who is an environ-
mental activist, and said he
had “an open mind” about
honoring the Paris climate
accords.
That gave hope to some
environmentalists,
but
on Wednesday Trump’s
apparent
decision
was
denounced by Democrats.
Thursday, December 8, 2016
UMATILLA: This week
marked 100-year anniversary
of the Petticoat Revolution
Continued from 1A
on the plat, is public or
private.
request for a zoning change.
Wick’s revised proposal
before the council on
Tuesday would expand the
lots to 10,000 square feet
and leave the eight lots
facing Willamette Avenue
zoned for commercial use,
resulting in a housing devel-
opment with 24 new homes
paired with sizable yards.
“We’re capable of
providing whatever it is the
community needs and what
everyone feels good about,”
Wick said. “It’s better these
things are discussed.”
Councilor Mary Dedrick
said she wasn’t sure that
people looking for high-
er-end homes would be
interested in a home next
to a mini-mart and said she
would like to see the whole
property zoned residential
now that Wick had agreed
to build on larger lots.
Wick said the strip of
commercial property along
Willamette Avenue could
always be turned into a
residential zone later if the
council wanted to revisit it,
but approving his request
for a rezoning of the rest of
the property would let him
get started.
“This decision tonight
is going to keep Arnie
going,” city manager Russ
Pelleberg told the council.
“I think he’s been held up
long enough.”
The council agreed,
voting 5-0 to direct the
planning department to
draw up an official ordi-
nance rezoning most of the
property to residential.
100 year milestone
Property dispute
On Tuesday the council
also heard an appeal for a
property dispute between
two Umatilla landowners
on Riverside Avenue, but
decided to put off a deci-
sion until Dec. 20 to give
councilors time to digest the
extensive testimony they
heard from both parties and
their attorneys.
Tom and Janis Carey
applied to the city this
summer for a replat of their
property that would erase
a 20-foot-wide easement
on their land that currently
allows the neighboring
property owners vehicle
access to the shop at the
back of their property. City
planner Bill Searles granted
the request.
Neighbors Teri and
Kevin Petersen appealed
the decision to the city’s
planning
commission,
which reversed it. The
Careys are asking the city
council to uphold Searles’
original decision.
Under Oregon law city
staff can erase a public ease-
ment during the replatting
process but not a private
one. A central question
in the case is whether the
easement, which is merely
marked “access easement”
This week marked the
100-year anniversary of
one of the city of Umatilla’s
most famous events, a
political coup known as the
Petticoat Revolution that
made national headlines.
It was four years before
the 19th Amendment would
guarantee women the right
to vote, but in Oregon that
right had already been
extended to them. Fed up
with the way the men were
running the tiny town, on
Dec. 5, 1916, the women
of Umatilla quietly staged a
write-in campaign against
their husbands.
When the votes were
counted and recounted,
Laura Starcher had beaten
her husband Mayor E.E.
Starcher by 26 votes in a
town of 198 residents. She
was joined by female city
councilors Anna Means,
Florence Brownell, Stella
Paulu and Gladys Spinning
(two male city councilors
who had not been up for
re-election retained their
seats) along with city
recorder Bertha Cheney.
Some newspapers of
the time mistakenly called
Starcher the country’s
first female mayor, but
Argonia, Kansas, had a
female mayor in 1887
and the town of Kanab,
Utah, elected a female
mayor and all-female town
council in 1912 after no
men expressed interest in
running.
According
to
the
Oregon History Project,
after Umatilla’s Petti-
coat Revolution “the
council improved water
and electrical services,
approved funds for street
and sidewalk projects, and
organized city Cleanup
Weeks. Additional accom-
plishments included new
railroad crossing signs, the
founding of a town library,
replacement of the city’s
American flags, institution
of monthly garbage collec-
tion, planning for future
community projects, and
the appointment of a city
health official during a
1918 smallpox epidemic.”
Starcher resigned from
her post a year early due
to health reasons and was
succeeded by two more
female mayors.
Umatilla
continues
its century-old history of
female city councilors
today with Mary Dedrick
and Sharon Farnsworth.
Dedrick said Tuesday after
the council meeting that
she enjoyed being a part of
that tradition.
“Women rule!” she said,
summing up her feelings
on the subject.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.