STEPHEN HILL
OF LEXINGTON
Enjoy a
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at Obie’s
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DEBBIE
REYNOLDS
DIES AT 84
DUCKS
BEAT
UCLA
RECORDS/5A
SPORTS/1B
40/30
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2016
141st Year, No. 53
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Deadly
fi res
increase
in 2016
Three die in structure fi res;
most are human-caused
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
EO Media Group fi le photos
New laws will take effect in Oregon beginning Jan. 1, including increased fi nes for poaching, criminal penalties for imper-
sonating military personnel or public servant to intimidate another, a widened defi nition of soliciting prostitution and the
banning of sky lanterns.
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
The 2016 legislative session
was a short one, but Oregon
lawmakers had enough time to
approve a handful of new laws
that will go into effect Jan. 1.
Some — like a law authorizing
the governing body of Tillamook
County to establish wetlands —
apply to a very narrow segment
of the state’s population. But
others will affect all Oregonians.
As always, not knowing
about a new law is not a valid
legal defense if you get caught
breaking it.
Criminal impersonation
Sending intimidating emails to
your neighbor while pretending
to be the city planner is now a
crime.
Senate Bill 1567 makes it
illegal to impersonate a public
servant, veteran or member of the
Armed Forces with the intent to
cause another person injury.
The new law applies even in
cases where the specifi c job title
or government department used
by the impostor does not actually
exist.
Oregon’s previous identity
NEW YEAR,
NEW LAWS
Releasing sky lanterns and impersonating the mayor
will be crimes in Oregon starting Jan. 1, while
poaching penalties will go up signifi cantly
theft law was interpreted by the
courts to only apply to imper-
sonations that involved fi nancial
fraud, leaving prosecutors unable
charge those who did so only to
intimidate or embarrass. The new
law defi nes “injury” to include
physical harm, threats, harass-
ment and intimidation.
The crime is a Class A misde-
meanor punishable with up to
a year in prison and/or a $6,250
fi ne (a separate law already in
effect makes impersonating a
police offi cer or judge a Class C
felony).
Poaching penalties
Would-be poachers who get
caught unlawfully taking or
killing wildlife will face substan-
tially higher fi nes in the new year.
The penalty for illegally
killing moose, mountain sheep
and mountain goats will double
from $25,000 to $50,000. A
variety of other fees will increase
signifi cantly, including a hike
from $1,000 to $5,000 for over-
sized sturgeon and from $100 to
$1,000 for wild turkeys and sage
grouse.
See LAWS/3A
Structure fi res in Umatilla County
claimed three lives so far in 2016, an
increase from years.
Fires in homes, trailers or other build-
ings claimed a life in both 2015 and 2014,
according to a search of records and news
stories. Investigators in all but one case
determined the fi res had human causes.
• Feb. 27 in Athena — Smoking mate-
rial, possibly a cigarette, caused the fi re
in a trailer that killed one man.
• June 1 near Hermiston — Fire in a
onion shed at Columbia Basin Spreaders
Inc. left one man dead. The Oregon
Occupational Safety and Health Division
has yet to release a cause.
• Aug. 1 in Stanfi eld — Smoking
materials or electrical wiring sparked the
home blaze that took a man’s life.
• Mixing explosive materials to make
fi reworks killed one Pendleton man in
2015, and investigators determined a
2014 fi re that killed a man in his RV in
Stanfi eld was accidental.
Tom Bohm, fi re marshal for Umatilla
County Fire District No. 1 based in
Hermiston, reported electrical issues
topped the district’s list of fi re causes so
far this year, with 14. Exposure fi res — a
fi re that started outside a building but
consumed a structure — was second,
with 11, followed by eight smoking
materials caused blazes and seven fi res
caused by cooking.
The Pendleton Fire Department this
week responded to two home fi res, and
human causes were to blame in each.
A space heater started the blaze
Sunday night in the third story of the
home at 503 N. Main St. And a cardboard
box left on a stove started a fi re Tuesday
night at a home on Jones Circle.
Shawn Penninger, assistant chief
and fi re marshal, said the occupants
extinguished the burn before fi refi ghters
arrived.
Most investigations of building fi res
reveal a human factor at play, Penninger
said.
The National Fire Protection Associ-
ation reports cooking equipment is the
leading cause of home structure fi res and
home fi re injuries in the United States.
From 2007-11 there were 366,600 home
structure fi res nationwide, and cooking
fi res accounted for 156,000, almost 43
percent. Home heating was the second
most common cause.
Children playing with fi re outside
caused 37,400 home fi res, the third most,
See FIRE/3A
OUR NEW NEIGHBORS
Pharma family fi nds
fi t in Pendleton
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
They met in Southern Oregon
and lived in the Portland metro
area, but Eastern Oregon was
completely new to Marc and
Celeste Rizzo when they moved
to Pendleton in February.
Despite their unfamiliarity,
Celeste accepted a job as a phar-
macist at St. Anthony Hospital.
The Rizzos packed up their
Hillsboro home and headed east,
bringing their infant daughter
Bianca in tow.
Her husband, Marc, is also
a pharmacist. And although she
was concerned he would have
trouble fi nding an open position,
he landed a pharmacy job at
Walgreens within a few days of
moving to town.
Good timing has often
worked to the Rizzos’ benefi t.
Celeste grew up in Eureka,
California, a small timber town
100 miles south of the Oregon
border.
Celeste eventually moved to
Ashland, working for a timber
company to help locate endan-
See RIZZO/3A
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Marc and Celeste Rizzo pose with their daughter Bianca on their front porch.