WEEKEND EDITION
BUCKS
DOMINATE
THE MATS
WRESTLING/1B
TOP PHOTOS OF 2016 TOP ALBUMS OF 2016
LIFESTYLES/1C
ENTERTAINMENT/3C
12
9
3
6
141st Year, No. 55
DEC. 31, 2016-JAN. 1 2017
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
BOARDMAN
Biomass
test day
delayed
at coal
facility
TOP STORIES
OF
F
rom stories that captured national
headlines (the Malheur occupation,
Hermiston murder-suicide, naked
intruder caught in a tree) to hyper-local
milestones (completion of the EOTEC
event center and two new Pendleton
schools), 2016 kept us busy.
What follows is our selection of the
biggest news stories of the year in the
pages of the East Oregonian, based on
regional relevance, historic signifi cance
and reader interest.
2016
Cold weather deters
alternative fuel trial
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
A major step toward deter-
mining whether the Boardman
Coal Plant can run entirely on
biomass will have to wait until
after the new year.
Portland General Electric
had planned to conduct
a full-day test burn at the
plant using nothing but
woody debris by the end
of December. However, as
winter weather had Orego-
nians cranking up the heat,
PGE needed all resources
on deck to keep up with the
surge in electricity demand.
Steve
Corson,
PGE
spokesman, said the biomass
trial at Boardman will instead
be held sometime during the
fi rst quarter of 2017.
“We were in the midst of
the coldest weather we’ve had
this month, and we needed
that power generation at the
coal plant,” Corson said.
Workers at the plant did
use a partial mix of coal and
biomass for three days —
Dec. 6, 8 and 12 — which
Corson said provided further
information about how the
material behaves with the
facility’s pulverizers.
“It is similar to coal,
but there are distinctions,”
Corson said.
PGE has until 2020 to
decide what to do with the
Boardman facility, the state’s
See BIOMASS/10A
STACIE EKSTROM
OF IONE
Enjoy a free
peppermint
mocha at
Bloomz Coffee
Bar in
Hermiston
AP fi le photo
Duane Ehmer of Irrigon, a supporter of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, walks his horse Hellboy near Burns on
Jan. 7, 2016.
East Oregonian
1. Standoff at the
wildlife refuge
Ammon Bundy, joined by his
brother Ryan and a small band
of followers, took a “hard stand”
against federal control of Western
lands and the imprisonment of two
ranchers. They seized the Malheur
Wildlife Refuge in Harney County
and spent weeks in a slow-motion
standoff with authorities.
For 41 days the state’s attention
was on the remote bird sanctuary,
and the nearby town of Burns was
divided between those standing by
the occupiers and those demanding
the out-of-state armed protesters to
leave.
The Bundys were arrested in a
Jan. 26 traffi c stop that included the
fatal shooting by police of occupa-
tion spokesman Robert “LaVoy”
Finicum as he exited his vehicle at a
road block and attempted to draw his
gun. Two vehicles were headed north
on their way to a public meeting in
John Day, where a mostly sympa-
thetic crowd had gathered at the
community center.
After Bundy’s arrest and Fini-
cum’s death, many of the remaining
protesters left the refuge, but four
holdouts remained until a tense
standoff Feb. 11 that ended peace-
fully.
The occupation, which lasted 41
days, heightened the debate over
public land management in Western
states.
Eleven men pleaded guilty ahead
Contributed photo
James “JJ” Hurtado (left) and
Ken Valdez (right).
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Braelyn Cragun, 10, lights a candle during a vigil for James “JJ”
Hurtado and Ken Valdez on August 24, 2016 in Hermiston.
of a fall trial that ended with the
surprise acquittals of the Bundy
brothers and fi ve co-defendants.
In an explosive ending, a team of
federal marshals tackled defense
lawyer Marcus Mumford as he
yelled at the judge. Paperwork fl ew
as Ammon Bundy’s attorney writhed
on the ground, screaming.
The year closed with some defen-
dants trying to withdraw their guilty
pleas and government prosecutors
pressing ahead with a February 2017
trial for seven remaining defendants.
2. Murder-suicide
shocks Hermiston
Hermiston was shaken by a brutal
crime that claimed three lives and left
another person wounded in August.
On Aug. 18, Jason Huston,
45, killed 14-year-old James “JJ”
Hurtado at a remote location near the
Umatilla River outside of Hermiston
before driving into town and kicking
in the door of high school friend
and fellow wrestling coach Kenneth
Valdez, also 45. He entered the
bedroom, killed Valdez and wounded
Hurtado’s mother Andria Bye before
calling 9-1-1 to report the shooting
and then turning the gun on himself.
Police, friends and family —
knowing only that Hurtado had last
been seen with Huston — searched
desperately for the teenager, who
had been set to begin his freshman
year at Hermiston High School, over
the course of several hours before
fi nding his body.
Huston and Bye had previously
dated and Huston had remained a
father fi gure to Hurtado, but Herm-
iston Police Chief Jason Edmiston
said it is likely no one will ever know
for sure Huston’s motives that day.
After the shootings hundreds of
people attended a candlelight vigil
for Hurtado and Valdez at McKenzie
Park, while others started a schol-
arship in Hurtado’s name, collected
donations for the families and started
the “I Love My City” campaign to
perform positive acts of service in
the community.
3. Boardman tree farm
felled
The Boardman Tree Farm is
getting the ax to make way for more
conventional crops and, possibly,
a second mega-dairy in Morrow
County.
GreenWood Resources, which has
owned the 25,000-acre poplar tree
farm since 2007, agreed in January to
See 2016/12A
Region struggles to draw
high-level therapists
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Qualifi ed Mental Health Professional crisis supervisor Dan Wilcox
works long and often erratic hours due to staffi ng shortages at
the Westgate crisis center in Pendleton. Workforce availability is
an issue in staffi ng mental health facilities in the state.
When it comes to providing mental
health care in rural Oregon, money
isn’t the issue – rather, the determining
factors are manpower and the rising
number of mentally ill.
A recent Mental Health America
ranking placed Oregon 51st as far as
prevalence of mental illness in the state
and 49th overall when including other
factors such as workforce availability.
Lifeways administrators Sandy
Shelton and Carol Eck must fi ll
vacancies when they come open at the
company. It’s not easy to lure therapists
and psychiatrists from the city. Shelton,
Lifeways’ chief clinical offi cer, said she
dreams of a busload of masters-level
therapists moving to Pendleton.
“That would be the best day ever for
See HEALTH/10A