PRANKSTERS
FARM FIRE STRIKE IN
GUTS SHED HOLLYWOOD
REGION/3A
12/6
NATION/8A
TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2017
141st Year, No. 56
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
HERMISTON
Weather
leads to
spate of
crashes in
new year
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Sorted plastics sit in bins at the entrance to the Sanitary Disposal facility Friday outside of Hermiston.
GOOD USE OF REFUSE
Sanitary Disposal collects
about 11,800 tons each
year to recycle
Homeless
camp cleanup
tops two tons
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
One man’s trash becomes another man’s
new hubcaps in the recycling industry.
Every day at the Sanitary Disposal transfer
station outside Hermiston people add to the
piles of broken, bulky 1990-era televisions
and empty wine
bottles, glad to
“We’re trying
fi nally be rid of
“that junk in the to extend more
garage.”
But
after awareness and
drop-off
those
education.
items take on a
It just has not
new life. Stripped
down to their been a part of
components, sepa-
rated by material
our culture.”
and compressed
— Bill Kik,
into bales, recy-
clable objects will maintenance supervisor
for Sanitary Disposal
eventually re-enter
the economy as
fodder for everything from steel beams to
egg cartons.
“It gets it out of the waste stream, which
just makes dollars and sense,” said Bill
Kik, maintenance supervisor for Sanitary
Disposal.
On Thursday dozens of old refrigerators
See RECYCLE/10A
The new year brought another wave
of winter weather to Eastern Oregon,
creating treacherous roads and causing
dozens of crashes.
Highways remained open throughout
the day, but emergency medical personnel
responded to several rollovers and other
crashes.
Pendleton
ambulance
crews
responded to many crashes along I-84
since Sunday. Pendleton covers the inter-
state from about Echo to the Umatilla
Indian Reservation, but Pendleton Fire
Chief Mike Ciraulo said city ambulances
often roll beyond those limits to help
partner agencies from Hermiston to the
top of Cabbage Hill.
Ciraulo also said as fas as he knew,
none of crash victims Pendleton helped
suffered serious injuries. Medics stay
busy with the weather, he said, but
providing emergency service is what the
job is all about.
Umatilla County Fire District 1 had
responded to seven crashes on Monday
See CRASHES/10A
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Metal household appliances are separated and await being salvaged for scrap
metal at the Sanitary Disposal facility Friday outside of Hermiston.
9,441.77
1,210.98
800.71
147.86
tons of scrap metal
tons of cardboard
tons of wood
tons of newspaper
85.91
83.6
43.49
42.13
tons of electronics
tons of food waste
tons of glass
tons of plastic
15.18
10.21
2.72
2,370
tons of tin cans
tons of aluminum
tons of offi ce paper
gallons of motor oil
Recycling collected by Sanitary Disposal in 2015 by the ton, as reported to the Department of Environmental Quality
Umatilla County authorities Thursday
cleaned up another transient camp and
threw out more than two tons of materials.
Undersheriff Jim Littlefi eld said the
camp was on the banks of the Umatilla
River adjacent to Old River Road, about
half a mile south of the homeless camp
the sheriff’s offi ce cleared out in early
March. He said the sheriff’s offi ce at that
time heard rumors of a second camp in the
area, but citizen complaints did not start
rolling in about the site until August and
September.
The agency found the camp spread
across Oregon Department of Transpor-
tation property, county property and “a
sliver of private property,” Littlefi eld said.
The site had about six regulars unlawfully
living in tents and a small recreational
trailer. Deputies trespassed people from
the site and made several arrests there,
Littlefi eld said, primarily on warrants.
Littlefi eld also said the sheriff’s offi ce
checked the camp periodically and found
See CAMP/9A
Secret Native American sites thrust into dam debate
Environmental review
looks to boost salmon
By KEITH RIDLER
Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho — A
little-known federal program
that avoids publicizing its
accomplishments to protect
from looters the thousands
of Native American sites it’s
tasked with managing has
been caught up in a big net.
The Federal Columbia
River
System
Cultural
Resources Program tracks
some 4,000 historical sites
that also include homesteads
and missions in Oregon,
Washington,
Idaho
and
Montana.
Now it’s contributing
information as authorities
prepare a court-ordered envi-
ronmental impact statement
concerning struggling salmon
and the operation of 14
federal dams in the Columbia
River Basin.
A federal judge urged
offi cials to consider breaching
four of those dams on the
Snake River.
“Because of the scale of
the EIS, there’s no practical
way for us, even if we wanted
to, to provide a map of
each and every site that we
consider,” said Sean Hess, the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s
Pacifi c Northwest Region
archaeologist. “There are
See TRIBES/9A
Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review via AP, File
This Oct. 19, 2016 fi le photo shows the Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River in
Washington state.