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JANUARY 7-8, 2017
141st Year, No. 60
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
OLD PENDLETON CITY HALL
Fines looming, Quezadas
hope for better weather
Enforcement of nuisance ordinance starts clock ticking
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Out of patience with the
slow progress on old city hall,
the Pendleton City Council
chose to prod the owners
toward repairing the fi re-dam-
aged building by enforcing
the nuisance ordinance.
With the prospect of a daily
fi ne now looming, members
of the Quezada family, the
owners of the fi re-damaged
building, were clearing debris
from an alleyway behind the
building late Friday morning.
A July 2015 explosion
killed Eduardo Quezada, a
member of the family, and
heavily damaged the build-
ing’s façade, windows and
roof.
Pendleton’s
nuisance
See CITY HALL/10A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The framework for a new roof can be seen through the
second story windows of the old city hall building on
Friday in Pendleton.
Preserving
cultural
artifacts
next hurdle
for Depot
transfer
UMATILLA
Oregon Trail, tribal relics
part of archaeological study
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
In 2018 the Oregon Department of Transportation will be giving a facelift to Highway 730, or Sixth Street, in downtown Umatilla.
Umatilla works to revitalize downtown, become a place to stop and visit
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
The city of Umatilla’s top
goal for this year is downtown
revitalization, and staff and
city councilors are enthusiastic
about prompting a change.
Early in 2018 the Oregon
Department of Transportation
plans to give Sixth Street a
facelift using bulb-outs, deco-
rative crosswalks, new lighting
and other features to encourage
drivers passing through town on
Highway 730 to slow down. In
the meantime, however, the city
is doing its own part to change
downtown Umatilla’s image.
“Basically what we’re saying
is Umatilla is open for business,”
councilor Mark Ribich said.
As part of that change,
the city plans to create a new
“community
development”
department with a new depart-
ment head that would focus on
economic development, code
enforcement and parks and
recreation.
City manager Russ Pelleberg
said since he came into the city
manager’s position a little less
than a year ago he has done
some cost-saving and reve-
nue-increasing measures that
will fund the new department.
“The timing is perfect for
See UMATILLA/10A
Snow and ice, hold the salt
Another wave of
winter coming, but salt
not in ODOT’s toolbox
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Sat
Sun
Mon
22/18
34/27
39/29
For more weather see page 2A
As Eastern Oregon braces for
another round of nasty winter
weather, the Oregon Department
of Transportation says rock salt
will not be used on local high-
ways — at least not yet.
Last month, ODOT announced
a shift in policy to use salt on
some roads across the state after
an inch of snow wreaked havoc
on Portland traffi c. But Tom
Strandberg, ODOT spokesman
for the Eastern Oregon region,
said that decision was not agen-
cy-wide.
“We have a lot of work to do
before we’re prepared for salt on
the roads,” Strandberg said.
Interstate 84 has closed
multiple times in recent weeks
due to hazardous driving condi-
tions, especially between Pend-
leton and Baker City. Snow and
freezing rain are in the forecast
again this weekend, beginning
Saturday morning in central
Oregon and moving northeast by
late afternoon.
Between 1-4 inches of snow
are expected Saturday, turning
into sleet and freezing rain on
Sunday, according to the National
Weather Service. The Columbia
River Gorge is also expected
to get hit by snow, ice and high
winds on Saturday.
Strandberg said ODOT will
work around the clock to plow
and sand highways. The agency
also uses magnesium chloride
as a de-icer, though Strandberg
admits the solution is not effec-
tive at very low temperatures.
Rock salt may be more
See SALT/10A
Items of historical, cultural and religious
signifi cance on the former Umatilla Chem-
ical Depot are presenting one of the last
major hurdles to transferring the land back
to local control.
At a Columbia Development Authority
meeting Friday, director Greg Smith told
the board he is working with their various
partners to make sure the required archae-
ological study is
completed and
“There are
concerns about
preserving signif- two branches
icant artifacts are
of the Oregon
satisfi ed.
“There
are
Trail that run
two branches of
the Oregon Trail
through the
that run through
depot. There
the depot,” Smith
said. “There are are also some
also some tribal
artifacts that are tribal artifacts
important to be
that are im-
preserved.”
One spur of the
portant to be
trail runs through
preserved.”
the planned wild-
life preserve, but
Greg Smith,
the other section
director,
Columbia
runs right through
Development
the industrial zone
Authority
on the Umatilla
County side.
Smith said many portions were destroyed
long ago by the construction of an airstrip
and other components of military operations
at the depot, but there was a historically
signifi cant portion of the trail on a 250 by
250 foot piece of industrial land that he
believed was important to carve out from
the industrial zone and add an educational
kiosk that the public could visit.
He said he wanted to be sensitive and not
go into too much detail, but there were also
items of religious signifi cance to the tribes
that would need to be protected.
The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian have one of the fi ve seats on the
CDA board, with the ports and county
governments of both Umatilla and Morrow
also represented.
“I do not see anything in there that if we
work together we cannot resolve and create
a win-win for everyone,” he said.
Michele Lanigan from the Army’s Base
Realignment and Closure division said
that because the archaeological study was
not resolved, the Army could not give a
defi nitive timeline for when the depot will
be transferred with such a “big unknown”
See DEPOT/10A