BULLDOGS
EYING A
MOVE UP
TRUMP TAPS
SON-IN-LAW
AS ADVISER
29/15
Pair in jail after
ramming police
car and fl eeing
SPORTS/1B
NATION/7A
REGION/3A
TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017
141st Year, No. 61
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Flu ramps up in Oregon
Getting fl u shot lowers misery quotient
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
You might want to get that fl u
shot.
The Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention reports that Oregon
is one of eight states where fl u is
considered widespread. Flu Bites,
Oregon’s public health fl u tracker,
shows a steep spike in cases over
the last two weeks in December.
Lane County’s Health and Human
Services reported seven deaths in
the Eugene-Springfi eld area, all
elderly.
Though most fl u victims don’t
die, they can be miserable for days
or weeks.
Pam Schulz, infection control
prevention nurse at Good Shepherd
Medical Center in Hermiston, said
people can crank down their degree
of misery by getting vaccinated.
“You can still catch it, but you
shouldn’t get as sick — you get hit
by the pickup instead of the Mack
truck,” Schulz said.
Good Shepherd and Pendleton’s
St. Anthony Hospital have experi-
enced a steep rise in fl u-like illness
in their emergency rooms.
“Over the past three weeks,
we’ve taken quite a jump,” said
Tracy Wart, St. Anthony’s infection
prevention nurse. “Last week, we
tested 31 people in the ER with fl u
symptoms. Of those 31, 14 came
back positive. The majority of
people testing positive had not been
vaccinated.”
Schulz said Good Shepherd tested
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that
Oregon is one of eight states where the fl u is widespread.
See FLU/8A
Brown
takes oath
as elected
governor
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
upside-down by the ankles a lot”
when he came around to annoy
his older brothers and their
friends. Whenever they broke
a light bulb in the basement
playing pool (Dewey correctly
guessed that investing in a pool
table would keep his children
and their friends safely within
earshot more often) the older
boys would send Dale on his
bike to fetch another one before
Mom and Dad got home.
“Let’s just say we had a
SALEM — Gov. Kate Brown was sworn
in for the fi rst time as elected governor
Monday, after serving in the position for
nearly two years.
The governor used her inaugural address
to unveil her legislative agenda for the year.
“Under my leadership, we will continue
to move Oregon forward,” Brown told
an audience in the
Oregon House of
Representatives
chamber.
Brown, as secre-
tary of state, ascended
to the governorship
in February 2015
when then-Gov. John
Kitzhaber
stepped
down amid a scandal
over
consulting Brown
contracts
awarded
to his fi ancée, Cylvia Hayes. In Oregon,
where there is no lieutenant governor, the
secretary of state is next in line.
She became the fi rst openly bisexual
governor in national history.
Brown was elected in November with
an overwhelming majority to complete
that last two years of Kitzhaber’s four-year
term, defeating Republican challenger Dr.
Bud Pierce of Salem.
During her speech Monday, Brown
called on Oregon lawmakers to set aside
their differences to work together this
session to tackle Oregon’s $1.7 billion
revenue shortfall. “We have to come
together and know that we are all on the
same side,” Brown said.
She also said Oregonians should resist
any attacks on civil rights in the wake of
New York billionaire Donald J. Trump’s
election as president.
“We must guard against prejudice
based on race, ethnicity, religion or belief,”
See PRIMMER/8A
See BROWN/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston city councilor Doug Primmer, left, and his brother Pendleton city councilor Dale Primmer grew up in Hermiston
after their parents move to the area from Seattle in 1977.
B ROTHERS P RIMMER
THE
Siblings elected to city councils of ‘rival’
towns, hope to learn from each other
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Family gatherings at the
Primmer house now include two
city councilors.
Dale Primmer, 44, was sworn
into the Pendleton City Council a
week ago while Doug Primmer,
53, was sworn in Monday for his
second term on the Hermiston
City Council.
They may be each be known
as Councilor Primmer in their
respective communities, but
their parents still like to remi-
nisce about the days of their
sons’ youthful hijinks.
“It was wild around our
dinner table with four boys,”
their mother Donna recalled.
Not too wild, their father
Dewey added — the four
Primmer brothers and their
younger sister never gave him
trouble with drugs or “anything
like that.” But in 1977 when the
family moved to Hermiston the
fi elds surrounding their house
provided a childhood paradise of
pheasant hunting and building a
motorbike track.
“Every weekend we’d jump
in the Blazer and off we’d go,”
Dewey said. “It was fi sh, fi sh,
fi sh and every fall it was hunt,
hunt, hunt.”
Doug was the oldest. Dale
was the youngest of the boys,
so Doug said Dale “got hung
HERMISTON
Investigation fi nds dead, malnourished cattle
Sheriff’s offi ce recommending animal neglect charges
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Fourteen dead cattle were
discovered Saturday at a property on
Columbia Lane and South Edwards
Road in Hermiston, which the
Umatilla County Sheriff’s Offi ce
is investigating as a case of animal
neglect.
Another 15 cattle were so
malnourished they could not be
moved safely, according to Sheriff
Terry Rowan. One calf was so weak
it could not stand and had to be
euthanized, Rowan said. None of the
sick animals appeared to have enough
food or water.
Authorities are working with
a special prosecutor from Benton
County who specializes in animal
neglect cases, and reports should
be turned in to the Umatilla County
district attorney early this week.
Rowan said they will recommend
pressing charges against the cattle
owner, 55-year-old Michael Hock-
ensmith of Hermiston.
For now, though the cattle have
technically been seized, Rowan said
the animals will be left in place due
to their numbers and fragile health.
When is it time to
consider assisted living?
1550 NW 11th Street • Hermiston
541-564-2595 • 800-550-3449
regencysunterracehermiston.com
See the choices available -
schedule your tour today!
Offi cers will be checking daily to
make sure they receive proper care.
“We do not believe they can be
transported without further loss,”
Rowan said. “From this point forward,
we’re just ensuring continued care.”
The incident was fi rst reported
Thursday, Jan. 5 by an anonymous
caller who noticed seven dead
cows that were clearly visible from
See CATTLE/8A