REGION
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 3A
PENDLETON
Oregon East Symphony downsizes
April concert due to budget constraints
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The
Oregon
East
Symphony may be cutting
down, but it’s not at risk of
cutting out.
Oregon East Symphony
executive
director
J.D.
Kindle said Tuesday that
budget constraints caused
the symphony to reconfigure
its April concert, but the rest
of the nonprofit’s operations
should remain the same.
Kindle said a few grants the
symphony usually receives
didn’t come through this year,
forcing him to cut the number
of musicians planned for the
April 22 concert at the Vert
Auditorium and using music
in the public domain instead
of renting it.
Kindle said the sympho-
ny’s status as a small nonprofit
— its current annual budget is
only $159,000 — means he
and the symphony board can
move quickly when encoun-
tered with a budget issue.
“We are fortunate that
we are a small nonprofit and
we’re nimble enough to shift
things around,” he said.
The symphony’s fleetness
allows it to avoid a situation
similar to that of the Eugene
Opera House, Kindle said,
While he’s optimistic about
the symphony’s fiscal health
in the short term — he and the
board are already discussing
how they will lower their
revenue expectations for the
next budget cycle — he has
a more bleak overview of
the future of arts and culture
nonprofits in the long term.
Kindle
said
income
inequality is hurting these
kinds of nonprofits in multiple
ways. As individuals have less
money to donate to arts and
culture, larger charities that
would ordinarily patronize
smaller nonprofits are now
honing their focus on income
inequality.
Kindle said he’s also
concerned about conservative
“saber rattling” over elimi-
nating the National Endow-
ment for the Arts.
Although the endowment
doesn’t directly donate to the
symphony, he said money
does trickle down through the
Oregon Arts Commission.
If the commission’s grants
stop coming, Kindle said, the
symphony will have to use
utilize its nimble nature once
again.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
which recently ended its
season early because of its
budget woes.
Although the symphony’s
budget is small, costs can still
add up for its productions.
Kindle said a full
symphonic concert can cost
up to $15,000 in personnel
costs alone.
If a piece of music requires
an instrument that isn’t
commonly played, like the
harp or French horn, Kindle
will recruit musicians from
across the Northwest to play
with the symphony, paying
them a stipend to come out to
Pendleton. Utilizing a smaller
ensemble of local players
keeps costs down.
Another cost saving
measure is to use music in
the public domain — material
that is free for anyone to use.
Kindle said there isn’t any
rhyme or reason for the costs
of renting music for use in a
performance.
The symphony originally
planned to play “Pines of
Rome,” an early 20th century
“symphonic poem” by Italian
composer Ottorino Respighi,
but the rights to perform
the music cost $700 and hit
the cutting block once the
symphony decided to do
some trimming.
BRIEFLY
Wife assaulter
sent to prison
HEPPNER — John
Alexander Brown of
Hermiston pleaded guilty
Feb. 15 to assaulting
his wife in front of their
children.
The father and husband
will go to prison for almost
six years.
Morrow County Circuit
Court records show Brown
pleaded guilty to second-
degree assault for beating
his wife with a stick and
causing her serious physical
injury.
The attack took place in
April 2016 in mountains
near Heppner, where
Brown and his family were
camping, according to the
Morrow County District
Attorney’s Office. Brown’s
wife called 9-1-1 to report
the assault and sheriff’s
deputies rushed her and
the children to safety. They
caught Brown a day later
when he left the campsite.
Second-degree assault
carries a mandatory
minimum sentence in
Oregon of five years, 10
months. In exchange for
the guilty plea, the district
attorney’s office dismissed
charges of fourth-degree
assault and felon in
possession of a firearm.
Brown is now at the
Oregon Department of
Correction’s intake center
in the Coffee Creek
Correctional Facility,
Wilsonville.
Motorcycle safety
courses start in
Pendleton
PENDLETON —
Motorcycle safety courses
begin this month in
Pendleton.
Oregon law requires
all new riders to take an
approved safety course.
Anyone younger than 21
must complete an Oregon
basic motorcycle training
course to earn a motorcycle
endorsement. Riders 21 and
older can take a basic or
intermediate course to meet
state requirements.
Team Oregon, the
state’s motorcycle safety
program, announced a basic
course cost of $199 for 15
hours of instruction over
three days that combines
classroom learning with
on-cycle instruction and
practice on a closed course.
The state provides training
motorcycles and helmets.
Intermediate courses
cost $169 for eight hours in
one day and are for riders
who are self-taught or who
haven’t ridden in some time
and are getting back into
motorcycling.
Both courses are
available with an online
classroom option.
Riders who complete
courses are eligible for
testing waivers from the
Oregon Division of Driver
signal at Brownell Road
and Interstate 82 will be
upgraded with technology
that can detect traffic. And
sidewalk ramps between
River Road and Brownell
Road will be updated and
made ADA-accessible. That
work started Monday.
A paving overlay will
also take place in April,
running from Southshore
Drive to McNary but
skipping downtown
Umatilla.
Drivers can expect minor
delays and lane closures
through mid-April. After the
sidewalk work is done and
paving begins, flaggers will
be used and delays could run
up to 20 minutes. The $2.5
million project is expected
to be finished in mid-June.
Traffic fines are double in
work zones, and the Oregon
Department of Transpor-
tation asks drivers to slow
down and use caution
around the project.
and Motor Vehicles. Riders
are required to follow up at
a DMV office to have the
motorcycle endorsement
added to their driver’s
license.
Courses run from
February to October in
Pendleton, and from March
through July in Baker City,
and May to early October
in La Grande. Courses also
run April through October in
Ontario.
For more information
or to register, visit team-
oregon.org or call 800-545-
9944.
Hwy 730 upgrades
to cause delays
around Umatilla
UMATILLA —
Upgrades to Highway 730
around Umatilla will cause
some traffic delays over the
next few months.
The eastbound traffic
S T U D EN T
O F TH E
W EEK
S ara v on Borstel
Weston-McEwen High School
Sara von Borstel is currently a senior at
Weston-McEwen High School with a 4.26
weighted GPA. She has received numerous
honors and academic awards while a student
at WMHS. She has been on the honor roll all
four years and is a current member of the
National Honor Society as well as treasurer of
the senior class. She was awarded the Athena
Youth Citizen of the Year last month and is
also an outstanding athlete – this past fall her
and her teammates were crowned State 2A
Volleyball Champions and she was named
Player of the Game and selected to the All-
State Tournament First Team.
Proudly Sponsored by
2801 St. Anthony Way, Pendleton, OR • 541-276-5121
Photo contributed by Pacific Power
Pacific Power has received a license to operate the Wallowa Falls hydroelectric
project near Wallowa Lake for another 40 years.
Pacific Power relicensed to run
Wallowa County hydro project
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Federal energy regulators
will allow Pacific Power
to continue operating the
Wallowa Falls hydro project
for the next 40 years, while
also requiring additional
protections for bull trout in
the Wallowa River.
The facility, located south
of Joseph near Wallowa
Lake, consists of a dam on
the river’s east fork that
diverts water to a small
powerhouse with a single
1.1-megawatt
generator
capable
of
producing
enough electricity for about
500 homes.
Pacific Power has run
the system since 1942 when
it acquired the original
operating license from
Inland Power and Light.
On Tuesday, the company
announced it received a new
license from the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commis-
sion after the previous
license expired last year.
As part of the agreement,
project
manager
Russ
Howison with PacifiCorp
said they will invest $3
million over the next three
years to improve stream
flow and habitat for bull
trout, which are now listed as
threatened in Oregon under
the Endangered Species Act.
“Environmental
stan-
dards have changed so
much,” Howison said. “With
an old operating license, you
have to bring the project
up to new environmental
standards.”
Most of the work will
involve leaving more water
in stream for fish, and
blocking passage into areas
where bull trout may be
vulnerable, Howison said.
In
previous
years,
Howison said the minimum
in-stream releases from the
dam into the river bypass
were just half a cubic foot
per second. Those figures
have since bumped up
significantly to 4 cubic feet
per second during the winter,
and five cubic feet per
second during the summer.
One cubic foot of water is
equal to roughly 7.5 gallons.
“That’s putting consid-
erably more water in the
portion of the stream below
the dam,” he said.
Howison said they are
working with the U.S.
Geological
Survey
to
install a real-time stream
gauge to monitor required
minimum flows on the East
Fork Wallowa River. The
dam’s intake structure will
be modified to account for
additional releases.
Crews will also build a
fish passage barrier leading
into the tailrace below the
powerhouse, which had
attracts bull trout especially
during the summer. The
problem, Howison said,
is when the dam faces an
unplanned outage, the tail-
race is suddenly drained of
water.
“That’s the real risk to
bull trout,” he said.
Since the project is right
next to a number of popular
hiking and snowshoeing
trails, Pacific Power has
agreed to work with the
Forest Service on putting
new signs and landscaping
to conceal the powerhouse
for visitors. Once the work
begins, Howison said there
may be some temporary
access restrictions, though
the company will notify
neighbors if and when that
happens.
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
