REGION
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 3A
PENDLETON
Local protest morphs as DAPL moves forward
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
On Saturday, the Dakota Access
Pipeline protesters from the Pend-
leton area tried something a little
different — staying in one place.
Instead of their usual march down
Main Street, a protest the activists
have doing since November, the
Standing Rock supporters held a
rally in front of the bucking horse
statue at the Pendleton Round-Up
Grounds.
A group of about a dozen
protesters gathered on the street
corner, holding out their signs
and chanting “water is life” and
its Lakota and Umatilla language
equivalents.
Rather than serve a political
purpose, organizer Willa Wallace
said the change in scenery was a
way to get their message in front of
more sets of eyes, especially consid-
ering the 2A high school basketball
tournament at the nearby Pendleton
Convention Center.
“If even one person looks up
DAPL because of us, we’re a
success,” she said.
The fate of the Dakota Access
Pipeline, a pipeline that transports
oil from North Dakota to Illinois,
has shifted dramatically in recent
months.
While the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers slowed down the project
when it ordered an environmental
review, the corps abandoned those
efforts after President Donald
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
About a dozen people protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline gathered in front of the Pendleton
Round-Up Grounds on Saturday to chant and wave signs at passing motorists.
Trump signed an executive order to
advance the pipeline.
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe
has long contended that the pipeline
would leak into their water supply on
the Missouri River, and their efforts
to stop the pipeline’s construction
attracted thousands of supporters to
North Dakota.
Although she admitted it was
unlikely anyone would be able to
stop the pipeline before the oils starts
flowing, Wallace said the movement
opened people’s minds to environ-
mental and American Indian issues.
While maintaining the local
Dakota Access Pipeline protests,
Wallace is turning some of her atten-
tion to the Carty Generating Station
near Boardman. Wallace is a part of
a group of volunteers circulating a
petition opposing expansion of the
natural gas-fired plant.
Wallace also wants to organize a
discussion featuring speakers who
traveled to the Standing Rock camp.
Veterans of the Woman’s March
on Pendleton also want to take a
local approach.
Pendleton resident Casey Brown
convened a meeting at the Pendleton
Center for the Arts Saturday — some
of the members of the small group of
attendees had just arrived from the
pipeline rally — to discuss current
events and what kind of actions they
BRIEFLY
Winter weather
prompts travel advisory
Photo contributed by Oregon Department of Agriculture
Common bugloss
Weed department
lands pair of grants
Projects to treat
common bugloss,
tansy ragwort
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
The Umatilla County
Weed
Department
has
received more than $25,000
from the state to uproot two
species of noxious weeds
invading local farms and
watersheds.
Officials plant to treat 90
acres of tansy ragwort near
Milton-Freewater and Pilot
Rock, and another 200 acres
of common bugloss in the
Walla Walla River Basin.
Both projects were funded
by a pair of grants from the
Oregon State Weed Board.
Tansy ragwort, with its
dark green leaves and bright
yellow flowers, has been
found on Saddle Mountain
above Milton-Freewater and
in the Bear Creek drainage
above Pilot Rock. It is toxic
to cattle, and both areas are
used primarily for grazing.
“Our goal is to reduce
the seed bank, eradicate
and control the spread of
tansy ragwort throughout
the county,” said Teddy Orr,
county weed department
supervisor.
Of the 90 acres treated, 60
will be in the Saddle Moun-
tain area and 30 on Bear
Creek. Workers will continue
to monitor another 2,500
acres between the two sites.
Common bugloss was
first discovered locally in
Meacham Canyon, and
traced back to the Walla
Walla River drainage near
Milton-Freewater. It is a
perennial herb, growing about
two feet tall with deep blue or
purple flowers. Once the plant
spreads into an alfalfa field, it
can be difficult to control and
molds hay from the inside out.
Orr said the weed poses
a threat to farmers, and the
department plans to target
200 acres of farm and resi-
dential land around the Walla
Walla River. Letters will be
sent to private landowners
asking for permission to
PENDLETON — Old Man
Winter continues to make driving
a headache for Eastern Oregon
motorists.
The National Weather Service
in Pendleton issued a winter storm
watch Monday across much of the
northern Blue Mountains, with
snow accumulations of 6 to 9 inches
at lower elevations and 9 to 13
inches above 4,500 feet. Impacted
areas include Tollgate, Meacham
and Ski Bluewood around Dayton,
Washington.
Snow began to fall Monday
morning in the area and is expected
to continue through Tuesday before
tapering off Wednesday morning.
Drivers should expect slick roads
and possible blowing snow along
sections of Interstate 84 and
Highway 204 between Weston and
Elgin.
At lower elevations including
Pendleton and Hermiston there is an
80 percent chance of snow Tuesday
morning, according to the weather
service, and it is expected to turn to
rain as the day goes on.
For the latest travel conditions
and road closures, visit www.
tripcheck.com.
Pendleton police chief
to discuss pot shops
Photo contributed by Oregon Depart-
ment of Agriculture
Tansy ragwort
access and treat common
bugloss on their property.
Treatment is expected
to begin April 1 and will be
finished by Nov. 1, roughly
the time when common
bugloss blooms for the year.
Tansy ragwort control is
expected to run from June 1
through Sept. 15.
Anyone with questions
about weed identification
and control should contact
the county weed department
at 541-278-5462.
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
PENDLETON — Stuart
Roberts, Pendleton police chief,
will discuss marijuana businesses at
the upcoming Roundup Republican
Women meeting.
Everyone is welcome to attend
the no-host luncheon gathering.
The meeting is Thursday at 11:45
a.m. at the Red Lion, 304 S.E. Nye
Ave., Pendleton. The cost is $11 for
members and $13 for non-members.
Those planning to attend are
asked to RSVP by Wednesday
morning. To RSVP, for more
information or to submit questions
for Roberts, contact Marcia Stewart
at rounduprepublicanwomen@
hushmail.com or 541-276-1206.
People Power presents
resistance training
PENDLETON — A grassroots
organization is launching an effort
to resist the Trump administration’s
attacks on civil liberties.
A one-hour ACLU Town Hall
Resistance Training is taking place
in Florida with live-stream events
across the country. Local residents
are invited to participate in People
Power Saturday with sign-in at
1:30 p.m. and the live-stream
event beginning at 2 p.m. in the
Community Room at the Pendleton
Public Library Community
Room, 501 S.W. Emigrant Ave.
A discussion will follow from 3-4
p.m.
For more information, call
Miriam at 425-748-4487.
Trampoline trip
includes ice cream stop
PENDLETON — Children ages
7-15 are invited to “catch some
air” Monday, March 27 during a
road trip to the ultimate trampoline
palace in the Tri-Cities.
A city mini-bus will leave
the Pendleton Recreation Center
parking lot at noon and return at
approximately 5:15 p.m. The $20
fee includes transportation and
one hour of jump time. Those who
would like to purchase ice cream on
the way home should bring money.
The registration deadline
is Wednesday, March 22,
and this popular trip will fill
up fast. Register at www.
pendletonparksandrec.com, the
parks office Monday-Friday from 7
a.m. to 4 p.m. at 865 Tutuilla Road,
or call 541-276- 8100.
Spray Rodeo seeks queen
SPRAY — Tryouts for the 2017
Spray Rodeo queen will be held
Saturday, March 25 at 1 p.m. at the
Spray Rodeo grounds.
Contestants are welcome from
throughout the region, they do
not have to be Wheeler County
residents. Those applying must be
at least 15 years old and never have
been married or had children.
In its 70th year, the rodeo, which
is held in conjunction with the
Eastern Oregon Half Marathon, is
May 27-28 in Spray.
For more information or an
application, call 541-468-2442.
———
Briefs are compiled from
staff and wire reports, and press
releases. Email press releases to
should take to respond to them.
Many of the people at the meeting
talked about their experiences
participating in the women’s march
in January, the sense of despair
after Trump’s election turning into
relief as the march from Pendleton
City Hall to the Umatilla County
Courthouse swelled to more than
400 people.
While the march was a galva-
nizing event, the members of the
discussion group each expressed
interest in further activism.
Brown said she wanted to orga-
nize the meeting around the idea of
“think globally, act locally.”
Much of the discussion centered
around the “Day Without Immi-
grants” protest, the national event
that saw a significant number of
Umatilla County students miss
school in protest of Trump’s immi-
gration policies.
While there was support for
starting an event in support of immi-
grants, the group noted the difficulty
of doing it in a predominantly white,
conservative community without
any immigration advocacy groups.
Before the meeting ended, the
group agreed to reach out to other
organizations and individuals,
including cities with higher Latino
populations like Hermiston and
Umatilla, to gather support for the
event.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or
541-966-0836.
20-year sentence
for mistaken
honor killing of
Boardman man
YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — A Wash-
ington state man has been sentenced
to 20 years in prison for killing a
Boardman man he mistakenly believed
impregnated a 13-year-old girl.
Yoset Dominguez-Serrano, 21, of
Outlook, Washington, received the
sentence Friday in Yakima County
Superior Court, the Yakima Herald
reported.
Dominguez-Serrano in January
pleaded guilty to first-degree murder
in the February 2015 killing of
Antonio Hernandez-Ledezma, 24, of
Boardman.
Dominguez-Serrano told police
he believed Hernandez-Ledezma had
impregnated
Dominguez-Serrano’s
13-year-old relative and killed the
Oregon man to protect his family’s
honor. But DNA tests showed Hernan-
dez-Ledesma wasn’t responsible for
the pregnancy.
“You honored no one,” Judge
Richard Bartheld told Dominguez-Ser-
rano. “You dishonored your family by
committing a heinous crime.”
Yakima County sheriff’s detec-
tives say Dominguez-Serrano lured
Hernandez-Ledezma to a meeting by
pretending to be interested in buying
his car.
Investigators later found the car
abandoned with the front passenger
window broken and blood on the
passenger seat along with a spent bullet
cartridge under the emergency brake
lever.
In September 2015, a hiker found
Hernandez-Ledezma’s skeletal remains
near an orchard. DNA tests confirmed
they belonged to Hernandez-Ledezma.
Defense attorney Aaron Dalan said
Dominguez-Serrano isn’t a sophisti-
cated criminal. “He believed he was
acting, at least in his mind, to protect
his family and the honor of his family,”
Dalan said.
Claudia Hernandez, Hernandez-Le-
dezma’s sister, spoke with other family
members in court about their loss. “I
just want to say that he left a big family,
a family that never got to say goodbye
for the last time,” Hernandez said.
Dominguez-Serrano faces deporta-
tion to Mexico once he completes his
sentence.
Blue Mountain
Diabetes Champions
Topic: Healthy Eating on the Run
Diabetes History
Newly Diagnosed
Know someone who has diabetes?
Wednesday, March 15 th
Conference Rooms 3 & 4
2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Christine
541-278-3235
March 17th, St. Patricks Day • 7:00pm
541-276-6111
Red Lion Lounge • 304 SE Nye, Pendleton
Melissa
541-278-3249
2801 St. Anthony Way
Pendleton, OR
www.sahpendleton.com