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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 27, 2017)
PAXTON ACES TIGERS SPORTS/1B 55/38 TRUMP IS FINE; CONGRESS IS FAILING NATIONAL MONUMENTS UNDER REVIEW NATION/7A OPINION/4A THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017 141st Year, No. 138 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD PENDLETON School board to talk layoffs East Oregonian Staff photo by Kathy Aney Bill and Michele Grable’s dog, Duchess, checks out her fl ooded backyard Wednesday. The tree to the dog’s left normally marks the edge of the creek, but water released from McKay Dam at a rate of 1,160 cubic feet per second has fl ooded the yard. Reservoir logged McKay Reservoir fi lled to capacity By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian Bill Grable watched nervously Wednesday as fl ood waters from McKay Creek rose into his backyard on Haney Lane in Pendleton. “It’s just roaring,” Grable said. “This is kind of a perfect storm year, with the snowpack and all the rain we’ve had this spring.” All that water has fi lled nearby McKay Reservoir to capacity, prompting the Bureau of Reclamation to ramp up discharge from the dam and leaving the creek swollen in some low-lying areas down- stream — including along the Grables’ home. Grable fi gures the stream has crept up 20 feet into his yard, and has also noticed large tree stumps washed away in the strong current. “It makes me nervous,” he said. Chet Sater, natural resource specialist for the Bureau of Reclamation in Hermiston, said they began releasing 1,160 cubic feet per second of water from McKay Dam on Tuesday to absorb the roughly 2,000 cubic feet per second coming into the reservoir, with one the Umatilla, Walla Walla and Willow Creek basins. With plenty of snow to melt and rain falling steady, McKay Reservoir is now 100 percent full for the fi rst time since 2014. A year ago, the reservoir peaked at just 83 percent full. “Basically, we hope to keep where we’re at now with the releases,” Sater said. The plethora of stored water should bode well for farmers Staff photo by Kathy Aney depend on Water pours through a spillway on the backside of McKay Dam on that Wednesday at a rate of 1,160 cubic feet per second. The Bureau of McKay Reservoir for Reclamation may start tapering off by Friday. irrigation water. Mike Wick, manager of the cubic foot being equal to about the bureau defi nes as “safe Westland Irrigation District in channel capacity,” then Sater Echo, said he anticipates having 7.5 gallons. The bureau was releasing said they will notify residents a full irrigation season for 500 cubic feet per second of downstream. patrons throughout the summer. Dennis Hull, meteorologist water at McKay Reservoir, Sater “I would be terribly disap- said, though the latest rainstorm with the National Weather pointed if we did not, the way triggered an increase in outfl ow. Service in Pendleton, said this things are looking right now,” “We have to do what we has been the wettest year dating Wick said. have to do, based on current back to October in Pendleton During the past couple of since 1973-74, with 13.55 total drought years, Westland has projections,” Sater said. Weather forecasts indicate inches of precipitation. Average been forced to shut off irrigation the rain should let up by Friday precipitation to date usually early as storage failed to hold up and into the weekend. If that hovers around 8.85 inches. during the season. Snowpack also remains holds true, Sater said they will “It’s a much different begin tapering releases from the well ahead of normal for the scenario from last year,” Wick region, as it has all winter. As said. dam. “We are a little leery, because of Wednesday, the Natural ——— it is still raining,” he said. Resource Conservation Service Contact George Plaven at If outfl ows exceed 1,200 measured snow-water equiva- gplaven@eastoregonian.com or cubic feet per second, which lent at 151 percent of normal for 541-966-0825. A signifi cant round of layoffs could be coming to the Pendleton School District for the fi rst time since the recession. The Pendleton School Board will be holding a special meeting Thursday to consider a “reduction of force,” which would lay off an undefi ned number of district staff members. Human resources director Brad Bixler said the district is still fi nalizing the list of positions that would be eliminated under the reduction and it won’t be available until the board meeting. The school board has discussed looming budget cuts for months and the facts surrounding it remain the same. As the Oregon Legislature struggles to fi nd a way to close a $1.6 billion budget gap, the state department of education is projecting that it will give less money to local districts. Pairing that with Pendleton’s declining student enrollment paints a stark picture for the district. Gary Humphries, a Sunridge Middle School teacher and the president of the Pendleton Teachers Association, said he doesn’t envy the school board’s position. “I don’t think they have much of a choice,” he said. Humphries said the district can’t shut down a school or cancel busing services to balance the budget, leaving layoffs as the only feasible option. The district last made signifi cant layoffs in 2011, when it eliminated nine classifi ed positions, which encompass jobs like assis- tants, custodians and secretaries. Prior to that, the district laid off 19 people in 2009, including six teachers and 10 instructional assistants. These fi gures don’t include positions that went unfi lled after an employee retired or resigned from the district. The school board will meet Thursday at 6 p.m. at the district offi ce at 107 N.W. 10th Street. Environmental panel fi lled after split vote By PETER WONG Capital Bureau SALEM — Gov. Kate Brown’s three nominees for a new majority on the Environmental Quality Commission have advanced to a vote of the full Oregon Senate. But in a 3-2 vote Wednesday by the Senate Rules Committee, minority Republicans served notice they want the Legislature to weigh in on a pending plan for how the commission regulates toxic air pollution from industrial sources. The shift that a Brown-appointed advi- sory panel recommends would focus state efforts on cumulative effects of pollutants on public health, rather than the amounts generated by individual plants. See PANEL/8A HERMISTON Harkenrider Center to bring seniors downtown By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian The rain let up on Wednesday afternoon in time for Hermiston’s senior citizens and community leaders to celebrate breaking ground on the Harkenrider Center. The Hermiston Senior Center board and city haven’t always seen eye to eye on design and future use of the building, which will be the exclusive home of the senior center for its fi rst fi ve years, followed by some additional community use in the evenings. But Kathy English, a prep cook for the center’s twice-a- week meals for seniors, said there was a lot to look forward to about the new building. “I actually think it’s going to be wonderful,” she said. “It’s going to be bigger and better for us.” Mayor David Drotzmann called the groundbreaking a “historic event” taking place amid major changes to Herm- iston. Those changes include a new trade and event center being built south of town and sale of the former Umatilla County Fair- grounds, where the current senior center sits, to Hermiston School District. “There is a lot of change going on, but this community does as it always does and rallies around a cause,” he said. Drotzmann said the Harken- rider Center wouldn’t be possible without collaboration from a Staff photo by Kathy Aney number of entities, including Hermiston Mayor David Drotzmann speaks to a crowd gathered at the site the “guidance and leadership” of the future Harkenrider Center on Wednesday at the offi cial groundbreak- See SENIORS/8A ing. Frank Harkenrider, for whom the center is named, listens on.