BMCC
DOMINATES
AT HOME
GOVERNMENT
AVOIDS
SHUTDOWN
64/50
SPORTS/1B
NATION/8A
Pendleton
could name new
superintendent
this week 3A
TUESDAY, MAY 2, 2017
141st Year, No. 141
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PENDLETON
Merkley
meets with
Pendleton
Senator talks revived health
care bill, new fossil fuels plan
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley’s Umatilla
County constituents took a shotgun
approach to the questions they wanted him
to answer.
Sporting a Pendleton Unmanned Aerial
Systems Range cap, the Democratic
senator fi elded queries on health care,
political representation, fi libusters and
more at a town hall at a two-thirds full Bob
Clapp Theater at Blue Mountain Commu-
nity College on Sunday.
Regardless of political affi liation, nary a
Congressional town hall goes by without a
discussion about Republicans’ health care
bill, and Merkley’s event was no different.
Merkley explained the American Health
Care Act’s latest developments, a bill that
would repeal and replace former President
Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
See MERKLEY/2A
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Ron Gonshorowski, of Dallas, Oregon, wipes his eyes during an emotional moment at the Doolittle Raiders anniversary
event Saturday at the Pendleton National Guard Armory. Gonshorowski served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War.
Raiders Remembered
Gala commemorates 75th anniversary of air raids on Japan during WWII
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Child porn
investigation
took years
to conclude
Jarvis Buck to change plea Friday
Each veteran and military personnel had
their reasons for being at the Oregon National
Guard Armory in Pendleton Saturday.
The National Guard partnered with the
Pendleton Air Museum to organize the
Doolittle Raiders Gala, a commemoration of
the 75th anniversary of the air raids on Japan
during World War II led by Lt. Col. Jimmy
Doolittle, and featuring 80 soldiers based in
Pendleton.
The gala was a day-long affair that
featured vendors, a display with World War
II-era weapons and equipment, and military
planes and vehicles from both World War II
and modern day.
Ron Gonshorowski sat on a bench across
from the “Heavenly Body” B-25 bomber
fl own from Madras to the National Guard air
fi eld specifi cally for the event.
Along with his dog Rhys, Gonshorowski
traveled from his home in Dallas, Oregon, on
a fact-fi nding mission.
A veteran of the Vietnam War who served
with 22nd Tactical Air Support Squadron,
the Gonshorowski said he’s been researching
whether he’s related to Bill Farrow, a Doolittle
raider who was killed after being captured by
the Japanese.
While Gonshorowski’s quest goes on,
he arranged to fl y in the “Heavenly Body”
Sunday morning.
The “Heavenly Body,” a mural of a woman
in a one-piece swimsuit and cape diving
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
the Doolittle Raiders.
As a response to Pearl Harbor, the Army
arranged a one-way bombing mission on
April 18 over Japan.
Although the mission didn’t infl ict signif-
icant damage to Japan, it was meant as a
Jarvis Donald Buck of Echo has a
hearing Friday to change his plea to
charges he possessed child pornography.
The deal comes almost two years after
police received the
initial tip that led to
his arrest.
Hermiston police
chief Jason Edmiston
explained
the
Oregon Department
of Justice — by
way of the National
Center for Missing
& Exploited Chil- Buck
dren — contacted his
department in June
2015 about potential child pornography
at an internet protocol address related to
Buck. An IP address is a numeric designa-
tion that identifi es a computer’s location
on the internet.
Hermiston detectives started working
the case, Edmiston said, but ran into a
signifi cant hurdle about a week later
when internet service providers Charter
Communications
and
CenturyLink
See DOOLITTLE/10A
See BUCK/10A
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
A ceremonial wreath is hung on the nose of a B-25 bomber during Saturday’s
Doolittle Raiders 75th anniversary event at the Pendleton National Guard Armory.
through the air painted on its side, became
front and center when the National Guard did
a wreath laying ceremony later that afternoon.
As a F-15 fi ghter jet fl ew over head and the
National Guard honored the Army Air Corps’
17th Bombardment Squadron, Staff Sgt.
Armondo Borboa of Oregon National Guard
3-116 CAV Battalion explained the story of
The secret strife of bees
Research shows large mammals
compete with insects for fl owers
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Photo contributed by Skyler Burrows
Halictus ligatus, a species of sweat bee, is one of
more than 180 species of native bees documented
along Meadow Creek in the Starkey Experimental
Forest and Range.
Netting wild bees is not
as scary as it sounds. At least
that’s what Sandy DeBano
says.
“It’s really not that bad,”
said DeBano, an associate
professor of entomology at
Oregon State University’s
Hermiston
Agricultural
Research and Extension
Center. “Bees rarely sting
you, and they’re really pretty
amazing to look at.”
Over the past three
years, DeBano has collected
thousands of bee specimens
buzzing along Meadow Creek
in the Starkey Experimental
Forest between Pendleton
and La Grande. The goal,
she said, is to determine how
the diets of deer, elk and
livestock may overlap with
native bees competing for the
same fl owers.
So far, DeBano said
their research shows there
is potentially some overlap
between ungulates — espe-
cially elk — and all types of
bees, feasting on plants such
as common yarrow, mountain
aster, clover and beardtongue.
The fi ndings were recently
published in Natural Areas
Journal, with fi eldwork
scheduled to continue this
summer.
“Elk had the highest level
of overlap, given the types of
plants we see here in Eastern
Oregon,” she said.
Pollinator research is
nothing new to scientists,
especially
considering
the conspicuous decline
of honeybee populations.
According to the American
Beekeepers
Federation,
colonies took a massive 44
percent hit between 2015 and
2016.
DeBano is quick to point
See BEES/9A