NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
Page 2A
Friday, May 12, 2017
ECLIPSE: Spray has one motel and one convenience store
Continued from 1A
it out. Wheeler County commissioner
and Spray city council member Debbie
Starkey led the meeting along with her
husband, Phil, the school district super-
intendent. The couple lived in Hermiston
for several decades before moving to the
small town.
“I want to make something perfectly
clear: I take no responsibility for
anything that’s going on with this
eclipse,” she said to laughter around the
room. “I’m really just trying to serve as a
clearinghouse for information.”
Consider Starkey Spray’s chicken
little. She went to a county meeting in
January and realized that nearby cities
were way ahead in planning for the
eclipse.
“It is coming and that’s the main
thing: you really don’t have a choice,”
she said. “You could sit there like we did
for a year and think it was going to go
away, but it’s not.”
The meeting-goers spent several
hours trying to cover all the minutiae of
accommodating and catering to thou-
sands of visitors with limited resources
and a tiny working adult population.
These are issues towns all along the
path of totality are grappling with. The
concerns range widely, from whether
the town could run out of water to where
the incoming hordes will park. After all,
there’s only one main street in town, and
no one wants their small streets lined
with strangers’ RVs.
“It’s overwhelming,” said Spray’s
mayor, Daniel Allen. “Are people
scared? No, we’re not scared. We’re just
concerned that after the four days are
over, what we’re going to have left?”
The main concerns boil down to three
big questions:
• How are you going to keep
everyone safe in an area prone to
forest fires, heat stroke, and snake
bites?
As the group repeatedly pointed out,
to cover the county’s 1,715 square miles,
there’s only a half-dozen deputies, four
ambulances and one medical clinic (the
nearest hospital is 90 minutes away —
with no traffic — in the neighboring
county).
Which means local volunteer EMTs
and firefighters might not get much
sleep. Nor likely will Allen, who doubles
as mayor and the town’s only physician
assistant.
• How are you going to house and
feed all of these people when there is
only one motel and one convenience
store?
Like neighboring towns, Spray is
looking to turn any big patch of grass —
such as the school and town park — into
campsites, where they hope to house
anywhere from hundreds to thousands
of campers.
Several ranchers are planning to turn
their fields into campgrounds at hundreds
of dollars per site for the weekend. Some
are gearing up to offer water hookups,
food and even entertainment — full
weekend mini-festivals — while others
will just provide space for toilets and to
pitch a tent.
“We’re planning up to 375 camp-
sites,” Frank Asher chimed from the
back of the group as the Starkeys try
BRIEFLY
Man charged in Oregon cliff death
strikes plea deal
to add up how many people the town
can handle. Asher’s plans are by far
the biggest in the county: accommo-
dating potentially 3,000 campers (the
maximum occupancy under the county
permit), although he’s offering the barest
of necessities: space, bathrooms, and
access to the river and hiking.
In tandem, local groups are debating
cookouts to feed all the campers. The
school is thinking of hosting a bake sale;
the local grange is considering a biscuits
and gravy breakfast; others are consid-
ering breakfast burritos or cowboy
breakfasts.
“Nobody’s really talked about some-
thing like a potato bar, a spaghetti feed
or anything for lunch, so those things are
sort of open,” said Debbie Starkey as she
runs through the list, writing everything
on a giant pad of paper at the front of
the group.
Some, like Asher, see big economic
potential. “We just decided that we
would step up to the plate and try to get
some folks to come to Spray,” he said.
“Maybe give our economy a little shot in
the arm, because we definitely need it.”
The hope is visitors would love the area
so much they would come back again.
To attract visitors, Wheeler County,
like neighboring Grant County, created
a webpage with links to all the camping,
housing and food options local people
are offering, in addition to existing
restaurants and gas stations.
But the economic opportunity comes
with a big gamble: No one knows how
many people are coming, so it’s risky for
a low-income region to stock up on food,
ice, and help and have it go to waste.
HOOD RIVER (AP) — A Bend man charged with
pushing his girlfriend to her death off a trail in the
Columbia River Gorge has pleaded guilty to criminally
negligent homicide and coercion after striking a plea deal.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports Thursday that
Steven P. Nichols had increased the life insurance policy
on 23-year-old Rhonda Casto to $1 million months before
her 2009 death and was charged with murder.
But evidence problems created challenges for
prosecutors.
The Oregon Supreme Court ruled an interview with
Nichols after his arrest was inadmissible.
A lead detective also destroyed crime scene and
autopsy photos.
Nichols was secretly indicted while living in China and
was arrested in San Francisco in 2015.
He received three years of probation, with credit for 19
months of jail time while awaiting trial.
Rescuers say man killed on
Mount Hood was not using ice ax
PORTLAND (AP) — Rescuers who had come to a
man’s aid after he tumbled down Mount Hood in Oregon
say he had not been using an ice ax.
Witnesses heard 32-year-old John Thorton Jenkins say,
“I should have had my ice ax in my hand,” shortly after he
tumbled about 600 feet down the slope, The Oregonian/
OregonLive reported Wednesday.
Rescuers believe Jenkins had been hiking with
trekking poles. He was pronounced dead Sunday after
an Oregon Army National Guard Black Hawk helicopter
brought him to a Portland hospital.
Jenkins had been able to speak with rescuers, but
gradually showed difficulty breathing, Portland Mountain
Rescue team leader Rocky Henderson said.
“I’ve been doing this for 30 years,” Henderson said.
“This is my first experience of having a person in my care
expire.”
Rescuers are not sure if Jenkins had been climbing up
or down when he fell, they said.
HANFORD: Cave-in could have happened four days before discovery
The 8 feet of dirt that fell
into the tunnel after its roof
partially collapsed may have
prevented radiation from
escaping into the environ-
ment, Heeter said.
But Washington state
officials were taken aback
upon learning after the
collapse that tunnel inspec-
tions were made on what
they called an infrequent
basis.
“It’s not acceptable that
the hole could have been
open for four days,” said
Alex Smith, nuclear waste
manager for the Washington
state Department of Ecology,
which helps regulate the
Hanford site.
Smith said that radio-
activity would have been
detected immediately by
monitoring devices if it had
escaped from the tunnel into
the air.
The 360-foot long rail
tunnel was built in 1956
Continued from 1A
safekeeping location for
radioactive waste dating
from World War II.
Authorities plan to inves-
tigate why and when the
roof of the tunnel suffered
a partial cave-in, creating
the sinkhole that poured dirt
into the tunnel containing
railroad cars with nuclear
waste, the agency said.
The
cave-in
could
have happened as many
as four days before its
discovery Tuesday morning,
said energy department
spokesman Mark Heeter.
“We don’t know exactly
when it occurred,” Heeter
said.
No one was hurt and
no radiation escaped into
the environment before
the sinkhole was filled in
with 54 truckloads of soil
late Wednesday night, the
Energy Department said.
from timber, concrete and
steel. Eight flatbed railroad
cars loaded with radioactive
material were parked inside
when the entrance was
sealed in 1965.
The waste came from
a nearby factory where
between plutonium was
extracted from 1956 to 1988
from spent nuclear fuel rods
as part of the process to
make nuclear weapons.
Smith said the tunnel
contains about 780 cubic
yards of waste — a mixture
of radioactive and chem-
ical waste and irradiated
equipment, including the
contaminated rail cars used
to haul the fuel rods.
U.S. Energy Secretary
Rick Perry said the filling of
the hole “was accomplished
swiftly and safely to help
prevent any further compli-
cations.”
“Our next step is to iden-
tify and implement longer-
term measures to further
reduce risks,” Perry said.
Hanford, created during
the World War II Manhattan
Project to build an atomic
bomb, for decades made
plutonium
for
nuclear
weapons. Now it is engaged
in cleaning up the radioac-
tive waste.
The tunnel collapse
reinforced longstanding crit-
icism that toxic remnants at
Hanford are being stored in
haphazard and unsafe condi-
tions, and time is running
out to deal with the problem.
It also prompted a
demand from Washington
state officials for the federal
Energy Department to
immediately assess the
integrity of Hanford tunnels.
“The infrastructure built
to temporarily store radioac-
tive waste is now more than
a half-century old,” said
Maia Bellon, director of the
state ecology department.
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BOSTON (AP) — A group of 20 attorneys general,
all Democrats, is calling for the appointment of an
independent special counsel to continue the investigation
into Russian interference in last year’s presidential
election.
The group led by Massachusetts Attorney General
Maura Healey called Republican President Donald
Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey during the
ongoing investigation a “violation of public trust.”
The group said in a Thursday letter to Deputy Attorney
General Rod Rosenstein that only the appointment of
an independent special counsel “with full powers and
resources” can begin to restore public confidence.
Those signing the letter include the attorneys general
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Columbia, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Maine, Maryland,
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Copyright © 2017, EO Media Group
REGIONAL CITIES
Forecast
TODAY
SATURDAY
Clouds and sun, a
shower; cooler
Partly sunny, a
shower; cool
56° 39°
58° 39°
SUNDAY
MONDAY
A passing
afternoon shower
Cool with some
sun, then clouds
TUESDAY
Overcast, a little
rain; cool
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
60° 40°
61° 42°
55° 41°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
64° 43°
64° 42°
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
LOW
67°
70°
98° (1931)
52°
46°
28° (1911)
PRECIPITATION
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
0.00"
0.04"
0.41"
8.25"
4.52"
5.52"
HERMISTON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
Yesterday
Normals
Records
LOW
73°
72°
95° (1993)
55°
45°
29° (1999)
PRECIPITATION
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
0.00"
0.07"
0.43"
5.95"
3.57"
4.42"
SUN AND MOON
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
Last
New
May 18
May 25
First
June 1
66° 45°
61° 42°
Seattle
57/46
ALMANAC
Yesterday
Normals
Records
65° 43°
5:28 a.m.
8:16 p.m.
9:59 p.m.
6:57 a.m.
Full
June 9
Today
Spokane
Wenatchee
53/38
60/40
Tacoma
Moses
57/43
Lake
Pullman
Aberdeen Olympia
Yakima 63/40
50/35
55/44
57/42
64/37
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
55/45
60/43 Lewiston
65/42
Astoria
54/38
56/45
Portland
Enterprise
Hermiston
58/46
Pendleton 44/27
The Dalles 64/42
56/39
62/43
La Grande
Salem
51/34
57/44
Albany
Corvallis 57/45
57/44
John Day
54/34
Ontario
Eugene
Bend
58/38
57/43
52/32
Caldwell
Burns
58/36
52/30
Astoria
Baker City
Bend
Brookings
Burns
Enterprise
Eugene
Heppner
Hermiston
John Day
Klamath Falls
La Grande
Meacham
Medford
Newport
North Bend
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Redmond
Salem
Spokane
Ukiah
Vancouver
Walla Walla
Yakima
Hi
56
52
52
52
52
44
57
56
64
54
50
51
48
60
53
55
58
66
56
58
55
57
53
49
57
60
64
Lo
45
28
32
44
30
27
43
36
42
34
27
34
31
42
44
46
38
40
39
46
31
44
38
31
46
43
37
W
t
sh
pc
sh
pc
r
t
pc
pc
pc
pc
r
r
c
t
sh
c
pc
pc
t
pc
t
c
sh
t
pc
pc
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Sat.
Hi
54
51
51
52
51
46
55
55
64
51
50
52
51
59
52
55
61
66
58
56
54
55
56
49
55
60
64
Lo
45
27
31
43
25
29
41
35
43
31
27
33
33
41
44
45
36
42
39
46
30
43
40
30
45
45
40
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
W
sh
c
pc
c
sh
sh
sh
pc
pc
c
c
sh
sh
sh
sh
sh
pc
pc
pc
c
pc
c
sh
sh
c
sh
pc
WORLD CITIES
Today
Beijing
Hong Kong
Jerusalem
London
Mexico City
Moscow
Paris
Rome
Seoul
Sydney
Tokyo
Hi
87
87
78
66
81
48
68
75
71
68
77
Lo
53
79
57
51
57
30
53
56
54
57
64
W
s
c
s
pc
pc
pc
t
pc
c
pc
pc
Sat.
Hi
84
86
84
65
76
51
66
73
74
72
68
Lo
53
77
60
52
56
33
50
54
52
59
62
W
s
sh
s
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
t
pc
r
WINDS
Medford
60/42
(in mph)
Klamath Falls
50/27
Boardman
Pendleton
REGIONAL FORECAST
Eastern Washington: Variable cloudiness
today with a shower in places.
Cascades: A little rain today; however, rain
and snow showers in the south.
Northern California: A quick shower today;
clouds and sun in the interior mountains.
Mainly clear tonight.
Saturday
WSW 8-16
WSW 7-14
UV INDEX TODAY
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
Coastal Oregon: Showers today; however,
a couple of showers and a thunderstorm
across the north.
Eastern and Central Oregon: Times of sun
and clouds today with a shower; cooler, but
dry in the south.
Western Washington: Variable clouds today
with a shower and thunderstorm around.
Today
WSW 6-12
SW 6-12
1
3
5
5
3
1
8 a.m. 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m.
0-2, Low
3-5, Moderate 6-7, High;
8-10, Very High;
11+, Extreme
The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index™ num-
ber, the greater the need for eye and skin protection.
Forecasts and graphics provided by
AccuWeather, Inc. ©2017
-10s
-0s
showers t-storms
0s
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
40s
snow
ice
50s
60s
cold front
70s
80s
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
110s
high
low
National Summary: Rain will gather over the central Appalachians and the Chesapeake Bay
region while severe storms extend from the southern Appalachians to the lower Mississippi
Valley today. Showers will dot the Northwest.
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 99° in Fernandina Beach, Fla.
Low 25° in International Falls, Minn.
NATIONAL CITIES
Today
Albuquerque
Atlanta
Atlantic City
Baltimore
Billings
Birmingham
Boise
Boston
Charleston, SC
Charleston, WV
Chicago
Cleveland
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
El Paso
Fairbanks
Fargo
Honolulu
Houston
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Little Rock
Los Angeles
Hi
79
82
57
58
84
80
56
53
89
64
66
59
79
77
63
87
66
74
85
87
69
93
73
92
74
72
Lo
56
63
50
48
50
63
37
45
68
52
45
46
60
49
45
63
45
47
74
64
47
65
49
64
56
56
W
s
t
c
r
s
t
c
c
pc
r
pc
c
pc
s
pc
s
sh
pc
sh
pc
pc
pc
s
s
sh
pc
Sat.
Hi
85
76
55
56
62
77
57
54
78
69
75
66
83
84
68
94
65
83
84
87
72
83
78
84
77
73
Lo
56
59
49
45
41
56
38
43
60
50
54
51
61
48
48
64
42
53
73
64
55
64
56
61
54
55
Today
W
pc
t
r
r
sh
s
pc
c
t
pc
pc
pc
s
pc
pc
pc
pc
s
sh
s
pc
t
s
s
s
pc
Louisville
Memphis
Miami
Milwaukee
Minneapolis
Nashville
New Orleans
New York City
Oklahoma City
Omaha
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Portland, ME
Providence
Raleigh
Rapid City
Reno
Sacramento
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Diego
San Francisco
Seattle
Tucson
Washington, DC
Wichita
Hi
70
74
91
59
73
72
80
61
73
76
60
98
57
58
64
83
60
70
75
86
69
64
57
96
59
73
Lo
53
58
76
46
55
56
64
49
51
51
49
73
43
43
56
53
36
46
55
49
60
49
46
66
51
49
W
sh
r
s
pc
s
r
t
c
s
s
c
s
c
c
t
s
pc
s
pc
s
pc
pc
t
pc
r
s
Sat.
Hi
75
78
92
69
81
75
80
54
78
82
57
98
54
56
69
85
61
72
79
66
69
64
54
95
58
78
Lo
57
56
76
48
57
53
65
48
55
59
48
69
40
44
52
52
37
46
59
43
58
49
46
63
49
57
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.
W
s
s
pc
pc
s
s
s
r
s
s
r
s
c
r
pc
s
pc
s
s
s
pc
s
pc
s
r
s