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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 20, 2017)
BEAVERS KEEP ON ROLLING 85/53 COMMUNITY COMES OUT FOR RELAY FOR LIFE REGION/3A SPORTS/1B TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 2017 141st Year, No. 176 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Preparations underway for Rainbow Gathering Tribes concerned for natural, cultural resources By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian Several hundred people from the Rainbow Family of Living Light have already descended on the Malheur National Forest to begin setting up for the 2017 gathering, even as Forest Service staff continue to draft a make- shift management plan to protect natural and cultural resources. The annual Rainbow Gathering was announced for July 1-7 at Flagtail Meadow off Forest Service Road 24, about 20 miles northwest of Seneca. Attendance is expected to peak between 10,000 and 30,000 participants, which would be roughly four times larger than the entire population of Grant County. Groups of 75 people or more are typically required to obtain a special use permit in order to camp on national forest land. However, the loose-knit Rainbow Family skirts that rule by emphasizing See RAINBOW/8A EO Media Group/Rylan Boggs Left to right: Hannah Smith and Dave Halemeir of the Forest Service discussed parking with Rainbow Gath- ering attendee Gary Stubbs on Friday. PENDLETON Unfi lled kitchen job shuts down senior center Plans to remain closed through fi rst week of July By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris USGS geophysicists Jonathan Glen and Brent Ritzinger use a diamond-tipped drill to take a core sample from a basalt rock layer in a hillside off Thorn Hollow Road, east of Pendleton. FINDING FAULTS USGS survey basalt rock to analyze quake hazards, geothermal resources By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian Basalt cliffs run up the hill- side along Thorn Hollow Road overlooking the Umatilla River, where Jonathan Glen and Brent Ritzinger with the U.S. Geolog- ical Survey arrived in a white Chevy Suburban. The scientists parked on a gravel pullout and took stock of the red, rocky outcrops, debating the best places to drill for samples that could provide clues about what lies deep beneath the Earth’s surface. “This is a pretty complex zone of faulting,” said Glen, a geophys- icist with the USGS based in Menlo Park, California. “There’s lots to do to properly understand the stratigraphy.” The lingo may sound compli- cated, but the project goal is fairly straightforward. By mapping the location of fault lines under- ground, researchers are working to gain a better understanding of earthquake hazards in the See ROCK/8A Staff photo by E.J. Harris USGS geophysicist Jonathan Glen uses a pen to mark a core sample of basalt rock from a hillside off Thorn Hollow Road recently. Down a cook, the Community Action Program of East Central Oregon closed the Active Senior Center of Pendleton for the past two weeks and intends to keep it closed through the fi rst week of July. Marci McMurphy, CAPECO’s director of food and nutrition, said the senior center posted a job ad on April 20 but has been unable to fi nd someone to complete their two-person kitchen crew. “There have been no takers, or at least no one we can hire,” McMurphy said. The senior center serves lunch four “There days a week as a part of CAPECO’s have been congregate meals no takers, program, normally attracting between or at least 25-50 seniors per day. no one we In May, CAPECO sent staff from its can hire.” central offi ce to — Marci supplement the short-staffed kitchen McMurphy, while the nonprofi t CAPECO food searched for a and nutrition replacement. director, on job But as time went posted April 20 on, McMurphy said CAPECO decided to prioritize its home-delivered meals program, temporarily closing the senior center as staff worked out a solution. The delivery program provides 566 meals, more than the in-house program, and it serves seniors who have diffi culty leaving the house, McMurphy said. But the 510 SW 10th St. senior center has a social- See COOK/8A ECHO School breaks ground on $8M expansion By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN East Oregonian Staff photo by Jayati Ramakrishnan Echo School students Hadley Palmateer, JoLee Palmateer, Maddie Owen and J.D. Owen get ready to break ground on the addition to Echo School, which will be fi nished next year. The new amenities will include a gym, six classrooms and a fi tness center. A row of gold-painted shovels stood poised in a patch of rocky dirt, ready to start the project some Echo educators have been awaiting for many years. The Echo School held their groundbreaking Monday afternoon, offi cially kicking off construction on an $8 million expansion. “I’ve been here eight years,” said Echo School superintendent Raymon Smith. “We’ve been talking about (expanding) for the last four. But it went from pipe dream to reality in about four months.” The project, a result of a $4 million bond passed by Echo residents last year combined with a $4 million matching grant from the state, will add several ameni- ties to the school and the commu- nity. By the projected completion date of May 2018 the school will have a new gymnasium and six new classrooms, including a science/agriculture lab and an art room. They will also build a new metal and wood shop as well as a community fi tness center. See ECHO/8A
