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