Page 6A
East Oregonian
OBITUARIES
LeMoine Emery (Lee) Bittinger
Lyle, Wash.
April 4, 1939 - July 18, 2017
LeMoine (Lee) Emery degree in education from
Bittinger of Lyle, Wash- University of Oregon and his
ington, passed away peace- master’s degree in education
fully July 18, 2017, in his from Portland State Univer-
home surrounded
sity. Lee spent
by family. He was
his
professional
78 years old. Lee
career teaching and
will always be
coaching at the high
remembered as a
school level. His
wonderful husband
fondest memories
and father, enthu-
are of the times that
siastic elk hunter,
he spent with his
and a passionate
children, students,
basketball coach.
athletes and the
Lee is survived
community
in
by his wife Ellen;
which he lived and
his
stepbrother
taught.
Bob Kirtchen of
Lee
was
Florence, Oregon;
constantly
a
his
children:
friendly
face
Cloy Bittinger of
to everyone he
Prineville, Oregon, Bittinger
met, willing to
Steve
Bittinger
always help and
of
Hermiston,
commit his time
Oregon, Nathan Bittinger of to improving and bettering
Hermiston, Oregon, and Cara those around him. Over the
Ammons of Toledo, Oregon; years, he taught and coached
and his stepchildren Kim in Union, Oregon (1967-
Ward and Jodi Stevenson of 1969), Gervais, Oregon
Ridgefield, Washington. Lee (1970-1973),
Arlington,
had 11 grandchildren and Oregon (1975–1988), The
two great-grandchildren.
Dalles, Oregon and Lyle,
Lee was born on April 4, Washington school systems
1939, in Missoula, Montana, (1992-2004).
to wonderful parents. From
Services will be held
an early age he spent time in Saturday, July 29, 2017, at 2
the mountains around Plains, p.m. at the Covenant Chris-
Montana, with his uncles tian Church, 2630 E. 18th
and cousins hunting and St., The Dalles, OR 97058.
fishing. Upon graduating All friends and family are
from high school Lee joined welcome to attend and cele-
the U.S. Navy (1957-1961) brate Lee’s life.
Memorial gifts can be
where he served our country
on a flight crew as an avia- made to Heart of Hospice
tion electronics specialist Foundation (in memory of
attached to Patrol Squadron LeMoine Bittinger), 2621
42 stationed in the Sea of Wasco St., Hood River, OR
97031 (541) 396-1942
Japan (East Sea).
www.HeartofHospice-
After leaving the Navy,
he received his bachelor’s Foundation.com
DEATH NOTICES
Sharon Parker
Pendleton
July 20, 2017
Sharon Parker, 75, of Pendleton died Thursday, July 20,
2017. Funeral services will be held Thursday, July 27 at 1
p.m. at Burns Mortuary of Pendleton, with burial to follow at
Olney Cemetery. Burns Mortuary of Pendleton is in charge of
arrangements.
UPCOMING SERVICES
SATURDAY, JULY 22
ALBEE, SUSAN — Memorial services at 10 a.m. at St.
Paul’s Episcopal Church, 323 Catherine St., Walla Walla.
FRICKE, LOU — Graveside service at 10 a.m. at the
Hermiston Cemetery.
IRIBARREN, JACKIE — Service at 2 p.m. at Pendleton
Pioneer Chapel, Folsom-Bishop, 131 S.E. Byers Ave., Pend-
leton. Burial will follow at the old Pilot Rock Cemetery on
East Birch Creek Road. An information gathering will follow
at the Pilot Rock Community Center, 285 N.W. Cedar Place.
SUNDAY, JULY 23
No services scheduled
MONDAY, JULY 24
No services scheduled
TUESDAY, JULY 25
No services scheduled
OBITUARY POLICY
The East Oregonian publishes paid obituaries. The obituary can in-
clude small photos and, for veterans, a flag symbol at no charge.
Obituaries may be edited for spelling, proper punctuation and style.
Expanded death notices will be published at no charge. These in-
clude information about services.
Obituaries and notices can be submitted online at www.eastorego-
nian.com/obituaryform, by email to obits@eastoregonian.com, by fax
to 541-276-8314, placed via the funeral home or in person at the East
Oregonian office.
For more information, call 541-966-0818 or 1-800-522-0255, ext. 221.
MEETINGS
MONDAY, JULY 24
MORROW COUNTY PARKS
PLAN SUBCOMMITTEE, 1:30
p.m., Bartholomew Government
Building, 110 N. Court St., Hep-
pner. Morrow County Parks Mas-
ter Plan regarding recreation,
projections, tourism and a review
of the OHV Park will be discussed.
(Kirsti Cason 541-989-9500)
UMATILLA BASIN WATER-
SHED COUNCIL, 6 p.m., Pendle-
ton City Hall community room, 501
S.W. Emigrant Ave., Pendleton.
(Michael T. Ward 541-276-2190)
HERMISTON CITY COUNCIL,
7 p.m., Hermiston City Hall council
chambers, 180 N.E. Second St.,
Hermiston. (541-567-5521)
MILTON-FREEWATER CITY
COUNCIL, 7 p.m., Milton-Freewa-
ter Public Library Albee Room, 8
S.W. EIghth Ave., Milton-Freewa-
ter. (541-938-5531)
IRRIGON
COMMUNITY
PARKS & RECREATION DIS-
TRICT, 7 p.m., Irrigon Fire Station,
705 N. Main St., Irrigon. (541-922-
3047)
TUESDAY, JULY 25
WEST UMATILLA MOSQUI-
TO CONTROL DISTRICT, 3 p.m.,
district office, 3005 S. First St.,
Hermiston. (Janie Cuellar 541-
567-5201)
IONE SCHOOL DISTRICT,
4:30 p.m., Ione Community
School, 445 Spring St., Ione. (541-
422-7131)
MORROW COUNTY PLAN-
NING COMMISSION, 7 p.m.,
Bartholomew Government Build-
ing upper conference room, 110
N. Court St., Heppner. (541-922-
4624)
Saturday, July 22, 2017
RECORDS
Raining needles: Drug crisis creates pollution threat
By MICHAEL CASEY
Associated Press
LOWELL, Mass — They
hide in weeds along hiking
trails and in playground
grass. They wash into rivers
and float downstream to land
on beaches. They pepper
baseball dugouts, sidewalks
and streets. Syringes left by
drug users amid the heroin
crisis are turning up every-
where.
In Portland, Maine, offi-
cials have collected more
than 700 needles so far this
year, putting them on track
to handily exceed the nearly
900 gathered in all of 2016.
In March alone, San Fran-
cisco collected more than
13,000 syringes, compared
with only about 2,900 the
same month in 2016.
People, often children,
risk getting stuck by
discarded needles, raising
the prospect they could
contract
blood-borne
diseases such as hepatitis
or HIV or be exposed to
remnants of heroin or other
drugs.
It’s unclear whether
anyone has gotten sick,
but the reports of children
finding the needles can be
sickening in their own right.
One 6-year-old girl in Cali-
fornia mistook a discarded
syringe for a thermometer
and put it in her mouth; she
was unharmed.
“I just want more aware-
ness that this is happening,”
said Nancy Holmes, whose
11-year-old
daughter
stepped on a needle in Santa
Cruz, California, while
swimming. “You would hear
stories about finding needles
at the beach or being poked
at the beach. But you think
that it wouldn’t happen to
you. Sure enough.”
They are a growing
problem in New Hampshire
and Massachusetts, two
states that have seen many
overdose deaths in recent
years.
“We would certainly
characterize this as a
health hazard,” said Tim
Soucy, health director in
Manchester, New Hamp-
shire’s largest city, which
collected 570 needles in
2016, the first year it began
tracking the problem. It has
found 247 needles so far this
year.
AP Photo/Charles Krupa
In this June 7 photo, activist Rocky Morrison, of the “Clean River Project”, holds
up a fish bowl filled with hypodermic needles, that were recovered during 2016,
on the Merrimack River next to their facility in Methuen, Mass. Morrison leads a
cleanup effort along the Merrimack River, which winds through the old milling
city of Lowell, and has recovered hundreds of needles in abandoned homeless
camps that dot the banks, as well as in piles of debris that collect in floating
booms he recently started setting.
Needles turn up in
places like parks, baseball
diamonds, trails and beaches
— isolated spots where
drug users can gather and
attract little attention, and
often the same spots used
by the public for recreation.
The needles are tossed out
of carelessness or the fear
of being prosecuted for
possessing them.
One child was poked by
a needle left on the grounds
of a Utah elementary school.
Another youngster stepped
on one while playing on a
beach in New Hampshire.
Even if adults or children
don’t get sick, they still must
endure an unsettling battery
of tests to make sure they
didn’t catch anything. The
girl who put a syringe in her
mouth was not poked but
had to be tested for hepatitis
B and C, her mother said.
Some community advo-
cates are trying to sweep up
the pollution.
Rocky Morrison leads
a cleanup effort along the
Merrimack River, which
winds through the old
milling city of Lowell, and
has recovered hundreds
of needles in abandoned
homeless camps that dot the
banks, as well as in piles of
debris that collect in floating
booms he recently started
setting.
He has a collection of
several hundred needles in a
fishbowl, a prop he uses to
illustrate that the problem is
real and that towns must do
more to combat it.
“We started seeing it last
year here and there. But
now, it’s just raining needles
everywhere we go,” said
Morrison, a burly, tattooed
construction worker whose
Clean River Project has six
boats working parts of the
117-mile river.
Among
the
oldest
tracking programs is in
Santa Cruz, California,
where the community group
Take Back Santa Cruz has
reported finding more than
14,500 needles in the county
over the past 4 ½ years. It
says it has gotten reports of
12 people getting stuck, half
of them children.
“It’s become pretty
commonplace to find them.
We call it a rite of passage
for a child to find their first
needle,” said Gabrielle
Korte, a member of the
group’s needle team. “It’s
very depressing. It’s infuri-
ating. It’s just gross.”
Some experts say the
problem will ease only when
more users get treatment and
more funding is directed to
treatment programs.
Others are counting on
needle exchange programs,
now present in more than 30
states, or the creation of safe
spaces to shoot up — already
introduced in Canada and
proposed by U.S. state and
city officials from New York
to Seattle.
Studies have found that
needle exchange programs
can reduce pollution, said
Don Des Jarlais, a researcher
at the Icahn School of Medi-
cine at Mount Sinai hospital
in New York.
But Morrison and Korte
complain poor supervision
at needle exchanges will
simply put more syringes
in the hands of people who
may not dispose of them
properly.
After complaints of
discarded needles, Santa
Cruz County took over its
exchange from a nonprofit
in 2013 and implemented
changes. It did away with
mobile exchanges and
stopped allowing drug
users to get needles without
turning in an equal number
of used ones, said Jason
Hoppin, a spokesman for
Santa Cruz County.
Along the Merrimack,
nearly three dozen riverfront
towns are debating how to
stem the flow of needles.
Two regional planning
commissions are drafting a
request for proposals for a
cleanup plan. They hope to
have it ready by the end of
July.
“We are all trying to get
a grip on the problem,” said
Haverhill Mayor James
Fiorentini. “The stuff comes
from somewhere. If we can
work together to stop it at
the source, I am all for it.”
COMING EVENTS
For a complete listing
of regional events, visit
easternoregonevents.com
SATURDAY, JULY 22
PENDLETON ON WHEELS
RELAXED BIKE RIDE, 7 a.m.,
Chamber of Commerce Parking
Lot, 501 S. Main St., Pendleton.
Weekly casual ride. Meet with
those taking a longer ride, but
take a shorter route that match-
es participant interests that day.
Usually in the 10 to 20 mile ride
as participants desire. (Pete
Wells 541-379-2180)
POW SATURDAY BIKE
RIDE, 7 a.m.-1 p.m., Informa-
tion kiosk at Museum Park, 108
S.W. Frazer Ave., Pendleton.
Weekly bike ride by Pendleton
on Wheels. Rides are open to
the public, as far and at a speed
comfortable for you. (Pete Wells
541-379-2180)
PENDLETON BIKE WEEK,
8:30 a.m.-11:59 p.m., Pendleton
Convention Center, 1601 West-
gate, Pendleton. Motorcycle
rally includes Bagger Shootout,
Seattle Cossacks Precision
Motorcycle Drill Team, Grand
Funk Railroadin concert, tattoo
contest, West Coast Bikini Bike
Wash, .45 Caliber Poker Run,
Wounded Warriors bike show,
Rattlesnake 400, Blue Mountain
Nitro National Hill Climb, Hard-
tail Saloon, vendor village and
more. Tickets are $85 for a week
pass, $125 for a VIP pass, avail-
able at www.pendletonbikeweek.
com/shop. Tent camping and RV
spaces (limited) also available.
(360-606-5763)
PARKING LOT SALE, 8:30-
11:30 a.m., Agape House, 500
W. Harper Road, Hermiston.
Clothing 5 items for $1, furniture
priced as marked and knick-
knacks
you-name-the-price.
(Dave Hughes 541-567-8774)
HERMISTON
FARMERS
MARKET, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Festival
Plaza, Northeast Second Street
and Main, Hermiston. Local pro-
duce, baked goods, crafts, jew-
elry, art, live music, food vendors
and more.
FREE FOR ALL, 9:30-10:15
a.m., Pendleton Center for the
Arts, 214 N. Main St., Pendle-
ton. Free art classes for children
up to age 12. Children under 8
should be accompanied by an
adult. (Roberta Lavadour 541-
278-9201)
YARN CLUB, 10 a.m.-12
p.m., Hermiston Public Library,
235 E. Gladys Ave., Hermiston.
(541-567-2882)
CELEBRATE OREGON AG-
RICULTURE, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.,
SAGE Center, 101 Olson Road,
Boardman. Learn about the
kinds of foods and other crops
grown in Oregon with free activ-
ities for all ages. (Stefanie Swin-
dler 541-481-7243)
HIP & HANDMADE, 11 a.m.-
12 p.m., Pendleton Center for
the Arts, 214 N. Main St., Pend-
leton. Free drop-in project class
for adults. (Roberta Lavadour
541-278-9201)
DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE
SERVICES
BOWL-A-THON
FUNDRAISER, 6-8 p.m., Des-
ert Lanes Bowling Alley, 1545 N.
First St., Hermiston. Proceeds
benefit Domestic Violence Ser-
vices. (Jeanne Bedolla 541-276-
3322)
MUSIC IN THE PARK, 6-8
p.m., Ione City Park, Main Street,
Ione. Corey Peterson Band will
perform. Concessions for pur-
chase by Tacos Hometown; pre-
order by calling 541-561-7397.
Bring a lawn chair or blanket.
SUNDAY, JULY 23
PENDLETON BIKE WEEK,
9 a.m.-12 p.m., Pendleton Con-
vention Center, 1601 Westgate,
Pendleton. Motorcycle rally in-
cludes Bagger Shootout, Seattle
Cossacks Precision Motorcycle
Drill Team, Grand Funk Railroa-
din concert, tattoo contest, West
Coast Bikini Bike Wash, .45
Caliber Poker Run, Wounded
Warriors bike show, Rattlesnake
400, Blue Mountain Nitro Nation-
al Hill Climb, Hardtail Saloon,
vendor village and more. Tickets
are $85 for a week pass, $125
for a VIP pass, available at www.
pendletonbikeweek.com/shop.
Tent camping and RV spaces
(limited) also available. (360-
606-5763)
CELEBRATE OREGON AG-
RICULTURE, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.,
SAGE Center, 101 Olson Road,
Boardman. Learn about the
kinds of foods and other crops
grown in Oregon with free activ-
ities for all ages. (Stefanie Swin-
dler 541-481-7243)
ADULT OPEN GYM, 6:30
p.m., Pendleton Recreation
Center, 510 S.W. Dorion Ave.,
Pendleton. Half-court basketball.
Adults only.
MONDAY, JULY 24
ADULT OPEN GYM, 6 a.m.,
Pendleton Recreation Center,
510 S.W. Dorion Ave., Pendle-
ton. Half-court basketball. Adults
only.
WALKING FOR WELL-
NESS, 8:30-9:30 a.m., Pendle-
ton Recreation Center, 510 S.W.
Dorion Ave., Pendleton. (541-
276-8100)
TOT TIME, 10-11 a.m.,
Pendleton Recreation Center,
510 S.W. Dorion Ave., Pendle-
ton. For children ages 0-5. Costs
$1 per child per session. (541-
276-8100)
PRESCHOOL
STORY
TIME, 10:30 a.m., Athena Public
Library, 418 E. Main St., Athena.
For ages birth to 6. (541-566-
2470)
PENDLETON
SENIOR
MEAL SERVICE, 12 p.m.,
Pendleton Senior Center, 510
S.W. 10th St., Pendleton. Costs
$3.50 or $6 for those under 60.
Pool, puzzles, crafts, snacks,
Second Time Around thrift store
9 a.m. to 1 p.m. For Meals On
Wheels, call 541-276-1926.
(541-276-7101)
ART STUDIO, 4-5:30 p.m.,
Pendleton Center for the Arts,
214 N. Main St., Pendleton. Free
class for ages 7-12 to develop
skills and encourage art explo-
ration. (Roberta Lavadour 541-
278-9201)
MUSIC IN THE PARKS SE-
RIES, 7 p.m., Boardman Marina
Park, 1 Marine Drive, Boardman.
Outdoor summer concert fea-
tures Dallin Puzey. Bring a picnic
and blanket or lawn chair. Free.
(Tami 541-571-0844)
)633:3&5$1301&35:5"94&550&91*3&
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Walk-Ins Welcome • Wed - Sat • 9am - 5pm
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