Page 8A
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Trump signs executive order to
HOUSING: Another development
speed infrastructure construction also received council attention
Includes revoking
earlier executive order
concerning fl ood plains
WASHINGTON
(AP)
— President Donald Trump
said Tuesday he has signed
a new executive order
intended to make more effi -
cient the federal permitting
process for construction of
transportation, water and
other infrastructure projects
without harming the envi-
ronment.
Trump’s order includes
revoking an earlier executive
order signed by President
Barack Obama concerning
projects built in fl ood plains,
White House offi cials said.
The Obama order required
that such projects built with
federal aid take rising sea
levels into account. Trump
has suggested the predicted
risks from sea level rise
driven by climate change are
overblown.
Describing his action,
Trump said projects will
still be subjected to environ-
mental safeguards.
“It’s going to be quick,
it’s going to be a very
streamlined process,” Trump
said. “And by the way, if it
doesn’t meet environmental
safeguards, we’re not going
to approve it. Very simple.
We’re not going to approve
it.”
Building trade groups
had urged Trump to revoke
the fl ood plain order, saying
it was overly bureaucratic
and increased the cost of
projects. The Obama order
was especially unwieldy
because it didn’t standardize
across the government how
sea level rise was to be taken
into account, which left each
federal agency to come up
with its own standards, said
Jimmy Christianson, an
attorney with the Associated
General Contractors.
A recent draft of an
upcoming report from scien-
tists representing 13 federal
agencies say sea levels along
U.S. coastlines could rise
by more than one foot on
average by 2050, potentially
more in the Northeast and
western Gulf of Mexico.
A projected increase in the
intensity of hurricanes in the
North Atlantic will increase
the probability of “extreme
coastal fl ooding.”
Environmentalists said
Tuesday
that
ignoring
the reality of the Earth’s
changing climate is short-
sighted.
“What this order will
do is ensure that we will
waste more taxpayer money
because federal agencies
will no longer have to
consider long-term fl ood
risks to federally funded
infrastructure
projects,”
said Jessica Grannis, who
manages the adaptation
program at the Georgetown
Climate Center.
The president, speaking
at a news conference at
Trump Tower in New York,
said it can cost hundreds of
millions of dollars and 17
years to approve an ordinary
highway project because of
burdensome
regulations.
Under
Trump’s
order,
agencies must complete
environmental reviews of
projects within two years
on average. Trump signed
another executive order on
streamlining environmental
and public reviews of infra-
structure projects his fi rst
week in offi ce.
“We used to have the
greatest
infrastructure
anywhere in the world. And
today we’re like a third-
world country,” Trump said,
using a term referring to the
economically
developing
nations of Africa, Asia and
Latin America.
HOPPY: Grasshoppers have a
lifespan of a few months to a year
Continued from 1A
weeds out of the fi eld,” said
Hales, grinning. “I fi lled a
Gatorade cap full of water.”
Hales, who graduated this
past winter with a degree in
agriculture business manage-
ment from Oregon State
University, came home to
farm in January. His family
farms more than 4,000 acres
around Helix and Adams.
Hales’
high-tech
harvester is a smart program-
mable machine capable of
traveling in a precise pattern
at a steady speed with only
a modicum of human inter-
vention. The operator often
has little to do.
Maybe that’s why Hales
started researching grass-
hoppers on his smart phone.
He learned that the insects
don’t actually drink water,
they get their moisture
solely from vegetation. He
discovered that grasshoppers
eat a variety of plant species
and have a lifespan of a few
months to a year.
Somewhere along the
way, Hales gave his new
cabmate a name — Sir
Hoppy Legs, Sir Hoppy for
short. People in Hales’ life
got interested, too. On day
nine, Hales texted his step-
father, Carl Culham, about
the crazy grasshopper in his
combine and Culham was
intrigued.
“I’d text him and ask
‘How’s he doing?’ and Jake
would text back, ‘He’s still
alive’ and send a picture,”
Culham said. Soon Hales
sent updates with no prod-
ding.
Hales said his stepmother,
JoAnna Hales, packs lunch
each day for the harvest
crew. Lately, she has taken
to packing a small bag of
lettuce for Sir Hoppy.
Hales often jumps out of
the cab and leaves the door
wide open. One day, the
door stood open about half
the day. Sir Hoppy, so far,
has stayed put.
Sir Hoppy is the quiet
type, downright introverted.
The grasshopper stays
low-key when Hales is in the
combine, except for one day
when he jumped onto Hales’
knee. When Hales leaves
the cab, however, Sir Hoppy
goes into party mode.
“I’ll come back and fi nd
him on the ceiling or the side
window,” Hales said.
Last weekend, when
the combine broke down,
Hales restocked Sir Hoppy’s
greens and periodically
opened the doors so the
hopper wouldn’t overheat.
Harvesting will be done
in a day so Hales is hoping
for a hoppy ending to his
collaboration with his grass-
hopper buddy. Someone
suggested putting him in a
terrarium, but Hales said he
will return Sir Hoppy to the
fi eld where they fi rst met.
“I think he wants to be
back in the wild,” Hales
said.
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or call 541-966-0810.
RED CROSS: 90 percent of the workforce is volunteer
Continued from 1A
McCall said. “It was, ‘If you
need something, call us.’”
The Red Cross’s disaster
action team sends trained
volunteers to respond to
fi res that destroy residences,
providing victims with
crucial comfort and support
when they need it most. But
with fi re season in full swing,
Umatilla County’s action
team is low on volunteers
and relying on support from
nearby counties. They’re
asking more local residents
to step up to ensure no
victims are left without care.
Alaina Mayfi eld, the Red
Cross’ Disaster Program
Manager for the Cascades
Region, said there are
roughly six Red Cross
volunteers in Umatilla
County. Volunteers are
placed in teams of two or
three for fi re responses. But
because they’re volunteers,
they can always turn down
assignments if, say, they’re
out of town. That happens
quite often during the
summer.
It doesn’t mean that
victims are left completely
without care. “I wouldn’t
say the needs aren’t being
met. People are getting Red
Cross services,” Mayfi eld
said. “But we always need
more volunteers. It makes
for a faster response if
they’re nearby.”
Heather Stanhope, a
disaster action team volun-
teer who lives in La Grande,
said she had to respond to
Umatilla County fi res four
times within a two-week
span in late July. She and
her disaster team partner
drove an hour or more to
scenes in Hermiston, Pend-
leton, Milton-Freewater and
Umatilla.
While summer is the
busiest time for fi re relief,
local volunteers are just
as important in the winter,
when icy conditions makes
it diffi cult for responders to
drive signifi cant distances.
First-day response is
important for more than
relief supplies. Victims can
often use a little compassion.
“It was just nice to have
a friendly face and someone
acknowledging you’ve been
through a disaster,” said
Joy Goubeaud, whose RV
caught fi re during a quick
stop in Pendleton on July 21.
She and her husband were
left stranded. “We were in
this place where we knew
nobody — not one human
being. I was very grateful
they came.”
After the fi re, the
Goubeauds fi rst called their
insurance company, who
said only that they’d get
back to them on Monday.
The Red Cross responders
not only provided the
Goubeauds the means to
get through the weekend,
but called their insurance
company to “light a fi re
under them,” Goubeaud
said.
Still,
the
company
didn’t come out to assess
the damage until six days
later, showing little concern
for the couple’s makeshift
living conditions. They’d
taken up residence in an
empty asphalt lot, laying
out their possessions around
the defunct RV. Unlike the
insurance professionals, the
Red Cross volunteers visited
multiple times in person.
They continue to provide
follow-up phone calls three
weeks later. While it’s often
just the little things they
provide, “it’s tremendous
what the Red Cross does,”
Goubeaud said.
Over 90 percent of the
Red Cross workforce is
volunteer, according to
the organization’s website.
Many volunteers serve
multiple roles within the
organization’s mission of
providing humanitarian aid.
“My favorite question to
ask is ‘What do you like to
do?’” Mayfi eld said. “We
have a need to fi ll based on
what your skills are.”
In addition to disaster
relief, the local organization
coordinates blood drives,
installs smoke detectors and
educates the public on emer-
gency preparedness. They’ll
have a major presence
during the Aug. 21 eclipse
by partnering with local
fi re and police departments.
Mayfi eld said she’s not
worried about the number
of volunteers for events like
the eclipse, when she can
plan ahead.
But the unexpected fi re
responses are a little trickier.
According to Stanhope,
Umatilla County has a few
volunteer trainees who can’t
yet navigate a fi re response
alone. The Red Cross asks
each volunteer to complete
online training courses to
ensure they’re prepared to
meet the needs of victims.
Volunteers can navigate
those courses at their own
pace, and there’s options
for further training, free of
charge, if it sparks interest.
To learn more about
volunteer
opportunities,
visit
www.redcross.org/
volunteer.
———
Contact Emily Olson at
eolson@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0809
Continued from 1A
local improvement district.
The city still owes
$759,287 to Banner Bank
on the local improvement
district and isn’t set to
fi nish paying off the debt
until 2025. Staff will use
the proceeds from the sale
to Pace and $162,000 in
refunded money from a
community development
block grant to cover the
costs.
Before voting on the
deal, the council met
behind closed doors to
discussion the transaction.
When they re-emerged,
they unanimously approved
the deal. The council also
approved a separate motion
from City Councilor Scott
Fairley to use money from
the block grant refund to
cover the system devel-
opment charges that were
waived.
Public Works Director
Bob Patterson, who was
also the acting city manager
with Robb Corbett on vaca-
tion, said the system devel-
opment charges go toward
parks and transportation
and would generate $1,400
to $1,500 per house.
A separate Tutuilla
housing development the
city is involved in also
received council attention.
The council unani-
mously voted to move
$120,000 in liens the city
had on Pendleton Heights
townhouses to a later phase
of the development.
The
city
placed
$320,000 in liens on the
townhouses to help cover
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Unfi nished homes are nearing completion in the Sun-
ridge housing development on Tuesday in Pendleton.
$1.3 million in infra-
structure improvements,
which Pendleton Heights
developer Saj Jivanjee was
originally supposed to pay
once they were completed.
As a part of the deal,
Jivanjee agreed to pay the
city $200,000 now and will
pay the other $120,000
when he completes a
planned 100-unit apartment
complex on the property.
Other council action
included:
• The council authorized
staff to spend an additional
$281,417 with engineering
fi rm
Murraysmith
to
provide pre-planning work
for projects related to the
city’s utility master plans.
The authorization brings
the total amount the city’s
spent with Murraysmith to
$1.1 million.
The council voted 7-1 to
authorize the expenditure,
with Councilor Becky
Marks voting against.
Marks called the proposals
“complicated,” “not clear,”
and suggested they were
too expensive.
• The council unani-
mously approved a resolu-
tion to proceed with alter-
native method of building
the new fi re station funded
by a $10 million bond.
Instead of bidding the
project out after the design
process is done, the city will
solicit a contractor during
the design process. City
staff expect this method to
result in a lower cost for the
fi re station.
• As the Pendleton
Development Commission,
the council unanimously
approved a $23,532 Jump
Start loan to Oregon Grain
Growers Brand Distillery.
Oregon Grain Growers will
use the money to fi nance
half the cost of installing
fi re suppression sprinklers
in the restaurant it plans to
open in September.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.
ECLIPSE: By no means should people
use sunglasses or welder’s goggles
Continued from 1A
should be careful to check beforehand.
“If you can put on the glasses and you can
see, they’re probably phony,” he said.
Drotzmann said that by no means should
people use sunglasses or welder’s goggles to
view the eclipse, as doing so can damage vision.
He said he and his staff had sold about 300
glasses from their offi ce and had run out of their
supply. They plan to watch the eclipse, too.
“We’ll take a break from our work sched-
ules, put our glasses on, and go out and watch,”
he said.
Travel Safety
The crowds this weekend are expected to
be overwhelming, and travelers are advised to
plan ahead and be prepared for many hours on
the road in slow-moving traffi c.
The American Red Cross recommends that
people keep several emergency items in their
vehicles, such as bottled water, non-perishable
food, a fl ashlight, cell phone chargers, batteries
and a battery-powered radio. They also
recommend keeping a fi rst-aid kit, necessary
medications, personal hygiene items, blankets
and jumper cables in the vehicle. Travelers are
encouraged to keep cash, an emergency map of
the area in which they’ll be viewing the eclipse,
and emergency contact information written on
a card in the vehicle.
Fire Prevention
Oregon has already experienced a spate
of wildfi res this summer, and the crowds
coming for the eclipse will put the state
at extra risk. Most state parks are already
under fi re restriction, but Oregon State Parks
will be under an open fl ame/fi re restriction
beginning August 16. The ban is temporary,
but geared toward creating new problems for
the already busy fi re crews.
Charcoal briquettes, tiki-style torches,
candles and campfi res or anything with an
open fl ame are all prohibited. Only sources
that can be turned off instantly will be
AP Photo/Dita Alangkara
In this March 2016 fi le photo, people
wearing protective glasses look up
at the sun to watch a solar eclipse in
Jakarta, Indonesia.
allowed, like propane stoves and propane fi re
pits.
Additionally, the Governor’s Offi ce urged
viewers to be careful about extinguishing
cigarettes and parking on dry grass, which
could spark a fi re. Drivers should carry a
fi re extinguisher, a shovel, and water in their
vehicles in case they need to extinguish a fi re.
Several organizations, both local and
statewide, are preparing for the event as they
would any emergency.
The Red Cross will work with local
emergency agencies, and prepare with cots,
blankets and water. They will also have
volunteers and resources available to help
people in distress, if necessary. If communi-
cation channels are compromised, the Red
Cross plans to use ham radio or emergency
cell channels.
The Umatilla County Emergency
Management Department is treating the
event as an opportunity to prepare for a major
emergency, such as the Cascadia earthquake.
In that situation, an infl ux of people from the
west side of the state would be coming to
Eastern Oregon, so the county will be using
the event as a way to learn about how it can
best deal with those large crowds.
McKay Creek Estates
Caregiver SUPPORT
EDUCATIONAL SEMINAR SERIES
Do you wish you had this book?
“Be The Best Caregiver & Feel Fantastic Doing It”
Although this book hasn’t been written, we understand the caregiver journey can be stressful and
challenging. Our aim is to provide some clarity and support to caregivers helping seniors. Finding the right
information enables compassionate support and advocacy for a friend or loved one.
You are invited to attend a FREE monthly educational series featuring experts and professionals who
provide support to families and who are advocates for seniors and their care.
Thursday, May 18th at 2:00 p.m.
Thursday, June 15th at 2:00 p.m.
Brain Fitness for Seniors
Managing Chronic Conditions
Brain exercises are important to keep the
mind sharp.
Self-management support provides tools to
improve health.
It is important to encourage memory exercises when
you are a senior caregiver. Asking your loved one to
share a favorite memory or stories about their lives can
bring them joy, strengthen their memory and increase
their brain function. Learn about a variety of
techniques you can use to encourage brain fitness.
In the U.S., statistics reveal that one in four seniors over
the age of 65 are challenged with managing one or
more chronic medical conditions. Self-management
support tools can help you and your loved one better
understand how to manage their illness day-to-day and
encourage them to take an active role in their health
care.
Thursday, July 20th at 2:00 p.m.
Thursday, August 17th at 2:00 p.m.
Senior Finances, How to Help
Effectively Manage Chronic Pain
Employ strategies to protect the finances of
your loved ones.
Pain management is a crucial component to
caring for seniors.
As our parents and loved ones age they may lose the
ability to fully track their finances. When seniors are
unable to manage their daily finances they may
become susceptible to financial abuse, lose their home
or risk having their utilities turned off. Learn how you
can make arrangements for financial assistance to
protect your loved one.
As a caregiver, it can be difficult to know how to help a
senior minimize and manage chronic pain. Older adults
often encounter chronic pain as their muscles and
joints become stiff and they become less agile. We'll
provide tips to understand the various medications
used to treat pain and potential side effects.
Location: Classes are held at St. Anthony Hospital, conference room #1: 2801 St. Anthony Way, Pendleton, OR 97801
Call us at (541) 276-1987 for more information or to reserve your seat(s). Hurry space is limited.
Refreshments provided.
Refreshments provided.
McKay Creek Estates
1601 Southgate Place
Pendleton, OR 97801
(541) 276-1987
www.PrestigeCare.com