WEEKEND EDITION
BEAVER BELIEVERS LIFESTYLES/1C
BULLDOGS DOMINATE SPORTS/1B
BLUE MOUNTAIN FOLK MUSIC/3C
OCTOBER 21-22, 2017
142nd Year, No. 5
CLEARING A PRESENT DANGER
Landowners remove brush, fallen trees to help prevent forest fi res
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
The contrast is easy to
see driving through Tom
and Cindy Beechinor’s
forest property up Govern-
ment Mountain Road in
northern Umatilla County.
Fall colors decorated the
soggy woods Wednesday,
where the Beechinors
showed their latest work to
thin overly dense stands of
trees. In one area, the forest
fl oor is clean of clutter and
open for larger trees to
thrive. In other areas, the
brush is almost too thick to
walk and loaded with dead
and down fuel.
“If we don’t do some-
thing in here, Mother
Nature will,” Tom Beech-
inor said, warning against
the threat of wildfi res,
disease and insect infesta-
tions.
This
year
marked
another intense fi re season
across the West, including
Oregon, where large blazes
swept over an estimated
ECHO
City issues
apology for
councilor’s
anti-gay
comments
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
crowded, you have all
of these trees competing
for a limited amount of
moisture, and ultimately
The city of Echo has
issued an apology for
statements made by city
councilor Lou Nakapalau
on Facebook calling a gay
man an anti-gay slur and
telling him that when he dies
of AIDS he will spit on his
grave.
“The Echo City Council
would like to extend its
sincerest apology to those
who were offended by
comments made by a council
member in a Facebook
dialog reported by the East
Oregonian,” the statement
reads. “Comments of indi-
vidual council members on
their personal social media
accounts do not have any
endorsement or approval of
the council as a whole nor do
they represent city policy.”
The statement goes on
to say that the city does
not endorse any statement
that disparages someone
because of their identity and
has never taken an action or
adopted a policy that was
“in any sense prejudicial
or biased toward a class or
group of people.”
City councilor Robert
Harris proposed issuing the
apology during Thursday’s
council meeting — the fi rst
since Nakapalau made the
comments on Oct. 7.
“I think that’s the absolute
least we can do,” Harris said.
His motion was met with
several seconds of silence
from the rest of the council,
prompting an outcry from
audience members as it
looked like the motion might
die from a lack of a second.
Harris looked at councilor
Jerry Gaunt, who told Harris
he didn’t have to second it,
but councilor Janie Enright
said she had seconded
the motion while people
were talking. The council,
including Nakapalau, then
voted
unanimously
to
approve the motion.
Nakapalau did not offer
any comment during the
council meeting and has
not returned requests for
See FOREST/13A
See APOLOGY/11A
“We’re praying
to God we never
end up with a fi re
up here. But you
never know.”
— Dale Freeman,
president of the
Langdon Lake Association
678,000 acres statewide.
Some were sparked by
lighting, such as the
191,121-acre Chetco Bar
fi re near Brookings, while
others were carelessly
ignited by humans, such
as the 48,831-acre Eagle
Creek fi re in the Columbia
River Gorge.
So-called “megafi res”
are
burning
bigger
and hotter than before,
according to researchers,
due to changes in both the
climate and landscape.
Paul Hessburg, research
landscape ecologist with
the U.S. Forest Service,
recently visited Pendleton
to talk about the need
for forest rehabilitation
to boost fi re resiliency,
especially in the wild-
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
(TOP) A recently cleared area of Tom and Cindy Beechinor’s forest property in the North Folk Walla Walla River
watershed east of Milton-Freewater. (BOTTOM) Densely packed trees with ladder fuel growing all of the way
to the forest fl oor in a wooded area nearby.
land-urban interface where
development is adding a
whole new set of chal-
lenges for fi refi ghters.
Tom and Cindy Beech-
inor have heeded the call,
spearheading
projects
on the family’s property
where they run cattle and
harvest some commercial
logs for timber sales. By
cutting smaller diameter
trees — known as pre-com-
mercial thinning — Tom
Beechinor said it helps to
ensure the overall health of
the forest.
“If the forest is too
PENDLETON
Drone range expands horizons with mission control
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The Pendleton Unmanned Aerial
Systems Range Mission Control and Inno-
vation Center was a literal toy factory on
Friday.
Range employees will contend that the
drones they test on a regular basis are tools
and not toys, but there’s no practical appli-
cation for the dozens of small, gray robots
the city was mass producing for a group of
high school students coming in later that
afternoon. Using 3-D printers, the range
manufactured the robot toys, complete
with cowboy hats, the range’s initials and
an imprint on the left foot with the phrase
“Maker Buck” and the range’s bucking
Pegasus logo.
Beyond making promotional material,
the mission control and innovation center
More online
For video of reporter
Antonio Sierra testing out
virtual reality goggles
visit eastoregonian.com
is the latest addition to the test range,
another feature range offi cials believe will
continue to add to Pendleton’s competitive
edge among drone manufacturers.
Steve Chrisman, Pendleton’s airport
manager and economic development
director, said the center could eventually
help unmanned fl ights surpass manned
fl ights in terms of operations.
The command center
Located at the corner of Northwest
56th Street and Airport Road, the former
See RANGE/11A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Range Manager Darryl Abling explains the capabilities
of the mission control room at the Pendleton UAS Range
Mission Control and Innovation Center in Pendleton.