51/37
SEX HARASSMENT
COMPLAINT FILED
AGAINST KRUSE
NUTCRACKER
USHERS IN
HOLIDAYS
NORTHWEST/2A
COMMUNITY/6A
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2017
142nd Year, No. 22
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Runoff needed to break tie vote
CTUIR board vice chair race knots at 370
East Oregonian
It’s a cliché, but it’s true: Every
vote counts.
In the race for the Confed-
erated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation’s vice chair
of the Board of Trustees, incum-
bent Jeremy Wolf received 370
votes and challenger Shana
Radford also received 370 votes.
Chuck Sams, CTUIR spokes-
person, said when the results came
back Tuesday night, chair of the
elections commission Andrea Hall
started an instant recount.
“As soon as they saw there was
a tie, they did a hand recount,”
Bellinger
keeps seat
on board
Sams said. “That took almost
another two hours.”
The count confi rmed the
deadlock. Sams said tribal code
calls for a runoff election to fi ll
the seat. The election commission
has to provide 90 days notice in
advance of the runoff, which
includes absentee voting. The
See CTUIR/8A
Westland
Irrigation District
Wolf
Radford
First goal is to resolve
ongoing litigation
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
George Winter of Pendleton hand writes a letter Wednesday at Sisters Cafe in Pendleton, addressing it to members of U.S. Congress
asking them to lower spending at the Pentagon. Winter is part of a group that meets once a week to write letters to their represen-
tatives in the House and Senate in Washington, D.C.
Stressed? You’re not alone
Americans worry about politics, nation’s future
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
America is stressed out.
We worry about things like
fi nances and work, but this year,
we are most anxious about what
lies ahead for our country.
“Sixty-three percent of Amer-
icans reported that our nation’s
future was a signifi cant source of
stress,” said Vaile Wright, director
of research at the American
Psychological Association, the
organization that hired Harris Poll
to conduct the Stress in America
Survey. “That was higher than
for money or work — which is
what people usually report as their
highest source of stress.”
Some are calling this collective
societal angst “post-election stress
disorder.”
According to the survey, 59
percent of us consider this point
in history the lowest we have ever
experienced. The feeling spans the
generations and cuts across party
lines. According to Wright, 56
percent of seniors, 72 and older,
believe this time is the lowest they
can remember, despite being alive
during Pearl Harbor and World War
II. The same goes for Baby Boomers
(57 percent), Gen Xers (61 percent)
and Millennials (59 percent).
More inside
So what is an anxious
American to do?
Tips from therapists
on PAGE 8A
As a result of all this stress,
people report sleepless nights, fric-
tion with friends and family, irri-
tability and the need to constantly
check the news.
See POLITICS/8A
“I’ve seen increasingly more people, of all ages, reaching out every day because they are
struggling with anxiety and sometimes feeling hopeless about the future of our country and
really their future as an individual, in regard to their freedom and safety.”
— Jennifer K. Fuller, Talkspace therapist
In what turned out to be a closely
contested race, incumbent Jack
Bellinger was re-elected Tuesday
to the Westland Irrigation District
board of directors, defeating chal-
lenger Ray Vogt by just 12 votes.
Bellinger, owner of Bellinger
Farms
in
Hermiston,
kept his seat by
a narrow count
of
107-95,
according
to unoffi cial
results. The
We s t l a n d
board
will
meet Monday,
Nov. 20 at 1 Bellinger
p.m. to certify
the election and announce a winner.
The Westland Irrigation District
delivers water to approximately
260 patrons in the Umatilla
Basin. Only district members
were allowed to vote in the board
election, with voting weighted
by land ownership. Anyone with
up to 40 acres received one vote,
while anyone with between 40 and
160 acres received two votes and
anyone with more than 160 acres
received three votes.
Vogt, who raises beef cattle and
alfalfa on 24.5 acres, said he ran to
improve transparency between the
board and patrons, and to ensure
small farmers like himself have a
voice in major decisions moving
forward, such as the ill-fated
Central Project to secure mitigated
water from the Columbia River.
“I just don’t feel like the smaller
farmers have been asked for their
advice in any of those decisions,”
Vogt said. “The small guy has just
as much right to his water as the big
guy has to his water.”
While Vogt said he will support
Bellinger, he added that the tight
race does show there are patrons
out there questioning whether small
farmers are truly being represented.
In an interview Wednesday,
Bellinger said his top goal is to
unite the district in the face of a
lawsuit fi led against the district last
year by a group of patrons with
senior water rights.
“We need to resolve this lawsuit
so it’s not hanging over our head,”
Bellinger said. “Until we do, I don’t
think our district can come together
to do big things.”
The lawsuit accuses Westland of
See WESTLAND/8A
PENDLETON
Swim association pitches
dome concept to council
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Photo by Matthew Ginn/Trillium Media Services
Pendleton’s Nolan Hill dives in during the 2009 5A state swimming cham-
pionships at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham. The college uses an
infl atable dome to surround the pool during the winter, and Pendleton is
considering the feasibility of a similar dome at the Pendleton Aquatic Center.
The organizers behind the
Pendleton Swim Association
considered their options to fi nd a
new pool and decided there’s no
place like dome.
Tony Nelson, the coach for the
swim association and the Pend-
leton High School swim team,
and association president Fred
Robinson went before the council
at a workshop Tuesday and asked
them if they would be open to
erecting an infl atable dome over
the Pendleton Aquatic Center
pool that would allow for year-
round swimming. It could cost as
much as $1 million to do so.
The men made their case
ahead of the swim teams’ main
facility — the Blue Mountain
Community College pool —
scheduled closure in June. Mayor
John Turner, a former BMCC
president, said his discussions
with college staff show there’s
little desire to extend the pool’s
life after the deadline, especially
considering the millions of dollars
it would take to renovate the
facility.
Nelson and Robinson said
See SWIM/8A