REGION
Friday, December 22, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 3A
Cities, counties gear up for winter roads Stanfi eld begins
internal search for
new superintendent
Salt rock to be
used for fi rst time
in Eastern Oregon
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
As winter offi cially
begins, cities and counties
are gearing up for snow.
Hermiston’s
snow
removal strategy is broken
up into three phases covering
180 lane miles, according to
information from the city’s
street department.
During phase one, crews
clear and maintain main
thoroughfares through the
city such as Highway 395
and Highway 207. During
phase two they prioritize
hills, downtown commercial
streets, municipal buildings
and the airport, in addition
to clearing public parking
lots late at night or early
in the morning when there
are few cars parked there.
During phase three equip-
ment is sent out to various
residential neighborhoods
and rotates through the
streets in a counterclockwise
direction, taking a break to
re-clear main thoroughfares
if needed.
“It is usually possible
to plow all the streets
utilizing the city’s limited
staff and equipment within
a couple of days,” the city’s
snow-removal plan states.
“If we get hit with a second
storm and have to return
to phase one streets, phase
three operation stops until
we get caught up again. We
do try to pick up where we
left off.”
It is against Hermiston’s
city ordinance to pile snow
removed from sidewalks
and driveways onto the
street, and the city asks that
people pile the snow on
their lawns instead.
“Throwing the snow
from your driveway or side-
walk into the street creates
a situation where when our
plowing operation comes
by we plow it back into
your driveway area creating
a larger amount for you
to clear again out of your
driveway,” the city wrote.
It can also obstruct
lines of sight for drivers,
and block drain inlets and
as Stanfi eld Elementary
School’s principal. Though
they did not make an offi cial
decision, board members
The Stanfi eld School said they want to split the
Board determined at a position into two separate
special meeting
jobs. They have
Wednesday that
not yet begun
the board will
a search for the
begin an internal
principal position.
search for a new
C u r r e n t l y,
superintendent,
S t a n f i e l d
which will last
E l e m e n t a r y ’s
until Jan. 6.
assistant
prin-
At that point,
cipal Lacey Sharp
they will open
has a restrictive
the search to a
administrator ’s
wider pool of Liscom
license and will
candidates.
be able to apply
The district is seeking a for a regular administrative
superintendent to take over license in April.
for current offi ceholder
Stanfi eld
Secondary
Shelley Liscom, who School Principal Beth
announced at last week’s Burton said if the board
school board meeting that wanted to hire internally
she would resign June 15, for the principal position,
2018.
the process would be to
Liscom, who is in her dissolve the assistant prin-
fourth year as Stanfi eld’s cipal post and then open the
superintendent, cited incom- principal position to internal
patibility with the board as staff only. At that point, she
her reason for leaving.
said, Sharp could apply for
Liscom also served the position.
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
EO fi le photo
The HART (Hermiston Area Regional Transit) bus run by Kayak Public Transit drives
down its route on West Moore Avenue last January in Hermiston.
gutters where melted snow
is meant to drain. Parking
in driveways or parking lots
instead of the street during
a snowstorm is also appre-
ciated, as it makes it easier
for plows to navigate.
Umatilla County Public
Works Department is paying
$8,500 for a 30-year-old
snow plow from the state
of Oregon surplus vehicle
pool. The county board of
commissioners approved
the purchase Wednesday.
The four-wheel drive
truck weighs about 50,000
pounds and has a sander,
an 11-foot plow on the
front and a wing plow. The
county has one of these
plows already, and it allows
a driver to clear a road in
one pass.
The Oregon Department
of Transportation has new
equipment and tools to take
on the winter, including
using salt in Eastern Oregon.
ODOT in a written state-
ment reported it has fi ve
new plows that tow special
trailers to help clear two full
lanes of road at the same
time.
Crews will run the new
trucks on about 200 miles
of Interstate 84 between
Boardman and the Idaho
border, on Interstate 82
south of Umatilla and on
some secondary highway
sections.
The special trailer has
a 26-foot retractable plow
blade and turning wheels,
according to ODOT, that
can swing the unit into the
travel lane on the right side
of the truck. That blade,
plus the 12-foot-wide blade
on the front of the plow,
means the tow plow can
do the work of two regular
plows.
The tow plows also have
hoppers that can disperse
salt or sanding rock.
Craig Romine, ODOT’s
Meacham coordinator, said
in a written statement the
new plows “will free up
our rigs to assist others in
Pendleton and La Grande,
or to put more focus on old
Highway 30 with the bus
routes.”
The
transportation
department also boosted
the number of its dual-wing
plows from one to six for
use along Eastern Oregon
multi-lane freeways. Those
vehicles can clear two
freeway lanes in one pass
and move snow off to the
left side of the roadway.
The dual-wing plows are
ideal for freeways that have
median space and no center
concrete barrier, according
to ODOT, as well as areas
with high winds and drifting
snow, such as Ladd Canyon
east of La Grande.
The department also
reported expanding its rock
salt pilot project.
The state approved
using the salt for sections
of I-84 between the Idaho
border and Boardman, I-82,
plus other Eastern Oregon
routes, as well as expanding
its use on about 100 miles of
I-5 from the Siskiyou Pass
to just north of Canyonville.
The state also might use
rock salt in other areas that
have severe weather condi-
tions.
ODOT advised motorists
to drive according to the
conditions and stay several
car lengths behind winter
maintenance vehicles. The
road in front of the plow
is going to be in worse
condition, so wait until the
plow pulls over to pass. And
plows can have blades on
the right and left sides of
the truck, so drivers should
use caution when passing a
plow and never pass on the
right.
ODOT also recommends
washing vehicles after
driving on wintry roads to
remove ice and possible
deicer or salt residue.
For updated information
on highway work and
current travel information
throughout Oregon, visit
www.tripcheck.com or call
the Oregon road report at
511 or 1-800-977-6368.
———
East Oregonian reporter
Phil Wright contributed to
this story.
HERMISTON
Local woman arrested
for theft of services
and did not return. Shortly
after, Hermiston Police
Hermiston
Police were called by Stockman’s
arrested a local woman for Steakhouse on North First
Street. Employees
theft of services
said Crane had
at two local
left the restaurant
businesses
on
without paying
Wednesday.
for $53 worth of
Officers
food. She used
arrested Lynzee
a story similar
Crane, 20, for
to the one at the
negatively
salon and fl ed.
impacting
two
Officers
local businesses.
found Crane at
According to a
a residence in
press
release, Lynzee Crane
Umatilla, charged
Crane
went
into the Styling Arena on her with two counts of
Hermiston Avenue to get theft, and lodged her in
her hair colored, and then the Umatilla County Jail.
said she needed to retrieve Crane had charges from
money from her vehicle to earlier this year for identity
pay for the $100 service. theft and fraudulent use of a
Crane then went outside credit card.
East Oregonian
POLITICS: Republican candidates still dominate in Eastern Oregon
Continued from 1A
back to the state with their
preferred affi liation, voters
were automatically desig-
nated non-affi liated.
Since the law was imple-
mented in 2016, 91 percent
of the 8,230 Umatilla County
voters who were enrolled
through “motor voter” were
automatically registered as
non-affi liated.
That helped account for
the jump of non-affi liated
voters from 8,424 in October
2015 to 13,141 a year later.
But non-affi liated voters had
already risen by 22 percent
between 2001 and 2015.
Registration in third parties
— Libertarian, Constitution,
Pacifi c Green, Working
Families, Progressive and
other smaller parties — has
also seen steady growth
since the turn of the century.
The ranks of the non-af-
fi liated are growing, not
just through inaction during
the registration process, but
through a conscious choice
to opt out of the two-party
system.
———
On Tuesday morning, the
students of Brian Johnson’s
government class at Pend-
leton High School voted.
By a hand count, only
six of the 25 or so seniors in
Johnson’s class were regis-
tered or planned to register
with a party.
Jessica Daggett said her
decision to remain non-af-
fi liated was to give herself
more time to familiarize
herself with politics before
committing herself to a party.
Others
had
already
formed a political identity,
but still felt uncomfortable
joining the GOP-Democrat
dichotomy.
Journey Hahn said she
was left of the Democratic
Party, but felt like supporting
smaller parties like Working
Families or Pacifi c Green
was a waste of a vote.
Evan Miller considered
himself conservative, but
Umatilla County party affiliation
20,000 registered voters
Republican
Democrat
15,909 Non-affiliated;
Up 88.9% from 2015
Non-affiliated
Third party
15
12,581
14,123
10
10,568
9,024
5
6,894
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
881
2,903
0
2001
’03
’05
’07
’09
’11 †
’13
’15
2017
NOTE: Voter data taken from October of each year except 2006, which is from November
due to online data unavailability. † Data unavailable due to redistricting.
Source: Oregon Secretary of State
Antonio Sierra and Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group
sometimes disagreed with the
Republican Party’s positions
and remained unaffi liated.
Coming from a family
with parents with different
political ideologies, Stanton
Schmitz said he saw the
extremity in both political
parties and wanted to stay
out of it.
Seth Wood was one of
the few students who said
he was joining a political
party. Raised in a Republican
household, Wood said he was
joining the GOP but in an age
where technology and culture
were changing all the time,
political identity was more
fl uid than it was in the past.
“Our generation is moving
away from labels,” Marin
Kennedy said.
———
Kim Puzey has been
without a label for quite
some time.
The executive director
of the Port of Umatilla said
he was non-affi liated for 20
years.
Puzey used his non-af-
fi liated status to support
candidates from both parties.
He supported the 2008
presidential campaign of
Bill Richardson, the former
Democratic governor of
New Mexico, and the 2012
campaign of Jon Huntsman,
the former Republican
governor of Utah.
Puzey’s top issue when
evaluating candidates for
offi ce is their support for
investing in public infra-
structure, akin to the projects
that were a part of Franklin
Roosevelt’s New Deal or
Dwight Eisenhower’s inter-
state highway initiative.
The issue of infrastructure
was so strong for Puzey that
he switched his registration
to Democratic in the 2016
primary election so he could
vote for Vermont Sen. Bernie
Sanders. Puzey said he was
drawn to Sanders’ $1 trillion
infrastructure plan.
President Donald Trump’s
call for an infrastructure
bill in the wake of the train
derailment in DuPont, Wash-
ington, was one of the fi rst
times Puzey agreed with the
current president.
While Puzey may have
left the non-affi liated ranks,
he didn’t seem surprised that
people were fl ocking to it.
With increasing polar-
ization in Washington,
D.C., and in Salem, Puzey
said there’s a “degree of
disenchantment” with both
parties.
———
Despite the growing
number of non-affi liated
Pendleton senior Stanton Schmitz talks about how his
political views were infl uenced growing up with par-
ents that had differing political philosophies.
voters, Republicans still
dominate Eastern Oregon.
Trump won the county
with 17,059 total votes, a
number that’s hard to reach
without the support of many
non-affi liated voters.
Umatilla
County’s
delegation to the Oregon
Legislature — Reps. Greg
Smith, Greg Barreto and
Sen. Bill Hansell — are all
Republicans. During the
last election cycle, all three
ran without Democratic
opposition.
Even with the county’s
conservative bent, the
leaders of both local parties
acknowledge
the
rise
of non-affi liated voters.
Whether it’s because of
dissatisfaction with the
GOP’s association with the
controversial Trump or the
“fi nagling” the Democratic
National Committee did
during the primary between
Sanders and Hillary Clinton,
modern voters don’t have
a lot of affi nity for either
party.
Larry B. Moore, the
chairman of the Umatilla
County Republican Party,
said local voter outreach
efforts now include targeting
non-affi liated voters along
with Republicans.
Mark
Petersen,
the
chairman of the Umatilla
County Democratic Party,
said non-affi liated millen-
nials tend to be Sanders
supporters. As Democrats
try to unseat U.S. Rep. Greg
Walden, R-Hood River, and
protect incumbent Gov.
Kate Brown, it’s up to party
members to tell the non-
affi liated about Democratic
candidates and how they
align with their views.
As the country continues
to polarize, Moore doesn’t
anticipate the trend toward
non-affi liation
stopping
anytime soon.
“Once you go down
that road, it’s hard to come
back,” he said.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.