REGION
Saturday, January 27, 2018
East Oregonian
Page 3A
PILOT ROCK
BRIEFLY
Despite permit, no problem turkeys killed
Former Echo councilor Nakapalau dies
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
The federal wildlife
service stands ready to take
out wild turkeys roaming
Pilot Rock should the need
arise.
So far, it hasn’t.
Citizen complaints about
the turkeys causing property
damage and creating mounds
of scat prompted the city
council last year to ban
feeding the birds, and on Nov.
21 the council voted in favor
of having the United States
Department of Agriculture
eliminate the wild turkeys.
The Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife in
Pendleton on Dec. 11 wrote
the kill permit. State wildlife
biologist Mark Kirsch said
the permit allows the city to
pursue lethal taking within
certain parameters and desig-
nates the USDA’s Animal
and Plant Health Inspection
Service as the agency to
handle the work.
Kevin Christensen is
the assistant state director
for ALPHIS and Wildlife
Services in Oregon. He
explained the division uses a
series of steps before an agent
can kill an animal, beginning
with an on-site inspection to
assess if wild animals are a
real threat or actually causing
property damage.
“A lot of people would
have the perception of
damage or the threat ... but
that may not be the case,” he
said.
Field agents also look to
see if efforts to harass or haze
wildlife are working. Chris-
tensen said folks might have
done good work harassing
animals or putting up barriers,
for example, but maybe there
are other methods Wildlife
Services can help with.
Sheriff’s patrol car theft suspect
faces three criminal cases
EO file photo
In this Sept. 2017 file photo, a pair of wild turkeys walk though a yard in Pilot Rock.
Agents have to check back
to see if the harassment was
successful.
“Then if nothing else
works,” he said, “they have to
find a suitable, safe location
to generally use a firearm to
take turkeys.”
That does not mean
busting buckshot in bunches
of birds.
“When taking one animal,
you have educated the other
10 or 20 or 30,” he said.
Agents again return to
reinforce the negative conse-
quences. Christensen said
that might just mean showing
up and not having to fire a
gun. He said the goal is to
convince the birds they are no
longer safe and returning to
the wild is the better option.
The gist of the process, he
said, is using the least amount
of response to get the desired
action from wildlife.
Wildlife services employs
about 15 people statewide,
including
field
agents
working out of their homes.
Umatilla County has one
agent, Ken Mitchell, who
Christensen said acts as
a “one-stop shop” for all
kinds of wildlife situations.
Christensen said he did not
know if Mitchell has made
an assessment of Pilot Rock’s
turkeys, but he has not killed
any to date.
ODFW’s Kirsch also
confirmed there have been
no kills. The turkeys in recent
weeks have not been running
around the city, he said, so
there does not seem to be a
need right now.
He also said the permit
requires the carcasses be
returned to the state.
“We’re going to try to
salvage the birds for chari-
table distribution,” he said.
Municipalities struggling
with turkey damage is
not atypical, Kirsch said,
and it takes a city council
interacting with its citizens
to reach conclusions on how
to handle the situation. But
some solutions don’t work so
well.
Pilot Rock has heard from
at least one local willing to
relocate the turkeys. Kirsch
said these birds have been
hanging around people and
pets, and state veterinarians
would have little confidence
the turkeys are free from
transmitting disease.
The turkeys also are accus-
tomed to people, he said, so
relocating them means the
state has to ensure they don’t
bother new neighbors.
“Again, our comfort levels
with that are not super high,”
Kirsch said. “We don’t want
to move a problem from
one place and create it for
someone else.”
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0833.
STANFIELD
Dojo to break boards for young cancer patient
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
A local taekwondo studio
is getting ready to break
bricks and boards in the
hopes of raising money for a
local girl fighting cancer.
Erwin Watson, owner of
Eastern Oregon Family Tae
Kwon Do, said his students
are soliciting donations from
their friends and family, in
the hopes of donating the
proceeds to Maddy Thomas,
an 11-year-old from Echo.
Thomas was diagnosed with
a pilocytic astrocytoma, a
brain tumor, in August. She
had surgery in October to
remove part of the tumor,
but due to the location of the
growth, not all of it could be
removed by surgery. She is
undergoing chemotherapy to
shrink the rest of it.
Maddy’s mother Jenny
Thomas said her daughter
had been doing well, but had
to go back to the hospital in
Seattle earlier this week to
get treatment for a blood
infection. But she said her
daughter has been positive
throughout her illness.
“She is one strong cookie,”
Thomas said. “She wants to
be at school. She gets upset
that she can’t do as much, but
she always has a smile.”
Watson said his students
ECHO — Lou Nakapalau, former Echo city coun-
cilor, has died. He was 66.
Stanfield Police Chief Byron Zumwalt said Friday
there is nothing suspicious about the death.
“We’re calling it natural causes,” he said.
Nakapalau did not show up for a doctor’s appoint-
ment Friday, Zumwalt said, and his department received
a call to check on him at his Main Street home. The
chief also said his department is working with the
county medical examiner. He said he did not anticipate
releasing more information.
“At this point, it’s like any other unattended death,”
Zumwalt said.
Nakapalau recently resigned from the Echo City
Council amid a controversy over remarks he made
on social media and revelations about past criminal
charges.
He was a speaker at multiple Veterans Day events at
local schools, where he spoke about his two Army tours
in Vietnam from 1969 to 1971.
Contributed photo
Maddy Thomas, 11, is fighting cancer. A Stanfield tae-
kwondo studio is hosting a “breakathon” on Feb. 3,
breaking boards and bricks and raising money to help
Thomas. The event is open to the public.
are asking their friends and
family to purchase boards
or bricks, which the students
will then get to break as part
of their taekwondo training.
Bricks can be purchased for
$10, and wooden boards for
$5. The bricks and boards
were donated by the manager
at Home Depot.
The board-breaking event
will take place on Saturday,
Feb. 3 at the studio, at 155 W.
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Watson said so far, some
students have raised hundreds
of dollars.
“Money is still coming
in,” he said. “We’ve had a
couple of kids bring in $400.”
He said the studio has
about 80 students.
A few weeks ago,
Watson said, Maddie and
her mom came in and met
some of the students, and
watched a practice.
“If she’s feeling well
enough, I’m hoping she’ll be
there,” he said.
Thomas said her daughter
was excited while watching
the taekwondo practice.
“The first thing she said to
me was, ‘When I get better,
can I take a class?’” Thomas
said.
Another child who has
battled cancer will also be
in attendance, Watson said.
A few years ago, Watson’s
studio raised money for
Marcos Madera, a McNary
boy who was diagnosed with
cancer. Watson found out that
his mother was struggling to
make ends meet as she took
him to Portland for treatment,
and wanted to help.
He found out about
Thomas through a Facebook
friend, and immediately sent
her a message asking if his
class could help.
Thomas said her family
had been overwhelmed by
the support from Watson and
other community members.
“They’ve been a huge
support, allowing us to spend
more time helping her,”
Thomas said.
———
Contact
Jayati
Ramakrishnan
at
jramakrishnan@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4534
HERMISTON — Christopher Alvin Phillips of
Hermiston faces 11 counts for burglary as well as
stealing and crashing a Umatilla
County Sheriff’s Office patrol car.
The district attorney’s office
arraigned Phillips, 23, Friday
afternoon in the Hermiston
courtroom of Circuit Judge
Eva Temple, according to court
records. The charges range from
misdemeanors of unlawful entry into
a motor vehicle and third-degree
theft to felonies of unauthorized use
Phillips
of a vehicle and attempted first-
degree burglary.
The Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office the morning of
Jan. 18 responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle at a
vacant house near 33464 E. Punkin Center Road east of
Hermiston. Deputy Chris Daugherty found the vehicle,
a red 1994 Ford Explorer, as well as Phillips and Tyler
Morris, 19.
Daugherty arrested and handcuffed Phillips and put
him in the back seat of the patrol car, according to a
written statement from the sheriff’s office, and released
Morris. Daugherty kept his car running while waiting
outside for a tow truck to take the Explorer. That’s when
Phillips moved his cuffs to his front, broke out the rear
window of the patrol car, crawled into the driver’s seat
and took off.
He crashed the car in a small canal at the corner
of Tabor and Punkin Center roads, then fled on foot.
Deputies that afternoon caught Phillips near the Short
Stop gas station at 32553 E. Punkin Center Road.
The district attorney’s office also charged Phillips in
two more cases:
• First-degree criminal mischief, second-degree
burglary, second-degree theft for a Jan. 2 break-in at
Eastside Market, 528 E. Main St., Hermiston;
• and first-degree burglary, first-degree criminal
trespass and third-degree theft for a Jan. 11 break-in at
33464 E. Punkin Center Road, Hermiston.
Phillips has hearings Feb. 12 to consider trial
readiness in each case. Until then, he remains in the
Umatilla County Jail, Pendleton, in lieu of $225,000 bail.
Longtime banker cashes in experience
WALLA WALLA — Rosendo Guizar, who has
worked in all facets of consumer and commercial
lending during his 22 years at Baker
Boyer Bank, was recently promoted
to credit administrator.
The Walla Walla man’s most
recent role was as a business advisor.
As credit administrator, Guizar will
be in charge of the bank’s entire
commercial and consumer lending
portfolio.
Guizar, who graduated from the
University of Colorado School of
Guizar
Banking in 2003, also has a degree
in biochemistry from Whitman
College. Prior to working at Baker Boyer, he held
several entrepreneurial roles, which were instrumental
in providing a well-rounded banking and financing
background, said a press release from the bank.
A community bank based in Walla Walla, Baker
Boyer also has a branch in Milton-Freewater. For more
information, visit www.bakerboyer.com.
———
Briefs are compiled from staff and wire reports,
and press releases. Email press releases to news@
eastoregonian.com
BUCKAROO BOOSTER
CLUB FUNDRAISER
Dinner & Auction
Cracked Crab-Baked Salmon-Tri-tip
an Evening in
P RIS
CASA Fundraising Gala
February 24, 2018
6-10pm (21+)
Hermiston Community Center
Dinner & Dancing
TICKET INCLUDES:
- Meal and Complimentary Beer
- Chance to Win
• 1 of 5 $100 in Auction Bucks Certifi cates
• $500 Cash Drawing
• Heads/Tails Game with a chance to win $500
Wednesday • February 21st
$35 Per Person
DINNER: 5:30-7pm • AUCTION: 6:30pm
Pendleton Convention Center
Tickets $40 each/$75 VIP
Limited to fi rst 500 tickets sold
Purchase tickets at UMCHS main office
110 NE 4th St., Hermiston
and online at umchs.com/donate
Come and
have fun
with
the
Tickets available at Big John’s Pizza, Dean’s Pendleton
Athletic, Dave’s Food Mart or board members.
Must be 21 & over to attend.
DUELING
PIANOS
Dr. Robert Alan Pratt, DMD PC
Hill Meat Company
Dean’s Pendleton Athletic • Wheatland Insurance • Andrew Bower MD
• Eastern Or Orthopaedic Surgery & Fracture Clinic • Kelly Lumber Supply
• Kruse Construction • McLaughlin Landscaping • Papa Murphy’s Pizza
• Thews Sheet Metal • D.A. Davidson & Co.