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YOUR GUIDE TO
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E O
AST
143rd year, no. 85
Our Schools
TO CANCEL
OR NOT TO
CANCEL
REGONIAN
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
SNOW BUSINESS
Administrators
consider weather,
student safety
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Echo School District
has an unofficial policy: If
it’s nice enough to go sled-
ding, it’s nice enough to go
to school.
Superintendent Raymon
Smith said teachers have
often jokingly said some-
thing similar to students on
snowy days where school
has not been canceled. On
Monday and Tuesday, when
most districts in the region
told their students to stay
home, Echo students were
in the classroom.
Smith said he and district
transportation supervisor
Bob McSpadden make the
decision, usually the day of
school, after determining if
students can safely get there.
“I was up at 4 a.m. driv-
ing roads, he was out there
at 5,” Smith said. “We mon-
itor whether the conditions
are doing what they’re sup-
posed to, and if they will
improve or not during the
day.”
He said there have been
a few families that haven’t
sent their children to school,
but attendance hasn’t been
significantly decreased due
to the snow. There are sev-
eral families who send their
children to school in Echo
from other districts, Smith
said, and they encourage
those people not to drive too
fast in order to get their kids
to school.
“We tell parents, we
understand if you’re going
to be a bit late,” he said.
“Just take your time.”
Unlike Echo, most Uma-
tilla and Morrow County
districts canceled school
on Tuesday, the result of
another round of snow and
inclement weather the pre-
vious day. Districts are now
rearranging their sched-
ules to accommodate the
weather, and making sure
students reach the number
See Schools, Page A8
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Travis Hamman uses a Bobcat to move snow Monday while working with NW Installations snow removal service at Horizon
Project in Pendleton.
Some cash in on winter
weather, others wait it out
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
The winter storm that closed free-
ways and schools proved a financial
boon for the crew with Pendleton-based
NW Installations.
Home renovations are the compa-
ny’s usual line of work. But Travis
Hamman and crew hit the streets with
shovels, snow blowers and a small plow
Monday to clear snow from driveways
and more.
“It’s been a day,” Hamman.
They won bids to remove snow from
a few homes on Southwest Nye Avenue
and had a deal to clear Banner Bank’s
lot in Pendleton. But Hamman said
they arrived to find the bank manager
already had someone take care of the
work.
“We lost out of about $1,600,” Ham-
man said. “But that’s OK. We’re in high
spirits. We’re getting it done.”
He said the business cut a deal that
afternoon to remove snow from the
parking lot of the nonprofit Horizon
Project, 223 S.W. Court Ave., plus its
other properties in Pendleton for more
than $300.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Zechariah Ayers of Pendleton shovels snow from a sidewalk while clearing snow at
Horizon Project on Monday in Pendleton.
The way the snow was coming
down, they were set to go back for
seconds.
“Customer satisfaction is our job,”
he said.
The Saturday shutdown of Inter-
state 82 at the Oregon-Washington bor-
der sent stranded motorists seeking a
place to stay.
Many landed at the Comfort Inn
recent snowstorms
boost local snowpack
& Suites off Interstate 84 outside
Hermiston.
“Obviously we didn’t know that was
going to happen,” hotel general man-
ager Ryan Lynch said. “We’re kind of
limited on staff here, so everyone just
kind of pulled their own weight.”
Housekeepers worked longer hours,
See Snow, Page A8
Thawing snow to raise rivers
East side of the state faring far better
than the west; stands at 114 percent
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The recent spate of snowstorms may have canceled
school and snarled traffic across Eastern Oregon, but it
was good for the region’s snowpack.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture National
Resources Conservation Service released its February
Water Supply Outlook Report on Friday, which revealed
that some of the snowpack for the area’s biggest contrib-
utors to surface water were in good shape.
By the end of January, the Umatilla, Walla Walla, and
Willow basins were at 102 percent of normal levels, the
usda reported.
But that didn’t account for a strong period of precipi-
tation over the past few days.
Julie Koeberle, a snow survey hydrologist for the
See Snowpack, Page A8
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A stream of melted snow rushes over Kash Kash Road on Tuesday afternoon on the Con-
federated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation south of Mission. Rain and snowmelt
are expected to cause standing water on roadways and raise water levels on creeks and
rivers through Wednesday evening, according to the National Weather Service.