PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Thomas rises above competition | SPORTS, A8
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143rd year, No. 111
REGONIAN
THURSDAy, MARCH 21, 2019
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WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
New crime lab to
open this summer
Hansell
Smith
Lawmakers
hesitant
to commit
on vaccine
exemptions
Smith, Hansell struggle to
balance public health with
parental rights
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Tyson McClure, of Pasco, installs cabinets in the main lab area while working on the construction of the Oregon State Police
crime lab Wednesday in Pendleton.
Facility exceeds
9,500 square feet
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Construction of Oregon’s newest
crime lab in Pendleton is six weeks
away from completion.
The facility exceeds 9,500 square
feet at the bottom of Airport Hill in
what is effectively the county’s law
enforcement center, with the entrance
to the Pendleton Police Department
and the Oregon State Police Pendleton
Area Command just up Airport Road,
and the sheriff’s office, jail and parole
and probation department within a
moment’s drive the other way.
The state police Forensic Services
Division operates labs in Bend, Cen-
tral Point, Pendleton, Portland and
Springfield. For years the agency and
Oregon Legislature debated about
closing the Pendleton lab in the office
building at the corner of Southeast
Eighth Street and Emigrant Ave-
nue. The analysts there work in tight
spaces, contend with shrinking stor-
age and even a gnat infestation. Cal-
vin Davis, the forensic scientist in
charge of the Pendleton lab, said a
central issue is the building was not
designed for the work.
That soon will no longer mat-
ter. Davis during a tour of the site
Wednesday said, “It will be a substan-
tial upgrade for us for sure.”
Portland-based Fortis Construction
Rep. Greg Smith, R-Heppner, hasn’t
decided whether to vote for or against a
bill to ban non-medical exemptions for
vaccinations.
“On one hand, you have to protect the
community. When parents aren’t step-
ping in and taking care of their children,
it affects society,” Smith said. “On the
other, you have parental rights. Should
the government tell parents what to do?”
House Bill 3063 passed out of com-
mittee last Thursday and moved to the
Joint Committee on Ways and Means,
where Smith serves as co-vice chair and
Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, is a mem-
ber. If the bill survives there, the House
and Senate would need to approve and
then Gov. Kate Smith could sign it into
law.
See Vaccines, Page A7
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Construction of the Oregon State Police crime lab is on schedule to be completed
May 1.
Morrow County
energy project
will bring surge
of funding to
schools
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
“IT WILL BE A SUBSTANTIAL
UPGRADE FOR US FOR SURE.”
“It’s a busy place,” Miner said.
The building’s west side houses
the main entrance, the front lobby, a
conference room, office spaces and a
high-density file storage room. Proj-
ect engineer Jacob Gerard explained
The major energy project slated for
Morrow County is going to have a ripple
effect — with the capacity for more bat-
tery storage than any other facility in the
country. With that surge in power storage
will come funds for local schools’ sci-
ence, technology and art programs.
Portland General Electric and Nex-
tEra Energy Resources have partnered
to build the Wheatridge Renewable
Energy Facility, which combines wind,
solar and battery power. As of Wednes-
day, the Morrow County Board of
See Crime Lab, Page A7
See Energy, Page A7
Calvin Davis, the forensic scientist in charge of the Pendleton lab
Inc. is building the $4.5 million lab
and broke ground in August. Project
superintendent Tim Miner said about
30 people a day are working at the site.
Contractors measured, drilled and
hammered around the place, working
on everything from cabinets to door
frames to lighting.
Depot marks 75 years since igloo explosion
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
It was a cool spring night
March 21, 1944, when Ken-
neth Fraser took a crew of
civilians out to igloo B-1014
at the Umatilla County Ord-
nance Depot just outside
Hermiston.
Fraser, age 40, had a wife
and four children waiting
for him at home in Irrigon.
He had moved the family
there from Idaho two years
earlier, switching careers
from logging to crew fore-
man at the Depot.
That night 75 years ago,
Fraser was accompanied by
Alice Wolgamott, 20; Lance
A. Stulz, 40; Hiram Cook,
26; William Sanders, 30;
and Harry Sever, 33, as they
unloaded 500-pound bombs
into the igloo. Two other
members of his crew, Glenn
Long and Cecil Pennington,
stayed behind to work at a
railroad site.
At 9:29 p.m. something
went wrong. Later, some
would speculate that one of
the bombs malfunctioned.
Others thought it might have
been dropped “just right.”
Whatever the case —
the mystery has never been
completely solved — a mas-
sive boom shook the depot
as the igloo containing 264
bombs exploded, killing all
six people.
Clara Ellen Fraser Brown
was 15 when her father Ken-
neth was killed in the explo-
sion, which leveled the spe-
cially reinforced concrete
bunker and destroyed two
vehicles. It took hours to
ascertain who had died in
the explosion, as there were
no remains to identify.
“We had nothing to
bury,” she said. “It was just
a horrible thing.”
Most of those who were
working 75 years ago at the
Depot are no longer living.
Evelyn Guerrant Thomas of
Milton-Freewater, who died
See Depot, Page A7
Photo contributed by the U.S. Army, File
A worker inside an igloo at the Umatilla Ordnance Depot
stacks 500-pound bombs similar to the ones that exploded
on March 21, 1944.