REGION
Saturday, April 13, 2019
East Oregonian
A3
McKay Creek fl oods city park
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
McKay Creek crested its
banks Friday afternoon and
fl ooded Pendleton’s Com-
munity Park.
The city of Pendleton
reported the Bureau of Rec-
lamation planned to increase
fl ows from McKay Reser-
voir into the creek through-
out Friday with maximum
fl ow of 2,000 cubic feet per
second reaching the city lim-
its at 6:30 p.m. The bureau
instead changed the high
release to occur at 4 p.m.
The city closed the park
before 4 p.m., and police
kept an eye out for anyone
ignoring the “park closed”
signs. Offi cer Sara Tolley
trudged through the marshy
park more than once to tell
folks the park was off-limits.
The rising water cut off
access to the playground
near the Community Park
tennis courts, making the
area look like a swamp. The
muddy water in the creek
itself fl oated logs bigger
around than basketballs and
several feet long.
The city warned locals
along the creek to prepare
for fl ooding. City work-
ers and community volun-
teers hustled to fi ll sand-
bags at McKay Park next
to the elementary school
on Southwest 44th Street
and haul them to the ten-
nis courts parking lot on the
north end of Southwest 41st
Street. Workers estimated
they were shoving 120 cubic
yards of gravel into the bags.
Residents picked up the bags
by the pickup loads.
Members of the Uma-
tilla County Sheriff’s Offi ce
Search and Rescue Team
also were on the scene in
case anyone ended up in
the creek’s rush. Volunteers
denied a couple of out-of-
Staff photo by E.J. Harris, File
Cathy Putnam, behind the cash register, helps customers
with their prescriptions in October of 2018 at Columbia
River Pharmacy in Umatilla.
Columbia River
Health plans to close
Umatilla pharmacy
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Flood waters from McKay Creek run through Community Park on Friday in Pendleton.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Volunteers stack sandbags in the parking lot of McKay Ele-
mentary School, preparing them for residents living along
McKay Creek on Friday in Pendleton.
town kayakers access to
the creek, and sheriff’s Sgt.
Dwight Johnson fl ew the
agency’s drone to get a fuller
sense of the scene from the
air.
Flooding along the creek
occurred in 2004, when
fl ows reached 1,525 cfs,
according to the city, and
in 1991 fl ows reached 3,494
cfs.
The city asked non-res-
idents to stay out of the
McKay area in Pendle-
ton’s southwest end so
streets could stay open for
neighbors and emergency
personnel.
“These swift water condi-
tions can become extremely
dangerous,” the city warned.
“For your safety, do not get
close to the water.”
Several workers and vol-
unteers at the sites said the
worse was to come. They
said the Bureau of Recla-
mation planned to increase
the discharge throughout the
evening.
City Manager Robb Cor-
bett said the Bureau of Rec-
lamation plans to increase
the discharge to 2,500 cubic
feet per second starting Sat-
urday at 8 a.m. Police are
knocking on doors and
talking to McKay addition
residents to let them know
and check on how they are
doing.
He also said past McKay
fl ows at that level resulted
a fl ooding in a few homes.
But that was when the city
maintained the channel of
the creek, he said, and the
city has not been able to do
that for years. That raises the
question of just how much
the water the creek can hold.
City staff will meet again
Saturday morning to assess
the situation and go from
there.
Less than a year after
purchasing Carlson’s Uma-
tilla Drug, Columbia River
Health is closing the phar-
macy on April 30.
The organization hosted
a celebration of the newly
renamed Columbia River
Pharmacy in November,
but on April 4 announced
on Facebook that it would
be closing the pharmacy
“due to circumstances
beyond our control” that
made it “no longer feasible
for us to operate a second
pharmacy.”
“This has been a heart
wrenching decision that
has not come easily,” they
wrote. “We care deeply for
all of our patrons and rec-
ognize how this decision
will affect each of them.”
The Boardman-based
health provider also thanked
Cathy Putnam, who had
U.S. Forest Service and city to
give away trees in Pendleton
East Oregonian
Local schools at the forefront of PERS crisis
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Two ele-
ments make budgeting a
painful math exercise for
the Umatilla School District:
employee health benefi ts and
retirement benefi ts.
Right now, the eastern
Oregon district pays about 8
percent of its budget, or $1.2
million, to the Oregon Pub-
lic Employees Retirement
System.
In the next school year,
that cost will go up an esti-
mated $46,000.
That may not seem like
much, but for Umatilla it
could mean cuts — espe-
cially if the state doesn’t
come up with more money
for schools.
“If there’s any type of
increase, that is a direct hit
to what we can offer to stu-
dents … PERS is a larger
and larger percent of those
expenses that’s hitting us
harder and harder each year,”
said Superintendent Heidi
Sipe
Gov. Kate Brown wants to
help Sipe and her colleagues
in districts across Oregon
by diverting state money
to pay part of the districts’
retirement bill. She unveiled
how she would do that in an
appearance before the Capi-
tal Construction Committee
on Friday.
Brown’s proposed budget
already is intended to help
districts maintain the dis-
trict’s current staff, Sipe said.
But legislative leaders
have released a lower tenta-
tive budget that means Uma-
tilla may have to cut one
teacher and two assistants.
That makes a difference
in a district with about 90
teachers and roughly 330
personnel altogether.
“Every cut hurts,” Sipe
said.
The rapidly growing cost
of retirement benefi ts is put-
ting the squeeze on school
districts across the state.
Larger school districts
are bracing for eye-popping
increases until 2035.
“PERS is just sucking all
of the oxygen out of educa-
tion,” said Kathy Goss, chair
of the Salem-Keizer School
Board. “So districts our size
have to pay many millions to
PERS every year, and we’re
going to have to lay off some
teachers.”
She fears that the addi-
tional tax money lawmakers
want to raise for schools this
year could pay for pensions
instead of students.
Just between 2021 and
2023, for example, the
Bend-La Pine Schools would
have to pay about $11 million
more to PERS, according to
estimates provided by the
governor’s offi ce.
Brown wants to make
those leaps less dramatic.
Her goal: rustle up at least
$2.46 billion between 2021
and 2035.
That money would go to a
special account to offset the
increases.
Brown wants $800 mil-
lion in “seed funding” to
get that account started later
The firm of Grable Hantke Law Group, LLC,
offers a wealth of experience in a variety of specialties, as well
as knowledgeable and dedicated staff. Our firm is committed to
providing personal attention to each client.
We specialize in all aspects of family law.
Our areas of practice include:
dissolutions, legal separation, modifications, custody, parenting
time, adoption, paternity, restraining orders, stalking orders,
spousal support and child support. We also specialize in probate,
estates, wills, guardianships and conservatorships.
http://www.grablelaw.com
tel: 541.276.1851 • fax: 541.276.3146
334 Southeast Second Street • P.O. Box 1760
Pendleton, Oregon 97801
this year.
Then, over time, the state
would dedicate more than $1
billion in future taxes to help
schools mitigate increasing
assessments to cover retire-
ment costs.
The upshot is, if the state is
helping schools pay for those
increases, schools would be
able to use their money for
other things — namely, to
keep teachers on payroll.
“She doesn’t want to see
cuts in teacher positions,”
Nik Blosser, Brown’s chief of
staff, said in an interview.
Where would the money
come from?
Brown is fl exible, Blosser
said.
But she has some ideas.
They include using some
of the “kicker” income tax
rebate, using money from the
state’s workers compensation
fund, and using any high-
er-than-expected revenues
from taxes on capital gains
and estates.
Brown signed a bill
Wednesday that would
reduce the expected 2020
kicker by $108 million.
Brown is also propos-
ing that employees contrib-
ute money to their basic pen-
sion, in an amount depending
on their salary and when
they joined government ser-
vice, until the system is fully
funded or 14 years, which-
ever comes earlier.
PERS is a hybrid plan,
meaning there’s a basic pen-
sion and a 401(k)-style sav-
ings plan on top.
The governor’s idea is to
reduce the amount of money
employees contribute to the
401(k)-style plan, and put
that money toward paying for
the employee’s basic pension.
Employees wouldn’t see
a pay cut under that idea.
But their benefi ts would get
reduced.
“There’s something for
everyone to both love and
hate in the plan I’ve intro-
duced,” Brown is expected
to tell legislators Friday,
according her prepared tes-
timony. “But make no mis-
take: by stabilizing PERS
rates for schools, we also sta-
bilize jobs for teachers and
educators.”
———
Reporter Claire Withy-
combe:
cwithycombe@
eomediagroup.com or 971-
304-4148. Withycombe is
a reporter for EO Media
Group working for the
Oregon Capital Bureau,
a collaboration of EO
Media Group, Pamplin
Media Group, and Salem
Reporter.
CONCEALED CARRY
PERMIT CLASS
SATURDAY
APRIL 20 TH
Hermiston
Best Western
1PM
CLASS
ONLY!
previously owned the phar-
macy and had stayed on to
work as a pharmacist, and
stated that they would help
customers move their pre-
scriptions elsewhere.
Columbia River Health
did not return phone calls
or an email requesting more
information about the clo-
sure. They had previously
announced plans to build
a new clinic in Umatilla
and eventually move the
pharmacy into that build-
ing but have not announced
whether the closing of the
pharmacy will have an
impact on the plans for the
clinic.
Several
customers
responded to the Facebook
post by expressing their
sadness at the news. Uma-
tilla mayor Mary Dedrick
wrote that the closure was a
“huge mistake” on Colum-
bia River Health’s part after
the community had trusted
them.
The U.S. Forest Service
is teaming up with Pend-
leton’s parks and recre-
ation department, parks
and recreation commis-
sion, and tree commission
to do its annual Arbor Day
giveaway in the Walmart
parking lot Saturday from
10 a.m.-2 p.m.
According to a press
release, volunteers will be
giving out seedlings for
Blue Elderberry, Redosier
Dogwood, Golden Currant
and Quaking Aspen.
May 2-4, 2019
Join us for a full weekend of
geldings, grit and cowboy gear.
With twenty of the best stock saddle
bronc riders in the world converging upon
Pendleton, the North American Stock
Saddle Bronc Championship has built a
reputation as one of the most exciting,
best paying bronc ridings in the Western
States Ranch Rodeo Association.
The North American Stock Saddle Bronc
Championship will be Saturday, May 4,
2019 at 7pm at the Round-Up Pavilion.
Multi-State $ 80
Oregon Included No Fee
Oregon Only $ 45
MULTI-STATE
Valid 35-States, including Washington
Shaun
Shaun Curtain
Curtain 360-921-2071
360-921-2071
or or email:
email: ShaunCurtain@gmail.com
ShaunCurtain@gmail.com | www.ShaunCurtain.com.com
| www.ShaunCurtain.com.com
For more information on this event,
Contact Nick Michael
509-240-5841
email: Nicholas.michael@edpr.com
Inviting entries for our Bit, Spur and Silver
and Leather Work competitions.
Entry info on our website.
https://www.cattlebarons.net