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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 15, 2019)
OFF PAGE ONE Saturday, June 15, 2019 East Oregonian A11 Ready: Fire season starts Monday in Northeast Oregon Continued from Page A1 Lightning storms this past week started fires in Central Oregon, but Slagle said the storms didn’t come with much wind so the fires were extinguished while they were still small. Mid-elevation snow- pack stayed around a cou- ple weeks longer than usual, according to Brett Thomas, fire staff officer for the Uma- tilla National Forest, and the latter part of May had cooler temperatures and a lot of rain. He said he expects an average fire year, as well. “It could change if June turns off, but it is supposed to mellow out to 70s and 80s for the rest of the month,” he said. According to Jamie Knight, who handles public affairs out of Oregon Depart- ment of Forestry’s La Grande office, dryness and warming temperatures at lower eleva- tions warrant declaring fire season. “Typically we go into fire season any time between the middle of June and the first part of July,” she said. The state has kept records of the beginning of fire sea- son dates since 1977, when fire season started May 1, Knight said. In recent years, the date has fluctuated — in 2014, the official start was June 11, while last year a cool, wet spring put it off until June 28. Restrictions in effect Starting Monday, fire pre- vention restrictions on land- owners and the public go into effect as do regulations on industrial logging and for- est management activities on 2 million acres of private, state, county, municipal and tribal lands within the North- east Oregon Forest Protec- tion District. During fire season per- mits are required for burn barrels, and for all open burning, except campfires, on all private forest and rangelands. Logging and road building operators need to have fire tools, water sup- ply and watchman service when those operations are occurring on lands protected by the state. Knight advised that peo- ple who burn slash piles in the winter or spring should check to make sure they are completely out — sometimes fires can smolder for weeks or months and dry conditions and wind can whip them up to an uncontrolled burn. “By going into fire sea- son we are trying to reduce the number of human starts,” Knight said. As seasonally employed firefighters are starting their training, a few state and fed- Staff photo by E.J. Harris, File Staff photo by E.J. Harris, File A firefighting air tanker drops a load of fire retardant into a draw in Harrington Canyon as a large wildfire burned out of control Friday, Aug. 17, 2018, southwest of Pilot Rock. Former Hermiston city manager Tom Harper, center, looks at the signatures on a ribbon used in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center as current city manager Byron Smith, at right, looks on Monday, Aug. 7, 2017, in Hermiston. Harper was the city manager when the city of Hermiston originally bought the EOTEC property. eral fire professionals have been dispatched to Arizona and Alberta, Canada, to help with early season blazes. “We exchange resources — when it’s hot and dry before the monsoons, we send people to Arizona, and in the late summer, they send folks up here during our crit- ical time,” Knight said. Bringing in resources The state employs about 50 seasonal firefighters across Northeast Oregon, while the Umatilla National Forest brings on nearly 100, including staffing six lookout towers. The agency crews, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Land Management, are all coordinated out of the Blue Mountain Interagency Dis- patch Center in La Grande. Two single-engine air tank- ers, a fire detection plane and a variety of helicopters are also staged in La Grande throughout the summer for both local and regional use. “We are only as good as our ability to work with our partners. It is truly one of our greatest assets,” Thomas said. “We work hard during the preseason time to foster those relationships year in and year out — and it’s prov- ing very beneficial.” Jeff Casey at the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Pendle- ton is responsible for fire sup- pression on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. He also lauded the partnership among the agencies. “Oregon Department of Forestry has suppression responsibility on part of the reservation and we do a lot of training and management planning together,” Casey said. This summer, Casey said he hired 11 seasonal fire- fighters, eight from the res- ervation. While his staff is small, it is part of a bigger, combined effort that even includes neighboring tribes. One of the important relationships Casey said his agency and the tribe fosters is with the cultural resource team, which is trained to fight fire primarily to help with preservation of cultural resources. “When there is a fire on the reservation, one of the first calls I make is to the tribe’s liaison, so they can include archeology techni- cians to help identify sites,” Casey said. “Often, they walk in front of a dozer to make sure it doesn’t go over anything.” After the fire, Casey said, the techs help rehab the fire line and cover up any exposed artifacts. At the county level Most fires are kept small by the agencies’ combined efforts, but when they get big, Umatilla County Emer- gency Manager Tom Roberts helps set up the incident man- agement center and coordi- nate evacuation efforts, if necessary. Homes in the Tollgate area along Highway 204, the Mill Creek Drainage and around Ukiah and Mea- cham are at higher risk than much of the rest of the county because of their proximity to public land, but Roberts said having information logged into a computer program called Avenza helps firefight- ers locate values at risk on residential and recreational properties. “Having those areas mapped out gives us an idea of special needs when we have fires,” Roberts said. The county also has a mass notification system that sends out calls, texts or emails. Roberts encour- ages residents to go to the county website to register to receive messages during emergencies. In times of evacuations, Roberts said the county’s search and rescue team, sheriff’s deputies and state police officers work together knocking on doors. “It’s important for peo- ple to understand why we are there,” Roberts said. UAS: City to commission impact study Continued from Page A1 industrial park that antici- pates the city’s $7.4 million investment will more than pay off in a decade. The city predicts $12.1 million in land lease reve- nue over the next 10 years, in addition to $2.2 million in hangar rental revenue. Subtracting what the city’s spending, Chrisman thinks the city will still end up with a net return of $6.9 million. He added that his estimations might be a little conservative, and he could envision the investment pay- ing for itself sooner than 10 years. Despite the rosy view of the UAS range’s future from city staff and council mem- bers, Chrisman acknowl- edged that some members of the public were still skeptical of offering free public infra- structure and other incen- tives to national and multi- national companies. Chrisman framed the incentive process as the cost of doing business in eco- nomic development. While some West Coast companies may have a regional preference for Pend- leton, in other instances, Pendleton is competing with other drone ranges in places like Nevada, North Dakota, and New York, with each offering its own incentives. As the UAS range has grown, the city has shifted focus away from the eco- nomic development project literally just down the road from the airport. The city raised $6.9 mil- lion from the state, federal government, and a city-wide gas tax to extend Airport Road from Interstate 84 Exit 202 to the rest of the airport in 2009. Two years later, the city bought 40 acres of land from A & B Pinkerton Inc. with the expectation that it would be developed into an industrial park. But there’s been lit- tle activity on the property since then, and now Pinker- ton is looking to buy back a 60-acre expansion option that was included in the orig- inal deal. On Tuesday, the coun- cil will consider selling the option to Pinkerton for $8,937. In 2018, Chrisman told the council that there was “nothing tremendously spe- cial” about the Airport Road industrial park concept, but the UAS range offered a once-in-a-lifetime competi- tive advantage. The shift in economic development strategy is also causing consterna- tion among general aviation businesses at the airport, who are currently pushing against new “reversionary clause” language. While city officials say that contract language that allows the city to take back rented property once a lease ends is standard in lease contracts at federally funded airports, some airport busi- ness owners say the rever- sionary clause would stifle existing businesses as the city prioritizes UAS. The Pendleton Airport Commission came up with lease options that were amenable to the airport busi- ness community, but the city council sent it back to the commission after City Man- ager Robb Corbett suggested some revisions. But the airport commis- sion didn’t implement any of Corbett’s revisions and are sending back the lease pro- posal back to the council for a vote. The council meeting will be held Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the council chambers in city hall, 500 S.W. Dorion Ave. Harper: Former Hermiston city manager remembered Continued from Page A1 houses the police and fire departments. The city paved miles of road, pur- chased the land that now houses the Eastern Ore- gon Trade and Event Cen- ter, created the Hermiston Cemetery District and put together the master plan that charted the course for its fledgling municipal airport. Harper was an original member of the Hermis- ton Development Corpo- ration, the first nonprofit development corporation in Oregon. The group was instrumental in recruiting many of the city’s larg- est employers, including Lamb Weston, Hermiston Foods and the Wal-Mart Distribution Center. Current city manager Byron Smith — one of only four city managers in Hermiston’s history thanks to the tradition of longevity that Harper set — said Harper’s work laid a strong foundation for the community. “He did a great job get- ting the city ready for the growth we are experienc- ing,” he said. A plaque at city hall honors Harper for “his distinguished service and dedication to the City of Hermiston and its citizens.” Beverly Harkenrider said her husband and Harper were different in a lot of ways — Frank was famously outspoken while the city manager was quietly diplomatic — but the two of them worked well together along with people like Joe Burns, Russ Dorran and Charlie Kik for the bet- terment of Hermiston. “So many of them have gone now,” she said. Harper stayed in Hermiston after his retirement and always followed Hermiston pol- itics closely, looking up city council agendas and writing the occasional letter to the editor into his nineties. “When he retired, someone asked if he would move, and he said, ‘I spent 25 years trying to make this a good place to live. Why would I move now?’” Harkenrider said. She remembered Harper as a good friend and a good person, as did many who reacted to his passing on social media. Memorial service arrangements are pend- ing with Burns Mortuary. Poor: Pendleton no longer can jail for court debt Continued from Page A1 policy states, “including fines, costs and restitu- tion.” The city court now must consider a defen- dant’s ability to pay and appoint indigent defen- dants an attorney when they face jail. The East Oregonian tried to reach Minthorn for comment. Attorney Kit Morgan of Pendleton with Legal Aid Services of Ore- gon represented Minthorn in the lawsuit. Morgan said his client did not want to talk about the case. Morgan, too, declined to comment. But Morgan during a hearing Sept. 26 in federal court in Pendleton told Magistrate Judge Patricia Sullivan the city court did not appoint an attorney for Minthorn and never gave her the opportunity to present evidence about her inability to pay. The city court should have done both, he asserted. Pendleton court clerk Marilyn Anderson told Sullivan the city contracts with attorneys to repre- sent defendants at $350 per case, and the court tells the defendants they’re enti- tled to an attorney if any offense has the potential for a jail sentence. Yet when Minthorn could not pay, the munic- ipal judge ordered her to spend 60 days in jail. She ended up doing 55. That judge was Tom Ditton. The Oregon Bar Association reprimanded Ditton in 2002 for failing to give a client an “appropri- ate accounting” of $4,850 for services, according to the Bar’s report. The Bar also suspended Ditton for two months in 2006 after he pocketed $1,000 from a client and did not deliver on services. Ditton resigned from practicing law on Jan. 31, 2014, according to the Bar. That was a standard resig- nation — he was not fac- ing any disciplinary pro- ceedings or investigations. But he was no longer an attorney when he sent Minthorn to jail. Kerns would not answer questions about who can be a city court judge, which the city council hires. She instead responded in an email with, “See applica- ble law,” without referring to any law. Sullivan during the court hearing suggested Minthorn had the right to appeal Ditton’s sentence. Morgan challenged the notion, asking, “But how practical is that to her to exercise that appeal right after she’s been incarcer- ated at a hearing that she didn’t have an attorney appointed for her to repre- sent her?” Sullivan said she agreed with Morgan the court violated Minthorn’s rights, but she still wanted to know how to remedy the wrong. Morgan replied they asked for money damages against the city and con- tended the municipal court has done this to others, set- ting up “a pattern and prac- tice.” The settlement takes care of both concerns. Minthorn received $79,534.10 for emotional harm out of the $130,000, according to the agree- ment, and Legal Aid Ser- vices received $45,000. Another $4,300 went to setting up a trust to admin- ister the settlement pay- ments. About $130 cov- ered liens on the payments. And the city recouped $1,033 in Minthorn’s out- standing court fines. Beyond ending any pat- tern and practice of jailing the poor, the deal required the city to train court employees on the new pol- icy at least annually. Kerns reported the city did that when the policy became effective. One more person may have to take that train- ing — Monte Lunding- ton, former prosecutor with the Umatilla County District Attorney’s Office. He swears in Tuesday as the new municipal court judge. The settlement also requires Pendleton to report on the individu- als the court holds in con- tempt for not paying fees and fines. The city has to provide Minthorn infor- mation on those cases every three months for the next year-and-half. Kerns reported the city has no plans to simply make that information public. In addition to the municipal court adopt- ing the new policies, the agreement calls for the city to adopt them as well. Kerns did not explain why the Pendleton City Coun- cil has not voted to adopt them. Debtor’s jail has been a significant issue for the American Civil Liberties Union, which in 2018 pub- lished a lengthy report of the criminalization of pri- vate debt. According to the report, Oregon is among at least 44 states where civil court judges can jail debtors. Sarah Armstrong is the communications director for the ACLU of Oregon. She said no one knows how prevalent it is for munic- ipal courts in Oregon to send someone to jail for not paying fines, but those court costs put an exces- sive burden on the poor. She credited Minthorn for challenging the Pendleton Municipal Court. “This lawsuit should put all of Oregon on notice to take a look at their prac- tices on this,” Armstrong said. She also said Pendle- ton residents should know what policies the court has and the court should strive to keep people out of the criminal justice system.
