REGION
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
House fi re cleanup could
cost Heppner thousands
By JESSICA POLLARD
East Oregonian
HEPPNER — A house
destroyed by fi re more than
two months ago remains gut-
ted but still standing at 485
Linden Way, and the owner
has yet to clean the remains.
A public hearing will be
held on June 24 to see if the
city of Heppner will be left
with cleanup responsibilities,
a process that is estimated to
cost $18,000 minimum.
The estimate, which came
from a bid issued by Miller
and Sons Excavation and
Disposal, includes an asbes-
tos assessment. If asbestos
is found on the site of the
home — which according to
county records was built in
1918 — the cleanup could be
more expensive.
If the owner, Megan Fut-
ter, fails to show at the hear-
ing and take responsibility
for cleaning the property, the
city will begin the abatement
process on the house.
City Manager Kraig
Cutsforth said the money for
the cleanup will be available
July 1.
The Heppner Gazette
Times reported that City
Attorney Bill Kuhn said the
insurance company had yet
to cooperate, and neither had
Futter.
Kuhn was unable to
be reached for comment
at this time, and Cutsforth
was unable to confi rm any-
thing about the insurance
company.
At a city council meet-
ing in May, next-door neigh-
bor Jay Keithley said the
burnt remains of the house
smelled so bad, he couldn’t
sit out in his yard. He claims
to have called the insurance
company but received no
response.
The city then issued a
Notifi cation of Nuisance to
Futter on June 10, declar-
ing the burnt home a dan-
gerous building which is
in threat of collapse or
East Oregonian
Diane Berry
honored by state
senate for service
endangering others.
“We’re hoping the owner
of the property will come
forward,” Cutsforth said.
Futter was an employee
at the Gazette Times when
she was arrested in January
with two counts of unlaw-
ful delivery of methamphet-
amine within 1,000 feet of
a school. She is no longer
employed by the paper.
She is currently out on
bail, awaiting a ruling on her
case.
Cutsforth said Futter is
in the area, but has no phone
number or residency in Hep-
pner at this time.
She was allegedly out
of town when the 2:30 a.m.
fi re on April 2 destroyed the
house. No one was injured
and, according to Cutsforth,
no foul play is suspected.
“It’s all still in the inves-
tigators hands,” said Hep-
pner Fire Department Chief
Rusty Estes. “It needs to be
torn down because the dam-
age is so severe.”
Haul up the barrel
Global Diving and Salvage work-
ers and an Environmental Protec-
tion Agency crew pull a contain-
ment drum that holds the fi rst
of about a dozen hazardous or
intact barrels from Wallowa Lake
on Sunday afternoon. This barrel,
marked 2,4-D or 2,4,5-T proved to
be old, rusted and punctured, and
held only lake water. Last summer,
the diving group Blue Mountain
Divers were swimming along the
lake’s bottom when they came
across a barrel labeled as contain-
ing one of two defoliants — 2,4-
D or 2,4,5-T. Combined, the two
chemicals were once known by
another name: Agent Orange. The
herbicide was used extensively
in the Vietnam War and has been
connected to numerous illnesses
among veterans and civilians who
were exposed.
EOMG photo by Ellen Morris Bishop/Wal-
lowa County Chieftain
ECHO — Longtime
Echo city administrator and
fi fth-generation Echo resi-
dent Diane Berry was hon-
ored by the state senate for
her decades of service to the
community.
On Wednesday, the sen-
ate unanimously passed Sen-
ate Resolution 2, contain-
ing a long
list of Ber-
ry’s achieve-
m e n t s
during her
39 years as
Berry
city admin-
istrator. A
few of those included “leg-
endary” grant-writing skills
to fund projects in Echo,
renovating historical build-
ings, installing art and other
improvements downtown,
gaining Tree City USA sta-
tus and leading the city to
win the America in Bloom
competition three times.
“(We) recognize and
honor Diane Berry for her
remarkable career, and we
express our gratitude for
her contributions to the
City of Echo and the State
of Oregon; and be it fur-
ther Resolved, That we wish
Diane Berry well in her
retirement,” the resolution
stated.
Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Ath-
ena, introduced the resolu-
tion and said in a Facebook
post that it was “really spe-
cial” to be able to give her
the highest honor Oregon’s
senate can bestow.
Inmate dies at
Pendleton
prison
PENDLETON — An
inmate serving time for
manslaughter died Sunday
morning at Eastern Oregon
Correctional
Institution,
Pendleton.
The Oregon Department
of Corrections reported
prison offi cials followed
LOCAL BRIEFING
protocol and notifi ed the
Oregon State Police of the
death of Ajon Brandon Web-
ster, 29. The medical exam-
iner will determine cause of
death, according to correc-
tions, which will not release
more details now.
Webster entered state
prison custody on Oct. 8,
2018, out of Multnomah
County after pleading guilty
to fi rst-degree manslaughter
and felon in possession of a
fi rearm. His earliest release
date was Aug. 14, 2036.
B2H meetings
in Pendleton,
Boardman
SALEM — The Oregon
Department of Energy and
the Energy Facility Siting
Council will hold a series
of public hearings on the
Draft Proposed Order for the
Boardman to Hemingway
Transmission Line in East-
ern Oregon this month.
The fi rst hearing is sched-
uled for 4:30 p.m. June 26 at
the Pendleton Convention
Center. Morrow County will
host a meeting at 4:30 p.m.
June 27 at the Port of Mor-
row in Boardman. Meet-
ings are also scheduled for
Ontario, Baker City and La
Grande. The hearings will
include a short informa-
tion session about the pro-
posed transmission line in
each county followed by
an opportunity for public
comments.
The proposed 500-kilo-
volt Boardman to Hem-
ingway Transmission Line
would run about 300 miles
from Boardman to a sub-
station in Southwest Idaho.
The Idaho Power-proposed
transmission line would run
through fi ve Oregon coun-
ties, and would add a new
substation in Boardman.
City adds sewer
line to water
project
HERMISTON — In the
spirit of effi ciency, contrac-
tors installing a new water
main for the city of Herm-
iston are adding about 1,500
feet of sewer line as well.
The water main along
East Theater Lane is part of
a larger infrastructure proj-
ect to attract new housing
developments to northeast-
ern Hermiston by making it
less cost-prohibitive to serve
the homes with utilities.
The sewer line will serve
the new Cimmaron Ter-
race subdivision going in off
Theater Lane. Assistant city
manager Mark Morgan said
the city plans to pave part
of East Theater Lane later
this year, so it made sense
to add the sewer line now so
that the developer could use
the same contractor and the
road didn’t get torn up again
immediately after paving.
The developer is help-
ing pay for the line, along
with about $30,000 from the
Hermiston School District.
The district plans to build a
new elementary school off
Theater Lane when it can
get a bond passed, and Mor-
gan said the district will
benefi t greatly from Cim-
maron Terrace bringing the
sewer line much closer than
it would otherwise be to the
future school.
6/18
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