LOCAL COWBOYS OFF
TO NATIONAL RODEO
ECHO MAN IMPROVES CITY ONE
WEED AT A TIME
SPORTS, A8
REGION, A3
FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 2019
E O
AST
143rd Year, No. 177
REGONIAN
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
GOP
senators
leave state
as police are
deployed
Your Weekend
Sen. Bill Hansell
among legislators
who walked out
• Weiner Dog Races,
Pendleton
• Landing Days 2019,
Umatilla
• Wild West Beerfest,
Pendleton
By SARAH ZIMMERMAN
AND GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
Weekend Weather
FRI
SAT
SUN
71/50
81/53
76/50
Milton-
Freewater
superintendent
resigns
Rob Clark
heading to Sequim
School District in
Washington
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
EOCI beekeepers light a smoker that is designed to calm bees.
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
M I LTON-FR EEWAT ER
— Rob Clark spent nearly his
entire educational career in
Washington, and the six years
he didn’t, he
was stationed
just a few miles
away
from
the Evergreen
State’s south-
ern border.
Now,
the
Clark
M ilton-Free -
water Unifi ed
School District superintendent
is readying for a home state
return.
According to the Walla
Walla Union-Bulletin, Clark
announced that he was resign-
ing to take an interim super-
intendent position with the
Sequim School District in
Washington at a school board
meeting Tuesday.
In an interview with the
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
P
ENDLETON — The East-
ern Oregon Correctional
Institution recently had an
escape.
The fugitive isn’t an
inmate, but rather a honey bee —
the queen bee of a hive in EOCI’s
new beekeeping program. One day
she was there overseeing her col-
ony, and the next, she took fl ight.
She is currently on the lam and the
buzz is that she won’t be back.
“She did not care for Hotel
EOCI,” said Ray Peters, who leads
the new beekeeping program.
Since the fl edgling group of
See Bees, Page A7
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
An EOCI beekeeper removes a tray of bees during an attempt to
combine two hives two weeks ago after one hive’s queen disap-
peared.
See Clark, Page A7
SALEM — Oregon Gov.
Kate Brown deployed the state
police Thursday to try to round
up Republican lawmakers who
fl ed the Capitol
to block a vote
on a landmark
economy-wide
climate
plan
that would be
the second of
its kind in the
Hansell
nation.
Minority
Republicans want the cap-and-
trade proposal, which is aimed at
dramatically lowering the state’s
greenhouse gas emissions by
2050, to be sent to voters instead
of being instituted by lawmakers
— but negotiations with Dem-
ocrats collapsed, leading to the
walkout, Kate Gillem, a spokes-
woman for Senate Republicans
said Thursday.
Oregon State Police can force
any senators they track down in
Oregon into a patrol car to return
them to the Capitol, although the
agency said in a statement that it
would use “polite communica-
tion” and patience to bring the
rogue lawmakers back.
Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena,
said Thursday evening that he
had left the state and was some-
where “south of Oregon.” As far
as he had heard, all of the other
Republican senators were also
outside of OSP’s jurisdiction.
“The governor had made it
clear she was going to mobilize
state police and we didn’t really
know what that would mean,”
he said. “Would they force us
to come back? Encourage us
to come back? How extensive
would the search be?”
He said he had received a text
message from OSP superinten-
dent Travis Hampton asking
where he was.
Under state law, the absen-
tee senators will be fi ned $500 a
day per person starting Friday if
enough of them remain absent to
prevent a vote. Democrats have
See Walkout, Page A7
Smoke and drones complicate health, safety during fi re season
Agencies work
together to keep public,
fi refi ghters safe during
fi re season
By KATY NESBITT
For the East Oregonian
PENDLETON — With grass
curing at lower elevations, fi re man-
agers announced they are preparing
for a “normal” fi re season in North-
east Oregon and the accompanying
smoke and safety hazards.
According to Noel Living-
ston, fi re staff offi cer for the Wal-
lowa-Whitman
National
For-
est, “normal” means hot and dry
weather with a few large fi res. He
said this is the fi rst time in many
years the region is not experienc-
ing severe drought conditions. He
credited winter and spring weather
patterns for keeping down the early
season fi re potential.
“We had a fair amount of snow
in February and a cool spring,” LIv-
ingston said. “Warm weather, fol-
lowed by cold and wet tempers the
snow melt.”
While conditions are favorable
for a “business-as-usual” fi re sea-
son, the West’s most typical natu-
See Health, Page A7
AIR QUALITY
To check air quality
across Oregon, visit the
Oregon Department of
Environmental Quality’s
interactive air quality map
at oraqi.deq.state.or.us/
home/map.
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