NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Friday, June 21, 2019
Ranchers: Call sheriff, not WDFW, about wolves, cougars
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
KENNEWICK, Wash.
— A cattlemen’s group
is urging Eastern Wash-
ington residents to report
predator problems to their
county sheriff rather than
the Washington Department
of Fish and Wildlife, a sign
of rancher distrust in the
state’s response to wolves
and cougars.
The Stevens County Cat-
tlemen’s Association accuses
Fish and Wildlife of down-
playing the threat of pred-
ators. Involving the sheriff
will hold state wildlife inves-
tigators accountable, the
association’s president, Scott
Nielsen, said Wednesday.
“It matters who you
notify,” he said. “If the sher-
iff isn’t there, WDFW gets to
control the message.”
Cattlemen in northeast
Washington have long com-
plained that the department
values managing wildlife
over protecting property and
public safety. The perspec-
tive leads Fish and Wild-
life to blame landowners
for conflicts with predators
and colors its probes into
suspected wolf attacks on
livestock, according to the
cattlemen.
Fish and Wildlife said in
a written statement Wednes-
day evening that public
safety is its highest priority.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife/Rich Beausoleil, File
A cattlemen’s group in northeast Washington is reminding the public to contact the local sheriff’s departments in the event
of problems with predators such as cougars.
enforcement, which benefits
everyone,” according to the
statement.
Stevens and Ferry coun-
ties share a deputy assigned
to work with Fish and Wild-
life investigators. The cattle-
men’s group may campaign
this summer to persuade res-
”Each incident is taken
very seriously with a com-
mitment to assist the land-
owner and resolve the issue.
WDFW will continue to
work cooperatively with the
sheriff’s office on a daily
basis, and is committed
to working with local law
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
Pleasant with
clouds and sun
Beautiful with
clouds and sun
Partly sunny,
breezy and nice
Increasing
cloudiness
Partly sunny and
nice
71° 50°
81° 53°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
76° 50°
76° 48°
77° 51°
idents to call the sheriff’s
deputy first.
“I want him in on every
wolf and cougar investiga-
tion,” Nielsen said. “We’re
not going to slam the depart-
ment. We’re going to pro-
mote the sheriff.”
The cattlemen’s call to
Baker County ends contract
with Greg Smith’s company
Drop in revenue
from county
lodging tax cited
as reason
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
78° 54°
86° 57°
81° 54°
81° 51°
OREGON FORECAST
82° 56°
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
63/53
61/47
78/52
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
71/54
Lewiston
69/52
78/55
Astoria
64/54
Pullman
Yakima 78/53
71/49
67/51
Portland
Hermiston
74/55
The Dalles 78/54
Salem
Corvallis
70/48
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
64/42
Bend
73/47
68/41
64/44
Ontario
73/48
Caldwell
Burns
Trace
Trace
0.45"
4.42"
5.10"
5.56"
WINDS (in mph)
70/46
64/38
BAKER CITY — Baker
County’s three-member board
of commissioners voted unan-
imously Wednesday morning
to terminate the county’s con-
tract with Greg Smith & Com-
pany LLC for economic devel-
opment services one year after
the four-year pact took effect.
Commissioners cited as
a reason a significant drop
in revenue from the county’s
lodging tax, 25% of which
goes to economic develop-
ment, as required by a county
ordinance.
Baker County’s lodging
tax
reve-
nue dropped
f r o m
$625,000 in
the 2016-17
fiscal year to
$538,129 in
2017-18. The
Smith
majority of
that money is paid by guests
at lodging establishments in
Baker City.
The county is projecting a
further drop in the lodging tax
revenue, to $420,000, for the
fiscal year that starts July 1.
County
Commission
Chairman Bill Harvey last
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
78/50
Sat.
WSW 6-12
W 6-12
WSW 8-16
W 7-14
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
71/38
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
Last
5:06 a.m.
8:48 p.m.
none
9:10 a.m.
New
First
Full
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 108° in Carrizo Springs, Texas Low 25° in Sunrise Mountain, Ariz.
June 25
July 2
July 9
July 16
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
BRIEFLY
Washington state man arrested
in 2016 killing of ex-wife
KENNEWICK, Wash. (AP) — A Wash-
ington state man has been accused of helping
to plan the killing of his ex-wife in Oregon.
The Tri-City Herald reports 38-year-old
Matthew Hester was arrested Wednesday
in Kennewick, Washington, on charges of
criminal conspiracy to commit murder, solic-
itation of murder and hindering prosecution.
His
wife,
37-year-old
Angela
McCraw-Hester, is accused of stab-
bing 34-year-old Annastasia Hester at her
Gresham, Oregon, home in June 2016.
She is awaiting trial in Oregon on an
aggravated murder charge. She was arrested
at her home in Pocatello, Idaho, in October
2017.
Matthew Hester is expected to be extra-
dited to Oregon.
Gee whiz: Testing of sewage
confirms rise in marijuana use
SEATTLE (AP) — The proof is in the pee.
A new federally funded study has con-
firmed, not surprisingly, that marijuana use
went up in Washington state after its first
legal pot stores opened in 2014. In fact, con-
sumption doubled over three years — a con-
clusion scientists reached after performing
the decidedly unglamorous work of analyzing
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
50s
ice
60s
cold front
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Copyright © 2019, EO Media Group
week described this as a “dras-
tic reduction that has severely
crippled our economic devel-
opment abilities.”
The county has contracted
with Smith, a Republican state
legislator from Heppner, since
2011.
The current contract,
which took effect July 1, 2018,
was slated to continue through
June 30, 2022.
The contract includes a
clause allowing the county to
terminate the pact, with writ-
ten notice to Smith, “if County
funding from federal, state or
other sources is not obtained
and continued at levels suf-
ficient to allow for the pur-
chase of the indicated quantity
of services.”
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
74°
53°
81°
54°
101° (1958) 42° (2012)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
72/49
Trace
0.05"
0.91"
9.33"
6.40"
7.42"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 59/40
73/50
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
71/50
74/55
68°
48°
80°
53°
103° (1900) 38° (1893)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
72/52
Aberdeen
68/50
78/57
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
73/54
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
report predator problems to
the sheriff was triggered in
part by an incident May 26
in Stevens County. A man
hiking with his daughter
shot a wolf and called Fish
and Wildlife immediately.
The sheriff’s office didn’t
learn about the incident until
several days later.
Fish and Wildlife said the
killing was lawful because
the man felt threatened, but
did not say the man and his
daughter were in danger.
The cattlemen’s group says
the department minimized
the threat posed by the wolf.
Stevens County Sheriff
Brad Manke said Wednes-
day he has talked to Fish
and Wildlife about the delay
in telling his office about
the shooting and anticipates
swifter communication in
the future.
“I would expect we would
be notified immediately,”
he said. “We, as the sheriff
office, are not urging citizens
to call us first, but we want
and need the information.”
Stevens County sheriff’s
emergency dispatchers relay
reports of dangerous wildlife
to Fish and Wildlife officers.
When Fish and Wildlife gets
called, the department has
not been as quick in noti-
fying the sheriff’s office or
sharing information, Manke
said.
“In the past, it’s been one
way,” he said. “I think the
situation is improving.”
The Fish and Wildlife
Commission, which usu-
ally meets in Olympia, held
a meeting in Spokane in
March and heard complaints
about the department’s
response to cougars threat-
ening people or property.
70s
80s
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
high
low
PORTLAND (AP) — A registered sex
offender has been sentenced to life in prison
for kidnapping and killing an 89-year-old
Portland woman and hiding her body in the
trunk of his car.
The Multnomah County District Attor-
ney’s Office says Timothy Mackley on
Thursday was sentenced to life in prison
with a minimum of 35 years behind bars for
the slaying of Marcine Herinck.
Mackley pleaded guilty to aggravated
murder, murder, kidnapping, burglary and
abuse of a corpse.
The elderly woman’s disappearance
prompted a frantic search last September.
Prosecutors say Mackley kidnapped
Herinck from her Northeast Portland home
after they met at a thrift shop where she vol-
unteered. Police arrested him Sept. 24 after
pulling over his car and finding her decom-
posing body wrapped in a tarp.
The Oregon State Medical Examiner’s
Office says Herinck died of multiple blunt
force trauma.
CORRECTIONS: The East Oregonian works hard to be accurate and sincerely
regrets any errors. If you notice a mistake in the paper, please call 541-966-0818.
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52 weeks
26 weeks
13 weeks
raw sewage.
The researchers tested wastewater for
a substance that is produced when people
metabolize the active ingredient in pot. It is
excreted in urine.
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