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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 25, 2019)
RECORDS Friday, October 25, 2019 East Oregonian A5 PUBLIC SAFETY OBITUARY DEATH NOTICE WEDNESDAY Jeannine Irene Peterson Virginia ‘Tobie’ Williams Pendleton April 27, 1933 — October 23, 2019 Elgin Oct. 23, 2019 Jeannine Irene Peter- less celebrations under her son, age 86, passed away beloved tiki lights on the on Wednesday, October 23, back deck. She had a beau- 2019, in Pendleton, Oregon. tiful smile and a contagious She was born in Sandpoint, love for life. She will be remembered as a Idaho, to Howard person who was and Lucille Melvin always kind and on April 27, 1933. graceful — and She grew up in especially for her Sandpoint, Spo- kane, Washing- amazingly posi- tive attitude. ton, and Portland, She is survived Oregon. She met by her brother the love of her life, Vern Melvin Don R. Peterson, (Jeannie); her chil- while in Portland. dren Karla Robin- Peterson They were mar- son (Craig), Karen ried in Spokane in 1954. Don and Jeannine Bordenkircher (Rick), and lived in Klamath Falls, Port- Jon Peterson (Shelli); her land, Pendleton, Wilson- grandchildren Lindsey ville, and finally Pendleton Coiner, Jeff Waterland, Kyle again upon Don’s retirement Waterland, Mike Borden- kircher, Kory Stump, Megan in 1995. Jeannine’s passion was Bordenkircher, Taylor Peter- her family. She supported son and Jack Peterson; and Don in all of his profes- her five great-grandchildren. sional activities and endeav- The family would like to ors, and she served as the thank the incredible team backbone of the family. She at Suttle Care in Pendleton, loved spending time with Oregon, where she lived the family, especially her eight last several years of her life. grandchildren and her five A memorial service for great-grandchildren. family and friends will be Jeannine was a great held at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, friend to many. She loved October 30 at Pendleton Pio- spending time with family neer Chapel Folsom-Bishop. Online condolences may and friends at their vacation home in Priest Lake, Idaho, be sent to www.pioneer- where she hosted count- chapel.com. Virginia “Tobie” Williams, 81, of Elgin, died Wednes- day, Oct. 23, 2019, in La Grande. A memorial service will be held Saturday, Nov. 2 at 2 p.m. at the Elgin Stampede Hall. Casual dress is preferred by the family. A full obituary will be published at a later time. Loveland Funeral Chapel & Crematory is handling the arrangements. 3:11 a.m. — An Ione resident reported the chicken coop next to their house was on fire, and a large tree hangs over the coop and the house. The Ione Rural Fire Protection District, Mor- row County Sheriff’s Office and other agencies responded. 8:48 a.m. — An employee at the Crossroad Truck Stop, 2020 Highway 730, Umatilla, reported a black and red GMC Sierra with Montana plates parked by the diesel island for a while and the occupant won’t acknowledge the attendant. The caller asked police to check on this because the driver needs to move on. 9:18 a.m. — An Irrigon resident on Southeast Utah Avenue reported a Ford Taurus turned around in front of his house and he told a passenger to tell the driver to go down to the cor- ner for that, and the passenger started “running his mouth.” The Morrow County Sheriff’s Office told the caller there is nothing illegal about turning around in front of his house. 9:42 a.m. — The Morrow County Sheriff’s Office received another driving complaint from a resident on Southeast Utah Avenue, Irrigon. The caller was “very irate” about the driver of a blue Mitsubishi for revving the engine and harassing him whenever he walks across the street. Nothing indicated this caller was the person who com- plained about the car turning around in front of his house. 9:44 a.m. — The Morrow County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a male in Hepper assaulting his girlfriend and bloody- ing her face. The case is under investigation. 11:58 p.m. — The Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office took a report for a burglary on the 32600 block of East Punkin Center Road, Hermiston. 3:39 p.m. — Hermiston police received a complaint about barking dogs at a residence on Southeast Fifth Street. The caller said a least two dogs were inside and perhaps more, and the dogs are always in cages, all day and all night. The caller asked police to check on the situation and contact him after. 8:35 p.m. — A 911 caller told Pendleton police she was chas- ing after a vehicle that cut her off in traffic on the 1900 block of Southwest Emigrant Avenue. Police responded, but did not find find the vehicles involved. 8:52 p.m. — A woman on Umatilla River Road, Hermiston, called 911 for police. She said her “ex” climbed on the hood of her car and put his foot through the windshield. The Uma- tilla County Sheriff’s Office responded and took the report, and Umatilla police assisted. 9:08 p.m. — Hermiston police responded to a report of a burglary on the 600 block of East Gladys Avenue. 10:05 p.m. — A caller on Southwest 15th Street, Pendleton, reported a female was “attacking guys by the insurance place.” 11 p.m. — A woman on Rome Street, Boardman, called 911 and reported someone entered the back of her car, but she was outside the car at that moment. ARRESTS, CITATIONS •Pendleton police at about 4:25 p.m. responded to the Riv- erside Veterinary Clinic, 2504 N.E. Riverside Place, on a report about an employee theft. Police arrested Megan Amity Rochelle Simmons, 40, of Pendleton, for misdemeanor and felony pos- session of federally controlled substances and second-degree theft. •Morrow County Sheriff’s Office arrested Steven Thomas Hilling, 61, for driving under the influence of intoxicants. •Pendleton police arrested Mischelle Cherie Keyser, 47, of Pendleton, for theft of services and second-degree trespassing, both misdemeanors, and for aggravated harassment, a felony. MEETINGS FRIDAY, OCT. 25 No meetings scheduled MONDAY, OCT. 28 UMATILLA COUNTY SPECIAL LIBRARY DISTRICT WORK SESSION, 5:15 p.m., Hermiston Public Library, 235 E. Gladys Ave., Hermiston. Directors will receive reports about last fiscal year’s Annual Library Service Plans. (Dea Nowell 541-966-0917) UMATILLA BASIN WATERSHED COUNCIL, 6 p.m., Eastern Oregon Higher Education Center room 134, 975 S.E. Columbia Drive, Hermiston. (Michael T. Ward 541-276-2190) IRRIGON COMMUNITY PARKS & RECREATION DIS- TRICT, 7 p.m., Irrigon Fire Station, 705 N. Main St., Irrigon. (541-922-3047) MORROW COUNTY HEALTH DISTRICT, 7 p.m., Morrow County Grain Growers conference room, 350 Main St., Lexing- ton. (Tonia Adams 541-676-2942) HERMISTON CITY COUNCIL, 7 p.m., Hermiston City Hall council chambers, 180 N.E. Second St., Hermiston. (541-567-5521) MILTON-FREEWATER CITY COUNCIL, 7 p.m., Milton-Freewa- ter Public Library Albee Room, 8 S.W. EIghth Ave., Milton-Free- water. (541-938-5531) TUESDAY, OCT. 29 MORROW COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION, 7 p.m., Port of Morrow Riverfront Center, 2 Marine Drive, Boardman. (Stephanie Loving 541-922-4624) WEDNESDAY, OCT. 30 MORROW COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, 9 a.m., Bartholomew Government Building upper conference room, 110 N. Court St., Heppner. (Roberta Lutcher 541-676-5613) THURSDAY, OCT. 31-FRIDAY, NOV. 1 No meetings scheduled OBITUARY POLICY The East Oregonian publishes paid obituaries. The obituary can include small photos and, for veterans, a flag symbol at no charge. Obituaries may be edited for spelling, proper punctuation and style. Expanded death notices will be published at no charge. These include information about services. Obituaries and notices can be submitted online at EastOregonian.com/obituaryform, by email to obits@ eastoregonian.com, by fax to 541-276-8314, placed via the funeral home or in person at the East Oregonian office. For more information, call 541-966-0818 or 1-800-522-0255, ext. 221. LOTTERY Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019 Megabucks 03-12-19-41-46-48 Estimated jackpot: $4.8 million Powerball 05-12-50-61-69 Powerball: 23 Power Play: 2 Estimated jackpot: $120 million Win for Life 40-58-66-75 Lucky Lines 04-08-10-15-18-23-28-31 Estimated jackpot: $27,000 Pick 4 1 p.m.: 5-5-7-0 4 p.m.: 6-6-8-4 7 p.m.: 6-7-7-8 10 p.m.: 6-5-7-2 Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019 Pick 4 1 p.m.: 3-7-2-3 UPCOMING SERVICES FRIDAY, OCT. 25 BATES, JIM — Viewing from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Jenkins-Soffe Funeral Home, 4760 S. State St., Murray, Utah. Graveside services will follow at 1 p.m. at Elysian Burial Gardens, 1075 East 4580 South, Millcreek, Utah. BICKLER, NANCY — Mass of Christian Burial at 1 p.m. at Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church, 565 W. Hermiston Ave., Hermiston. Burial will follow at the Herm- iston Cemetery. CARVER, TESSA — Celebration of life service at 6 p.m. at the Pendleton Seventh-day Adventist Church, 1401 S.W. Goodwin Place. DYKES, JOSH — Memorial service at 3 p.m. at Bethel Church, 600 Shockley Road, Richland, Wash. A celebration of life will follow immediately at Musser Bros. 3125 Rick- enbacker Drive, Pasco, Wash. SATURDAY, OCT. 26 COLLINS, DICK — Celebration of life at 11 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 201 S.W. Dorion Ave., Pendle- ton, with a reception following in the Rogers Fellowship Hall. LOWRANCE, EDNA — Celebration of life service at 11 a.m. at Landmark Missionary Baptist Church, 125 E. Beech St., Hermiston. PAINE, DOUG — Funeral service at 11 a.m. at the Hermiston Christian Center, 1825 W. Highland Ave., Hermiston. Burial will follow at the Hermiston Cemetery. ROOP, CHRIS — Memorial service at 2 p.m. at Burns Mortuary, 336 S.W. Dorion Ave., Pendleton. Purple sea urchin explosion off California, Oregon decimates kelp By GILLIAN FLACCUS AND TERENCE CHEA Associated Press NEWPORT — Tens of millions of voracious pur- ple sea urchins that have already chomped their way through towering underwater kelp forests in California are spreading north to Oregon, sending the delicate marine ecosystem off the shore into such disarray that other crit- ical species are starving to death. A recent count found 350 million purple sea urchins on one Oregon reef alone — a more than 10,000% increase since 2014. And in Northern California, 90% of the giant bull kelp forests have been devoured by the urchins, per- haps never to return. Vast “urchin barrens” — stretches of denuded seafloor dotted with nothing but hun- dreds of the spiny orbs — have spread to coastal Ore- gon, where kelp forests were once so thick it was impossi- ble to navigate some areas by boat. The underwater annihila- tion is killing off important fisheries for red abalone and red sea urchins and creat- ing such havoc that scientists in California are partnering with a private business to col- lect the over-abundant purple urchins and “ranch” them in a controlled environment for ultimate sale to a global sea- food market. “We’re in uncharted ter- ritory,” said Scott Groth, a shellfish scientist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “You can’t just go out and smash them. There’s too many. I don’t know what we can do.” The explosion of pur- ple sea urchins is the latest symptom of a Pacific North- west marine ecosystem that’s out of whack. Kelp has been struggling because of warmer-than- usual waters in the Pacific Ocean. And, in 2013, a mys- terious disease began wip- ing out tens of millions of starfish, including a species called the sunflower sea star that is the only real preda- tor of the ultra-hardy pur- ple urchin. Around the same time, the purple urchins had two excellent breeding years — and with no predators, those gametes grew up and are now eating everything in sight. “You can imagine all of these small urchins growing up, each one of them looking for food, desperate for food. They’re literally starving out there,” said Steven Rumrill, AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus, File In this Oct. 16, 2019, file photo, a purple sea urchin sits in a touch tank at the Marine Hatfield Science Center in Newport. lead shellfish expert at Ore- gon’s wildlife agency. “I’ve seen some big-scale fluctua- tions in the populations of sea stars and urchins, but never on this magnitude.” Scientists aren’t yet sure if climate change is responsible for the sea urchin explosion, but they suspect it plays a role in the cascade of events that allowed the purple urchins to boom. And kelp, already under siege from warming waters, is not as resilient as it once was, said Norah Eddy, an associate director at the Nature Conservancy Califor- nia’s oceans program. “We’re going to see cli- mate change as a big driver of changes in kelp forest as we move forward, and we are already seeing that,” said Eddy, who is leading an effort to use drones to map and monitor Northern Cali- fornia’s last remaining kelp forests. The devastation is also economic: Until now, red abalone and red sea urchins, a larger and meatier species of urchin, supported a thriv- ing commercial fishery in both states. But 96% of red abalone have disappeared from California’s northern coast as the number of purple sea urchins increased sixfold, according to a study released this week by the University of California, Davis. Last year, California closed its red abalone fishery, which poured an estimated $44 million into the coastal economy per year, and Ore- gon suspended permits for its 300 abalone divers for three years. The commercial har- vest of red sea urchins in Cal- ifornia and Oregon also has taken a massive hit. “That’s a huge economic loss for our small coastal communities,” said Cynthia Catton, a research associate with the University of Cali- fornia, Davis Bodega Marine Lab. “In California, there were 30,000 to 40,000 par- ticipants in (the abalone) fish- ery every year for decades, and for the first time ever that fishery had to close.” And while the purple urchins have eaten them- selves into starvation as well, unlike other kelp-depen- dent creatures, the species can go into a dormant state, stop reproducing and live for years with no food. That means the only way to restore the kelp is to remove or destroy the purple urchins. Scientists estimate that in Oregon alone, it would take 15 to 20 years to remove all 100 million pounds of purple urchins recently sur- veyed on just one large reef. While urchins are in star- vation mode, the edible part — known as roe — shrivels, making them commercially worthless. Against this backdrop, conservationists, commercial urchin harvesters, scientists and private interests are com- ing together with an unusual plan: Pay underemployed red sea urchin divers to col- lect the shriveled, but living, purple sea urchins and trans- fer them to carefully tended urchin “ranches” to be fat- tened up for sale to seafood markets around the world. One company, Urchinom- ics, is already working on urchin ranching projects in Japan, Canada and California and sees a future where the overwhelming demand for wild urchin roe is replaced by a taste for human-raised pur- ple urchins collected from the seafloor, allowing kelp forests to rebound. “We’re turning an eco- logical problem into an eco- logical opportunity and an economic opportunity,” said Brian Takeda, the Urchi- nomics CEO. “It’s the first time we’ve ever had an eco- nomic incentive to get these destructive urchins out of the water.” In Oregon, red urchin divers are a tiny artisanal collective, but they are also exploring ways to try to turn the glut of destructive purple urchins to their advantage. Oregon’s urchin fishery had a boom year last year, when red urchins were scarce in California but before their purple cousins had spread north. Now, they too are hurting. Rumrill, the shellfish expert from Oregon, sup- ports efforts to harvest excess urchins but strikes a less opti- mistic note when it comes to saving the kelp. “That’s a promising tech- nique. But we shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking that we’re going to solve this large-scale ecological prob- lem, this literal perfect storm of events, by eating our way out,” he said. “It’s just too big a problem.”
