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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 27, 2019)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian A2 Wednesday, November 27, 2019 EOU steps back in time with prehistoric remains Fossilized remains of mammoth or mastodon now at Eastern Oregon University campus By DICK MASON EO Media Group LA GRANDE — A fos- sil is a messenger from the past. Eastern Oregon Univer- sity now has such a mes- sage-carrier on campus — the partially fossilized remains of a mammoth or mastodon, recently recov- ered near Prineville by EOU students and faculty. What information does this creature, which is at least 10,000 years old, have to share? The complete answer may not be known until the mid-2020s. Faculty and students from EOU’s anthropology and biology departments are now beginning the long process of painstakingly cleaning and examining the partial remains of the creature. “We will be working on this for three to five years,” said Rory Becker, an EOU anthropology professor who led a group of students on a dig at the Prineville area site in October with fel- EO Media Group Photo/Dick Mason Eastern Oregon University students Erin Blincoe, left, and Matthew Witzel remove sediment on Nov. 22, 2019, from the bones of what could be a mammoth. low anthropology profes- sor Linda Reed-Jerofke and biology professor Joe Corsini. The remains are of the front quarter of the crea- ture. EOU professors and students hope to find out what happened to the rest of it. “Where did the rest of it go? It is a bit of a mystery,” Corsini said. One possibility is the remains were carried away by carnivores in Central Oregon when mammoths roamed. Corsini said the mammoth will be examined closely for teeth marks that could reveal another animal pulled its remains away. TODAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY Cloudy, windy and cold A.M. snow showers; cloudy Mostly sunny and very cold Cold with some sun Mostly cloudy and cold 41° 26° 35° 18° 46° 31° 41° 18° PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 33° 24° 32° 22° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 35° 17° 34° 23° 34° 23° OREGON FORECAST ALMANAC Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. PENDLETON through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Seattle Olympia 46/30 40/23 41/26 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 40/27 Lewiston 44/26 46/33 Astoria 46/30 Pullman Yakima 42/30 44/25 42/26 Portland Hermiston 45/31 The Dalles 46/31 Salem Corvallis 42/25 Yesterday Normals Records La Grande 38/24 PRECIPITATION John Day Eugene Bend 40/25 29/16 38/21 Ontario 45/26 Caldwell Burns 49° 21° 45° 31° 67° (1933) 4° (1993) 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 43/25 Trace 0.01" 1.02" 4.95" 6.72" 8.30" WINDS (in mph) 45/25 36/9 Trace 0.25" 1.25" 11.56" 8.56" 11.24" through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Pendleton 37/21 43/26 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 41/26 40/31 44° 30° 44° 30° 71° (1892) 1° (1993) PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 45/24 Aberdeen 35/21 35/25 Tacoma Yesterday Normals Records Spokane Wenatchee 45/30 Today Boardman Pendleton Medford 41/21 Thu. NNE 25-35 NNE 15-25 N 6-12 W 4-8 SUN AND MOON Klamath Falls 32/12 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019 Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today First 7:10 a.m. 4:15 p.m. 8:14 a.m. 5:23 p.m. Full Last ture is actually a mastodon rather than a mammoth. Mammoths and mastodons were similar elephant-like creatures. The time period the mammoth or mastodon died will be determined later by dating the age of the sed- iment around it through a process known as optically stimulated luminescence. The OSL dating work will be done at a Utah State Uni- versity, Becker said. The sediment samples from the dig site have not been exposed to light for thousands of years. The sediment was placed in tubes in a manner to prevent light exposure. While EOU faculty and students don’t yet know how far back in time they stepped during their dig, the magnitude of the opportu- nity it provided is not lost them. Some, like EOU stu- dent Hannah Wilhelm, were students new to anthropol- ogy who found themselves thrust into a graduate level atmosphere. “It is a cool opportu- nity to experience this in an intro level class,” she said. EOU student Lydia Hurty knows she might never be a part of something like it again. She described it as “a once-in-a-lifetime experience.” Oregon cigarette tax supporters reveal massive early war chest Forecast for Pendleton Area 29° 16° Construction workers in a gravel quarry owned by Craig Woodward, an EOU alum, discovered the pre- historic remains earlier this year. He immediately alerted Eastern about the find. Woodward died not long after the bones were discovered and his fam- ily carried out his wish of making them available to Eastern. The bones were 30 feet below the surface, accord- ing to an EOU news release, but only 6 inches of soil covered them when the party from EOU arrived. This meant they had to be exceedingly cautious about where they tread. EOU stu- dent Erin Blincoe noted she was surprised at one point to learn she was nearly stand- ing on an ancient vertebrae. “I had to be careful,” she said. “I did not want to dam- age it.” The vertebrae were suc- cessfully removed from the site in addition to giant front-leg bones, including ulna, radius and humerus, as well as tusks and a cra- nium. Corsini said the ani- mal may have been a juve- nile because the ends of its long bones do not appear to be fused at the shaft. To protect the bones found at the Prineville area site, they were packed in sediment and then covered with plaster before being transported to La Grande. Some of the smaller bones, including teeth, may be enclosed within the larger sections that were carefully packed out. Corsini said he hopes the teeth can be found because they would help determine whether the crea- By DIRK VANDERHART Oregon Public Broadcasting SALEM — Health pro- viders are sending a message to tobacco companies gear- ing up to fight a proposed $2-per-pack hike on cigarette taxes in Oregon: Be prepared to spend big. On Monday, the campaign that will seek to convince vot- ers to approve the tax increase next year unveiled nearly $9 million in contributions from seven health systems that do business in Oregon. That includes a nearly $3.3 mil- lion infusion from Washing- ton-based Providence Health & Services, which runs eight hospitals in Oregon. In addition, Oregonians For A Smoke Free Tomor- row reported $200,000 from a political action committee associated with nurses in the state. In total, the contributions amount to a massive early influx that suggests propo- nents of the tax increase will be ready to match spending by opponents. Tobacco inter- ests succeeded in defeating Oregon’s last serious attempt to hike tobacco taxes in 2007, outspending proponents of that increase by around $8 million. For the current effort, tax hike supporters have long been clear they would lean on support from the health care industry. While this round of con- tributions was collected over the course of weeks, the cam- paign reported the money to the state on Monday, also issuing a news release to highlight the support. “Big Tobacco has a his- tory of spending millions in our state to deceive vot- ers,” a Warren, Oregon, nurse named Melissa Busch is quoted as saying in the press release. “Our campaign is backed by nurses, physi- cians, providers, nonprofit health care organizations, and unions and we are going to stand united against Big Tobacco’s misinformation campaign.” Under a ballot measure referred to voters in this year’s legislative session, Ore- gon’s cigarette taxes would increase from $1.33 per pack to $3.33 per pack, bringing the state closer in line with Washington and California. The measure would also lift taxes on premium cigars and institute a 65% tax on e-cig- arette sales for the first time. If passed, the tax changes are expected to bring in hun- dreds of millions of dollars that Democrats want to use to stabilize the state’s Medicaid system, known as the Oregon Health Plan. Public health officials have said the move could also be important for discourag- ing people from smoking. That’s a point that the pro-tax campaign seized on Monday, citing recent deaths from ill- nesses linked to vaping, and the popularity of e-cigarettes with teens. State officials have sug- gested in the past that a 10% increase in the price of ciga- rettes could cut smoking by 8%. The tax increase voters will take up next year would increase prices by around one-third. New NATIONAL EXTREMES BRIEFLY Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 88° in Kingsville, Texas Low -11° in West Yellowstone, Mont. Dec 3 Dec 11 Dec 18 Dec 25 NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY Citizens asked to document king tides for climate science PORTLAND — Oregonians are being called on to take pictures of the coast this week. For science. Coastwatch volunteer coordinator Jesse Jones says photos of extra high tides hap- pening Nov. 24-28 and peaking Nov. 26, can help scientists learn how different commu- nities will be impacted by climate change. Oregon Public Broadcasting reported photographs taken by citizen scientists and assembled by the Oregon King Tides Proj- ect can show where the water might be when the oceans rise. The Oregon King Tides project wants pictures from all along the coast, to help fig- ure out how to plan for rising seas. In par- ticular, they need photographs of beaches as well as familiar landmarks like jetties, bridges, buildings, roads, seawall, shore- lines, beach infrastructure and estuaries. Jones notes the most helpful beach pic- tures are taken facing north or south, so that it’s clear how far in or out the tide has come. Participants can upload the images to the Oregon King Tides website or post them to social media with the hashtags #orking- tides and #kingtides.$2 million in dam- ages. It also forced the evacuation of mul- tiple homes. Singerhouse’s court-appointed attor- ney, Aubrey Hoffman, did not immediately return a call. Officials say community tips, including surveillance video from a northeast Port- land business, helped detectives identify Singerhouse as the suspect. Court documents say Singerhouse told police he had started “dozens” of fires. — Associated Press 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 E AST O REGONIAN — Founded Oct. 16, 1875 — 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211 333 E. 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