OFF PAGE ONE
Thursday, May 21, 2020
East Oregonian
A9
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Vehicles drive through floodwaters while traversing Highway 395 in Pilot Rock on Wednes-
day afternoon.
People help to push a car free of the river so that an excavator could begin work clearing
debris that had snagged on a bridge in Pilot Rock on Wednesday.
Floodwaters: ‘I just came down to help however I could’
Continued from Page A1
on families. As the water
continued to rise, crews
from Hatley Construction
brought in heavy equipment
and helped to begin clearing
trees and other debris that
had become snagged on the
city’s bridges, effectively
obstructing the creek.
“I just came down to
help however I could,” said
Bernabe.
Despite efforts to block
them, the rising floodwa-
ters inundated the park-
ing lot and gas pumps of
the gas station and leaked
into the grocery store as
crews rushed to sandbag its
entrance.
Pilot Rock Mayor Vir-
ginia Carnes said flood-
ing is worst where East and
West Birch creeks come
together near the center of
town, swamping businesses
and homes. Carnes said the
community center is open
for evacuees.
“We have a lot of peo-
ple out sandbagging,” she
said. “There’s a lot of water
running.”
Recent heavy rains led to
flooding in Pilot Rock and
landslides that shut down
East Birch Creek Road
south of Pilot Rock.
National Weather Ser-
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Pilot Rock Fire Protection District crews help to sandbag the entrance to Pilot Rock Family Foods on Wednesday afternoon.
vice hydrologist Marilyn
Lohmann said an area about
8 miles south of Pilot Rock
received the heaviest rain-
fall over the past 24-hour
period. She estimated the
amount to be anywhere
from 3.5-5 inches, judg-
ing from observer reports.
She said the weather ser-
vice also received reports of
flooding on Pine Creek near
Weston.
“There could be minor
flooding in just about every
stream across the region
with the amount of rain
that’s fallen,” Lohmann
said.
McKay Creek is also a
concern.
“It increased to around
2,000 cubic feet per sec-
ond before coming into
the reservoir this after-
noon,” Lohmann said. “It’s
expected to peak at close to
3,500 cfs tonight and start
to back down.”
The city of Pendleton
reported that flow releases
from McKay Dam would
increase by 50 cubic feet
per second increments to a
release of 1,100 cfs by 7 p.m.
Wednesday to accommo-
date the higher inflow.
Thursday is expected to
bring more rain, but it will
be lighter, Lohmann said,
with anywhere from one-
tenth to one-quarter of an
inch. Colder air will arrive
on Thursday night, with
snow falling above 3,000
feet in some locations.
The weather will turn
drier and warmer heading
into the weekend, with rain
returning on Monday.
Flooding in the region
has
prompted
Oregon
Department of Transporta-
tion to close several high-
ways. U.S. Highway 395
south of Pilot Rock, Ore-
gon Highway 244 between
Ukiah and Hilgard, and
Oregon
Highway
237
between Cove and Union
near milepost 19 expected
to stay closed through the
night. Other areas are expe-
riencing a rapid rise in riv-
ers and streams.
———
East Oregonian reporter
Kathy Aney contributed to
this report.
Pendleton: Voters vote no on 4-cent gas tax for road repairs
Continued from Page A1
the voters of the North Hill
district.
Shumake said she was
glad the race was con-
tested, adding that one-can-
didate races were undemo-
cratic, before vowing to stay
involved with Pendleton city
government.
“I’ll be back,” she said.
Neither candidate thought
they would run when former
Councilor Scott Fairley was
the incumbent, but his sud-
den death in early January
created an opening for the
first-time candidates.
The council appointed
former Councilor Chuck
Wood to fill Fairley’s seat
through the end of the year,
and although he’s enjoyed
his second stint on the coun-
cil, Wood said Wednesday
that he intends to follow
through on his promise to
step down early to make way
for the winner of the Ward 2
race.
Wood said there isn’t a
definitive date for his res-
ignation, but conversations
between himself, Brandsen
and Mayor John Turner point
to a transition sometime in
September. Brandsen’s full
four-year term will start in
January.
In the only other con-
tested race, Ward 3 incum-
bent Dale Primmer handily
turned back a challenge from
retiree Larry Anderson.
Going into the race, Prim-
mer said he felt good about
his first term and the support
he built from constituents,
noting that he received more
votes this year than he did in
2016.
Anderson didn’t have any
harsh words for his oppo-
nent, saying Primmer was
“one of the good ones” on
the council.
Anderson said he entered
the race for the south Pendle-
ton ward to raise awareness
about the city’s spending
habits rather than any issue
he had with Primmer.
“If I wasn’t running, I
probably would’ve voted for
him,” Anderson said.
Retired U.S. Forest Ser-
vice administrator Kevin
Martin ran unopposed for
the open Ward 1 seat, and
he’ll replace the retiring
Becky Marks next year.
Turner and at-large Coun-
cilor Paul Chalmers both ran
unopposed and easily won
second terms Tuesday night.
Voters reject tax
measures
Pendleton voters were not
as kind to the two tax mea-
sures on their ballots.
Similar to 2015, residents
handily rejected a 4-cent gas
tax proposed to fund street
repair. Pendleton city offi-
cials hadn’t placed much
optimism in its passage after
November: Traditional campaigning in virus’ wake
Continued from Page A1
he was excited to receive as
significant a portion of the
vote as he did despite four
other candidates entered in
the race.
Though confident enter-
ing Tuesday, Beers said
she still felt pleasantly sur-
prised by the result and
was looking forward to the
opportunity to continue her
campaign into November.
“I’m very excited about
it,” she said. “I’m delighted
and humbled by all the peo-
ple who supported me.”
Dorran’s campaign lead-
ing into the primary leaned
on his extensive experience
in the community serving
on a variety of commit-
tees and boards, including
his nearly 20 years in var-
ious roles on the Umatilla
County Fair Board. While
that record resonated with
voters Tuesday night, Dor-
ran felt the campaigning
process as a whole was still
impacted by the COVID-19
pandemic.
“It’s a shame we weren’t
able to have conversations
in front of and with the pub-
lic,” he said. “I think that
would have really had a big
impact on how the voting
went.”
Though it was an unorth-
odox first campaign due to
COVID-19 for Beers, who
is a self-proclaimed con-
stitutionalist and leader of
the Umatilla County Three
Percenters, it also placed a
greater emphasis on social
media campaigning.
With a strong following
built up on her Facebook
page, Beers credited her
social media presence for
some of her success in the
primary. But now that she’s
separated herself and set up
a showdown with Dorran
in November, Beers plans
to dive right into the next
stage of her campaign.
“I plan to pursue a very
diligent campaign against
Mr. Dorran. He’s a very
formidable opponent,” she
said. “I was sort of wing-
ing it at times during the
primary — there won’t
be any winging it moving
forward.”
That “diligent cam-
paign” begins Monday,
when Beers will be meeting
with a steering committee
she formed of five trusted
friends and advisors to out-
line and organize her next
steps.
While no stranger to
public service, Dorran is
also running his first offi-
cial campaign and is hope-
ful more traditional meth-
ods will be available to him
now that restrictions due
to COVID-19 begin to lift
locally.
“We’re really looking
forward to having more
opportunities for a tradi-
tional campaign moving
forward,” he said.
Those traditional meth-
ods will allow for more
face-to-face
discussions
and opportunities to meet
voters, Dorran said, which
will be helpful now as the
race dwindles down to two
and differentiating one’s
platform from another
becomes more critical.
Beers highlighted that
these opportunities to
meet with voters will also
be an opportunity for her
and Dorran to learn from
the voters what it is that
they’d like to see on their
platforms. Throughout her
campaign so far, Beers has
touted herself as an oppor-
tunity for voters to make
a change in the type of
leader they elect by being a
more accurate voice of the
people.
“It’s not my agenda, it’s
your agenda,” she said.
Both Dorran and Beers
voiced some disappoint-
ment in the county’s overall
voter turnout, which was
reported at right around
36% of the 45,240 eligi-
ble voters. Regardless,
the two will have months
more of opportunity in
a smaller, more concen-
trated campaign before vot-
ers will make their final
choice between them in
November.
the pro-gas tax political
action committee pulled its
support in late March as the
pandemic set in.
That didn’t stop the No
Pendleton Gas Tax PAC, a
group funded by gas sta-
tion owners and oil distribu-
tors, from raising $11,700 to
defeat the tax.
As of Wednesday, nearly
two out of three voters cast a
ballot against the gas tax.
Despite the setback,
Turner has said that the
council is still invested in
raising more than $1 mil-
lion in additional funding for
street repair.
The fall of the gas tax
wasn’t reflective of a regional
trend.
Milton-Freewater
renewed a public transpor-
tation levy, the Echo Fire
District passed a $500,000
bond and Boardman passed
a bond of its own for water
and wastewater facilities.
One glaring excep-
tion was a general opera-
tions levy for the Pendleton
School District.
After voters approved
and renewed the levy sev-
eral times since 2000, the
levy was narrowly defeated
on Tuesday,
As the school district pre-
pares for deep cuts in state
funding, school officials
will have to figure out how
to make up for the loss of
$300,000 in revenue the levy
generated.
Bentz: ‘Cliff is a good man’
Continued from Page A1
cans to replace Rep. Greg
Walden, R-Hood River, who
announced last fall that he
would retire after 22 years
in Congress. The district is
the only one of five in Ore-
gon represented in Congress
by a Republican. It covers all
of Eastern and Central Ore-
gon, along with a large slice
of the southwestern part of
the state.
Bentz announced early
for the race, with much of
the geography of his state
senate district overlapping
Walden’s.
Buehler entered the race,
bringing his statewide name
recognition and fundraising
ability into the contest. The
physician served two terms
in the state House sand-
wiched between unsuccess-
ful bids for secretary of state
in 2012 and governor in 2018.
Buehler praised Bentz,
and said he would support his
campaign to win the seat in
November.
“Cliff is a good man and
a strong legislator,” Buehler
said in a statement. “His deep
roots in CD2 will serve us all
well in Congress.”
A late entry that stirred
the campaign was Crump-
acker, an asset manager,
who registered to vote in
Deschutes County on Nov.
20, three weeks after Walden
announced he would retire,
according to Oregon Public
Broadcasting.
The district has proved
reliably Republican for
the past two decades, with
Walden sometimes receiv-
ing more than 70% of the
vote during his reelection
campaigns. His closest race
came in 2018, when Jamie
McLeod-Skinner of Terre-
bonne held him to 56% of the
vote.
Spenser began the race
as campaign manager for
Democrat Raz Mason of The
Dalles, who eventually with-
drew her candidacy. Spenser
then filed to run for the office
herself. Heuertz described
himself as an independent
businessman.