NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Saturday, March 13, 2021
Eastern Oregon University radio station may go silent
KEOL history
dates back to 1973
when it received
its FCC license
By DICK MASON
La Grande Observer
LA GRANDE — Eastern
Oregon University’s student-
run FM radio station, KEOL,
may go silent after the school
year.
K EOL is receiving
$33,481 in 2020-21 from
the university’s Student Fee
Committee and asked for
$33,606 for 2021-22. But the
committee voted not to fund
KEOL in 2021-22.
“It was a very tough deci-
sion,” said Keegan Sanchez,
vice chair of the Student Fee
Committee and Eastern’s
student body president.
The Student Fee Commit-
tee, which voted to defund
KEOL on Feb. 5, deter-
mines how much money
from student incidental fees
is to go to 20 student orga-
nizations and programs on
campus. The student senate
earlier this week approved the
recommendations. They must
next receive the approval of
EOU President Tom Insko
and EOU Board of Trustees.
Sanchez said the SFC had
to trim the money it allots to
student programs because
declining enrollment is
reducing the amount of inci-
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
A passerby reflects in the glass of the KEOL radio booth on Friday, March 5, 2021, at Eastern
Oregon University in La Grande. The university’s Student Fee Committee has voted not to
fund KEOL in 2021-22.
dental fee money. This forced
the committee to cut funding
for all but one of the programs
and operations — referred to
as units — of which the fees
pay.
“Almost every unit took
a hit,” said Zachary Cahill,
the chair of the Student Fee
Committee and the director
of financial affairs for EOU’s
student government.
Units that received cuts
included athletics, which was
trimmed $31,000 to $513,000,
and the Hoke Union Build-
ing, which was cut $7,500
to $304,000. Cahill said the
committee wanted to cut
more from the Hoke Union
Building’s budget, but could
not because there are so many
fixed operational costs, such
as heating, plumbing and
maintenance staff. The build-
ing is the home site of about
50 EOU clubs.
The SFC received requests
for $1.4 million in funding for
2021-22, but could allot only
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
SUNDAY
| Go to AccuWeather.com
MONDAY
Partly sunny
Mostly cloudy
62° 33°
64° 36°
TUESDAY
Cooler with a
couple of showers
WEDNESDAY
Decreasing clouds
A blend of sun and
clouds
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
45° 34°
59° 39°
52° 34°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
64° 29°
63° 36°
54° 35°
62° 36°
58° 33°
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
55/41
54/34
61/33
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
58/37
Lewiston
61/42
63/27
Astoria
54/42
Pullman
Yakima 63/30
60/35
59/35
Portland
Hermiston
63/43
The Dalles 64/29
Salem
Corvallis
58/38
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
57/27
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
61/40
64/40
57/32
Ontario
61/29
Caldwell
Burns
59°
26°
57°
33°
77° (2003) 11° (2009)
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
59/38
Today
Sun.
ENE 3-6
N 4-8
NE 4-8
NNE 4-8
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
67/41
0.00"
0.04"
0.38"
1.12"
0.38"
2.62"
WINDS (in mph)
61/27
59/27
0.00"
0.04"
0.46"
3.06"
4.32"
2.97"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 53/27
60/39
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
62/33
63/36
57°
31°
54°
34°
78° (1934) 14° (1906)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
60/36
Aberdeen
55/31
55/35
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
59/42
$1.2 million because of the
projected decline in inciden-
tal fee revenue.
A big portion of KEOL’s
budget covers the cost
of paying its two student
employees, who will receive
a combined total of about
$20,000 in the 2020-21 school
year, said Cahill. The station
also has about four student
disc jockeys, who work as
volunteers.
Cahill said KEOL, based
in the Hoke Union Building,
was defunded in part because
studies indicate radio is a
fading industry with a dim
future.
“Radio may be obsolete in
10 years,” he said.
It thus does not make sense
for KEOL to continue oper-
ating because the students
working there would not be
developing skills that would
help them as they pursue
careers after college.
Cahill wants Eastern to
develop a class or club that
would help students develop
disc jockey-related skills
that will be in demand, such
as those needed to produce a
podcast.
Sanchez said it is not
known how many students
tune in to KEOL.
“There is no metric for
tracking how many listen,”
he said.
Eastern’s Student Fee
Committee also made its
allocations based on how
many students a program
attracts.
“We looked at partici-
pation rates,” Sanchez said,
noting that KEOL’s is low.
The committee also
initially did not approve
funding for Eastern’s student
newspaper, The Voice. The
SFC changed gears after
representatives of The Voice
appealed the decision. The
SFC then voted to provide
the newspaper $7,500, which
is $10,500 short of the amount
The Voice initially requested.
Funding for The Voice was
cut because of low productiv-
ity. Sanchez said that Eastern
published just two editions in
2020.
“That is not sufficient,”
Sanchez said.
One of the editions was a
paper one and the other was
online. Cahill said the paper
edition could not be distrib-
uted because of COVID-
19 concerns. He added The
Voice‘s future editions will be
published online.
KEOL’s leaders, unlike
those at The Voice, did not
appeal the SFC’s decision
to withdraw funding. One
reason may have been that
KEOL’s faculty adviser,
Michael Williams, died in
late 2020. Williams was the
director of the TRiO Student
Support Services program.
The Observer tried repeat-
edly to get a comment about
the SFC’s defunding decision
from a KEOL representative,
but no one returned phone
calls.
KEOL’s history dates
back to at least 1973 when
it received its FCC license
to operate, according to its
website. The station was
based in Eastern’s library
from 1976 to 1991. It was
then relocated into a small
building north of the library.
The station was moved into
the Hoke Union Building in
2015.
Walla Walla River South Fork bridge to be rebuilt
By SHEILA HAGAR
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
WALLA WALLA, Wash.
— The Burnt Cabin Trail
bridge in Umatilla County
is one of 29 projects that will
benefit from a U.S. Forest
Service grant.
About $40 million will go to
national forests in Oregon and
Washington, under the Great
American Outdoors Act, to
address critical deferred main-
tenance issues and improve
transportation and recreation
infrastructure, said Darcy
Weseman, spokesperson with
the Umatilla National Forest.
The projects will provide
more safety and better access
for park visitors, she said.
The Burnt Cabin Trail
Bridge is in the Walla Walla
Ranger District. The 17-mile
trail begins approximately 6
miles outside of Milton-Free-
water, up the South Fork Walla
Walla Trail. It provides access
to hunting, fishing, camping
and backpacking, and is used
by hikers, horseback riders,
mountain bikers and motor-
cyclists.
U.S. Forest Service/Contributed Photo
The Burnt Cabin Creek Trail Bridge, closed in 2017, provides
access to popular areas used by motorcyclists, hikers, horse-
back riders and mountain bikers.
The bridge to get to the trail
was built about 25 years ago
with native log stringers that
have deteriorated, Weseman
said.
Concerns with the struc-
ture’s stability forced offi-
cials to close access across
the bridge in 2017. The spring
floods of 2020 damaged the
bridge even more and it was
removed.
With the new funding,
the bridge will be replaced
this year to meet the original
design specifications, restor-
ing access to the popular trail,
she said.
The funding is part of a
$285 million investment on
national forests made possible
by the newly created National
Parks and Public Land Legacy
Restoration Fund, established
in 2020 by the Great American
Outdoors Act.
Nationally, the act will
allow the Forest Service to
implement more than 500
infrastructure improve-
ment projects essential to
the continued use and essen-
tial to the continued use and
enjoyment of national forests
lands this year, Weseman
said.
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
60/29
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
6:11 a.m.
5:58 p.m.
6:47 a.m.
6:24 p.m.
First
Full
Last
Baker City man gets 15-year
prison term for child porn
Mar 13
Mar 21
Mar 28
Apr 4
BAKER CITY — A former guard at the
Powder River Correctional Facility, who has
spent nearly a year behind bars at the Baker
County Jail, will spend the
next 15 years in prison after
pleading guilty to child
pornography charges on Tues-
day, March 9, in Baker County
Circuit Court.
Judge Matt Shirtcliff sided
with District Attorney Greg
Cernazanu
Baxter in taking the harsher
end of a plea agreement that ranged from five
years to 15 years in prison in sentencing David
Leon Cernazanu.
As part of the agreement, Cernazanu, 49,
pleaded guilty to three counts of second-de-
gree encouraging child sexual abuse, a Class
C felony.
Cernazanu will be given credit for time
served and the ability to earn good time toward
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 93° in Zapata, Texas Low -29° in Yellowstone N.P., Wyo.
IN BRIEF
New
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
earlier release while in prison.
A total of 62 other counts against Cernazanu
were dismissed, including more serious charges
of second-degree encouraging child sexual
abuse, first-degree encouraging child sexual
abuse, first-degree invasion of personal privacy,
and using a child in sexually explicit conduct.
Cernazanu was ordered to complete three
years of post-prison supervision upon release.
Shirtcliff also ordered Cernazanu to complete
sex offender treatment upon release and to
register as a sex offender.
Baxter and Robert Moon, a Baker City attor-
ney who was appointed to represent Cernazanu,
each called witnesses to bolster their case.
Baxter argued for the 15-year sentence. Moon
called for a shorter prison term.
An audience of about 30 people, including
law enforcement and mental health profession-
als, and victims and their family members, were
in the courtroom during the two-hour hearing.
Cernazanu was arrested on April 24, 2020,
at his Baker City home after an investigation.
— EO Media Group
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