REGION
Saturday, April 3, 2021
A3
East Oregonian
Pendleton area sees near normal temps for March
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The
Pendleton area experienced
near normal temperatures
during the month of March,
according to preliminary
data received by the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration’s National
Weather Service Office in
Pendleton.
The average temperature
during the month was 45.4
degrees, 0.3 degrees above
normal. High tempera-
tures averaged 57.7 degrees,
2.5 degrees above normal,
according to the monthly
climate summary.
The highest temperature
was 73 degrees recorded on
March 28.
Low temperatures aver-
aged 33.1 degrees, 1.8
degrees below normal.
The lowest tempera-
ture for the month was 24
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
An American fl ag and state of Oregon fl ag tug against a fl ag-
pole outside of the Pendleton City Hall as high winds bat-
tered the region on Sunday, March 28, 2021.
degrees, recorded on March
11.
There were 11 days with
the low temperature below
32 degrees, according to the
monthly climate summary.
Precipitation for the
month totaled 0.32 inches,
which was 1 inch below
normal, the report said.
Measurable precipitation
— at least 0.01 inch — was
received on seven days, with
the heaviest, 0.06 inches,
reported on March 19.
Precipitation for the year
is 3.34 inches, more than
a half-inch below normal.
Since October 2020, the
water year precipitation at
the Pendleton airport has
been 7.79 inches, 0.07 inches
below normal.
Snowfall totaled a trace
amount on March 15.
The highest wind gust
was 73 mph on March 28,
and two days when the wind
exceeded 50 mph.
The outlook for April from
NOAA’s Climate Predic-
tion Center calls for near to
below normal temperatures
and near normal precipita-
tion. Normal highs for the
Pendleton airport rise from
59 degrees at the start of
April to 66 degrees at the end
of the month. Normal lows
rise from 38 degrees to 42
degrees. The 30-year normal
precipitation is 1.20 inches.
Pipes blocked by tree roots cause sewer backup
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
H ER MISTON — A
sewer line backed up along
West Hartley Avenue in
Hermiston on Wednesday,
March 31.
Assistant City Manager
Mark Morgan said waste-
water backed up into the
basement of two homes
on the 600 block of West
Hartley Avenue during the
evening. The city paid for
O So Kleen to clean up the
homes, something Morgan
said is standard when a city
line was at fault. The cause
of the backup was roots from
trees in the vicinity of Third
Street and Hartley work-
ing their way into the city’s
sewer main and blocking it.
Morgan said root intru-
sions are common, and
city crews clean more than
10,000 feet of sewer main
each month to address
the problem. He said one
of the fi rst sewer projects
after the city created its
Capital Improvement Plan
two years ago was to run a
video camera down a “large
percentage” of the city’s
sewer lines to determine
causes of clogging and fi gure
out how to better fix and
prevent them. The city now
has $1.9 million in sewer
main replacements planned
for the next fi ve years.
The city asks residents
to never dump grease down
their drain or fl ush “fl ush-
able” wipes or baby wipes
down the toilet. Wipes get
stuck on roots and then
fats, such as bacon grease,
congeal around the wipes,
creating what the wastewa-
ter industry calls “fatbergs”
that clog sewer mains.
A March 26 article by
Bloomberg News reported
that wipes f lushed down
the toilet previously caused
cities in the United States
about $1 billion annu-
ally to clear out blockages,
and cities are reporting an
increase in those blockages
since the pandemic began.
LOCAL BRIEFING
Man arrested for
alleged sexual
abuse of minor
PENDLETON — A Pend-
leton man is facing charges
for the alleged sexual abuse
of a minor that police say
occurred over the span of
several years, according to a
press release from the Pend-
leton Police Department.
Richard James Shel-
don, 74, was indicted by a
Umatilla County Grand Jury
on March 24 on 19 counts,
including fi rst-, second- and
third-degree sexual abuse
and second- and third-degree
sodomy, the press release
said.
Police began investigating
the sexual abuse allegations
in February 2020. Police
described it as a “protracted
and complex investiga-
tion” that required detec-
tives execute several search
warrants that ultimately
“revealed that the alleged
sexual abuse occurred over a
several year period between
2017 to 2020,” the press
release said.
A warrant was issued for
Sheldon’s arrest on Monday,
March 29, after the Umatilla
County District Attorney’s
Offi ce presented the case to
the grand jury, which handed
down the indictment. Police
arrested Sheldon at his Pend-
leton residence at 15 SE 11th
St. on Thursday, April 1.
Sheldon was then booked
in the Umatilla County
Jail, where he remains with
a bail of more than $2.3
million, according to the
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jail’s website.
The Umatilla County
District Attorney’s Offi ce is
now in charge of the case, the
press release said.
Two-year, I-84
construction project
begins April 5
M EACH A M
—
Construction will slow traf-
fi c on Interstate 84 between
Meacham and Spring Creek
for the next two years.
The Oregon Department
of Transportation will begin
a new paving project between
milepost 238 and 248 starting
on Monday, April 5. During
construction, vehicles will
be rerouted to one side of
the interstate at a time, with
a single lane in each direc-
tion. The speed limit will be
reduced to 50 miles per hour,
and Oregon State Police will
increase its patrol presence.
According to an email
from ODOT, reconstruc-
tion of milepost 238 to 241.5
will take place in 2021 and
the rest will be completed in
2022. ODOT will begin next
week by closing the left lanes
in each direction in order to
construct the “crossovers”
needed for traffic to move
onto the new travel route.
The email states the proj-
ect will replace the asphalt
that has become rutted from
severe winter weather and
chain use, creating hazard-
ous conditions where ice
collects in the ruts and cracks
and cannot be removed by
snow plows. Crews will
also complete some other
upgrades to guard rails,
median barriers and bridges.
Morrow County
vaccine clinics
MORROW COUNTY —
The Morrow County Public
Health Department is part-
nering with state and federal
officials to hold several
COVID-19 vaccine clinics
in the coming weeks.
Offi cials with the Oregon
Health Authority and the
Federal Emergency Manage-
ment Agency are assisting the
health department in provid-
ing free Johnson & Johnson
vaccines to eligible residents
at the clinics, according to a
press release.
Those eligible include
frontline workers as defi ned
ALLELUIA!
Come celebrate Easter with us at
ST. JOHN’S
EPISCOPAL CHURCH
by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention,
people from multigenera-
tional households, people
between the ages of 16 to
44 who have an underlying
health condition that places
them at risk, as well as all
people previously eligible for
the vaccine.
The first clinic will be
held at the SAGE Center, 101
Olsen Road N.E., Boardman,
on April 5 and 6 from 4 p.m.
to 9 p.m. and April 7 from
6 a.m. to 12 p.m.
The second clinic will
be held at AC Houghton
Elementary School, 1105 N.
Main Ave., Irrigon, on April
9 from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. and
April 10 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The third clinic will be
held at the Morrow County
Fairgrounds, 74473 High-
way 74, Heppner, on April
12 from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. and
April 13 from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
— EO Media Group
4/2-4/8
Cineplex Show Times
Theater seating will adhere to social distancing protocols
Every showing $7.50 per person (ages 0-3 still free)
Godzilla Vs. Kong (PG13)
1:20p 2:00p 4:20p
5:00p 7:20p 8:00p
Nobody (R)
1:40p 4:40p 7:40p
- 9:00 AM • April 4, 2021 -
Raya and the
Last Dragon (PG)
1:00p 4:00p 7:00p
We are resuming in-person worship with
County Covid Guidelines in place.
The Courier (PG13)
12:40p 3:40p
665 E. Gladys Avenue, Hermiston
Chaos Walking (PG13)
6:40p
Holy Eucharist & Easter Liturgy
wildhorseresort.com • 541-966-1850
Pendleton, OR I-84 - Exit 216
East Oregonian, File
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Walla Walla District offi -
cials have resumed use of bird-deterring lasers, and will
be testing a long-range acoustic device to prevent birds
from preying on endangered juvenile salmon passing
through McNary Dam.
McNary Dam using
bird deterrent system
East Oregonian
UMATILLA — Offi cials
with the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers Walla Walla
District have resumed use
of bird-deterring lasers, and
will be testing a long-range
acoustic device to prevent
birds from preying on endan-
gered juvenile salmon pass-
ing through McNary Dam.
In a change from last
year, the two lasers will be
used simultaneously. Previ-
ously, only one of the two
lasers owned by the dam
were operational at any given
time. One laser will be posi-
tioned on the navigational
lock wing wall on the down-
stream side and will provide
coverage of the fi sh outfall
pipe and surrounding waters
and facilities, including the
dam itself.
The other laser will be
positioned directly on the
outfall pipe and cover the
water directly below it.
The lasers, which will
run from dawn to dusk
daily, went into operation on
Thursday, April 1, and will
be in operation until approx-
imately November.
The lasers emit a bright
green light that creates a
large dot. Birds interpret
the dot as a solid object,
which they avoid as a poten-
tial threat. The lasers are
programmed to move in
random patterns within a
predetermined area and have
a range of approximately 950
feet to 1 mile, depending on
the weather.
The long-range acous-
tic device is scheduled to
begin usage in late August.
A small device, resembling
a common speaker, it can
broadcast preprogramed
audio tracks over a large area.
When activated, the tracks
act as an audio deterrent for
birds. Similar devices have
garnered success at airports
across the United States.
Currently, McNary’s
long-range acoustic device
is programmed with two
audio tracks. The fi rst is a
computer-generated male
voice that announces it is a
long-range acoustic device
and performs a countdown.
The second closely matches
the noise emitted by a stan-
dard car alarm. When active,
it will be audible throughout
the McNary Dam and Lake
Wallua area.
The long-range acous-
tic device will run intermit-
tently throughout the day
from late August through
October. This period will
serve as a trial run for the
device. If the trial is deemed
successful, the device will
resume operations in 2022.
Safety and operational
managers with the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers
have performed a variety of
tests on both the lasers and
long-range acoustic device
systems and have confi rmed
they pose no adverse risk to
humans or wildlife.
