NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, April 15, 2021
Search and rescue helps family stuck in snow
Beaverton family
becomes stranded
trying to reach
Hells Canyon
Overlook
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
BAKER CITY — Three
members of the Baker
County Sheriff’s Office’s
search and rescue team
brought to safety a Beaver-
ton couple and their son
early Monday, April 12,
after their car became stuck
in the snow on Sunday, April
11, on an unplowed Forest
Service road in eastern Baker
County.
No one was hurt in
the incident, said Ashley
McClay, public information
officer for the sheriff’s office.
The Baker County 911
Dispatch Office received a
call about 2:26 a.m. on April
12 from Jason Brunson, 52,
McClay said.
Brunson told a dispatcher
that his 2016 Ford Fusion
sedan was stuck in snow
along the Wallowa Moun-
tain Loop Road, also known
as Forest Road 39, about 8.9
miles north of Highway 86.
Road 39 branches off High-
way 86 about 9 miles north-
east of Halfway.
Brunson was accompa-
Baker County Sheriff’s Office/Contributed Photo
A Beaverton family’s car got stuck in snow along Forest Road 39 in eastern Baker County on
Sunday, April 11, 2021. Baker County Sheriff’s Office search and rescue members, summoned
by a cellphone call early on Monday, April 12, rescued Jason Brunson, his wife, Jennifer, and
their 7-year-old son, George.
suffered damage when they
were trying to free it from the
snow, McClay said.
McClay said the Brunson
family was trying to reach
the Hells Canyon Over-
look. The turnoff to that site,
which is along a side road, is
about 10 miles farther along
Road 39 from where the car
became stuck.
Brunson said the car
get mired in snow between
4 p.m. and 5 p.m. on April 11.
Brunson told rescuers that
the family tried through the
nied by his wife, Jennifer,
49, and their 7-year-old son,
George, McClay said.
The three search and
rescue team members trav-
eled to the site in two side-
by-side all-terrain vehicles,
equipped with tires rather
than tracks. They arrived at
5:38 a.m., and brought the
Brunsons back to the high-
way.
McClay said Sgt. Eric
Colton helped the Brun-
sons arrange to have their
car towed. It apparently
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
FRIDAY
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SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
evening to extricate the car,
without success. Around
2 a.m. on April 12 he walked
about one-quarter mile to
a point where he had cell
service to call 911.
McClay said the car had
a nearly full tank of gas, and
the family apparently was
able to run the engine to
operate the heater and warm
the interior.
There are no weather
stations within 15 miles or
so of the site.
A station at Salt Creek
Pleasant with
plenty of sunshine
66° 39°
70° 36°
Sunny and
delightful
Mostly sunny, nice
and warm
Abundant sun and
cooler
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
73° 41°
65° 42°
79° 44°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
72° 43°
75° 36°
81° 37°
71° 43°
85° 47°
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
71/45
64/37
73/43
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
67/41
Lewiston
75/40
74/47
Astoria
66/44
Pullman
Yakima 75/45
74/38
69/41
Portland
Hermiston
76/48
The Dalles 72/43
Salem
Corvallis
71/44
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
61/34
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
73/40
60/34
61/32
Ontario
68/41
Caldwell
Burns
67°
42°
64°
39°
89° (1936) 24° (2014)
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
72/44
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
74/43
0.00"
Trace
0.35"
1.20"
0.48"
3.46"
WINDS (in mph)
65/38
62/29
0.00"
Trace
0.59"
3.34"
4.98"
4.55"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 57/28
74/42
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
66/39
75/43
58°
23°
61°
39°
90° (1904) 19° (1911)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
73/40
Aberdeen
65/41
72/46
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
72/47
Today
Fri.
NE 6-12
NNW 4-8
NE 7-14
NE 6-12
61/30
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
First
6:09 a.m.
7:42 p.m.
8:00 a.m.
11:37 p.m.
Full
Last
New
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 96° in Zapata, Texas Low 9° in Yellowstone N.P., Wyo.
Apr 19
Apr 26
May 3
May 11
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
LA GRANDE — Inno-
vative teacher preparation
programs at Eastern Oregon
University got a boost from
two state grants that will
expand collaboration and
responsive teaching practices
in rural Oregon.
The Educator Advance-
ment Panel and Oregon
Department of Education
awarded grants to two EOU
programs: one that’s already
successful, and one that’s
brand new.
The Oregon Teacher Path-
way (OTP) program received
$350,000 to enhance its work.
OTP began in 2014, and has
allowed more than 250 high
school students to explore a
career in teaching while being
mentored by EOU students.
High schoolers who matricu-
late from the program to EOU
can earn tuition reductions and
serve as mentors themselves.
Over a dozen graduates of the
program are already teaching
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
ice
50s
60s
cold front
E AST O REGONIAN
— Founded Oct. 16, 1875 —
70s
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Copyright © 2021, EO Media Group
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
110s
high
low
in regional classrooms.
OTP Director and educa-
tion professor Tawnya
Lubbes said the new funds
will improve opportunities
for professional development
and increase stipends for high
school teachers who introduce
teens to a career in education.
The grant will also support
data analysis and collection to
evaluate the program, connect
first- and second-year teach-
ers with grants, and provide
multicultural libraries for their
classrooms.
New to the mix, the Teach
Rural Oregon (TRO) and
the Eastern Oregon Teach-
ing Academy (EOTA), were
awarded $200,000 in part-
nership with the Wallowa
Educational Service District.
Education professor Dave
Dallas founded TRO and
EOTA in order to open the
door for community college
students, paraprofession-
als, and other individuals to
become teachers in rural areas
of the state, as well as provide
College Place City Council
approves Bird electric scooters
COLLEGE PLACE, Wash. — College
Place, Washington, will soon see commuters
on scooters riding through town, providing a
new travel option for city residents.
The city joins Pendleton and Hermiston,
and more than 100 other cities in allowing the
app-based Bird electric scooters into its city
limits.
The Walla Walla City Council was briefed
on the same scooters on Monday, April 12, at
its virtual work session and will consider allow-
ing them into city limits as well, which would
allow the residents of both College Place and
Walla Walla to use the scooters to get to and
from both cities.
In College Place, the Youth Advisory
Commission, Park, Arbor and Recreation
Board, and Economic Development, Tourism
and Events Commission recommended that the
council approve the resolution. The city council
had many of its questions answered at its previ-
ous work session.
The College Place City Council unani-
mously passed the resolution authorizing a
Memorandum of Understanding with Bird
Rides Inc. to operate in the city of College Place
on Tuesday, April 13, at its virtual meeting with
council members Melodie Selby and Heather
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professional development
opportunities for teachers in
underserved rural schools.
Grant funding will provide
an opportunity for commu-
nity college students from
Gresham to visit rural Eastern
Oregon for three weeks in May
to observe classrooms and
converse with and learn from
rural colleagues. A student
board, crisis intervention
for teachers, access to EOU
faculty and stipends for guest
speakers are also part of the
vision for EOTA. Ultimately,
the program aims to recruit
more teachers to the rural areas
of Oregon, Dallas said.
“We’re two of 27 grant
recipients in the state of
Oregon, so EOU received
over a half-million dollars of
that pot of funding. It’s signif-
icant that our programs are
being recognized and allowed
that opportunity,” Lubbes said.
The OTP program also
qualified to apply for an addi-
tional $100,000 grant through
the Meyer Foundation.
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In the App Store:
80s
roads that are popular with
snowmobilers, Ash said,
is that the snow machines
compact the snow into a firm
but thin surface that can hold
the weight of a car.
Until it doesn’t.
“You can do fine on that
compact snow until you
break through,” Ash said.
“Then you’re stuck.”
He said people who aren’t
familiar with snowmobile
routes don’t recognize that a
road hasn’t been maintained
for wheeled vehicles.
Ash said although he’s
happy the Brunsons are safe,
he’s concerned that future
episodes will not turn out as
well.
He believes bigger signs
or some other more blatant
notice to travelers who aren’t
familiar with the area is
necessary.
“We have to do some-
thing,” Ash said.
The sheriff is famil-
iar with rescues on the
snow-covered Road 39.
On Thanksgiving Day
2020, Ash helped an 18-year-
old Boise man whose car
became stuck in snow on
the road more than 12 miles
beyond where the Brunsons’
car was mired.
Exactly 20 years earlier,
on the same holiday in 2000,
Ash rescued three travelers
from Germany who became
stranded in the same area.
Renewed funding for rural education
East Oregonian
Plenty of sunshine
Summit, about 16 miles
northeast, recorded a low
temperature of 20 degrees
on April 12.
In early March, the
Wallowa-Whitman National
Forest, prompted by multiple
search and rescue calls this
past winter along Road 39
in both Baker and Wallowa
counties, issued a press
release reminding drivers
that the road is a snowmobile
route during winter. The U.S.
Forest Service placed barri-
ers along the road to discour-
age passenger vehicles.
According to the press
release, the Forest Service
planned to move the barri-
ers farther up the road this
spring as the snow recedes.
Baker County Sher-
iff Travis Ash said Forest
Service officials notified
him recently that the barri-
ers would be removed. A
sign remains warning the
road is not maintained during
winter, but Ash said he
believes the sign is too small
to be effective.
He said the Brunsons told
search and rescue members
that the family didn’t see the
warning sign.
Road 39, which continues
north into Wallowa County,
usually doesn’t fully open to
vehicles until May or early
June.
One problem with Road
39 and several other forest
• Kelly Schwirse
• Dayle Stinson
541-966-0824 • dstinson@eastoregonian.com
Schermann absent.
Adult wolf hit, killed by car
in Eastern Oregon
RICHLAND — An adult wolf from the
Cornucopia pack in eastern Baker County
was hit and killed by a car on Highway 86
near Richland last week.
Several motorists reported the dead wolf,
starting around 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, April
8, according to Brian Ratliff, district wildlife
biologist at the Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife office in Baker City.
The wolf was hit near Milepost 36, about
5 miles west of Richland.
Ratliff said he doesn’t know who hit the
wolf. No one has reported doing so.
The dead wolf, a male weighing 95
pounds, was born in the spring of 2019 along
with two other pups, Ratliff said. That litter
elevated the group of wolves to pack status.
Although the wolf did not have a track-
ing collar, Ratliff said a GPS signal from a
collar fitted to a female wolf in the Cornuco-
pia Pack, also part of the pack’s spring 2019
litter, showed that wolf, early on April 8, was
near the point on the highway where the male
wolf was killed.
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