REGION
Thursday, May 6, 2021
Multiple agencies respond to Pilot Rock fi re
East Oregonian
LOCAL BRIEFING
Fair Appreciation
Dinner canceled
HERMISTON — The
Umatilla County Fair
Appreciation Dinner set to
take place on May 15 will be
combined with next year’s
event instead.
In a letter to sponsors,
Fair Manager Angie McNal-
ley said that Umatilla County
moving back to high risk
restrictions for COVID-19
would not allow the fair to
hold a full event, and after
speaking with the county
health department about
different options, the fair
board agreed it did not want
to cut anyone from the guest
list.
McNalley said fair orga-
nizers are still hard at work
planning the 2021 fair, and
still plan to hold the fair on
Aug. 11-14. The fair court,
grand marshals and other
honorees for the 2021 fair
will be honored alongside the
next year’s honorees during
the annual Fair Appreciation
Dinner in January 2022.
Morrow County
declares drought
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Fire crews work to extinguish a fi re on Northeast Second Street in Pilot Rock on Wednesday, May 5, 2021. Umatilla
County Fire District No. 1 Division Chief and Fire Marshall Scott Goff said the district was dispatched to the scene at
roughly 10:15 a.m. for a fi re in an outbuilding on the property that spread to the main home. Goff said fi re crews man-
aged to contain the fi re to the initial structure and the home, and all of those in the house were accounted for with no
known injuries. Engines from the Umatilla Tribal Fire Department, East Umatilla Fire and Rescue and the Pendleton
Fire Department provided mutual aid to the Pilot Rock Rural Fire Protection District.
Wyden talks policing during town hall
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Mental
health issues were top of mind
for the fi rst half of a virtual
town hall that Sen. Ron
Wyden held for residents of
Umatilla, Union and Wallowa
counties on Sunday, May 2.
Wyden broached the topic
during the fi rst question of the
day, asked by Umatilla School
District Superintendent Heidi
Sipe, about federal support
for students as the country
rethinks “nearly every aspect
of education” following the
pandemic.
Wyden addressed stan-
dardized testing, saying that
this year it seems best for
teachers to address learning
loss in the classroom rather
than taking time out for stan-
dardized testing this year. He
said schools will need addi-
tional funding to help students
catch up after lost learning
opportunities, and pointed
out the funding included in
the American Rescue Plan for
schools to do just that through
summer learning opportu-
nities and other strategies.
He said he is also concerned
about students’ mental health,
and wanted to see funding
to adequately address those
needs, too.
“I am very troubled by
where we are with respect
to mental health services,
particularly
for ch il-
dren, (and)
seniors in
rural areas,”
he said. “The
mental health
claims as a
Chrisman
result of the
pandemic have gone through
the stratosphere.”
He revisited the topic after
a question by Umatilla County
Com missioner George
Murdock, who said he was
hearing from police that they
want to “get out of the mental
health business” and wanted
to know what Wyden was
doing to address that issue.
Wyden said he knows that
police don’t want to be forced
into acting as mental health
counselors, but mental health
professionals also don’t want
to be forced into acting as
police. So he has been pushing
in the last year for Congress
to pass the CAHOOTS Act,
modeled after a program
started in Eugene, that
would fund partnerships
between law enforcement
and mental health profession-
als to form joint 24/7 crisis
response teams. One billion
dollars in seed money for a
CAHOOTS-like program
reimbursed through Medicaid
was included in the American
Rescue Plan.
Wyden said the topic is
very personal for him, because
More online
A recording of the full
town hall can be found
on the People’s Town Hall
Facebook page.
Murdock
Sipe
the Wyden household spent
many years worried about the
safety of his brother, who had
schizophrenia and was often
wandering the streets late at
night.
Murdock told Wyden
that Umatilla County is very
interested in participating in a
CAHOOTS program, and has
already set aside hundreds of
thousands of local dollars in
the budget to be able to jump
on board when gets started.
Wyden said the federal fund-
ing will be channeled through
the states, and he hopes to see
rural communities participate.
“I’m thrilled that Eastern
Oregon wants to be the rural
example for CAHOOTS,”
Wyden said,
Steve Chrisman, Pend-
leton’s airport manager,
thanked Wyden for his work
to get funding for Pendleton’s
UAS range.
While the airport has seen
success in that area, he said,
the airport’s traffic control
tower is not equipped with
radar.
“We are managing our
air traffi c using radio line of
sight,” he said.
He described “remote
tower” programs being
piloted that use a system of
cameras broadcasting to a
wall of screens that allows
rural air traffic controllers
to better track air traffic.
He asked if there was any
chance of federal funding for
something like that for rural
airports.
Wyden said he’d like to
work very closely with the city
on that, and said if Chrisman
could send along an example
of an existing program work-
ing, his offi ce could run with
it from that point.
“Some people will say,
well Ron, you’re a privacy
guy, why would you be for
drones?” he said. “It would be
foolish, even by Washington,
D.C., standards, to ban tech-
nology innovation. The ques-
tion is how the technology is
used. You want to use tech-
nology in a constructive way
to make it possible for people
to get air services and do it in
a safe way. The same is true
for mountaintop rescues and
fi refi ghting eff orts.”
HEPPNER — The
Morrow County Board of
Commissioners has formally
declared a drought in the
county and formally asked
Gov. Kate Brown for state
support.
A letter from commis-
sioners to Brown, dated
April 28, describes condi-
tions this year as “severe” and
projected to continue.
“There is a potential for
Morrow County agricul-
tural and livestock, natural
resources, recreational and
tourism, and related econ-
omies to experience wide-
spread and severe damage
resulting in extreme weather
conditions in the County,” the
letter stated. “The County
is experiencing negative
impacts in agriculture.”
It asks that Brown issue
an executive order declaring
a drought in Morrow County
and that state agencies,
including the Oregon Water
Department, operate within
their authority to assist the
county in mitigating damage
from the drought.
The resolution passed
by the board, declaring the
drought on a county level,
states more than half the
county is in severe drought
and the rest is in moderate
drought or abnormally dry
conditions. If that continues,
the resolution states, water
users will have a signifi-
cantly shortened season for
water access.
Umatilla
dictionary now
on the web
MISSION — The
Umatilla language is now
accessible to anyone in
the world with an internet
connection.
In a press release, the
Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation
New police station in Milton-Freewater up for vote
By SHEILA HAGAR
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
MILTON-FREEWATER
— Ballots have gone out to
Umatilla County voters for
the May 18 election.
In Milton-Freewater, resi-
dents are voting on a number
of unopposed school board,
water control district and Port
of Umatilla directors seats.
As well, there are two open
positions for the Umatilla
County Library District, each
with three candidates in the
running.
Arguably, the biggest
decision in this election will
come in checking “yes” or
“no” for a general obliga-
tion bond authorizing a new
police station in Milton-Free-
water.
If the $7.7 million request
from city leaders is approved,
the money will come from
property taxes, at 87 cents
per $1,000 of assessed value,
or about $7.25 per month on
a house valued at $100,000.
Accordi ng to va r i-
ous online realty sites, the
median home price in the city
is about $225,000.
The current police station
has lived in the basement
of city hall here for about a
century, offi cials said.
The area consists of small
rooms that mostly lack natu-
ral lighting and reliable
temperature control. Tech-
nology and storage now take
up a portion of the office
space meant for humans.
The proposed station
will be built on a city-
owned lot behind city hall.
At about 7,200 square feet,
the structure would house
Milton-Freewater police
patrol officers and 911
dispatchers.
Plans include conference
and report-taking rooms,
two holding cells, offices,
evidence rooms, a public
lobby, a break room, inter-
view spaces and training
areas.
The building will have
earthquake protection, be
set up for today’s technol-
ogy, accessible to people
using mobility devices and
provide privacy and safety
for residents to attend to
police business, city offi cials
said earlier this year.
The bond amount is
adjusted for a possible 4%
cost escalation.
In addition to being
mailed in, Umatilla County
ballots can be dropped off at
the following locations:
• Milton-Freewater city
hall, 722 S. Main St.,
drive-up boxes located in
rear parking lot.
• Um at i l la C ou nt y
Courthouse, Room 18,
216 S.E. Fourth. St.,
Pendleton, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Mon-Fri. On May 18, the
offi ce will accept ballots
from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
announced that the Umatilla
Language Dictionary is now
online.
A collaboration between
the CTUIR Language
Program and Amazon
Web Services, the Tribes’
intent was to educate tribal
members on their language
and raise awareness about the
tongue.
The prevalence of the
Umatilla language has
diminished over the years as
many of its fl uent speakers
have died. The CTUIR estab-
lished a language program
in 1996 to preserve the
language by recording elders
and teaching the language to
tribal youths and adults.
“This is a gift to the
youth,” Noel Rude, the dictio-
nary’s author and a former
tribal linguist at the Tamast-
slikt Cultural Institute, said
in a statement. “No matter
where they fi nd themselves,
they will have access to
the beautiful words of their
elders. May this kindle their
curiosity! And may their
elders’ legacy never fade.”
The dictionary can be
accessed at https://dictionary.
ctuir.org.
DHS sponsors
tennis shoe drive
PENDLETON — A part-
nership between Every Child
Oregon and the child welfare
branch of Oregon Depart-
ment of Human Services
is sponsoring a tennis shoe
drive for foster children in
Umatilla and Morrow coun-
ties as part of Foster Care
Awareness Month, accord-
ing to Heidi Zeigler, the
community development
director for the Depart-
ment of Health and Human
Services in the two counties.
Donors can drop off the
shoes at Sweet Potatoes
Closet and the Desert Lanes
bowling alley in Hermis-
ton, Hamleys Western Store
in Pendleton, Baker Boyer
Bank in Milton-Freewater,
or Bank of Eastern Oregon
in Heppner and Boardman,
Zeigler said.
People can also make
donations online via
Amazon Wish List by
making a purchase through
www.smile.amazon.com/
h z /char it ylist / ls/13M-
M6IEUXXJA3/ref=smi_
ext_lnk_lcl_cl, which will
automatically ship the dona-
tion to Sweet Potatoes Closet.
The drive will last through
the end of May, with shoes
being distributed to children
in June, Zeigler said.
In addition, DHS will also
be collecting gift cards and
certifi cates for foster fami-
lies this month in place of the
annual foster parent appre-
ciation dinner, which was
canceled due to the ongoing
pandemic, Zeigler said.
People wishing to donate
gift cards must do so by
May 14 by emailing Marvin
Hamilton with DHS at
marvin.hamilton@dhsoha.
state.or.us or call 541-564-
4484.
— EO Media Group
4/7-4/13
Cineplex Show Times
Theater seating will adhere to social distancing protocols
Every showing $7.50 per person (ages 0-3 still free)
Wrath of Man (R)
1:00p 4:00p 7:00p
Separation (R)
1:20p 4:20p 7:20p
Demon Slayer:
Mugen Train (R)
1:40p 4:40p 7:40p
Mortal Kombat (R)
6:40p 12:40p 3:40p
Raya and the Last
Dragon (PG)
2:00p 5:00p 8:00p
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