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Tuesday, June 1, 2021
East Oregonian
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Veterans: ‘Wherever the body of a comrade lies, the ground is hallowed’
fices veterans made to keep
the country free and the need
to continue remembering
them and their service.
“Wherever the body of a
comrade lies, the ground is
hallowed,” he said.
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“He made a vow to never
let a day go by without thank-
ing someone who packed his
parachute emotionally, who
packed his parachute spiri-
tually, who packed his para-
chute financially,” Hackett
said.
He said many people go
through the day never think-
ing about the people who
“packed their parachute” in
some way to help protect the
life they are leading.
“Today I say, thank you
to the families of those men
and women who made the
ultimate sacrifice, that we
might live in liberty, in the
land of the free and home of
the brave,” Hackett said.
Pendleton VFW keeps
remembrance intimate
In Pendleton, for the
second year in a row, the
Veterans of Foreign Wars
Let ‘er Buck Post 922 held
a smaller, more intimate
Memorial Day ceremony in
the wake of COVID-19.
Respect, tradition and
honor
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Members of the Otzenberger family honor Willard (Bill) Otzenberger before a Memorial Day
service Monday, May 31, 2021, at the Hermiston Cemetery. Otzenberger served as a gunner
on a B-24 Marauder in the 409th Bomb Group during World War II.
The VFW hopes it is the
last of its kind.
About 40 people gath-
ered at Pendleton’s Olney
Cemetery for the ceremony,
which also was livestreamed
on Facebook for those who
couldn’t make it in person.
Wildfires: ‘Fire
seasons are getting
longer, forests are
getting drier’
Continued from Page A1
urged Christiansen to include
that money in the agency’s
budget request for the fiscal
year that starts Oct. 1, 2021.
“This is an amazing
opportunity,” Merkley said.
Backlog of projects
Two collaboratives are
underway in the Blue Moun-
tains, one in the southern
part of the range, the other
in the northern section, on
the Wallowa-Whitman and
Umatilla national forests.
Last year, the U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture allocated
$2.7 for the latter collabora-
tive during the fiscal year that
started Oct. 1, 2020.
Forest Service officials
have said the $2.7 million will
help the two national forests
start chipping away at a back-
log of projects that are ready
as soon as money is available.
Although the details of
the work vary depending on
the area of the Blue Moun-
tains involved, the general
concept is to cut some of the
trees, primarily smaller-di-
ameter ones, that are grow-
ing in higher densities than
was historically the case in
the northern Blues, Steve
Hawkins, deputy fire staff
officer for the Wallowa-Whit-
man, said in a 2020 interview.
Those smaller trees, most
notably grand and white firs,
have encroached over the past
century or so in places that
ponderosa pines and tama-
racks used to dominate, in
part due to the exclusion of
fire, which historically killed
most of the firs when they
were relatively small.
Ponderosa pines and tama-
racks, which generally grow
in widely spaced stands rather
than in thickets, are much
more resistant to wildfires
than the grand and white firs
that have become much more
prevalent over the past several
decades.
Although Merk ley
promotes the additional $40
million for collaborative proj-
ects, his ultimate goal is even
more ambitious.
He said he believes the
federal government needs to
spend at least $1 billion more
each year on forest restoration
work nationwide.
‘We have to do more’
In Oregon alone, Merk-
ley said, forest improvement
work, including thinning and
logging, that has already gone
through the environmental
review process could treat 2
million acres at an estimated
cost of $388 million, were the
money available.
One way to increase the
chances of bolstering budgets,
Merkley said, is by ensuring
the federal government does
not return to the practice
known as “fire borrowing.”
That term refers to the
federal government trans-
ferring money from Forest
Service and other agency
budgets to cover firefighting
costs, leaving less money for
projects to reduce the size of
wildfires and thus the cost to
fight them.
Fire borrowing was neces-
sary in several years over the
past decade as millions of
acres burned annually across
the West.
Merkley said although
Congress ended fire borrow-
ing in 2018, the changes made
then will expire at the end of
the fiscal year — Sept. 30,
2021 — unless it’s reautho-
rized.
“We cannot go back to the
fire borrowing of the past,”
Merkley said.
On May 28, Merkley
lauded Biden’s budget request
for 2022 that includes $2.45
billion to ensure fire borrow-
ing doesn’t resume.
The president’s budget
request also includes the
$80 million for collaborative
forest projects that Merkley
promotes.
During the May 27 press
conference, Merkley recalled
driving the length of West-
ern Oregon in September
2020 following the fires that
burned more than 1 million
acres, destroyed towns, such
as Detroit, east of Salem, and
killed 11 people.
“It was unforgettable to
me,” Merkley said of the
experience of driving for
hours and never escaping the
cloying smoke that persisted
in much of Oregon for more
than a week. “I’ve never seen
anything like this.”
Merkley also talked about
the 2020 fires during Wednes-
day’s appropriations hearing
before his committee.
“Whether they have lost a
loved one, business or home
to a wildfire, had to pack their
most valuable belongings and
anxiously awaited go orders,
or were trapped inside by a
thick blanket of hazardous
smoke, nearly every family in
the West has been impacted
by wildfires in one way or
another,” he said. “It’s impos-
sible to thrive if your commu-
nity is being ravaged by these
blazes. That’s why any plan
to boost America’s infrastruc-
ture, create jobs and protect
lives and our economy must
include responsible forest
management strategies that
can help us stay ahead of wild-
fire risks.”
Merkley said the threat of
severe fire seasons is likely
to increase due to climate
change.
“Fire seasons are getting
longer, forests are getting
drier,” he said. “We have to
do more on the forest manage-
ment end.”
Like last year, the
proceedings were expedited.
While previous ceremonies
may have featured a keynote
speaker and live music, the
2021 event was consolidated
down to a couple of prayers,
a VFW speech and some
other ceremonial honorings,
including the laying of flow-
ers at a headstone that read,
“In honor of all deceased
veterans.”
Clifford Smith, the incom-
ing commander of VFW Post
922, spoke about the sacri-
Kevin Hedgepeth, retired
Coast Guard, attended the
ceremony in Hermiston.
He said he found the entire
observance moving.
“I’m still a little teary-
eyed,” he said.
As a veteran of the small-
est branch of the military,
he was pleased to find three
flags at the cemetery for
Coast Guard veterans.
“When I was active duty,
there were more cops in New
York City than Coasties in
the entire world,” he said.
Hedgepeth grew up on
the Oregon coast, though,
and said he chose the Coast
Guard because he had a
great respect for them after
watching the rescues, protec-
tion and other benefits they
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the Pendleton Round-Up
Grounds. Hundreds of
families, friends, neigh-
bors, teachers, coaches
and mentors packed in
the stadium grandstands,
stomping their feet, blowing
air horns, ringing cowbells,
whistling and cheering for
the graduates.
For many in the crowd,
the day was emotional,
as any graduation is. But
this year, they said, was
especially challenging
for students, and seeing
their loved ones persevere
brought pride and joy.
“I’m surprised at the
emotions,” said Lois
Newcomb, whose grand-
daughter, Reice Obrist,
was one of the graduating
seniors. “I didn’t expect to
feel so emotional. For my
granddaughter, I’m so proud
of her.”
The ceremony began
with introductions from
Pendleton High School
Principal Melissa Sandven.
The students emerged into
the stadium to the sounds of
“Pomp and Circumstance,”
walking between yellow
flowers on their way to their
seats in front of the massive
crowd.
Three students spoke
at the ceremony — Bailey
Baxter, Katelyn Kelm
and Cor t ney Her rera.
Each addressed the adver-
sity students faced in the
unprecedented year while
reflecting over the memories
they shared, from learning
chants at football games to
dancing at school dances
to competing in elemen-
tary school track meets
and taking outdoor school
classes.
“This last year has been
a rollercoaster,” Baxter said.
“Not only for my fellow
students, but for parents
and teachers throughout our
Bills:
Continued from Page A1
prevented it from advancing
to the governor’s desk.
To preserve Oregon’s
farmland and open spaces,
the state created two sets
of boundaries in the 1970s:
city limits, which encompass
the areas where cities offer
services like utilities and
public safety, and the urban
growth boundary, a slightly
larger set of lines that mark
where cities can install urban
development.
The state only allows
cities to expand their urban
growth boundary if they
meet certain density levels,
but Pendleton city officials
have long argued that the
city’s steep surfaces and
rocky soil make its bare land
much harder to develop than
it looks on a map.
The bill once again had
the support of 1000 Friends
of Oregon, the state’s top
pro-urban growth boundary
group, and nearly univer-
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Pendleton High School graduates on Saturday, May 29,
2021, enter the Pendleton Round-Up Arena for commence-
ment. More than 170 Pendleton High seniors and their fam-
ilies celebrated the event.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Pendleton High School Senior Class President Katelyn
Kelm speaks Saturday, May 29, 2021, at the Pendleton
Round-Up Grounds as more than 170 of her fellow gradu-
ates and their families gather for commencement.
nation as well. My fellow
graduates, despite all the
struggles and hardships —
hardships that haven’t been
suffered in generations —
we have made it to the end of
our Pendleton High School
journey.”
Kelm, the senior class
president for 2021, directly
addressed the pandemic
while praising her fellow
graduates.
“We are one of the first
classes to graduate during a
global pandemic,” she said,
“which is proof that we can
overcome adversity.”
She added: “Class of
2021, though the times
may be unpredictable and
unprecedented, we have the
courage and resilience to
power through anything.”
Herrera, the all-stu-
dent-body president at the
high school, began her
speech ref lecting on the
memories the class shared.
“Memories that we have
sal support from legislators
from both parties. Besides
state Sen. Dallas Heard, a
Roseburg Republican who
has continually voted against
bills that are unrelated to
reopening the state during
the COVID-19 pandemic,
the only other no vote came
from state Rep. Paul Evans,
D-Monmouth.
“The addition of ‘more
land’ is not a solution, it is a
temporary remedy,” Evans
wrote in a letter urging the
Legislature to take on a
broader conversation about
land use policy. “It is how
we best optimize the land
available that is the real issue
before us.”
The bill adds Pendleton
to a pilot program already
being utilized by Bend and
Redmond, and will stay
in effect until 2028. In an
interview, City Manager
Robb Corbett said the city
will begin a deliberative
process of identifying land
near Pendleton where prop-
erty owners and developers
might be interested in devel-
oping affordable housing,
one of the city’s top needs.
Lawmakers shrink
airport’s public
records requirements
Another Pendleton prior-
ity — Senate Bill 315 —
also passed through both
chambers of the Legislature
with little opposition from
lawmakers.
The bill creates an
exemption in Oregon’s
public records law so the
city can block disclosure
of any public record asso-
ciated with the Pendleton
Unmanned Aerial Systems
Range, “including but not
limited to pricing, intellec-
tual property and customer
records,” as long as the city
can cite some sort of compet-
itive disadvantage will be
created from it.
City officials argued
they needed to make the
drone testing range more
opaque because its custom-
ers often operate in secrecy
and require a similar level
of discretion from the city.
They added Pendleton’s
range was the only facil-
provided to commercial
fishermen. Even in times
of peace, he said, the Coast
Guard saves lives and
protects livelihoods.
He said he hopes people
remember that Memorial
Day is much more than a
three-day weekend.
“It’s an opportunity to
remember those who put
themselves in harm’s way
so we can continue to enjoy
life,” he said.
Judith Burger, the outgo-
ing commander of the Pend-
leton VFW, performed
“Taps” before the ceremony
ended. As the event wrapped
up, Smith told the audience
he hoped the VFW could
revive its usual ceremony for
2022, “once COVID is over.”
The past two years’ cere-
monies may have looked very
different, with small crowds
huddled near the cemetery
mausoleum. But Smith said
it was important to keep the
tradition going, even during
the pandemic years.
“We want to honor our
fallen,” he said.
made together are now there
for us to look back on and
laugh at,” she said. “The last
year and a half, the memo-
ries we were able to make
were limited, but that does
not mean that we didn’t get
anything out of the past four
years.”
Sandven recognized
many students’ achieve-
ments, including honors
awards, scholarships and
students who planned to
enter the armed forces.
Among them was Steven
Asher, who plans to go
into the United States Air
Force at the end of this
year, according to his aunt,
Rachel Walker.
“It’s nice to know they
have their whole lives in
front of them still,” she said.
“He’s been wanting to go
into the military for years
now.”
In all, the class of 2021
earned nearly $268,000 in
scholarships from the Pend-
leton community, and more
than $1.7 million in scholar-
ships overall.
One student, Robert
Wilfred Windy Boy, was
the only student in Oregon
this year to receive the bilit-
eracy seal from the state for
attaining high proficiency in
English and the Nez Perce
language. He was recog-
nized with thunderous
applause.
Cassie Abbot t felt
emotional watching her son,
Nicholas Tucker, receiving
his diploma on May 29.
Tucker struggled to main-
tain a consistent routine
when the pandemic hit,
she said, and online classes
were difficult. Several fami-
lies at the graduation said
their loved ones had similar
struggles.
Only days ago they
learned Tucker’s grades
were strong enough to grad-
uate, a moment she said felt
amazing.
“He put in so much hard
work,” she said.
ity under the operation of
a public government rather
than a private business or
tribal entity, meaning it was
the only facility in the state
that had to comply with
public records laws.
The Society of Profes-
sional Journalists stated its
opposition to the bill, argu-
ing the bill was overly broad
in what records it wanted to
keep from the public eye.
But legislators were
undeterred, passing the
bill with no amendments.
Corbett said the nature of
UAS ranges is so new, it
will take time to determine
whether the bill is too broad
in trying to protect Pendle-
ton’s commercial interests
and the issue could be revis-
ited later.
Along with Heard, the
only other legislator to vote
against the bill was Brad
Witt, D-Clatskanie, who
didn’t provide a statement
explaining his vote.
Both bills will now move
to desk of Gov. Kate Brown,
who will have to sign them
to make them law.