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JUNE 12-13, 2021
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‘ARBITRARY
AND CAPRICIOUS’
Lifeways takes issue with Umatilla County’s decision to change
community mental health services provider
BLUE MOUNTAIN
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
President
fi nalists
make their
pitches
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A sign outside Lifeways in Pendleton celebrates the organization’s staff on Friday, June 11, 2021. The mental health services provider is
protesting Umatilla County’s decision to use Heppner-based Community Counseling Solutions for mental health and addiction treatment.
PENDLETON — The competition
to become Blue Mountain Community
College’s next president is down to four.
Three fi nalists spent the week touring
BMCC’s Pendleton campus and meet-
ing with students, staff and community
members ahead of the board of education’s
fi nal decision, which is expected to come
in July. As the interviews were underway,
the college announced a
fourth fi nalist, who will go
through the same process
in Pendleton on Monday,
June 14.
Blue Mountain will
select a new president
at a critical juncture for
Browning
the college. BMCC has
spent recent years dealing
with a sustained decline
in student enrollment,
several rounds of layoff s
and an administrative
reorganization.
During the community
forum, the only portion
of the interviews open to
Simone
the public, the candidates
played up their rural bona-
fi des as they fi elded ques-
tions about career training,
equity and community
involvement.
Mark Browning
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
P
ENDLETON — Lifeways is
not going down without a fi ght.
Offi cials with the commu-
nity mental health services
provider are criticizing Umatilla
County’s decision to go with Commu-
nity Counseling Solutions as its
central provider for mental health and
addiction services and are urging the
county to change its mind.
Lifeways, which has served the
county for more than 16 years, claims
CCS “is underqualifi ed and under-
prepared to take on the signifi cantly
more complex, higher volume work
in Umatilla County,” Chief Executive
Offi cer Tim Hoekstra said in a press
release. The company argues Commu-
nity Counseling won’t be able to get
up and running in time to provide
adequate care for the county’s more
than 4,000 patients.
“At the very least, Lifeways hopes
its protest draws attention to the
gamble the county is taking with its
residents’ health,” Hoekstra said.
“Their health deserves a thorough and
accurate evaluation process. There is
no question that the evaluation process
conducted and forming the basis of
the award to CCS was neither thor-
ough nor accurate because it missed
the obvious conclusion that CCS’ lack
of readiness is a danger to Umatilla
residents.”
But CCS Executive Director
Kimberly Lindsay said the Heppner-
based provider, which serves four
Eastern Oregon counties, is fully
prepared to take on the new role and
will begin preparations as soon as
Lifeways’ appeal is fi nished. Commu-
nity Counseling is set to begin off er-
ing addiction services in the county in
September and mental health services
in December.
Lindsay said she has yet to decide if
CCS will respond to Lifeways’ claims.
“We’re interested in defending
our good name,” she said. “We’re
not going to do anything to discredit
anyone. That’s not how we operate.
But we will do what we need to do to
defend our name and our reputation.”
Lifeways plans to stick
around
Lifeways sent a formal protest letter
to the county on June 2, which the East
Oregonian obtained and reviewed.
The board of commissioners, which
See Lifeways, Page A9
A s el f- d e s c r ib e d
Villa
“farm boy from western
Montana,” Mark Browning said he didn’t
get involved with higher education until
he was 39.
By then he and his family had moved to
Idaho and he had embarked on a career in
media that culminated in a news director
position with a Boise TV station. Brown-
ing began attending Idaho State Univer-
sity when he looked to advance his career
further, but he said he would have been a
perfect candidate for community college.
“We have a real affi nity for community
colleges,” he said. “I may not have been
born into them, but I’ve converted fully.”
His second career began with stints with
the Idaho State Board of Education and
North Idaho College. In 2016, he became
the vice president for college relations at
the College of Western Idaho, a community
college in Nampa.
When the position opened up at Blue
See Finalists, Page A9
OR30 wolves kill sheep on Mount Emily outside Meacham
By KATY NESBITT
For the East Oregonian
MEACHAM — Wolf
numbers in the northern
Blue Mountains continue to
increase, as does the risk to
livestock and the dogs that
protect and herd them.
According to a June 2
Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife livestock depre-
dation investigation report,
a sheep herder on Horseshoe
Ridge outside of Meacham
reported seeing four wolves
near his sheep on a 1,200-
acre, timbered private
pasture. He soon found one
dead and fi ve injured lambs.
A herding dog also was
wounded and had a 1-inch
NEED 26.4% MORE
UMATILLA COUNTY RESIDENTS
TO GET VACCINATED
tear in the hide and fresh
blood in the armpit of the
right front leg.
The investigation said the
dog was injured at the same
time and in the same area as
the lambs, but lacked diag-
nostic evidence to determine
the cause. The dog has since
recovered.
A second lamb died
before the investigation. The
carcasses had multiple teeth
punctures approximately a
quarter of an inch in diame-
ter on the neck, with associ-
ated hemorrhage and tissue
trauma from 1 inch to up to
1¾ inches deep. Both injured
lambs had fresh wounds on
their necks and labored
breathing.
Fi sh a nd Wi ld l i fe
attributed the attack to
what is known as the OR30
wolves.
Wolves have made Mount
Emily their home for almost
a decade, but, according
to Roblyn Brown, Fish and
Wildlife state wolf biologist,
See Wolves, Page A9
UMATILLA COUNTY
As of
6 /1 0 /2 0 2 1
When reached
65%
w w w.sa hp end leton. org
38.6%
COUNTY
REOPENS!