NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, July 1, 2021
Search and rescue teams fi nish training
East Oregonian
ENTER PR ISE — Search
and Rescue team members from
Wallowa, Union, Baker and
Umatilla counties honed their skills
in the Salt Creek Summit area of
Wallowa County.
About 60 SAR volunteers and
instructors from the four counties
participated June 24-27 in the multi-
day training, which was hosted by
Wallowa County Search and Rescue
volunteers.
“Our numbers were down a little
from what we expected, but it’s a
little late in the season,” Paige Sully,
the event coordinator for Wallowa
County SAR, said. “But all in all I
think it was great.”
Training included swiftwa-
ter rescue, tactical fast tracking,
advanced incident command,
hasty-team and K-9 land searches,
rescuing injured hikers from remote
locations and coordination with
Civil Air Patrol aircraft.
“It was a very good training,”
said Jim Akenson, who serves as
a WCSAR incident commander
and participated in the incident
command training. “It was funda-
mental and advanced all rolled into
one. As an incident commander, it’s
good to see more and more people
coming on who can take leadership
roles. Everybody I observed did
really well.”
June 26 was devoted to classes,
most with hands-on fi eld experi-
ence.
Tactical tracking, taught by
Cliff ord Pease and Leon Kershaw,
Ellen Morris Bishop/Contributed Photo
Umatilla County Sheriff ’s Offi ce tracker Leon Kershaw, center, shows search and rescue volunteers Miles McFall,
left, and Heather Howard how to interpret a “fl ag” or track Saturday, June 26, 2021, in the Salt Creek Summit
area of Wallowa County.
proved one of the more popular
classes. Both men track suspects
and escaped prisoners for the
Umatilla County Sheriff ’s Offi ce
and other law enforcement agen-
cies. Their “fast tracking” tech-
niques have allowed them to follow
and apprehend escaped convicts
more than 40 miles in three days.
“It’s important to pay atten-
tion to the small things that people
leave along their path, including
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
FRIDAY
| Go to AccuWeather.com
SATURDAY
Mostly sunny and
very hot
Sunshine and very
hot
96° 65°
98° 65°
SUNDAY
Blazing sunshine
and very hot
MONDAY
Very hot; breezy in
the p.m.
Very warm with
blazing sunshine
actual tracks as well as bent twigs,
scuff s and other (sign),” Pease said.
“It’s often possible to determin-
ing a general path and send a team
ahead along that line to pick up
(tracks) farther ahead and close the
A ‘major step in the right direction’
Higher ed leaders
see funding, new
bills as positives
for institutions
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
101° 69°
96° 64°
97° 69°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
98° 67°
100° 67°
103° 71°
99° 64°
101° 72°
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
70/59
92/60
101/63
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
98/69
Lewiston
76/58
100/67
Astoria
69/57
Pullman
Yakima 100/66
76/55
102/72
Portland
Hermiston
82/60
The Dalles 98/67
Salem
Corvallis
79/55
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
96/64
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
86/56
96/59
97/62
Ontario
105/68
Caldwell
Burns
107°
82°
84°
56°
107° (2021) 38° (1949)
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
80/56
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
96/64
0.00"
0.23"
0.59"
1.93"
1.65"
5.70"
WINDS (in mph)
102/67
95/56
0.00"
0.28"
1.06"
4.31"
8.57"
7.57"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 93/60
84/59
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
96/65
89/66
103°
75°
84°
55°
108° (1924) 36° (1898)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
77/56
Aberdeen
96/67
99/68
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
77/61
Today
Fri.
SW 10-20
W 7-14
SW 7-14
WNW 6-12
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
95/56
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
Last
5:10 a.m.
8:48 p.m.
12:50 a.m.
12:55 p.m.
New
First
time-distance gap. You can fi nd the
lost person quicker that way.”
The trackers also worked with
Wallowa County’s two tracking
K-9 teams — Heather Howard and
her dog Gracie, and Edward “Vern”
Vernarsky and his dog Trooper.
“I really thought the tracking
class was great,” said Holly Aken-
son, Wallowa County Search and
Rescue K-9 team leader. “There
were a lot of really good on-the-
ground things.”
Swiftwater rescue training,
led by a team of instructors from
Wallowa County, took place in
the pond near Salt Creek Summit.
Volunteers fi ne-tuned skills that
included accurately throwing
rescue ropes.
Search and rescue hasty, medical
and K-9 teams coordinated by inci-
dent command and SAR members
from multiple counties spread out in
a mock search and rescue exercise
June 27 in the Salt Creek Summit
area. Civil Air Patrol brought in
two aircraft — one from Boise and
another from Redmond — to aid in
searching for several “lost hikers,”
some of whom were “injured.” The
search and rescue eff orts all were
successful within the three hours
allotted for the exercise.
“Learning to work with and
practicing with our neighboring
counties for mutual aide just makes
us more ready when we have a big
search and we all need to work
together,” Akenson said. “This
way we all know each other, we’ve
worked together, and I think that’s
really benefi cial.”
By MEERAH POWELL
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SALEM — Oregon’s
public universities and
community colleges will
receive the full amounts of
funding they requested from
the state.
The passage of a higher
education budget bill as the
Oregon Legislature wrapped
up its work over the week-
end gives the public univer-
sities $900 million and the
community colleges about
$703 million for the upcom-
ing two-year budget period.
Those funds will be distrib-
uted to the individual insti-
tutions by the state’s Higher
Education Coordinating
Commission.
“As Oregon moves
forward out of the pandemic,
wildfire devastation and
impact on the economy, our
17 community colleges stand
ready to support students
as they upskill, reskill and Oregon Council of Presidents.
achieve their academic goals
Insko said in a state-
in pursuit of a rewarding ment that the Legislature not
career,” Cam Preus, execu- only made investments into
university operations
tive director of the
Oregon Community
and financial aid
College Association,
programs, but also
said in a statement.
pushed forward poli-
Last December,
cies including “basic
needs navigators,
Gov. Kate Brown
recommended public
streamlined trans-
universities receive
fer of credits and a
Insko
about $836 million,
task force to look at
while community
how best to serve
colleges were slated
under represented
students.”
to get $641 million
— about $60 million
HECC Executive
less for both sets of
Director Ben Cannon
said in a statement
institutions than the
that the Legislature
now-legislatively
approved budget.
also funded proj-
Along with meet-
Preus
ects to update and
ing the institutions’
renovate campus
full budget requests, Oregon buildings around the state,
higher education also saw expanded college access
some other advancements programs and supported the
this legislative session — modernization of the technol-
including bills focused on the ogy the state uses to adminis-
success of underrepresented ter fi nancial aid to students.
students.
“We have a long way to go
“The 2021 session was a to create a truly equitable and
much needed bright spot for accessible system of educa-
Oregon’s public university tion and training after high
students,” said Tom Insko, school, but this session repre-
president of Eastern Oregon sented a major step in the
University and chair of the right direction,” Cannon said.
Full
NATIONAL EXTREMES
IN BRIEF
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 113° in Lewiston, Idaho Low 34° in Dillon, Colo.
July 1
July 9
July 17
July 23
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Baker City mayor
running for governor
Oregonians need a leader who will get our
children back in school, fi ght for medical
freedoms, protect our individual constitu-
BAKER CITY — Baker City Mayor tional rights, prevent criminals from burning
and destroying our once-fl ourishing
Kerry McQuisten is aiming for
cities, remind Oregonians of their
a much higher political office —
Oregon governor.
inherent pioneer spirit, and prevent
the kind of rule we’ve seen from ever
McQuisten, 49, who is a Republi-
can, has announced a gubernatorial
happening again.”
campaign for 2022.
McQuisten was elected to the
Oregon’s governor, Democrat Kate
Baker City Council in November
Brown, can’t run in 2022 due to term
2020.
McQuisten
Her fellow councilors elected her
limits.
On her campaign website —
as mayor in January 2021 (in Baker
kerrymcquisten.com — McQuisten writes: City’s form of government, elected council-
“Campaigns always claim that change is ors, not voters, choose the mayor).
needed. This time, it couldn’t be more true!
— EO Media Group
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
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