REGION
Saturday, October 2, 2021
East Oregonian
A3
Offi cials confi rm
wolves attacked,
injured cattle
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Head Cook Carlos Salvatirra grills burgers Sept. 25, 2021, at The Bridge Bistro & Brews in Umatilla.
The Bridge shifts gears
Owners ‘hellbent’
to make change
from The Riverside
permanent
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
UMATILLA — From the
outside, The Bridge Bistro &
Brews may look like the old
Riverside Sports Bar, but it is
much diff erent on the inside,
and the owners could not be
happier about it.
“Things are good,” said
Paulette Dufl oth. She owns
the Bridge with her husband
Daren Dufl oth. They owned
The Riverside as well, inherit-
ing it from Daren’s father.
She called the transition,
which began in May 2020,
“wonderful.” She also said
the community has been very
supportive.
The Riverside opened in
1994, and it was a business
that supported her family in a
town the Dufl oths love. It also
employed several people, so
they do not express any regrets
about it. However, they had
long wanted to convert the
sports bar and strip club to a
family-friendly restaurant.
On March 15, 2020, they
ended The Riverside due to
COVID-19 concerns. They
stood in the middle of their
business and wondered what
they would do.
“We had some hard deci-
sions to make,” Paulette said.
They went from making
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Paige Esterbloom fi lls beverages Sept. 25, 2021, at The Bridge
Bistro & Brews in Umatilla.
an income to making nothing,
and they felt stressed.
Two days after closing,
they started renovating with-
out a decision about the busi-
ness and whether they would
make the transition.
Paulette was feeling burnt
out by the business. It was
never her cup of tea, she said.
And while they did not make
a statement right away about
changing it permanently, she
said she was “hellbent” on a
big change and she would not
go back. The adult business
would be no more, forever.
The industry, Paulette
said, lends itself to a “diff er-
ent customer base” which is
“less respectful” and “harder
to control.”
As she and Daren are both
over 50, they see themselves in
a “retirement phase” in which
they do not want to deal with
a diffi cult clientele.
“It was becoming hard,
mentally, for me to walk in the
door at the end of the day,” she
said. “I worked really, really
hard over these 23 years.
It’s aged me, and I feel my
husband and I have sacrifi ced
a lot in the time frame we’ve
been here,” Paulette said.
In a few years, she may
even sell The Bridge. For now,
though, she said she wants to
build it further and “make it
the best it can be.”
She said she has recently
had new opportunities that
made this transition possible.
With COVID-19, grants and
loans have been made avail-
able to the business. They
would not have been able to
remodel without the assis-
tance, she said.
Now, with the income from
the kitchen rather than mostly
from the bar, Paulette said the
business is as profi table as it
had been prior the pandemic.
She is having diffi culty fi nd-
ing employees, but she is
looking and said she feels she
will eventually fi nd the right
people.
There are funny moments
with this change, however, she
said. Sometimes, people call
The Bridge to ask whether it
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A set of pulled pork sliders
sit on the kitchen window
Sept. 25, 2021, before being
delivered to a customer at
The Bridge Bistro & Brews in
Umatilla.
is open and whether dancers
are performing.
Yes, they are open, she
says. No, there are no dancers.
Another humorous thing,
Daren said, is when he hears
the sound of babies, which is
a strange thing to hear inside
those walls.
Pivoting to something
more “palatable to the
community,” he said, has
involved a “mind shift.” Little
things, such as buying high
chairs for infants to getting
larger tables to accommodate
families, had to be done. They
also had to change adver-
tising and reorientate the
kitchen. Portion control and
kitchen cost analysis, which
were afterthoughts, had to be
learned.
Still, Daren Dufl oth said
he’s glad for it and so, too,
seem to be the public.
Drop-in peer centers opening to help with addiction
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
UMATILLA COUNTY
— Locals struggling with
substance use are getting new
places to seek some help.
The Oregon Washington
Health Network is opening
three drop-in peer centers
next week, one in Pendleton,
one in Hermiston and one
in Milton-Freewater. The
centers will off er “low-bar-
rier access for individuals
and families that are strug-
gling with substance use,”
said Amy Ashton-Williams,
the network’s executive
director. “Our purpose is to
off er some support and guid-
ance.”
Ashton-Williams said the
“peer movement has really
exploded” in recent years,
and it has given people with
“lived experience” a chance
to help other people. That is,
a “peer,” who has a personal
history with recovery and
addiction, can help other
people. They can share their
own stories, relate to others
and possibly even chart the
Centers hold open houses Oct. 6 in
Hermiston, Pendleton, Milton-Freewater
recoveries of others.
Family members of people
in crisis do not always know
about available resources or
the best next step, she said.
Someone in that situation can
meet with one of the center’s
“peers,” people who are
experienced with and under-
standing of life’s many diffi -
culties.
The peers also are there
to help individuals in recov-
ery, seeking to end their use
of alcohol or other drugs or to
make their addictions safer.
The network in such cases,
directs people to harm-re-
duction resources, such as a
needle-exchange program.
Professional staff work
at each center, Ashton-Wil-
liams said. The Hermiston
Center has two peer mentors,
Pendleton has three peer
mentors and Milton-Freewa-
ter has two peer mentors and
two peer mentor supervisors.
They all vary in education,
as some have high school
diplomas or GEDs, some
have bachelor’s degrees
and others are completing
their master’s degrees. All
staff , Ashton-Williams said,
regardless of schooling, are
familiar with resources and
able to help.
The centers, Ashton-Wil-
liams said, are open to clients
of diff erent ages. They will
even be able to help adoles-
cents. Peers are also avail-
able by phone and services
are free.
The centers also can
help people with English or
Spanish-language services,
Ashton-Williams said. When
individuals walk in, they
will be met by someone who
looks like them, speaks their
language and knows their
culture, provided they speak
either English or Spanish.
“That was very import-
ant,” she said. Spanish
language speakers, a large
portion of her service areas,
have a history of being
neglected by programs simi-
lar to hers, she said.
She added, these centers
will meet a great need. She
said she fears increasing
overdose rates in Umatilla
County. The pandemic, she
said, is likely exacerbating
problems, isolating people.
The Oregon Washington
Health Network will host
grand openings Wednesday,
Oct. 6, at each of the drop-in
peer centers. The times and
locations are as follows:
• 9-10 a.m. at the Hermis-
ton Center, 165 S.W. Third St.
• 12-1 p.m. at the Pendle-
ton Center at 200 S.E. Hailey
Ave,, Suite 105/106.
• 3-4 p.m. at the Milton
Center at 410 N. Main St.,
Milton-Freewater.
UKIAH — The Oregon
Department of Fish and
Wildlife confi rmed wolves
recently attacked eight cattle
in the Ukiah Valley south of
Pendleton, though it remains
unclear which pack is respon-
sible.
The fi rst report came on
Sept. 25, when a ranch hand
discovered one dead and six
injured calves in an approx-
imately 200-acre private
pasture. All were about
six months old, weighing
between 450 and 550 pounds.
Two of the injured calves later
were euthanized.
Three days later, another
calf was found dead in the
same pasture. In each case,
the animals had bite marks
suggesting they were alive
when a predator attacked
them The injuries included
tooth scrapes, punctures and
tears that were consistent with
wolves.
While ODFW has chalked
up the depredations to wolves,
the agency does not know
which pack caused the inju-
ries.
The Ukiah pack, which
roams parts of southern
Umatilla and Union counties,
was not in the area, according
to GPS collar data. ODFW is
now monitoring the Fivemile
pack west of Ukiah to see if it
is in areas outside its known
territory.
In addition, the agency
says a new group of wolves
may be present southeast of
the depredation location.
Rodger Huffman, a
Union County rancher and
co-chairman of the Oregon
Cattlemen’s Association wolf
committee, said both the
organization and the producer
are asking Fish and Wildlife
to kill members of the off end-
ing pack to deter further
wolf-livestock conflicts in
the area.
Under the state’s Wolf
Conservation and Manage-
ment Plan, wolves in East-
ern Oregon may be subject
to lethal control if they have
two confi rmed depredations
within nine months.
Twice this year, ODFW
authorized a permit to kill
wolves from the Lookout
Mountain pack in Baker
County following repeated
Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife/Contributed Photo
Wolves recently attacked
eight cattle in the Ukiah
Valley of Northeastern Ore-
gon. Wildlife managers are
attempting to determine
which pack the wolves were
from.
attacks on livestock.
The agency shot two wolf
pups from the Lookout Moun-
tain pack in August, and then
three more wolves — includ-
ing the alpha male — in
September after depredations
did not stop.
Still, Huff man said ranch-
ers have remained frustrated
with the state’s management
of wolves. He said the number
of depredations confi rmed by
the agency is lower than the
actual number producers face.
“We have a wolf manage-
ment and conservation plan,
and conservation has clearly
been the first and high-
est priority,” Huff man said.
“We’re just asking very
respectfully that at least
management be 50% of the
equation in this.”
Environmental groups,
on the other hand, staunchly
oppose killing wolves and
continue to fi ght to overturn
the federal government’s
decision to take wolves off
the list of endangered species.
On Sept. 15, the Biden
administration announced
it would review the status of
gray wolves in the northern
Rocky Mountains, which
could potentially restore
endangered species protec-
tions in Idaho, Montana,
Wyoming and the eastern
one-third of Oregon and
Washington.
O regon’s m i n i mu m
known wolf population is 173
as of the most recent count at
the end of 2020.
IN BRIEF
M-F man killed in
Highway 11 crash
MILTON-FREEWATER
— A Milton-Freewater man
died Thursday morning,
Sept. 30, when the car he was
driving struck an oncoming
vehicle.
T he dea d ly w reck
occurred at approximately
6:20 a.m. on Highway 11
near Milepost 35. Victor
Santana-Torres, 23, was driv-
ing north on the highway in
a Cadillac Deville when
it drifted into the oncom-
ing lane and struck a transit
van. State police reported he
succumbed to injuries,
Bradley Varvell, 55, of
Walla Walla, was driving the
van. He suff ered serious inju-
ries, and an ambulance took
him to Providence St. Mary
Medical Center in Walla
Walla. OSP did not have infor-
mation about his condition.
Personnel from the
Milton-Freewater Police
Department, Milton-Free-
water Rural Fire Department
and Oregon Department
of Transportation also
responded to the crash.
The crash led to closing
the southbound side on High-
way 11 for approximately four
hours. Oregon State Police
also reported it is investigat-
ing driver fatigue as a contrib-
uting factor in the crash.
— EO Media Group
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