REGION
Saturday, October 30, 2021
East Oregonian
A3
Bi-Mart pharmacies move customer fi les to nearby pharmacies
Several towns, however, do not
have a nearby Walgreens pharmacy,
which is the case for Bi-Marts in
Hermiston, Pendleton, Baker City
and La Grande. The distance from
one of these locations to the nearest
Walgreens pharmacy — in Kenne-
wick, Ontario or Walla Walla —
would involve a drive of more than 30
miles to around 100 miles, depending
on location.
As commutes to distant phar-
macies is impractical, Leber said
arrangements are in the works to
send customer fi les to other pharma-
cies.
The Hermiston Bi-Mart phar-
ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
The long lines at local pharmacy
checkouts may grow even longer, as
Bi-Mart pharmacies close and ship
customer fi les to other locations.
Don Leber, Bi-Mart vice presi-
dent of marketing and advertising,
explained the situation in an inter-
view Thursday, Oct. 28. As Bi-Mart
sold its pharmacies to Walgreens,
most Bi-Mart pharmacies began clos-
ing — 56 in the Northwest, including
37 in Oregon. In cities where there
is a Walgreens, Bi-Mart is sending
customer fi les to Walgreens.
macy, which closed Oct. 26, began
transferring fi les to the Hermiston
Safeway pharmacy Oct. 27, Leber
said. Pendleton’s fi les are going to
the pharmacy at the towns’s Safe-
way as well on Nov. 11, the day after
Bi-Mart’s last day of operations,
Leber said. The La Grande Bi-Mart
pharmacy is likely to transfer fi les to
Safeway, too, though a deal was not
yet confi rmed, Leber said. The tran-
sition would occur in mid-November.
On Oct. 28, Leber said he did not
know where Baker City fi les would
be shipped. Discussions over their
transfer were ongoing. He said the
Baker City Bi-Mart pharmacy would
be open into November and would
not close before a decision was made.
He added these dates are subject
to change.
Leber said Walgreens will keep
10 Oregon Bi-Mart pharmacies open.
These pharmacies will operate under
the Walgreens name. The list of 10
had yet to be confi rmed by Thursday.
The problem of closing
pharmacies
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon,
released a letter Oct. 20 referencing
the Bi-Mart sale. In the letter, he
expressed his “deep concerns about
these closures.”
Wyden, in the letter, alludes also
to fees that impose “fi nancial strain”
on pharmacies, which has caused
2,200 U.S. pharmacies to close. His
letter calls for a “formal review of
pharmacy closures in the U.S. in the
last fi ve years” and for regulation of
fees.
Leber said that these fees, which
Wyden sees as a problem, cost
Bi-Mart millions of dollars every
year. This is forcing the company to
make this decision to exit the phar-
macy business.
“We could no longer do it at a
profi t,” he said. “Long haul, it would
put Bi-Mart in jeopardy.”
Grant funds open door for local transit project ODFW approves killing
wolf in Umatilla County
Aim is to begin
transit plan in
18 to 24 months
East Oregonian
BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Public
transportation for Hermiston
area residents working in the
east end of Morrow County
could become easier.
The Umatilla County
Board of Commissioners
last week adopted a new plan
that will allow the county to
seek grant funding for a tran-
sit service connecting people
who live miles away from
where they work, according
to county and tribal offi cials.
J.D. Tovey, planning
director for the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation, said money
from the Statewide Trans-
portation Improvement Fund
is making this possible.
The routes are called the
Hermiston to Boardman
Connector transit route and
the Port of Morrow Circular
route. The CTUIR, Kayak
Public Transit and Morrow
County’s transit service are
leading the project. Umatilla
County also is a partner,
according to county docu-
ments.
“I think it’s a wonder-
ful project,” Commissioner
George Murdock said.
“There’s thousands of people
who go from Hermiston to
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Passengers prepare to board a Kayak Public Transit bus Monday, Oct. 25, 2021, near the Pendle-
ton Walmart. A project using a Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund grant looks to make
commuting for workers from the Hermiston area to Boardman and the Port of Morrow a reality.
that area to work every day.”
Tovey said the project will
allow workers to bus with
ease between Hermiston,
Boardman and the Port of
Morrow, an area with some
of the largest workforces in
Eastern Oregon, many of
which are centered around
the agricultural industry and
food processing.
Tovey described workers
moving through that area as
“one of the largest intercounty
migrations” in Oregon.
“The whole goal is to
get people to work,” Megan
Green, Umatilla County’s
transit coordinator, said.
The plan also is intended
to help East Morrow County
residents connect to medical
services and grocery stores
available only in Hermiston,
offi cials say.
And with more funds
coming from the Statewide
Transportation Improvement
Fund, they hope to begin the
service sometime in the next
18 to 24 months.
“I’d love to start tomor-
row if we could,” said Tovey,
who added, “We’re marching
forward.”
The county already has
invested STIF funding into
the project for the next two
years, with $150,000 for the
2022 fi scal year and $166,000
for 2023. Green said the new
STIF funds will go toward
Man arrested on charges of child sex crimes
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
H ER M ISTON — A
monthslong Her miston
police investigation led
Tuesday, Oct. 26, to the
arrest of a man for a slew of
child sex crimes, according
to Hermiston Police Chief
Jason Edmiston.
Steven Ira Brown, 36,
is in the Umatilla County
Jail, Pendleton, for felony
counts of using a child in
sexual conduct, second-de-
gree sexual abuse, luring a
minor, and misdemeanor
counts of contributing to
the sexual delinquency of
a minor and third-degree
sexual abuse.
Edmiston said police
began investigating Brown
i n Ju ne. He would n’t
disclose any details about
the charges, but said the
victim involved in the
case is a 16-year-old girl
who knew Brown. He said
Brown’s alleged actions
started at least six months
before the police investiga-
tion began.
Edmiston also wouldn’t
describe their relationship
other than to say that the
two knew each other, adding
Brown was “not a stranger”
to the teen.
Brown knew Hermiston
police were investigating
him, Edmiston said, as offi -
cers seized property from
his home. Edmiston said
Brown tried to hide from
police but was eventually
found in his home. On Oct.
26, police waited outside
his home. After calling his
attorney, Brown “came out
to face the music,” Edmis-
ton said.
Edmiston also described
Brown as a “well-known
social media warrior antago-
nist.” On his Facebook page,
Brown has posted several
videos criticizing police and
the Umatilla County District
Attorney’s Offi ce.
Edmiston said police
have been in the process of
locking down digital infor-
mation in the case that they
will provide to prosecutors.
Brown remains in the
local jail with a preliminary
bail of $100,000.
Umatilla Rural Fire boss under investigation
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
UMATILLA — The
Umatilla Rural Fire Protec-
tion District has placed its
fi re chief, Steve Potts, on paid
leave amid an investigation
into an “internal matter,”
according to Kyle Sipe, chair-
man of the fi re district board.
Sipe said two volun-
teers with the fire district
recently met with him and
had complaints about Potts.
That prompted the board to
place Potts on leave on Oct.
19 and hire a private investi-
gator to look into the matter,
Sipe said.
Sipe would not disclose
any information about what
the complaints were, nor why
the board placed Potts on
leave. He said he was “not at
liberty” to discuss the ongo-
ing investigation.
Potts did not respond to a
call seeking comment.
Scott Stanton, chief of
Umatilla Fire District No.
1, will take charge of the
department for now, Sipe
said.
Sipe, an instructional and
robotics teacher with the
Umatilla School District,
could not elaborate on the
investigation’s timeline and
would not disclose any infor-
mation about the investigator.
When the investigation
concludes, Sipe said the
board will analyze the fi nd-
ings and determine what to
do next.
November 5-6-7, 2021
26th Annual Christmas
route development, identify-
ing parking rights, planning
funds, buying buses and
getting drivers.
Tovey, who has spear-
headed the project for years,
said the funds will allow
offi cials to purchase two or
three additional buses that
will make additional stops
in places like Hermiston,
Boardman, Echo, Stanfi eld
and the Port of Morrow.
Tovey said he hopes the
transit service will provide
a comfortable and safe way
to go back and forth to work,
allowing workers to nap, read
and talk with their families
during their commute.
UMATILLA COUNTY
— A livestock producer has
received permission from the
Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife to kill a wolf in
Umatilla County.
ODFW on Thursday, Oct.
28, authorized the killing of
one wolf after OR30 wolves
continued to prey on live-
stock.
Fish and Wildlife will
provide a kill permit to a
livestock producer who
requested the option after
ODFW confirmed wolves
last week preyed on a calf in
a private pasture.
Since early June, OR30
wolves have depredated
six times on private land
pastures, resulting in the
death or injury of fi ve sheep
and five calves. A previ-
ous removal permit for
these wolves to a diff erent
producer expired on Aug. 31
with no wolves taken.
ODFW can authorize
“lethal take” in chronic
depredation situations when
there is signifi cant risk to
livestock present in the area.
The permit allows the
producer or their agent to
kill one wolf on the private
land they are using within
the OR30 Wolves Area of
Known Wolf Activity. The
permit expires Nov. 22,
when the one wolf is killed,
or when the producer’s live-
stock are removed from the
area, whichever comes fi rst.
The permit limits the
method of killing to shoot-
ing the wolf from the ground.
Under the rules, livestock
producers must be using and
document nonlethal meth-
ods appropriate to the situa-
tion before lethal control can
be considered. Also, there
can be no identifi ed circum-
stances on the property (such
as bone piles or carcasses)
that are attracting wolves.
During each livestock inves-
tigation as well as during
each trip to the investigation
sites, the Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife searched
the immediate area for any
bone piles, carcasses or other
attractants and found none.
The producer has and
continues to remove any
dead, sick or injured live-
stock from their pasture to
reduce the risk of attracting
predators. They have main-
tained an increased human
presence, working long
hours (10-15 hours daily) to
check livestock frequently
using both horse and all-ter-
rain vehicles.
Producers also have
hazed wolves late into the
night using fi rearms as noise-
makers to scare them off . For
several weeks, the producer
has been camping on site to
monitor and gather cattle.
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