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Friday, December 31, 2021
East Oregonian
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To that end, the Umatilla County
Board of Commissioners on Sept.
8 agreed to provide 10 acres at the
intersection of Lind and Bensel
roads, Hermiston, for the construc-
tion of a warming station and tempo-
rary living huts. The deal involves
Umatilla, Hermiston, Echo and
Stanfi eld working together to fi nd
a comprehensive solution to assist
those experiencing homelessness.
9) Heat wave breaks
temperature records, claims
lives
PENDLETON — An extended
surge in high temperatures in late
June shattered records across the
region, sometimes by as much as 5
degrees. According to the National
Weather Service, temperatures on
June 29 in Pendleton peaked at 117
degrees and in Hermiston at 118
degrees — all-time modern highs for
the two cities. The normal tempera-
tures for this time of year are in the
mid-80s.
Cole Evans, a forecaster for the
weather service station in Pendle-
ton, said, “The sheer magnitude of
the temperatures is unprecedented.”
A heat dome was the reason for
the record temperatures. Evans
explained a layer of high atmospheric
pressure formed over the Northwest,
allowing warmer temperatures to
build over time until they crested.
The blazing heat prompted baby
hawks to bail from their nests and
plummet to the ground. Blue Moun-
tain Wildlife, the wild bird rescue
and rehabilitation center just outside
Pendleton, took in nearly 50 nestling
hawks in late June, and the staff there
had to euthanize 13 raptors due to the
extent of their injuries.
Along with the scorching heat
came record-breaking drought.
The conditions prompted Umatilla
County and the city of Pendleton to
ban fi reworks as residents prepared
to celebrate the Fourth of July.
Extreme fire danger, large wild-
fi res and few fi refi ghting resources
prompted U.S. Forest Service offi -
cials on July 16 to temporarily close
the entire Umatilla National Forest,
a move that records show was a fi rst.
The heat also claimed the life of
James Anfeldt, 46, a Spokane man
working construction in Pendleton
and living with his 6-year-old son in
a trailer in Hermiston. He died June
24, when temperatures had dropped
to the 90s but the trailer he was living
in reached 130 degrees inside.
The Oregon Medical Examiner’s
Offi ce by December reported the
heat wave claimed 116 lives in the
state.
8) BMCC rides out another
bumpy year, ends with new
president
PENDLETON — Blue Mountain
Community College rode out a roller
coaster of a year.
BMCC was coming off a rough
2020 when it reached a deal in Janu-
ary with the Oregon Department
of Corrections on a new contract to
continue off ering adult education
classes at Eastern Oregon Correc-
tional Institution, Pendleton, and
Two Rivers Correctional Institu-
tion, Umatilla. Still,
it was $1.25 million,
a big drop from the
previous contract of
$3 million.
Then a cancer
diagnosis prompted
BMCC Presdi-
Browning
ent Dennis Bailey-
Fougnier to resign
Feb. 11 after 23 months on the job.
The college board turned to
Connie Green to take the role of
interim president. She served in the
same capacity for six months in 2018
and 2019 after the previous president
left.
Green oversaw the college as it
dealt with a $1.9 million shortfall,
and on April 30, the Blue Moun-
tain Community College Board of
Education voted 5-2 to cut 14 posi-
tions, including seven layoff s.
“This is a really hard list,” Green
said at the time. “These are real
people with real lives that made an
impact on students.”
The college board in June
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
The former headquarters of Pendleton Grain Growers in Pendleton now
belongs to La Grande-based Braseth Properties. PGG announced Dec. 16,
2021, the cooperative paid members, avoided bankruptcy and is heading
fi nalizing dissolution.
approved a $44.2 million budget
that codifi ed a nearly 3% cut to the
general fund, including the layoff s.
The college on June 23 announced
Mark Browning as its next presi-
dent. Browning, the vice president
of college relations at the College of
Western Idaho in Nampa, emerged
from a four-person fi eld of fi nalists,
beating out two other candidates with
presidential experience. He started
on Sept. 7.
And Blue Mountain and Wash-
ington State University Tri-Cities
signed a new deal to facilitate trans-
fers between the two schools. Gov.
Kate Brown promised to allocate the
fi nal piece of funding for BMCC’s
$13 million multi-purpose facil-
ity, the FARM II project. And by
December, BMCC hired a new chief
operating offi cer as it reorganized its
administrative structure in the wake
of the job cuts.
7) Dollar store chains
come in droves
to Eastern Oregon
PILOT ROCK — Pilot Rock,
which lost 11% of its population
in the last census, was the hottest
market for dollar stores in Umatilla
County.
Eyes North Corp. of Chicago is
building the store at 241 S.W. Fourth
St. and then leasing it to the Family
Dollar chain of dollar stores. Eyes
North President Randy Coakley said
national dollar store chains realized
Oregon was an untapped market and
began expanding accordingly.
When the Family Dollar in
Pilot Rock is completed in 2022,
it will complement its other loca-
tion in Boardman. Family Dollar’s
competitor, Dollar General, intends
to replace Pilot Rock’s old hardware
store with a dollar store on top of
the stores it already built or is in the
process of developing in Hermiston,
Umatilla, Milton-Freewater, Irrigon
and Heppner.
With the exception of Hermis-
ton, all of the new dollar stores are
going in towns with less than 10,000
people. And Pilot Rock, population
1,328 people, is getting both dollar
store chains.
Business in Pilot Rock also
picked up. A new bar called The
Vault Tavern has opened up in the
old Archie’s Restaurant space and
a new hunting store has opened
right next door on Main Street. Teri
Bacus, Pilot Rock city recorder, said
the town is working on an economic
development plan with Eastern
Oregon Business Source and expects
all of these businesses to be a part of
the revitalization eff ort.
6) Local providers strained
after Bi-Mart pharmacies
close
HERMISTON — The long lines
at local pharmacy checkouts grew
longer in the last quarter of 2021, as
Bi-Mart closed its pharmacies and
shipped customer fi les to other loca-
tions.
Don Leber, Bi-Mart vice pres-
ident of marketing and advertis-
ing, explained as the company sold
its pharmacies to Walgreens, most
Bi-Mart pharmacies began closing
— 56 in the Northwest, including 37
in Oregon. In cities where there is a
Walgreens, Bi-Mart sent customer
fi les there.
Hermiston, Pendleton, Baker City
and La Grande lacked a Walgreens
less than 30 miles away.
The Hermiston Bi-Mart phar-
macy closed Oct. 26 and transferred
fi les to the Hermiston Safeway phar-
macy Oct. 27, Leber said. Pendleton’s
fi les went to the Safeway there on
Nov. 11, the day after Bi-Mart’s last
day of operations, Leber said.
Bi-Mart’s change meant locals
sometimes were in line at pharma-
cies for hours at a time.
In response to the company’s
move, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore-
gon, released a letter Oct. 20 express-
ing his “deep concerns about these
closures” and the “fi nancial strain”
on pharmacies, which has caused
2,200 U.S. pharmacies to close. His
letter called for a “formal review of
pharmacy closures in the U.S. in the
last fi ve years” and for regulation of
fees.
Leber said those fees cost Bi-Mart
millions of dollars every year.
“We could no longer do it at a
profi t,” he said. “Long haul, it would
put Bi-Mart in jeopardy.”
5) PGG avoids bankruptcy,
pays out members
PENDLETON — Pendleton
Grain Growers in mid-December
paid more than $12 million to its
more than 1,000 members as heads
to dissolution.
PGG Board President Tim
Hawkins explained that before the
grain cooperative shut down most
of its operations, a portion of its
proceeds were put into a patron-
age account that was paid out to
members on a revolving basis every
10-12 years. But instead of members
getting a cut of operational profi ts,
PGG was distributing money from
the co-op’s methodical sale of all its
assets and properties.
The end had been coming for the
once-venerable agricultural cooper-
ative for the better part of a decade.
PGG overstated its earnings in
2010 and 2011, and the U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture temporarily
suspended PGG’s warehouse license
because of discrepancies in its audits.
PGG ran in the red in 2013 and 2014
and soon found itself millions of
dollars in debt. PGG members in
2016 voted to dissolve the co-op.
Sine then, PGG sold its grain divi-
sion to United Grain Corp. and then
swiftly sold many of its non-Pend-
leton retail buildings to businesses
and nonprofi ts. But some of PGG’s
most prominent Pendleton properties
stayed with PGG until the dominoes
began to fall in 2020 and 2021.
Hawkins said it’s been a long road
from the dissolution vote until now,
but he felt good about PGG’s posi-
tion. The co-op avoided bankruptcy,
paid off all of its debt and sold most
of its properties. Hawkins said he
expected PGG to dissolve completely
in mid 2022 after it fi nishes selling
its fi nal three properties and resolves
some patronages it has with other
companies that should lead to more
payments to members.
4) Funland Park
HERMISTON — A large gath-
ering on July 4 at Hermiston’s Butte
Park celebrated the opening of the
third iteration of Funland Play-
ground. Fires in 2001 and 2019
destroyed previous versions of the
playground.
Hermiston Mayor David Drot-
zmann, alongside a large group
of children, cut the ribbon on the
newest Funland Playground. A stilt
walker dressed as Uncle Sam, a pair
of pirates and Santa Claus were part
of the festivities.
Locals, who turned out to see the
new playground, reported their plea-
sure. Slides, they said, were among
their favorite new play structures,
as was equipment shaped like vari-
ous fruits and vegetables. Larry
Fetter, director of Hermiston Parks
and Recreation, too, expressed his
approval of the playground and its
unique features.
The playground came with a
$1.75 million price tag. An insurance
payout of $752,000 from the previous
playground paid for part of this cost.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Children climb on a play structure July 4, 2021, during the grand opening
of the new Funland Playground in Hermiston.
The Funland Fundraising Commit-
tee, in partnership with Hermiston
Parks and Recreation, raised an addi-
tional $810,000. Rotary, Kiwanis and
Lions clubs, as well as others, helped
fundraise for the project.
Due to Funland’s history with
fi res, the new structure was built with
fi re-resistant materials and features
surveillance cameras and other secu-
rity to deter vandalism.
3) Pendleton shuts down
The Marigold Hotel
PENDLETON — A shooting
Nov. 9 at The Marigold Hotel in
downtown Pendleton started the
fi nal push to the city shutting down
the business.
The shooting injured a 17-year-
old boy, and soon after the city
suspended the business license for
the hotel at 105 S.E. Court Ave. Mari-
gold owner Shivam Patel appealed
the decision to Pendleton City Coun-
cil.
Patel and his attorney, Matthew
Lowe, assured the council the owner
would take a much more active role
in The Marigold going forward. But
the council on Dec. 7 unanimously
voted to uphold the city staff ’s deci-
sion to suspend and revoke The
Marigold’s business license.
Pendleton police Chief Chuck
Byram said Steven Enko, the man
police arrested for the shooting, was
the “significant other” of a hotel
employee and was allowed to stay
at the hotel unbeknownst to Patel.
According to Lowe, however, Enko
was visiting a hotel guest. Byram
said even after police informed Patel
of Enko’s connection to the hotel, he
hesitated to believe their account.
Yanking the business licenses is
not necessarily a permanent end to
The Marigold. City Manager Robb
Corbett could allow The Marigold
to reopen once he determines it no
longer is a threat to public safety.
2) Bailey’s Bill reaches the
fi nish line after diffi cult
journey
ATHENA — Sexual predators
hiding in the guise of school teachers
in Oregon now face harsher criminal
penalties thanks to the eff orts of state
Sen. Bill Hansell and Weston-McE-
wen High School student Bailey
Munck.
Hansell, Republican from
Athena, sponsored Senate Bill 649,
which he named after Munck. The
bill increases penalties for crim-
inal sexual contact with an under-
age victim if the off ender was the
victim’s teacher.
Andrew DeYoe, an English
teacher and a scorekeeper for the
Weston-McEwen High volleyball
team, abused Munck in 2019. She
reported the abuse, but it took six
months for the school district to put
DeYoe on administrative leave, and
he continued his criminal behavior. It
would be almost a year before DeYoe,
then 31, pleaded guilty to harassment
that included sexual touching.
In the plea deal, DeYoe forfeited
his teaching license, terminated his
housing lease in Athena and agreed
to have no contact with minors who
are not family members. He spent
one night in the Umatilla County
Jail and got fi ve years probation. He
wasn’t required to register as a sex
off ender.
If DeYoe had been a coach, he
might have been convicted of a
Class C felony, a crime that carries
sentences up to fi ve years in prison
and a $125,000 fi ne. Bailey’s Bill
rectifi ed the discrepancy between
coach and teachers.
The bill overcame political
hurdles on its way to passing unani-
mously in both chambers.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Pendleton Police Chief Chuck
Byram speaks on the phone Nov. 9,
2021, while on the scene of a shoot-
ing at The Marigold Hotel in down-
town Pendleton.
Gov. Brown on June June 23,
signed it into law. Munck heard the
news on June 26.
“I felt really happy and sort of
relieved,” she said. “There were so
many obstacles. I’m really happy
that a teacher can now be prosecuted
diff erently than DeYoe.”
Hansell called Munck the star of
the team that worked to make the bill
a new law.
“Bailey’s willingness to step up
was huge,” he said. “Not everybody
could have done it.”
1) Chuck Sams becomes
National Park Service
director
PENDLETON — Chuck Sams
began 2021 as the interim executive
director of the Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
and ended it as the director of the
National Park Service.
A presidential nomination placed
an administrator of a small tribal
government in Eastern Oregon on
the national stage, but Sams meteoric
rise was still methodically planned
and considered.
When Sams was named the
interim executive director in late
2020, he quickly told the Board of
Trustees that he wasn’t interested
in the permanent job. At the time,
Sams said he was starting to look for
opportunities outside tribal govern-
ment.
That opportunity came in
February, when Gov. Kate Brown
announced she was nominating
Sams for a seat on the Northwest
Power and Conservation Council.
The position off ered broad infl uence
over regional energy and conserva-
tion policy, but even as Sams started
his new job, Brown was laying the
groundwork for the next position.
With support from Brown and
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, President Joe
Biden nominated Sams to be the next
park service director in August.
It was a cause for celebration on
the Umatilla Indian Reservation,
where his former colleagues and
contemporaries said Sams had long
shown strong leadership ability and
was prepared for the national spot-
light.
Sams still needed confirma-
tion from the Senate to secure the
position, and despite the polarized
nature of Congress, he didn’t run into
any major objections from legisla-
tors from either party. On Nov. 18,
Sams was unanimously confi rmed
on a voice vote, becoming the fi rst
American Indian to lead the federal
park system.
Sams’ attention now turns toward
Washington, D.C., where he plans to
work on the park infrastructure and
employee morale. But before he left
for the capital, the tribes held one last
celebration for Sams at the Mission
Longhouse, dedicating a song to him
at their Christmas powwow.
Elkhorn Barn Co.
Tobias Unruh, owner
600 David Eccles Rd • Baker City, Oregon
Sales
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541-519 -2968 • Elkhornbarns@gmail.com • 509-331-4558