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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 16, 2022)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian A2 Saturday, April 16, 2022 Snowpack simpers despite spring storm Redmond man offers server choice of keno tickets, wins $80K By ALEX WITTWER EO Media Group LA GRANDE — Despite the sudden and unexpected April snowstorms, snowpack levels aren’t quite back on track to where they need to be. Snow has been falling since early this week, break- ing records across the state for the latest snowfall in Oregon’s history with 1.6 inches falling Monday, April 11, on parts of the Portland-metro areas, according to the National Weather Service in Portland. And while snow isn’t unheard of this far into spring in the Blue Mountains — the latest snowfall recorded at Pendleton was April 20, 1963, according to the National Weather Service in Pendleton — it is a hopeful sign for an area still gripped by drought. However, the recent snowfall might not be enough to put municipalities and agricul- turalists at ease. Scott Oviatt, a hydrologist and snow survey supervisor at the U.S. Department of Agri- culture Natural Resources Conservation Service for Oregon, said while the recent addition to the snowpack is welcomed, it won’t fix the rapid melt-off that started in late March. “We’ve started the process, and it’s really not going to stop,” he said. “We’re adding to the snowpack, of course, Redmond resident who chose to be identified only as Robert “Bobby” H. Accord- ing to the Oregon Lottery, he plans to save some of his prize money and use the rest to buy a new truck. He also recalled giving Rodriguez her choice between the two tickets. “If she’d picked that one, she would have won,” he told the lottery. “It must have been karma for me.” Rodriguez sees it as karma, too. She claims she is not pained by coming so close to a big winner. She felt excitement, not regret, even in the first moment when the magnitude of her choice became clear. “I’d never seen anybody win so much,” she said. “There was no way to not feel happy for him. He was such a nice guy, it was really cool to see him win.” She says, strongly, that she would have not kept the money if she’d chosen the winning ticket instead of the loser. “I would have given it back to him and asked him to cut me a share,” she said. “I don’t want to take his money, take his winnings.” Rodriguez did receive a $100 tip. By TIM TRAINOR Redmond Spokesman Kathy Aney/East Oregonian Snow adorns the Blue Mountains east of Pendleton on Tuesday, April 12, 2022. A surprise snowstorm throughout the beginning of April isn’t enough to rectify the dwindling snow- pack levels, according to snow survey experts. adding water content to it, but eventually it’s going to warm up, and it will melt out rapidly.” The snowpack had been at healthy, above-average levels for January and Febru- ary before rapidly declin- ing in March — between March 22-31, the Grande Ronde Valley region lost nearly 25% of its snow- pack. Many parts of the state, including the southeast region encompassing Harney, Grant and Malheur counties, have experienced drastically reduced snow water equiva- lent levels, having dropped below 40% of the median value for early April. Water content in the snow- pack for the Grande Ronde- Burnt-Powder-Imnaha region remains at 76% of median as of April 12, while the Umatil- la-Walla Walla-Willow region is at 93% of median values. Nearly 90% of the state remains under drought condi- tions as of April 12, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Oviatt said that despite the rapid melt-off, chances for flooding are unlikely as temperatures are forecast to remain below normal until later in April. Because there isn’t enough time for gradual meltoff of Forecast for Pendleton Area the newly acquired snow and overnight freezing to take place, snowpack levels won’t become as dense, according to Oviatt. That means what fell over the week will likely melt off quickly without the chance to develop glacier-like pockets of moisture content. “We’re almost too late to make up the deficit we have,” he said. “This didn’t solve our problems. It just delayed it. But, you know, obviously the additional water content is good, but I don’t think it’s going to come out in terms of additional volume that’s of use to municipalities and agri- cultural uses.” REDMOND — Alma Rodriguez was midway through her shift at Ashley’s Lottery Cafe in Redmond when a customer asked her to choose between two keno tickets. He was winning a little bit and wanted to tip his server, hoping to keep karma on his side and his good luck going. There was a slip of paper in his left hand, one in his right. In a few minutes, one one them would be worth more than $80,000. The other, nada. Alma chose wrong. “We knew right off it was a big winner, but didn’t know how much,” she said. “We put it in the machine and it just said ‘SEE LOTTERY.’ That’s when we knew it was really big.” They were playing 8-spot, a jackpot game where the payout for going 8-for-8 on keno numbers goes up with each bettor — until someone hits all eight and takes the pot. When the winning numbers were chosen at the Redmond cafe, the pot had reached $80,022. The winner was a | Go to AccuWeather.com TODAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY A touch of afternoon rain Increasing cloudiness Cloudy A little rain; winds subsiding Warmer; a shower in the p.m. 43° 30° 52° 39° PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 59° 38° 55° 37° 62° 41° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 49° 33° 56° 42° 57° 38° 58° 35° OREGON FORECAST 66° 40° 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 49/36 37/28 46/25 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 40/31 Lewiston 48/36 49/33 Astoria 48/36 Pullman Yakima 48/32 48/32 44/33 Portland Hermiston 51/37 The Dalles 49/33 Salem Corvallis 50/30 La Grande Yesterday Normals Records 41/25 PRECIPITATION John Day Eugene Bend 53/33 45/26 41/22 Ontario 56/30 Caldwell Burns 51° 30° 66° 39° 86° (1936) 27° (2005) 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 52/30 Trace 0.74" 0.40" 2.69" 1.73" 3.17" WINDS (in mph) 56/31 42/16 0.04" 0.64" 0.69" 4.24" 3.34" 4.76" through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Pendleton 41/20 52/33 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 43/30 54/34 48° 30° 62° 39° 89° (1926) 26° (1903) PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 48/33 Aberdeen 43/28 44/31 Tacoma Yesterday Normals Records Spokane Wenatchee 48/36 Today Medford 51/33 Sun. W 7-14 W 8-16 Boardman Pendleton SE 4-8 E 6-12 SUN AND MOON Klamath Falls 42/23 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022 Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today 6:08 a.m. 7:43 p.m. 8:00 p.m. 6:19 a.m. Full Last New First Apr 16 Apr 23 Apr 30 May 8 NATIONAL EXTREMES Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 97° in Sweetwater, Texas Low -6° in Big Trails, Wyo. NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. -10s -0s 0s showers t-storms 10s rain 20s flurries 30s snow 40s ice 50s 60s cold front E AST O REGONIAN — Founded Oct. 16, 1875 — 70s East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Copyright © 2022, EO Media Group 90s 100s warm front stationary front 110s high low Reality TV show features man from La Grande and Baker County mine By DICK MASON The Observer LA GRANDE — A popu- lar Discovery reality show is bringing a La Grande man to the small screen. Pete Candlish appears in an episode of “Gold Rush: Freddy Dodge’s Mine Rescue” now airing on the Discovery Channel. The reality program, which according to Dodge’s Facebook page has an audi- ence of at least 1 million viewers a week, features mining experts Dodge and Juan Ibarra who visit mines throughout the United States to show those operating them how to do so more effectively. Dodge and Ibarra will be shown at the Sanger Mine in Baker County work- ing with miners including Pete Candlish, who is help- ing operate the mine for its owners who live in Western Oregon, during the one-hour episode. Candlish is a hobby miner who owns stakes near the Sanger Mine and has been a fan of “Gold Rush: Freddy Dodge’s Mine Rescue” since the series began. He said he “was shocked” when the owners of Sanger Mine called Circulation Dept. For mail delivery, online access, vacation stops or delivery concerns call 800-781-3214 him up and offered him a chance to appear on the TV program. “I couldn’t believe it. I was totally surprised,” said Candlish, who quickly took the owners up on their offer. His wife, Stacey, and daughter, Adalynn, 7, were not at the mine when the program was filmed, but a photo of them is shown during the episode, titled “Dial F for Freddy.” The show was recorded at Sanger Mine in June of 2021 over a 10-day stretch. “Sometimes they filmed for an hour and only a minute of the footage appeared in the show,” Candlish said. He said he learned a great deal about mining over the 10-day period. “They showed me things like how the configurations of sluice boxes can make a big difference in how much gold you can get,” Candlish said. Sluices are long, narrow boxes that water passes through when put in a creek or stream. Sluicing is a method of separating and recovering gold from gravel by the use of running water. Mining as therapy Pete Candlish started SUBSCRIPTION RATES Local home delivery Savings (cover price) $10.75/month 50 percent 52 weeks $135 42 percent 26 weeks $71 39 percent 13 weeks $37 36 percent EZPay Single copy price: $1.50 Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mining while with the U.S. Coast Guard 10 years ago in Alaska and does it as a hobby to help him cope with post-traumatic stress syndrome. “It is great therapy for me. It helps me with physi- cal and mental healing,” said Candlish, who talks about this during the television show. The program about Sanger Mine is available to watch on subscription streaming services, including Discovery Plus, and Candlish said he has received a number of calls and messages from veterans who have seen it. They indicated that the program helped them deal with the challenges they are facing. “That has been gratifying to hear,” Candlish said. Another reason Candlish is so drawn to mining is that each time someone spots gold they are doing something historic because the odds are no person has seen it before. “You are probably the first person to ever see it,” he said. Candlish is optimistic that there is more to be found in the mines of Baker County. “There is still gold out there that the old-timers didn’t get,” Candlish said. ADVERTISING Classified & Legal Advertising Regional Sales Director (Eastside) EO Media Group: Classified advertising: 541-564-4538 • Karrine Brogoitti 541-963-3161 • kbrogoitti@eomediagroup.com 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211 333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211 Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed major holidays EastOregonian.com In the App Store: 80s Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group Pete Candlish, a hobby miner from La Grande, and his service dog, Woodrow, appear in an episode of “Gold Rush: Freddy Dodge’s Mine Rescue” airing on the Discovery Channel and subscription streaming services. 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