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REGION, A3
JULY 30 – 31, 2022
The new entrance to the Camp Umatilla
military facility near Hermiston is under
construction Wednesday, July 27, 2022.
Yasser Marte/East Oregonian
146th Year, No. 95
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WINNER OF 16 ONPA AWARDS IN 2021
Camp Umatilla enjoys building boom
Backup operations center for the Army Corps of Engineers also in development
By JOHN TILLMAN
East Oregonian
H
ERMISTON — The
Oregon Military Depart-
ment’s Camp Umatilla
at the former Umatilla
Chemical Depot west of
Hermiston is enjoying a
building boom.
Remodeling and
renovation of existing facilities are
underway, as well as new construc-
tion to house and feed infantry
trainees.
“We’ve had $56 million in
construction so far,” said retired
Col. Todd Farmer, now civilian
installations manager for the state
military department. “We’ll spend
about another $22 million over the
next two years.”
U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and
Jeff Merkley on Friday, July 29,
announced they secured funding for
community projects across Oregon
in the fi scal year 2023 Senate appro-
priations bills, including $6 million
to Camp Umatilla for housing
construction.
The Oregon Military Depart-
ment also is renaming Camp
Umatilla as the Raymond F. Rees
Training Center in honor of Maj.
Gen. Fred Rees of Helix, four times
former Oregon National Guard
adjutant general.
“It will be the premier Guard
infantry training facility in the
western region,” Oregon Army
National Guard Chief of Staff
Col. Alan Gronewold said. “The
Yasser Marte/East Oregonian
An infantry squad trains Wednesday, July 27, 2022, in a tactical formation at Camp Umatilla near Hermiston.
The military facility serves as an Army National Guard Regional Training Institute and soon will house a back-
up operations center for the Army Corps of Engineers.
renaming ceremony is Sept. 29.”
A new entrance to Camp
Umatilla was under construction
Wednesday, July 27, amid several
more projects on the base. An arbor-
ist was operating on 80 year-old
patients providing shade on the busy
camp’s streets and exercise yards.
“There will be an interchange
between the entrance and the railroad
tracks,” Farmer said. “One exit will
be for Morrow County, and the other
will take you to Umatilla County.”
Continuity of
operations centers
A backup operations center for
the Army Corps of Engineers also is
in development at Camp Umatilla.
“It’s a continuity site for both Seat-
tle and Portland,” Gronewold said.
The Corps and the Oregon
National Guard share two build-
ings on the base. In an emergency,
the Corps can use one structure for
administration of its Seattle, Port-
land and Walla Walla districts,
while the other is suitable as a
helicopter hangar and aviation
command center. The airport in
Pendleton could participate as well.
A Magnitude 8 or 9 Cascadia zone
earthquake or other major emer-
gency might temporarily knock
out the Guard’s Salem operations
center.
“It’s designed to operate for
72 hours with its own resources,”
Gronewold said. “Then air and
ground assets would arrive from
all over the country, in a Katrina-
like operation.”
Gronewold also said the Guard
plans on building its own backup
emergency operations center at
Klamath Falls, home to the 173rd
Fighter Wing at Kingsley Field Air
National Guard Base.
The southeast tip of Camp
Umatilla lies near the intersection
of Interstates 82 and 84. It is in both
Umatilla and Morrow counties. Its
southern boundary skirts the rail-
road and Gun Club Road westward.
Ongoing projects at the base
include construction of new
barracks and security checkpoints
and renovation of World War II-era
structures. A shortage of concrete
supplies has slowed building,
Farmer said.
Camp Umatilla received
approval for construction of $27
million barracks buildings in the
National Defense Authorization
Act in 2020 and 2021. The barracks
will increase the National Guard’s
ability to house visiting soldiers by
448 beds, according to a 2021 press
release.
See Boom, Page A8
IMESD plans for August school safety summit
By SHANNON GOLDEN
The Observer
PENDLETON — In the wake
of May’s deadly shooting at Robb
Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas,
American school districts, govern-
ment offi cials and law enforcement
are searching for solutions to school
safety issues.
The InterMountain Education
Service District, in partnership with
local law enforcement and regional
school districts, aims to address
safety in Oregon schools Aug. 8
during a School Security Summit.
“Uvalde rocked us, just like Sandy
Hook did,” IMESD Superintendent
Mark Mulvihill said. “As we go back
to in-person instruction, we want the
public to be assured that we’re work-
ing hard to deal with active shooter
situations.”
“We’ve been so focused on
IMESD serves almost two dozen COVID safety protocols that our
school districts in four counties — active shooter training has been on
Morrow, Umatilla, Union and Baker the back burner,” he said.
— and aims to have representation
For Mulvihill, the implementa-
from each one. According to
tion of this common language
between schools and law
Mulvihill, almost 150 people
will be in attendance at the
enforcement is a crucial
summit, from police offi-
aspect of making emergency
responses in schools more
cers and sheriff deputies to
effi cient.
educators, superintendents
“It’s critical that we agree
and school mental health
providers.
on the same vocabulary terms
The agency’s last school
Mulvihill
for emergency situations,” he
safety summit took place in
said.
2016. Mulvihill acknowledged the
The service district led a region-
tremendous turnover of law enforce- wide eff ort in 2016 to encourage all
ment and district staff that may have school districts in the area to adopt
occurred in the six years since as a the same security terminology that
motivation for this year’s event.
could be used in the event of an
He also noted the pandemic’s emergency. This Standard Response
impact on school safety issues.
Protocol, created by the “I Love U
Guys” Foundation, aims to improve
communication between school
administrators and law enforcement
offi cers in emergencies.
Although not every district has
adopted this new terminology,
Mulvihill credited local law enforce-
ment for their continued commitment
to school safety.
“I cannot be more impressed by
the response of law enforcement at
this time,” he said. “Their commit-
ment to schools in this area has been
stunning.”
Pendleton School District Super-
intendent Kevin Headings said the
school is excited to take part in the
summit.
“With the recent events in Uvalde
and Buff alo, we can never take the eye
See Safety, Page A8