REGION
Tuesday, August 2, 2022
East Oregonian
A3
East Oregonian wins 2022 Merkley, Wyden, secure $1.7M
General Excellence Award for Morrow County water crisis
East Oregonian
EO also takes
home 8 individual
awards, including
Story of the Year
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The
East Oregonian returned to
form in the Oregon Newspa-
per Publishers Association’s
annual Better Newspapers
Contest, winning the General
Excellence award for 2022.
The EO won the award in
2020, then took third in 2021.
Prior to 2021, the EO won
fi rst place in general excel-
lence nine out of the previous
10 years.
“I couldn’t be anymore
prouder of the work our news-
room did during this past
year,” EO managing editor
and publisher Andrew Cutler
said. “I think this shows the
commitment of everyone who
steps foot in the EO newsroom
to provide our readers with the
absolute best journalism we
can day in and day out. This
is validation of that.”
Kathryn Brown, EO Media
Group vice president and EO
owner, said she agreed with
Cutler.
“Despite many challenges
our editors and journalists
faced in 2021, I am proud
to say that we consistently
published a news product we
could all be proud of,” she
said. “I appreciate the recog-
nition by ONPA, but it’s our
subscribers and readers who
motivate us every day to
report the news of this region
accurately and fairly.”
Fellow EO Media Group
newspapers Blue Mountain
Eagle in John Day and The
Bulletin in Bend won General
Excellence for their size cate-
gories.
EO news editor Phil Wright
said he set a goal for the news-
Phil Wright/East Oregonian
The East Oregonian feature “I might not make it home” from
Jan. 9, 2021, won the Story of the Year in the Oregon News-
paper Publishers Association’s 2022 Better Newspapers
Contest on Thursday, July 28, and Friday, July 29, in Welches.
ONPA also awarded the East Oregonian with the fi rst place
General Excellence award for its class.
room of reclaiming General
Excellence after he stepped
into the position in May 2021.
“I told Andrew when I
came on we would get General
Excellence back,” Wright
said. “That award is the stan-
dard we aim for in this news-
room. That’s the bar we strive
to clear.”
The awards were for the
2021 calendar year, and the
Maine Press Association
judged the contest. ONPA
announced the awards Thurs-
day, July 28, and Friday,
July 29, at Mount Hood Resort
in Welches.
In addition to General
Excellence, the East Orego-
nian won several individual
awards in the contest.
Sports reporter Annie
Fowler took fi rst place for best
sports story for the Dec. 11
story “Umatilla High launch-
ing esports program.” Fowler
also won the second-place
award in sports reporting.
EO reporter Kathy Aney’s
Feb. 18 feature “Getting
displaced families back home”
won fi rst place for best writ-
ing.
Former East Oregonian
reporter Bryce Dole’s Jan. 9
article “I might not make it
home,” won Best Story of
the Year. The feature shined
a spotlight on COVID-19 in
Two Rivers Correctional Insti-
tution, Umatilla.
Other East Oregonian
ONPA awards
• Former EO reporters
Antonio Sierra and Nick
Rosenberger took second
place for best coverage of busi-
ness and economic issues.
• Cutler and Brown took
third place for best editorial.
Cutler also took third place for
best editorial page and second
place for best local column.
• Community editor
Tammy Malgesini won a
third-place award in best
local column for the EO, and
she took fi rst place for best
local column for the Hermis-
ton Herald.
• Wright took third place in
spot news coverage.
PENDLETON
WASHINGTON, D.C. —
Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden
and Jeff Merkley announced
Friday, July 29, they secured
$1.7 million for Morrow
County to address drink-
ing water contamination in
Boardman.
The money comes from
the fi scal year 2023 Senate
appropriations bill. Merkley,
as chair of the Senate Interior
Appropriations subcommit-
tee, along with Wyden, iden-
tified the funding for this
critical community-initiated
project that will help residents
of Morrow and Umatilla
counties have greater access
to clean drinking water.
Morrow County in a state-
ment reported the funds will
pay for the testing of wells and
to study longer-term solutions
and options for rural residents
who rely on individual wells
for their drinking water.
“This federal funding
will help Morrow County
move beyond the short-term
nitrate emergency and help
us work towards longer term
solutions,” Morrow County
Commissioner Melissa Lind-
say said in a press release.
“The senators’ support during
the nitrate emergency has
been so valuable. This new
source of signifi cant funding
will allow Morrow County to
develop a standardized data
and testing program to moni-
tor rural wells and also study
long term solutions to clean
drinking water for rural resi-
dents.”
She also said she appre-
ciated the collaboration with
the Umatilla County Board
of Commissioners. She and
Umatilla County Commis-
sioner Dan Dorran worked
with staff from both coun-
ties to make the request for
federal dollars.
Morrow County Commis-
sion Chair Jim Doherty in the
press release called the fund-
ing “welcomed support.”
Doherty and staff have
Psilocybin question will go to voters
City sets public
hearing, council
vote on ban and
voter referral
By JOHN TILLMAN
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Pend-
leton City Council plans to
let voters decide whether to
permit psilocybin product
manufacturers and service
centers to operate within
Pendleton’s limits. Psilocy-
bin is the active ingredient in
hallucinogenic mushrooms.
“I think it is important
to note that if the city coun-
cil does nothing, psilocybin
mushrooms will be sold in
Pendleton,” City Manager
Robb Corbett said. “The
question before the council
is do they want to refer it to
the voters or not.”
The city council has
scheduled a public hearing
during its meeting Aug. 2,
then vote on Ordinance 3990,
a local law declaring a
permanent ban on psilocy-
bin services in Pendleton and
referring the decision to the
voters. If voters approve the
ban on Nov. 8, the ordinance
will take eff ect within the city
30 days after Election Day.
Oregon voters approved
Ballot Measure 109, the
Oregon Psilocybin Service
Act, in November 2020. It
allowed the manufacture,
delivery and administra-
tion of psilocybin at licensed
facilities. The measure
provided for legal access
to psilocybin in supervised
settings by licensed facilita-
tors. These are not doctors
and need only complete
a high school education
requirement.
The law also grants the
Oregon Health Authority
two years to develop rules
and regulations for psilocy-
bin products and facilities. It
set Jan. 2, 2023, as the date to
begin issuing psilocybin-re-
lated licenses.
In the 2020 election, 64%
of Umatilla County voters
opposed Ballot Measure
109, which also gives local
governments three options
regarding psilocybin.
They can do nothing and
allow the OHA to regulate
psilocybin sales starting in
January. They can adopt a
two-year ban on psilocy-
bin to see how the industry
progresses. Or they can adopt
a permanent prohibition on
the psychoactive drug. Both
of the ban options require the
governmental body to adopt a
ban and then refer the issue to
voters for the fi nal decision.
“Local governments may
adopt ordinances that prohibit
issuing service center and
manufacturer licenses,” the
OHA site reads. “Ordinances
must be approved by voters
at the next general election.
When Oregon Psilocybin
Services Section receives
notice of local ordinance, we
will cease issuing licenses
within that jurisdiction. If the
ordinance does not pass in
the general election, OPS will
continue to issue licenses.”
spent many hours the past
few months directly involved
in the emergency efforts
to test water in households
and provide them with clean
drinking water. However, he
said, “Morrow County will
continue to vigilantly push
the state of Oregon for long-
term, permanent support to
remedy the negative health
eff ects of high nitrate levels
in rural domestic wells.”
Morrow County Board
of Commissioners on June 9
declared an emergency over
the contamination. The move
“SINCE THE
EMERGENCY
DECLARATION,
WE ARE
FINALLY
RECEIVING
ATTENTION
AND
RESOURCES
FROM STATE
AGENCIES.”
— Jim Doherty, Morrow
County commissioner
came in the wake of the
Oregon Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality in Janu-
ary issuing a $1.3 million fi ne
against the Port of Morrow in
Boardman for years of violat-
ing its wastewater permit and
allowing hundreds of tons of
excess nitrogen onto area
farmlands above the already
contaminated basin. The
DEQ on June 17 increased
that fi ne to $2.1 million.
“Since the emergency
declaration, we are finally
receiving attention and
resources from state agen-
cies,” according to Doherty.
“The Lower Umatilla Basin
Groundwater Management
Area has been in place for
almost 40 years and not until
the declaration have we had
support from the Oregon
Health Authority and the
Oregon Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality.”
Morrow and Umatilla
County have participated in
the LUBGWMA volunteer
committee since 1990 when
the state declared the area due
to high levels of nitrates. The
LUBGWMA committee is
in the process of implement-
ing the Second Action Plan to
reduce nitrate contamination
from a number of sources,
septic systems, fertilizer, land
application of wastewater,
washout from the Umatilla
Army Depot and feedlots,
according to the press release.
Funding for the LUBGWMA
has been almost nonexistent,
primarily in the form of a
part-time employee to test a
small sample of wells.
In addition to the
LUBGWMA committee,
Umatilla and Morrow coun-
ties, together with help from
stakeholders, were able to
secure direct legislative fund-
ing to more scientifically
study the source of nitrate
contamination, the press
release stated. Known as the
LUBGWMA Subcommit-
tee, the bi-county eff ort soon
will have an Oregon State
University scientist working
on a study of historical data.
Doherty also credited
Lindsay for advocating for
the research and her involve-
ment in the subcommittee
eff orts.
“We are getting closer
to where we need to be to
address the short-term and
long-term groundwater
problems,” he stated. “Our
immediate priority is public
health and ensuring rural
residents have clean, safe,
potable water. We remain
vigilant however, in our
commitment to study the
sources of pollution and to
seek long term remedies.
We sincerely appreciate the
support of Sen. Wyden and
Sen. Merkley and their staff .”
LOCAL BRIEFING
Fire burns through
Umatilla home
UMATILLA — Fire-
fighters Sunday night,
July 31, in Umatilla, put
down a blazing house fi re.
Umatilla Rural Fire
Protection Dist r ict
responded to the fi re at about
8 p.m. on Rio Senda Street,
and at 8:42 p.m. the fire
department called for help
from other agencies.
Irrigon Fire Department,
Boardman Fire Rescue
District and Umatilla
County Fire District No. 1
sent crews and equipment.
Irrigon Fire Department/Contributed Photo
Fire burns through a home Sunday night, July 31, 2022, on
Rio Senda Street, Umatilla.
Firefighters were able to
contain the blaze to one
home, according to the Irri-
gon Fire Department, with
no loss of life or injuries.
— EO Media Group
Celebrating 150 Years at
the Union County Fair!
Aug. 3-6, 2022
2022 Chevrolet
Equinox LT
$33,310.00
2022 GMC
Canyon AT4
$44,890.00
1740 Washington Baker City, Oregon
1-800-399-3912 www.bakercitygmsales.com
Live Music every night
Free Senior Breakfast
Mutton Busting, Goat Tying
and Stick Horse Races
4H, FFA and Open Class Shows
Parade
Vendor and Exhibit Booths
Teen Dance
countryfied
BREWER’S GRADE
For a full
schedule visit
unioncountyfair.org
or like us on
Facebook
Ripple Effect
TILLER’S FOLLEY