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East Oregonian
Tuesday, August 9, 2022
Fire:
that the map resulted in
insurance companies raising
premiums significantly and
Continued from Page A1
lowering property value.
Shafer said right off he
extreme risk. About 80,000 wanted to know who in
property owners were found Salem from Eastern Oregon
to be in high or extreme risk was working on addressing
areas, and received letters this, and found Hansell was
from the Department of on it as well as Rep. Mark
Forestry telling them that they Owens of Crane and Sen.
could be subject to fire-resis- Lynn Findley of Vale, all
tant building codes currently Republicans.
under development.
The refinements that will
Imagine living on Weston be made to the new fire risk
Mountain, Hansell said, and map will incorporate feed-
you have never heard of back from more than 2,000
Senate Bill 762 but you then Oregonians received during
get a letter from the Oregon the recent in-person and
Forestry Department saying online meetings with people
your land is in a high-risk around the state, according
fire zone and you could be to the Oregon Department of
subject to fire-resistant build- Forestry’s website.
ing codes that are in devel-
The department has not
opment. And if you disagree set a timetable for the revi-
sions, according to the
with that, you can appeal.
But appeal what? Hansell website, because it wants
said. The farmer in
to allow for plenty
this case does not
of time to get input
from the public.
even get to know
O regon St at e
what regulations to
appeal.
Forester Cal Muku-
Umatilla County
moto said in a state-
Commissioner John
ment his agency got
specific feedback
Shafer of Pendleton
said that is a scenario
Shafer
from 2,000 residents
he can relate to
about proble m s
because he received the letter with the risk designations
about a week ago.
that were assigned by the
“I was trying to figure it Oregon Explorer project and
out,” he said. “I was as much said climate scientists would
in the dark as anybody else refine the map and reissue a
who received it.”
new version at a later date.
Shafer said his property is
“While we met the bill’s
under the protection of a city initial deadline for deliv-
fire department with a Level ering on the map, there
3 Insurance Service Organi- wasn’t enough time to
zation rating and the letter allow for the type of local
states he was in a high-risk outreach and engagement
area of wildfire.
that people wanted, needed
“That didn’t make sense to and deserved,” Oregon State
me,” he said.
Forester Cal Mukumoto said
The map created backlash in a statement. “We know
during its brief existence. how important it is to get this
Many people argued that it right.”
incorrectly listed homeown-
“I actually applauded the
ers in high risk areas when efforts of the Oregon Depart-
they may not have been in ment of Forestry to roll it
part because they were not back,” Hansell said.
given credit for taking steps
— The Observer reporter
to make their homes fire
Dick Mason contributed to
resistant. Others complained
this article.
Projects:
Continued from Page A1
Valentine’s Day red, pink and
white, and St. Patrick’s Day
or Spring Equinox green, for
example.
The Umatilla Falls proj-
ect plan already is about
95% complete. Design work
has been underway for three
years, he said.
“The total project budget
for Umatilla Falls, includ-
ing engineering, design and
construction is $925,000,”
Stockdale reported. “That
includes all work already
completed and anticipated
construction costs.”
He can’t release the engi-
neer’s estimated construc-
tion cost yet. This project
will go out for bid in Decem-
ber, and the city can’t share
the amount because it could
influence the bids.
“The engineering docu-
ment is pretty dull, but the
designs are appealing,”
Stockdale commented.
He said the city expects
work to begin in February
or March of next year and
have the work completed by
June 2023.
Wayfinding signage
project
Themes in the new sign
will serve as a template for
wayfinding art throughout
the city, Stockdale said.
“Merje’s wayfinding plan
will produce designs roughly
the same for all but small
sites with essentially custom-
ized signage,” Stockdale said.
The city’s partnership
with Merje to create Umatil-
la’s Wayfinding & Signage
Program follows the design
firm’s recently completed
projects with Hermiston,
Medford and Eugene.
“We look forward to
utilizing their expertise of
Oregon and our region for
this project,” Stockdale said.
The city manager said
there is a lot on this year’s
budget, and work will
continue from now to Janu-
ary with the aim of seeking
bids around Thanksgiving for
actual purchase and installa-
tion of the final designs.
Merje’s program includes
vehicular directional signage,
identification of parks and
other public sites and pedes-
trian and bicycle navigation
signs.
“This will create a modern
and uniformed look through-
out the city’s parks and
public buildings,” Stockdale
explained. “The program
will help guide motorists
and pedestrians along and
through streets, sidewalks
and public spaces throughout
Umatilla. We anticipate that
this design will be unique
to Umatilla and reflect the
brand, character, history
and culture of our cherished
community.”
Stockdale said he hopes
to kickoff the project toward
the end of August, and to
completed it by the beginning
of 2023. He said he antici-
pates the first set of wayfind-
ing signs to be installed next
summer.
“The Merje contract is
brand new, we haven’t spent
any funds on that yet,” he
said. “The agreement is for
$58,960.”
Phil Wright/East Oregonian
From left, Brandy Coleman, Quincy Morrison and Julianne Jones came ready for the fun Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022, at the
second annual Pendleton Public Library Comic Con.
Comics:
Continued from Page A1
Independent comic book
creator Brandon Hayes came
from The Dalles to talk up
his book “Thready: A Bipo-
lar Masterpiece.”
Hayes described the work
as a mental health and mental
health awareness comic. He
explained the comic has a
run of seven issues about a
week in the life of its protag-
onist, Thready, a kind of
hairy monster that wears a
mask and is manic-depres-
sive. Each issue focuses on
one day in Thready’s week.
Some might see the portrayal
of someone with bipolar
disorder as disrespectful,
Hayes said, but he’s not too
concerned about that criti-
cism.
“I have bipolar disorder,
so I talk about it however I
want,” he said.
Hayes brought copies of
the first issue of “Thready”
to sell. The others are in
progress, he said, and he has
storyboarded the entire tale.
He said he writes the comic
and collaborates with artists
to draw the images for the
comic. He said the idea is
to have a different artist for
each of the seven issues.
“Thready” has autobi-
ographical elements, Hayes
said, but while he puts some
of his personal life into the
character, the character is not
him. The name of the char-
acter, though, comes from a
specific time in his life.
He said he once worked in
a movie theater, and one of
Phil Wright/East Oregonian
Nathan Smith, center, and Rorey Kuemper, right, talk about some of the offerings at their
table Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022, at the Pendleton Public Library’s second annual comic con.
Phil Wright/East Oregonian
Joshua Eaton, center, runs a roll playing game Saturday,
Aug. 6, 2022, during the second Pendleton Public Library
Comic Con in Pendleton.
the tasks he did was to thread
the film into the projector.
“Go thread the projector,”
he said. “So Thready.”
The character also wears a
mask. Hayes said the concept
for the character started
before the pandemic, and
while the mask plays into that,
the layers of wearing a mask
go beyond the circumstances
of the last couple of years.
Heather Culley is the
library’s technology assis-
tant, and the library’s comic
con is her brain child.
She said last year’s comic
con was the library’s first
and also was its first big
event after pandemic restric-
tions eased off as, as long as
fewer than 300 attended. It
drew 40 people, she said.
Going into the second
year, she added the free
tables for vendors. She said
she heard Smith’s little shop
was a gamer base, and she
was thrilled he jumped in.
Library assistant James
Simpson was the reason
Hayes was there. She said
the two are friends.
“We’re just so lucky he
could come,” she said.
Culley explained she
likes comic books a lot, but
beyond entertainment or
commentary, comic books
are an important avenue for
some people, especially for
reluctant readers, to have
a positive experience with
reading
Culley talked about
continue to grow the event
and make it big enough to
find another home — maybe
one day at the Pendleton
Convention Center.
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Mural project
Finally, Umatilla also is
working to implement its 6
feet by 26 feet mural project.
This consists of six murals
completed throughout the
city by 2026.
“We have identified the
all-new Nugent Park conces-
sion and broadcast build-
ing as our first mural to be
completed,” Stockdale said.
“The building is scheduled
for completion by January.
The mural is to commence in
February and to be finished
in March, just in time for our
Little League kickoff.”
The Umatilla Museum
has been identified as another
mural location, while also
freshening up the painting
already on the east side of
the building, he said. The
city continues to talk to other
business owners and public
facility managers to deter-
mine the final four locations.
“All-in-all, (Umatilla) is
making earnest and deliber-
ate investments to continue
to beautify our small town
to make (the city) a wonder-
ful place to live, work and
play,” Stockdale concluded.
“Umatilla Falls, wayfind-
ing signs, new park entrance
signs and murals are wonder-
ful new improvements we
can all look forward to start-
ing now and over the next
several years.”
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