A10
REGIONAL
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, June 29, 2022
Wallowa’s Tanzey Northeast Oregon food processors,
ties for fi fth place dairy, off er to pay for water testing
By RONALD BOND
For the Wallowa County
Chieftain
HILLSBORO — La
Grande claimed an individ-
ual state championship in
the 2A division of the Ore-
gon State High School Clay
Target League State Tour-
nament Sunday, June 26, in
Hillsboro.
Makenna Shorts hit 97
targets in 100 attempts in trap
shooting, with two nearly
fl awless runs, to claims the
female varsity state cham-
pionship. Shorts connected
on 49 out of 50 shots in the
morning session, and fol-
lowed with 48 out of 50 in
the afternoon session.
Her score was not only
the top varsity girls score,
but was tied with Canby’s
Tyler Schweitzer for the top
2A varsity score, regardless
of gender. In fact, for the
entire two-day event (includ-
ing the 1A teams on June 25)
only Rainier’s Tyler Bor-
ders, who shot a perfect 100,
and Crook County’s Clay-
ton Dill, with 98, had a bet-
ter score than Shorts.
Shorts wasn’t the only
winner for La Grande, as
Marissa Lane posted a score
of 82 to win the girls junior
varsity division.
All told, La Grande had
nine diff erent shooters break
into the top 10 in their respec-
tive divisions. In the varsity
girls division, Dakota Shorts
tied for fi fth, Kendra Hens-
ley placed ninth with a score
of 86, and Kendra Counsell
tied for 10th with a score of
85. On the varsity boys side,
Austin Higgins turned in a
score of 93 to tie for seventh.
In the novice girls divi-
sion, Keira Counsell placed
fi fth with a score of 63, and
for the novice boys, Dal-
ton Sweet placed fi fth with
a score of 72, and Hunter
DeCoteau was seventh with
a score of 68.
In the 1A ranks, Wal-
lowa’s Lane Tanzey tied for
fi fth place in the varsity boys
division. Tanzey had a per-
fect score of 50 in the fi rst
session, and followed with
46 in the second session.
In fact, Tanzey was perfect
in his fi rst three runs with
25 out of 25 targets in each
before hitting 21 in the fi nal
run.
Tanzey was the only Wal-
lowa shooter to reach the top
10, though Liam Wolfe also
broke 90, posting a score of
91 in the varsity boys divi-
sion to tie for 26th. Kellan
Knifong added an 89 to tie
for 34th, and Lucas Hulse
and Cash Tanzey both had
87 to tie for 44th.
For Union, Gage Mar-
tens, like Lane Tanzey, had
a perfect fi rst session and,
like Tanzey, had a score of
96 to tie for fi fth in the var-
sity boys division. James
Anderson was close on his
heels with a score of 93 to tie
for 13th in the varsity boys
division, and Dawson Miller
placed second in the novice
boys with an 84.
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By ALEX BAUMHARDT
Oregon Capital Chronicle
MORROW COUNTY —
In response to the ground-
water nitrate emergency in
Morrow County, several
food processors, an indus-
trial farm and an Amazon
data center have stepped up
to pay for drinking water
testing and water distribu-
tion for people who rely on
wells drawing from a con-
taminated aquifer.
Amazon Web Services,
Boardman Foods, Lamb
Weston, Calbee North Amer-
ica, Tillamook County
Creamery Association and
Threemile Canyon Farms are
creating a business coalition
to help the Morrow County
Health Department with its
work addressing clean drink-
ing water needs, according to
a Monday press release from
the Boardman Chamber of
Commerce.
The move comes after Jim
Doherty, Morrow County
commissioner, launched an
eff ort to step up testing and
provide water to residents
living atop the polluted aqui-
fer. He has been seeking
money from state and fed-
eral authorities to address the
emergency.
Nearly all of the busi-
nesses in the newly-an-
nounced coalition operate
from the industrial complex
managed by the Port of
Morrow.
The government agency
was recently found to have
pumped 260 tons of excess
nitrogen onto area farms,
violating state restrictions.
The Oregon Department of
Environmental Quality fi ned
the port $1.3 million in Janu-
ary, then last week increased
the fi ne by $800,000 after
concluding that the port
continued to pump illegal
amounts of nitrogen onto
area farms even after the Jan-
uary enforcement action was
taken.
That excess nitrogen is
“likely to cause additional
adverse impacts” to the
groundwater nitrate levels,
according to the revised pen-
alty from DEQ.
Port offi cials were con-
testing the original penalty.
Morrow County well
users draw on water from
the Lower Umatilla Basin,
which has become increas-
ingly contaminated by
nitrate during the last 30
years from farm fertilizers,
animal manure and waste-
water from the port and area
food processors. There are
about 1,300 private domes-
tic wells drawing water
from that basin in Morrow
County. Many who rely on
those wells for their drinking
water are low income and
Latino.
Water high in nitrates
consumed over long periods
can lead to stomach, blad-
der and intestinal cancers,
according to the National
Cancer Institute, as well as
miscarriages and “blue baby
syndrome,” inhibiting oxy-
gen from moving through an
infant’s bloodstream.
An investigation ear-
lier this year by the Capital
Chronicle found the port’s
contamination had persisted
far longer than three years,
and with little enforcement
from DEQ until recently.
Many of the companies
that have stepped up to help
with water testing and with
clean water distribution are
also sources of nitrate con-
tamination in the Lower
Umatilla Basin Groundwa-
ter Area. The Groundwater
Management Area Commit-
tee responsible for tackling
the nitrate problem estimates
that about 70% of the con-
tamination is from farms,
about 20% from dairy and
cattle operations and about
5% is from food processors
and the port.
One of the partners in
the new collaboration is
Threemile Canyon Farms, a
large dairy that supplies the
Tillamook County Cream-
ery Association. The dairy,
located in Boardman, oper-
ates outside the port complex.
Boardman Foods started
giving away water test kits
starting next Monday, June
27 at its onion processing
plant at the Port of Morrow.
The giveaway will continue
each Monday, Tuesday and
Wednesday. The company
will accept water samples to
send off for testing.
The Boardman chamber
provides testing at its offi ces.
Eastern Oregon colleges aim to close equity gaps
The Observer
LA GRANDE — A col-
laboration between three
Eastern Oregon schools
aims to close equity gaps for
Eastern Oregon students at
two- and four-year colleges
and universities by 2030.
Gov.
Kate
Brown
announced Monday, June
27, an investment of $1.6
million for Eastern Oregon
University, Treasure Val-
ley Community College and
Blue Mountain Community
College to launch an initia-
tive called “Moon Shot for
Equity.” The three schools
will work together as part of
a fi ve-year, student-centered
comprehensive
strategic
plan to identify and remove
systemic barriers that are
preventing access and
attainment to a post-second-
ary education degree.
“Every student in Ore-
gon, no matter who they are
or where they come from,
deserves equitable access to
higher education. We must
invest and innovate to break
down the barriers that have
kept too many Oregonians
from succeeding in higher
education,” Brown said in
a press release announcing
the initiative. “This initial
investment is just the start
of a program to deliver last-
ing and meaningful change
this year and in years to
come. Every person in East-
ern Oregon — and through-
out the state — should be
able to attend college and
earn a degree.”
The initiative is part of
Brown’s work with public
universities and community
colleges to embrace inno-
vation and focus on work-
ing smarter across education
sectors to support students
through every stage of edu-
cation. The $1.6 million will
be funded with federal Gov-
ernor’s Emergency Edu-
cation Relief Fund dollars,
which are reserved for allo-
cations by governors through
the Coronavirus Response
and Relief Supplemental
Appropriations Act.
“This initial invest-
ment is a critical fi rst step
to launching this fi ve-year
initiative,” Eastern Ore-
gon University President
Tom Insko said. “Together,
I believe we can reshape
the future of post-secondary
education in eastern Ore-
gon, which means eliminat-
ing the equity gap and mak-
ing sure all students reach
their attainment goals in
less time and money and
set the path to better career
outcomes.”
The Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity Board of Trustees
convened via Zoom for a
special meeting on June 27
to authorize Insko to enter
into a contract with educa-
tional consulting fi rm EAB
Global, Inc. Board authori-
zation is required because
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the contract exceeds $1
million.
EAB Global launched
the Moon Shot project in
the fall of 2020 with a focus
on removing systemic bar-
riers to graduation among
fi rst-generation students as
well as students of color.
“Our work with this
new cohort of institutions
in Eastern Oregon adds a
new focus around bridg-
ing the rural versus urban
divide that too often leaves
students from more remote
areas with reduced access
to higher education and all
of the opportunities that go
along with that,” EAB Vice
President of Partnerships
Tom Sugar said.
Blue Mountain Commu-
nity College President Mark
Browning said open and
equitable access is what the
Pendleton based institution
strives for.
“We are excited about
how Moonshot for Equity
can help us reach those goals
and deliver even greater suc-
cess for students,” he said.