WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2019
BAKER CITY HERALD — 5A
False alarm at
Brooklyn School
Divers find pickup truck containing
skeletal remains in Columbia River
■ Vehicle was associated with case of missing person from Washington in 1993
By Phil Wright
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — The dis-
covery of a pickup containing
skeletal remains in the Co-
lumbia River near Hermiston
could solve a missing person
case 26 years old.
According to a news release
from the Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Offi ce, a couple
recreationally scuba diving
on Oct. 17 in the Columbia
River at the Hat Rock State
Park boat launch reported
discovering a submerged Ford
Ranger pickup with Washing-
ton license plates. The vehicle
was in approximately 20 feet
of water just past the end of
the docks.
Dispatchers checked the
license plate and found the
vehicle was associated with a
missing person case from the
police department in Prosser,
Washington, going back 26
years.
Maynard Koen, who was
born in 1911, according to the
sheriff’s offi ce, went missing
in August 1993.
The sheriff’s offi ce ar-
ranged for Columbia Basin
Photo from Umatilla County Sheriff’s Offi ce
Members of the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Offi ce and Columbia Basin Dive Rescue of
Richland, Wash., check out the Ford Ranger they helped recover Saturday from the Co-
lumbia River at Hat Rock State Park near Hermiston. The pickup and the remains inside
could solve a missing person case dating back to 1993.
Dive Rescue of Richland,
Washington, and D & R
Towing, Hermiston, to assist
in recovering the pickup. The
sheriff’s offi ce, the volunteer
dive agency and tow company
met Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at
the site to begin the recovery.
Sheriff’s offi ce marine
deputies assisted with any
boating traffi c or other river-
based needs. After approxi-
mately two hours, the team
removed the pickup from
the river and hauled it to the
sheriff’s offi ce for further
investigation.
“Based on the condition of
the vehicle and the informa-
tion available, it appears
likely that this vehicle was
submerged in this location
at or around the time Mr.
Koen was reported missing,”
according to the sheriff’s
offi ce. “Further investigation
of the interior of the vehicle
revealed skeletal remains
and a driver’s license issued
to Mr. Koen.”
Governor appoints team to look at cash
flow problems with Forestry Department
to the tune of $18 million.
dent contractor is being hired
The forestry department also to help address the situation,
Gov. Kate Brown has ap-
has tapped the fi nancial re-
and it would be supported
pointed a fi nancial oversight serves of its state and private by additional staff from the
team and will hire an inde-
forests programs for another Chief Financial Offi ce and
pendent contractor to address $42 million.
the Department of Adminis-
a cash fl ow crisis caused by
All those monies need to be trative Services. The fi nancial
the Oregon Department of
repaid, and agency leaders
oversight team will receive
Forestry’s failure to promptly acknowledge that the fi nan- regular reports from the
bill and collect money it is
cial squeeze is hampering
contractor and is expected to
owed for wildfi re costs.
work in other programs. They meet for about six months.
The 13-member team,
have put a temporary freeze
“Time is of the essence and
chaired by the governor’s
on all nonessential purchases this team will meet regularly
chief of staff, is tasked with
to conserve cash, including
based on need beginning the
identifying the structural
spending on computer and
week of October 28,” Brown
changes needed to expedite
motor pool, travel and train- wrote.
and standardize how the
ing.
Delays in fi re cost re-
agency processes fi nancial
In a letter sent Friday
imbursements from fed-
transactions related to
to State Forester Peter
eral agencies have been a
wildfi res.
Daugherty and forestry
problem for some time. The
It will also evaluate new
board Chair Tom Imeson,
cash fl ow implications were
ways for the agency to man- Brown said that as a result of called out by state auditors in
age its seasonal borrowing
an agency push this summer, 2016. Agency leaders said the
needs.
it had reconciled all of its bills problem reached crisis pro-
The cash fl ow problems,
from the 2013 and 2014 fi re portions after back-to-back
reported in an Oct. 6 story in season.
years of large fi re costs piled
The Oregonian, come as the
“However,” she wrote, “it is up, and a belated realization
agency is facing structural
imperative that the remain- that it simply didn’t have
fi nancial problems in its state ing accounting backlog be
enough staff to deal with the
forest program, and a $1.4
cleared expeditiously.”
problem. That work involves
billion breach of contract
The letter said an indepen- digging through boxes of
by 14 counties that begins
Thursday.
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scrambling to borrow more
externally. In late June, agen-
cy leaders restructured a $50
million line of credit from the
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avoiding default by extending
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The Oregonian
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Baker School District offi cials have disconnected an
alarm system at Brooklyn Elementary School after
a false alarm Tuesday afternoon at the school, which
houses kindergarten through third-grade students.
Baker School District 5J offi cials along with offi cials
from Alpine Alarm are investigating why the alarm
system was activated.
“The alarm system at Brooklyn will be disconnected
until we have a clear understanding as to how it was
activated and we have full confi dence that the system
will function as designed,” Superintendent Mark Witty
said Tuesday.
Around 2:15 p.m. Tuesday, Baker County Dispatch
received an alarm at Brooklyn, 1350 Washington Ave.,
according to a press release from the School District.
Offi cers were dispatched from the Baker City Police
Department. Baker County Sheriff’s Offi ce and the
Oregon State Police also responded to the school.
Offi cers searched the school and quickly determined
there was not an active threat on campus, according to
the press release. Upon learning that the campus was
secure, Baker School District offi cials reopened Brook-
lyn Elementary School for normal activities.
Witty thanked Brooklyn staff and emergency re-
sponders.
“The professionalism exhibited by our staff and the
Emergency Services Team was admirable,” he said.
“We are grateful for the collaboration between multiple
emergency services agencies and the Baker School
District. Each organization brings critical skills that
enhance the safety of students and staff.”
Offi cer Lance Woodward of the Baker City Police
echoed Witty’s sentiments.
“I am proud of the way Brooklyn Elementary
students, staff and parents handled this stressful situ-
ation,” Woodward said. “Students, staff and parents
kept their cool and responded exactly as they had been
trained, which enabled law enforcement offi cers on
scene to effectively complete their tasks and quickly re-
turn Brooklyn Elementary to normal school activities.”
Brown: Refugees welcome
SALEM (AP) — Oregon
Gov. Kate Brown has
responded to President
Donald Trump’s executive
order giving state and local
governments the authority
to refuse to accept refugees.
Brown said in a video
posted Monday on Twitter
that refugees are welcome
in Oregon, and noted that
it is a sanctuary state.
The Democratic gover-
nor said resettlement is a
lifeline that America pro-
vides to the world’s most
vulnerable refugees.
Trump’s Sept. 26 execu-
tive order says that within
90 days, the secretary of
state and the secretary of
health and human services
must develop and imple-
ment a process by which
a state and the locality’s
consent to the resettlement
of refugees is taken into
account.
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