LOCAL & STATE
6A — BAKER CITY HERALD
TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2021
Highway 30 in Oregon could be
Veterans Memorial Highway
By Kevin Harden
Oregon Capital Bureau
Oregon’s long stretch of
U.S. Highway 30, from Asto-
ria to the Idaho border, could
become the Oregon Veterans
Memorial Highway.
Senate Bill 790, intro-
duced Feb. 24 by state
Sen. Tim Knopp, a Bend
Republican, would rename
Oregon’s 477-mile section
of the national highway. On
Wednesday, March 3, the bill
was referred to the Senate
Committee on Veterans and
Emergency Preparedness.
Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col.
Dick Tobiason of the nonprof-
it Bend Heroes Foundation is
the driving force behind SB
790. Tobiason, who served
two tours during the Viet-
nam War as an Army aviator,
and his one-man nonprofi t
operation led efforts on past
legislation to rename eight
Oregon highways to honor
veterans. His legislative suc-
cess rate is 100%.
“I’ve never lost a vote in 12
years doing these highways,”
Tobiason said.
It’s simple math, he said.
The Bend Heroes Founda-
tion raises all the money
needed to create 4-by-8-foot
signs to be posted along the
highway with the veterans
designation (probably more
than $10,000 for Highway
30). It pays Oregon’s Depart-
ment of Transportation to
install them. Not a dime of
taxpayer funds goes into the
effort.
“Why would the Legis-
lature disapprove of this?”
Tobiason asked. “It doesn’t
cost them a cent.”
There are nearly 100 signs
honoring veterans installed
on eight Oregon highways
stretching more than 3,000
miles across the state. Each
designated highway has
between 10 and 18 signs,
he said. That means driv-
ers could see one veterans
highway honor sign every 65
miles.
U.S. Highway 30 extends
3,073 miles to Boston on the
East Coast. It is the only
major highway in Oregon not
designated to honor veter-
ans. It crosses 11 states and
is the nation’s third longest
coast-to-coast highway.
Oregon’s section of the
highway that winds along
the Columbia River from
the Astoria-Megler Bridge
through Scappoose and Port-
land before heading east as
part of Interstate 84, is the
Medal of Honor Highway.
SB 790 is also kind of an
Highway 30 in
ending for Tobiason. He has
Baker County
proposed similar bills since
Much of Highway 30
2008 and testifi ed 14 times
through Baker County
in favor of legislation. When
was supplanted by the
he’s fi nished with the U.S.
construction of Interstate
Highway 30 project, just
84 in the 1960s and
about every major high-
1970s.
way in the state will honor
veterans or service men and
But sections of the
women missing in action.
“old” highway remain,
Between World War I
including the 19 miles
(1914) and wars in Iraq,
between North Powder
Afghanistan and the Persian
and Baker City, and
Gulf (1990 and 2003), 6,000
a stretch from Baker
Oregon soldiers, sailors (in-
City to Durkee, passing
cluding Coast Guard), Ma-
Pleasant Valley in
rines, merchant seamen and
between.
airmen were killed. During
that same time, about 15,000
Oregonians were wounded
beginning of Tobiason’s plans in combat and nearly 1,000
for the road. He’s working
were prisoners. About 1,000
with veterans groups and
Oregonians remain miss-
lawmakers in 10 other states ing in action from all of the
to get the same designation confl icts.
all the way to Boston.
Oregon highways Tobia-
Tobiason’s Bend Heroes
son and the foundation have
Foundation has also asked
designated include:
Congress to designate the
• U.S. Highway 395, from
3,365-mile U.S. Highway 20, California to Washington,
which begins at Newport on is the World War I Veterans
the Oregon Coast and heads Memorial Highway.
east to Boston, the National
• Interstate 5, from
Medal of Honor Highway.
California to Washington, is
Oregon’s section of Highway known as the Korean War
20 is already known as the
Veterans Memorial High-
EO Media Group/File
Although it is part of Interstate 84 for much of its route
through Eastern Oregon, sections of Highway 30 remain.
way and the Purple Heart
Trail.
• A section of I-5 from
Albany to Salem is the
Atomic Veterans Memorial
Highway.
• U.S. Highway 101, from
Washington to California,
is the Persian Gulf, Af-
ghanistan and Iraq Veterans
Memorial Highway.
• A section of U.S. High-
way 26, from the Highway
101 intersection to Idaho,
is the POW/MIA Memorial
Highway
Tobiason is already plan-
ning his Eastern Oregon
trip later this year when
U.S. Highway 30 is offi cially
designed the Oregon Vet-
erans Memorial Highway.
He’s been to nearly every
highway sign dedication cer-
emony, racking up more than
5,000 miles on his vehicle.
“We’ll have a big ceremony
in Ontario,” Tobiason said.
“We should have Idaho of-
fi cials there, because their
bill should be done about the
same time.”
SCHOOLS
in Union and working for Union County’s
Center for Human Development.
Continued from Page 3A
In that job she served on the incident
“Having background and understand-
management team where she helped in
ing in these areas gives her a head start
planning, developing and communicating
related to the topics Baker 5J strives to
the organization’s COVID-19 response, the
communicate with the public,” Witty said.
press release stated.
“McDowell also has experience
McDowell has two children, ages 3 and
working with international
5, who are enrolled in local preschool and
programs, and was intrigued
kindergarten programs as they move to
to learn that Baker 5J aspires
settle in Baker City. She says she has come
to develop better ties with the
to enjoy the more relaxed lifestyle Eastern
international school commu-
Oregon has to offer a growing family.
McDowell
nity,” Witty said.
“I look forward to working with the Baker
McDowell was based in
5J team to help provide the best future
Portland for several years before moving
possible for all the children in this beautiful
to Eastern Oregon, most currently living
community,” McDowell said.
Call or come see us at Lew Bros Tire in Baker City
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Steve West, who manages the Ponderosa Ranch near La Grande, pauses on March
4 in front of a thicket of trees that were cut over the winter. West says the goal was to
thin the forest and make the area more welcoming for wildlife.
ROCK FIGHT
Continued from Page 3A
The location of the quarry near Inter-
state 84 has to meet Oregon Department of
Transportation’s mandates for dust control.
He said there would be plenty of water on site
to manage dust and they could bring in water
trucks as well.
“We are committed in our business plan to
dust mitigation at the highest levels,” West
said.
The project is to expand the small, 15-acre
quarry now at the site, he said, but expanding
the pit to 250 acres will take a long time.
“It could be a hundred years before we get
to the top of the hill,” West said, when the
quarry would be visible from Perry.
While people from La Grande won’t be able
to see it, drivers on I-84 would.
“But,” West said, “it’s not going to be as big
an eyesore as people think.”
He also said the project has some local sup-
port, and Union Pacifi c Railroad is willing to
get on board.
The railroad in September 2019 sent West
a letter stating it reviewed the request from
Universal Exports Limited, the company out
of Bozeman, Montana, seeking rail service for
the pit. Union Pacifi c reported it was “pleased
to notify you that we are looking forward
to working with you on developing new rail
service to this location.”
Union Pacifi c also stated it was moving
forward with track authorization based on
the conceptual plan and as long as the project
can meet certain requirements, including the
design and installation of track and powered
switches that meet UPRR standards.
Making improvements
West said this project for more than two
years has spent “hundreds of thousands of
dollars and hundreds of man hours” to make
sure the quarry is done the right way.
That includes meeting the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife’s mitigation re-
quirement to improve 250 acres of wilderness
as an offset for the quarry. That mitigation,
West said, is at the top of Mount Emily in
what he described as “uber critical” elk habi-
tat. The work has involved tree thinning and
the installation of lay-down fencing, which is
easy to erect to contain cattle that graze the
area May 15 to Aug. 1.
“We use the cattle as a tool to prevent cata-
strophic wildfi re,” West said. “My intention
is to do this project for the long-term better-
ment of the wildlife.”
West said he even would be willing to take
anyone up there to show them the work that
has gone into mitigating the quarry proposal.
Laying it all out
The debate over the quarry had a public
airing at the Union County Planning Com-
mission’s meeting Monday to consider ap-
proving the project. West said he planned to
attend over the phone as will other support-
ers to plead for approval. The opposition also
will get to make a case.
If the county decides to nix the deal, West
and his side could appeal to the Oregon Land
Use Board of Appeals. West said that would
cost more money and require another at-
torney and could take years for a decision. In
that scenario, West said, his side would take a
hard look and see if the fi ght would be worth
the cost.
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