BAKER CITY HERALD • SATuRDAY, JunE 18, 2022 A5
OREGON
Spring rains put wheat at risk of fungus growth
BY JOHN TILLMAN
East Oregonian
ADAMS — Umatilla County’s
exceptionally heavy spring rains
put at risk what could be a bumper
wheat crop. After a nearly disastrous
drought last year, the water deficit has
not only been made up, but some ar-
eas have already suffered from fungus
growth.
“There are problems with the
moisture,” said wheat rancher Bud
Schmidtgall, former Athena mayor.
“Wheat can get foot rot, and you have
to spray. Or it can sprout in the head.
In some lower elevations, I’ve seen
fallen down wheat. That’s a sign of the
fungus.”
Growers are applying quite a bit of
rust fungicide, Oregon State Univer-
sity soil scientist Don Wysocki noted.
He works at the Columbia Basin Ag-
ricultural Research Center near Ad-
ams.
“When you get a lot of moisture
and good yield, it’s beneficial to rust,”
he said. “At this crop stage, grow-
ers can’t apply fungicide themselves.
Some put it on earlier, but this late
you have to apply by air, either heli-
copter or fixed wing airplane.”
At a minimum aerial application
costs $14 to $20, Wysocki said.
“But at today’s prices that’s only
about 2 bushels of wheat,” he ob-
served. “The return on investment is
there.”
The popular soft white winter
wheat variety Magic is more sus-
ceptible to rust than other strains,
Wysocki explained. Many growers
are treating their Magic crops with
fungicide.
“Magic has yielded well,” he said.
“With 2-gene Clearfield production
system, Magic can use Beyond her-
bicide. You have that option, if done
earlier. It’s too late now.
On balance this year has been a
blessing, Wysocki continued.
“Only once or twice in a lifetime
have growers seen high prices and
high yield,” he added. “They don’t
come along very often in a 40-year ca-
reer. This is the kind of year in which
growers end up retooling. They can
afford to buy new equipment and
keep it running for a long time.”
Implement dealers should do well,
Wysocki concluded.
No rain is in the Pendleton 10-day
forecast by the Weather Channel.
Associated Press, File
A wet spring has eased drought concerns for wheat farmers, but the moisture increases the threat of fungus and other problems
that reduce the value of the crop.
Report: Fires, heat waves cause
‘climate anxiety’ in children
BY CLAIRE RUSH
Associated Press/
Report for America
Philip Kamrass/Associated Press, File
Oregon State Police reported 338,330 background checks requested for gun purchases in 2021, according
to a report. The total fell below the number requested in 2020 but was still higher than those for the years
2017-2019.
OSP may renew investigations
of people who fail gun checks
is going to commit a crime but certainly every
case warrants an investigation, a knock on the
Momentum is building to reinstate a state po- door, some questions about what is going on
lice task force that investigates people who try
here,” Rosen said.
to buy guns but fail background checks.
In Oregon, the troopers’ investigations typi-
The mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and
cally involved a time-consuming process of por-
Buffalo, New York, and local and national calls
ing over federal and out-of-state court records
for further gun restrictions have drawn atten-
for criminal convictions that in some cases were
tion to the absence of the unit.
so old they were archived, Swift said.
Gov. Kate Brown has told Oregon State Police
He would track down the person to ask if
Superintendent Terri Davie to “immediately”
they knew they were prohibited from buying a
look into ensuring the investigations are getting gun — interactions he said sent a message that
done.
police took seriously any attempt to circumvent
State police also may seek additional money
state and federal gun laws.
from the state to reinstate the unit, said Brown’s
“Not only would he not have gotten a gun,”
spokesperson.
Swift said, “there would have been a follow up
The agency quietly dissolved the team in late
knock at the door by a state trooper.”
2020, a casualty of staffing shortages.
But state police leaders questioned the unit’s
Retired state Senior Trooper Dan Swift
value given the agency’s chronically stretched
worked on the unit and said doing away with it
staffing, its mandate to patrol the state’s high-
was a mistake.
ways and the generally low prosecution rates for
“This was something Oregon was doing
the low-level crimes the troopers focused on.
A 2018 federal report spotlighted how three
right,” said Swift, who worked out of the agen-
states, including Oregon, handle denied gun
cy’s Salem field office and retired in early 2020.
sales. Some prosecutors told the U.S. Govern-
“It’s actually kind of a model. We can make a
ment Accountability Office that the cases re-
difference using the laws we have.”
quire significant effort and in turn “may offer
The unit formed seven years ago by then-
little value to public safety compared to other
Gov. John Kitzhaber in the aftermath of the
2014 shooting at Reynolds High School in Port- cases involving gun violence.”
Prosecutors in Oregon said the crimes were
land. A 15-year-old freshman, Jared M. Padgett,
typically difficult to prove since
shot and killed a 14-year-old
“Not only would he not
the prospective buyer may
student, wounded a teacher,
not intentionally tried to
then fatally shot himself.
have gotten a gun,” Swift have
skirt the law.
Padgett used an AR-15 rifle
As a result, the unit found it-
that he had taken from home.
said, “there would have
self on the chopping block over
Advisers to Kitzhaber at the
been a follow up knock at the years and in 2020, Davie
time said the governor’s direc-
the team, returning
tive stemmed from a desire to
the door by a state trooper.” eliminated
the troopers to patrol and re-
ensure police were enforcing
ferring those investigations to
existing gun laws. The gover-
— Dan Swift, retired Oregon
local police.
nor, they said, saw the move
State Police Senior Trooper
That year, troopers referred
as a way to push for additional
297 cases to local prosecutors for
gun-related restrictions.
That meant following up when someone who review. Last year, the number dropped to four.
shouldn’t have a gun tried to buy one.
It’s unclear the extent to which local police
The unit focused on the misdemeanor crimes picked up where the state police left off.
of lying on the federal background check form
State police track the data but required a
and trying to buy a gun illegally.
public records request before they would re-
State police assigned five troopers to field of-
lease the numbers; the agency’s review of The
fices in Portland, Salem, Springfield, Roseburg
Oregonian’s request for the information has
and Bend — among the busiest regions in the
been pending for more than a week.
state for gun sales.
A spot check of prosecutors offices shows a
When background checkers with state police drop in cases referred for review.
denied a gun purchase over a violent misde-
In Clackamas County, for instance, prose-
meanor or stalking conviction, an outstanding
cutors say the referrals related to the denied
warrant or any one of a dozen other disqualifi-
gun purchases made about 5% of the office’s
ers, they sent the cases to the unit.
misdemeanor caseload through the end of
William Rosen, managing director of state
2020. The office has received one referral so
policy and government affairs for Everytown
far this year.
for Gun Safety, a national gun control advocacy
The Lane County District Attorney’s Office
organization, said following up on denied gun
saw a similar pattern. In 2020, the office saw
sales is important work that most states don’t
75 cases related to denied gun purchases. Last
bother to tackle.
year, prosecutors received a total of seven.
Ten other states have laws or policies re-
Grants Pass Police Chief Warren Hensman
quiring police to follow up on denied gun
said his officers review reports of gun purchase
sales, he said. Pennsylvania reported nearly
denials and follow up when warranted.
5,000 convictions of people who tried to buy
But he said he’d prefer the work be returned
guns illegally over a two-decade period start-
to the state police. He said troopers have the
expertise and statewide reach and his agency is
ing in 1999.
already juggling competing demands for offi-
Rosen pointed to one 2008 federally funded
study showing that up to 30% of people who try cers’ time.
“We are struggling with homelessness, drug
to buy a gun and fail a background check are
addiction, theft, domestic violence is through
arrested within five years.
“Not in every case does it mean that someone the roof,” he said.
BY NOELLE CROMBIE
The Oregonian
PORTLAND — Oregon
health officials say the im-
pacts of climate change, in-
cluding more devastating
wildfires, heat waves, drought
and poor air quality, are fuel-
ing “climate anxiety” among
young people.
Their findings have been
published in a report that
highlights youth feelings of
distress, anger and frustration
about perceived adult and
government inaction.
In a briefing on Tuesday,
June 14 hosted by the Oregon
Health Authority, three young
people spoke about how cli-
mate change has affected their
mental health.
High school student Mira
Saturen expressed the terror
she felt when the Almeda Fire
swept through the area near
her hometown of Ashland
in southwestern Oregon in
September of 2020. The blaze
destroyed more than 2,500
homes.
“It was a terrible and stress-
ful couple of days as details
about the fire trickled in,” said
the 16-year-old. Her fears
were heightened by the fact
that her father works for the
fire department. “He was out
fighting the fire for over 36
hours, which was super scary
for me.”
Gov. Kate Brown in March
2020 directed OHA to study
the effects of climate change
on youth mental health. In its
report, the agency says its re-
search was “designed to cen-
ter the voices of youth, espe-
cially tribal youth and youth
of color in Oregon.”
The report underlines that
marginalized communities
are more likely to experience
adverse health effects from
climate change, and notes that
“emerging research is show-
ing similar disproportionate
burdens in terms of mental
health.”
Te Maia Wiki, another high
school student in Ashland,
touched on this.
“For me, it’s important to
mention that I’m Indigenous,”
she said. The 16-year-old’s
Lisa Chambers/Bootleg Fire Incident Command-Contributed Photo, File
In this photo provided by the Bootleg Fire Incident Command, col-
umns of smoke from the Bootleg Fire rise behind a water tender in
Southern Oregon on Friday, July 16, 2021.
mother is Yurok, an Indige-
nous people from Northern
California along the Pacific
coast and the Klamath River.
“In my mother’s genera-
tion, when she was growing
up, she would go to traditional
ceremonies and have smoked
salmon that was fished tradi-
tionally by our people on our
river which we have fished at
since time immemorial,” Wiki
said. “In my lifetime, eating
that fish, seeing that smoked
salmon in our ceremonies,
is scarce. This is a full spiri-
tual, emotional and physical
embodiment of how I am
stressed out by this and how
this impacts me.”
OHA partnered with the
University of Oregon Suicide
Prevention Lab to review lit-
erature, conduct focus groups
with young people, and inter-
view professionals from the
public health, mental health
and educational sectors. The
interviews were conducted
shortly after the extreme heat
wave that slammed parts of
Oregon in the summer of
2021.
While focusing on Oregon,
the report underlines broader
concerns about youth men-
tal health in the United States
amidst growing rates of de-
pression and suicide nation-
wide.
Climate change and the
coronavirus pandemic have
further exacerbated an al-
ready alarming youth men-
tal health crisis. The num-
ber of high school students
reporting persistent feelings
of sadness or hopelessness
increased by 40% from 2009
to 2019, according to a Sur-
geon General’s Advisory is-
sued in December. Citing
national surveys, the same ad-
visory noted that suicide rates
among young people ages 10-
24 increased by 57% between
2007 and 2018.
Despite the crisis, study
participants also expressed a
sense of resilience.
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continued ranching with his family while a
Estate Brokerage
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and rancher
looks in forward to ass
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Oregon
in 2007 and
real estate needs.
continued ranching with his family while also graduating from
Eastern Oregon University. James has always been passionate
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Intermountain Realty, Inc. - Exclusive Represe
Intermountain Realty, Inc. - Exclusive Representation!
James Dunlap, Broker
James Dunlap, Broker
Cell: 541.403.0433
Cell: 541.403.0433
Gregory Sackos, Principal Broker
Gregory Sackos, Principal
1425 Campbell Street
Baker City, OR 97814
1425 Campbell Street
Office: 541.523.4434
Baker City, OR 97814
www.intermountainland.com
Broker
Office: 541.523.4434
www.intermountainland.com