A2
FAMILY
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
Wallowa-Whitman’s
new supervisor starts
work next month
EXTREME COMPETITION
‘Pro-America’
comedy tour
coming to
John Day
Baker City Herald
By STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — A “pro-Amer-
ica” comedy show is coming to
the Grant County Fairgrounds on
Oct. 1.
“Stand-Up 4 America: Comedy
for Patriots,” featuring comedi-
ans Alex Elkin and Chris Warren,
is, according to organizers, com-
pletely “pro-America” and posi-
tive toward men and women serv-
ing in the military.
Elkin told the Eagle that he and
Warren had gone to Iraq to enter-
tain the troops and that they both
“still have a love for America,”
and that is why they are putting on
the show.
“We want to celebrate the won-
derful things this country has to
off er,” he said, “which are free-
dom, capitalism and sovereignty.”
Elkin said the family-friendly
show incorporates stand-up com-
edy, animation, music, puppetry,
audience interaction, and slides
from their time entertaining troops
abroad.
Elkin said while the show is
appropriate for all ages, the min-
imum age they recommend is 14
so that younger kids are not “twid-
dling their thumbs” with nothing
to do.
The show kicks off at 8 and
winds down at 10 p.m. For ticket
information, visit su4a.com.
Blue Mountain Eagle/Steven Mitchell
A young competitor pedals his scooter at the Smokey Gibson Skate Park at Seventh Street
Complex in John Day during the Extreme Tour 2021 on Aug. 29.
Farm to farm: Water from NE Oregon
data centers reused for agriculture
UMATILLA, Ore. —
The tiny city of Umatilla,
Ore., and the internet giant
Amazon have come up with
a unique use for the cool-
ing water from the compa-
ny’s massive server farms.
They are using it irrigate
the region’s other farms —
the kind that grow crops.
Perched
along
the
Columbia River in north-
east Oregon, Umatilla is a
haven for irrigated agricul-
ture where farmers grow
everything from hay and
wheat to high-value pota-
toes, onions, carrots and
Wikimedia/Capital Press
melons.
In 2009, Amazon broke Umatilla, Ore., and Amazon have built a system for using cooling water from the internet giant’s
ground on its first campus server farms to irrigate the region’s farms.
of data centers in Uma-
tilla. Data centers are large they could reuse the water, district’s water pumped without irrigation yields
warehouses filled with adding benefit for the directly from the Columbia roughly $100 per acre. Add-
computer servers. All the community.
River, diluting any excess ing 1 acre-foot of water
The
answer,
they salts and reaching a suit- increases the crop’s value to
information gathered by
websites like Amazon and decided, was to deliver the able pH level before it can $500 per acre. At 3 acre-feet
Facebook is stored in the water to the same farmers be used for irrigation.
of water, and farms can earn
that have powered Umatil-
server farms.
Stockdale said the infra- up to $5,000 per acre grow-
Amazon was attracted la’s economy for decades.
structure cost a little more ing higher value specialty
to the Columbia Basin, in
“To take this new age than $5 million. So far, crops.
part, by the availability of technology and sort of Amazon is the only cus-
An acre-foot covers
clean water that could be marry it to our traditional tomer on the new system, an area about the size of a
used in cooling systems roots, especially in Uma- though that could change football field with 1 foot
for all those servers. A sin- tilla which has always been with future developments.
of water, or about 325,851
gle data center consumes an agricultural community
Water deliveries began gallons.
between 250,000 and 1 ... in reality, they actually in 2020. This year, Stock-
As more data centers
million gallons of water worked out in a great sym- dale estimated they pro- come online in Umatilla in
per day in the warmer sum- biotic relationship,” Stock- vided enough water for the coming years, Stockdale
mer months, when outside dale said.
farmers to grow an addi- said the city is examining
temperatures can top 100
The cooling water from tional 1,000 acres of crops, other potential uses for the
degrees.
Amazon is piped to an irri- all with existing water water in addition to irriga-
That water is still mostly gation canal run by the rights.
tion, such as repairing wet-
clean once it comes out the West Extension Irriga-
“Technically, it’s the lands in the area for wildlife.
other end, said Umatilla city tion District, which serves city’s water in the irriga-
“We continue to look at
manager Dave Stockdale.
10,400 acres of farmland.
tion district’s canal,” Stock- ways to be good environ-
With two data center
The project broke ground dale said. “If a farmer wants mental stewards of our
campuses now online and in 2019, with roughly 7 access to additional water, resources,” Stockdale said.
another two being built, miles of pipe that run from they have additional water
A spokesperson for
Stockdale said it didn’t the data center campuses capacity available to them Amazon Web Services said
make sense, nor was there to a new headworks on the through this system.”
the project is the first of its
capacity, to treat all that district’s canal at the north-
The value of agricul- kind in Oregon and for the
mostly clean water at the east end of the city.
ture in arid Eastern Oregon company, and the goal is to
city’s sewer plant.
From there, the water grows exponentially with increase water reuse at its
Both the city and Ama- flows about 1,200 feet water.
northeast Oregon data cen-
zon began pondering ways allowing it to mix with the
Dryland wheat grown ters to 100%.
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Grant Union High School class
of 1971 to hold 50th reunion
Blue Mountain Eagle
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
John Day ...........................................................HI/LO
Tuesday ........................................................... 79/39
Wednesday ..................................................... 75/46
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Saturday .......................................................... 64/41
Sunday ............................................................. 64/32
Monday............................................................ 72/38
PORTLAND — The
Wallowa-Whitman National
Forest will soon have a new
leader.
Shaun McKinney will
become the supervisor for
the 2.4 million-acre Wal-
lowa-Whitman, which is
based in Baker City.
Glenn
Casamassa,
Pacific Northwest regional
forester for the U.S. Forest
Service, announced Mon-
day, Sept. 20, that McKin-
ney will start his new job
in late October.
McKinney will replace
Thomas Montoya, who
retired June 1.
McKinney joins the
Forest Service from the
West National Technology
Support Center, where he
leads a team providing
direct assistance, train-
ing and innovative natural
resources technological
solutions to USDA Natu-
ral Resources Conserva-
tion Service staff through-
out the western United
States.
“Shaun has worked in
both public and private
land conservation, draw-
ing on his background
as a fisheries biologist
to inform his strategic
direction and oversight of
a large team tasked with
developing
and imple-
menting
innovative
technical
solutions
for fi eld sci-
ence staff
Shaun
McKinney
working on
a variety of
complex natural resource
issues,” Casamassa said
in a press release. “His
considerable
experience
in organizational leader-
ship, science-based deci-
sion-making, and inno-
vative
problem-solving
will serve him well as he
serves the residents and
communities of East-
ern Oregon as Forest
Supervisor on the Wal-
lowa-Whitman
National
Forest.”
McKinney has a masters
of fi sheries science and sta-
tistics from Oregon State
University and a bachelor
of science from Michigan
State University.
“I’m looking forward
to returning to the Blue
Mountains, where I began
my career, to work together
with the staff , communi-
ties and partners on healthy
ecosystems and econo-
mies. It will be an exciting
next chapter fi lled with chal-
lenges and opportunities,”
McKinney said.
JOHN DAY — Grant
Union’s class of 1971 will
hold its 50-year reunion
this week.
The celebration will
kick off with a no-host
gathering from 6 to 9 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 24, at the Out-
post Bar and Grill.
On Saturday, Sept. 25,
the group will meet at
Clyde Holliday Park in
Mt. Vernon for a potluck
at noon and a class pic-
ture at 2 p.m. According
to the organizer, the main
entree, table service, and
water will be provided, but
they ask attendees to bring
fi nger foods, drinks and
chairs.
For more information,
call 541-797-3300 or email
swanksters@yahoo.com.
OBITUARIES
Iantha Sinner (Larkin)
March 27, 1947 — Sept. 12, 2021
Mrs. Sinner died Sept. 12, 2021, after a long, ardu-
ous battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Iantha (Ann) was
born to William (Bill) and Patri-
cia (Pat) Larkin and attended
schools in John Day, Oregon,
before beginning a career spanning
over 32 years for the U.S. federal
government.
Ann began her career as a ste-
nographer working at the Pentagon
and completed over four years of
exemplary service for the materi-
als division at the Department of
Navy. In 1974 Ann returned home
to take a job with the Army Corps of Engineers. Her
accolades and professional relationships with the corps,
too many to detail, again were among the most success-
ful for over 28 years.
Between 1975 and 1978 she met the man who would
capture her heart. John L. Sinner was a Navy veteran
who worked as a structural foreman at the Corps of Engi-
neers. Their courtship soon flourished as they were mar-
ried in December 1981. They would spend many won-
derful years together traveling, enjoying sporting events,
and most of all family. They lived life to the fullest for
many years until John passed away in 1994.
Following her wonderful years with John, she dedicated
her life to family, especially holidays where she hosted
many Christmas gatherings. Her attention to detail and love
of her family while gifting personalized Christmas stock-
ings made everyone feel loved and important. This is only
one small example of her enormous generosity.
Mrs. Sinner is survived by her sister Pamela Row-
ley-Butcher, nephews Randy Stockwell, Travis Hud-
son, Tyler and Tracy Hudson, niece Celeste Courtain and
numerous other beloved family members. She was pre-
ceded in death by her parents, her husband John, and her
sister Carol.
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