NEWS
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
A3
Bill would give Winter weather leads to fl urry of crashes
media fi re access
By BENNETT HALL
Blue Mountain Eagle
By ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
EASTERN OREGON —
Oregon wildfi re coverage in
the news might look a lot dif-
ferent next fi re season.
House Bill 4087, which
would allow news media pro-
fessionals to enter the scene of
wildfi res and natural disasters,
passed 48-4 on Thursday, Feb.
17, marking a turning point
in wildfi re coverage that will
allow Oregon journalists to
document wildfi res similar to
the way California journalists
have for years.
“My aye vote was repre-
sentative of transparency,”
said Rep. Greg Smith, R-Hep-
pner. “I think we need to make
sure the media has access to
those types of generational sit-
uations, both for informing the
public as to what’s going on in
their state, and also to capture
history. For me, it’s a pretty
simple aye vote.”
Previously, news and media
organizations often have had
to rely on press releases and
submitted photos from gov-
ernment agencies. Often, cov-
erage would come in the form
of photos of road closures and
barricades, or from distant
landscapes of the hellish glow
from a wildfi re. A prior bill
that would have changed the
laws regarding wildfi re access
died in committee during the
2021 session.
The language of the bill
gives incident commanders
the fi nal discretion to bar news
media from access to wildfi res
or natural disasters, as well
as the ability to deny access
to fi res without an escort. If
granted access, it is at their
own risk and without promise
of rescue.
That media escort, at times,
can prove a hindrance to get-
ting the stories from the front
lines of the fi re.
East Oregonian photojour-
nalist and visuals editor Ben
Lonergan knows from fi rst-
hand experience how public
information offi cers can err on
the side of caution and prevent
those frontline stories from
being told.
In the summer of 2021,
Lonergan was on assignment
to get photos of the Elbow
Creek Fire in Wallowa County.
“On that fi re, I had an
escort, and we went in their
vehicle, and they took us to
all the areas of the fi re that
they deem safe to have us in,”
Lonergan said. “And we ran
into some issues with that.
We never made it to any spot
where there was active fi re-
fi ghting. The only access we
were given was to the periph-
erals. They drove us around
and we never saw a crew on
a fi re line over there. In one
case, they drove us to where
some hot shots were staging,
but they had already left, so
the access we were given was
very restricted.”
The bill would go a long
way toward fostering good
will between media organiza-
tions and emergency services,
and ensuring it is done safely.
Media personnel would be
required to provide their own
personal protective equip-
ment, such as fi reproof cloth-
ing and breathing equipment,
and would be expected to
complete the same basic wild-
fi re fi ghting training that fi re-
fi ghters go through. The law
would apply only to public
land.
“I’m shocked that we had
limitations,” Smith said. “I
just assumed those opportu-
nities did exist, and so it feels
like we’re correcting a wrong
here.”
The measure passed the
Senate on Monday, Feb. 28.
The new law will go into eff ect
on Jan. 1 of next year.
DAYVILLE — Win-
ter weather spurred a fl urry of
crashes on Highway 26 in Grant
County on Tuesday, Feb. 22.
Emergency
services
responded to four crashes on
Highway 26 and at least two
other issues on roads around the
county following an overnight
snowstorm, according to Sher-
iff Todd McKinley.
“They’re all weather-re-
lated,” he told the newspaper.
Many of the incidents
involved motorists who were
rerouted to Highway 26 after
multiple crashes involving
nearly 100 vehicles closed
Interstate 84 between Pendleton
and La Grande and sent 19 peo-
ple to area hospitals.
No serious injuries were
reported in any of the Grant
County crashes, McKinley
added.
The morning got off to a
rough start about 7:15 a.m.
when a pickup truck carrying
children to Dayville School
rolled near milepost 145, the
sheriff said. Neither the teen-
age driver nor the two passen-
gers in the truck, all siblings,
were hurt.
A short while later, the Sher-
iff ’s Offi ce was called to a res-
idence on Northwest second
Avenue in John Day to check
on an unattended death. The
deceased, a man in his late 80s,
was determined to have died of
natural causes.
At the same time, a call came
in from the other side of the
county reporting another possi-
ble dead man slumped over the
wheel of a strange-looking car
on the side of Highway 19 near
Kimberly.
The man apparently was not
dead, because before deputies
could arrive, he started driving
again, heading east on Highway
26 before running out of gas
near Mt. Vernon.
While an Oregon State
Police trooper was getting
Grant County Sheriff ’s Offi ce/Contributed Photo
Highway 26 just west of Picture Gorge was blocked for several hours on Feb. 22, after an 18-wheel-
er crashed and blocked both lanes of travel.
gas for the stalled vehicle —
a kit-built law enforcement
offi cers have nicknamed “the
Cruella de Vil car,” accord-
ing to McKinley — the sher-
iff spotted a man named Glenn
Wadley who was wanted on
a Grant County warrant and
placed him under arrest.
While Wadley was being
taken into custody, yet another
crash was reported, a rollover
on Highway 26 near milepost
134 with two people trapped
inside their vehicle. Multiple
agencies responded, and the
two occupants were extricated
from the wreck and kept warm
until an ambulance arrived.
The day’s events were far
from over, however.
About 10:20 a.m., a trac-
tor-trailer rig lost control on
a slick stretch of Highway 26
near milepost 97, about a mile
west of the Highway 19 inter-
section at Picture Gorge, and
came to rest sideways across
the highway, blocking both
lanes of travel and causing a
collision.
“It was T-boned by a van,”
McKinley said.
At least fi ve other vehicles,
the sheriff added, slid off the
icy highway to avoid hitting
the truck.
A high-capacity tow truck
was dispatched from Burns
to pull the 18-wheeler from
the scene of the crash, but in
the meantime two smaller rigs
from Frontier Towing were
able to move the truck enough
to reopen one lane of travel
shortly after 1 p.m.
While
Highway
19
remained open during the
blockage of Highway 26, traf-
fi c was also being rerouted
north and south along High-
way 395, either to Highway
20 via Burns or Interstate 84
by way of Pendleton, McKin-
ley said.
One enterprising Ama-
zon truck driver, the sheriff
said, decided to try a short-
cut. Following his rig’s GPS
navigation system, the driver
attempted to use Forest Road
18 (Keeney Fork Road) to
get to Highway 395 at Long
Creek but became stuck near
the Four Corners rock pit.
Eventually the truck was
pulled out of the snow and
made its way back to Highway
26 by the afternoon.
Meanwhile, there was
one more crash on the day: A
Sysco truck rolled on High-
way 26 at milepost 186 near
Dixie Summit. The driver was
able to get out of his rig with-
out assistance.
“It was a busy day,” the
sheriff said. “Dispatch just
fi elded a pile of calls.”
In addition to the Grant
County Sheriff ’s Offi ce, other
responding agencies included
the Oregon State Police,
Wheeler County Sheriff ’s
Offi ce, Oregon Department of
Transportation, Dayville Fire
Department, Mt. Vernon Fire
Department, John Day Ambu-
lance and Frontier Towing.
McKinley off ered some
words of advice for motorists
planning to hit the road when
conditions are snowy or icy.
“Take a few more min-
utes,” he said. “Don’t rush.
And if you absolutely don’t
need to go, don’t.”
WHAT’S HAPPENING
Jam session
• 6 p.m., Country Preferred
Realtors, 121 E. Main St, John
Day
The Grant County Jam-
mers will host a jam session
every Wednesday starting at
6 p.m. The offi ce will open at 5
for tuneup and setup. For more
information, call Ron Phillips at
541-575-1927.
MONDAY, MARCH 7
Senior Citizens Advisory
Council
• Noon, John Day Senior
Center, 142 NE Dayton St., John
Day
The Grant County Senior Cit-
izens Advisory Council will hold
its regular quarterly meeting.
The public is invited to attend.
For more information, call Rick
LaMountain at 541-620-3800.
FRIDAY, MARCH 11
Bingo night
• 6 p.m., John Day Elks
$10 per multi-game card.
W HAT’S
HAPPENING
Lodge, 140 NE Dayton St.,
John Day
A night of fun and games
to raise money for the Grant
Union High School Class of
2026. Dinner provided by
the Elks Club at 6 p.m., with
bingo starting at 6:30. The
cost to play is $5 a card.
FRIDAY, APRIL 1
April Fools bingo
• 5 p.m., Mt. Vernon
Community Hall, 640 Ingle
St., Mt. Vernon
A fundraiser for the
Grant Union High School
Class of 2026. Doors open
at 5 p.m., with dinner and
drinks available. Bingo
starts at 6. The cost to play is
SATURDAY, APRIL 2
Lake Creek Youth
Camp Gala
• 5 p.m., Trowbridge
Pavilion, Grant County Fair-
grounds, 411 NW Bridge
St., John Day
This third annual bene-
fit for the nonprofit youth
and family camp in Logan
Valley features a tri-tip
dinner, games, live music,
drinks by Spitfire Cock-
tails and live, silent and
dessert auctions. Tick-
ets are $25 at the door
or $20 in advance, avail-
able at several locations
in John Day and Canyon
City. For more informa-
tion, call Aimee Rude at
541-206-2421.
Serving Eastern Oregon since 1959!
Pharmacy • Hallmark Cards • Gifts • Liquor Store
MONDAY, APRIL 11
Bingo night
• 6 p.m., John Day Elks
Lodge, 140 NE Dayton St.,
John Day
A fundraiser for the Grant
Union High School Class of
2026. Dinner provided by
the Elks Club at 6 p.m., with
bingo starting at 6:30. The
cost to play is $5 per card.
Do you have a commu-
nity event in Grant County
you’d like to publicize?
Email information to edi-
tor@bmeagle.com. The
deadline is noon Friday for
publication the following
Wednesday.
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(541) 676-9158
(541) 256-1200
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