NEWS
MyEagleNews.com
Hailstorm pounds Wallowa County
By ANDREW CUTLER
and PHIL WRIGHT
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA — Bruce
Eien said he remembers feel-
ing a sense of deja vu Thursday,
Aug. 11, in the aftermath of the
severe storm that rolled through
Wallowa County.
“It looked like how people
were walking around after 9/11
— in a daze,” he said. “That’s
exactly what it was.”
The Enterprise resident, who
has family who live in Wal-
lowa, where much of the dam-
age from large hail was cen-
tered, was touring the county to
look at the damage in the after-
math of the storm.
“We were driving around,
checking on all of the people
we knew,” he said, “making
sure they were OK.”
Earlier in the day, the
National Weather Service in
Pendleton issued a severe thun-
derstorm warning for much of
Wallowa County until 5 p.m.
Aug. 11. The warning included
2-inch-diameter hail and winds
up to 50 mph. Camden Plun-
kett, a meteorologist for the
weather service, said there
were reports of baseball-sized
hail in the county.
“For the hail that was
received in Wallowa County,
we are leaning toward tennis
ball-sized hail up to 2½ inches,”
he said. “We did also have
some reports of pingpong ball-
sized hail about 1.5 inches in La
Grande as well.”
Plunkett said his office did
hear about multiple injuries as
a result of the hail, something
Eien said he’s heard while he
was in Wallowa as well.
“We are hoping everyone
is all right,” he said, adding the
county also received “frequent
lightning strikes.”
Staff at Wallowa Memorial
Hospital, Enterprise, confirmed
the hospital treated “multiple”
patients for injuries from the
hailstones. Staff also reported
how unusual this was, with one
commenting she has lived in
Eastern Oregon more than 40
years and this was a first for her.
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
Prairie Wood seeks air permit renewal
By STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
Nicole Bellows/Contributed Photo
This photo, submitted by Nicole Bellows, of Lostine, shows
unique storm clouds rolling through Wallowa County on Thurs-
day, Aug. 11, 2022.
Eien said around 4 p.m. the
power went out in Enterprise
and about the same time, his
wife received a text from her
parents in Wallowa.
“We lost everything,” he
recalled the text saying. “We
immediately got in the car. We
didn’t know what that meant.”
Eien said as they reached
Wallowa, the damage sharp-
ened into focus — cars with
shattered windshields, downed
trees and homes with severe
damage.
“There was a tree that hit a
house, some trees in front of the
high school went over,” he said.
“Telephone lines, power lines
went down.”
Power remained out for 887
customers in Wallowa into the
early morning hours of Aug.
12. According to the Pacific
Power website, 887 customers
were without power following
the storm. The outage was first
reported shortly before 4 p.m.
Power also was out to about
13 customers in the Minam
area. The outage was also
reported shortly before 4 p.m.
As of 8:45 a.m. Aug. 12,
the Pacific Power outage map
showed power remained out
but was expected to be restored
before 10:30 a.m. in both
locations.
Power was out in other parts
of the county, according to
Pacific Power’s Twitter feed.
More than 5,300 customers
in Enterprise and Wallowa were
without power late in the after-
noon. The cause of the out-
age was severe storm damage,
according to the utility’s Twit-
ter feed. Power was restored in
Enterprise and Joseph before
8 p.m. on Wednesday.
Plunkett said the storm was
a perfect chain of events to
cause the large hailstones.
“We had really strong
updrafts and then we had really
strong wind shear that allowed
an organized supercell thun-
derstorm to develop,” he said.
The storm took about 90
minutes to pass through the
county, Plunkett said, and
once it crossed into Idaho, the
storm weakened significantly.
Plunkett said the expected
50 mph wind gusts did not
materialize.
“We did not have any con-
firmed wind gusts in Wallowa
County,” he said.
There were reports of 60
mph gusts at the La Grande/
Union County Airport.
Plunkett said there is not a
lot of data available on super-
cells in Wallowa County.
The last recorded event was
a tornado with a rating of
EF2 that hit June 11, 1968.
EF means “enhanced Fujita
scale,” and a 2 on the scale
means gusts of three sec-
onds of 111-135 mph. The
Western Regional Climate
Center, he said, reports that
tornado came with golf ball-
sized hail.
A3
PRAIRIE CITY — Prai-
rie City’s newly reopened
sawmill is applying to renew
an air quality permit.
Prairie Wood Products
sawmill holds a permit that
expires in early December
and has applied for a five-
year renewal, according to a
public notice from the Ore-
gon Department of Environ-
mental Quality.
The proposed permit does
not increase the sawmill’s
emission limits, according
to DEQ.
In the public notice,
the DEQ noted that Prairie
Wood filed a timely renewal
application, and the current
permit remains valid until
the state decides.
Under the permit, the facil-
ity would be required to mon-
itor air contaminants by using
federally approved monitoring
practices and standards.
Among other conditions,
the permit caps Prairie Wood
at releasing no more than
74,000 tons of greenhouse
gases per year, according to
DEQ.
Generally, DEQ points out,
a facility’s actual emissions are
less than the maximum limits
established in a permit. None-
theless, the level of actual
emissions can increase to the
capped limit.
The public can submit writ-
ten comments regarding Prai-
rie Wood’s pending renewal
for an air quality permit to
Nancy Swofford, DEQ’s air
quality permit coordinator.
Comments can be sent
by mail to Oregon DEQ, 475
NE Bellevue Drive, Suite 110,
Bend, OR 97701 or by email
to eraqpermits@deq.oregon.
gov. To be considered, com-
ments must be received by
5 p.m. Sept. 9.
Those looking for addi-
tional information can reach
Swofford at the same email
address or by phone at
541-633-2021.
To read the full pub-
lic notice, go to the DEQ
website at https://tinyurl.
com/4hky3ba3.
The draft permit and
related documents are avail-
able for public review at the
Grant County Public Library
in John Day. The address is
507 S. Canyon Blvd.
Fire ravages Pendleton Flour Mills
By JOHN TILLMAN
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Tony
Flagg’s career with Pend-
leton Flour Mills began
as vice president of grain
operations in 1983. He
was instrumental in devel-
oping the grain elevator at
Mission for the Confeder-
ated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation.
“I ran grain operations
at Pendleton Flour Mills
until I merged and acquired
myself out of a job in 2003,”
he said.
Pendleton Flour Mills
and its elevators partnered
with other companies to form
Grain Craft in 2014. North-
west Grain Growers, Walla
Walla, assumed Grain Craft’s
lease on the Mission elevator
from the tribes in June 2016.
Flagg moved back to Pendle-
ton from retirement in Flor-
ida on the Fourth of July this
year.
“The fire is quite a trag-
edy,” he said. “The busi-
ness has been around for 112
years.”
On Wednesday, Aug. 10,
fire tore through the mill. Fire
departments around the region
responded to help Pendleton
Fire Department take on the
blaze. There were no reports
of injuries, but Pendleton Fire
Assistant Chief Tony Pierotti
reported silos were at full
capacity of finished grain, so
the fire fuel load was extreme.
Flagg assessed the impact
of the fire on local businesses.
He said he expects more of a
negative effect on grain grow-
ers than on truckers.
“If growers can’t sell as
much grain locally, it might
actually help truckers,” he
said. “They’ll get more long
hauls to the river, and fewer
short hauls to Pendleton and
Mission.”
Local growers, however,
are likely to be hurt by the
disaster.
“Short-term, there should
be a negative impact for
growers,” Flagg said. “They
had three main market alter-
natives before the fire:
United Grain (Corp.), North-
west Grain Growers and
Pendleton Flour Mills (now
Grain Craft). Three made for
a more competitive market.
Eliminate one, and compe-
tition is reduced. Pendleton
Flour Mills offered a good
price, but smaller volume
than the export buyers.”
Flagg noted this year’s
crop already is big.
“It was a challenge to find
a home for physical storage
even before the fire,” he said.
Flagg pioneered ground
storage as president of
United Grain, which exports
to Asian markets.
Grain Craft, the largest
independent milling com-
pany in the U.S., on June 21
announced its parent com-
pany entered into a deal for
Redwood Holdings of Balti-
more to acquire Grain Craft.
Terms of the transaction
were not disclosed, baking-
business.com reported.
Redwood Holdings has
invested in longstanding,
family-owned
businesses
across a range of industries.
Grain Craft will continue to
operate as an independent
business following the trans-
action, the company reported.
WHAT’S HAPPENING
THURSDAY, AUG. 18
Yoga in the Park
• 6 p.m., Canyon City Park,
Highway 395 North at Park
Street
Instructors Ashley Ste-
vick and Amanda Moss of
Namaspa Yoga Community
lead this free yoga class for
people of all skill levels.
SATURDAY, AUG. 20
Grant County Farmers
Market
• 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., South
Washington Street, Canyon
City
Locally-grown
produce
and other items for sale in an
open-air setting every Satur-
day from mid-June through
mid-October.
Quilt of Valor giveaway
• 11 a.m., Clyde Holliday
State Park, east of Mt. Vernon
on Highway 26
The Grant County Piece-
makers Quilt Guild will host
a cookout and quilt give-
away to honor Grant County
veterans. Guild members
will begin serving hamburg-
ers and hotdogs with chips at
11 a.m. At 1 p.m., veterans
will receive handmade quilts
during the Quilt of Valor cere-
mony in gratitude for their ser-
vice. The cost for lunch is $8
for non-veterans, while veter-
ans eat for free. Tickets will
be sold for a chance to win
a quilt or a gift basket worth
more than $400. All proceeds
go to the guild to help make
more quilts.
Family Movie Night
• Dusk, Grant Union
Junior/Senior High School,
911 S. Canyon Blvd., John
Day
A free series of fami-
ly-friendly movies screened
outdoors on the football field
at Grant Union. Tonight’s
selection: “Clifford the Big
Red Dog.”
THURSDAY, AUG. 25
Yoga in the Park
• 6 p.m., Canyon City Park,
Highway 395 North at Park
Street
Instructors Ashley Ste-
vick and Amanda Moss of
Namaspa Yoga Community
lead this free yoga class for
people of all skill levels.
and Links at Silvies Valley
Ranch, 11 miles south of Sen-
eca on Forest Road 3930
Labor Day weekend: Wear
your biggest, brightest belt
buckle, and you and your part-
ner play for $50 apiece. Sun-
day Slams, open to all Grant
and Harney County residents,
include golf, cart, range balls
and a hotdog lunch. Check-in
at the gatehouse starts at
11:30 a.m., with the first tee
time at 1 p.m. Call 800-SIL-
VIES to sign up.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 8
SUNDAY, AUG. 28
Silvies Sunday Slam
• 11:30 a.m., The Retreat
and Links at Silvies Valley
Ranch, 11 miles south of Sen-
eca on Forest Road 3930
Couples date: Any two
people play for $50 each
(husband/wife,
boyfriend
girlfriend,
father/daugh-
ter, mother/son, etc.). Sun-
day Slams, open to all Grant
and Harney County residents,
include golf, cart, range balls
and a hotdog lunch. Check-in
at the gatehouse starts at
11:30 a.m., with the first tee
time at 1 p.m. Call 800-SIL-
VIES to sign up.
Yoga in the Park
• 6 p.m., Canyon City Park,
Highway 395 North at Park
Street
Instructors Ashley Ste-
vick and Amanda Moss of
Namaspa Yoga Community
lead this free yoga class for
people of all skill levels.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 15
Yoga in the Park
• 6 p.m., Canyon City Park,
Highway 395 North at Park
Street
Instructors Ashley Stevick
and Amanda Moss of Namaspa
Yoga Community lead this free
yoga class for people of all
skill levels.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 1
Yoga in the Park
• 6 p.m., Canyon City Park,
Highway 395 North at Park
Street
Instructors Ashley Ste-
vick and Amanda Moss of
Namaspa Yoga Community
lead this free yoga class for
people of all skill levels.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 22
Yoga in the Park
• 6 p.m., Canyon City Park,
Highway 395 North at Park
Street
Instructors Ashley Stevick
and Amanda Moss of Namaspa
Yoga Community lead this free
yoga class for people of all
skill levels.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 4
Silvies Sunday Slam
• 11:30 a.m., The Retreat
SATURDAY, SEPT. 24
Monument
Buckaroo
COMMITTEE VOLUNTEERS
NEEDED
Grant County is now Recruiting Volunteers to serve on the
COMPENSATION BOARD as required by ORS 204.112.
This board shall include three (3) members of the community who
have knowledge of personnel and compensation management.
Applications are due by Wednesday, August 31, 2022. Obtain an
application to volunteer in person at 201 S. Humbolt, Canyon City; on
the website at grantcountyoregon.net/search “volunteer application;”
email to gccourtadmin@grantcounty-or.gov or call 541-575-0059.
Festival and Harvest Auction
• Noon to 7 p.m., Monu-
ment Senior Center, 269 Main
St., Monument
Food, music, games, more
food and auctions mark this
fifth annual fundraiser for the
Monument Senior Center. The
festivities begin at noon with
a 4-H booth serving tacos and
registration opening for the
live and silent auctions. At
1 p.m. there will be live music
along with horseshoes, corn-
hole, face painting and other
diversions, with prizes for the
kids. The live auction starts at
3 p.m. At 5 p.m., a dinner of
salmon and elk with all the
trimmings will be served, fol-
lowed by a dessert auction at
6. The cost for dinner is $20
per person or $35 per couple.
Children 6-12 are $7.50, and
kids under 6 eat free.
at the gatehouse starts at
11:30 a.m., with the first tee
time at 1 p.m. Call 800-SIL-
VIES to sign up.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 25
THURSDAY, SEPT. 29
Silvies Sunday Slam
• 11:30 a.m., The Retreat
and Links at Silvies Valley
Ranch, 11 miles south of Sen-
eca on Forest Road 3930
The last Sunday Slam of
the year is a couples date:
Any two people play for $50
each (husband/wife, boyfriend
girlfriend,
father/daugh-
ter, mother/son, etc.). Sun-
day Slams, open to all Grant
and Harney County residents,
include golf, cart, range balls
and a hotdog lunch. Check-in
Yoga in the Park
• 6 p.m., Canyon City Park,
Highway 395 North at Park
Street
Instructors Ashley Ste-
vick and Amanda Moss of
Namaspa Yoga Community
lead this free yoga class for
people of all skill levels.
Do you have a community
event you’d like to publicize?
Email information to editor@
bmeagle.com. The deadline is
noon Friday for publication
the following Wednesday.