NEWS
A12 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2019
Umatilla prison superintendent
under investigation
comments prompted him to federal Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission.
send the complaint.
On another occasion, They also could fi le with
he superintendent of Bowser said older staff need the state Bureau of Labor
Two Rivers Correc- to retire, according to Hill- and Industries, but Boquist
tional Institution is mick’s message, and the stated the labor commis-
out of the offi ce pending prison boss told one woman sioner “is likely to bury the
a human resources
employee
who complaint to protect the
investigation in the
missed work to care establishment.”
Smith said his offi ce
wake of scathing
for her children,
accusations.
“When my kids receives a multitude of sim-
Jennifer Black,
were little, my wife ilar emails, but Hillmick’s
report caught the attention
communications
stayed at home.”
director for the Ore-
Hillmick further of his legislative director,
gon
Department
asserted
Bowser Nicole Crane.
Bowser
“These types of issues
of
Corrections,
was aware an exec-
reported that Troy
utive manager sex- you have to take seriously,”
Bowser is “duty stationed” ually assaulted a staff mem- Smith stressed.
Crane conferred with
at home as of June 12. The ber, yet he planned to put
investigation began April the manager in charge of Boquist’s staff and con-
15, Black reported, due to the woman. The employee fi rmed Heidi Steward, assis-
an employee complaint.
became upset, Hillmick tant director of state correc-
Three days before, cor- claimed, and Bowser told tions, let lawmakers know
rections director Colette her to “deal with it and on April 15 that human
resources appointed an
Peters received an email move on.”
from Robert Hillmick, pres-
Beyond Bowser’s words investigator to look into the
ident of the non-security and attitude, Hillmick told accusations. According to
unionized employees at the Peters the union member- Smith’s offi ce, the correc-
prison in Umatilla, accusing ship was concerned “all of tions department expected
Bowser of disparaging vet- these things happened and the work to conclude by the
eran employees, making a nothing was ever done about end of June but has yet to
provide any update.
sexist comment to a woman it and here we are again.”
Roger Ware is the
employee and ignoring the
Hillmick pleaded with
sexual assault of another corrections offi cials to AFSCME staff represen-
employee.
start a formal investiga- tative for Eastern Oregon
Institution,
Hillmick sent the mes- tion to protect the prison’s Correctional
Pendleton, and Two Riv-
sage to fellow members of employees.
the American Federation of
State Sen. Brian Boquist, ers. Ware said he couldn’t
State, County and Munici- R-Dallas, responded fi rst to talk about the active inves-
pal Employees, as well as to the email group, encourag- tigation. Other union offi -
other corrections staff and ing veterans to fi le discrim- cials did not return calls for
to eight state lawmakers, ination complaints with the comment.
including Rep. Greg Smith,
R-Heppner, and Sen. Bill
Hansell, R-Athena.
“Mr. Bowser stated in a
meeting in front of approx-
imately 15-20 employees
that our Military Veterans
are the cause of the prob-
lems here at TRCI,” Hill-
mick wrote, “and they are
also the reason we have
so many problems here at
TRCI.”
Hillmick did not get
into what the “problems”
are, but he defended mili-
tary vets, calling them “an
undeniable asset” to the
the prison, the department
A hundred years from now it will not matter what My bank account
was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove... but the
and the state. He explained
world may be different because I was important in the Life of a Child.
staff upset with Bowser’s
By PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER
T
Contributed photo by Umatilla County Fire District
Firefi ghters battle a fi re near railroad tracks northeast of Hermiston on Wednesday afternoon.
Brush fi re near Hermiston
kicks off fi re season
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
ire season is offi cially
here.
The offi cial start to
the season was Monday, but
Hermiston got a head start
with a series of brush fi res
on Wednesday.
The fi ve fi res, which
started at roughly 11 a.m.,
burned between Walls Road
and Highway 730 north-
east of Hermiston. Umatilla
County Fire District Chief
Scott Stanton said the cause
of the fi res were under
investigation, but looked
like they had likely been
sparked by a train.
Stanton said the fi res
were not large — the one he
was supervising on Wednes-
day looked to be about fi ve
acres — but could have
spread quickly.
“They were in heavy
brush and trees, not just
grass, so that made it more
diffi cult,” he said.
Umatilla Rural Fire Pro-
tection District, Echo Fire
Department and Boardman
Rural Fire Protection Dis-
trict assisted in the effort.
Stanton cautioned area
residents to be extremely
careful during what he pre-
dicts will be a dangerous
fi re season.
“The grasses are cured
and ready to burn,” he said.
“It’s going to be a windy
F
day tomorrow, and it’s get-
ting hot and dry.”
During fi re season, peo-
ple can do their part by
following rules for con-
trolled burns and camp-
fi res, keeping their vehicles
well-maintained,
clear-
ing fl ammable brush from
around structures and not
being careless with fi re haz-
ards, such as cigarettes and
fi reworks.
Fire season is also smoke
season. Last week Sena-
tors Jeff Merkley and Ron
Wyden introduced a pack-
age of four bills to help
communities deal with the
heavy wildfi re smoke that
has clouded Oregon skies in
recent summers.
The Smoke-Ready Com-
munities Act would make
grants available for schools,
public buildings and vul-
nerable households to make
upgrades to “smoke-proof”
their buildings and better
fi lter smoke from indoor
air. Other provisions in the
bill include requiring farms
to provide respiratory pro-
tection to farmworkers
exposed to hazardous air
conditions and authorize
the Small Business Admin-
istration to provide fi nan-
cial relief to businesses that
lose revenue due to wildfi re
smoke.
“Last August in the
Rogue Valley, I looked up
at a sun that was neon pink
through the thick haze of
smoke from wildfi res,”
Merkley said in a statement
about the need for the bill.
“Business owners and orga-
nizations told me how the
smoke caused lost reserva-
tions, canceled shows, and
even irreparable damage at
a furniture store after the
fabrics absorbed the smoke
smell. Folks told me about
respiratory problems even
indoors because HVAC sys-
tems weren’t equipped to
handle the level of pollution
they were experiencing.”
SAIF, Oregon’s not-for-
profi t workers’ compensa-
tion insurance company,
recommends that businesses
have plans in place for evac-
uations during fi res, but also
for protecting employees or
sending them home when
smoke pushes air quality to
hazardous levels.
The Department of
Environmental
Qual-
ity now has an OregonAir
app for mobile phones to
easily check its air qual-
ity index, which can also
be found online at http://
oraqi.deq.state.or.us. When
air reaches unhealthy lev-
els, homes and businesses
should clean HVAC fi lters,
set air conditioners to recir-
culate air in buildings and
vehicles, keep windows
and doors closed, and keep
people indoors as much as
possible.
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