Gov. Tina Kotek, center, meets with community leaders April 24, 2024, in Boardman to discuss the status of work on nitrate contamination and what support her team could provide to the community.

Nitrate issue garners serious attention

East Oregonian

THE STORY: The Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area received particular attention from local and state officials during 2024, as many wells in Umatilla and Morrow counties continue having high concentrations of nitrate.

The Department of Environmental Quality fined the Port of Morrow more than $700,000 for its winter nitrate application. Umatilla and Morrow counties started a drinking water investigation to determine how to handle wells with continuing high levels of nitrates. Oregon Health Authority has an ongoing drinking water delivery program for homes with affected wells.

Gov. Tina Kotek and Environmental Protection Agency Region 10 Administrator Casey Sixkiller in April met with representatives from both counties as well as community-based groups at Blue Mountain Community College in Boardman to hear about what changes they’d like to see in the state’s approach to the LUBGWMA.

During the meetings, Kotek tried to assure the representatives her agencies would partner with them. The local leaders asked for better communication and transparency with regard to the state’s work on the issue as well as clearer benchmarks for progress and a multipronged approach to solutions.

THE LATEST: In September, the state published its Nitrate Reduction Plan. The plan outlines the roles and responsibilities of different agencies — including Oregon Health Authority, the Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Water Resources — in the short, medium and long term. The product formalizes the state’s role in tackling the nitrate problem in the LUBGWMA and details goals for agencies to meet at different points in time. Commissioners in Umatilla and Morrow counties praised the plan when it was released.

John Day recall elections

Blue Mountain Eagle

THE STORY: Four John Day elected officials faced recall elections in 2024.

Oren Wyss, the operator of the city’s wastewater treatment plant, filed a recall petition against Mayor Heather Rookstool in October of 2023, accusing her of lacking transparency and violating the city charter, among other things. Rookstool was recalled by a 32-vote margin in a special election on Jan. 16.

In August, Public Works Director Casey Myers filed recall petitions against Councilors Sherrie Rininger, Eric Bush and Ron Phillips, all Rookstool supporters. Myers leveled a number of allegations at the trio, including mismanaging city funds, lacking transparency and harassing city staff. All three kept their seats by wide margins in a Sept. 7 special election.

THE LATEST: After Rookstool’s recall, her supporters on the council agreed not to fill her position until after the first of the year, when new councilors chosen in the November general election would be seated.

But the second recall election shattered that fragile peace deal. Rininger was appointed mayor on Sept. 23 by a 3-2 vote carried by the pro-Rookstool faction on the council. On Oct. 22, Bradley Hale was appointed to fill Rininger’s former council position on a 5-1 vote.

Williams loses reelection to circuit court

The Observer

THE STORY: Wes Williams ran for another term on the circuit court bench for Union and Wallowa counties but lost in the May primary to La Grande attorney Jared Boyd.

Voters originally elected him as a judge in the 10th Judicial Circuit Court in 2018, and he began his term in January 2019. Circuit judges serve six-year terms, and during the election, district attorneys’ disqualification of Williams became a focus in race.

Union County District Attorney Kelsie McDaniel since 2020 routinely filed motions disqualifying Williams from presiding over criminal cases — and, although the law doesn’t require it, the DA filed a 31-page memorandum that year outlining the reasons she believed prosecutors couldn’t get a fair trial with Williams.

Wallowa County District Attorney Rebecca Frolander began filing similar motions in January 2021 to disqualify Williams.

All the criminal cases in the 10th Judicial District fell to the district’s presiding judge, Thomas Powers, or to other judges the state judicial department brought in from outside the district.

Questions about the fairness of the workload came up during the election.

“We need a functioning judicial system,” Boyd said at the time, “and I just don’t think we have one with the current situation.”

Boyd won the election with about 60% of the vote to 40% for Williams.

THE LATEST: After losing the election, he retired from the bench effective Oct. 31, two months before his elected term was set to expire, and said he would return to private practice.

“We’re hoping to have everything set up and ready to go by Jan. 1,” he said.

He said he had a number of private clients and legal firms reach out who wanted to retain his services. Some of these were time-sensitive matters, he said, which necessitated his early retirement.

State settles animal-neglect case against ranch

Wallowa County Chieftain

THE STORY: In the winter of 2021-22, cattle belonging to the Bob Dean Oregon Ranch in Imnaha were stranded in a particularly heavy snowstorm after not being brought in from summer pasture in time. An undetermined number of cattle and calves died, either by freezing or falling prey to wolves.

The Oregon Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation into the matter.

THE LATEST: Jacob Kamins, animal cruelty resource prosecutor with the Oregon Department of Justice, said Sept. 17 the case had been settled after Dean signed an agreement to avoid felony prosecution for second-degree animal neglect — failing to provide minimum care.

Cynthia Warnock, treasurer of the Wallowa County Stockgrowers, said Oct. 3 that Dean sold his cattle about two years ago and sold the ranch last winter.

The sale helps fulfill the settlement agreement the Georgia businessman signed in April to avoid prosecution. The agreement also included a letter of apology to the community that Dean provided in October.

Baker High boys basketball team wins state championship

Baker City Herald

THE STORY: The Bulldogs, eight of whom had played together since they were third or fourth graders, dominated three straight opponents in early March to win the school’s third state boys basketball title.

Baker, which lost only one of its 29 games for the season, avenged that loss to Cascade by beating the Cougars by 20 points in a semifinal game at the Class 4A state tournament at Forest Grove High School.

Isaiah Jones was later named the Class 4A player of the year by the Oregon Basketball Coaches Association. Coach Jebron Jones, who is Isaiah’s dad, was picked as coach of the year.

THE LATEST: The Bulldogs, despite losing several seniors from the championship team, are a formidable squad again, winning their first six games of the 2024-25 season and rising to third in the Class 4A rankings.

Newspapers often wrap up the the year with a list of their top reporting of the previous 12 months.

The East Oregonian did that, but this review of the year is different because we’re now a regional paper with newsrooms representing the EO and the Baker City Herald, Blue Mountain Eagle in John Day, the Hermiston Herald, The Observer in La Grande and the Wallowa County Chieftain.

From Dec. 28 through Dec. 31, we’re showcasing recaps and brief updates of some of the biggest news and more interesting people and events our newsrooms covered in 2024.

Any kind of list such as this is up for debate, and we also only have so much space in print, of course. You always can find much more of our reporting on our websites.

From all of us to all of you, happy New Year.

— East Oregonian