East Oregonian top stories of 2024 — part three

Published 5:00 am Monday, December 30, 2024

CDA director, board at odds over controversial salary increase

East Oregonian

THE STORY: Columbia Development Authority Executive Director Greg Smith in September received criticism from his board of directors over a grant application the board approved in June.

The CDA for nearly a decade has employed Smith, who works as an economic consultant and as a state representative for House District 57. The federal grant application inaccurately said the CDA board had approved a large salary increase of $66,000 for Smith and $47,000 for another employee. Still, the board did approve the grant application, with the inaccuracy, at the time.

After the Malheur Enterprise revealed the error and the associated pay increases, board members critiqued Smith’s work and tension boiled over during a Sept. 20, 2024, meeting. The board decided to create and complete an evaluation of Smith’s performance.

THE LATEST: More than three months after the board meeting to discuss the inaccurate grant application, the board has not completed a performance evaluation of Smith. Instead, board members continue to disagree about the land allocation across board entities — an unrelated but ongoing conflict.

Additionally, the board seems to expect some form of litigation from employees, as it unanimously approved hiring Barran Liebman, a law firm specializing in employment issues, during its Dec. 11 board meeting. The firm will be the second the board has retained. The CDA’s next meeting is Jan. 15, starting at 1 p.m.

‘Our biggest audience by far’

The Observer

THE STORY: H. Nelson Tracey, writer and director of “Breakup Season,” first came to Union County in 2019 to show a short documentary at the Eastern Oregon Film Festival. In 2021 he took part in the inaugural month-long filmmaker residency program sponsored by the festival.

Then, in 2023, he returned to produce a movie in Union County. The romantic drama was filmed entirely in La Grande and the community rallied behind the film production.

The director, cast and crew of the movie returned to La Grande this year for the much anticipated local premiere of “Breakup Season” at the 2024 Eastern Oregon Film Festival. The sold-out screening received a standing ovation and the movie won the Eastern Oregon Film Festival’s Audience Choice Award for best narrative feature.

THE LATEST: “Breakup Season” is now available to watch through video-on-demand. The film is available for rental and purchase from Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play and select cable platforms.

Arson fire guts Baker City’s historic Central Building

Baker City Herald

THE STORY: Around 6:30 a.m. on May 22, the Baker County Dispatch Center took multiple calls about smoke coming from the Central Building near Baker Middle School.

The three-story structure, with an exterior of volcanic tuffstone quarried near Pleasant Valley, was built in 1916-17. It served as Baker High School from 1917-52, and later was part of the middle school campus.

The Baker School District closed the building in 2009.

No one was injured.

School district officials said in late May that they expected the building was beyond saving, and would be torn down.

In late June the district hired a Redmond company to demolish the Central Building. An insurance settlement of $860,000, and grant money from Baker Technical Institute, which had been renovating the building, covered the demolition cost.

In August the district gave away to local residents several hundred pieces of tuffstone salvaged from the Central Building.

THE LATEST: In late August, police arrested three Baker City juveniles on arson charges. They were charged as juveniles, not adults, and the court proceedings were in private.

Two of the three juveniles pleaded guilty in juvenile court in October. Judge Matt Shirtcliff in Baker County Circuit Court sentenced one of the juveniles on Oct. 31, and the other on Nov. 1.

Greg Baxter, Baker County district attorney, said the two will spend an unspecified period in an Oregon Youth Authority prison, and will remain under supervision by that agency, although not in custody, until age 25.

The third juvenile suspect had not been sentenced as of mid-December.

Sawmill struggles in John Day

Blue Mountain Eagle

THE STORY: On March 1, Prairie Wood Products in Prairie City halted operations and laid off most of its staff. On July 23, Ochoco Lumber announced plans to shutter the county’s only other sawmill, Malheur Lumber in John Day, by late this year or early 2025.

If both mills close permanently, the only wood products manufacturing facility left in Grant County would be Iron Triangle’s Seneca post and pole plant, which makes fenceposts and other products from small-diameter trees.

A state analysis estimated that losing Malheur Lumber would cost Grant County’s economy $58 million and 207 jobs. The Grant School District said the shutdown would cause it to lose at least 60 students and more than $700,000 a year in state funding.

THE LATEST: In October, Iron Triangle announced it was exploring plans to buy Malheur Lumber and restart the mill, providing it could get enough government assistance to make the deal pencil out.

The Malheur Forest Fairness Coalition sent a letter to Ochoco Lumber’s legal counsel Nov. 5 demanding a halt to the proposed sale and threatening legal action to block it. The coalition, which consists of Prairie Wood Products and a number of local logging outfits and private timber owners, previously filed a $117 million federal antitrust suit claiming the Malheur Lumber and Iron Triangle had created a de facto monopoly over the softwood sawlog market in Grant County.

That lawsuit was dismissed in September and is now under appeal. A case was opened in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Oct. 18, and the parties were directed to contact a mediator regarding a possible settlement on Oct. 25. Court records show the parties were released from mediation on Nov. 4 without having reached a settlement. No trial date has been set in the case.

Wallowa County a hot spot for wolf kills as grassroots group forms

Wallowa County Chieftain

THE STORY: Wallowa County has become a hot spot of wolf activity in Northeastern Oregon, with two-thirds of the state’s 39 confirmed livestock kills this year by the apex predator as of July 8.

The area around Lostine has had 19 of Wallowa County’s 26 kills, and wolves are probably the cause of four additional livestock deaths near the small town, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Ranchers said those depredations indicate population saturation and that more proactive and aggressive wolf management is needed.

THE LATEST: A group of families concerned about an increase in wolf activity in Wallowa County has formed to do something about it. About a dozen residents gathered June 18 at the South Fork Grange in Lostine for the second meeting of the Lostine Livestock and Community Protection Association to hear advice on how to overcome the wolf problem.

Incoming state Sen. Todd Nash and others are hoping to see the 2025 Legislature take action on wolf management. Measures such as a reform of wolf compensation to ranchers and removing the predators from the Endangered Species List statewide are two such actions eyed.

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