Local briefing: Oct. 5, 2022

Published 6:15 am Monday, October 3, 2022

State needs help tracking CWD

SALEM — The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is asking for hunters to help check deer and elk carcasses for chronic wasting disease, a deadly infection that has been detected within 30 miles of Oregon’s border.

A new law requires hunters transporting deer or elk carcasses to stop at CWD check stations along their route. Hunters do not have to drive out of their way to get to a station, but ODFW is asking that they do so if possible so tissue samples can be taken, the agency said in a press release.

Chronic wasting disease can spread quickly within deer and elk herds and is uniformly fatal to infected animals, although symptoms can be slow to appear.

The sampling program helps the agency keep tabs on the disease and implement a response plan if it is detected within Oregon’s borders.

Stations were scheduled to be set up during the opening weekends of rifle season for deer and Rocky Mountain elk at the following locations and times:

• Celilo Park (exit 97 off I-84 west of Biggs Junction), 9 a.m. to dusk Oct. 2-4 and 29-31.

• Crook County Fairgrounds, 1280 S. Main St., Prineville, 9 a.m. to dusk Oct. 1-3 and 29-31.

• Elgin Rodeo Grounds, 790 S. Eighth Ave., Elgin, noon to 6 p.m. Oct. 2-4 and 29-31.

Participating taxidermists, meat processors and ODFW offices can also take samples.

Forest practices meeting set

KLAMATH FALLS — The Regional Forest Practices Committee for Eastern Oregon will meet at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 6.

The meeting will take place at the Oregon Department of Forestry office in Klamath Falls, but the public can join virtually via Zoom by going to https://odf.zoom.us/j/95661793462#success.

The agenda will include Operator of the Year selection, a Forest Practices Act rule change and updates on the emerald ash borer, fire season and the Forest Resources Division.

To comment, email forestresources.committees@odf.oregon.gov.

Grant County nurse sanctioned

PORTLAND — The Oregon State Board of Nursing has fined a Grant County nurse $500 for a violation of patient privacy.

According to a stipulated agreement filed by the board, Janelle Moulton acknowledged she had “inadvertently released private health information in a social setting.” Moulton could have been fined as much as $5,000, but the board noted there were no prior disciplinary actions against her in 35 years of practice.

Politicians in the attic?

SALEM — The Oregon State Capitol Foundation is asking for the public’s help in locating missing portraits of Oregon governors.

“We know many oil paintings of territorial and state governors were lost when the Capitol burned in 1935, but we also know some of them were saved from the fire,” foundation board member Joan Plank said in a press release.

While some of those portraits were recovered and are once again hanging in the statehouse, an estimated 27 others have disappeared and may be in private homes, schools, universities, museums, courthouses or public buildings.

The nonprofit foundation wants to create a record of where formal portraits of Oregon’s governors are but says it does not intend to reclaim the artworks and will not make public the location of portraits in private residences.

People with information about the location of the missing portraits are asked to contact the Oregon State Capitol Foundation at oscf@oregoncapitolfoundation.org or 503-363-1859.

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