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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 2015)
Page 12A OFF PAGE ONE East Oregonian LIBRARY: Broke ground in 2012 Staff photo by E.J. Harris Naomi Crofts, 4, plays a video game on a computer as her brother, Ian, 3, both of Irrigon, looks on Friday during the grand opening of the Irrigon Public Library. Finally in 2012, the city broke ground on a 12 million library attached to city hall The building opened its doors for the ¿rst time on May 19, 2014 But more troubles were on the horizon The library had its occupancy permit yanked three weeks later over a ¿re wall that wasn’t built to code In order to modify the building code, the library district and city had to come to a new intergovernmental agreement outlining how they would work together to maintain common space ² including a shared lobby and restrooms The process took months and emotions ran high, but a new agreement was inked in March that allowed the library to reopen its doors ² this time for good Huwe acknowledged there were dif¿culties, but said everyone is ready to put the past behind them “We are now a community that has jelled,” Huwe said &ity Manager Aaron Palmquist spoke at Friday’s ceremony, and thanked everyone who worked through the ups and downs to get Irrigon’s library open “We have some great things that are going to happen right here in this room,” Palmquist said Kathy Street, who was hired in August as the new full-time director of the Oregon Trail Library District, said they are looking to launch new teen and adult programs in Irrigon to draw more people to the library Ideas include a book club, movie club and computer coding club for teens “We have our (book collection, and it will continue to grow, but programming is what will bring people into the building and use it,” Street said Lisa Hauner, who works as a library assistant for the district, said the response to the library in the community has been overwhelming The whole process has been a growing experience for her, she said “I’m just so happy to be in on the ground Àoor,” Hauner said “The biggest thing we got from all this is you can, too, ¿ght for what you want” ²²² Contact George Plaven at gplaven@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0825. OIL: 340 percent increase in carloads of crude oil, natural gas and natural gasoline from 2012 to 2014 Continued from 1A or decreases 25 percent from the previous report An ODOT spokes- woman said earlier this year convention wisdom was that oil-by-rail shipments through Oregon slackened this year, although Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and Union Paci¿c trains carried 24,199 carloads of crude oil, natural gas and natural gasoline on Oregon rail lines in 2014 That was a 340 percent increase from 5,491 carloads in 2012, according to data from ODOT John Johnson, manager of the transportation agency’s Rail Safety Section, wrote in an email that Union Paci¿c’s actual weekly estimate ¿led this week was that between zero and one oil-by-rail shipments of at least 1 million gallons will pass through the &olumbia River Gorge The state Fire Marshal’s Of¿ce posts the federal notices on its website, but had not posted the latest Union Paci¿c notice by Friday afternoon Gard said during the Oregon Transportation &ommission meeting that the increase in Union Paci¿c oil-by-rail shipments will provide an opportunity to put into practice the new rules the state adopted over the summer For example, the state now CHURCH: 4,000 churches close each year Continued from 1A Continued from 1A and Rep Greg Smith, R-Hep- pner For years, Irrigon’s library ran out of a retro¿tted school bus parked behind the city’s only gas station Dahlgreen said she remembered that bus, before quipping, “This is much nicer” “I know there was a lot of hard work and anguish that went into this,” Dahlgreen said “I am so excited for the future of this library” &ertainly, the new Irrigon library has faced several dif¿cult and occasionally contentious challenges along the way to getting built When the Oregon Trail Library District formed in 1992, Irrigon voters initially declined to join The city at the time did not have a high school, and Huwe felt a public library would be something fun and educational for kids in the community Huwe formed the Friends of the Irrigon Library, and after several years it became apparent the city simply didn’t have the funds to take on the project In 2000, the Friends went door to door and gathered 981 signatures on a petition to join the OTLD, along with Boardman and Heppner “We had a great Friends of the Irrigon Library group,” Huwe said “Every time someone says thank you to me, I reiterate it wasn’t just me It was our entire district, our community and surrounding communities” Before they could build a permanent home, the Irrigon library operated out of a bus donated by Mid-&olumbia Bus &ompany Huwe said that was always meant to be a temporary arrangement, but admitted they had no idea it would take so long Saturday, November 14, 2015 requires railways to ¿le quar- terly reports on hazardous materials shipments and immediately notify ¿rst responders about “incidents involving hazardous mate- rials,” according to ODOT The state also hired more rail inspectors earlier this year in response to concerns about the oil shipments Francisco &astillo, a spokesman for Union Paci¿c’s western region, said the railway will move up to three “unit trains,” or single commodity trains, of Bakken oil through Oregon, Wash- ington and Idaho starting as early as next week &astillo said crude oil accounted for approximately 1 percent of Union Paci¿c’s freight car loads in 2014, and roughly 2 percent of the company’s freight shipments through Oregon were oil &astillo said he could not provide any information on the destination of the Bakken oil shipments or the reason for the increase “We just transport the commodity at the request of the customer,” &astillo said &astillo said the railway follows “strict safety prac- tices” and “regardless of what we’re hauling, safety is our highest concern” Staff photo by Kathy Aney Pastor Mark Woolbright plays foursquare in the air recently with youth at the Helix Community Church. Woolbright and his wife, Karen, are part of a ministry that revives country churches that are struggling. might explain their well- oiled teamwork As chil- dren, they lived four houses apart They dated in their late teens, got married and raised ¿ve children Mark farmed Karen did in-home daycare and later worked as of¿ce manager for Oregon Fish & Wildlife on Sauvie Island Then came the awak- ening They attended the 9illage Missions’ Bible school, while continuing to work full-time at their Mobs 9illage Mission pastors agree to go wherever sent and churches accept whoever comes The Wool- brights embraced their new life in Helix, a place where a walkabout to the post of¿ce can take two hours and include a 20-minute conversation in the middle of the street The couple jumped into small-town life They cheer at athletic events and are reading buddies at the school Mark is a volunteer ¿re¿ghter “We came here and immediately felt like we were home,” Karen said Mark, a deer and elk hunter, was already familiar with Northeast Oregon He loves how his congregation “gets” his hunting analo- gies Karen and Mark point to each other as inspiration for the journey “Mark can bring laughter and lightness into any conversation,” Karen said “He does not have a condemning personality” “She is nurturing and understanding,” Mark said of his wife “She loves the people, young and old I can’t imagine doing this without her God picked the perfect person for me” They sat at their kitchen table in the parsonage holding hands She squeezed his Only Mark is salaried, while Karen says, “I’m the bonus” She prepares bulletins, helps lead youth activities and facilitates a women’s Bible study The church pays Mark’s salary and insurance Ten percent of what is tithed goes to 9illage Missions to support ¿nancially strug- gling churches The orga- nization, headquartered in Dallas, Oregon, sponsors 200 churches in the 8S and 40 in &anada The Woolbrights are aware of the Pew report on declining &hristianity, but said they came to Helix with no crushing worries “Our job is to preach the Word and love the people,” Karen said “The Lord wants us to be faithful to what he calls us to do,” Mark said “He does the work” ²²² Contact Kathy Aney at kaney@eastoregonian.com or call 541-966-0810. Brian Pilmer Served his country in Bosnia 1999 Thank You! 509 SW Frazer Pendleton, Oregon 97801 Office 541-278-4963 farmers.com Dr. Steven Neal and staff cordially invite you to our Annual Girls’ Night Out Wed. Nov. 18, 2015 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm or 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm organization supplies ministers and, if necessary, ¿nancial support 9illage Missions investigated the Helix church’s precarious existence and sent the Woolbrights for an open- ended stay “Before Mark and Karen came, we were not sure we were going to be able to keep the doors open,” said Newtson “We were down to 10 families” Fourteen months later, the church is going through a growth spurt The Helix church isn’t the ¿rst to struggle ² not by a long shot Each year, according to 8S &ensus data, an estimated 4,000 churches close their doors compared to 1,000 starts The landscape is changing A Pew Research Survey released earlier this year shows that &hristianity is on the decline among most demographic groups The number of people who say they are absolutely certain they believe in God dropped from 71 percent in 2007 to percent in 2014 In Oregon, the numbers are lower ² percent to 57 percent About 27 million Americans stop going to church each year ²²² A change has come to Helix, where the pews are now ¿lling and a stalled youth program has sprung back to life On a recent Wednesday, an excited babble of young voices Àowed from the church Karen led singing and Mark related a Bible story The kids trouped outside to the churchyard to play four- square in the air (using a rubber ball and a suspended grid of P9& pipe Mark and Karen later donned plastic garbage bags, sat in chairs and let the kids cover them with whipped cream (as a reward for about four weeks’ worth of daily readings in an event called “Plaster the Pastor” The couple has a long history together, which 702 SW Dorion Avenue Pendleton, Oregon 97801 Phone: 541-276-4160 If you call a contractor yourself, that still counts as DIY. 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