Business AgLife
B
Thursday, February 18, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
$10 million
grant program
considered for
Oregon meat
processors
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — Oregon meat pro-
cessors could vie for $10 million
in grants under a bill that seeks
to build on a state inspection
program authorized last year.
House Bill 2785 would create
a grant program overseen by the
state’s Department of Agricul-
ture to invest in constructing,
expanding and upgrading meat
processing facilities.
The proposal aims to help
meat processors who’d operate
under the ODA’s state inspection
program, which would regulate
these facilities for in-state com-
mercial meat sales.
Once the state inspection pro-
gram is fully functional and
approved by the federal govern-
ment, meat from these facilities
could also be sold in interstate
commerce.
The proposed grant program
would also invest in meat pro-
cessors who want to be directly
inspected by USDA, which
would permit their products to
cross state lines regardless of
the state inspection program’s
status.
An amended version of HB
2785 being considered by the
House Agriculture and Natural
Resources Committee would
carve out $300,000 for upgrades
to Oregon State University’s
meat science lab and make $9.7
million available for grants.
Lawmakers revived the
state inspection program last
year after the coronavirus out-
break disrupted the operations
See, Meat/Page 3B
Oregon
ranchers seek
to head off
some brand
fee hikes
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — Oregon ranchers
hope to forestall at least some of
the maximum fee hikes proposed
for the state’s brand inspection
program, which faces a budget
shortfall.
The state’s Department of
Agriculture wants to raise the
maximum brand inspection fee
from $1 to $1.50 per head of cattle
and increase several other fees for
other program services.
Without adjusting its fee struc-
ture, the brand inspection pro-
gram is “projected to go into the
red” in the 2021-2023 biennium,
said Lauren Henderson, ODA’s
assistant director. The program
needs another $700,000 per bien-
nium to maintain its current ser-
vice level.
While members of the Oregon
Cattlemen’s Association’s “clearly
understand the value” of the pro-
gram — which deters theft and
improves traceability — the pro-
posed fee hikes have left them
with “sticker shock,” said Rodger
Huffman, the group’s treasurer
and former ODA brand inspection
official.
“The livestock business has
a lot of costs that are out of our
control,” Huffman recently tes-
tified before the Senate Natural
Resources and Wildfire Recovery
Committee.
The OCA is instead urging
lawmakers to raise the cap on
brand inspection fees to $1.35,
rather than $1.50, and leaving
the $25 application fee and $100
renewal fee in place rather than
doubling them. The group would
accept other fee increases pro-
posed by ODA.
“We’re in a commodity where
we’re unable to pass those fees
onto anyone else and the com-
modity has been in decline since
See, Brand/Page 3B
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Tim Osterloh, owner of the video game and hobby store Clank-Tronix, poses for a photo Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in the renovated backroom of
the La Grande shop. Osterloh used the money from a federal CARES grant to help build an education center resource — specifically textbooks
and books on home schooling resources for families.
Getting some CARES
Federal COVID-19 relief grants are helping 94 businesses in Union County
By ALEX WITTWER
and PHIL WRIGHT
The Observer
UNION COUNTY — Dozens
of Union County businesses have
been using federal COVID-19
relief to cover the bottom line
and improve operations.
David Arnold with the Eagle
Cap Excursion Train said the
grants filled crucial funding gaps.
“It’s not a whole lot of money,
it’s not a huge grant, but for
people to have enough to get by
and not worry so much is really
important,” he said.
The excursion train was one of
94 Union County businesses that
received a total of $735,409 in
federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief
and Economic Security funding
for COVID-19. The funds came
from the state to Union County in
December. County Commissioner
Donna Beverage at the time
explained the state asked coun-
ties to focus on using the CARES
funding to help small businesses.
The grant program divided the
funding into two tiers.
Tier I applicants received a
total of $504,586.50. These were
businesses that lost revenue in
the two freezes Gov. Kate Brown
put into effect in 2020 to prevent
the spread of COVD-19. Six fit-
ness clubs and health businesses
received funding, along with 34
food service operations and 11
venues or events qualified for Tier
1 grants. The majority — 40 —
received $11,103.25, including the
Eagle Cap Excursion Train. The
other 11 received less. The Elgin
Museum and Historical Society
received the lowest grant, $750.
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Jesse Cimon, who runs the music and art venue HQ with Christopher Jennings, poses for a portrait in the
studio space in downtown La Grande on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021.
Tier 2 applicants received the
remaining $230,822.50. These 43
businesses were hurt by one of
the freezes or demonstrated their
revenue was down 25% or more
for at least one month between
March 1 and Nov. 30 compared
to 2019 due to COVID-19. The
funds went to retail shops, per-
sonal and professional services,
medical and health care oper-
ations and lodging businesses.
All but two of the grants were
for $5,556.65. The exceptions
were the Cove-Union-Powder
Medical Association, Union,
which received $500, and How-
ell’s Nursery, La Grande, which
received $2,500.
Arnold said the grant helped
the excursion train cover the
cost of track work and train
maintenance. And it provided
a financial cushion.
“We’ve lost a lot of rev-
enue, because we’re not run-
ning the passenger train, so
this helps cover the loss of rev-
enue, primarily, that’s one of the
big effects so it was very much
appreciated,” Arnold said.
Ten Depot Street in La Grande
was among the restaurants to
receive a grant. Owner Sandy
See, CARES/Page 3B
Friends to get friendlier with beer sales
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — Want a beer
or wine with your lunch? Friends
Restaurant and Pub plans to add
limited alcohol sales to the menu,
said proprietor Bree Gladden.
The Enterprise City Council
endorsed the liquor license
Monday, Feb. 8, and Gladden still
is working out the details with
the Oregon Liquor Control Com-
mission office in Pendleton. She
said Wednesday, Feb. 10, she
hopes to begin liquor sales by
March.
Although the “and Pub” part
of the cafe’s name hasn’t been
emphasized since she opened in
April 2019, it’s always been part
of the plan.
“It’s been registered as Friends
Restaurant and Pub since the day
I opened,” she said. “We planned
on adding alcohol at some point
in the future. We just didn’t want
to start with that. We had a very
minimal amount (of capital) to
get started in the first place and
we just wanted to get open first.
We didn’t have all that for the
liquor license fees and the inven-
tory. We had just enough to get
opened and get started. … It’s
been set up for a bar, always.”
The new liquor license will
not include hard liquor, although
that could be in the future, she
said.
“I’m hoping that by next
month we’ll be able to serve
beer and wine and champagne,
but we’re not going to have hard
liquor right now. I only applied
for a limited license,” she said.
“You know, beer, wine, red beers
— all that good stuff.”
Gladden said the food menu
consists largely of hash browns,
eggs, toast, homemade corned-
beef hash, home-cubed steaks,
hand-breaded chicken-fried
steaks, homemade soups, home-
smoked meats, smoked cheese
and some new barbecue items.
“A lot of the stuff we do, we
do in-house,” she said, and the
menu could change down the
road.
Gladden and her co-owner
husband, Dustin Gladden, are
parents of three children, ages 3
to almost 7.
“They require a lot of energy
and a lot of attention, as well,”
Bree Gladden said.
Dustin Gladden occasion-
ally helps out, but Bree Gladden
largely runs the operation with
the assistance of five employees.
Friends is open seven days a
week, from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. As
yet, Gladden doesn’t have plans
to expand into the dinner realm.
“At first, we will probably just
have a special Friday and Sat-
urday,” she said. “Right now,
with it being slower, I work a lot.
It would be too much to work all
day for 10 hours and then to do
the evening as well, with three
kids and all the other stuff.”
She said she envisions pos-
sibly trying a limited dinner
menu at some point, at which
time she’ll seek customer feed-
back on what menu items they’d
like to see included.
“At first, we’ll just feel it out.
… We’d like to try dinners, but
we’re not going to jump right
in and lose a bunch of money,”
she said. “I want to make sure
people are interested in coming
for dinner and get people’s
feedback.”
As for the COVID-19 pan-
demic restrictions that affected
nearly all businesses, Friends was
no different and it is surviving
well. Gladden said the shutdowns
last spring and in November defi-
nitely hit the business.
“It hurt a lot. The first time we
were forced to shut down, it was
before we were open for a whole
See, Friends/Page 2B