REGION
SATURDAY, MAY 7, 2022
THE OBSERVER — A3
REGION BRIEFS
East Umatilla Fire &
Rescue frees driver
from crashed pickup
Justin Davis/Blue Mountain Eagle
The city-owned greenhouse in John Day sits empty on Wednesday, April 20, 2022. City Manager Nick
Green said he plans to propose that a private corporation run the greenhouse, which lost $122,000 in
2020-21, due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Greenhouse ‘not a failure’
despite $122K loss last year
John Day may turn
facility over to
private managers
By JUSTIN DAVIS
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — After
losing $122,000, the city-
owned greenhouse in John
Day could soon be under
new management.
City Manager Nick
Green said he plans to pro-
pose that a private cor-
poration run the green-
house at the Tuesday, May
10, city council meeting.
Green declined to disclose
the name of the company
but said that information
will be made public at the
meeting.
The greenhouse cost the
city $155,000 to operate
in fi scal year 2020-21 and
produced $33,000 in rev-
enue. Green said the coro-
navirus pandemic put a
lot of the plans the city
had for the greenhouse on
hold, contributing to the
$122,000 defi cit for the
fi scal year.
There are currently no
plans to recover the funds
lost on the greenhouse,
but Green said the green-
house played an integral
part in securing some of
the grant funding for the
city’s planned $17.5 mil-
lion wastewater treatment
plant.
“It was a proof of con-
cept to show that we could
grow hydroponic crops in
the valley,” Green said.
“And (as a) result of having
that and having economic
value-added traded-sector
industry that can benefi t
from the reclaimed water,
we gained about $6 mil-
lion in grants for the water
treatment plant.”
When asked if the
greenhouse is a failure,
Green said he doesn’t see it
that way at all.
“Next month we’ll be
announcing the $3 million
award for the reclaimed
water system, which is
going to give us all the
purple pipe and the storage
capability to provide water
to the greenhouse, golf
course, Malheur Lumber
and our parks,” he said.
“I’m not counting that
with the $6 million we’ve
already gotten. This is $3
million on top of that.”
Green said the fi rm
taking over the green-
house will benefi t from
the purple pipe and water
treatment facilities as well
as provide private sector
jobs and sell produce
locally.
“The greenhouse is
absolutely not a failure,”
Green insisted. “It did
exactly what we intended it
to do. I would do it again.
I think we should do it
again, probably with a pri-
vate partner out of the gate
this time, but we didn’t
have that luxury in 2017.
Nobody was growing any-
thing hydroponically in the
valley four years ago.”
Green added that the
plan was always to take
the greenhouse private or
move to a co-op arrange-
ment because the facility
wasn’t ever going to work
with government labor.
“We knew that up
front,” he said. “What we
didn’t know was COVID.
So we lost time having to
adapt to a very dynamic
marketplace with changing
customer preferences and
needs as a result of that
pandemic. That happened
to every enterprise.”
The COVID-19 pan-
demic probably accelerated
the timeline for moving the
greenhouse to private own-
ership, according to Green.
“We probably would’ve
kept growing had the pan-
demic not happened. At the
end of the day we’re not
worse off for it,” he said.
“It brought our timeline
forward a bit, but having a
private operator who is less
constrained about what
they can grow, where they
can sell, who they employ
and at what prices — I
don’t have much choice.
I have to pay all govern-
ment employees PERS and
public benefi ts. They don’t
have that restriction.”
Despite the mone-
tary loss, Green said it
would have been “highly
unlikely” that the city
would have gotten as much
grant funding as it did for
the wastewater treatment
plant if the greenhouse
had not been tied to the
proposal.
“What is the story
without it?” he sad. “We’re
building a wastewater
treatment plant, so give us
money?”
Green added that he
thinks the new owners of
the greenhouse will be
successful if the council
approves the proposal to
transfer operations.
“They’ve got a turnkey
facility, the staff is ready to
roll, they’ve got the seeds,”
he said. “We’re going to
partition the facility off
into its own lot, lease the
lot with the buildings and
let them roll.”
Gas rises 2 cents a gallon statewide
BY JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
The Oregonian
SALEM — Average gas
prices statewide went up 2
cents, according to AAA
Oregon/Idaho, while nation-
ally, prices are climbing
even faster, jumping 7
cents this week to $4.20 per
gallon of regular unleaded.
AAA reported $4.71 per
gallon as the average price
in Bend, up from $4.67 a
week ago. Statewide, the
average was $4.69 a gallon.
Portland-area motorists are
paying $4.77 a gallon, close
to the all-time high of $4.79,
reached on March 27.
AAA spokesperson
Marie Dodds said con-
sumers shouldn’t expect
much relief for gas prices
this summer, as crude oil
prices remain around $100
a barrel.
“As long as the supply
remains tight, crude oil
prices are not likely to fall,
which means consumers
will continue to face ele-
vated prices at the pump,”
she said. “It now costs
drivers in the U.S. about
$23 more to fi ll up than a
year ago.”
Crude oil prices have
risen as the U.S. and other
countries placed strict sanc-
tions on Russia, one of
the world’s largest oil pro-
ducers, in response to its
invasion of Ukraine. The
eff ects of that price increase
have outweighed the poten-
tial for decreased demand
prompted by a COVID-19-
related economic downturn
in China.
Nationally, Oregon’s
prices remain fi fth-highest
in the nation, behind Cali-
fornia, Hawaii, Nevada and
Washington.
Locally, gas prices per
gallon have hovered just
below the $4.70 mark in
Union County. The average
price of gas as of May 4
stood at $4.67, while Wal-
lowa County’s average gas
price per gallon was $4.82.
In Umatilla County,
the average price per
gallon was $4.45 as of
May 4. Baker County saw
an average price point of
$4.66.
In Central Oregon, the
average price per gallon
was $4.70 in Crook and
Deschutes counties and
$4.51 in Jeff erson County,
according to AAA.
Prices in Oregon remain
highest in Curry County,
where an average per gallon
price hit $4.97. Harney
County was at $4.91 and
Josephine County at $4.86.
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WESTON — Rescuers
freed the driver of a pickup
Tuesday, May 3, after it ran
off the road near Weston
and crashed.
East Umatilla Fire &
Rescue in a news release
reported it responded
to a call at 7:52 a.m. on
Highway 204 for a pickup
that ran off the road and
ended up with the driver’s
side door against a tree.
Highway 204 was
slightly icy and the weather
was foggy, according to the
news release. The fi re dis-
trict’s personnel arrived to
fi nd a pickup nose down
in snow with the rear sev-
eral feet off the ground and
stuck on a tree. Airbags in
the cab had opened.
A crew freed the driver
through the front wind-
shield. The person suf-
fered minor injuries and
was taken by East Umatilla
Fire & Rescue to a local
hospital.
Baker City man
in critical after
motorcycle crash
BAKER CITY — A
Baker City man sustained
serious injuries when the
motorcycle he was driving
went off Highway 86
along the Powder River
Wednesday, May 4, and
plunged down a 25-foot
embankment.
Terris Blain Webb, 50,
was reported to be in crit-
ical condition on May 5 at
Saint Alphonsus Medical
Center in Boise, hospital
spokesperson Mark Snider
said.
Oregon State Police
responded to the crash at
4:47 p.m., according to a
police report.
Webb was riding east
on the highway through
the Powder River Canyon,
about 27 miles east of
Baker City and 13 miles
west of Richland. He rode
off the highway on a curve,
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Child sex abuse
trial delayed for
Baker County man
BAKER CITY — The
trial of a Baker County
man accused of sexually
abusing a child has been
moved from next week
to late November 2022,
almost three years after he
was arrested.
Bill David
Gonyer, 75, is
being treated
for cancer,
and he suf-
fered a heart
attack in
Gonyer
March 2022,
according to an April 27
motion from his Baker City
attorney, Damien Yervasi.
“During this chemo-
therapy regime, moving
forward with the trial
undermines his treat-
ment and could cause
prejudicial harm to his
health,” Yervasi wrote in
the motion. “It also forces
him to choose between
going to trial and forgoing
a potentially lifesaving
treatment or failing to
appear and facing the legal
consequences.”
Gonyer, who is accused
of 15 separate crimes that
carry mandatory minimum
prison sentences were he
convicted, was sched-
uled to go to trial May 9
in Baker County Circuit
Court.
Baker County District
Attorney Greg Baxter said
on Monday, May 2, he was
prepared for trial but that
he understands Gonyer’s
health problems.
In an April 27 motion
in response to Yervasi’s
motion, Baxter wrote that
although he did not object
to the motion to delay
the trial, “the victim, her
family, law enforcement,
and I all wish that this case
could go to trial in May.
I have reviewed Mr. Yer-
vasi’s motion. I believe
that he has satisfi ed the
Court’s parameters to get a
continuance.”
— EO Media Group
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according to the report.
Police found Webb a
short distance from the
Honda motorcycle. A Life-
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Webb to the Boise hospital.
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Mark Woodbright/East Umatilla Fire & Rescue
East Umatilla Fire & Rescue on the morning of Tuesday, May 3,
2022, freed the driver of this crashed pickup on Highway 204.
Name of graduate:
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Message:
Call Devi 541-624-6007 or email
dmathson@lagrandeobserver.com