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Capital Press EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER Friday, April 29, 2022 Volume 95, Number 17 CapitalPress.com ‘FAMILY FARM’ $2.00 Statement describes Easterday’s post-plea actions By DON JENKINS Capital Press Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press Oswaldo, a sheep herder at Cunningham Sheep Co., brands sheep with paint-chalk. Eastern Oregon operation gives the term a whole new meaning By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN Capital Press P ENDLETON, Ore. — Inside the Pendleton Woolen Mills retail store, shoppers oohed and aahed while fi ngering vibrantly colored clothing and blankets. “I love people’s reactions. That’s the most gratifying thing about this work,” said John Bishop, president of Pendleton Woolen Mills. In the adjoining mill — run by gen- erations of the same family since 1909 — skilled artisans worked alongside roaring machinery. Wool was carded, aligned into roving, wound onto spools, stretched and twisted into yarn on spinning frames and sent to looms to be woven into cloth. Some of this wool came from the Cunning- ham Sheep Co., one of Oregon’s largest and Steve Corey oldest family-run farms, with thousands of sheep plus cattle, tim- ber, wheat and hunting grounds. Those familiar with the farm say its success was built on more than just land and capital; it was also forged through fi ve generations of family members, each contributing to the farm in diff erent ways through a highly orchestrated busi- ness structure. “We are truly a family ranch with almost a 100-year history in the same family, and to me, that’s the most import- ant thing, not so much how much sage- brush we’ve got,” said Steve Corey, 75, himself a member of the family farm. Corey, former longtime chair and secretary-treasurer of the farm’s board of directors, acted as spokesman for the family business and gave the Capital Press a tour of the farm. Five generations According to family records, the sheep business was founded by Charles Cunningham in 1873. See Family, Page 9 Courtesy of Steve Corey A Family Council gathering during the 2022 lambing at Cunningham Sheep Co. Klamath Tribes warn of ESA violations over water allocation By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — The Klamath Tribes are consider- ing whether to sue the federal gov- ernment over protections for two species of endangered sucker fi sh in Upper Klamath Lake. Tribal Chairman Don Gen- try sent a letter April 14 to David Palumbo, acting director of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and Martha Williams, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, claiming the agencies are violat- ing the Endangered Species Act after allotting limited water from the lake for irrigators in the Klam- ath Project. The Klamath Project provides irrigation water for 170,000 acres of farmland straddling South- ern Oregon and Northern Califor- George Plaven/Capital Press A pair of C’waam, or Lost River suckers, swimming in captivity at the Klamath Tribes Research Station near Chiloquin, Ore. nia. Reclamation estimates it will release about 50,000 acre-feet of water from Upper Klamath Lake into the Project’s A Canal, based on current hydrologic conditions. That would be the second-low- est allocation in project history and 15% of full demand as the basin confronts a third consecutive year of intense drought. Under the ESA, Reclamation must operate the Klamath Proj- ect without harming listed fi sh — including Lost River and shortnose suckers in Upper Klamath Lake, known by the Klamath Tribes as C’waam and Koptu. Both species of suckers were listed as endangered in 1988. Pop- ulations that once numbered in the tens of millions have since dropped to fewer than 50,000 surviving individuals in the Upper Klamath River drainage. As part of an environmental assessment negotiated with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Reclamation must maintain a mini- mum surface elevation of 4,142 feet See Water, Page 9 Eastern Washington cattleman Cody Easterday took charge in an effort to make amends after admit- ting he bilked Tyson Fresh Meats and another victim out of $244 million, according to a 4,000-word statement submitted to a bank- ruptcy court. The statement depicts Easter- day and his wife and mother rally- ing employees after he filed for bank- ruptcy last year and then pleaded guilty to wire fraud. Most employ- ees of the fami- Cody ly’s cattle opera- Easterday tions, Easterday Ranches, wanted to leave, accord- ing to the statement. “They did not leave because Cody asked them to stay for the benefit of Tyson and Ranches.” Easterday is scheduled to be sentenced in U.S. District Court June 13 for fraud. In recommend- ing a sentence, the Department of Justice will take into account whether Easterday took responsi- bility for his crime. Attorneys who have been bat- tling the Easterday family in bank- ruptcy court distanced themselves from the statement. The eight-page memo was attached to an agree- ment setting a framework for dis- tributing money from the liqui- dation of Easterday Ranches and Easterday Farms. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Whitman Holt in Yakima said April 19 the agreement looked good, but asked who the statement was writ- ten for. “I’m just curious. Is the audience for that creditors or me or someone else?” he asked. “It’s creditors and parties with interest in the case,” said attorney Tim Conway, who represents Cody Easterday’s mother in the bank- ruptcy case. “That memo quite frankly doesn’t even touch half of what the family did and a lot of it has gone un-noted by virtually everybody except for those heavily involved,” Conway said. Tyson contracted with Easter- day to supply cattle. Easterday billed Tyson for more than 265,000 head of cattle that didn’t exist. He faces up to 20 years in prison, though in a plea deal, U.S. attor- neys agreed to recommend a term within or below federal sentencing guidelines. Easterday’s post-plea actions will be considered in calcu- lating a recommendation, accord- ing to the plea agreement. U.S. District Judge Stanley Bas- tian has twice postponed Easter- day’s sentencing to give him time to sell his farming and ranching operations to raise money for cred- itors. The two largest creditors are the victims, Tyson and Segale Properties of Tukwila, Wash. The bankruptcy settlement does not bar Tyson and Segale from seeking full repayment. “It does not, of course, resolve all the issues that will be determined in criminal proceedings, such as restitution,” said Jeff Misley, Cody Easterday’s bankruptcy lawyer. The Department of Justice must approve the bankruptcy set- tlement and is reviewing it, U.S. Assistant Attorney Brian Dono- van told Holt. “The fact that the two victims in our case, Tyson and Segale, are in agreement with it is, of course, very persuasive to us,” he said. The bulk of the restitution, $233 million, is owed to Tyson. The second victim, identified in the plea agreement as “company 1,” advanced Easterday more than $11 million in 2020 to buy and raise cattle. Easterday was to repay the advance plus 4% interest. The cat- tle were not purchased. Efforts to obtain comment from Tyson and Segale were unsuccessful.