58/31
YOUNG COACH
LEADS TOP-SEEDED
KNIGHTS HOOPS/1B
Boards
on the
rez
REGION/3A
THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2015
139th Year, No. 100
WINNER OF THE 2013 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
BMCC bond ready for ballot At least one
Bond would allow college to
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person shot
near market
HERMISTON
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
The Blue Mountain Com-
munity College bond measure
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tuned during the past year,
since voters rejected an earlier
version in November 2013.
The $28 million bond,
which would have replaced an
expiring obligation,
failed by a margin
of 52 to 48 percent.
Stunned
BMCC
board members de-
cided to step back Preus
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Now the new-and-im-
proved bond is ready to go
after rounds of listening ses-
sions, discussions by a blue
ribbon panel and the
use of a sharp pen-
cil — and eraser.
On Wednesday, the
BMCC Board of Di-
rectors voted to place
the bond on the May
ballot.
The
board
dropped the bond
amount to $23 mil-
lion. If the 15-year capital im-
provement bond passes, prop-
erty owners will pay 25 cents
per $1,000 of assessed proper-
ty value.
Since the last version was
characterized by detractors as
being Pendleton-centric, the
college trimmed renovations to
the pool and theater and build-
ing a new indoor arena for
the school’s rodeo team at the
Pendleton campus.
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es and centers — Pendleton,
Boardman, Hermiston and
Milton-Freewater — would
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measure. Bond proceeds
See BMCC/8A
PENDLETON
Basketball bucks
Tournament
will bring fans,
dollars to town
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
The Pendleton Convention Center
stood eerily silent Wednesday morn-
ing, though evidence of spirited athlet-
ic competition to come was all around.
In 24 hours, the state’s 2A basketball
tournament would surge to life.
For now, however, all was peaceful
and serene. The game clock remained
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of undisturbed
glossy
hard-
“This has
wood. A crew
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always
hours to lay
been the
out the former
Phoenix Suns
second
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pieces of it —
biggest
the day before.
Fifteen folding
event for
chairs compris-
ing each team’s Pendleton.”
bench
were
—Cheryl
vacant.
Gar-
Montgomery,
bage cans were
empty.
The Red Lion Director
of Sales
only noise was
the sound of
convention center utility worker Dan
Mitzimberg zipping duct tape from a
roll as he placed sticky strips around
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On Thursday night, fans from
around the state would arrive en
masse at the convention center for
the three-day tourney. Wednesday’s
silence would morph into a cacopho-
ny of cheers and groans, play-by-play
from the announcer and the squeak of
shoe rubber.
Pendleton’s businesses are bracing
photo by Kathy Aney
IRUWKHZHOFRPHLQÀX[RISOD\HUVDQG Kyle Stanfi eld, assistant executive director for the OSAA, tapes Staff
banners to the
scorer’s table prior to the start of the 2A state basketball tournament.
See PENDLETON/8A
East Oregonian
One person was shot near Hermiston’s 11th
Street Market on Wednesday about 9:30 p.m.
Hermiston police Chief Jason Edmiston con-
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details by press time. The condition of the victim
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Initial reports were of multiple gunshots heard
in the area around the time the victim was found.
Initial information disseminated via police scan-
ner describe a possible suspect as a Hispanic male
wearing a blue sweatshirt and white undershirt, a
gray hat with a blue brim and LA stitched in blue
on the front of the hat.
No arrests were made immediately, and roads
around the crime scene were closed through the
evening.
This is the second shooting on 11th Street in
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of Jan. 22 at the Foxwood Apartments, where a
21-year-old Umatilla man was shot and another
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No arrests have been made in that case.
Low-carbon
fuel bill to
Brown’s desk
By HILLARY BORRUD
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Democrats in the Oregon House
passed low-carbon fuel standard legislation on a
nearly party line vote Wednesday, after a lengthy
and contentious discussion of whether the cost to
consumers will outweigh environmental and health
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The bill is headed next to
Gov. Kate Brown, who has not
said whether she will sign it.
However, Brown’s comments
during a recent press confer-
ence suggested she supports the
fuel standard.
Senate Bill 324 would make
permanent the fuel standard set
out in a 2009 bill. The Oregon
Department of Environmen- Brown
tal Quality spent several years
writing rules to implement it,
but the existing law is set to sunset this year before
the agency can implement the regulations.
Rep. Jessica Vega Pederson, D-Portland, said in
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by the Portland Tribune showed a “wide majority
of Oregonians believe that the state should be do-
ing more to limit greenhouse gas emissions.” Vega
Pederson said a majority of respondents also want-
ed the state to do more to make alternative fuels
available.
“Colleagues, the clean fuels program allows
See FUEL/8A
Counties pledge help
in case of emergency
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
When the big one hits the Oregon Coast, communities
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Umatilla County will send leadership help to Tillamook
County in such an event, and our new sister on the coast will
respond in kind if disaster strikes here, per an agreement pend-
ing between the counties.
Umatilla County Board of Commissioners voted Wednes-
day to form a “Sister Community Partnership” with Tillamook
County to respond to natural disasters affecting either county.
The biggest threat to Tillamook County is a big earthquake
and subsequent tsunami.
The Cascadia Subduction Zone running from Vancouver
Island to northern California is a sleeping Leviathan about 50
miles off the Oregon Coast. Every 300-600 years the zone is
a source of massive earthquakes and tsunamis that slam the
region. That quake may not happen tomorrow, but the U.S.
See DISASTER/8A
Spraying away winter
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Dan Huber, with the city of Pendleton, uses a hose to wash off the cooling sys-
tem for the ice rink at Roy Raley Park on Wednesday in Pendleton.