Robert
state
player
of year
WARRIORS
EVEN SERIES
SPORTS/1B
Hermiston, Pendleton
hand out free lunches
all summer REGION/3A
NBA FINALS/1B
FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 2015
139th Year, No. 171
Your Weekend
WINNER OF THE 2013 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
Compromise could allow pot prohibition
Legislature considering letting voters to ban marijuana businesses
•
•
•
Pendleton Men’s
Chorus spring concert
Bram Brata jams at
Heppner City Park
Music on the lawn at
Hamley’s Saloon
For times and places
see Coming Events, 5A
— to pass bans on medical and
recreational pot businesses.
The question of whether
SALEM — A compromise to allow cities and counties to
under consideration by the ban marijuana businesses had
Legislature would allow elected once again threatened to stall
RI¿FLDOV LQ FLWLHV DQG FRXQWLHV progress in Salem this week on
that voted against Measure legislation to set up Oregon’s
91 — the November initiative new legal pot system.
Senate Minority Leader
to legalize marijuana for adults
By HILLARY BORRUD
Capital Bureau
Sen. Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day,
said in an email late Tuesday
night to other lawmakers that
he would not support the bill
under consideration unless
it allows city councils and
county commissions to prohibit
medical
and
recreational
retailers.
A committee scheduled to
work on the issue Wednesday
canceled its meeting, but by
the end of the day a group that
represents city governments
around the state was circulating
a compromise proposal that
Ferrioli and another lawmaker
working on the issue described
Ferrioli
as promising.
See DRY/12A
Catch a movie
Umatilla Co.
gets biggest
chunk of
wolf funds
Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment
Jurassic World stomps its
way into theaters with
bigger, badder dinosaurs
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
For showtimes, Page 5A
For review, Weekend EO
Weekend Weather
Fri
Sat
Sun
82/44
79/48
83/52
Escape plot
may have had
inside help
DANNEMORA,
N.Y.
(AP) — Investigators believe
a female prison employee had
agreed to be the getaway driver
in last weekend’s escape by
two killers but never showed
up, a person close to the case
told The Associated Press.
The manhunt, meanwhile,
dragged into a sixth day with
a renewed burst of activity by
searchers in the woods close to
the prison after bloodhounds
were said to have picked up
the convicts’ scent. And Gov.
Andrew Cuomo said inves-
tigators are also “talking to
several people who may have
facilitated the escape.”
David Sweat, 34, and
Richard Matt, 48, used power
tools to cut through steel and
bricks and crawled through
an underground steam pipe,
emerging from a manhole
outside the 40-foot walls
of the maximum-security
Clinton Correctional Facility
in Dannemora, about 20
miles south of the Canadian
border, authorities said.
The person close to the
investigation said authorities
believe Joyce Mitchell — an
instructor at the prison tailor
shop, where the two convicts
worked — had befriended
the men.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Glenn Chownings of Hermiston wanted to give proper recognition to his belief in America. So 15 years
ago he had a friend build a 65-foot-tall fl ag pole on which he fl ies a 18-by-25 foot U.S. fl ag.
BOLD GLORY
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
There is something very American
about Glenn and Erin Chowning’s
house.
The picturesque white farm house,
built in 1907, sits in a grove of trees
surrounded by amber waves of grain.
Rocking chairs line the wrap-around
porch. An antique tractor sits at the
gate. And above it all, a 450-square-
IRRW$PHULFDQÀDJZDYHVJHQWO\LQWKH
breeze.
“I had a bigger one up there, but it
bent the pole,” Glenn said.
Now the Chownings settle for a star
spangled banner that is “only” 18 feet tall
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seen clearly from Highland Extension
and West Orchard Avenue, has become
a bit of a Hermiston landmark.
Contributed photo
Friends and family of Erin and Glenn Chowning help
take down their 18-by-25 foot fl ag during a ceremony on
July 4, 2014.
“We constantly get calls
from people,” Glenn said.
Some of them are Herm-
iston residents, calling to
express their appreciation for
the patriotic display. Other
times the Chownings get a
knock on their door from
out-of-town visitors who
enjoyed the view after waking
up at the nearby Pioneer RV
Park.
That’s what it’s there for.
Born at the start of World
War II and raised in the patri-
See FLAG/12A
Flag Day is Sunday, June 14. The holiday, which was instituted by President Woodrow Wilson in
1916, celebrates the anniversary of the offi cial adoption of the stars and stripes as the fl ag of
the United States of America in 1777.
Ranchers in nine Eastern
Oregon counties will receive
compensation from the Oregon
Department of Agriculture for
managing wolves around their
livestock in 2015.
Funding for the Oregon Wolf
Depredation
Compensation
and Financial Assistance Grant
Program comes
from the legis-
lature and is Payouts
administered ODA wolf
through ODA compen-
to pay for sation
dead, injured grants:
or missing live- Umatilla
stock, as well as $25,950
non-lethal wolf Wallowa
$24,905
deterrents.
The depart- Baker
ment recently $17,315
a p p r o v e d Union
$81,300
for $3,000
U m a t i l l a , Malheur
$450
W a l l o w a , Morrow
Baker, Union, $6,375
M a l h e u r , Crook
Morrow, Crook, $650
Jefferson and Jefferson
Wheeler coun- $1,905
ties. About 63 Wheeler
percent of the $750
money is set
aside for deter-
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bells, penning lights, bone pile
removals and range riders.
Umatilla County received
the largest slice of the pie with
$25,950, including $1,800 for
dead or injured livestock, $975
for missing livestock and $22,500
for deterrents. The money will
be sent to the county’s local wolf
advisory committee, which will
cut checks to cover claims by
producers.
The Oregon Department
RI )LVK :LOGOLIH FRQ¿UPHG
11 incidents of wolf predation
on livestock in 2014. Of those
claims, six occurred in Umatilla
County and resulted in 16 dead
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injured cows.
See WOLF/12A
HERMISTON
Drill simulates moments after smoke clears
School district, police plot out steps to take after emergency
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
A Hermiston school shooting training
exercise took a step toward realism
Thursday, and the school district plans to
expand it over the next couple of years.
Superintendent Fred Maiocco said the
rehearsal to reunite students with families
after an emergency was the capstone to
more than a year of training. Hermiston
Police Chief Jason Edmiston said while
no scenario can account for all real-life
variables, hands-on training helps people
understand their roles in an emergency.
The last few years in June the district
has held planning sessions dealing with a
school emergency, such as a shooter or a
gas explosion. District and school staff held
the tabletop portion Thursday morning at
Hermiston High School with Hermiston
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Police. Then it was time for the simulation
of what to do after police take out a threat.
High school football players and
some district and support staff hunkered
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move them onto buses that hauled them
to Armand Larive Middle School, where
other staff were observers and some played
the role of anxious parents eager to get to
their children. Maiocco said the exercise
Photo contributed by Hermiston School District
answers questions about what students and Hermiston students and faculty participate in an emer-
gency drill Thursday at Armand Larive Middle School.
See DRILL/12A