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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 4, 2015)
PBR BARRELS INTO PENDLETON RODEO/1B WEEKEND EDITION Celebrating America through art LIFESTYLES 1C REGION: Beckman Saddles to close Main St. store 3A OUTSIDE: Route of the Hiawatha mountain bike trail 10C WEEKEND, JULY 4-5, 2015 139th Year, No. 187 WINNER OF THE 2013 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD $1.50 Water dollars flowing $50M funding package passes Legislature By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris Happy Fourth of July The City of Pendleton kicked off the Fourth of July early with a fi reworks display Friday off Southwest Court Avenue in Pendleton. HERMISTON More heat, more sweet Hot summer is good news for watermelons By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian The sweltering heat makes for long days, but Jack Bellinger couldn’t ask for better weather to grow ripe, delicious watermelons. “Everywhere I go, I’m seeing a lot of melons in the ¿ eld,´ said Bellinger, owner of Bellinger Farms in Herm- iston. “This could be a year for the books.´ That’s really saying something in Hermiston, a city famous throughout the Northwest for high-quality watermelons. Florida, Georgia and California might grow the most, but locals insist Hermiston watermelons are second to none. The juicy secret lies in the region’s unique desert climate, said Phil Hamm, director of the Hermiston Oregon’s budget will include $50 million for water development and ef¿ ciency projects in a funding package approved Friday by the Joint Committee on Capital Construction. That’s good news for northeast Oregon farmers trying to pump more irrigation water from the Columbia River to expand the region’s agricultural economy. Prior to his resignation in February, former governor John Kitzhaber called for $51.6 million in a statewide water development account to help pay for new water supplies and restoration. Gov. Kate Brown also backed the request after her appoint- ment. What the committee ultimately approved was $20 million in lottery bonds and $30 million in general obligation bonds to accomplish that goal. Part of the money could be used for pipes and infrastructure to pump additional Columbia River water onto farms between Hermiston and Boardman, growing high-value crops such as potatoes and onions. The proposal, crafted by the Northeast Oregon See WATER/10A Students pass expectations for new test By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris Field hands collect watermelons from a fi eld owned by Bellinger Farms on Friday out- side of Hermiston. Agricultural Research and Extension Center. Not only does the Columbia Basin provide a longer growing season, but the combination of hot days and cool nights means higher sugar content in the fruit. It works like this: Water- melons spend all day taking “I think it could be a year with really high quality and really good yield. This is the signature of our town.” —Jack Bellinger, owner of Bellinger Farms in Hermiston in heat, which is turned into sugar as a source of energy, Hamm said. At night, the respiration process slows down and all that sugar becomes stored. Hamm said nights in Hermiston are cool enough to allow the melons to retain more sugar, giving local fruits their distinctive sweeter À avor. “Basically, the net gain on the sugar they make is much higher than in other places,´ Hamm said. Given temperatures in the triple-digits by day and mid-60s by night, the idea is Hermiston watermelons should be even sweeter, faster this year. Crews began picking Staff photo by E.J. Harris melons Monday at Bellinger Hunter Dodson, left, and Brooks Bellinger cull watermelons Farms, about two weeks before the melons are weighed and sorted at the Bellinger Farms sorting warehouse Friday outside of Hermiston. See WATERMELON/10A After years of hype around the Smarter Balanced state test the Oregon Department of Education had some good news Thursday: Oregon students are exceeding expectations on the new test. The state announced that with 95 percent of this spring’s tests graded, Oregon students are outper- forming projections on every subject and in every grade level, with the exception of 11th grade math. “There is still much work to do, but these early results indicate our state is headed in the right direc- tion,´ state deputy superintendent Salam Noor said in a statement. Expectations were not high for this year. The Smarter Balanced test is longer and more dif¿ cult than the state’s former assessment of choice, with essay questions and interactive math problems that preclude multiple-choice guessing. The more See TEST/10A PENDLETON City council facing decision on gas tax By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian The Pendleton City Council has only two business items listed on its agenda for their Tuesday meeting, but they’re important ones. The council will consider proposing a 5-cent gas tax for the November ballot and adopting $5 transportation utility fee. City Manager Robb Corbett said Friday the vote is meant to af¿ rm their commitment to pursuing them. The actual placement of the gas tax ballot question and implementation of the utility fee will have to come in the form of a resolution or ordinance and will be voted on at a later meeting. City of¿ cials have previously esti- mated a gas tax and utility fee would add about See COUNCIL/10A
