PENDLETON
HALL OF FAME
INDUCTIONS
SPORTS/1B
WEEKEND EDITION
A/C techs
keep it cool
LIFESTYLES 1C
REGION:
Boy helps family escape
burning Irrigon home 3A
OUTSIDE:
The path less traveled in
Strawberry Mountains 10C
JULY 11-12, 2015
139th Year, No. 192
WINNER OF THE 2013 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
$1.50
HERMISTON
New hotel
coming to
downtown
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A selection of long rifl es lines the wall in the sporting goods section of the D&B supply store in Pendleton. Oregon Senate Bill
941 will require all fi rearms sales to go through a licensed gun dealer.
As Legislative session comes to a close,
new laws will change life for many people
Businesses respond
to ‘fair shot’ laws
By JADE McDOWELL
East Oregonian
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
From paid sick leave to a
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the Democrat-controlled 2015
Oregon Legislature drove
through big social changes.
Here’s a breakdown of new
laws that will touch plenty of
Oregonians.
•If you are a gun owner,
Senate Bill 941 requires you
to have a gun dealer run a
criminal background check on
a buyer in a private sale. And
the dealer can charge for that
service. The law carved out
some exemptions, including
for law enforcement, members
of the U.S. military and close
relatives of the seller.
•If you carry a gun, SB
173 will allow you to show
your concealed permit, rather
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for inspection. The law goes
into effect Jan. 1 and drops
language that permitted
police to consider you to have
committed a crime if you did
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their request.
•If enrolled in community
college, SB 81 could let you
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criteria, including a recent
high school graduate with a
certain GPA with 12 months
the wake of John Kitzhaber
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scandal. The law immediately
went into effect.
• If you are a motorcyclist
or bicyclist, SB 533 will
allow you to go through a stop
light under certain conditions,
assuming there is no other
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Jan. 1.
•If you are in the mili-
tary, HB 2763 allows public
employers to compensate
employees prior to deploy-
Governor Kate Brown plans to put
the legislature’s “Fair Shot” agenda into
action Monday, signing a collection of
bills designed to help Oregon workers.
The 2015 session expanded protections
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including mandated sick leave and a
domestic worker’s bill of rights.
Hermiston Chamber of Commerce
director Debbie Pedro said the chamber
was
pleased
with the “great
“A lot of
effort”
local
representatives businesses do
put into getting
not want the
the legislature to
government
pass economic
development
to tell them
bills,
money
for the Eastern
how to offer
Oregon Trade
sick leave.”
and Event Center
and money for — Debbie Pedro,
the
Columbia
River
water Hermiston Chamber of
Commerce director
project.
She said the
business community was less enthusiastic,
however, about a few of the new mandates
for small businesses.
Senate Bill 454 requires all employers
with 10 or more employees (including
hourly and part-time) to provide paid sick
leave. Starting in 2016, employees will
accrue one hour of sick leave for every
See LEGISLATURE/12A
See BUSINESS/12A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Matthew Lindberg of Pendleton pays Shanna Eber-
sol of Milton-Freewater for a loaf of cinnamon
bread at the farmer’s market Friday in Pendleton.
Senate Bill 320 exempts bakers and cooks that sell
directly to customers from the Oregon Department of
Agriculture’s food regulations.
of residency in the state. The
bill is awaiting the signature
of Gov. Kate Brown.
•If you have an Oregon
driver’s license or ID,
House Bill 2177 directs the
Department of Transportation
to provide the Secretary of
State with electronic records
to register Oregon citizens
not currently on the voter
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in the union with such a law.
Brown, a Democrat, spon-
sored the bill when she was
secretary of state, then signed
it as governor March 16 in
A four-story Holiday Inn Express will
become the tallest building in Hermiston
when it opens downtown next summer.
The hotel at the northeast corner
of Highway 395 and West Hermiston
Avenue will have 93 rooms, including
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center and is expected to open July 1,
2016.
The hotel will employ 25 full-time
workers once it opens, according to
a press release from its management
company, and will be designed in
the company’s newest style, which
premiered in Salt Lake City earlier this
year.
The new style was created to appeal
to millennial travelers and features a
more open lobby with high-top tables
and barstool chairs.
Sycan B Corp. will develop the hotel
and InnSight Hotel Management Group,
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See HOTEL/12A
Columbia
River claims
another life
East Oregonian
A Morrow County teenager drowned
Friday in the Columbia River, the second
drowning death this summer in the same
stretch of water.
At 3:53 a.m., the Morrow County
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reporting
Gavin
Ryce Roberts, 18,
of Boardman, had
drowned near the
Umatilla National
Wildlife
Refuge
in the McCormick
Slough, according to
a press release.
Roberts was a
2015 graduate of Roberts
Riverside
High
School in Boardman.
Multiple agencies responded to the
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Irrigon Fire Department and EMS, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife, Umatilla Fire Depart-
ment and Washington-based Skamania
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Team. The agencies launched boats and
the dive rescue team recovered the body
at about 11:13 a.m.
The incident is under investigation.
Recreation in
rattlesnake country
Hermiston man has close encounter at McNary Beach
By SEAN HART
East Oregonian
Cory Cooley was lying in the
grass Wednesday evening at the
McNary Beach Recreation Area,
unaware a rattlesnake had slithered
within a few feet.
“Once I made a move to get up, I
saw something out of my peripheral
(vision),” he said. “About three or
four feet from me was this rattler
coiled up waiting to strike. When I
saw him, I just hopped up and ran
as quickly as I could the other way.”
The 3-foot snake never struck,
and Cooley later killed it. The Herm-
iston resident said he was surprised
to encounter the slithering reptile in
the grassy and busy recreation area
along the Columbia River just above
the McNary Dam
Gina Baltrusch, a spokesperson
for the U.S. Army Corps of Engi-
neers that manages the park, said
snakes are fairly common in the
area.
“As with any outdoor area —
especially near the water because
snakes have to drink, too — it’s really
See SNAKE/12A
Photo contributed by Stacy Cooley
This rattlesnake was killed after disturbing a family at McNary Park on
the Columbia River near Umatilla.