WEEKEND EDITION
OASIS IN
THE HIGH
DESERT
LIFESTYLES/1C
Living with Alzheimer’s
OPINION/4A
REGION:
Community unites to
fi x up old house 3A
EAT, DRINK & EXPLORE:
Beer app taps into
anti-social behavior 4C
JULY 18-19, 2015
139th Year, No. 197
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
$1.50
Meth a constant in drug scene
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
0ethamphetamine remains a
constant threat in the local illicit drug
scene, while heroin is becoming
a bigger part of the drug picture.
But Pendleton Police Chief Stuart
Roberts said there is no shortage of
diYersity among illicit drugs.
Roberts is the board chairman
of the Blue 0ountain Enforcement
Narcotics Team and serYes on the
executiYe board of the Oregon High
Intensity Drug Traf¿ cking Area
Program. Oregon HIDTA released
its latest report in June, which
shows meth use and traf¿ cking
increased in Oregon, and most of
that is coming from 0exican drug
cartels. Those drug traf¿ cking
organizations are also making
heroin more aYailable locally.
“We’re probably the last region
in the state to really see it.” Roberts
said.
Heroin tends to be more concen-
trated in the west side of Umatilla
County, and cocaine at the north
end and in the Walla Walla Valley.
0eth, he said, stays “pretty consis-
tent” throughout.
BENT has stayed busy, Roberts
said, and just a few weeks ago made
four raids. 0ore are in the works,
and those likely will be low-key
takedowns. The team has not
publicized recent busts in large part
because giYing out the information
would jeopardize other cases that
inYolYe state and federal agencies.
“We’Ye got to be Yery guarded
with that information,” Roberts
said. “The downside is the public
doesn’t necessarily know.”
Since 2014, Oregon HIDTA
participating
agencies
haYe
identi¿ ed 105 drug traf¿ cking
organizations, including 10 more
in the ¿ rst ¿ Ye months of this
See DRUGS/8A
Farms in the family for 150 years
J.F. Adams.
Josiah Lieuallen
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
An uncut fi eld of soft white winter wheat grows next to the barn and some old farm equipment at the original
homestead of the Lieuallen Century Ranches on Thursday outside of Athena.
Joannah Lieuallen
Generation to generation,
work changes with the times
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Wheat harYest is a busy time
of year for John W. Adams and his
family’s 150-year-old farm north of
Pendleton. Schedules are tight, and
he carries a cellphone in the breast
pocket of his shirt to communicate
with workers in the ¿ eld.
Technology has come a long way
from the early days of farming when
his great-grandfather, John F. Adams,
became the ¿ rst to homestead the
area in 1865.
“Basically, it’s gone from mules
to GPS tractors and combines, with
a lot in between,” said John W.,
the fourth-generation owner and
manager of JK Adams Ranches Inc.
The Adams ranch
is one of three farms
and ranches in Umatilla
County celebrating their
sesquicentennial, or 150th
anniYersary, in continuous
operation by the same
family. AB Lieuallen Century
Ranches, of Athena, and James
0onroe Hemphill Farm, of Pend-
leton, haYe also reached the sesqui-
centennial mark.
See FARMS/10A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Farmer John W. Adams, a fourth-generation farmer, says he will
pass JK Adams Ranches Inc., outside of Adams, to his son, John H.
Adams, and keep the 150-year-old farm in the family.
East Oregonian
wins general
excellence award
By award-winning East
Oregonian staff
The East Oregonian is back
on top, winning the General
Excellence award Friday
from the Oregon Newspaper
Publishers Association for the
fourth time in ¿ Ye years.
“The General Excellence
award is the true team effort
award for Oregon newspa-
pers,” said managing editor
Daniel Wattenburger. “It
factors in eYery piece of the
process, from front page stories
and photos to sports coYerage
to creatiYe adYertising to print
reproduction. It’s an honor to
win the award and speaks to
a staff dedicated to creating a
high-quality daily newspaper.”
The Oregon Newspaper
Publishers
Association
General Excellence award
is judged on three randomly
selected copies of the paper
from different months and
days. It is based on news,
editorial, photos, design,
adYertising and reproduction.
“Winning the General
Excellence award is an honor
shared by the entire EO staff,
but most of all a tribute to the
professionalism of our editors
and reporters who work hard
to coYer Umatilla and 0orrow
counties,” said publisher
Kathryn Brown.
The East Oregonian took
home numerous other indi-
Yidual awards in the compe-
tition. Phil Wright won ¿ rst
place for best news feature
story for “Brother, Killer,
0ystery,” which ran 0arch 1.
In addition, photographer E.J.
Harris won best sports photo
with “Boozer Siblings.” East
Oregonian staff won ¿ rst place
for best headlines, with Drew
Langton, Daniel Wattenburger
and Tim Trainor supplying
most of the puns. The ¿ nal ¿ rst
place award won by the news-
paper was for the Round-Up
0agazine, which won best
special section. Patrick 0ulYi-
hill and E.J. Harris did much
of the work for the magazine.
Additional awards: second
place, business reporting
went to George PlaYen for
“Pipe Dreams”; second place,
lifestyle to Kathy Aney and
Antonio Sierra for “Home-
less stories”; second place,
sports story to Kathy Aney
“Lacrosse”; second place
feature photo to E.J. Harris
documenting a 0ilton-Free-
water woman who lost her leg
in a car accident; and second
place news photo, also to E.J.
Harris, for a picture of a fatal
shooting by police in Athena.
PENDLETON
City council to approYe
utility fee, consider others
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Stretch to the sky
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Yoga broke out on the grass inside the Pendleton Round-Up arena Friday
morning on the second day of the Yoga Roundup. Most of the sessions took
place inside the Pendleton Convention Center. See Tuesday’s East Oregonian
for a full story on the weekend’s Yoga Roundup
HaYing already af¿ rmed
its commitment to pursuing
a 5-cent gas tax for the
NoYember ballot, Pendleton
City Council will now try to
chart a course for a successful
campaign.
The council will hold a
work session Tuesday to
discuss a communication
strategy for selling the tax and
a $5 transportation utility fee
that will increase funding for
the city’s disintegrating road
system, followed by a council
meeting in which members
will consider Yoting for a
resolution that will approYe
the language used for the gas
tax ballot question.
A report from City
Attorney Nancy Kerns to
the city council states a
companion ordinance with the
exact details of the gas tax will
be drafted and considered by
the council at a future date but
won’t take effect unless Yoters
approYe the tax in NoYember.
The council also oYer-
whelmingly supported a $5
transportation utility fee,
which doesn’t require a ballot
See COUNCIL/10A