TAKIN’ IT TO
THE STREETS
Yoga on
the water
BASKETBALL/1B
89/59
REGION/3A
TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2015
139th Year, No. 198
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
Drought dings winter wheat State to
pitch in
for school
upgrades
Low quality could chop
crop’s dropping prices
By ALISON NOON
Associated Press
HELENA, Mont. — Intense drought
conditions have shrunk the kernels and
disrupted the proteins of winter wheat
crops in Montana, Washington, Oregon
and Idaho, the region that produces a ¿ fth
of the U.S. harvest.
The National Agricultural Statistics
Service classi¿ ed a large percentage of the
region’s winter wheat as below-average
quality on Monday.
Farmers in the Northwest are nervous
that the uncharacteristically low quality of
their product could slash the crop’s already
declining prices.
“The problem is À our is made with the
center part of the kernel and if there’s not
much there they can’t make À our out of
it,” Rick Diehl, a farmer in East Helena,
Montana, said. He and other growers in
western Montana have observed shriveled
kernels and empty beards where kernels
never developed in their ¿ elds of hard red
winter wheat.
Blake Rowe, CEO of the Oregon Wheat
Commission and Oregon Wheat Growers
League, said the heat wave in May and
June caused Oregon’s prominent soft white
winter wheat to develop more protein than
is desirable for baking products.
See WHEAT/8A
Goodwill Avenue
Volunteers from
near and far
help paint house
By JONATHAN BACH
East Oregonian
Last week, Leonard and
Dorothy
Bullock’s
house
was raw wood covered by a
mismatched rainbow of peeling
blue, green and white paint.
Now, it could be the best-looking
home on the block.
People from around the
community — and some from
even further — showed up over
the weekend to the Pendleton
home after a call for volunteers
to help paint
the run-down “(Leonard’s)
house went
viral
on a very nice
Facebook.
man. I’m
Leonard
Bullock,
a
glad we
retired fork
can put a
lift
driver,
sat in his new life on
well-used
seat Monday his house.”
on his deck
— Jesselee
at 214 S.W.
Leachman,
Goodwin
volunteer
Avenue. The
75-year-old
often smiled
with his pale
blue
eyes
through
tortoiseshell
glasses. He said he has lived at
the address since May 15, 1982.
Dorothy Bullock, 70, whom
he met at a Walla Walla church
and married in 2000, sat to his
right. The two were both married
three times before they met
through Leonard’s brother. They
have no children together but
share the home with four dogs.
Leonard estimated the paint
had not been redone since he and
his late wife moved in. Leonard
said he has been on Social
Security since 1995, when he
See HOUSE/8A
By SEAN HART
East Oregonian
Taxpayers in local school districts that
need facility upgrades could save millions of
dollars through a new state grant program.
Senate Bill 447, which is awaiting the
governor’s signature, creates a matching
grant program for school districts that secure
voter approval of general obligation bonds
for capital projects. Instead of taxpayers
shouldering the entire burden for school
upgrades, the districts could receive as much
as $8 million in matching funds.
With both the Hermiston and Umatilla
school districts considering asking voters
to approve bonds, the program could have a
signi¿ cant local impact.
Wade Smith, deputy superintendent for
Hermiston schools said with an expected
See SCHOOL/8A
PENDLETON
Bike week to
ride into town
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Michael Brooks, of Albany (in black), and Jordan Powell, of Salem (in red), work on a wild-
land fi re crew and heard about the effort to paint Leonard Bullock’s house. They joined
dozens of others who spent Saturday painting and doing chores around the yard.
Starting Wednesday, Pendleton Bike Week
organizers expect the rumble of thousands of
motorcyclists to join the regular humdrum of
Pendleton traf¿ c.
Following ¿ ve months of preparation and
promotion, the ¿ rst annual Pendleton Bike
Week will descend on the Round-Up City
Wednesday, running through the weekend.
In addition to drawing from Northwest
population hubs like Portland, Boise, Spokane
and Seattle, co-founder Eric Folkestad said he
has received word that riders will come from
as far away as Los Angeles and Texas.
Folkestad said he expects 1,000 motorcycle
enthusiasts per day over the ¿ ve-day event.
One of Pendleton Bike Week’s main events
is the Sheriff Til Taylor Ride Wednesday.
The ride, which is named in honor of the
former Umatilla County sheriff who was killed
in jailbreak in 1920, will start in Salem and
Olympia, Wash. Wednesday morning before
culminating in a ceremony honoring law
enforcement at Til Taylor Park at 3 p.m.
Folkestad said Tillamook County Sheriff’s
Of¿ ce deputies and FBI agents from Seattle
will be some of the participants in the ride,
with proceeds from the event going toward
local law enforcement.
The week’s festivities will revolve around
the Pendleton Convention Center and include
line dancing, nightly concerts, stunt shows, a
tattoo competition, a beauty pageant and other
rides that will take visitors across the region.
Despite the predicted inÀ ux of people,
Folkestad promised the event wouldn’t get
rowdy.
PENDLETON
Mack’s birthday ride
Octogenarian loves to push himself
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Mack
Temple
cycles
thousands of miles each year.
His calves look like contoured
steel and his lungs use oxygen
as ef¿ ciently as a marathon
runner.
Temple is 80.
The retired wheat farmer
cycled 80 miles Saturday
morning in what he and other
members of the Pendleton On
Wheels bike club call “Mack’s
Birthday Ride.” Temple has
ridden his age for a couple
decades now. This year was no
different except for the land-
mark birthday.
The
cyclists
traveled
Highway 37, Despain Gulch,
Stan¿ eld Meadows, a portion
of Lexington Highway, through
Echo and returned to Pend-
leton via Despain Gulch and
Highway 37.
The newly minted octoge-
narian admits he is competitive.
Early on in the ride, he spotted
the lead group of several much
younger men in the distance.
See MACK/7A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Retired Pendleton wheat farmer Mack Temple celebrated his 80th birthday this
last weekend by going on an 80-mile bike ride through the area.