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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 25, 2015)
REGION Saturday, July 25, 2015 East Oregonian Improvements coming to Highway 395 Saturday schedule At the Convention Center 9 a.m.-11:30 AM 45 Caliber Poker Run 10 a.m. Vendor Village Opens 10 a.m. Deadman Pass Ride Orientation 10 a.m. Rattlesnake Mountain /RideNow Showroom Opens 10:30 a.m. KSU Deadman Pass Ride 11 a.m. Underground Tour – Historic Pendleton 11 a.m. Dual Sport Adven- ture Center Tech Talk Noon PBW Bike Show Begins Noon Hardtail Saloon Opens 12:30 p.m. Dyno Shootout Begins 1 p.m. Bikini Bike Wash 2 p.m. Underground Tour – Historic Pendleton 2 p.m. Dual Sport Adventure Center Tech Talk 3 p.m. PBW Bike Show Judging 5 p.m. Ladies Line Dance – Hardtail Saloon 6:45 p.m. Tattoo Contest Awards 7 p.m. Trophies Awarded PBW Bike Show 7:30 p.m. Poker Run Winner gets new 45 Cal. Long Colt 8 p.m. Too Slim and the Tail- draggers – Hardtail Saloon 10 p.m. Miss PBW Crowned 10 p.m. Line Dance Part II • Xtreme Fury Stunts, 11:30 a.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m., 4 p.m. 6 p.m. East Oregonian Staff photo by Kathy Aney Revving up for the weekend Steve and Audrey Boatright, of Tri-Cities, prepare to roar off on their Harley mo- torcycles after taking the Pendleton Underground Tour. The couple came to town for Pendleton Bike Week, based at the Pendleton Convention Center. The bike rally runs through noon on Sunday. HERMISTON Council considers granting taxi licenses to ex-felons By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian Hermiston city council will reYisit its policy on back- ground checks for taxi driYers on Monday after councilors disagreed oYer whether the city should grant licenses to driYers with criminal conYic- tions that are more than 10 years old. The council created a new taxi licensing system, effec- tiYe July 1, that barred driYers with any prior conYictions for crimes of “moral turpitude.” During their July 13 meeting employees of Hermiston Transit SerYices testi¿ed that the rule was keeping experi- enced driYers from work. The council was split oYer whether the ordinance should be amended to allow for driYers who had been conYicted of crimes more than 10 years prior but had a clean record since. In the end the amendment was tabled after there were questions about whether conYictions that had been expunged would count. The new amendment being considered by the council Monday speci¿es that the city would not consider expunged conYictions or conYictions for minor crimes older than 10 years. It would, howeYer, still take into account “person felonies” regardless of how long ago they happened. The category includes about 80 crimes in Oregon, including sexual crimes, assault, domestic Yiolence, stalking, robbery and arson. On Monday the city council will also consider an ordinance that would collect Transient Room Tax money from online booking sites. According to a memo from city staff to the council the city loses an estimated 11,000 a year in Transient Room Tax ReYenue from people booking hotels in Hermiston through traYel websites like Orbit] and Expedia. In those scenarios, the site might charge a customer 100 for a room and pass 80 onto the local hotel, which would then pay the 8 percent tax on the 80, leaYing the booking website¶s 20 commission untaxed. Under the new ordinance the website would be respon- sible for collecting the tax and passing it on to the city instead of the hotel, meaning the entire 100 would be taxed. In other business, the council will consider a series of resolutions required to receiYe the 2 million Community DeYelopment Block Grant for a new senior center. The resolutions establish an Americans with Disabilities Act compliant procedure, a plan for serYing people with limited English pro¿ciency, an equal oppor- tunity employment policy for city hiring decisions and a fair housing resolution banning discrimination of race, color, religion, sex, disability, family status or national origin in the sale or lease of housing in Hermiston. The council’s regular meeting at 7 p.m. will be preceded by a 6 p.m. work session to discuss updates on the city’s efforts to improYe its stormwater handling. ——— Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdowell@eastoregonian. com or 541-564-4536. BRIEFLY Trade workshop to address shipping issues HERMISTON — Regis- tration is still open for a trade workshop sponsored by Business Oregon headed to Hermiston next week. The workshop will run July 29 from 6:30-8 p.m. at the Hermiston Conference Center. It will be geared toward helping businesses ¿nd cost-effectiYe ways to continue to reach international customers after container serYice companies Hanjin and Hapag-Lloyd pulled out Port of Portland Terminal 6. As part of the workshop, participants will also haYe the opportunity to giYe input on putting together a list of recommendations for the 2016 Legislature to address freight transportation problems in the state. The Hermiston workshop is one of six planned around Page 3A the state as part of an initiatiYe announced in April by *oYernor .ate Brown to inYest 300,000 in helping small businesses export goods to other countries. It is co-sponsored by Business Oregon, Port of Portland, Oregon Depart- ment of Transportation and Oregon Department of Agriculture. For more information, or to register, Yisit www. oregontradesolutions.com. Hearing on landscaping ordinance Aug. 12 HERMISTON — An ordinance requiring landscaping on all new Sidewalk Sales Friday and Saturday Up to 70% off commercial deYelopment in Hermiston will haYe its ¿rst of¿cial public hearing on Aug. 12. The city council Yoted in June to begin the public hearing process on the proposed code change, but opinions on the issue were split and Mayor DaYid Drot]mann ended up casting a rare tie-breaking Yote to moYe forward with gathering public input. The ordinance requires 15 percent of multi-family Music on the Lawn residential property, 6 percent in the C-1 Commer- cial Zone, 3 percent in the C-2 Commercial Zone and 3 percent or 10,000 square feet of industrial land to be landscaped. It also lists speci¿cations for the type of landscaping that can be used. The hearing will be in front of the Hermiston Planning Commission at 7 p.m. Aug. 12 at city hall, 180 N.E. Second St. in Hermiston. New sidewalks, turning restrictions and other changes are coming for a section of Highway 395 in Pendleton. A written statement from the Oregon Depart- ment of Transportation said construction will begin in mid to late August and wrap up by the end of October along the west side of U.S. 395 (South- gate) between Southwest Perkins AYenue and the Les Schwab Tire Center, 1550 Southgate Place. The project will not close lanes Sept. 16-19 during the Pendleton Round-Up, according to the state- ment. The work will include building about 1,000 feet of 6-foot wide concrete sidewalk, new ADA-compliant ramps, replacing deteriorated asphalt and connecting to newer concrete side- walks. The biggest change will be the elimination of left turns at the inter- section of Southgate Place and Highway 395. DriYers will only be able to turn right onto and from Southgate Place. Oregon’s Quick Fix Program is funding the 125,000 project. Quick Fix proYides transportation dollars for immediate needs along state highways. The state transportation department also is about to ¿nish upgrades at Southwest Fra]er AYenue and 13th Street, Pend- leton. The 80,000 project replaced old pedestrian crossing signals with new rapid Àash beacons, which will be actiYe at the end of July. The new beacons emit light in all directions, according to ODOT, and are easier to see. ODOT is working with the Pendleton School District on the project because the intersection is a school crossing. Other work at the intersection also is to make the crossing safer. And the state road agency in August will close the single-lane tunnel under Interstate 84 at Deadman Pass Rest Area for repairs. Bridge maintenance crews will build upgrades to the 94-foot-long box culYert that doubles as the tunnel between the eastbound and westbound at Exit 228. The rest area is about More online: For a map of the changes visit www. eastoregonian.com 18 miles east of Pendleton in the Blue Mountains. The work includes extending both ends of the culYert 27 feet to address erosion issues along the edge of the freeway paYement aboYe the tunnel. The project gets underway Aug. 3, according to ODOT, and will ¿nish by the end of August. The rest area will remain open during the work, but the tunnel will be closed to all traf¿c. TraYelers needing access to the opposite freeway lanes will need to continue on I-84 to the next full interchange. For eastbound driYers that is at exit 234, and for westbound it is at exit 224. And folks driYing Tuesday on I-84 near Baker City will haYe some slow going. Idaho Power contrac- tors will remoYe an oYerhead power line that crosses the interstate at exit 306. ODOT said freeway speeds will drop to about 35 mph and delays should be about 10-15 minutes. The rolling slowdown will begin at milepost 322 for westbound and mile- post 290 for eastbound traf¿c, and there will be times when no traYelers will be on the freeway while crews work. Once traf¿c has passed the work site near Exit 306, traYelers can return to posted interstate speeds. The work also will cause temporary closures of on ramps. For west- bound driYers, those will occur at exit 313 (Encina Interchange) and exit 306 (South Baker City Interchange). Eastbound traf¿c can expect on ramp delays at exit 295 (Eastbound Baker Valley Rest Area), exit 298 (Medical Springs Interchange), exit 302 (Richland Interchange) and exit 304 (Baker City/ Campbell Street Inter- change). DriYers will be able to get off the freeway at these interchanges, but may experience delays in returning to the freeway in the direction of the work ]one. FRIDAY, JULY 24 Jared Pennington SATURDAY, JULY 25 Tyler Brooks 6:00-9:00 PM H AMLEY S TEAK H ouse & S aloon COURT & MAIN, PENDLETON • 541.278.1100 207 & 217 SE Court, Pendleton Wednesdays in the Park Concert Series The family of Eastin Strebin would like to give a special thank you to our sponsors and all the individuals who helped make our fundraiser a huge success. Hermiston Elk's Lodge River Lodge & Grill Palmer Roofing Prodigal Son Brewery & Pub NW Farm Credit Services Banner Bank Wheatland Insurance Center Simply Divine Salon & Day Spa Echo Quarterback Club Hermiston Drug & Gift Elmer's Irrigation Mill's Mint Farm NW Crane Services Inc. Andee's Boutique IBEW#112 Wilbur Ellis Strebin Farms Crop Production Services Bernie's Birdhouse NW Farm Supply Cayuse Technologies Hamley's IRZ Pendleton Round-Up Happy Canyon Ace Hardware Eagle Crest Jill McKinley McDonald's Haley Flemmer Beginning July 29, 2015 6:00 PM Roy Raley Park with James Dean Kindle & the Eastern Oregon Playboys This five concert series is proudly sponsored by www.pendletonparksandrec.com
