WEEKEND EDITION
WILSON’S
BIG DEAL
SPORTS/1B
ENTERTAINMENT:
EO launches podcast
with J.D. Kindle 3C
OUTSIDE:
Your guide to hiking
the Elkhorns 10C
Visiting
ghosts
LIFESTYLES 1C
AUGUST 1-2, 2015
139th Year, No. 207
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
$1.50
Dems stand by Planned Parenthood
By ZANE SPARLING
Capital Bureau
Eric Mortenson/EO Media Group
State Rep. Greg Smith of Heppner (left) and
Hermiston City Manager Byron Smith (right)
hand out free watermelons to Portlanders Fri-
day during a renewed a goodwill exchange of
some of Eastern Oregon’s best-known crops in
Oregon’s biggest city and export gateway.
In the midst of a controversy
surrounding the release of undercover
videos that critics say appear to show
of¿ cials from Planned Parenthood casu-
ally discussing the sale of fetal tissue,
Oregon’s top Democrats remain united
in support of the organization.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean
they want to talk about it.
The Center for Medical Progress, an
anti-abortion group, has in recent weeks
released a series of
undercover videos
that it says show
Planned Parenthood
of¿ cials discussing
the sale of organs
and tissue harvested
from
aborted
fetuses. Sale of such
tissue for pro¿ t is
Brown
prohibited by federal
law, though researchers can reimburse
providers for the cost of its collection
and preservation. The videos also appear
to show of¿ cials discussing alternative
abortion techniques to provide more
intact organs.
Planned Parenthood says the videos
are highly edited and present exchanges
out of context. It claims the organization
and its employees have done nothing
wrong and that the videos are meant
to promote an anti-abortion political
agenda.
A spokesperson for Gov. Kate Brown
issued a terse, one-sentence statement in
See ABORTION/9A
Ambassadors
of sweetness
Hermiston envoy hands out
watermelons in Portland,
shares seed-spitting techniques
By ERIC MORTENSON
AND JADE McDOWELL
EO Media Group
Jokes and seed spitting contest aside, there was
a polite edge to Hermiston’s renewed tradition of
handing out free watermelons and potatoes in down-
town Portland.
This time, Hermiston’s growers and civic leaders
stood in Portland’s Pioneer Square as representatives
of Eastern Oregon’s biggest and fastest growing city
and one of the state’s agricultural powerhouses.
As a line formed for the giveaway Friday, Herm-
iston Mayor David Drotzmann acknowledged the
two cities vary greatly in scale – Portland has about
570,000 more people – but said they share issues
such as public safety, livability, transportation and
water.
“Those are all common things, regardless of size,”
he said.
Drotzmann said he hoped the event reminded Port-
land residents of Hermiston’s agricultural prowess.
See WATERMELON/10A
Pot, potholes on
Pendleton’s plate
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
After a few months of silence, the Pendleton City
Council will return to the hot topic of marijuana sales.
According to a memo prepared for Tuesday’s city
council meeting, police
chief Stuart Roberts will More inside
discuss the new mari-
juana market regulations Umatilla city
recently created by the council will also
Oregon Legislature and consider pot
the actions the council will ordinances. 3A
need to take to meet them.
One of the chief topics of discussion will be
House Bill 3400, which gives cities and counties
the authority to opt out of medical and recreational
marijuana sales.
See POT/10A
OUT OF THE
BLIND SPOT
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A pair passes a car while riding a motorcycle down Main Street on Thursday in Pendleton. ODOT data shows deadly
motorcycle crashes are up almost 20 percent this year.
Fatal motorcycle crashes spiking this year
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Motorcycle crashes since June
put one local man in a hospital
and left three more dead. Oregon
Department of Transportation
data show deadly motorcycle
crashes this year are up almost 20
percent.
•Mitchell Alexander Goodwin,
19, of Milton-Freewater is still
recovering after an SUV crashed
into him June 4 on Highway 11 in
Milton-Freewater.
•William R. Brooks, 58, of
Boardman, died July 2 when he
crashed his 2002 Harley Davidson
after trying to backtrack from
Highway 730 to the intersection
with Interstate 84.
•William S. Hill V, 65,
of Irrigon, died July 22 in a
motorcycle crash near Starbuck,
Washington, when he tried to
pass another northbound vehicle
on Highway 261.
•And Jason Anteau, 43, of
Hermiston, died Friday in Pend-
leton at Westgate Drive and the
Interstate 84 westbound off ramp
when a pickup struck him while
he was riding with two other
motorcyclists.
Witness told police Anteau
tried to slide out of the way of the
pickup.
Motorcycle crashes in Oregon
claimed 32 lives from Jan. 1
through July 23, the day before
Anteau died, according to prelim-
inary data from Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation. Tom
Strandberg, ODOT spokesman in
Eastern Oregon, said there were
27 fatalities through the same
period in 2014, an increase of
18.5 percent in a year.
And this year already is dead-
lier than all of 2013, which had 32
fatalities. Preliminary ¿ gures peg
the total number of deaths from
motorcycle crashes for 2014 at
43.
Anteau is one of ¿ ve motor-
cyclists who died this year in
ODOT Region 5, which consists
of Morrow, Umatilla, Union,
Wallowa, Baker, Grant, Harney
and Malheur counties. There
were two deaths in the region by
this time last year. Strandberg also
said a rider also died in Wheeler
County this year.
Fatal crashes of all vehicles
are up as well through July 23.
Strandberg said 165 people died
in 151 crashes in 2014 during the
period; this year, 238 have died
in 220 crashes. Why, though, is
:KHDW¿HOG¿UHEXUQVEDUQQHDU$WKHQD
East Oregonian
ATHENA — Local
¿ re¿ ghters battled a wheat
¿ eld blaze Friday night near
Athena that destroyed a barn
off Zerba Road.
Crews for the East
Umatilla Fire District, Pend-
leton, Pilot Rock, Stan¿ eld
and Hermiston were called
out to the scene as the À ames
ripped up a draw.
As of press time, no
residences were damaged,
nor were there any known
injuries.
This is a developing
story, however. Please visit
www.eastoregonian.com for
updated information on the
¿ re and the aftermath.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Firefi ghters and farmers watch an old barn as it is engulfed in fl ames
Friday after a wheat fi eld fi re set the structure alight off Zerba Road
northwest of Athena.
See FATAL/10A
Motorcycle
fatalities
Motorcycle
crash fatalities
in Oregon. Not
all casualties in
the crashes were
motorcyclists.
2015 — 32*
(through July 23)
2014 — 43*
2013 — 32
2012 — 50
2011 — 40
2010 — 38
2009 — 51
2008 — 46
2007 — 51
2006 — 44
2005 — 46
Source: Oregon De-
partment of Transpor-
tation
* preliminary data
'URXJKWVKRXOGQ¶WDIIHFW
ORFDOJRYHUQPHQWFUHGLW
SALEM (AP) — Moody’s Investors
Service says Gov. Kate Brown’s drought
declarations in 23 Oregon counties should
help maintain credit ratings for local govern-
ments.
In its weekly credit outlook, Moody’s
says the drought can have a negative
impact on credit ratings, particularly in
agricultural communities. But the agency
says Brown’s declarations open up access
to emergency water use permits and the
temporary transfer of water rights.
Moody’s says the various water
management tools, along with a small
amount of additional funding, should
suf¿ ciently mitigate the credit risk posed
by low-water levels. Credit ratings in the
affected counties are not expected to drop
unless drought conditions worsen.
Nearly two-thirds of Oregon counties
are now under a formal drought declara-
tion, the most since 1992.