Recording of MLK’s JETS QB
fi rst ‘Dream’ speech PUNCHED BY
TEAMMATE 1B
discovered NATION/6A
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2015
139th Year, No. 214
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
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Company vows 1,000 megawatts
of new renewable generation
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Paci¿ c Power plans to purchase more
than 1,000 megawatts of new wind and solar
energy by 2017, including 225 megawatts
generated by Oregon-based projects.
The announcement comes as Pacif-
iCorp’s
parent
company,
Berkshire
Hathaway Energy, recently signed on
with 12 other companies to the White
House’s American Business Act on Climate
Pledge.
Paci¿ Corp already ¿ led a long-range plan
March 31 that calls for removing coal at 10
generating units by 2029 in favor of more
renewable energy and greater ef¿ ciency.
The utility serves six western states
and 17,47 Paci¿ c Power customers in
Umatilla County.
“Paci¿ c Power is doing its part with plans
to further strengthen its own renewable port-
folio and transition away from coal toward
newer, cleaner technologies,” said Stefan
Bird, president and CEO of Paci¿ c Power, in
a statement released last month.
Not everyone is fully convinced. The
Sierra Club, which has been a sharp critic
of Paci¿ Corp’s existing coal À eet, praised
Berkshire Hathaway for joining the climate
pledge but rebuked Paci¿ Corp speci¿ cally
for continuing to rely on coal.
“Paci¿ Corp needs to get off coal faster
to truly back up Berkshire Hathaway Ener-
gy’s commitment to the climate pledge,”
said Travis Ritchie, staff attorney for the
group based in San Francisco. “The price
of renewable (sources) have been dropping
See ENERGY/10A
Not so fair weather
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Bailey Young, 11, center, and Paige Palzinski, 12, both with the Farm City
Wrangles 4-H group of Hermiston, spray water on market lambs to cool them
off in the heat Tuesday at the Umatilla County Fair in Hermiston. Temperatures
will rise over the century mark Wednesday and Thursday before dropping into
the mid eighties later in the week, according to the National Weather Service.
STOCKED AND LOADED
HELIX
Controversy
rooted in trees
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Calgary Stampede roughstock eat alfalfa in a pen at the Double M Ranch feedlot on Tuesday waiting to perform in the
Farm-City Pro Rodeo in Hermiston.
Farm City has country’s toughest stable
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
A cowboy at the top of his
game is always a pleasure to
watch at the rodeo, but the real
magic doesn’t happen unless
the animal he is riding is up to
the challenge.
It’s a challenge the
Farm-City Pro Rodeo takes
seriously. Cowboys voted
last year’s Farm-City bucking
horses the best in the country
and this year’s stable looks
just as strong.
“There are lots of fun
horses that should give the
guys a good shot at some
money — or the dirt,” T.J.
Korkow of Korkow Rodeos
said.
He’s bringing a number of
stars to the rodeo, including
Flaxy Lady, the horse that has
given several bareback riders
an 88-point ride this year. He
is also bringing in newer talent
with names like Fraid Knot
and Wiggle Worm to build on
their growing reputation as a
See RODEO/10A
Go see it
The Farm-City Pro Rodeo
begins at 7:45 p.m.
Wednesday-Saturday.
Tickets are available at
the box offi ce at the
rodeo arena, the fair
offi ce, Banner Bank
and other Hermiston
locations.
A row of trees on a city right-of-way have
branched out into a full-blown conÀ ict between
Helix residents Trish and Mike Lovejoy and the
Helix City Council.
After more than a year of debate between the
council and the family, the Lovejoys say the city
intends to remove the trees and replace them with
gravel.
Within a year or two of moving from Lebanon
to Helix in 2009, the Lovejoys started planting
trees in front of their property at 115 Main St. to
provide some shade and beauti¿ cation.
Although the trees were planted on city prop-
erty, the Lovejoys said they didn’t receive any
complaints from the city until they sent a letter
to the city offering to plant some more trees on
Concord Street in April 2014.
Writing on behalf of the council, city recorder
Carrie Bennett responded that the city had previ-
ously tried to plant trees on Concord Street only
to see them die and wanted to avoid planting more
trees in fear of damaging the nearby sidewalk.
Using the same logic, Bennett wrote that the
city council was giving the Lovejoys the option
of either removing the trees that had already been
planted or have the trees forcibly removed for them
by the city.
The Lovejoys wrote a response within a few
weeks, espousing the bene¿ ts trees could bring to
the neighborhood and questioning why their own
trees needed to be removed.
“If the city has some immediate project in
mind regarding the street or sidewalk in front of
our property, we are willing to consider removing
the trees and planting them somewhere else,” they
wrote. “We have not heard anything from the city
regarding any projects to the street or sidewalk.
We do not see why the trees would have to be
removed since the trees will have no impact on
See TREES/10A
Back in Minamisoma
Pendleton students return
to sister city four years
after devastating tsunami
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Photo contributed by Roberta Lavadour
Posing near the Tsuruga-jo Castle are Riley Kendrick, Stephen
Machado, Raeana Mikel, Hailey Kendrick, a samurai guide, Katie
Ward, Cheney Chrisman and a host sister.
The two cities — Pendleton and
Minamisoma — had the ultimate long
distance relationship.
For most of 20 years, groups of
students from both Oregon and Japan
crossed oceans to tour their sister city
and marinate in a different culture.
Then, in 2011, Pendleton decided to
keep their teenagers at home.
One couldn’t blame city leaders.
A 6.6-magnitude earthquake had
spawned a tsunami and a nuclear
disaster. Minamisoma, just 16 miles
from the badly damaged Fukushima
Daiichi power plant, sat on the edge of
the nuclear containment area.
Japanese students continued to trek
to Oregon each summer, but Pendleton
held back. In 2014, the city sent a
fact-¿ nding delegation to scope out
the danger to their children. The group
included Pendleton Mayor Phillip
Houk and six others. One member,
Chuck Sams, communications director
for the Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation, wore a
dosimeter to measure radiation. The
device registered above zero only
once, when Sams passed through
Japanese airport security. They studied
of¿ cial government ¿ ndings, talked to
Minamisoma doctors who had doubted
those government ¿ ndings and done
their own research. Bottom line, they
learned, one could live in the city for a
year and get the same level of radiation
as from a chest X-ray.
See JAPAN/10A