FARM CITY PRO
RODEO KICKS OFF
SPORTS/1B
Whistleblower
settles with
Hanford for $4.1M
NORTHWEST/2A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 2015
139th Year, No. 215
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PENDLETON
City could
split street
funding
One dollar
ROCK & ROLL CAMP X
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Following months of debate, the Pendleton
City Council may have coalesced around a way
to spend the potential $1 million the city could
get annually from a 5-cent gas tax and a $5 per
month street utility fee.
The council came to a consensus regarding
a ratio for street spending at a work session
Tuesday: The two new revenue sources would
go toward residential streets, with 70 percent
reserved for streets in good condition and 30
percent earmarked for poorly rated roads.
The $300,000 the city currently receives
from the state and federal governments would
continue to pay for repairs of Pendleton’s most
traveled streets.
The city council seemed much more receptive
to the ratio than city staff’s initial proposal, which
designated the utility fee for well-maintained
streets and the gas tax for roads in bad condition,
roughly a 50/50 split.
See PENDLETON/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Max Verdin, 18, of Pendleton warms up on the bass guitar before a recording session in the old Christian Science building
during Rock & Roll Camp X on Wednesday in Pendleton.
Idaho, Oregon
push new way to
SD\IRUZLOG¿UHV
Ten years old and rockin’ a new venue
By JONATHAN BACH
East Oregonian
By KIMBERLEE KRUESI
Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho — A bipartisan effort seeking
to change the way the country pays to ¿ ght
disastrous wild¿ res has been renewed after
stalling repeatedly from lawmakers hesitant to
approve letting ¿ re¿ ghting agencies use dollars
meant for natural disaster rather than money set
aside for ¿ re prevention.
Over the years, ¿ re¿ ghting agencies have
been forced to borrow money set aside for forest
thinning and other ¿ re prevention proMects as
wild¿ re seasons have ballooned in activity and
costs.
Republican Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch
of Idaho and Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of
Oregon announced Wednesday that they are
getting ready to pitch bipartisan legislation to
Congress this fall.
³This is not a partisan issue,´ Risch said at
a news conference at the National Interagency
Fire Center in Boise. “Our eastern and southern
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Joseph Olson, 12, of Pendleton plays the drums with councilor Sarah
Fennell of Portland during a rhythm class Wednesday at Rock & Roll
Camp X in Pendleton.
See WILDFIRES/8A
Pendleton Center for the Arts
Rock and Roll campers take over
our podcast this week. Have a
listen at www.eastoregonian.com/
eo/podcasts
Sophie Arnold gently lifts up her voice in what
used to be a church.
The guitar chords are warm, the lyrics somber.
The 15-year-old’s music, born of what she calls a
³personal conÀ ict,´ rises over maroon carpets with
crumbling paint chips, up
to a dilapidated stained
“It’s all about
glass window and into a
microphone set up in front creating your
of her. Just feet away,
own stuff,
camp counselor Levi
Cecil of Portland, works
which I think
the soundboard while
is fun.”
others listen.
This week marks the
— Malcom Luis,
tenth anniversary of the
Rock
& Roll Camper
Pendleton Center for the
from Portland
Arts Rock & Roll Camp.
With that birthday came
an addition to the yearly program’s operation:
space at the old Christian Science church, 13
S.W. Byers Ave., where counselors teach budding
teenage musicians about studio recording.
Earlier this week, camp organizers transformed
the space into a studio replete with guitars,
See CAMP/8A
Hermiston couple wins fair barbecue contest
By SEAN HART
East Oregonian
Cooking for the entire Hermiston
High School football team paid off for a
local grilling team.
Mike and Deannie Simon, from team
Smokin’ Hot & Saucy, placed in all four
divisions at the Umatilla County Fair
Backyard BBQ Contest Wednesday and
took home the top prize of a new grill.
Competing against more than 10 other
teams, the couple won the beef division
with a tri-tip recipe Mike Simon has had
many opportunities to perfect. He said
he cooked meals of roughly 100 tri-tips
multiple times last year: for several
Hermiston football games in the regular
season and all of the postseason games.
“I use Spade L seasoning. You can get
it basically at any grocery store,´ he said.
“I Must a tenderizer and then I smoke it
BBQ contest winners
Overall and beef division
winner: Smokin’ Hot & Saucy (Mike
and Deannie Simon)
Lamb division winner: Cones-
toga (Jeff and Denise Marks)
Potato division and onion divi-
sion winner: Die Hard BBQ (Tim
Watts, Bob Crow and Corey Ashbeck)
really heavy for about two hours at 225
degrees, and it Must comes out perfect
every time.´
Simon said the key to grilling is
simplicity. The type of grill used isn’t
particularly important either, he said.
Although he now has several grills,
including a four-rack trailer that can cook
See BBQ/8A
Staff photo by Sean Hart
Mike Simon cuts up the tri-tip that won the beef division and
helped propel team Smokin’ Hot & Saucy to the overall victory
in the Umatilla County Fair Backyard BBQ Contest Wednesday.