GOP
DEBATE
No. 3
HELIX
WINS
IN
THREE
VOLLEYBALL/1B
NATION/7A
62/48
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2015
140th Year, No. 10
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
Why are
my taxes
so high?
Market fluctuation, bonds
determine what you owe
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Taking the grain
out of PGG
Facing losses and increased competition,
board to consider long-term options
Umatilla County mailed
42,000 tax bills last week. Some
folks had sticker shock.
Paul Chalmers, Umatilla
County assessment and taxation
director, explained property taxes
go up 3 percent a year on either
the property’s maximum assessed
value or the real market value,
whichever is lowest. When the
market drops and then rebounds,
property taxes can increase more
than 3 percent.
“That phenomenon happened
to some people,” Chalmers said.
Umatilla County Commis-
sioner George Murdock was one.
He paid $9,596 in property taxes
in 2013 for his home on North-
west Johns Lane, Pendleton. But
in 2014 he paid $8,866, a drop of
more than 11 percent.
The 2013 tax was based on
the home’s assessed value of
$510,790. In 2014 that rose 3
percent to $526,110, but at the
same time the real market value
See TAX/8A
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Pendleton Grain Growers’ Rew Elevator stands as a longtime landmark west of Pendleton just off Interstate 84. PGG is looking to
sell, lease or merge the companies grain division.
Manager insists news is “not
the end of the world” for PGG
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Pendleton Grain Growers, the
local farmers’ co-op that has been a
signature brand of Eastern Oregon
agriculture for 85 years, is in
danger of losing its grain division
amid slumping production and
increased competition.
Despite the announcement
Wednesday, General Manager
Rick Jacobson insisted the news
is “not the end of the world” for
PGG.
The co-op’s board of directors
will weigh offers to sell, lease or
merge grain assets with another
company after a disappointing
2015 harvest. That means the
McNary river terminal, Feedville
piles and 19 upcountry elevators
could soon be taken over by an
outside fi rm.
Jacobson said their preference
is to stay within the co-op model,
though the future remains uncer-
tain. He said a number of entities
have expressed interest in a deal,
but did not specify which ones.
“This whole market is tough on
the growers. Price is down. Yield
is down,” Jacobson said. “Our
responsibility is to make sure they
have a good company to deliver
their grain.”
Board chairman Tim Hawkins
said the division didn’t bring in
enough wheat from growers to
justify continuing service. Grain
is a business that requires scale
to stay competitive, he said, and
without enough volume it doesn’t
make economic sense for PGG to
maintain those assets.
“We had informed the growers
in meetings that the future of the
grain business would be evaluated
PGG properties head
to auction block
Pendleton Grain Growers is
sending some of its properties to
the auction block.
John C. Rosenthal of Portland
is president of Realty Marketing/
Northwest and handles auctions
for surplus corporate real estate.
He said PGG is auctioning the
1,440-square-foot home at 215
S.W. 10th St., Pendleton, that
housed the co-op’s Internet
technology operations. The
reserve bid is $99,500 for the
site. And $165,000 would buy
homes PGG owned at 904,
908 and 912 S.W. Dorion
Ave., Pendleton, along with a
small parking lot PGG had at
the corner of Southwest 10th
and Dorion, across from the
company’s old retail store.
Rosenthal said the winner
of that sealed bid auction must
put up at least the asking price
to take all four properties. The
strategy has been effective at
past auctions, he said, and works
to ensure overall development of
a lot, not just one building on a
block.
Rosenthal also is seeking
sealed bids for PGG’s former
retail store in Athena, along with
a nearby metal building. The
reserve price is $150,000.
Rosenthal and his wife, Marti
Cohn, were in the area Monday
and Tuesday to look at the
properties and talk with potential
bidders. He said people who are
interested can call his company
at 1-800-845-3524 for more
information.
PENDLETON
Teachers get
a thumbs up
from survey
School district releases
results of assessment
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
“You have to look at the long term, not just the short term.
We could either be a marginal company, or merge some of these
assets and be a good, strong company.”
brought us their grain, but there
simply were not enough of them.”
PGG usually handles about
12-13 million bushels per year,
but handled only 5 million bushels
in 2015. Jacobson pointed to a
number of likely factors, including
a third straight summer of drought
that cut wheat yields in half in
some areas.
People in Pendleton love their
teachers, but not their tests.
Those were some of the
takeaways from a special survey
the Pendleton School District
distributed to parents and school
staff last spring, the results of
which were released Wednesday.
Instead of the usual round of
public meetings, the Pendleton
School District contracted with
Canadian software company
Thoughtexchange to gather input
for use in its upcoming 10-year
plan.
Between March and April,
potential participants were sent
a link to a website where they
were asked about their likes
and dislikes about their school.
— Rick Jacobson, PGG General Manager
See PGG/8A
See SCHOOL/8A
based on the size of the handle
this year,” Hawkins said in a state-
ment. “PGG greatly appreciates
the support of the producers that
HERMISTON
Hall of fame craver
Local man to inducted into
White Castle hall of fame
By JADE McDOWELL
East Oregonian
A Hermiston resident is in the same
Hall of Fame as rock legend Alice
Cooper.
Not the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame, mind you. The White Castle
Cravers Hall of Fame.
The Midwestern restaurant chain
inducted Gene Snyder, 74, this year,
christening him the “Traveling Slider
Man.” The fi rst thing Snyder always
does when he travels is check for the
nearest White Castle. He has eaten the
restaurant’s famous sliders from New
York to Las Vegas.
“Its been a part of my life for almost
70 years,” he said.
Last year’s inductees included Alice
Cooper, who has opined about his love
of White Castle burgers during media
interviews in the past. This year no
one particularly famous got the honor,
but Snyder pointed out that there were
only 11 inductees out of 1,148 people
who applied.
“It’s easier to get into Harvard than
to get inducted into the White Castle
Hall of Fame,” he said.
His lifelong craving for White
Castle’s two-inch sliders started when
he was a kid growing up in Chicago.
“I was always real slight and did
See WHITE CASTLE/8A
Photo contributed by Gene Snyder
Gene Snyder holds a box of White Castle sliders during his trip to
Columbus, Ohio to be inducted into the restaurant’s hall of fame.