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POKER: /HDUQHGWRSOD\DWDJH¿YHIURPJUDQGIDWKHU
Page 10A
East Oregonian
Continued from 1A
“There are 15 states where
it’s not legal,” he said.
Finding poker games
in those places took some
ingenuity. Two — Hawaii
and Utah — don’t allow
gambling in any form,
while others allowed social
gambling, but not in card
rooms. Adams relied on his
gregarious personality and
some well-placed inquiries to
¿QGJDPHV
Before his trip to Idaho,
Adams, who is Jewish,
emailed a Boise synagogue
and made a carefully worded
request. He would soon be
visiting and wondered about
the worship schedule and, by
the way, did they know of a
poker game he could join
while in town? The rabbi
emailed back, inviting Adams
to poker at his house.
On Halloween night,
Adams, the rabbi and eight
men from the synagogue
sat around a table betting
nickels, dimes and quarters.
They drank microbrews and
snacked on guacamole and
tortilla chips. The rabbi got
up whenever a trick-or-treater
rang the doorbell.
Before going to Alabama,
Adams learned of a clandes-
tine game from an Alabaman
he met at a tournament
in another state. Alabama
doesn’t allow card rooms,
so games happen secretly.
Adams followed directions
written on a slip of paper,
driving his rental car through
the inky darkness and looking
for landmarks such as clumps
of trees and forks in the
dirt road. He started to get
nervous.
“I was in the middle of
the Alabama woods,” he
remembers thinking. “I
started to hear the music from
the movie ‘Deliverance’ in
my head.”
+H ¿QDOO\ DUULYHG DW D
nondescript Quonset hut
where a poker game soon
commenced.
,Q 7H[DV KH ÀHZ WR
Houston and drove six hours
to a casino on the Kickapoo
Indian Reservation.
“It was as far away from
a major airport as you can be
— the only legal poker room
in Texas,” Adams said.
In Alaska, he played at the
country’s northernmost card
room in the Yukon.
His most memorable
poker game came closer to
home at Boston’s Harvard
Club, where they played
Omaha poker in a “proba-
bility and statistical session.”
The pot grew and grew.
“We were all up to four
¿JXUHV´ $GDPV UHFDOOHG ³,
was fortunate to win with four
10s over an aces full house.”
Adams, who has a day
job as a teachers’ association
union organizer, learned
DERXWSRNHUDWDJH¿YHIURP
his grandfather. He and his
\RXQJHU EURWKHU SOD\HG ¿YH
card draw using buttons from
his grandmother’s sewing
bag for chips. As he got older,
he played for coins and then
dollars, but stopped after
college to concentrate on his
career. He started playing
again in his 30s.
Eventually, he wrote
DERXW SRNHU +LV ¿UVW HIIRUW
was a pamphlet written for
a synagogue fundraiser. “It
was kind of a brain dump,”
he said. Eventually the tiny,
barely edited publication
evolved into a book and
then another. He blogs about
poker and hosts the “House of
Cards” radio show. He plans
to put his 50 states experience
into a third book.
Adams knew he would
eventually make it to the
Wildhorse Casino, which has
long been on his list.
“I’m friendly with a lot
of professional card players
who’ve played at the Poker
Round-Up,” Adams said.
“They said you’ve got to
make it to the Wildhorse.”
Adams said he left a few
dollars on the table in Pend-
leton.
“I contributed not an insig-
QL¿FDQW DPRXQW WR WKH ORFDO
economy,” he quipped, “but it
was well worth every penny.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or call 541-966-0810.
GRANT: Voters have rejected five school bonds since 2000
district would need to assess
$1 per $1,000 of assessed
property value per year to
Clark said the proposed
raise $12 million. That means
Gib Olinger Elementary
the average Milton-Freewater
School would house 650
homeowner would pay an
students, 90 more students
extra $110 on their property
than the district currently
tax bills because of the bond.
enrolls from kindergarten
In initial bond discussions
through third grade.
before the announcement,
The new facility would
Clark said some of the bond
spur the district to consolidate,
money would go toward
leading to the demolition of
modernizing Central High
Grove Elementary School
School and McLoughlin High
in favor of a sports complex
— new soccer, baseball and
School, which are both in need
VRIWEDOO ¿HOGV ² DQG YDFDWH
of new heating, ventilation
Freewater Elementary School,
and air conditioning systems
EO file photo
the fate of which has yet to be
among many other things.
A warning for asbestos is taped on the door of Free-
determined.
Clark admitted Central
The grant comes from water Elementary in Milton-Freewater in this May and Mac-Hi are still in need
the Oakland, Calif.-based 2007 file photo. The Milton-Freewater School District of attention, but whether their
received a $15 million grant to build a new school, needs are met through the
Wayne and Gladys Valley has
contingent on raising at least $12.5 million of its own.
Foundation, which focuses
proposed bond or different
on “well-managed and cost million grant in 2001.
proposal and developing means are still up in the air.
HI¿FLHQW´ SURMHFWV SULPDULO\
If voters reject another
Foundation representatives conceptual plans.
in California’s East Bay, were in Milton-Freewater
Clark was informed of the bond measure, it could repre-
according to the foundation’s to review the library when grant Oct. 29 and will now sent Milton-Freewater’s last
website.
Tammy Valley, the daughter have to lead the effort to pass chance at Valley Foundation
The foundation’s connec- of Gladys and Wayne Valley, WKHVFKRROGLVWULFW¶V¿UVWERQG money. In addition to the
tion to Milton-Freewater DVNHGDIRUPHUOLEUDU\RI¿FLDO in more than 30 years.
one-year time limit, the foun-
comes from one of the its if there was anything else
Milton-Freewater voters dation’s board of directors
namesakes, who grew up in the foundation could involve KDYHUHMHFWHG¿YHERQGEDOORW previously voted to exhaust
the town — Gladys Liebbrand itself with.
measures since 2000, the last the foundation’s assets by
Valley.
September 2018.
The idea of a new elemen- one in 2006.
It’s her name that adorns tary school was proposed,
———
At a Sept. 22 public meeting
Milton-Freewater’s
public DQG RI¿FLDOV ZRXOG VSHQG about facility modernization
Contact Antonio Sierra at
library, which the foundation the ensuing months forming prior to the grant announce- asierra@eastoregonian.com
helped fund with a $1.25 D FRPPLWWHH ¿QH WXQLQJ D PHQWVFKRRORI¿FLDOVVDLGWKH or 541-966-0836.
Continued from 1A
REHAB: Dump 75-90
loads of mulch per day
ALLIANCE: Some local programs
might even be unaware of each other
Continued from 1A
Morrow County Head Start
she has seen how often
people are unaware of local
programs that could help
them. In some cases, she
said, those programs might
even be unaware of each
other.
“There are a lot of agen-
FLHV D ORW RI QRQSUR¿WV´
she said. “I think one of our
weaknesses is we don’t all
know what we all do.”
She said the Columbia
Latino Cultural Alliance
wants to be a knowledge-
able resource and help
start conversations with
people, especially parents
of students, about help
available in the community.
“When the needs surface
we can say, ‘Do you know
that this agency does this,
and that agency can help
you with that?’” she said.
Information
about
upcoming activities will
be posted on the Columbia
Latino Cultural Alliance
Facebook page or people
can call 541-289-1504.
share and teach each other
popular Joaquin Miller Trail.
how to do certain things.”
So far, the Forest Service
She said the group is also
local landowners. Gregory has spent roughly a half-mil-
making an effort to increase
said they hope to treat OLRQ GROODUV WUHDWLQJ WKH ¿UH
the number of Hispanic
between 1,000-1,500 acres area.
volunteers at community
with mulch before the snow
“We’re working as hard
events and has been
falls too heavily.
as we can, as quickly as we
involved in several events
In recent weeks, helicop- can, to limit the damage of
already. On Oct. 24 the
ters dumped anywhere from HURVLRQ DQG ÀRRGLQJ EHIRUH
Columbia Latino Cultural
75-90 loads of mulch per winter hits,” Gregory said.
Alliance set up a booth at
day, Gregory said. Each load
The BAER has been
Good Shepherd Medical
contains about 2,500 pounds approved by the Forest
Center’s S.E.A. of Health
of mulch, and it usually Service’s
Northwest
event and handed out 200
takes about a dozen drops 5HJLRQ 2I¿FH DV ZHOO DV LQ
dental hygiene kits.
to cover one acre of land, he Washington, D.C., and has
Those types of outreach
said.
involved partnerships with
efforts, combined with the
³7KHKDUGSDUWLV¿JXULQJ local agencies and compa-
cultural events, are how
out at what height and nies.
the group plans to make
what speed to get the best
Eric Bush, John Day
connections with families
coverage,” he said.
Airbase
Manager
and
in order to help connect
Local contractors were Malheur Unit Aviation
them with resources in the
hired to grind up the mulch 2I¿FHU VDLG KH LV YHU\
community they weren’t
using wood and small-di- pleased with the profession-
aware of or were too intimi-
ameter trees logged directly alism and safety of everyone
dated to access.
from the forest, Gregory working on the project.
Mary Lou Gutierrez,
said. Mulching has been
———
another cultural alliance
reserved for high-intensity
Contact George Plaven
board member, said in her
burned areas, along ridge- at gplaven@eastoregonian.
work as a parent education
tops where the ground isn’t com or 541-966-0825.
coordinator for Umatilla
ÀDW EXW LVQ¶W WRR VWHHS
either.
Gregory said it has been
impressive watching the
pilots do their work. They
W\SLFDOO\ À\ DERXW IHHW
over ground level at just
HONORING ALL VETERANS & WITH A
more than 23 miles per hour.
SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO UMATILLA
In addition to mulching,
COUNTY VETERANS WHO SERVED IN
IRUHVW ZRUNHUV DOVR ¿QLVKHG
placing wooden structures
known as log jams over
portions of Canyon Creek,
Vance Creek and Overholt
Creek designed to catch
TH
burned-up debris that could
wash down in a storm and
FDXVHÀRRGLQJ
Other projects identi-
¿HG LQ WKH %$(5 LQFOXGH
cutting down hazard trees
DQG VWRUPSURR¿QJ URDGV
COMPLIMENTARY
Gregory said. He expects an
LUNCH IS BEING PROVIDED
AmeriCorps team will arrive
next week to begin rehabbing
FOLLOWING THE PROGRAM
more than six miles of trails
FOR TICKETS PLEASE RSVP
in the Strawberry Mountain
AT 541-278-6204
Wilderness — including the
Continued from 1A
SAVE THE DATE
WORLD WAR II
11 A.M.
NOVEMBER 11
PENDLETON
CONVENTION
CENTER
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Federal jury to
settle bitter battle
between sweeteners
LOS ANGELES (AP)
— Big Sugar and Big Corn
face off in court this week in
a bitter, multibillion-dollar
battle of sweeteners that boils
down to a mix of science,
semantics and marketing.
Jurors in the case between
sugar processors and corn
manufacturers will take
up one of nutrition’s most
vexing debates and confront
a choice common among
some consumers: sugar or
high fructose corn syrup?
The trial starting Tuesday
in federal court grew out of
HIIRUWVE\WKH&RUQ5H¿QHUV
Association to rebrand its
high fructose corn syrup
as “corn sugar” to reverse
damaging publicity that
associated it with diabetes
and obesity.
Its ad campaign featured a
TV commercial with a father
walking with his daughter
DFURVVDFRUQ¿HOGDQGVD\LQJ
that he’s reassured by experts
that high fructose corn syrup
is the same as cane sugar.
“Your body can’t tell the
difference,” he says. “Sugar
is sugar.”
That didn’t go over well
with the Western Sugar
Cooperative and other sugar
processors, who sued the
FRUQ UH¿QHUV DQG $UFKHU
Daniels Midland Co. and
Cargill Inc. for false adver-
tising. They are seeking as
much as $2 billion.
&RUQUH¿QHUVDQGWKHWZR
agribusiness giants coun-
tersued, charging the sugar
industry with making false
and misleading statements
that included a comment that
high fructose corn syrup is as
addictive as crack cocaine.
They are seeking $530
million.
&RUQ UH¿QHUV ZLOO
present evidence that the
sugar industry was behind
the pounding that high
fructose corn syrup took
in public opinion as sugar
tried to regain market share
it lost when food producers
switched to the cheaper corn
product that came on the
market in the 1970s.
The sugar producers will
attempt to show that the corn
UH¿QHUV¶ RZQ DGYHUWLVLQJ
agency was uncomfortable
creating something it felt
was misleading.
One key document on
the sugar side will be from
a 1997 Mexican court case
LQ ZKLFK FRUQ UH¿QHUV VDLG
their product was distinct
from sugar.
&RUQ UH¿QHUV VD\ WKDW
was taken out of context,
and they argue there’s no
difference in the way the
body metabolizes the two
substances.
The two products are
nearly identical and are
metabolized the same, said
Roger A. Clemens, a Univer-
sity of Southern California
research professor of phar-
macology and pharmaceu-
tical science who has studied
sugars. Sugar is sucrose,
which is half fructose, half
glucose. High-fructose corn
syrup is 55 percent fructose
and 45 percent glucose.
&RUQ UH¿QHUV XOWLPDWHO\
lost their bid to change the
name to “corn sugar” when
the Food and Drug Admin-
istration ruled in 2012 that
sugar was a solid, dried and
crystallized food, not syrup.
MARIJUANA: Temporary
medical rules expire March 19
Continued from 1A
medical marijuana from
seed to harvest is part of the
committee’s task.
That tracking system is
crucial to keeping federal
authorities from interfering
with legalized marijuana
production and commerce
in the state. The goal of the
tracking system is to keep
legal cannabis out of the
black market.
“The whole system
requires a robust regulatory
network in order for us to
receive federal forbearance,”
said committee member
Scott Winkels of League of
Oregon Cities. “We need
a system that is workable
for industry but also which
public safety experts have
FRQ¿GHQFHLQ´
The work group has until
spring to craft recommenda-
tions for the rules. Tempo-
rary medical marijuana rules
expire March 19.
Lillian Shirley, state
public health director, will be
responsible for approving the
permanent rules, said Jona-
than Modie, a spokesman for
the health authority’s Public
Health Division.
The committee is made
up of scientists, health advo-
cates, public safety experts
and marijuana industry
representatives.
Some of the committee
members,
including
Margolis and Winkels,
have served on previous
marijuana
rulemaking
committees.
“I want the rules to make
sense, be easy to follow,
be practicably applicable
and work well with all the
accompanying regulatory
pieces because we have done
this in patchwork fashion,”
Margolis said.
The
liquor
control
commission set temporary
rules for recreational mari-
juana Oct. 22 and will begin
permanent rulemaking early
next year.
DAILY SPECIALS
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
Prime Rib Sunday
Baby Back Rib Monday
Taco Tuesday
Wine Wednesday
Burgers & Beers
Hamley Saloon 4p • Steakhouse 5p
AMLEY S TEAK H OUSE & S aloon
H
COURT & MAIN, PENDLETON • 541.278.1100
FREE
FRIDAY
MEDICARE
MADNESS
Medicare Open
Enrollment
Oct. 15 - Dec. 7
Join us for this FREE event!
FREE Medicare Counseling &
Information from trained
SHIBA volunteers.
Oct. 30,
Nov. 6, 13 & 20
9:00am - 1:00pm
GSMC conference
rooms 5 & 6
(by the GS Cafeteria)
*Bring a list of all the medications you take.
For information call
(541) 667-3507
or email
shiba@gshealth.org