OPINION/4A FIXING UP NORTHSIDE PLAYGROUND REGION/3A HEPPNER HOSTS PLAYOFF FOOTBALL/1B FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2015 140 Year, No. 21 Your Weekend Rain is here, but farmers remain cautious El Niño forecasts warmer, drier winter By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian • • • One dollar WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Brighton Beach Memoirs at Bob Clapp Theatre Holiday bazaars around the area Fall Festival and Quilt Show in Stanfi eld Recent rainstorms over Eastern Oregon have been a welcome sight for dryland wheat farmers after enduring a particularly hot, painfully dry summer and early fall. But growers will need to see more — a lot more — to feel like they’ve busted through a three-year drought that has stiÀ ed production of the region’s dominant crop. Winter forecasts are calling for an extremely powerful El Niño in the tropical Paci¿ c, which typically means warmer For times and places see Coming Events, 5A Sat Sun 62/47 62/44 49/36 in recent weeks, with .91 inches of rain since Oct. 28. Don Wysocki, soil scientist with Oregon State University Extension Service in Umatilla County, said farmers aren’t getting too excited yet, though it’s a start. “I think everybody would be happy to see it continue,” Wysocki said. Most ¿ elds that will be harvested next year have been seeded by now, Wysocki said, though wheat farmers usually prefer to see this kind of rain earlier in the fall — around late September and early October — so they can spray for weeds before planting. See RAIN/10A PENDLETON Weekend Weather Fri weather and below-av- erage precipitation for the Northwest. All of northeast Oregon remains mired in extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, and Pendleton’s overall precipitation for the year has fallen more than three inches below normal. Conditions appear to have turned around some Watch a game vs. Reedsport vs. Heppner $TXDUWHU¿QDOV Saturday, 1 p.m., at Heppner Oracle sues Gov. Brown for not providing Kitz emails PORTLAND (AP) — Oracle Corp. is suing Oregon Gov. Kate Brown for violating the state’s public records law by failing to turn over the contents of email accounts used by former Gov. John Kitzhaber. The complaint was ¿ led Thursday in Marion County Circuit Court. It says Brown failed to provide in a timely manner documents related to Oracle’s April 6 public records requests. Oracle further narrowed down its request in June. Instead, Oracle says Brown allowed Kitzhaber and his lawyer to decide which emails are subject to public disclosure and passed on those chosen emails to Oracle. Brown did not retrieve or review the emails herself. The controversy stems from a legal battle between Oracle and the state over the troubled Cover Oregon health insurance exchange. Oracle is seeking See ORACLE/10A Staff photo by E.J. Harris Sophomore Cameran Miltenberger, playing Virgil Blessing, sophomore Jessie Patterson, playing Bo Decker, and sophomore Savanna Newsome, playing Sheriff Will, act out a scene from the 1950s classic “Bus Stop” on Tuesday at Pendleton High School. All three female actors are playing the role of men in a Shakespearean reversal, due to low male student involvement in the theater program. Let’s hear it for the girls High school play features all-female cast By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian The cast of “Bus Stop” will try to show Pendleton that sometimes the best man for the role is a woman. The play, written and performed in the 1950s, is awash in traditional gender roles. Set entirely in a Kansas City, Mo., diner, the story centers around a group of bus passengers forced into the restaurant after a blizzard closes the road. “Bus Stop” Nov. 12-14, 6:30 p.m. Pendleton High School Auditorium $6 for adults, $4 for students Staff photo by E.J. Harris One of the reasons Pendleton High School teacher Shannon O’Rourke decided to revive the play was because its roles were divided equitably between male and females. But when “Bus Stop” opens at the Senior Deshan Dick, right, playing Dr. Lyman, kisses the hand of senior Doria Summerfi eld, playing Elma, while rehearsing for the 1950s classic “Bus Stop” on Tuesday at Pendleton High School. high school auditorium on Thursday, all seven characters featured in the play — from swashbuckling cowboy Bo Decker to troubled philosophy professor Gerald Lyman — will be played by girls. See PLAY/10A Echo students honor veterans with parade By SEAN HART East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris Echo fi rst graders wear homemade outfi ts to look like Marines on Thursday during a Veterans’s Day parade in Echo. Echo veteran Joe Hammer removed his hat and held it in front his chest in reverence as elementary students paraded through the center of town Thursday morning dressed as service members, carrying American À ags and signs, chanting, “U.S.A.” Hammer, originally from Herm- iston, served in the Air Force from 1991-1995 and said the parade was a welcome tribute for the sacri¿ ces of veterans. “It was pretty awesome,” he said. “It’s nice to see they are instilling patriotism back in the schools.” Sixth-grader Ryan Clark was dressed as his great-grandfather, Elmer Henry Sears. Clark said he was a pilot in the Army before the Air Force was created. His classmate, Xander Harsh, was dressed as a more recent veteran, Capt. Michael Brian Daake, who served in the Army in 2004-2005. Both said they learned a lot about veterans preparing for the parade and an afternoon assembly, in which the middle school students acted as a wax museum of veterans from different eras and explained their character’s service. “Veterans are nice to our country,” Harsh said. “They are awesome. They have cool guns, and they protect the U.S.A.” For the parade, each elementary grade honored a different branch of the military. First-graders dressed See PARADE/10A