BUSINESS
Saturday, November 21, 2015
East Oregonian
HERMISTON
Page 11A
BRIEFLY
Irrigon restaurant gives back
IRRIGON — Low income residents are
invited to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner celebra-
tion at Sub Zero Restaurant & Lounge
Sub Zero Gives Back is Tuesday from 5-7
p.m. at 100 W. Highway 730, Irrigon. A tradi-
WLRQDO7KDQNVJLYLQJPHDOZLWKDOOWKH¿[LQJVZLOO
be served, while supplies last. There is no charge
for the food and evening of fellowship.
In addition, sign-ups for the Christmas gift
program begin at the dinner.
For more information, call 541-922-4374.
Pendleton KOA receives awards
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Workers at Marlette Oregon Homebuilding’s Hermiston facility build cabinets.
Marlette Oregon Homebuilding
improving environmental impact
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
As Marlette Oregon Home-
building celebrates 50 years
LQ +HUPLVWRQ QH[W PRQWK WKH
manufactured home production
facility will also be celebrating
a new environmentally friendly
FHUWL¿FDWLRQ
The Hermiston facility
EHFDPHWKH¿IWKLQWKH&OD\WRQ
Homebuilding group to achieve
WKH ,62 FHUWL¿FDWLRQ
an international standard to
reduce waste and lower energy
consumption during the home
manufacturing process.
Production manager Tom
Shimp said the some changes
had already been made in
RUGHU WR PHHW WKH FHUWL¿FDWLRQ
standards, while others will be
phased in over time.
“Our goals go out about a
year and a half,” he said. “At
every stage we’ll evaluate if we
KLW PRUH RU OHVV DQG ¿JXUH RXW
why.”
Many of the measures revolve
around reducing the amount
of dust and debris created by
cutting all of the various mate-
rials used in building a home. A
QHZ ³EXOOHW WRRO´ IRU H[DPSOH
now allows workers to cut 12
pieces of siding at a time without
creating any dust.
The company will also install
a sophisticated vacuum system,
using hoses attached to saws and
other power tools to instantly
suck up the dust created by
cutting into the different mate-
rials used to build a home. The
facility has always met OSHA
standards, Shimp said, but the
new measures brought on by the
FHUWL¿FDWLRQSURFHVVDUHPDNLQJ
the work environment safer and
healthier than ever for workers.
He said there will also be
a recycling center onsite. Cut
stock left over from cabinet
making and other activities will
be sent to the center, where the
materials will be sized, marked
and sent back to be used to make
smaller items.
“The goal is to use less, to
put less in the dumpster,” Shimp
said.
Homes are built from start
WR ¿QLVK LQ WZR EXLOGLQJV DW
the Hermiston facility, and
employees make everything
from cabinets to doors onsite.
Shimp said when he started in
the industry more than 20 years
DJRDERXW¿YHSHUFHQWRIKRPHV
that Marlette built were custom-
ized; now about 95 percent are.
The
facility
currently
employs 180 people and
produces 10 homes a week
that are shipped all over the
western United States. The
average employee tenure
is eight years.
Cal Davis, spokesman
for Clayton Homes, said the
company plans to get all of its
facilities across the country
FHUWL¿HGLQWKHQH[W\HDU
“Our goal as a home builder is
not only to build a great product,
but also to take care of the envi-
ronment we’re working in and to
take care of the worker,” he said.
Facility general manager
Glen Alessandri said in a state-
ment that the new designation
was making environmental
awareness a “way of life” at
Marlette Homebuilding.
““From my perspective, the
WHDP LV H[FLWHG DERXW ZKDW ZH
have learned and been able to
accomplish,” he said.
———
Contact Jade McDowell at
jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com
or 541-564-4536.
PENDLETON — The Pendleton KOA Journey
recently earned the 2016 KOA President’s and
Founder’s Awards from Kampgrounds of America
Inc.
The awards were presented Nov. 18 at KOA’s
annual Convention in Daytona Beach, Florida.
KOA is celebrating its 53rd anniversary in 2015.
The founder award is named in honor of
Dave Drum, who founded KOA on the banks
of the Yellowstone River in Billings, Montana,
in 1962. It is given to those KOA campgrounds
that attained the very top scores in both customer
service and the KOA Quality Review. The
KOA President’s Awards are presented annually
to campgrounds that receive high scores in
customer service and the quality review.
“It’s an honor to recognize these great KOA
owners for their efforts,” said Pat Hittmeier,
KOA president.
For more information about the Pendleton
KOA and other sites in U.S. and Canada, visit
www.KOA.com.
Hermiston business lunch
features school update
HERMISTON — A State of our Schools
presentation is planned at the upcoming
Hermiston Business2Business Luncheon.
Superintendent Fred Maiocco and Wade
Smith, deputy superintendent, will make the
presentation Tuesday at the no-host event, which
begins with networking at 11:45 a.m. at the
Hermiston Conference Center, 415 S. Highway
395. The meal is $10 for members and $13 for
non-members.
Also, sleeping bags will be collected at
the event. Those who bring a new sleeping
bag, which will be given to Agape House for
distribution, will receive $2 off the cost of lunch.
For more information or to RSVP, contact
541-567-6151 or kelly@hermistonchamber.com.
Burn off the Thanksgiving bird
at Hermiston gym
HERMISTON — The public is invited for a
free boot camp-style workout at Higher Power
Fitness Studio.
The After Turkey Worky Workout is Friday
at 9 a.m. at 1055 S. Highway 395, Suite 202,
+HUPLVWRQ7KHH[HUFLVHLVVXLWDEOHIRUDOO¿WQHVV
levels.
For more information, contact 541-289-5483
RULQIR#KLJKHUSRZHU¿WQHVVOOFFRP
2+$RI¿FLDOVD\VPHGLFDOSRWFRQWUROV
inadequate to dissuade black market
marijuana tracking system.
Lawmakers opted for a
looser tracking system for
SALEM — A deputy medical marijuana involving
director with the Oregon growers largely self-re-
Health Authority warned porting the number of plants
lawmakers Nov. 17 that they’re cultivating.
“Obviously, seed-to-sale
H[LVWLQJ FRQWUROV RYHU WKH
state’s medical marijuana is kind of the gold standard
LQGXVWU\PLJKWEHLQVXI¿FLHQW for keeping the system
to keep the drug out of the closed, so any time you have
a weaker regulatory struc-
illicit market.
Priscilla Lewis, deputy ture, the potential is higher”
director for Oregon Public for leakage into the illicit
Health Division, stopped market, said Senate Majority
short of asking lawmakers Leader Ginny Burdick,
to institute a seed-to-sale D-Portland, who sits on the
tracking system for medical joint legislative marijuana
cannabis.
That
system legalization committee.
“This was basically
involves labeling every plant
and tracking it with a tiny a political compromise
computer chip similar to because the medical program
is almost 20 years old now,
WKRVHXVHGWR¿QGORVWSHWV
“We are not asking for so there was a lot of concern
that, but we see the wisdom from growers about being
in that,” Lewis said. “It is subject to OLCC,” Burdick
very challenging without said.
Naysayers of seed-to-sale
seed-to-sale. Without it,
there are opportunities for have said stringent tracking
dirty product to come back and other onerous regulation
into the system and also for would hurt low-income
patients’ access to medical
diversion.”
The Oregon Liquor cannabis by making the
Control
Commission SURGXFWPRUHH[SHQVLYH
A
temporary
sales
already has authority to
track recreational marijuana program that started Oct. 1
with a seed-to-sale system. allows medical dispensaries
The commission inked a to sell recreational pot until
$1.7 million contract in Dec. 31, 2016. Starting in
September with Franwell 2017, dispensaries that sell
to provide the tracking medical marijuana may no
system. Franwell also is the longer sell recreational pot.
There is some momentum
contractor for Colorado’s
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
to change the law to
continue allowing medical
and recreational marijuana
to be sold out of the same
location, Burdick said. If
that were to happen, there
may be interest in requiring
that medical marijuana
undergo the same scrutiny
and tracking as recreational,
the senator said.
“As we went down the
road, I think more people
got comfortable with more
tracking as long as they could
sell both recreationally and
medically,” Burdick said.
Lawmakers on the joint
legislative committee on
marijuana legalization are
considering a housekeeping
bill on marijuana legalization
in 2016. It’s unclear yet
whether that could include
provisions to allow all
medical and recreational
sales from one location and
more stringent requirements
for tracking medical mari-
juana. Doing one without
the other is unlikely to gain
political traction, Burdick
said.
Rob Patridge, chairman of
the Oregon Liquor Control
Commission, has estimated
up to 75 percent of cannabis
grown under the medical
program leaks into the illegal
market. That estimate was
based on his conversations
with unnamed growers, said
an OLCC spokesman.
s
a
m
t
s
i
r
h
C
t
n
e
m
a
n
r
O
g
n
i
t
a
r
o
c
e
D
C o nte st
Help us decorate
the East Oregonian’s
Christmas tree
and win a prize!
3 Categories:
Ages 2-6, 7-10 & 11-14
Deadline December 11, 2015
Winner announced
December 19, 2015
Bring us an ornament decorated by your child by December 11 th ,
the form below with your signature and your child for a photo.
The winner will be announced Dec. 19th in the East Oregonian.
For more information, call Paula at 1-800-522-0255
EPA says VW cheating software is on more vehicles
WASHINGTON
(AP)
— Volkswagen’s emissions
cheating scandal widened
Friday after the U.S. Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency
said the German automaker
used software to cheat on
pollution tests on more
VL[F\OLQGHU GLHVHO YHKLFOHV
than originally thought.
Volkswagen told the
EPA and the California
Air Resources Board the
software is on about 85,000
Volkswagen, Audi and
Porsche vehicles with 3-liter
engines going back to the
2009 model year. Earlier
this month the regulators
accused VW of installing
the
so-called
“defeat
device” software on about
10,000 cars from the 2014
through 2016 model years,
in violation of the Clean Air
Act.
The regulators said in a
statement they will inves-
tigate and take appropriate
action on the software,
which they claim allowed the
VL[F\OLQGHU GLHVHOV WR HPLW
fewer pollutants during tests
than in real-world driving.
VW made the disclosure
on Thursday, a day before it
submitted plans to the EPA to
¿[DPXFKODUJHUSUREOHP²
emissions-cheating software
on 482,000 four-cylinder
diesel cars.
The EPA said in a state-
ment Friday night that VW
had turned in its proposed
¿[EXWWKHDJHQF\ZRXOGQ¶W
give details. The EPA and
CARB now will review the
proposal, the statement said.
Child’s Name
Child’s Age
Your Name
Yes, I give permission to include photos of my child
with ornament in the East Oregonian
Your Signature
Your Phone Number
Deliver to:
East Oregonian
211 SE Byers Ave.
Pendleton, OR
or e-mail to classifieds@eastoregonian.com