Page 8A OFF PAGE ONE East Oregonian EOTEC: Umatilla County, city of Hermiston must share full responsibility of project loan Continued from 1A loan program was in place. “We’re working the phones, and people have been great,” he said. The original plan was for the loan to be backed using the EOTEC property as collateral, but county council Doug Olsen pointed out in December that EOTEC — formed by an intergovernmental agree- ment between the county and the city of Hermiston — could not do anything the county was not authorized to do, and the state constitu- tion prohibits counties from using land as collateral for loans. The resolution on the agenda at Tuesday’s meeting offered full faith and credit backing for up to $750,000 in loans to EOTEC, with the assumption that the city of Hermiston would back the other half of the loan. But Rivera told the commission that the banks needed both partners to of¿cially back the entire $1.5 million on paper, however they might end up splitting it up in the event of a default. Commissioner Bill Elfering proposed that the number be increased to $1.5 million and that a clause be added that made the backing contingent on the city of Hermiston’s willingness to also guarantee the $1.5 million. Commissioner Larry Givens voted with Elfering in favor of that resolution, with Commis- sioner George Murdock absent. If the EOTEC fund- raising committee raises at least $625,000 by March 1 it will add a third livestock barn to the project. Another $600,000 will buy 2,000 permanent seats at the rodeo. The next $700,000 will buy panels and pens for livestock instead of renting them. And the last $75,000 of the $2 million goal would be used to add electrical and water hook-ups to the RV sites provided for exhibitors. The EOTEC board’s regular meeting, originally scheduled for Friday, has been postponed until Jan. 29 at 7 a.m. at the Staf- ford Hansell Government Center. ——— Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdowell@eastorego- nian.com or 541-564-4536. HILL: Will teach business classes in Croatia Continued from 1A foothold, access capital and markets, develop their prod- ucts and expand beyond their ZIP codes. Hill, also BMCC’s Vice President of Economic Development, leaves his job at the end of the month, but the 69-year-old isn’t ready to retire — not hardly. The business world is Hill’s play- ground and the perfect place to exercise his agile brain. He will head across the ocean to teach college business in the Mediterra- nean nation of Croatia. In addition, he recently released a book (“Venture Finance: The essential growth guide for startups and small busi- nesses”) and he will soon start writing another book aimed at helping American and European entrepreneurs navigate each other’s busi- ness landscapes. Hill will also grow his own company, Argo Resources, an importexport ¿rm that handles Croatian wines, oils and other products such as an electric hybrid motor designed and manufactured in Croatia. Hill’s relationship with the Eastern European country started in 2006 when he traveled there to guest lecture at the Poly- “There’s the sheer beauty of it. Anyone who goes there comes back with their jaw dropped.” — Art Hill, on Croatia technic University of Pula. His infatuation grew as he returned multiple times in the next decade. “There’s the sheer beauty of it,” he said. “Anyone who goes there comes back with their jaw dropped.” Hill’s brown eyes get a touch dreamy when he talks about Croatia, an oasis of turquoise water, sandy beaches and Roman ruins. Hill said he thinks one reason he feels so at home there is because of family roots in nearby Slovakia, where the language is similar. After he arrives in Croatia, he will spend three months in an immersion program to improve his Croatian while he teaches class in his native tongue. “I’ll teach in English,” he said. “English is the language of business throughout Europe.” He has already purchased a small motorcycle for driving in downtown Pula, where parking places are almost nonexistent and gas cost about $8 a gallon the last time he checked. Hill will bring his acumen into his Croatian classroom and as he launches his second book. He started his ¿rst about a year ago, partially to satisfy Croatian university requirements that include being published. Hill wrote about what he knew — small business. Chair Seven Books, the ¿rst publisher he approached, made him a deal. “I still wake up at night thinking, ‘Is this really true? Did this really happen?’” Hill admitted. Hill has eased back from leading the SBDC as his replacement, Carol Frink, adjusts to her new job. Frink, a business coach with her own consulting business and SBDC experience, is a good hire, Hill said. He won’t waste a moment worrying about the future of the program. Hill imparted his business acumen to local entrepre- neurs and big employers alike, according to former BMCC President John Turner. “He was a really valuable interface between BMCC and regional employers,” Turner said. Hill also served on the Oregon Economic Devel- opment Association and Oregon Workforce Alliance. He chaired the Roundup City Development Corpo- ration. Jayne Clark, president of Pioneer Construction, and commercial lender Mike Short, of Bank of Eastern Oregon, say they will miss Hill’s positivity and problem solving. “He is driven, hard- working, ever busy and a voracious road warrior,” Short said. “Art has left the SBDC in excellent shape, with great people in place to carry on after his protracted departure.” “He’s been a mentor and an asset for me for many years — someone I could call and bounce ideas off,” Clark said. “He’s been a wonderful resource.” ——— Contact Kathy Aney at kaney@eastoregonian.com or call 541-966-0810. MYTHBUSTERS: Show ¿lmed in July Continued from 1A and consulting company in North America, to put the myth to the test. But ¿rst, they needed somewhere remote to ¿lm the segment. Gino Smith, a quality assurance and hazardous materials specialist with AllTranstek, does trainings with Paci¿c Ethanol at the Port of Morrow. Smith recommended the site, and put the MythBusters crew in touch with Lyndon Jones, the plant manager. Jones said he didn’t think twice about welcoming the show to Boardman. With the port’s approval, the Myth- Busters arrived on Monday, July 13 and wrapped up the evening of Thursday, July 16. “They were great guys,” Jones said. “It was a good experience overall.” Now in its 16th and ¿nal season, MythBusters has been one of Discovery’s longest running and most popular programs. The show stars Savage and Hyneman, two special effects experts, who use science to test popular myths, adages, rumors and even movie scenes. MythBusters touted the episode, “Tanker Crush,” as their biggest ever logis- tical operation. For the experiment, AllTranstek coordinated not one, but two decommissioned tanker cars 67 feet long and 10 feet in diameter, with half-inch thick steel walls. The cars were brought to the port and onto a rail loop near Paci¿c Ethanol’s facility, in view of the Columbia River. “The river’s a real pretty setting,” Jones said. “They loved it.” Jones said he checked in on the set periodically, and had two employees spend all week with the crew. Boardman Police Chief Rick Stokoe and several volunteers from the rural ¿re department were also called in to help. Fire¿ghters were initially brought in just for emer- gency medical services, but ultimately took part in the ¿lming. In order to simulate the “rain” portion of the experiment, they used a portable ¿re monitor to douse the ¿rst tanker after it was ¿lled with steam. After spraying close to 350 gallons per minute for over an hour, the car never buckled. It wasn’t until the next day, with the second tanker, that Savage and Hyneman theorized internal damage to the car might make a collapse more likely. For this, they used a crane to drop a 3,500-pound concrete block onto the car and lowered the pressure inside with an industrial vacuum. This time, it crum- pled like a crushed soda can. However, since rail tankers are designed to with- stand severe conditions and are only susceptible if they’re badly damaged, Savage and Hyneman declared the myth “busted.” “We got it a little bit on the third try after some manipulation,” Jones said. “It was dramatic.” Adam Cole was one of four ¿re¿ghters with the Boardman Rural Fire Protec- tion District who helped out on the project. He said he has been a fan of MythBusters for years. “None of us even knew it was their last season,” he said. “That made it really special.” As excited as he was, Cole said he and others were required to sign a con¿den- tiality agreement and were forbidden from talking about the episode before it went to air. That didn’t stop the rumor mill from swirling, especially after some locals recognized Savage and Hyneman eating at Hale’s Restaurant in Hermiston. Gary Neal, general manager at the Port of Morrow, said there was speculation that Savage and Hyneman were in the community, but by the time word got around they had already left. “They were trying to be low key,” Neal said. “There weren’t a lot of people driving by and gawking.” Neal said he wanted to bring in school classes for ¿eld trips to learn about the science behind the project, but was told no. He said they’re hoping to get a copy of the episode to show at the SAGE Center. Cole described Savage and Hyneman as down-to- earth guys who love their jobs. He said it was a once- in-a-lifetime opportunity to work on the show. “Who thinks of Boardman, Oregon being on MythBusters, let alone the biggest production they’ve ever had?” he said. “It’s amazing what they can do.” Wednesday, January 20, 2016 Search suspended for missing Marines KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii (AP) — Of¿cials Tuesday suspended their massive search for 12 Marines who were aboard two helicopters that crashed off Hawaii last week. The around-the-clock effort failed to locate any sign of the 12 service members despite ¿ve days of searching by several agencies. Of¿cials said at a late afternoon news conference that the search would be suspended at sundown and the Marine Corps would transition to “recovery and salvage” efforts. A memorial is tentatively planned for Friday at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay. “The decision to suspend the search without ¿nding survivors is particularly dif¿cult,” said Capt. James Jenkins, chief of staff and acting commander of the Coast Guard 14th District in Honolulu. The search began late Thursday when a civilian on a beach reported seeing the helicopters Àying and then a ¿reball. The Marines were alerted when the CH-53E helicopters carrying six crew members each failed to return to their base at Kaneohe Bay following a nighttime training mission. Hours later, a Coast Guard helicopter and C-130 airplane spotted debris 2½ miles off of Oahu. The crash was near the north shore, but the search area spanned from the western coast of Oahu to the northeast corner of the island. The transport helicop- ters were part of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. Known as Super Stallions, they are the U.S. military’s largest helicopter, capable of carrying a light armored vehicle, 16 tons of cargo or a team of combat-equipped Marines, according to a Marine Corps website. HILL MEAT: Street upgrades at Hill Meat would cost $150k Continued from 1A of Transportation grant it received several years ago for industrial roadway improvements. While the cost of making street improvements to just the area surrounding Hill Meat would be $150,000, Public Works Director Bob Patterson said he the city is looking into using the rest of the money to improve other roads in the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport industrial park. The council also passed a 120-day moratorium on cell tower construc- tion while the planning commission considers further regulations on the structures. During the permitting process for a cell tower on Southwest Dorion Avenue by Kwong’s Cafe, City Manager Robb Corbett said he was “disturbed” to discover that the city didn’t have any land use regula- tions for cell towers. “I felt that it was important for us to slam the door shut for a period of time for us to be able to discuss it,” he said. “This is a limited amount of time and then we can decide (whether) we want to make any changes before it’s reopened again.” Although there aren’t any pending cell tower applications, Corbett said this would give city of¿- cials time to consider regu- lations such as conditional use or tower disguising requirements. Noting that cell towers in residential zones already required conditional approval from the planning commission, some coun- cilors were concerned that the city would miss out on business opportunities if the ban encompassed the entire city. The council passed an amendment removing resi- dential zones from the ban, meaning the moratorium applied only to central mixed use, commercial and light industrial zones. The council voted unan- imously twice, ¿rst to hold the ¿rst reading, second reading and public hearing at the same meeting, and then to approve the ordinance instituting the moratorium. The ordinance also declares an emergency, which puts the ban imme- diately into effect, although the council has the option of extending it for another six months. ——— Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0836.