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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 2016)
Page 8A OFF PAGE ONE East Oregonian PENDLETON: Main Street storefronts up 3 percent from last year East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris Occupancy of downtown storefronts is at a ive-year high according to a survey released by the Pendleton Development Commission. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Paula Dirks, owner of the Pendleton Coffee Bean & Bistro, grabs a slice of lime while making a ginger soda Wednesday at her restaurant on Main Street. by Pendleton City Councilor Al Plute, closed less than a year after opening while Main Street mainstay Red’s Clothing also shuttered its doors. Despite the hiccups, busi- ness occupancy is trending upward in Pendleton. Wood is con¿dent the city can keep it going. Wood pointed to the revi- talization of the Pendleton Downtown Association as a reason why Pendleton’s downtown could continue to sustain its high occupancy rate. The commission has taken steps to solidify its relationship with the nonpro¿t merchants asso- ciation, folding some of its members into the city’s goal planning and subcommit- tees. ——— Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0836. BROWN: Wants to expand the Of¿ce of Small Business Advocate Continued from 1A instead of six. She is championing House Speaker Tina Kotek’s omnibus housing bill to increase affordable housing options around the state. Brown said she plans to use her executive power to create a Council on Educator Advancement. The council will be responsible for coordinating and promoting leadership development, mentorship and best prac- tices. The governor gave no timeline for establishing the council and did not address what relationship that council would have to the Department of Education and the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission, which licenses teachers. The governor also repeated her plan to hire an education innovation of¿cer to improve the state’s high school graduation rate and a public records ombudsman to help agencies respond more ef¿ciently and consistently to requests. Her other priorities include: Expanding the Of¿ce of Small Business Advocate to help small businesses through the labyrinth of government red tape. Creating a small business advisory group to develop recommendations to support small businesses in accessing capital and streamlining agency processes. Issuing an executive order to force agencies to adopt a public records policy. Supporting legislation to tighten deadlines for lobbyists to disclose their clients to the Oregon Government Ethics Commission and to require that information be posted online within two days. Launching a college campus safety working group. Approving a request from Umqua Community College for funding to enhance safety on campus in the wake of the deadly shooting there Oct. 1. Securing funding to respond to drought and the 2015 wild¿re season. House Republican Leader Mike McLane, R-Powell Butte, said Brown’s plan ignores Oregon’s most pressing troubles, including the state’s PERS shortfall, transportation infrastructure, struggling rural communities and an education system that “ranks as one of the worst in the nation.” “New bureaucratic appointments and executive orders won’t solve these problems,” McLane said in a statement. “One-party rule has left our state with yester- day’s ideas and status quo policies. House Republicans look forward to presenting meaningful alternatives to Democrats’ stale agenda in the 2016 session.” COAL: Chinese coal imports fell by 30 percent last year Continued from 1A Resources hopes to send 8.8 million tons of coal a year to Asia through an enclosed facility along the Columbia River at the Port of Morrow — part of the Morrow Paci¿c Project. Lighthouse President and CEO Everett King said the company serves customers both at home and abroad. “We pay millions in federal and state taxes and royalties, have long-term contractual obligations to customers who supply electricity to thousands of consumers, and we support hundreds of jobs in the local community,” King said. “We take this stewardship seriously.” King agreed with Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, who in her announcement last week said coal will continue to be an important domestic energy source in the years ahead. Yet Oregon’s two largest electric utilities, Portland General Electric and Paci¿c Power, have already agreed with environmentalists to phase coal out of their energy mixes by 2030 while doubling their renewable energy mandate by 2040. The plan will still require legislative “Everybody assumed China’s demand was going to keep rising forever. That turned out to be wrong.” — Clark Williams-Derry, senior researcher with the Sightline Institute in Seattle approval during this year’s short session. Meanwhile, PGE is planning to run tests later this year to see if the Boardman Coal Plant can run entirely on biofuels. Of¿cials have agreed to close the Boardman plant or convert it to another source of fuel by 2020, as opposed to installing costly new emissions controls. Despite those develop- ments, Lighthouse remains focused on the Northwest as a gateway to Asian markets. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, global trade of coal grew dramatically between 2008 and 2013, with China and India accounting for 98 percent of the increase. During that time, Light- house worked to develop Morrow Paci¿c and Millen- nium Bulk Terminals in Longview, Washington, as a way to reach those potentially lucrative markets. In partic- ular, China imported 341 million tons of coal in 2013, up from 45 million tons in 2008. But China imported less coal in 2014, and Clark Williams-Derry, senior researcher with the Sightline Institute in Seattle — which opposes coal exports — predicts the coal bubble may have burst. Williams-Derry said Chinese coal imports fell by 30 percent last year, due to a combination of policy and economic changes within the country. Basically, Williams- Derry said the Chinese government is reacting to pollution within their cities, while the economy gradually shifts away from heavy industry. India, on the other hand, appears focused on developing its own domestic coal supply, he said. The price of coal peaked at $132 per ton in 2011, Williams-Derry said, which led to a ramp up in global production. By 2019, a Àooded market could drop prices as low as $43 per ton. Unless the market dramati- cally rebounds, he said North- west export projects will struggle just to break even. “Right now, there is no way for a company to make money by shipping coal to Asia,” Williams-Derry said. “Everybody assumed China’s demand was going to keep rising forever. That turned out to be wrong.” Lighthouse declined to comment further on Asian demand for coal, only saying it remains committed to devel- oping export facilities. Data from the Energy Information Administration still reÀects a bolstered market compared to a decade ago, said a company spokeswoman. The biggest immediate hurdle for Morrow Paci¿c remains securing a remove- ¿ll permit from the Oregon Department of State Lands to build a dock at the Columbia River. The permit was denied in 2014, with the agency ruling it would interfere with historic tribal ¿sheries. An appeals hearing was scheduled for December, but has since been pushed back to Sept. 27-Oct. 6 in Salem. ——— Contact George Plaven at gplaven@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0825. APP: Will provide place to anonymously report bullying, harassment Continued from 1A emergency exits and more general resources such as instructions on performing CPR or spotting signs of depression in a teenager. The district can use the app to send instant noti¿cations straight to parents’ phones about everything from snow days to lockdowns and evacuations. There is also a place to anonymously report bullying, harassment and PENDLETON Sushi restaurant to open within two months Continued from 1A resulted in a much more attractive and economically inviting location in which to do business.” Taking over for former commission chairman Keith May, Wood and Associate Director Charles Denight conducted this year’s survey. Both Main Street and the downtown area saw a net increase from the previous year. Eighty¿ve percent of ¿rstÀoor storefronts on Main Street were occupied, a 3 percent increase from the year before and a 10 percent increase from ¿ve years ago, Gains in the downtown area were more modest, rising to 88 percent from 85 percent ¿ve years ago. Main Street bene¿ted from several new stores, including Echo Bike & Board and Rolling Stone Bakery. One of those new busi- nesses, Pendleton Coffee Bean & Bistro, made a return to Main. The Pendleton Coffee Bean was originally located in the Fraternal Order of Eagles building at 428 S. Main St. until 2007, when a ¿re gutted the building. Owner Paula Dirks said the Jump Start loan only paid for a small part of the funding needed to open the new location, but it helped. Some storefronts were completely wiped out in 2015, however. Giorgio’s Cucina Italiano, an Italian restaurant owned Thursday, January 21, 2016 threats. District commu- nications manager Briana Cortaberria said the district has had a tip line in the past, but the app’s reporting mechanism should provide an even better layer of anonymity and hopefully provide some “solid leads” for the district to follow up on. For staff members or ¿rst responders with higher levels of clearance, the app also provides more secure information such as passwords and maps of every utility shutoff valve in a school. Cortaberria said police, ¿re¿ghters and paramedics should be able to use their phones to pull up any information they need when responding to a crisis without having to track down someone from the district and ask. “We try our best to be good stewards and give them the information they need because they are certainly there for us,” she said. Detailed instructions and QR codes for downloading the app can be found at school of¿ces or the district of¿ces. To download the app, search for SchoolDude CrisisManager in the phone’s app store, tap on “Client Plans,” search for “Hermiston School District 8” and use the password “HSD” to download. ——— Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdowell@eastorego- nian.com or 541-564-4536. Dormant for well over a year, December brought signs of life to the building at 210 S.W. 17th Street: Momiji Sushi and Hibatchi. Co-owner Hanbin Wang said he expects Momiji to open within the next two months as crews ¿nish renovating the building and installing equipment. Having lived in a market saturated with sushi restau- rants in Seattle, Momiji’s owners decided to relocate to Pendleton because of its lack of Japanese cuisine. Although this is the owners’ ¿rst foray into operating a restaurant and they are unsure of how receptive Pendletonians will be to sushi, Wang said they are con¿dent about their cooking. “We’re not worried about food quality,” he said. In addition to sushi, Wang said Momiji will also offer Teppanyaki-style cooked dishes and a full-service bar. Momiji represents another step in the slow but sure expansion of Pend- leton world cuisine besides the usual ethnic fare like Mexican and Chinese food; the restaurant that preceded Momiji at the building near Melanie Square was Casa Fiesta Mexican Restaurant. Govinda’s Garden was doubly peculiar to the Pendleton restaurant scene in that it served Indian cuisine and was primarily vegetarian, but it opened to good reviews when it opened in February. While a Monday post on the restaurant’s Facebook page states Govinda’s Garden will be closing temporarily, the owners said the eatery will reopen in March after they return from a trip to India. Pendleton has supported a Thai restaurant on-and-off for several years, with its latest iteration, Thai Crystal, operating since 2012. In many cases, these restaurants replaced eateries that offered more traditional American fare like steak and burgers. ECHO Authorities investigating mysterious truck ¿re By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian Echo ¿re¿ghters found a Dodge pickup truck engulfed in Àames along the side of Rieth Road Tuesday night, near the old Cunningham Sheep Ranch. The cause of the ¿re and whereabouts of the occupants, however, remain a mystery. Echo Fire Chief Delbert Gehrke was the ¿rst to arrive on scene shortly after 10 p.m., where he located the vehicle but no one who could explain what happened. “The occupants of the vehicle were not around,” Gehrke said. “We don’t know where those people went.” Gehrke said the truck was left on the side of the road, partially blocking the westbound lane though facing eastbound. It did not look like it had been in a crash, he said. Initial reports indicate neighbors heard an explo- sion before seeing a big ¿re near the Umatilla River. Gehrke said the cause is still unknown. “We don’t know how (the truck) got there, or how it caught on ¿re. It’s a strange one,” he said. Umatilla County Undersheriff Jim /ittle¿eld said they found nothing suspicious inside the burned vehicle. Deputies tracked the owner to a residence in Stan¿eld, but have not been able to contact him as of Wednesday morning. Authorities are continuing to investigate. “There’s not a whole lot to go on right now,” Little- ¿eld said. The truck was destroyed in the ¿re. Alx Radford to share about living trans PENDLETON — Alx Radford will share personal experiences about his life as a transgender male of color. Sponsored by PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). Pendleton, Living Trans is Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Pendleton Center for the Arts, 214 N. Main St. The event is free and open to the public. A Umatilla tribal member who lives in Pendleton, Radford began transitioning his gender from female to male this past summer. Radford believes knowledge leads to a point of reference for acceptance and shares his personal experience as part of the education process. The 10 Commandments Exodus 20:1-17 #1 v1-3 God spoke... saying: I am the Lord your God...You shall have no other gods before me. #2 v4 You shall not make for yourself any graven image or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow yourself down to them nor serve them, for I the Lord you God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me 6 and showing mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. #3 v7 You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold those guiltless who take His name in vain. #4 v8 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 9 Six days shall you labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it , you shall not do any work: You nor your son nor your daughter, your servant nor your maid, nor your cattle, nor your visitor + who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. #5 v12 Honor your father and your mother so that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God has given to you. #6 v13 You shall not murder + . #7 v14 You shall not commit adultery. #8 v15 You shall not steal. #9 v16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. #10 v17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house and you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife nor his manservant nor his maidservant nor his ox nor his ass nor any thing that is your neighbor’s. Paid Advertising
