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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 23, 2016)
GREB TIES SCHOOL 3-POINT RECORD BASKETBALL/1B WEEKEND EDITION UMATILLA TEAM BUILDING NEW ROBOT LIFESTYLES/1C BANQUET HONORS CITIZENS, BUSINESS PENDLETON/3A JANUARY 23-24, 2016 140th Year, No. 71 $1.50 WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD PENDLETON PNNL signs with drone range 5LFKODQGEDVHGVFLHQFHODERUDWRU\WRVRRQEHJLQÀLJKWVDWDLUSRUW the range is sustainable. “We believed that we were acquiring a turnkey, federally By ANTONIO SIERRA ERRNVKLVFRQ¿GHQFHPD\VRRQEH and a wide variety of terrain and sanctioned monopoly,” Chrisman East Oregonian climates for customers to choose rewarded. said. The range still has all the poten- from. In May, the FAA undercut But the range has had trouble More than two years in, Steve tial that was advertised by local WKH YDOXH RI D FHUWL¿HG UDQJH E\ Chrisman remains optimistic RI¿FLDOV ZKHQ LW ZDV GHVLJQDWHG turning that potential into business, about the Pendleton Unmanned by the Federal Aviation Adminis- jobs and dollars. To date, no paying JUDQWLQJ EODQNHW ÀLJKW DXWKRUL Aerial Systems Range. And with tration as a drone test site on Dec. WHVW ÀLJKWV KDYH EHHQ FRQGXFWHG zation to any UAS operator who See DRONE/10A LWV ¿UVW ELJWLPH FOLHQW RQ WKH 30, 2013: Accessibility, clear skies there, an essential part of ensuring Farewell to a forest AgriNorthwest to buy Boardman Tree Farm By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian The trees are coming down. AgriNorthwest, a farm operator based in the Tri-Cities, has entered into an agreement to buy the Boardman Tree Farm from GreenWood Resources. Part of the 25,000-acre tree farm already sold to a local dairy that will raise approx- imately 8,000 cows south of Homestead Lane. The rest will now go to AgriNorthwest, which farms mostly potatoes and other irrigated crops. The deal is expected to close soon. Terms were not disclosed. In the meantime, Green- Staff photo by E.J. Harris Wood Resources will continue Rep. Greg Walden, right, listens to swing shift team leader Richard Lewellen talk about the veneer to harvest what trees are left production line at the Greenwood Resources tree farm Friday near Boardman. under a leaseback agreement. The Collins Companies operates a sawmill at the tree farm, and Columbia Forest Products runs a veneer mill that helps make decorative plywood. Logs are also sold for pulp and biofuel. ZeaChem, a company located at the nearby Port of Morrow, used sawdust from the tree farm to By JADE MCDOWELL make ethanol. East Oregonian The tree farm has also hosted “A Very Poplar Run” U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Or- since 2011, with 5K and egon, stopped by Hermiston for a . UDFHV WR EHQH¿W WKH tour of the Eastern Oregon Trade Agape House in Hermiston. and Event Center on Friday during Don Rice, director of North his trip across Eastern Oregon. American operations for Standing in the mostly-com- GreenWood Resources, said pleted event center building, the decision to sell the prop- EOTEC board member Dan Dorran erty has been met with mixed told Walden the project represented emotions. Staff photo by E.J. Harris a unique partnership between city, See TREE/10A county, school district and private EOTEC board member Dan Dorran gives a tour of the event center to Rep. Greg Walden on Friday in Hermiston. industry. “We’re very proud of this Dorran said. The EOTEC board is planning a project,” Dorran said. He told Walden that if he had community open house of the event Dorran explained the center’s any federal grants or other pockets center facility sometime in March, history, starting with the purchase of money needing to be spent, the once the building is completed. of the EOTEC property in 1983, EOTEC project was “shovels in the Earlier in the day, Walden when the Umatilla County Fair had ground” ready. made a stop at the Boardman Tree 12,000 visitors per year. Today the “We do have our hand out all the Farm with state Sen. Bill Hansell, same fairgrounds draw in 80,000 time,” Dorran said. R-Athena, where the two met people a year and close to as many Walden didn’t make any prom- behind closed doors with Green- for the Farm-City Pro Rodeo. ises that he could conjure up federal :RRG5HVRXUFHVRI¿FLDOV7KHWUHH He noted that in addition to funding for the project, but he did farm is undergoing a change of planned events, the project could ask questions and make suggestions ownership, with roughly one-third also serve as an evacuation point in during a detailed tour of the facility. of the property having been sold to an emergency, just like the current While discussing the acoustics in Willow Creek Dairy and the rest of fairgrounds did in 2014 after an the great hall, he told Dorran he was the land to AgriNorthwest. explosion at the LNG natural gas interested to see a computerized PA The lawmakers toured both plant in Plymouth forced residents system at the Readiness Center the Collins Companies’ Upper across the river. in The Dalles that automatically Columbia Mill and Columbia “Our plan is to have everything senses the level of noise in the room Forest Products veneer mill after in place to be able to do that again,” and adjusts accordingly. their meeting. Walden said he was impressed with the operations, and “We need to get back to the point where is pleased to know the land will remain under local management people feel like the government listens to and ownership. of Walden’s recent focus them, and they’re getting a fair shake.” has Much been on the situation in Harney – U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Oregon See WALDEN/10A EOTEC leaders give tour to Walden Representative completes busy two-county tour Planning for the unthinkable Bus crash, Sandy Hook topics at Safety Summit By KATHY ANEY East Oregonian Disaster can come in seconds. $ JXQPDQ RSHQV ¿UH LQ VFKRRO A tornado rolls. A mud slide buries homes. A neighborhood goes up in ÀDPHV Recovery takes much longer. In the aftermath, chaos and confusion RIWHQFRPSOLFDWHPDWWHUVDVRI¿FLDOV deal with law enforcement, media DWWHQWLRQ FOHDQXS WUDI¿F DQG D multitude of other details. As with most everything else in life, advance planning and networking can help. That was the idea behind Thursday’s Safety Summit at the Pendleton Convention Center, hosted by Blue Mountain Community College. The crowd of about 100 from three counties included representatives from law enforcement, education, health care, government and other organizations. Keynote speaker Mary Schoen- feldt, who has worked in emergency management and crisis response for more than 30 years, shared obser- vations gleaned during multiple disasters, including the mudslide in Oso, Washington, and two school shootings. She served as the Director of Recovery in her home town of Marysville, Washington, DIWHU D WHHQDJH VKRRWHU NLOOHG ¿YH and injured another. She also helped in Newtown, Connecticut, where a gunman fatally shot 20 children and six adults in 2012 at Sandy Hook See SAFETY/10A HERMISTON Man beaten, in critical condition East Oregonian A Hermiston man is in critical condition in a Spokane hospital after a Wednesday assault. Witnesses told the Umatilla &RXQW\6KHULII¶V2I¿FHWKDW'DYLG Wayne Newton, 53, and Lloyd Allan Terpening, 54, from Irrigon were LQ D ¿JKW -DQ DW D FRPPHUFLDO property at 81252 Highway 395, just south of the Hermiston Super Oval racetrack. Newton sustained a serious head injury in the ¿JKW DQG ZDV taken to Good Shepherd Medical Center, Hermiston, by his daughter and later trans- Terpening ferred to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Washington, for treatment. Newton’s condition remains “critical,” according to the hospital as of press time Friday. Terpening was located by police Friday afternoon, according to a release from Umatilla County Sheriff Terry Rowan. It was not immediately known if he has been charged with any crimes. The assault was not reported to police until the owner of the property arrived Thursday morning WR ¿QG EORRG LQVLGH WKH EXLOGLQJ The property owner said Newton See ASSAULT/10A
