REGION
Wednesday, April , 201
East Oregonian
Page 3A
PENDLETON
Housing committee takes hard look at commuter data
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The fact that many
workers commute from
elsewhere has been a
compelling force for city
of¿cials to create more
housing in Pendleton.
But while 5.2 percent of
Pendleton’s workforce are
out-of-towners, Pendleton
city intern Haley Meisen-
holder took a deeper look
at commuting data from the
8.S. Census Bureau Center
for Economic Studies in a
report she presented to the
Pendleton Housing Study
Committee on Friday.
One of Meisenholder’s
big takeaways was that
Pendleton commuters were
coming from unincorpo-
rated properties outside
city limits, rather than other
municipalities like Herm-
iston or La Grande.
According to the census
bureau data, 41 percent of
Pendleton commuters come
from the surrounding area
while less than 20 percent
are based in other towns in
8matilla County.
Another conclusion from
Meisenholder’s
analysis
is that Pendleton’s worker
retention rate is better than
its neighbors — Pendleton
keeps 43 percent of its
workers in town while
Hermiston
retains
32
percent.
If most of Pendleton’s
commuters are coming
from the area surrounding
the city, the city could try
to make more room for
housing by expanding its
conservatively drawn urban
growth boundary.
But despite a newly
passed bill from the Oregon
HERMISTON — A
Good Shepherd Community
Health Foundation grant
of $3,353 has purchased
seven vacuum splinting
kits for Hermiston Fire and
Emergency Services.
The splints work for
“every conceivable”
splinting situation, from
dislocated shoulders to angu-
lated fractures, according to
a release from Hermiston
Fire. The splints mold to
the patient, preventing
circumferential pressure,
which reduces nerve, tissue
and blood vessel damage.
The kits have a variety of
sizes and a pump, which
evacuates the air and makes
them rigid — less painful to
apply than traditional splints.
The grant was awarded
in mid-March, and the
vacuum splinting kits have
been received and placed
on each of Hermiston’s
¿ve ambulances, as well as
¿rst response vehicles in
Stan¿eld and 8matilla.
Tourism workshops
slated for Mission,
John Day
MISSION — The
Oregon Heritage Commis-
sion is sponsoring two
half-day workshops to help
businesses and organizations
promote heritage tourism in
their communities.
Both workshops will
run from 9 a.m. to 12:30
p.m. The ¿rst will be held
Wednesday, April 20 at
Tamástslikt Cultural Institute
in Mission. The second will
be Thursday, April 21 at
the Blue Mountain Ranger
'istrict Of¿ce in -ohn 'ay.
.yle -ansson, coordinator
for the heritage commission,
said heritage tourists tend to
take longer trips and spent
more money when they
travel. Heritage tourism
includes visits to local
historic, cultural and natural
resources.
The workshops will
provide information,
contacts, networking
opportunities and ideas for
collaboration that can build
upon the tourism experience.
Preregistration is requested
by emailing your name,
email address and workshop
location to heritage.info@
oregon.gov.
For more information,
contact -ansson at 503-9-
03.
City adds evening
times to budget
meetings
PENDLETON — The
city of Pendleton taking
a different approach to its
budget meetings this year.
Instead of its usual slate
of early morning meetings,
the city is scheduling two
evening meetings this year.
City Manager Robb
Corbett said the evening
meetings are a part of an
effort by the city to give the
public greater access to the
budget process.
Corbett said the council
will also discuss a mock
budget that city staffers
made to show the difference
between the ideal level
funding for the city budget
and their ¿scal realities.
The budget committee is
composed of the mayor, the
city council and nine citizen
appointees.
-oining the committee
this year is -ohn Turner,
the former president of
Blue Mountain Community
College and the only
mayoral candidate.
He will take the spot of
Confederated Tribes of the
8matilla Indian Reservation
spokesman Chuck Sams,
who resigned.
All meetings will be held
at the Vert Little Theater,
345 S.W. Fourth Street.
The schedule is listed
below.
April 2, a.m.- a.m.
April 2, p.m.- p.m.
May 3, a.m.- a.m.
May 5, p.m.- p.m.
May , a.m.- a.m.
Arts festival seeks
participants
HERMISTON — Cash
prizes are available in
the Eastern Oregon Arts
Festival.
The event, which is May
-, is seeking professional
artists to exhibit and sell
their work for the juried
show. In addition, people
can rent an exhibitor booth
to show and sell their work.
Artwork may include
any media, including
paintings, sculpture, jewelry,
wood carving, airbrush,
mixed media, drawings,
photography, printmaking,
metal sculpture and
ceramics.
For the juried group
show, artists may submit up
to two works. The entry fee
is $5 each. For art vendor
space, the cost is $25, which
includes the fee for up to
two pieces into the group
show. Artwork must be
deemed appropriate for a
family audience. Those new
to the festival must submit
images of several pieces of
work for acceptance.
The registration deadline
for both is Friday, April 15.
For detailed information,
visit www.desertartscouncil.
com or contact Heather
LaBeau 541--5010 or
hlabeau@hermiston.or.us.
———
Briefs are compiled
from staff and wire reports,
and press releases. Email
press releases to news@
eastoregonian.com
by PATRICK MULVIHILL
The Dalles Chronicle
A 15-year-old male
in a stolen truck led law
enforcement of¿cials on a
wild chase from Arlington to
Hood River on Saturday.
The pursuit ended when
a police cruiser pinned the
vehicle against the center
median of Interstate 4
and the driver, a Plymouth,
Wash., teen, was arrested at
gunpoint.
The chase, which spanned
four Oregon counties, began
when police discovered a
stolen vehicle.
At about 11:40 a.m.
Saturday, Oregon State
Police Trooper Mark -ubitz
spotted a maroon Ford
F-350, which had reportedly
been nabbed from a gas
station in Hermiston.
-ust east of Arlington,
-ubitz Àipped on his emer-
gency lights and siren. The
suspect increased his speed
while heading westbound
on I-4, accelerating to
almost 100 miles per hour,
according to a written report
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joined by Hood River
County Sheriff’s deputies
and Hood River police of¿-
cers, caught up.
-ubitz rammed into
the truck head-on with his
cruiser. He hit the truck
again, pinning it to the
median. Police of¿cers got
out of their vehicles, guns
raised, and surrounded the
vehicle.
“The suspect threw up his
hands and came out of the
vehicle,” -ubitz said in his
report.
“It went smoothly,”
Holste said of the arrest.
The driver, whose name
was not released due to his
age, was charged with nine
offenses: unauthorized use
of vehicle, unauthorized
entry into motor vehicle,
possession of stolen vehicle,
reckless driving, reckless
endangering person, reckless
endangering of highway
workers, criminal mischief,
theft, and failure to perform
duties of a driver in an acci-
dent with property damage.
He was lodged in the
NORCOR juvenile facility.
Exhibits, Museum Store
AUCTION
Pendleton, OR
by -ubitz.
Near milepost 114, by
Lepage Park, OSP Senior
trooper Michael Holloran
punctured the front right
tire with a spike trap, but the
vehicle pressed on.
At milepost 101, west
of Biggs -unction, a deputy
with Wasco County Sheriff’s
Of¿ce managed to spike the
left rear tire.
The vehicle continued
into a construction zone,
while of¿cers followed in a
slower “slack pursuit.” The
Àeeing driver hit several
traf¿c barrels and smashed
into three barricades. One
barrel got wedged under-
neath the truck.
Hood River police set up
a ¿nal forti¿cation of spikes,
but neither hit the truck.
At about milepost 3, the
suspect driver tried to pass a
commercial semi-trailer by
sliding into the center grassy
median. Instead, the truck
lost control on its deÀated
tires and spun with a screech
to face the wrong direction in
the median.
A group of OSP cars,
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Pendleton.
Although there’s room
for roughly new dwell-
ings in that area, Mabbott
said the cost of buying and
developing the land means
executive level homes tend
to be the most feasible
developments.
Committee chair -ohn
Turner
scheduled
the
committee’s next meeting
for April 29 at 1:30 p.m. at
Pendleton City Hall.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.
Submit information to: community@eastoregonian.com or drop off to the attention of Tammy
Malgesini at 333 E. Main St., Hermiston or Renee Struthers at 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton.
Call 541-564-4539 or 541-966-0818 with questions.
www.rmnw-auctions.com
RM /
NW
also noted that an affordable
housing development could
pull low-income residents
away from public transpor-
tation and other important
services.
8matilla
County
Planning Director Tamra
Mabbott said unincor-
porated Pendleton might
not be a fruitful target for
affordable and workforce
housing.
Mabbott said the coun-
ty’s planning department
averages
about
three
housing permits per year
for the land surrounding
Truck stolen in Hermiston leads to chase
BRIEFLY
Good Shepherd
grant purchases
vacuum splints
Legislature that establishes
a pilot program for commu-
nities looking establish
their boundaries, interim
city planner George Clough
said the rules for expansion
remain stringent.
8nder the pilot program
established under House
Bill 409, cities can make a
one-time expansion to their
urban growth boundaries
up to 50 acres, provided the
expansion is made with a
state-approved affordable
housing project in mind.
Clough said the program
is worth looking into, but
Hines, OR
• 9,550± square foot former bank branch with walk-in vault, mezzanine,
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• 9,000± square foot brick building next to historic Gem Theater and Star
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• Former 2,316± square foot restaurant on 27,442± square foot site,
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Saturday, April 16, 2016
Hermiston Conference Center
5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Our Annual Meeting theme
“Building For The Future” is a recognition of
the milestone projects underway or completed
in 2015, and what we expect in 2016.
As always, attendance is free to UEC members.
We hope you will join us!
F
Featured
Speaker
Mark Speckman,
M
c celebrated football
c coach and inspirational
s speaker, will highlight
Umatilla Electric’s 2016
U
Annual Meeting!
A