STANFIELD
PREPS FOR
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BASEBALL/1B
REGION/3A
THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2016
140th Year, No. 164
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
BOARDMAN
New housing
proposed for
farmworkers
Seasonal workers needed at
Threemile Canyon Farms
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Sen. Ron Wyden smiles at himself in the mirror of a bathroom in the second house built by students for the Columbia Basin
Student Homebuilding Program. Wyden toured the home Wednesday with Hermiston senior Elizabeth Herrera.
Education blueprint
Wyden touts Hermiston as
model for technical education
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Sen. Ron Wyden plans to
put Hermiston High School in
the spotlight as Congress works
to implement new education
legislation.
He met with career-technical
education students Wednesday,
including business students
and members of the Columbia
Basin Student Homebuilding
Program.
“If it’s all right with you, I’m
going to talk about you guys on
the fl oor of the Senate,” Wyden
told the students.
He had high praise for
Hermiston’s CTE programs,
calling them “exactly the kind of
model” he wanted to highlight
as he works to create legislation
aimed at raising graduation
rates.
“I haven’t heard of anyone
else that has the array of
programs you do,” he said.
Wyden said Oregon has a
lot to be proud of, but its high
school graduation rate is not one
of those things. As he has been
See WYDEN/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston senior Dru Walchli, bottom, makes a coffee drink
for Sen. Ron Wyden as senior Kiersten Miller talks about Java
Dawg, the Hermiston High School student run coffee shop, on
Wednesday in Hermiston.
Threemile Canyon Farms is looking to
add a new housing development west of
Boardman for 200 to 800 seasonal workers
who are needed to grow more organic crops.
But fi rst, Morrow County must approve a
zoning change for the property on Tower Road
south of Interstate 84. The land is currently
zoned Space Age Industrial, which does
not allow seasonal farmworker housing as
a permitted use. Instead, Threemile Canyon
Farms wants the
land zoned for
Exclusive Farm “I don’t under-
Use, which would
stand why we
allow the project to
move forward.
treat our farm-
The Morrow
workers the
County Planning
Commission met way we do. It’s
May 24 to review
my estimation
the zoning request,
and
continued
that we have
that hearing for its
next meeting on
ample water,
Tuesday, June 28.
ample sewer
Planning director
Carla McLane said
and ample
the commission
will make its building space
recommendation
to the county court, within the city.”
which has fi nal say
– Kelly Doherty,
on the matter. The nearby property owner
commission will
meet at 7 p.m. at
the Bartholomew Building in Heppner.
Threemile Canyon Farms is owned and
operated by R.D. Offutt Company, which
is working on a deal to buy 66 acres from
the city of Boardman through its real estate
branch — PROfuutt Limited Partnership — to
build farmworker housing along the east side
of Tower Road. The property is outside of the
city’s urban growth boundary, across from the
Boardman Airport.
Organic farming has become more of an
emphasis at the farm in recent years, with
See HOUSING/8A
HERMISTON
Lonnie Wright
Pioneer of Columbia Gorge wine industry
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
THE DALLES — The
pump is on for the fi rst time
this season but things aren’t
working. Alejandro Rojas,
Lonnie Wright’s foreman
and friend for 20 years at
The Pines 1852 vineyard,
says there isn’t enough
Eric Mortenson/Capital Press
Lonnie Wright is considered the pioneer of Columbia
Gorge wines, having planted or managed dozens
of vineyards over the past 35 years. In 2011 he was
given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Oregon
Wine Board.
pressure to water the grapes
up on the slope: the Syrah,
the Merlot, the “Young Zin”
and, of course, the Old Vine
Zinfandel that grows at the
heart of Lonnie’s story.
Wright doesn’t like what
he’s hearing. Truth is, he’s
fuming. He says there must
be a leak in the system. He
wants Rojas and two other
employees to chop a path
down to Mill Creek to see if
there’s a problem in the pipe
down there.
Rojas demurs; he has other
options to check fi rst. And
besides, he just had a bout
with poison oak and doesn’t
savor crashing through brush
to examine the creek pipe.
“You got a machete?”
Wright asks. “I’ll do it.” And
next thing he’s rummaging
through a tool shed, muttering,
looking in vain for a machete
and grabbing a couple of big
clippers instead.
Wright, 67, bears the
ruddy look of someone who
works outdoors, with a thick
mustache and salt and pepper
hair swept back from his fore-
head. He’s the acknowledged
See WINE/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Firefi ghters battle a fi re in an onion shed at the Columbia Basin Spreader
facility Wednesday on Westland Road southwest of Hermiston. Firefi ghters
from Umatilla and Morrow counties responded to the blaze.
One person injured in
onion storage building fi re
East Oregonian
A fi re Wednesday at
Columbia Basin Spreaders
on Westland Road near
Hermiston sent a burn
victim to the hospital,
according to Hermiston
Fire
&
Emergency
Services.
An update on the
department’s
Facebook
page reported that one
patient was fl own to a burn
center in Portland. All other
employees were accounted
for and no fi refi ghters were
injured.
The fi re consumed an
approximately 400-by-150-
foot single-story onion
storage building, which
according to the fi re district
was “being worked on”
when the fi re started shortly
after 3:30 p.m.
Mutual
aid
was
provided by multiple fi re
departments from Umatilla
and Morrow counties.