68/42
LEADERS ASK
FOR BAN ON
OIL TRAINS
BUCKAROO
HITS STRIDE
IN CINCINNATI
NORTHWEST/2A
BASEBALL/1B
THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2016
140th Year, No. 174
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Proposed $6B tax brings political battle
IP28 would place 2.5 percent tax
on corporations with $25M in sales
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Opponents and supporters
of a proposed $6 billion tax on
Oregon sales are preparing for a
knockdown, drag-out fi ght before
the measure comes to voters in
November.
“This is probably the biggest
political fi ght we’ll see in decades,”
Oregon Chamber of Commerce
Executive Director Alison Hart
said.
The proposal, known as IP28,
will place a 2.5 percent tax on
Class C corporation sales over $25
million in Oregon. An analysis
by the nonpartisan Legislative
Revenue Offi ce estimates the tax
will raise approximately $6 billion
for state services each biennium but
also increase the cost of living for
Oregonians.
Hart visited with a handful of
Hermiston Chamber of Commerce
members on Wednesday, asking
them to spread the word of the
potential harm if IP28 is approved
by voters.
“It will hurt our entire economy,”
she said. “Oregon is too small of
a state to absorb a $6 billion tax
increase.”
Supporters of the measure —
backed by public employee unions
— disagree. They point out that
only an estimated 1,051 companies
in Oregon will see their taxes raised.
A Better Oregon, which
collected
enough
signatures
to place the measure on the
November ballot, says it will force
large national corporations that do
business in Oregon to pay their
“fair share” to help struggling local
Sherwood Heights and Washington schools come down
schools and seniors.
According to their website, less
than one percent of Oregon busi-
nesses will see their taxes raised,
and more than 85 percent of the tax
will be paid by corporations with
more than $100 million in Oregon
sales.
“Companies like Bank of
America, Comcast, Wal-Mart
and Monsanto make hundreds of
millions of dollars from the business
See TAX/8A
State fi nalizes
new minimum
wage rules
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Indus-
tries fi nalized new minimum wage rules
Wednesday, requiring employers to pay a
regional rate based on where the employee
works more than 50 percent of the time.
The rules are a compromise between
a proposal favored by labor groups and
requests by business groups to base the rate
on where the employer is located.
“I appreciate that both industry associa-
tions and minimum wage advocates stepped
up to advise our agency’s rulemaking
process,” said Labor Commissioner Brad
Avakian in a statement. “As Oregon raises
its minimum wage for more than a hundred
thousand workers next month, we hope that
the rules will provide fairness to workers
and employers alike.”
See WAGE/8A
PENDLETON
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
An excavator operator from 3 Kings Environmental chewed away the old Sherwood Heights Elementary School on
Wednesday morning. Across town, it was the same scene at Washington Elementary School. The demolition will last 2-3
weeks. On the ground are rooftop ventilation units put aside for salvage.
Demolition & nostalgia
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Chris Demianew watched the demo-
lition of Sherwood Heights Elementary
School on Wednesday morning with a
distant look in his eyes.
Two excavators chomped into the
old school with clamshell buckets that
grabbed and smashed whatever came into
their grasp. The excavators attacked the
gym, but eventually will chew their way
around the building in a circular fashion.
The demolition will last for about two
months at Sherwood and also across
town at the old Washington Elementary
School.
The loud demolition noises didn’t
seem to phase Demianew, who stood on
the sidewalk, remembering his years at
the school.
“My entire family went here,” he said.
“My fi ve brothers and sisters. My two
children.”
Demianew, 40, can still recall learning
square dancing in the cafeteria and
playing four-square on the cement play
area out back. He remembers Principal
Joseph Daley, who contributed to Demi-
anew’s own desire to become a teacher.
“My connection to teaching started in
this very building,” he said. “Mr. Daley
was a kind man who expected kids to do
their best.”
Daley became the fi rst principal at
Sherwood in 1954 and remained there
until he retired in 1986.
As Demianew mused, Project Manager
Greg Ponder of Kirby Nagelhout
Construction greeted him and chatted
See SCHOOLS/8A
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Inside Sherwood Heights Elementary
School are hundreds of notes left by stu-
dents, teachers and others who wanted to
say goodbye.
Council hazy
on marijuana
ballot questions
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
It has been six months since the Pendleton
City Council agreed to refer marijuana sales to
the ballot, but exactly what voters will decide
is still up in the air.
The members of the council met for a
workshop Tuesday to discuss how to write the
ballot measure for November, but could not
reach a consensus.
While the council previously discussed
asking voters three questions — whether to
legalize recreational marijuana, whether to
legalize medical marijuana and whether to
assess a 3 percent tax on the revenue — City
Attorney Nancy Kerns advised against this
approach.
“My logic is that statute says that if you
have any kind of ban, you can’t have a tax,”
See MARIJUANA/8A
Hydropower proposed at McKay Dam
Project calls for 1.9-MW
generator and powerhouse
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
A fi fth-generation Pendletonian is
considering seasonal hydroelectricity
at McKay Dam.
Bill Hampton, a registered
professional engineer, has proposed
installing a relatively small 1.9-mega-
watt generator and powerhouse at the
dam, located about six miles south
of Pendleton. Hampton’s company,
Houtama Hydropower LLC, fi led
preliminary permitting documents
on June 9 with the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission and studies
are now underway to determine if the
project would be environmentally and
economically feasible.
It is at least the third time someone
has looked into producing hydro
power at McKay Dam, which has
historically provided irrigation water
for downstream farms and ranches
along the Umatilla River. The Bureau
of Reclamation owns and operates the
dam fi ve miles up McKay Creek, part
of a 1,837-acre wildlife refuge.
Hampton said McKay is one of a
number of irrigation dams across the
country that are not being used to their
full potential.
“The water is going through the
dam anyway,” he said. “Instead
of having the water run through a
valve, you have it run through a
turbine. ... It has minimal impacts on
the environment.”
See DAM/8A
EO fi le photo
A Pendleton engineering company has proposed generating
1.9 megawatts of hydroelectricity at McKay Dam.