OIL TRAINS BACK
ON TRACKS IN
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NORTHWEST/7A
THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2016
140th Year, No. 179
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
If you grow it, they will come Homicide
Agritourism workshop focuses
UMATILLA COUNTY
upsurge
worst in
at least
a decade
on ‘Oregon’s Rugged Country’
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Umatilla and Morrow
counties are home to a
sweeping variety of agri-
culture, from rolling wheat
fi elds to colorful orchards
and rugged cattle ranches.
State tourism offi cials
say those same farms could
become a major selling
point for visitors wanting to
see (and taste) the authentic
Oregon experience.
Travel Oregon, along with
the Eastern Oregon Visitors
Association and Northeast
Oregon Economic Develop-
ment District, hosted a pair
of workshops Tuesday and
Wednesday to teach farmers
ways they can attract tourists
while sustaining their normal
operations.
The melding of agri-
culture and tourism, or
“agritourism,” is not a new
concept. Activities can
include things like U-pick
fi elds, farm stands and horse-
back riding. Alexa Carey,
destination
development
specialist for Travel Oregon,
See AGRITOURISM/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A kindergarten student picks out a pumpkin while on a 2015 fi eld
trip with his classmates from Sunset Elementary School to the
Bellinger Farms pumpkin patch in Hermiston.
Five cases since August
not connected; arrests
have been made in all
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
McKenzie Brogoitti, 11, Gage Brogoitti, 13, both of la Grande, and Justin Keeney, 16, of Stanfi eld work on
reconstructing computer towers on Wednesday at the InterMountain Education Service District’s STEP Sum-
mer Tech Camp at Sunridge Middle School in Pendleton.
Tech happy campers
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
For the duration of an idyllic
summer week, a few dozen kids
elected to spend much of it indoors,
back at school.
That’s the central conceit of the
InterMountain Education Service
District’s STEP Summer Tech
Camp at Sunridge Middle School,
Pendleton, where district staff
hoped to foster the next generation
of technology sector workers in
Eastern Oregon.
While the nature of the camp
meant attendees spent a lot of time
inside the school, good weather on
Tuesday allowed campers to partici-
pate in a computer assembly activity
out in the sun.
Samuel Kerns of Pilot Rock and
Gabe Corwin of Athena-Weston
only took their eyes away from their
project for a few seconds to watch a
man operate a remote control heli-
copter before they returned their
attention to reassembling a desktop
computer.
Both boys had experience taking
apart computers, and although they
had already put together most of
the unit, they were having trouble
reinstalling the hard drive.
“Complicated, but entertaining,”
Corwin mused.
Matthew Miltenberger also
See TECH CAMP/8A
OREGON’S OVERTIME OVERHAUL
New rules could hit nonprofi ts hard
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
Noel Mickelberry, executive
director of Oregon Walks, often
works weekends when she orga-
nizes a fundraiser for the nonprofi t
organization or works on projects
to advocate for protecting Orego-
nians’ “right to roam.”
During one such event Nov.
20, Mickelberry led a crew of
30 volunteers in setting up white
silhouettes along roadsides to
commemorate World Day of
Remembrance for Traffi c Victims.
Mickelberry’s long hours
will have to end or be reduced
under new federal rules requiring
mandatory overtime pay for many
salaried workers who work more
than 40 hours.
New rules, effective Dec.
1, require both for-profi t and
nonprofi t employers to pay over-
time to salaried employees who
receive less than $47,476 per year,
up from a threshold of $23,660.
Both of Oregon Walks’
employees, including Mickel-
berry, earn less than $47,476. With
a budget of about $150,000 per
year, the nonprofi t will have to be
careful about keeping employees’
hours down, Mickelberry said.
“Fundraising events are a lot
of work and require staff to put in
a lot of hours leading up to them,”
Mickelberry said. “We will need
to look at either paying overtime
or reevaluating how we run those
events. We are very supportive
of the changes, but it is affecting
the way we think about how we
do our work to make sure we are
compensating and supporting
staff through those times.”
The new rules by the U.S.
Department of Labor could give
up to 4 million Americans a raise,
according to the U.S. Department
of Labor.
President
Obama
fi rst
proposed the changes in 2014
with a memorandum directing
the labor department to update
the Fair Labor Standards Act
overtime regulations. The depart-
ment received more than 270,000
See OVERTIME/8A
Five people were victims of homicide in
Umatilla County in the last year, four this
year alone, and three in Milton-Freewater.
The cases are not related. Umatilla
County usually has one or two murders a
year. FBI crime statistics, local police data
and a search of East Oregonian records
show this is the biggest spike of murder in
the county in at least a decade.
Three cases are in the Umatilla County
Circuit Court and the other two are in federal
court.
•Guadalupe Jose Diaz, 20, died Aug. 1 in
Milton-Freewater from what police called a
gang-style drive-by shooting.
The district attorney’s offi ce charged
George Rodriguez Cantu, 23, of Walla
Walla, with the murder in Diaz’s death, as
well as unlawful use of a weapon against
another, unlawful discharge of a weapon
against another and unlawful possession of
a fi rearm. He had a hearing in court Monday
in Pendleton, where defense attorney
Robert Klahn said he was still looking for a
Spanish-speaking investigator and trying to
obtain reports and other relevant documents
from the state.
Circuit Judge Christopher Brauer told
Klahn to not delay and work with the
district attorney’s offi ce to go through the
documents. Klahn said he should be ready to
set due dates for motions — requests of the
court — by mid-August.
Brauer kept Cantu’s trial on the docket
for Dec. 5-16 and set a hearing for Aug.
See HOMICIDE/8A
Rep. Chillie Pingree via AP
Democrat members of Congress, includ-
ing Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., center, and
Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn. participate
in a sit-down protest seeking a a vote
on gun control measures Wednesday.
Democrats take
a seat in protest
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Rebellious Demo-
crats staged an extraordinary all-day sit-in on
the House fl oor Wednesday to demand votes
on gun-control bills, shouting down Speaker
Paul Ryan when he attempted to restore
order as their protest stretched into the night.
The stunning and unruly scene was
broadcast live to the world from Democrats’
cell phones, feeds picked up by C-SPAN
after Republicans shut down the network’s
cameras.
The sit-in was well into its 10th hour, with
Democrats camped out on the fl oor stopping
legislative business in the House, when Ryan
stepped to the podium to gavel the House
into session and hold votes on routine busi-
ness. Angry Democrats chanted “No bill, no
See PROTEST/8A