90/57
FUNFEST
REVS UP
SATURDAY
FIREWORKS
RETURN TO
THE FOURTH
Pendleton
headed to
championship
HERMISTON/3A
PENDLETON/3A
LITTLE LEAGUE/1B
THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2016
140th Year, No. 184
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PENDLETON
PENDLETON
Goodwill opts out of store,
willing to sell to fi re station
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
While Goodwill is taking
Pendleton Cinema off its list as
a future development, the Pend-
leton Fire Department is putting
it on theirs.
Fire Chief Mike Ciraulo said
the board for Goodwill Industries
of the Columbia recently voted
to abandon plans to convert the
former movie theater into a thrift
store and collection center, but
is now interested in selling the
property to the city to build a new
fi re station.
Goodwill Industries of the
Columbia Executive Director
Ken Gosney was traveling
Wednesday and could not be
reached for comment.
Ciraulo said the Pendleton
Cinema site will be added to
a list of other potential fi re
station locations currently being
discussed by the city if it can pass
a bond. Other options include Til
Taylor Park, the Pendleton Grain
Growers building and the old St.
Anthony Hospital site.
Although the city would have
to demolish Pendleton Cinema to
build the fi re station, Ciraulo said
it would be cheaper than building
at the St. Anthony site because
there would be no need to create
a new street.
Additionally, the fi re depart-
ment would get use of the
whole block at 215 S.W. Second
St. and, in accordance with a
See CINEMA/8A
Local businesses prepare for minimum wage increase
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Only bare soil remains after a section
of old seating was removed recently to
make room for two new venues at the
Pendleton Round-Up: the 1910 Room
and a standing-only bar called the
Loading Chute.
Round-Up
cooks up
foodie
experience
Rodeo invites Portland chef
to help attract, entertain fans
BY KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Josh Herron of Helix grabs an order of jo-jos from a hot case for a customer while working at the Short Stop Mini Mart and
Deli on Wednesday in Pendleton.
The price of doing business
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
As Oregon’s minimum wage
rises over the next several years,
local businesses have a message
for rural residents — expect
higher prices for goods and
services.
Although the low-end of the
labor pool stands to see more
money in their paychecks, the
owners and managers of three
Pendleton businesses said
customers will have to subsidize
“You just can’t pay people more money
and expect them to change their mindset.”
— Andrea Das, co-owner of Pendleton Howard Johnson
the increase.
The Short Stop Mini Mart
and Deli, 2012 NW Carden Ave.,
employs eight people — about
half of them make minimum
wage.
Short Stop general manager
Shawn Bosworth said he expects
to raise the prices of his goods
10-20 percent over the duration
of the minimum wage increase
to accommodate a more expen-
sive payroll.
Bosworth doesn’t anticipate
the price increase will scare
away customers — a 20 percent
increase on a $2 bottle of soda
will raise the bill by 40 cents —
More inside
Minimum wage hike will
help some, hurt some
OPINION/4A
but it will still have a tangible
effect.
But not every business has
confi dence that a price increase
will leave their business
unscathed.
Andrea Das co-owns the
See WAGE/8A
Goodwill to become bottle drop center
Police force faces
new event season
down fi ve offi cers
can count them by hand.
A third option is to open a
BottleDrop account. Participants
can purchase BottleDrop bags
for 15 cents apiece, fi ll them
July will put Pendleton police to the test.
The department is down fi ve offi cers
and facing the upcoming Fourth of July
weekend, the Pendleton Whisky Music Fest
the weekend of July 16 and Pendleton Bike
Week four days later. Police Chief Stuart
Roberts said right now, ensuring each shift
has three offi cers on duty is a struggle.
“We can handle being two down,”
Roberts said. “But fi ve is catastrophic.”
Bill Caldera and Glenn Hamby, long-
time members of the department, retired
this year. Josh Roberts, no relation to the
chief, left last year to work for the Umatilla
County Sheriff’s Offi ce, which offers hiring
bonuses. One of the department’s newest
offi cers resigned during fi eld training when
he “could not demonstrate or master certain
skills,” the chief said, and offi cer Drew
Hubel took a fall during recent training and
broke a bone in his shoulder.
Hubel had surgery this week, could be
See GOODWILL/8A
See POLICE/8A
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Work trucks outside the former Goodwill building in Hermis-
ton signal the start of renovations that will turn the building
into a beverage container recycling center.
“They’re similar to what
you see at the grocery store, but
newer and much faster,” she said.
For people who have fewer
than 50 containers, or have
containers that are too damaged
to go through the machines, staff
PENDLETON
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
HERMISTON
The former Goodwill building
in Hermiston is being recycled
into a center that collects cans
and bottles.
The center, run by the Oregon
Beverage Recycling Coopera-
tive, will offer a clean, indoor,
staffed option for people to
redeem their beverage containers
for deposits.
Cherilyn Bertges, public rela-
tions and outreach manager for
OBRC, said people will be able
to feed up to 350 containers per
person per day through “reverse
vending machines” that take all
three types of containers with an
Oregon deposit.
The Pendleton Round-Up is reaching out
to a new fan base — foodies.
During this year’s four-day rodeo, a
regional chef will prepare western-inspired
dishes in an upscale dining venue called the
1910 Room. Foodies can watch rodeo action
from a private suite while feasting on such
dishes as pork chops smothered in Pendleton
Whisky barbecue sauce.
The foodie experience won’t come cheap.
The most expensive of the four packages, a
private suite for 20 guests, costs $4,000 per
day.
In order to make space for the 1910 Room,
named after the fi rst year of the Round-Up,
Publicity Director Randy Thomas said the
rodeo removed the southeast end of the
grandstands and will replace it with the
high-end viewing venue nestled inside tents.
Thomas and other directors on the
See ROUND-UP/8A