DURANT
PICKS
WARRORS
NBA/2B
79/53
‘Mystery Show’
a podcast you’ll
want to discover
What to know
about NASA’s
trip to Jupiter
OPINION/6A
SPACE/4A
TUESDAY, JULY 5, 2016
140th Year, No. 187
Ag trade
gears up
for fi ght
against
IP28
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — The Oregon
agricultural industry is
gearing up for battle against
a campaign to pass a corpo-
rate sales tax measure on the
November ballot by shed-
ding light on how the tax will
affect individual companies
and farmers.
Under Initiative Petition
28, the Mt. Angel-based
Wilco farm supplies and
fuel cooperative faces a
1,388-percent increase in its
state corporate income tax
bill, from $168,000 to $2.5
million per year, CEO Doug
Hoffman said.
The tax would apply
only to the $100 million in
sales at Wilco Farm Stores
in Oregon; direct sales to the
cooperative’s 3,000 members
are exempt, Hoffman said.
The ballot measure targets
C corporations, imposing
a 2.5 percent tax on their
Oregon gross sales exceeding
$25 million. It’s expected to
raise about $3 billion a year
in new state revenue.
The nonpartisan Legis-
lative Revenue Offi ce says
the tax will act largely as
a consumption tax, raising
prices for consumers and
businesses.
The
union-backed
campaign A Better Oregon
says the state needs that
revenue to bolster support for
education, health care and
senior services. Proponents
also note that corporations’
income tax contributions to
state revenue has declined
as a percentage from 18.5 in
the mid-1970s to 6.7 now,
according to a study by the
Oregon Public Policy Center.
While the campaign says
the tax targets big out-of-state
corporations, it also affects
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Bicentennial born
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
M
atilda Williams of Pendleton
shares her birthday with the
United States of America. She
came into the world July 4, 1976, on the
nation’s bicentennial.
The East Oregonian even ran a small
front page story about the birth on the July
5, 1976 edition.
Her parents, Robert and Ruth White of
Pasco, were on their way to Hermiston’s
Good Shepherd Hospital at the time when
the car broke down in Umatilla.
“Dad had to walk a mile-and-half to get
help,” Williams said.
The paper reported a nurse from the
hospital delivered 6-pound Matilda at 10
a.m. in the car. An ambulance then took
mom and baby to the Hermiston hospital.
Williams said her birth is still quite the
story to her two daughters, ages 13 and 15,
but she also feels a deep connection to the
national holiday. She has grandparents that
served in the military, she said, and her
brother did two tours in Iraq as a member
of the Army National Guard.
Signifi cant birthday connection don’t
stop there in her family, Williams said. Her
brother was born on Dec. 25, and a cousin
who also has a Christmas birthday gave
Staff photos by E.J. Harris
Matilda Williams, left, celebrates her
40th birthday with her family in a small
backyard BBQ on the Fourth of July in
Pendleton. Williams was born on the
way to the hospital on the U.S. bicen-
tennial.
More inside
For photos from
today’s Fourth of
July celebrations,
see page 8A.
See BIRTHDAY/8A
BELOW: A 1928 Model A Ford
Roadster Pickup owned by
Jim Smootz drives under-
neath a U.S. Flag on Main
Street during the Fourth of
July parade in Pendleton.
See AG/8A
PAUL SHERMAN
OF MILTON-FREEWATER
Enjoy a free trip to the
Pendleton Underground Tours.
PENDLETON
Couple celebrates platinum anniversary
By WILL DENNER
East Oregonian
Jim
and
Carolyn
Hendricks have a marital
philosophy they believe has
kept them together for 70
years.
Jim calls their ability to
compromise “rounding off
the corners.”
“When a situation comes
up between (us), instead of
being sharp, you have to
round off the corners and be
mellow,” he said.
“But sometimes it helps if
you get your way,” Carolyn
said.
The couple celebrated
their 70th wedding anniver-
sary Thursday at the Sun
Ridge Retirement Commu-
nity in Pendleton with two of
their three children, daughter
See PLATINUM/8A
TSPC drafts
rule change for
teacher-student
relationships
Would consider teens ‘students’
for 90 days after graduation
By ALEXA LOUGEE
East Oregonian
Staff Photo By Will Denner
Jim and Carolyn Hendricks share a laugh while celebrating their 70th
wedding anniversary Thursday
In the wake of increasing sexual
misconduct complaints about Oregon
teachers, including a former local educator,
the line between appropriate and inappro-
priate student-teacher relationships may
soon become better defi ned.
Since 1994, Oregon’s Teacher Stan-
dards and Practices Commission has
investigated 136 educators for sexual
conduct with a student. Fifty-one of those
cases have been instigated in the last
six years. TSPC is Oregon’s licensing
agency for all educators, and also takes
See TSPC/8A