TRAIN PENDLETON
RETIREE
T-BONES
FINISHES
TRUCK
REGION/3A
IRONMAN
SPORTS/1B
Visit the Pendleton Chamber
of Commerce for a free
charm trail starter bracelet
R ROYAL RAYMOND
OF HELIX
93/62
THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2016
140th Year, No. 199
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PENDLETON
Heir to the co-op
United Grain takes over for PGG
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
It’s been a hectic homecoming for
Tony Flagg.
After nearly two decades as CEO
of the Pendleton Flour Mills, Flagg
fi nds himself back in the Round-Up
City — this time as vice president of
business development for United Grain
Corporation, which recently bought all
grain assets from the now-dissolved
Pendleton Grain Growers.
The deal became offi cial June 10,
which gave Flagg one month to hire
staff and open a new offi ce on Main
Street before the start of wheat harvest.
The sale included PGG’s upcountry
grain elevators and Columbia River
terminal, but not its other businesses
or main offi ce building on Dorion
Avenue.
The timing was tricky, having to
jump directly into harvest. But Flagg
said they’ve hit the ground running
See GRAIN/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Anthony Flagg, vice president of business development
for United Grain, has overseen the transition for PGG grain
facilities to United Grain just in time for the summer harvest.
State
elections
director
resigns
Announcement comes
with little explanation
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
More than one hundred bikers ride down Dorion Avenue on their way to Til Taylor Park for the offi cial start to the Pendleton
Bike Week.
BIKE WEEK REVS UP
Bikers pay tribute to law enforcement
with Til Taylor Memorial Ride
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Pendleton Bike Week has
ensured that Round-Up isn’t
the only time leather-clad riders
stream through downtown Pend-
leton.
Pendleton’s second annual
motorcycle rally kicked off
Wednesday with the Til Taylor
Ride, a police-escorted ride from
the Pendleton Convention Center
to Til Taylor Park.
Bike week organizer Eric
Folkestad said the focus of this
year’s event was to make it bigger
and better than the last — more
vendors, new acts and a concert
from Three Dog Night.
Folkestad said bikers have
responded accordingly, preregis-
tering at four times the rate they
did last year.
Tom and Vicky Cunningham
were newcomers to bike week,
this being their fi rst extended trip
to Pendleton from their home in
Baker City.
Veterans of rallies in Sturgis,
See BIKERS/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Bill Christensen of Loon Lake, Wash., holds the U.S. fl ag
during a ceremony to kick off the start of Pendleton Bike
Week on Wednesday at Til Taylor Park in Pendleton.
SALEM — Oregon Elections Director
Jim Williams suddenly resigned Tuesday
citing “personal reasons.”
“I appreciate the opportunity to have
served the Secretary of State and the
people of Oregon for the past two and a
half years,” Williams wrote in a resignation
letter. “I take pride in all that we accom-
plished in the Elections Division during
this time and to have been a part of many
historical election events and activities. I
will forever cherish those moments and my
experience here.”
“Unfortunately, I am
unable to continue my
role in this agency for
personal reasons,” he
wrote.
Asked
whether
Williams was forced to
resign, a spokeswoman
for the Secretary of Williams
State’s Offi ce said she
was not authorized to comment.
“There is very little I can say except this
is a personal matter,” said Molly Woon,
Secretary of State spokeswoman.
Williams has been director of the Secre-
tary of State’s Elections Division since
October 2013.
Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins has
selected Brenda Bayes to serve as interim
elections director. She previously worked
under Williams as the deputy director of
candidate and campaign services.
“With Jim’s resignation as our elections
director yesterday, I want to reiterate my
confi dence in, and support for, our new
Interim Elections Director Brenda Bayes,
the entire team in the Elections Division,
See WILLIAMS/8A
PENDLETON
Dan Lange remembered for support, optimism
Died Tuesday at age 58 “Even in the worst of this, it was hard to know
By JADE MCDOWELL
just how diffi cult it was for Dan physically,
East Oregonian
because he just didn’t complain. There wasn’t
As Dan Lange’s family and
any sense that he was bitter or angry.”
friends mourn his death, his
EO fi le photo
Dan Lange, seen here in a May 2014
photo, died Tuesday at age 58. Lange
was the vice president of instruction at
Blue Mountain Community College.
unselfi sh support of others shines
through their memories of him.
Lange, 58, who was vice presi-
dent of instruction at Blue Mountain
Community College, died Tuesday
after battling brain cancer for two
and a half years. His wife Karen
said she can’t say enough about
what a supportive, loving husband
Dan was throughout their 36 years
of marriage.
“He always looked out for me,”
she said.
Scott Little, pastor at the Free Methodist Church in Pendleton
In 2013 Karen needed a lot of
looking after. She spent two months
in the hospital after a brutal, random
attack by transient Lukah Chang,
who fractured her skull with a metal
pipe and left her laying in the brush
along Pendleton’s river walkway
for 13 hours. Doctors told Dan her
chances of survival didn’t look
good, but he doggedly helped them
nurse her back to health and normal
brain function.
A few months later adversity
struck again as Dan began experi-
encing bouts of extreme dizziness,
which led to the discovery of lesions
in his brain that had metastasized
from his kidneys.
Karen said Dan was a very posi-
tive person, even through his cancer.
See LANGE/8A