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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 21, 2016)
Page 8A OFF PAGE ONE East Oregonian Thursday, July 21, 2016 UMATILLA Council keen on outlet mall, Old Town development By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian The city of Umatilla is looking to take a greater role in economic development as city councilors and staff meet together in a series of goal-setting sessions. City Manager Russ Pelleberg said he has been working with the county, the Port of Umatilla, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and Business Oregon on some projects in “very, very preliminary stages” that could bring more businesses in to the area. “There are many pieces of the puzzle in motion,” he said. Pelleberg said one of those efforts has been to start actively marketing available land to companies that might be a good it, offering up detailed information packets about everything from the amount of trafic passing by each day to the infrastructure in place. On Tuesday, during a workshop to discuss councilors’ goals for the city, one type of business everyone wanted to set their sights on was an outlet mall. Councilors and staff pointed out that a collection of brand-name stores not found in the Tri-Cities had the potential to draw people from there who were looking for nearby deals with no sales tax attached. Mayor Dave Trott said at the meeting that the city needed to foster local entrepreneurship but also look aield for opportunities. “It’s not necessarily people in our back yard who have got the interest,” he said. Pelleberg told councilors that it would take “a lot more than a phone call” to bring an outlet mall to Umatilla but it didn’t mean they shouldn’t work on it. He told the East Oregonian that he has been looking with engineers at what will be needed to bring water to some of the properties in the urban growth boundary along Highway 395. Construction there often is not feasible because of a lack of the water necessary for ire suppression. Pelleberg also said he and coun- cilor Mark Ribich have teamed up to start talking to each local business owner, asking what the city can do to help them thrive, and asking what the city could do to help ill empty storefronts. They’re also planning on “cleaning up” the language in the city’s codes and then making a more concerted effort to enforce them. He said pushing for clean-up of eyesores will help make the city more attractive to potential busi- nesses. Another common theme in the list of goals submitted by city councilors is partnering with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation to re-open the Old Town Site to the public. The land, now held by the Army Corp of Engineers, holds signiicance as a historical site both to the tribes and to the city, which packed up and moved from the land 50 years ago in anticipation of looding from the John Day Dam. The CTUIR and the city have been working with the Corps to gain permission to remove invasive species and place nature trails and historical kiosks through the site. The city is also helping the tribes with a road project in the port area that will open 195 acres up for development. Pelleberg said since he has become city manager, the city and port have buried the hatchet and he has a great working relationship with Port of Umatilla Director Kim Puzey, along with other entities such as the city of Hermiston. “There’s a lot of teamwork happening here,” he said. The city is also starting discus- sions with the Army Corp of Engineers about the possibility of taking ownership of more land near Umatilla. “There’s a fair amount of Corps land in the urban growth boundary that is just sitting vacant,” he said. The city council would also like to start focusing more on parks and recreation. Currently Pelleberg, in his dual role of city manager and public works director, oversees the city’s parks, which he has been working to expand and improve. But the city does not have a recreation program or a recreation director in place. Pelleberg said it’s time for the city to start “investing in itself” by creating some city-run recreational programs for youth and possibly adults, too. City councilors were asked recently to submit a list of goals they were interested in seeing the city pursue, and Tuesday was their second work session to discuss the list. Other things on the list included helping the Umatilla Fire Depart- ment establish long-term funding support, helping staff pursue more certiications, enhancing commu- nity events, making downtown businesses’ signs more uniform, promoting “Umatilla Pride,” adding benches to the Third Street walking path, creating a committee educa- tion program for new committee members, writing a ive-year capital improvement plan, rebranding the city, improving the city website and developing the RV park and marina to their full potential. Pelleberg said they didn’t have an oficial number of items they wanted on a inal list, but it was helpful to weed out items that weren’t feasible and to get a feel for councilors’ top priorities and how those priorities might be accom- plished. He said the city was going to work hard on increasing livability and attractiveness to businesses, but some items would require time to deal with federal regulations or secure funding. “This is going to be a time-con- suming thing, and it’s not going to happen overnight,” he said. ——— Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com or 541-564-4536. GRAIN: United Grain was formed in 1969 Continued from 1A AP Photo/David Zalubowski Dana Zzyym, of Fort Collins, Colo., left, and Paul D. Castillo, staff attorney of the South Central regional ofice of Lambda Legal, emerge after delivering ar- guments in a hearing on Zzyym’s lawsuit requiring people to pick a gender to get a passport in the U.S. Federal Courthouse early Wednesday in Denver. Judge urges U.S. to grant gender neutral passport DENVER (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday urged the State Department to give a gender neutral passport to a Colorado Navy veteran who does not identify being male or female in a case that’s the irst of its kind in the United States. U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson also suggested he might issue an order forcing the govern- ment to do so if it does not successfully negotiate a settlement to the legal chal- lenge by Dana Zzyym, who was denied a passport for refusing to check “male” or “female” on the application. Zzyym was born with ambiguous sexual charac- teristics and raised as a boy but later came to identify as intersex and neither man nor woman. Government lawyers argued that moving beyond two gender choices for passports would upend oficials’ ability to verify identities and backgrounds because of reliance on drivers’ licenses and birth certiicates issued by states offering only male and female gender options. Jackson appeared exas- perated at times, saying the State Department needs to catch up to a new era in which gender identiication is not as clear as it was in the past. “A lot of things are changing in our world,” Jackson said. It’s unclear whether a settlement or a judge’s order giving Zzyym’s a gender neutral passport would have wider ramiications requiring the State Depart- ment to grant them to other Americans. The State Department since 2010 has allowed transgender people to change their gender designation on passports from male to female or vice versa with a doctor’s certiication. Australia, Nepal and New Zealand issue pass- ports that do not designate gender and citizens of those nations are allowed to enter the United States. But the State Depart- ment demands that they state whether they are male or female when they are required to apply for U.S. entry visas. An Oregon judge last month allowed Jamie Shupe to be legally classi- ied as a nonbinary person, neither male nor female. That decision is also believed to be the irst of its kind for the country. Oregon oficials are working on a process to allow Shupe to get a driver’s license with that designation, said Shupe’s lawyer, Lake Parraguey. WILLIAMS: Hired Oct. 2013 Continued from 1A and our partners at the county elections ofices,” Atkins wrote in an email to staff members. Bayes will serve as interim elections director until the new secretary of state takes ofice in January. When a director is chosen, Bayes will return to her former position as deputy director. Gov. Kate Brown, then the secretary of state, hired Williams in October 2013. Williams then had more than 20 years of experience in three states. He was executive secretary of the Cleveland County Election Board in Norman, Oklahoma, before joining the Oregon Secretary of State’s Ofice. Before that, he worked for the Denver Elections Division and Automated Elections Services, a New Mexico company that provides elections systems support. As deputy director, Bayes oversaw state candi- date ilings, processing initiatives and referendums and campaign inance-re- lated election law enforce- ment, and publication of the voters’ pamphlet, among other duties. She has worked for the Elections Division since 1991. ——— The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group. and made a good irst impression on producers. “I think we’ve been received very well,” he said. “They appreciate that we’re here.” United Grain now has the task of picking up where PGG dropped off, while updating infrastructure that has become obsolete. When UGC agreed to buy the facilities, it promised to invest $9 million toward making them more modern and eficient. Flagg said the contract gives them ive years to get the job done, but added they want to move forward as soon as possible. “Many of the elevators are so anti- quated they’re no longer competitive and, quite frankly, no longer safe,” he said. That level of commitment from United Grain comes at the backing of its owner, the Mitsui Group, a multi-billion dollar international trading company with ofices in Tokyo and New York City. Mitsui became interested in food production after building its portfolio in mining, energy and manufacturing. United Grain is at the forefront of that strategy, Flagg said. The company formed in 1969 and now operates the largest grain export terminal on the West Coast in Vancouver, Washington. For years, UGC operated purely as a wheat exporter, but with the rise of genetically modiied crops, an emerging middle class in China and deepening of the Columbia River channel to accommodate larger ships, Flagg said the market has become signiicantly larger and more complex. That, in turn, has led United Grain to branch out and work directly with farmers, which Flagg said gives them a greater command of the whole supply chain. In other words, they can supply more grain at a faster rate, amounting to more reliable service for customers. “It’s all about speed, space and service,” Flagg said. “That’s why we’re here.” The PGG Board of Directors voted to dissolve in May, ending 86 years of service in Eastern Oregon. Flagg said everyone, including himself, regrets that the co-op failed. But UGC is excited for the chance to develop relationships directly with farmers. UGC did retain nine former PGG employees, including Jason Middleton, who was hired as region manager. Flagg knew even before the sale it would take time and money to get the elevators where they need to be. Some just simply aren’t equipped to handle the needs of today’s farmers and, when it comes to harvest, time equals money. “I’m dealing with truck lineup issues at McNary, and it’s only the front end of harvest,” Flagg said. “If the trucks don’t get back to the ield, harvest stops ... We need to make these facilities faster, and hold more grain.” The irst step, Flagg said, is to look at which elevators are worth updating and which UGC will have to close. Flagg, 66, said he will facilitate that process and, once the operation is running smoothly, he plans to retire. Umatilla County is one of, if not the best, grain producing counties in the U.S., Flagg said. He said it’s up to them now to improve their level of service and win PGG’s customers back. ——— Contact George Plaven at gplaven@ eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0825. BIKERS: Three Dog Night performs on Saturday Continued from 1A South Dakota, Winnemucca, Nevada and New Hampshire, the Cunninghams were friends of Folkestad and had supported his previous rallies in Baker City. Although they had only just started Day 1 of the ive day event, the married couple said they already think they’ll come back to Pendleton next year. Tom liked that the rally was close to home and was going to feature Three Dog Night as its headliner. “That’s what bikers like — listening to music and drinking beer,” he said with a grin. Several other riders came from the large metro areas surrounding Seattle, Spokane and Portland and decided to come either through word of mouth or advertising. “That’s what bikers like — listening to music and drinking beer.” Tom Cunningham, of Baker City With 6,000 attendees last year, Folke- stad said Pendleton Bike Week was the largest motorcycle rally in the Northwest and will probably secure that spot this year. Even with the growth, a couple bikers commented that it was comparatively small to Sturgis, one of the biggest rallies in the country. Weighing Pendleton against Sturgis didn’t stop dozens of bikers from rumbling down Court Avenue to Til Taylor Park for a law enforcement tribute. While the tribute was also held last year, the 2016 event was given more weight because of the recent murders of police oficers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After noting that he had never worn the black band across his badge as much as he has this year, Umatilla County Sheriff Terry Rowan encouraged the audience to bring love and joy to their communities to prevent violence. Despite previous proposals to replace Til Taylor Park and its memorial to police oficers killed in the line of duty, Mayor Phillip Houk said the park and memorial would never be removed or replaced. Despite the somber tone, Houk urged the bikers to “Let’Er Ride” during their week in Pendleton. ——— Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@ eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0836. LANGE: Had an illustrious 30-year career at BMCC Continued from 1A She said he was a wonderful father, and it makes her sad to see her sons Adam, 25, and Jason, 22, lose their dad right as they were at an age where they were really starting to watch him and try to model their lives after his. He really loved his family, she said, and wanted to look after them, which is why she believes he clung to life so tenaciously in his inal days. “He just fought so hard, I think for me,” she said. “I inally had to talk to him and say, you know, if you go, I’ll be OK.” Karen believes she will be reunited with Dan in the next life, a belief he shared. The family are members of the Free Methodist Church in Pendleton and Karen said their faith has provided peace and comfort during their trials. Scott Little, the Langes’ pastor, said the couple was already a “steady and faithful” presence at the Free Methodist Church when he arrived 17 years ago, and they frequently served on the church’s leadership council and led worship services on Sundays. He said Dan was a “tremendously gifted saxo- phone player” who used his musical talents to bless the congregation, and that he always admired Dan’s humility and sense of humor. “I really appreciated his wisdom over the years,” Little said. He said Dan and Karen have always been examples of service, grace, and love of the Lord and those around them. He said through their trials over the last three years they kept a positive attitude. “Even in the worst of this, it was hard to know just how dificult it was for Dan phys- ically, because he just didn’t complain,” Little said. “... There wasn’t any sense that he was bitter or angry.” Cam Preus, president of BMCC, said Dan’s 30-year career at the college was an illustrious one. “He left a strong mark on the college,” she said. He started out as a music faculty member but as he moved up to his inal position as vice president of instruc- tion he helped create better assessments and curriculum through his skill of analyzing data. “He loved to put seem- ingly unrelated information into a database and mess around with formulas, and then realize when it was all put together that there were connections and patterns,” she said. Preus said he was calm, patient, a good listener and a “friend to many at the college.” The family has not inal- ized a date and time yet for Dan’s memorial service. The East Oregonian will publish it when details are conirmed. Final Days Saager’s Shoe Shop Up to 50% Off Milton-Freewater, OR Registration Ends July 28th
