OF ADAMS
SCOTT
CANYON
FIRE
CONTAINED
SPORTS/1B
MIKE DABULSKIS
REGION/3A
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GRIFFEY
ENTERS
HALL OF
FAME
94/59
TUESDAY, JULY 26, 2016
140th Year, No. 202
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
HERMISTON
Keepers of the cloud
Class trains students for jobs at data centers
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Staff photo by George Plaven
BMCC instructor Pete Hernberg, left, works with Taylor
Nedrow to fi x a laptop computer as part of the college’s
data center technician program.
Every time someone updates their
status on Facebook, fi res off an urgent
email or buys a new product online,
that information goes to live in massive
buildings fi lled with computer servers
known as data centers.
Eastern Oregon, in particular, has
become a popular location for some
of the biggest companies on the Web
to expand their server farms. Amazon
began operating its fi rst data center in
Boardman in 2011, and will soon be
adding its fi fth and sixth. Meanwhile,
Facebook has committed to building
its third data center in Prineville, and
Google broke ground in March on a
new $600 million center in The Dalles.
Lawsuit in Portland leads to playground closures in Pendleton
With each new facility comes the
need for trained employees to make
sure servers are installed properly and
running smoothly. Realizing the oppor-
tunity for local workforce development,
Blue Mountain Community College
has established a one-year certifi cate
program designed to prepare students
See DATA/8A
Oregon
delegates
react to
DNC
By KRISTENA HANSEN
Associated Press
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Orange fencing surrounds a play area that is under construction at Community Park in Pendleton.
Parks & Litigation
Cities respond to court’s ruling on legal immunity
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
An open hole in Portland led
to three closed playgrounds in
Pendleton.
State law has long protected
cities from lawsuits that result
from parks and recreation use,
but that changed in March thanks
to an Oregon Supreme Court
decision.
The decision sprung from a
case where Portland Parks &
Recreation dug a hole at a park to
fi x a sprinkler head.
A legally blind woman jogging
in the park injured herself in the
hole and sued the worker who
dug the hole and his supervisor.
The case wound its way
through the legal system all the
way to the Oregon Supreme
Court, which ruled that the
city’s legal immunity in this case
didn’t extend to its employees,
effectively rendering recreational
immunity moot. The ruling
means an injured party could
sue a municipal employee and
the municipality would defend
See PARKS/8A
“The risks aren’t
just a hole in the
park or a bad
playground. They
come in all shapes
and forms.”
— Donnie Cook, Pendleton
Parks and Recreation director
Several Oregon delegates kicked off the
Democratic National Convention in Phil-
adelphia on Monday listening to Bernie
Sanders in a packed, rowdy room of his
supporters, who booed when the Vermont
senator tried rallying them behind Hillary
Clinton.
Sanders’ bid was part of a larger, orga-
nization-wide effort to prevent further divi-
sion within the party after Sunday’s resig-
nation of Democratic National Committee
Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Her plans to step down after the conven-
tion this week stem from thousands of
emails that were leaked over the weekend
showing DNC staff
favored
Clinton
during the primary. More inside
The revelations For more on the
reignited
strong leaked emails
feelings
among see page 6A
some
Sanders
supporters, who
have had mixed feelings about his endorse-
ment for Clinton weeks ago in an effort to
defeat GOP nominee Donald Trump in
November.
Matthew Keating, an Oregon delegate
pledged to Sanders who also worked on
his local campaign, said it was a “wise
move” for Wasserman Schultz to resign
and agrees with Sanders about shifting
their focus to defeating Trump.
“Sen. Sanders is a man of his word, and
he said early on he was going to support
the nominee,” Keating told The Associated
Press. “We can hold our head high, but we
have vitally important work still to do ...
We’re not going away. This movement
doesn’t end with a convention or an elec-
tion.”
More than half of Oregon’s 61 dele-
See DNC/8A
PENDLETON
Seattle Cossacks contort atop classic Harleys
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Antonio Sierra
The Seattle Cossacks perform at Pendleton Bike Week.
The motorcycle stunt acts
at the fi rst two Pendleton
Bike Weeks are a study in
contrasts.
While the inaugural bike
week featured a high-fl ying
stunt group with a DJ playing
dubstep in the background,
the Seattle Cossacks are
decidedly more traditional.
Performing on vintage
Harley Davidsons, painted
white and maroon to match
their old-fashioned uniforms,
the Cossacks’ bikes are
See COSSACKS/8A
Staff photo by Antonio Sierra
The Seattle Cossacks perform at Pendleton Bike Week.