WEEKEND EDITION
FARMERS HELP PROTECT
NEIGHBORS FROM FIRE 9A
A SALUTE TO YOUR FURRY FAA OKs PENDLETON UAS
FRIENDS LIFESTYLES/1C
RANGE TO FLY HIGHER 3A
AUGUST 27-28, 2016
140th Year, No. 226
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
$1.50
MILLION DOLLAR MILE
Sheriff
candidates
spar over
jail inmate
releases
Matrix remains in effect,
despite Rowan’s claims
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A sign sits at the site of a proposed industrial park at the intersection of Airport and Stage Gulch roads west of Pendleton.
Pendleton working to connect Planned water and sewer
utilities to prime industrial land extensions at the airport
N.W. Stage Gulch Road
rt R
oa
d
See JAIL/12A
Eastern
Oregon
Regional
Airport
Legend
Air
Sewer line
Water main
Interim pump station
Pendleton city limits
N
2,000 feet
th
Rie
ad
Ro
See UTILITIES/12A
Westgate
30
84
Um
Visit the Pendleton Chamber
of Commerce for a free
charm trail starter bracelet
Park West
t R
por oad
PAUL SHERMAN
OF MILTON-FREEWATER
In Pendleton’s water and sewer master plans, the city
stated it should extend water and sewer lines to the
western and northern ends of the
airport’s industrial area within
Airport
Industrial
Daniel Road
the next five years.
po
A small sign with big plans sits at
the intersection of Airport and Stage
Gulch roads in northwest Pendleton.
Replete with factories and manu-
facturing plants, the sign depicts the
western part of the Airport Indus-
trial Park the way Pendleton city
offi cials have long envisioned it.
The intersection plays a pivotal
role in Pendleton’s plans to turn
the farmland and empty fi elds into
an industrial hub. But before it can
change above ground, a lot must
change below.
Steve Chrisman, Pendleton
airport manager and economic
development director, has called it
the million dollar mile. It’s a stretch
of proposed water and sewer lines
from the airport’s current industrial
park to an area near the Airport-
Stage Gulch that would carry a
seven-fi gure price tag.
Chrisman said conventional
wisdom would have the industrial
park grow incrementally to the
west, the city building out the corre-
sponding utilities as needed.
But much of the land between
the airport and intersection is either
too uneven to develop or can’t be
purchased because it’s under the
jurisdiction of the Federal Aviation
Administration.
Chrisman said that makes a
long, do-it-all-at-once utility line
necessary.
The city used a 4-cent gas tax
and federal grant money to extend
Airport Road to the Barnhart Road
exit on Interstate 84 in 2009. They
Air
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
lla Riv e r
ati
Source: City of Pendleton
Antonio Sierra and Alan Kenaga/
EO Media Group
Arrest, weapons
conviction no
hurdle to Huston
having a gun
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Although the company is head-
quartered in Portland, with fabric
manufacturing mills in Pendleton
and Washougal, Washington, the
See WOOL/12A
See HUSTON/12A
By WILL DENNER
East Oregonian
EO fi le photo
Pendleton Woolen Mills products are being more widely
introduced to the Japanese market, including branded stores
expected to open in the next 5-7 years.
products, which will include new
product lines available only in
Japan. Under the deal with Sojitz,
the company expects to have
Pendleton stores in Japan within
5 to 7 years.
HERMISTON
Jason Huston of Hermiston on Dec. 16,
2009, brought a Glock 9 mm handgun onto
Union Pacifi c Railroad property. That led
to the Marine veteran’s arrest for menacing
and unlawful possession of a weapon, both
misdemeanors.
He took a deal in 2010 and pleaded no
contest to the weapon charge and the state
dismissed the menacing, according to court
records. Huston completed his probation in
2013 and the court reduced the charge to a
violation.
Huston used a Glock 9 mm handgun
on Aug. 18 to kill his lifelong friend in
Hermiston, shoot his ex-girlfriend, kill her
14-year-old son, and shoot and kill himself.
The 2010 conviction, though, would not
have prevented Huston — or most anyone
else in Oregon — from buying, owning or
possession a gun.
“Generally, when you’re convicted
of a felony, then you are prohibited from
possessing or owning a fi rearm,” said
Morrow County Sheriff Ken Matlack.
Umatilla County Sheriff Terry Rowan
said the only misdemeanor conviction that
could stand in the way of purchasing and
owning a gun would be domestic assault.
Courts also can issue provisions
limiting someone from having a gun, but
that was not the situation in Huston’s case.
And the conviction also did not prevent
Pendleton Woolen Mills expand in Japan
Pendleton Woolen Mills
is ramping up its retail effort
in Japan, looking to give the
company a far greater interna-
tional presence.
The expansion will not only
increase the Portland-based
company’s brand in the Far East,
but could also provide exposure
for the Eastern Oregon town to
weave into international markets.
Pendleton Woolen Mills
agreed in terms this spring with
Japanese distributor Sojitz Corpo-
ration that will help with logistics
of shipments to Japan, said Bob
Christnacht, Pendleton Vice Pres-
ident of Worldwide Sales.
More than 500 stores in Japan
currently sell Pendleton products,
specifi cally in outdoor and hipster
boutiques. Christnacht said the
latest expansion will increase the
number of fashion retailers and
department stores that carry those
The Umatilla County Jail continues to
release inmates due to overcrowding, even
though Sheriff Terry
Rowan said he ended
the years-old practice
four months after
taking offi ce in 2013.
But since Rowan
has been sheriff, the
county jail in Pend-
leton has drastically
reduced the number of
inmates it sets free to
avoid overcrowding. Rowan
And he implemented
a policy to hold new
inmates for 36 hours,
the amount of time law
dictates they can be
in custody without an
arraignment.
Rowan is seeking
his second term as
sheriff.
Pendleton
police Cpl. Ryan Lehnert
Lehnert is challenging
for the position and asserted the jail is not
holding many low-level offenders for the
full amount of time.
“If you’re going to claim to hold people
for 36 hours, you can say that to the public,”
he said. “But as police offi cers we know it’s
not true.”