DONALD LIEUALLEN
OF ADAMS
A girl waves
during Saturday’s
Dress-Up Parade
in downtown
Pendleton. For
more photos and
story see Page 7A.
Enjoy a framed art print from
Pendleton Art + Frame
72/44
The weather
is perfect for
bucking. For
a Round-Up
week forecast,
see Page 2A.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
RODEO
WEEK
KICKS
OFF
WITH
BULLS
SPORTS/1B
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2016
140th Year, No. 237
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
Irrigon
man dies in
Boardman
shooting
Courtesy of Wayne Low
Jackson Sundown waves to the crowd
after winning the bucking competition at
the Pendleton Round-Up in 1916.
East Oregonian
One man died Sunday night in
a shooting in Boardman. Morrow
County District Attorney Justin
Nelson in a written statement
said the Morrow and Umatilla
counties major crime team is
seeking “a juvenile person of
interest in the case.”
Police responded around 9
p.m. to Wilson Road Mobile
Home Park, 600 Wilson Road,
Boardman, on a report of a
male with gunshot wound.
Offi cers found Evencio Salas
Birrueta, 28, of Irrigon, was
the victim, and immediately
began lifesaving measures.
The efforts were unsuccessful,
according to Nelson, and
Birrueta died at the scene.
Nelson also reported the
major crime team is using
witness interviews and crime
scene analysis to fi nd a juvenile
person of interest. According to
the statement, “Law enforce-
ment currently does not believe
there is a danger to the public.”
Nelson on Monday afternoon
said police were working on two
search warrants and still ques-
tioning people to fi nd the juve-
nile. He also urged anyone with
information concerning this case
to contact the Boardman Police
Department at 541-481-6071.
HERMISTON
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A bronze statue of Jackson Sundown graces Main Street in Pendleton as a testament to his accomplishments as a cowboy.
Bronc rider fi nally earned Round-Up title at age 53 in his last appearance
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
ith one of the fl ashiest monikers in
rodeo history, Jackson Sundown
lived up to his name.
One hundred years ago, at age 53 and
at twice the age of any other contestant,
Sundown won the bucking horse contest at the
Pendleton Round-Up. The achievement etched
his name into history as the fi rst American
Indian to win an event since the rodeo orig-
inated in 1910. The crowd loved the rider’s
fl amboyant style and his long black braids tied
in front.
The Nez Perce bronc rider instantly became
a star in Indian Country. Roberta Conner,
director of the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute,
said Sundown’s name is still idolized along
with Billy Mills, Jim Thorpe, Notah Begay
and other native sports heroes.
“I grew up around rodeo and I don’t
W
Tania produced “American
remember not knowing Sundown’s
Cowboys,” which chronicles
name,” Conner said “This man was
the lives of Sundown and other
an enormous inspiration.”
cowboys in the American West. In
Back then, saddle bronc riders
researching the documentary, Wild-
needed extra grit and a full tank of
1 DAY UNTIL ROUND-UP
bill interviewed tribal elders who
self-confi dence.
had known Sundown and watched
“In those days, there was no
grainy footage of Sundown’s rides
time limit,” said Randy Thomas,
again and again.
a director on the Round-Up
“He had a unique style,”
Association Board. “So you rode
Wildbill
said. “He would twist the
your horse until either the rider or
More inside bronc rein with
his free hand in the
the horse was exhausted or they both
For a full listing air above his head.”
became one.”
of Round-Up
The beginning of Sundown’s story
Sundown possessed an uncanny
week events
rivals the triumph of his later years.
fl air for staying aboard a spinning,
see Page 6A
As a young boy in Oregon and Idaho,
twisting bronc by making his body
he learned the ways of the Appaloosa
morph into the perfect counterweight.
horses for which his Nez Perce tribe was
“He had fortitude and will and athletic
known. He was 14 when he fl ed with Chief
ability,” Conner said. “He played to his
Joseph and hundreds of others to escape the
strengths and his strength was horses. His
power was horses.”
See SUNDOWN/10A
Filmmaker Cedric Wildbill and his wife
PENDLETON
Digitizing agriculture
State ag board views
drone demonstration
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
The Yamaha RMAX
Type II drone growled like
a motorcycle just before
takeoff Monday at the
Columbia Basin Agricul-
tural Research Center.
Members of the Oregon
Board
of
Agriculture
watched from a safe distance
as the unmanned helicopter
hovered over a small plot
of wheat stubble, carrying
water to spray for imaginary
weeds. Gusty winds cut
the demonstration short
after a few minutes, but it
was enough to prove how
See DRONE/10A
Staff photo by George Plaven
Steve Lawn, drone pilot and system engineer with
Digital Harvest, prepares the Yamaha RMAX Type II
for a demonstration fl ight Monday.
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Rodeo arena bid
doesn’t include
lighting, restrooms
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
The Eastern Oregon Trade
and Event Center board awarded
a contract for construction of the
project’s rodeo arena Monday,
but it doesn’t include restrooms
or arena lighting.
Hendon Construction of
Umatilla was the sole bidder
at $3.9 million. Board chair
Byron Smith said the $3.9
million meets the budget for the
project but does not leave any
extra money to add restrooms
or lighting, which the board had
separated out from the base bid
after a fi rst round of bidding
produced bids well over $4
million and was rejected.
“My encouragement to the
contractor would be to look for
some value engineering oppor-
tunities,” he said.
Smith said at a previous
meeting that if the money
couldn’t be found for arena
lighting, a “worst-case scenario”
would be that the Farm-City Pro
Rodeo becomes a daytime event
in 2017. However, he clarifi ed
after Monday’s meeting that
there were other options also
being explored, including
leasing lights or bringing over
lights from the current rodeo
arena as an interim measure
until more money could be
raised.
See EOTEC/10A