REGION
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
East Oregonian
BOARDMAN
Page 3A
PENDLETON
Staff photo by Antonio Sierra
Oregon National Guard Chief Warrant Oficer 2
Jeremiah Williams of Baker City shakes hands with
Rep. Greg Walden while his son Wyatt watches at
a decomissioning ceremony for the First Battalion,
168th Aviation Regiment at the Army Aviation
Support Facility in Pendleton Saturday.
National Guard
regiment comes
home to praise
Photo by Antonio Sierra
Runners participating in A Very Poplar Run make their way through the course at the Boardman Tree Farm
Saturday.
More poplar than ever
About 1,200 turn
out for final running
of annual race
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Jenny McHill can cross
the Very Poplar Run off her
bucket list. And not a year
too soon.
Having grown up in
Spokane, Washington, and
now living in Portland,
McHill had passed by the
Boardman Tree Farm and its
seemingly ininite rows of
poplar trees many times.
McHill had considered
just stopping by and visiting
it one day, but she and her
wife, Courtney, plan to run
a 5K once a month for the
entire year and made the
two-and-half hour trip to
Boardman to check this one
off the list.
The couple joined around
1,200 registered participants
at the tree farm Saturday
morning, almost triple the
amount from last year as
people tried to log a few
more miles amongst the
poplars at the sixth and inal
race.
Runners still had patches
of poplars to run through
— striking shades of red
and orange melded with
green leaves still resisting
autumn’s pull — but the
tree farm’s slow fade-out
was clearly felt, not only
in the Very Poplar Run’s
premature end but also in the
sudden expanses of barren
land and corn crops.
GreenWood Resources
sold the farm’s 25,000
acres to AgriNorthwest
of Tri-Cities in February,
the new owners intent on
replacing the poplars with
more conventional Eastern
Oregon scenery, including
a large dairy farm and crop-
land.
Andrew Bourque, Green-
Wood’s director of resource
information systems, was
one of the run’s progenitors
and organized the race each
of its six years.
He’s moving to Portland
to work in GreenWood’s
headquarters, but he was
grateful for the time the
company allowed him to not
only work amongst Board-
man’s trees but organize a
race.
“This is very unique and
I’ve been privileged to call
this my playground for 18
Photo by Antonio Sierra
10K runners get a start on the course at the Poplar Run at the Boardman Tree Farm
Saturday. For race results see page 3B.
“This is very
unique and I’ve
been privileged
to call this my
playground for
18 years.”
Andrew Bourque,
GreenWood’s director of
resource information
systems; race organizer
Photo by Antonio Sierra
A woman grabs some water during her run at the
Poplar Run at the Boardman Tree Farm Saturday.
years,” he said.
While it might not be as
enmeshed as some other
Eastern Oregon events,
it was special enough for
people from across the
Northwest to pay it tribute.
Joyce Hughes of Pend-
leton ran the course twice
before, but she brought her
children and grandchildren
to the event this year.
Having
“suffered”
through the Portland Mara-
thon two weeks ago in the
rain, Hughes was happy that
the weather had cleared up
for the Morrow County run.
As he waited for the 5K
to start, Doug DeBok of
Pendleton said runs were
starting to disappear from
Eastern Oregon, with locals
needing to drive to Tri-Cities
H AMLEY S aloon
Halloween Pary
LIVE
MUSI
C
for a larger race.
He preferred the Very
Poplar Run’s forgiving soil
and natural scenery to some
of the urban races.
“Take a look around,” he
said. “It’s great.”
During its lifespan, the
Very Poplar Run has func-
tioned as a fundraiser for
the Agape House, the Herm-
iston nonproit that supports
the homeless and needy.
Executive Director Dave
Hughes said he wasn’t sure
if the unique atmosphere
of the Poplar Run could be
replicated, but that didn’t
mean Agape House was
out of the racing game.
Agape House took over
the Columbia River Best
Dam Power Run over the
McNary Dam and organized
both races as a sort of transi-
tionary period.
While the Best Dam
Power Run was put on this
year mostly to keep the event
in the public consciousness,
Hughes hopes its reputation
will eventually equal that of
its predecessor’s.
“Hopefully, in six years,
we’ll have as many as we do
today,” he said.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.
Bring in or mention
this ad and receive
20% OFF!
excludes fresh fl owers
T H E H O L I DAYS
ARE J
ER!
UST AROUND THE CORN
Purses • Candles
• Clothing • Decor
& Much More
Ceremony guests
include Rep. Walden
and Mayor Houk
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
While
some
of
Oregon’s top dignitaries
were impressed with the
freshly decommissioned
Oregon Army National
Guard 1st Battalion, 168th
Aviation
Regiment’s
accomplishments
in
Kuwait and Iraq, it was
all in a day’s work for the
soldiers’ commander.
Eastern
Oregon
welcomed
back
the
detachment from the year-
long tour at a ceremony at
the Army Aviation Support
Facility in Pendleton
Saturday, as hundreds of
people gathered to pay
tribute to the 60 men and
women who acted as
support staff to all three
branches of the armed
forces.
The ceremony was
presided over by Maj. Gen.
Michael Stencel, Oregon
Secretary of State Jeanne
Atkins, U.S. Rep. Greg
Walden and Pendleton
Mayor Phillip Houk, many
of whom cited the 1.1
million pounds of supplies
and more than 10,000
personnel they transported
throughout the Arabian
Gulf region.
Those who spoke at
the ceremony weren’t
shy about sharing the
regiment’s exploits, like
an instance where they
transported a Black Hawk
helicopter that ran out of a
fuel on a sling load.
“Hopefully you got
some good photos of that
so you can show you
buddies in the (Willamette)
Valley so they know where
they are in the food chain,”
Walden said.
Although the regiment
may have helped the
armed forces in their quest
to defeat Islamic State, “a
true enemy of mankind”
as Atkins described the
terrorist
organization,
Capt. Will Liebhaber
said tasks like the Black
Hawk transport were fairly
routine.
“It’s not that big of
deal,” he said.
Whether Liebhaber was
simply being modest or
not, his regiment has been
busy for the past year.
The 168th lew Chinook
helicopters during their
missions, traditionally the
most requested transports.
Liebhaber said they
lew at least one mission
per day, which isn’t the
case with every regiment.
The 168th also had
another unique statistic to
it — two pairs of brothers
serving together in the
regiment.
Chief Warrant Oficer
2 Jacob Radke and Sgt.
August Radke of Walla
Walla were one of those
pairs.
Jacob Radke was previ-
ously deployed to Iraq in
2004 without his brother,
but found some solace in
a familiar face this time
around.
“It makes it more bear-
able,” he said.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.
Share the warmth with
clothing collection site
East Oregonian
Residents in south
Morrow County are encour-
aged to look in their closets
and drawers for gently used
winter apparel to donate to
those in need.
A collection container is
available through Thursday
at Ione Community School,
445 Spring St. At the end of
the day, donated items will
be taken to Agape House
for its upcoming Winter
Coat Sharing Days, which
are Saturday, Oct. 29 and
Tuesday, Nov.1 from 10
a.m. to 2 p.m. at 500 Harper
Road, Hermiston.
For more information
about making a donation,
contact Lani Bass at
lani.23409@gmail.com.
For more about the sharing
days, call 541-567-8774.
FREE
FRIDAY
MEDICARE
MADNESS
Medicare Open
Enrollment
Oct. 15 - Dec. 3
Join us for this FREE event!
FREE Medicare Counseling &
Information from trained
SHIBA volunteers.
October 28
November 4, 11 & 18
December 2
9:00am - 1:00pm
GSMC conference
rooms 5 & 6
(by the GS Cafeteria)
*Bring a list of all the medications you take.
FOOD & DRINK SPECIALS
+ PRIZES - ALL NIGHT
9 PM
OPEN AT 4P WITH HAPPY HOUR
“Corsair
Cowboy”
SATURDAY, OCT. 29
COURT & MAIN, PENDLETON • 541-278-1100
- Midnight
WITH
MURRAY DUNLAP
HWY 395, HERMISTON
541-567-4305
Mon-Sat 8am-6pm • Sun 12pm-5pm
Put a smile on the heart with the power of flowers.
www.cottagefl owersonline.com
For information
call (541) 667-3507
or email
cherrera@gshealth.org