Visit Kopacz Nursery & Florist in Hermiston for a free pair of gardening gloves MELISSA FISHER OF HERMISTON PIPELINE COULD FACE FINES CUBS BREAK CURSE NATION/8A MLB/1B 63/39 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2016 141st Year, No. 13 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD “There used to be a time that adults could vehemently disagree and still part ways as friends.” — Beth Anderson, English teacher at Hermiston High School PENDLETON Pierce vows to work in rural Oregon Governor candidate makes stop in Round-Up City By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris Speaker Hannah Walker asks a question of the opposition during a crossfi re section of the Hermiston High School debate fi nals on Wednesday in Hermiston. School districts give future voters a foundation in civics By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian While the world bemoans the state of political discourse in the United States, students across Umatilla County are getting a thorough civics education. That was on display Wednesday night as two teams of Advanced Placement English Language and Composition students formally debated whether the United States should increase its economic and/or diplomatic engagement with China. Mariah Mangione and Marvin Hozi — the night’s winning team — argued that the United States must maintain trade with China, albeit with tariffs, while increasing its cultural and diplo- matic infl uence there as a way to encourage China toward a better human rights record. “We have so much trade with China, we can’t just abandon them,” Mangione, the night’s top debater, said. Hannah Walker and Lukas Tolan took a different view, arguing that a sharp decrease in trade with China would be such a blow to its economy that the country would be forced to stop sending the U.S. unsafe, poorly-made products that were built using slave labor. “We cannot accept these See CIVICS/8A HERMISTON Pendleton High School mock election results President: Donald J. Trump 228 Hillary Clinton 155 Jill Stein 48 Gary Johnson 56 Governor: Bud Pierce 187 Kate Brown 165 Cliff Thomason 60 James Foster 61 Aaron Donald Auer 18 Senator: Ron Wyden 226 Mark Callahan 96 Steven C. Reynolds 59 Shanti S. Lewallen 52 Eric Navickas 32 Jim Lindsay 18 Representative: Greg Walden 338 James (Jim) Crary 136 Secretary of State: Dennis Richardson 156 Brad Avakian 94 Paul Damian Wells 74 Sharon L. Durbin 48 Michael Marsh 43 Alan Zundel 38 Sheriff: Ryan M. Lehnert: 324 Terry L. Rowan: 142 Ballot Measure 96: Yes 372 No 115 Ballot Measure 97: No 298 Yes 178 Ballot Measure 98: Yes 316 No 109 Ballot Measure 99: Yes 351 No 109 Ballot Measure 100: Yes 272 No 185 Measure 30-116 No 239 Yes 235 Ballot Measure 94: No 256 Yes 224 Measure 30-117 Yes 287 No 200 Ballot Measure 95: Yes 272 No 199 Measure 30-118 Yes 308 No 173 Six days out from the election, Bud Pierce was back in Eastern Oregon to encourage supporters. The Republican gubernatorial candidate met about 20 people at a downtown coffee shop in Pendleton early Wednesday. “If I’m elected governor, I will be your governor,” Pierce said. “I’ll be rural Oregon’s governor.” Pierce, an oncologist, said the best way to get an unfi ltered take on what the people of the state think is to go where they are. He promised, if he wins, to spend one week out of each month living in a rural community. He stayed on that message, saying he would push for a natural resources economy for rural Oregon, which would add jobs and encourage youth who leave for college to return home to work. Then he got some unfi ltered questions ranging from how to boost state graduation rates, immigration reform and how to save the state from the Public Employees Retirement System burden. The PERS lament is a common one, he said, but certain actions, including modifi cations to the system for current state employees, would help. Pierce did not get into the details — this was a meet-and-greet — but said PERS is an issue Republicans can win on. State Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, was among the crowd. He said after the event he was confi dent in the work Democrat Sen. Betsy Johnson of Scappoose and Republican Sen. Tim Knopp of Bend are doing to revise PERS. Hansell said lawmakers likely will be tweaking the law to save a dollar here and there. Still, he said, such savings can add up, and See GOVERNOR/3A PENDLETON Transit committee fi nalizes bus route recommendations By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian Plans for Hermiston’s new bus system are ready for primetime. A proposal for the free public transportation system, including a route and budget, will go before the Hermiston City Council on Nov. 14 after the city’s Transit Advisory Committee fi nalized its recommendations Tuesday. The city will contract with Kayak Public Transit, run by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reserva- tion, to provide the service. After placing maps of the proposed route around Herm- iston to gather feedback, the committee spent two and a half hours taking a fi nal look at each stop on the route and making adjustments. One of See BUS/3A Staff photo by E.J. Harris We all bark for ice cream Barry and Renee Rueppel of Pilot Rock feed ice cream cones to their fi ve dogs from the back of their pickup truck Tuesday in the parking lot of McDonald’s restaurant in Pendleton. The Rueppels were giving their dogs a treat for being good in D&B Supply before heading for checkups at their vet.