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DEL GREEN
OF UMATILLA
BALLOTS MUST
BE IN BY 8 P.M.
TIGERSCOTS
CLAIM THIRD
STATE TITLE
FOLLOW LIVE RESULTS AT
VOLLEYBALL/1B
WWW.EASTOREGONIAN.COM
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016
141st Year, No. 16
Ballot collection
locations
Umatilla County Court-
house, 216 S.E. Fourth
St., Pendleton
Hermiston City Hall,
180 N.E. Second St.
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Have horse, will travel
Young barrel racer headed to Indian National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Milton-Freewater City
Hall, police station, 722
S. Main St.
Nixy’Aawii Governance
Center, 46411 Ti’Mine
Way, Pendleton
Umatilla City Hall, 700
Sixth St.
Stanfi eld City Hall, 106
S. Main St.
Pilot Rock City Hall,
144 N. Alder Place
Athena City Hall, 302 E.
Currant St.
Morrow County Court-
house, 100 S. Court St.,
Heppner
Boardman Annex, 101
N.W. Boardman Ave.
Irrigon Annex, 205 N.E.
Third St.
Ione community garden,
Spring Street
Lexington Public Works,
365 W. Highway 74
GOP
has shot
in tight
Oregon
races
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Turning the blue tide in
Oregon’s politics has been
a near-futile effort for more
than three decades. But two
races may be within reach
Tuesday.
Gov. Vic Atiyeh, elected
in 1982, was the state’s
last Republican governor,
and voters sent Republican
Gordon Smith of Pendleton
to the U.S. Senate in 1996
and 2002. No other members
of the GOP have held state-
wide offi ce in that time.
This year, though, Repub-
lican state Rep. Dennis
Richardson of Central Point
could become Oregon’s next
secretary of state. The FOX
12-DHM Research poll of
Nov. 1 showed Richardson
leading Democrat Brad
Avakian 32 percent to 27
percent. The poll also showed
See ELECTION/8A
One dollar
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Fourteen-year-old Lilly Picard and her quarter horse, Claire, are competing in the Indian National
Finals Rodeo this week in Las Vegas.
Barrel racer Lilly Picard is a pretty
low-key individual, not given to being
chatty or effusive.
The 14-year-old freshman at Nixy-
aawii Community High School doesn’t
need to talk much, though, to make a
bold statement. She just gets on her
horse and rides.
Lilly and her aunt Ashley Picard
headed to the Indian National Finals
Rodeo in Las Vegas on Saturday. The
pair spent the summer traveling the
Pacifi c Northwest and Canada, spending
almost every weekend competing at
Indian and jackpot rodeos. Lilly entered
both junior and ladies barrel racing
events and performed well.
The pair, along with Lilly’s grand-
mother Sarah
Picard, racked
up the miles. “Lilly’s got as
When
they
good a shot
headed out from
their Pendleton as anybody if
home in May for she can keep
the fi rst rodeo of
the barrels
the season, their
Dodge
3500
standing. It’ll
pickup truck still
had that new be tough, but
truck smell.
“The truck she didn’t get
had
eight to the nation-
miles when we
started,” Ashley
al fi nals by
said. “It has
accident.”
17,000 on it
now.”
— Ashley Picard,
When they
Lilly’s aunt
headed to Vegas,
only
Lilly’s
two horses were loaded into the trailer.
Ashley and Sarah would share driving
duties and support their girl.
Lilly and her chestnut quarter horse,
Claire, proved a formidable duo this
season as they topped standings in junior
barrel racing for two regions — the
King Mountain Indian Rodeo Associa-
tion and the Western State Indian Rodeo
Association — and climbed to second
nationally among junior barrel racers.
Lilly doesn’t recall a time horses
weren’t a part of her life.
“I really loved horses,” she said. “I
just wanted to ride.”
“From when she was a baby who
could barely walk, I put her on the horse
with me,” Ashley said. “She’s always
been drawn to them.”
Lilly started participating locally at
the Mustanger Arena using a lead line
See RODEO/8A
HERMISTON
Potato farmers happy with harvest
Minimal impacts
from October rain
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Whether mashed, baked,
scalloped or fried, there should
be no shortage of locally grown
potatoes to serve up at this year’s
Thanksgiving dinner.
As fall potato harvest wraps
up around the Columbia Basin,
farmers are expecting above-av-
erage yield and quality thanks to
an exceptional growing season.
Bill Brewer, CEO of the
Oregon Potato Commission, said
early spring conditions helped
to jump-start the crop’s growth,
while summer cooled off enough
to avoid stifl ing the plants. Most
farms fi nished harvesting ahead
of schedule, Brewer said, with
only minimal delays from Octo-
ber’s record rainfall.
“The weather was actually
very cooperative,” Brewer said.
“It ended up working out well.”
According to the National
Weather Service in Pendleton, 1.9
inches of rain fell last month at
the Hermiston Municipal Airport,
making it the wettest October
on record. Downtown Pendleton
also received 2.32 inches of
rain, making it the third-wettest
October there since 1900.
Soggy weather can make for a
diffi cult time harvesting potatoes
— especially spuds bound for the
storage shed. If there’s too much
mud, it could block airfl ow to
See POTATOES/8A
EO fi le photo
In this Sept. 2014 fi le photo, potatoes ride a conveyor belt into a cold
storage facility outside of Hermiston.
When is it time to
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541-564-2595 • 800-550-3449
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