REGION
Friday, November 18, 2016
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
Staff photo by Phil Wright
Umatilla County sheriff’s deputies Nathan Good
and Nathan Rankin investigate this rollover Thurs-
day morning on McClintock Road just south of In-
terstate 84. Pendleton and Echo fire and other emer-
gency agencies also responded.
Rollover sends
two to hospital
Emergency
crews
responded to a single-ve-
hicle rollover Thursday
morning on McClintock
Road west of Pendleton.
The Jeep Cherokee
rolled onto its roof just
south of the intersection
with Interstate 84. Initial
radio reports indicated at
least two people were in the
vehicle, including a child.
Umatilla
County
undersheriff Jim Little-
field reported the driver
over-corrected on the
gravel road, and the vehicle
caught the shoulder of the
road and rolled.
A woman and child
were in the vehicle, he also
said, and the driver suffered
some “bumps and bruises
on the head and face and a
cut on her nose.” The child
did not appear hurt and still
was in a safety seat.
Echo fire reported it was
the first medical responders
on the scene, and two fire-
fighters freed one occupant.
Pendleton Fire Chief Mike
Cirualo said his agency
also responded and took the
two “non-critical patients”
to St. Anthony Hospital,
Pendleton.
PENDLETON
Building official
put on paid leave
East Oregonian
Pendleton
building
official John Lindstrom
has been put on paid leave,
according to city attorney
Nancy Kerns.
“I can confirm that Mr.
Lindstrom is presently
on paid leave status,” she
wrote in an email Thursday.
“It is the city’s policy not
to otherwise comment in
personnel matters.”
City manager Robb
Corbett and Tim Simons,
who supervises Lindstrom
as the community develop-
ment director, did not return
requests for comment.
Although Kerns declined
to provide when Lind-
strom started his leave of
absence, Lindstrom gave a
public presentation to the
Pendleton City Council at a
workshop Nov. 8.
An
Ione
native,
Lindstrom worked in the
construction trade and
spent more than five years
as a building inspector and
building official for the city
of Newburg and Yamhill
County before he was hired
by Pendleton in 2004.
As the building official,
Lindstrom has final say
over whether a construction
project meets building
codes. According to the
city’s salary scale, Lind-
strom earns $80,892 per
year.
Through an intergovern-
mental agreement between
Wallowa County and
Pendleton, Lindstrom also
serves as Wallowa County’s
building inspector.
Lindstrom could not be
reached as of press time.
IRRIGON
Burglary suspect in jail
East Oregonian
The Morrow County
Sheriff’s Office reported a
deputy caught the suspect of
multiple vehicle break-ins
and home burglaries in
Irrigon.
Ty Cody Davies, 23, of
Arlington, is in the Umatilla
County Jail, Pendleton, on a
slew of charges.
Residents of the town
reported the criminal activ-
ities occurred on Southeast
Fourth, Utah, Division
and California streets and
Southwest Second and
Third streets, according to
the written statement from
the sheriff’s office.
Witnesses told law
enforcement the suspect
was dressed all in black
and entered yards and went
behind houses.
Page 3A
Yes on 97 group will push Hermiston
Legislature to boost taxes leads county
PENDLETON
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
East Oregonian
Deputy Nathen Braun
spotted someone wearing
black while riding a pink
bicycle, according to the
sheriff’s office. Braun
contacted the rider, who
dropped the bike and took
off on foot.
Davies raced through two
yards and over four fences
before Braun cornered him
at the shocking end of a stun
gun behind the Sub Zero
Restaurant & Lounge, 100
West Highway 730, Irrigon.
Davies put up no more
resistance, the sheriff’s
office reported.
Davies
now
faces
one count of first-degree
burglary, two counts each
of second-degree burglary
and theft, eight counts of
third-degree theft and nine
counts of unauthorized entry
of a motor vehicle.
PORTLAND — In the wake of its
defeat in passing a $3 billion corporate
sales tax measure, A Better Oregon
announced Thursday it plans to push
for legislation next year to boost state
revenue and increase corporate income
transparency.
During a press conference Thursday
in Northeast Portland, the union-backed
coalition, which sponsored Measure
97, released no details about possible
proposals.
Coalition
leaders
said
the
10-to-15-percent cuts to state services
that Gov. Kate Brown has said will be
needed to balance the 2017-18 budget
are unacceptable.
“The issue is our largest corpora-
tions are not paying their fair share,”
said coalition leader Linda Roman,
director of health policy and govern-
ment relations for the Latino Health
Coalition. “We cannot continue to tax
working families and small businesses.
That is just too large of a burden for
Oregonians.”
Coalition
leaders’
messages
Thursday seemed to echo many of its
campaign slogans. But coalition leader
Andrea Paluso, executive director
of Family Forward Oregon, said A
Better Oregon is willing to negotiate
with businesses and corporations that
opposed the ballot measure on a poten-
tial revenue package.
Lawmakers have said they plan to
consider a revenue package next year
to help fill a nearly $1.4 billion revenue
shortfall on maintaining existing
services.
Coalition leaders said they plan
to unveil A Better Oregon budget
in coming weeks, revenue package
proposals and legislation to disclose
what corporations pay in taxes to the
state. Some of the revenue proposals
already exist, but A Better Oregon has
not yet released them, Roman said. The
coalition hopes to work with a bipartisan
group of lawmakers on the legislation
but was not prepared Thursday to name
any sponsors.
The coalition has no existing plans
to propose another ballot measure to
raise revenue. Leaders are waiting to
see what the Legislature will come up
with next year.
Coalition leaders will be looking for
“real attempts at and success in raising
revenue that closes some of our budget
shortfalls but also looks to the future,”
Paluso said.
“It’s not enough anymore to just stop
cutting,” she said. “We actually need to
invest in the future.”
One of A Better Oregon’s proposals
will aim at making public the amount of
taxes corporations pay the state, Roman
said.
“Time and time again in this debate
as we were really asking corporations
to pay their fair share for the common
good, as they should, we came up
against the fact that there really was a
dearth of information about what they
actually pay,” said coalition leader Brian
Rudiger, deputy executive director for
SEIU Local 503. “And we think as we
move forward into this 2017 legislative
cycle and beyond, that it is going to be
critical for legislators and the general
public to have more information.”
The coalition is working with
lawyers to explore legal options for
greater transparency, Paluso said.
“We feel confident there are ways
we can require corporations to disclose
more about their profits and tax rates,”
she said.
———
The Capital Bureau is a collabo-
ration between EO Media Group and
Pamplin Media Group.
in population
growth
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Hermiston’s slogan may no longer
be “You can GROW here,” but the city
is still growing.
According to preliminary estimates
released by Portland State University’s
Population Research Center, Herm-
iston’ population grew by 210 people
between July 2015 and July 2016.
The university estimates Hermiston’s
population at 17,730 this year.
The growth should come as no
surprise to anyone in the Hermiston
School District, which saw an extra
141 students in September enrollment
counts.
Overall, Umatilla County grew by
725 residents for just under a 1 percent
increase in growth over 12 months.
Umatilla also had a significant
jump in growth, going from 7,060
residents to 7,220. Pendleton grew by
an estimated 30 residents, from 16,845
to 16,880.
Echo and Milton-Freewater’s popu-
lations held steady, while Stanfield’s
dipped by five residents.
Neighboring Morrow County grew
by a full one percent, jumping from
11,630 residents in July 2015 to 11,745
this July. Half of the increase was inside
the city limits of Boardman, which is
now at 3,555 people, and most of the
rest was in the unincorporated parts of
the county.
Irrigon’s population dipped by 30
residents, down to 1,900.
Oregon as a whole grew 1.6 percent
and is now up to 4,076,350 people
living in the state.
DISTILLERY: Eventually expand into restaurant, bar
Continued from 1A
lower to below 100 degrees
and yeast is added, an neces-
sary step to converting those
sugars into alcohol.
Following three to five
days in the fermenter, the
mixture is transferred to the
still, a brassy, steampunk
contraption that Bullington
calls “Sputnik.”
The still strips the alcohol
and boils, guiding and
condensing the resulting
steam back into a liquid in a
separate vessel.
If the intended product
is vodka, which starts out at
190 proof, the distillers will
add filtered water to bring the
proof level down to 80.
The assembly team made
quick work of bottling the
vodka, creating a jovial atmo-
sphere in the process.
Judy Bracher told her
assembly mates about her
days at Eastern Oregon
University, where she and
her friends would take an
Oregon-exclusive brand of
wine to the eastern border
where they would exchange
it for Coors Light with college
students from Idaho.
Judy said she and her
husband saw contributing
their grain to Oregon Grain
Growers as a way to add
value to their crops and were
impressed by the Bullingtons’
vision.
That vision includes a
unified aesthetic that evokes
Eastern Oregon from the early
to mid-20th century.
Hanging on one of the
walls is an old movie screen
from a local grange hall that
features old painted ads from
the East Oregonian and Hal’s
Hamburgers, in addition to
countless other businesses
that have long since gone
defunct.
Many of the materials used
in Oregon Grain Growers’
tasting room not only evoke
the era but embody it.
The tables are made of the
wood mezzanine the owners
tore out when they bought the
The Museum Store at
Tamástslikt Cultural Institute
Holiday Sale
Up to 70% off!
Free admission to exhibits
with purchase of $25 or more.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Kelli Bullington uses a hand-crank labeling machine to put labels on bottles of
Ouragon Vodka on Thursday at Oregon Grain Growers Brand Distillery in Pendleton.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Filled and labeled bottles sit on a pallet during the
bottling process of a batch of Ouragon Vodka at the
Oregon Grain Growers Brand Distillery on Thursday.
property. And a bar previously
served as a bench in a former
speakeasy in Athena.
A carpenter by trade who
used to work on high-end tract
homes, Bullington’s cousin
Hugh Tucker said designing
the furniture was a breath
of fresh air compared to the
exactitude of his old projects.
“It’s perfectly imperfect,”
Tucker said.
Those invested in Oregon
Grain Growers are hoping for
a perfect grand opening, and
their previous sales point to
success.
During the brief time it
was open during Round-Up
week, Oregon Grain Growers
sold 260 bottles of liquor.
After the grand opening,
the Bullingtons plan to open
the tasting room a few days a
week, with plans to eventually
expand it into a full-service
restaurant and cocktail bar.
But until then, Oregon
Grain Growers seems to be
heading toward what Rodney
and several others mentioned
was the ultimate goal of the
distillery — a fun hangout
spot.
The grand opening is
Saturday from noon until 9
p.m.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
We will be at the
Altrussa Bazaar
Bazaar
Altrussa
1601 Westgate
Pendleton, Or
Nov. 19, 2016: 9-4
November 27 & 28
FREE gift wrapping too!
1915 Washington St.
Baker City
541-523-3288
FIRST FRIDAYS ARE FREE!
www.merlenormanstudio
.com/mn-9053
Museum, Store, Kinship Cafe
Open Mon-Sat
541.429.7700
www.tamastslikt.org
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