A Ch-47 Chinook helicopter emerges from a
cloud of snow while performing maneuvers
over a runway Wednesday at the Eastern
Oregon Regional Airport in Pendleton.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2017
141st Year, No. 63
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PENDLETON
BOARDMAN
Opponents
call foul on
mega-dairy
construction
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A Boutique Air flight from Portland taxis to a stop on the tarmac Thursday at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport
in Pendleton.
On board with Boutique
Pendleton welcomes new airline
with ribbon cutting ceremony
See DAIRY/8A
MILTON-FREEWATER
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
It might have been one of the biggest welcoming
parties for a commercial flight in Pendleton airport
history.
A few dozen local officials and members of the
public crammed into the former Transportation Security
Administration screening room to greet the mid-after-
noon flight on Wednesday.
Four weeks after Boutique started providing air
service between Pendleton and Portland, the city and the
San Francisco company celebrated the latter’s arrival
with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
One of those arriving on the flight was Boutique
director of operations Mat Butcher, who told the assem-
bled crowd about his familiarity with Pendleton.
See BOUTIQUE/8A
While it remains unclear whether state
agencies will sign off on a controversial
30,000-cow dairy farm in Morrow County,
that hasn’t stopped construction from moving
quickly ahead.
The question now is whether Lost Valley
Ranch broke the law by breaking ground well
before it secured the necessary permits.
A coalition of health and environmental
groups is calling on both the Oregon Depart-
ment of Agriculture and Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality to investigate, and plans to
meet face-to-face with regulators Friday in
Portland.
ODA and DEQ are jointly responsible for
issuing what’s known as a National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System Permit, which
outlines how Lost Valley will manage the
roughly 187 million gallons of liquid manure
generated each year and protect against
groundwater contamination.
To date, the agencies have not issued a
permit for Lost Valley. The proposed mega-
dairy also has not received a construction
stormwater permit, according to the coalition.
State’s largest
orchard sells
to Washington
fruit grower
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Boutique Air director of operations Mat Butcher gestures while
speaking during a grand opening ceremony Wednesday at the
Eastern Oregon Regional Airport in Pendleton.
Two proposed bills take aim
at reducing PERS liabilities
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — As lawmakers
head into the 2017 legislative
session, at least two
proposed bills plan to
address oft-tread terri-
tory: the state’s pension
system.
In 2013, the Legisla-
ture approved a slew of
changes to the system,
referred to as PERS, only
to have many of them
rejected by the Oregon Supreme
Court in 2015.
This time around, those legis-
lators who have called for reforms
to PERS — including members
of an informal work group — say
the Legislature needs to address
the system’s $22 billion unfunded
liability while meeting legal
requirements.
Two proposals that
have emerged thus far
have co-opted some
ideas floated at that work
group, which is led by
Sens. Betsy Johnson,
D-Scappoose, and Tim
Knopp, R-Bend.
SB
559
would
increase the number of years
used in calculating final average
salary of public employees to
prevent end-of-career spikes; and
“We don’t want to
propose anything that
we don’t think would
survive a legal chal-
lenge because it would
be a waste of time.”
— Sen. Jeff Kruse, R-Roseburg
SB 560 would redirect employee
contributions from an individual
account program to the pension
fund and cap the final salary
used in the benefits calculation at
$100,000 starting Jan. 1, 2018.
See PERS/8A
Brown family will remain in
place at orchard, vineyard
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Earl Brown & Sons, Oregon’s largest grower
and packer of fresh apples, has sold to another
family-owned fruit enterprise in Wenatchee,
Washington.
Members of the Foreman Fruit Company
purchased Earl Brown & Sons in October,
though the deal keeps the Browns in place to
manage local operations on more than 1,000
acres of apples and 115 acres of wine grapes.
Ron Brown, whose father Earl started Earl
Brown & Sons 40 years ago, said the families
worked out a partnership that allows the busi-
ness to retain its name and employees.
“Nobody lost their jobs. We’re moving along
just like we did before,” Brown said.
The biggest difference, Brown said, is
Foreman Fruit will provide additional capital
for continued growth. The company is already
planting another 60 acres of apples and 10 more
acres of grapes.
“We’ve already taken on leasing more
ground than we had,” Brown said.
Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed.
Earl Brown & Sons has also spun off several
other businesses, including Blue Mountain
See FRUIT/8A