32/27
DAWGS
WIN A
PAIR
THAW
COMING
SOON
SPORTS/1B
WEATHER/2A
TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017
141st Year, No. 66
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY
Electric
co-ops
feud over
service
territory
Complaint fi led
with Oregon
Public Utility
Commission
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
A high-profi le wind
farm and mega-dairy are
at the center of a territo-
rial dispute between two
local electric utilities in
Umatilla and Morrow
counties.
The Columbia Basin
Electric
Cooperative,
based in Heppner, fi led
a complaint Jan. 13 with
the Oregon Public Utility
Commission
accusing
its neighbor, Herm-
iston-based
Umatilla
Electric
Cooperative,
of encroaching on its
exclusive service territory
in deals with the proposed
Wheatridge Wind Energy
Facility and Lost Valley
Ranch.
First, Columbia Basin
argues that UEC installed
electrical systems for
irrigation circles at Lost
Valley, located on the
former Boardman Tree
Farm, which cross into
Columbia Basin’s service
territory and bypass
existing infrastructure.
UEC is also in talks
with Wheatridge Wind
Energy LLC to build a
23-mile transmission line
that would cross service
territories to connect
the wind farm onto the
regional electricity grid.
If that happens, Columbia
Basin offi cials say they
will be forced to use the
UEC line to distribute
power to its other retail
customers. If UEC refuses
that request, Columbia
Basin might be forced
to build a duplicate line
of its own, at members’
expense.
“Columbia
Basin
believes in and encour-
ages the development of
renewable energy projects
in its service territory, and
the transmission projects
to support such develop-
ment,” said Kirk Gibson,
attorney for the co-op.
“But not to the disadvan-
tage of Columbia Basin
members.”
See UEC/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Ariana Borden, 6, of Umatilla carries a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. while walking with her mother, Selene Torres, right, and Alex
Hobbs, left, of Hermiston in the B.I.A.C Peace Walk on Monday in Hermiston.
Love and courage
Hermiston marchers aim to emulate
MLK’s example during trying times
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
A
s
the
nation
prepares
for
Friday’s presidential
inauguration, Martin Luther
King Jr.’s words are taking
on new weight for those who
are still struggling to come
to terms with the nation’s
president-elect.
“Thinking about the
Martin Luther King Days
I’ve been through, I can’t
remember one more signifi -
cant than the one today, given
the times we live in,” Jordan
Chaney said.
Chaney, a black poet
from the Tri-Cities, gave
the keynote address at
Hermiston’s annual Martin
Luther King Peace Walk.
Never before, he admitted,
has he been tested so much
on following the civil rights
leader’s teachings about
“choosing to love when the
invitations to hate are so
abundant.”
“I wanted to love as
indiscriminately as the sun
shines,” he said. “You ask for
something, you’re going to
get tested on it, and I failed
that test several times.”
The tests came as Chaney
felt blindsided by friends
who came out in support of
a candidate who frequently
makes headlines for his nega-
tive comments about minori-
ties and women. Chaney
said he also lost friendships
when he decided to join in
calling for the resignation of
a Kennewick city councilor
who made a derogatory post
about Latinos on Facebook.
When Alton Sterling
and Philando Castile, two
unarmed black men, were
shot and killed by police
within 24 hours of each other,
Chaney spent a night praying
and worrying for the safety
of his son, who was visiting
Seattle. Chaney has never
been dragged at gunpoint out
of his car before, he said, but
that didn’t make the fear and
depression any less real as it
hung over his life.
“Inside of my depression I
could feel hate forming,” he
said.
See LOVE/8A
“I wanted to
love as indis-
criminately as
the sun shines
... You ask for
something,
you’re going
to get tested
on it, and I
failed that test
several times.”
— Jordan Chaney,
Tri-Cities poet
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Poet Jordan Chaney from the Tri-Cities speaks about
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday at the First
Methodist Church in Hermiston.
The music of MLK
Pendleton honors King
with song, giving spirit
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Kathy Beck, from left, Erin McCusker, Margaret Mayer and Geor-
gina Johnson perform “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around”
on Monday at the Great Pacifi c Wine & Coffee Co. in Pendleton.
Martin Luther King Jr. would have
felt right at home.
A packed house at the Great Pacifi c
Wine & Coffee Co. embraced the music
of the Civil Rights Movement on MLK
Day. Freedom songs ricocheted off the
brick walls, high ceiling and oak fl oors
of the popular Pendleton eatery.
It’s been almost 50 years since the
pastor, Nobel Prize winner and civil
rights leader was gunned down while
standing on the balcony of his motel
room in Memphis, Tennessee. He had
traveled there to support a sanitation
workers’ strike. Those gathered Monday
night at the Great Pacifi c focused not on
the activist’s tragic death, however, but
on King’s message of freedom, equality
and justice.
Bill Young started off the evening by
quoting MLK.
“Our lives begin to end the day we
become silent about things that matter,”
Young quoted.
Young gave up the stage to a string of
musicians who unleashed freedom songs
of the late sixties. The clear, booming
See MUSIC/8A