REGION
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 3A
HERMISTON
PENDLETON
New places, old friends at
2016 fair appreciation dinner
Southgate exit on
I-84 may get rework
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Supporters of the Umatilla
County Fair celebrated “new
faces, new places and old
friends” Saturday night at
the 2016 Fair Appreciation
Dinner.
The theme of the night
— and the 2017 fair — was
a nod to preparations for
moving the fair and Farm-
City Pro Rodeo to their new
digs at the Eastern Oregon
Trade and Event Center,
where the dinner took place.
“This is a whole new
ballgame up here,” Umatilla
County Fair board member
Gay Newman told the audi-
ence.
There was a very long list
of people to thank throughout
the night, and board member
Dan Dorran said reminded
them that they had the oppor-
tunity to make history with
“year one” at EOTEC.
“This is the beginning,”
he said.
Two important people
to thank were the 2016
volunteers of the year. Male
volunteer of the year went to
Warren Smith, who has done
“odds and ends” for the fair
since the 1970s, including
work on the sound system,
the rodeo, and building
stronger gates for the pigs.
Smith had to leave early to
participate in the Melonville
Comedy Festival, but said
before he left that he has
made good friends through
the fair and enjoyed helping
out.
“I think this is an exciting
move this year up here,” he
said.
Female volunteer of the
year was Alice Newman,
who has worked through the
years on everything from
coordinating exhibitors to
serving as a chaperon for the
Umatilla County Fair Court.
“This individual has a
lifelong history and family
tradition of supporting youth
activities and the Umatilla
County Fair,” board member
Don Miller said when
announcing Newman as the
2016 winner.
“All I can say is I love
this fair and love supporting
it, so thank you,” Newman
responded after receiving her
award.
The business partner
of the year went to Shelco
Electric, after Dorran gave
a demonstration with pota-
toes of how they somehow
manage to fit “15 pounds of
potatoes in a five pound bag”
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Lou Lyons, center, accepts the 2017 Umatilla County Fair grand marshal title while
Dan Dorran, left, and Gay Newman, right, look on Saturday at the 2016 Umatilla
County Fair appreciation dinner at the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center.
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
2016 Male Volunteer of the Year Warren
Smith shows off his award.
2016 Female Volunteer of the Year Alice
Newman thanks the fair board.
when it comes to supplying
electricity to all of the fair’s
needs.
“I’d like to recognize
Shelco Electric for carrying
the Umatilla County Fair for
as long as I’ve been on board
— and it hasn’t burnt down!”
Dorran said.
The county’s youth sale
committee was also recog-
nized by the Oregon State
University Extension Center
for their work in making
each year’s youth livestock
auction such a success.
In addition to thanking
those that made the 2016 fair
possible, the dinner Saturday
night was also about passing
the baton on to a new group
of people ready to be the face
of the 2017 fair.
Lou
Lyons,
owner
of Elmer’s Irrigation &
Supplies in Hermiston, will
be the fair’s 2017 grand
marshal. Board member Bob
Wolfe said Lyons has been
a huge supporter of 4-H,
FFA and other aspects of
the fair, including providing
hundreds of tickets for youth
to attend the Farm-City Pro
Rodeo each year.
“The fact that he
embodies giving to youth in
the community is an under-
statement,” Wolfe said.
The board introduced
the 2017 Umatilla County
Fair Court on Saturday. The
court said goodbye to 2016
princess Raylee Lenhert,
but 2016 princesses JaNessa
Prewitt and Kira Krum-
bah-Kuhar were joined on
the 2017 court by newcomer
Karolyn Jones.
Prewitt is a Hermiston
High School senior, Krum-
bah-Kuhar is a McLoughlin
High School sophomore in
Milton-Freewater and Jones
attends Pendleton High
School.
Prewitt said she learned
on the fair court that “creating
friends and memories is what
life is all about.” She said she
especially appreciated the
support of the fair commu-
nity during 2016, when her
family’s house burned down
with all of her fair court
clothing and accessories
inside.
“When I lost my home
last June, they jumped right
in and I was able to continue
to every event,” she said.
Another new face to the
2017 introduced Saturday
night was Cyndie Driscoll,
who was recently hired as the
sponsorship and marketing
director for the fair.
“I always think outside
the box and color outside the
lines, so look forward to new
everything,” she said.
Board member Lucas
Wagner also announced the
entertainment lineup for the
fair. This year’s fair-goers
can look forward to country
pop duo LoCash on Tuesday,
Southern rock/country band
Marshall Tucker Band on
Wednesday, country music
artist Tracy Lawrence on
Thursday, Latino Night
on Friday (band to be
announced) and rock band
Great White on Saturday.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
HERMISTON
Simplot Grower Solutions opens new, larger location
Largest dry fertilizer
blending facility in
Eastern Oregon
East Oregonian
Simplot Grower Solu-
tions has expanded its
Oregon offerings with a new
facility in Hermiston.
The new location, at
79319 Simplot Road, is a
“state-of-the-art”
19,000-
ton dry fertilizer blending
facility and the largest in
Eastern Oregon, according to
a news release from Simplot.
It is already operational
and open for business.
At the new facility
customers can choose from a
“wide variety” of products on
site to create custom blends
of crop nutrient products that
will be mixed and loaded
on demand “within minutes
of arrival,” according to the
news release.
“The
new
location
enables us the flexibility to
provide the same top-of-the-
line products our customers
desire, accurately blended,
much more quickly,” said
George DesBrisay, Simplot
area manager for the Lower
Columbia Basin and Willa-
mette Valley, in a statement.
“We do everything we can to
ensure farmers maximize the
success in all their fields and
this is one more tool to help
in that effort.”
The entrance and load-out
for trucks is designed so that
drivers can remain in their
trucks while orders are being
loaded, increasing safety.
Simplot previously oper-
ated in Umatilla on Umatilla
River Road. The company
will keep that facility for
organic fertilizer, while
much of its other business
has been transferred to the
new Hermiston facility
(located on Simplot Road off
Highway 207 near the Space
Age fuel station).
Dave Dufault, vice presi-
dent and general manager of
Simplot’s retail business, said
in a statement that Oregon is
“extremely important” to the
Boise-based company.
Over $30,000 in auction items up for bid!
Cracked Crab • Baked Salmon • Tri-Tip Steak • Complimentary Beer
Wednesday • February 15th • $25 Per Person
DINNER: 5:30-7pm • AUCTION: 6:30pm
Pendleton Convention Center
Limited to fi rst 500 tickets sold
Tickets available at Big John’s Pizza, Pendleton Athletic
and Dave’s Food Mart. Must be 21 & over to attend.
Dr. Robert Alan Pratt, DMD PC
Hill Meat Company
Wheatland Insurance • Thews Sheet Metal • Papa Murphy’s Pizza
McLaughlin Landscaping • McDonald’s of Pendleton
Dean’s Pendleton Athletic • D.A. Davidson & Co. • Amerititle
At a meeting Thursday,
the Pendleton Planning
Commission will take
another look at a plan that
could significantly change
how Pendleton drivers navi-
gate the area surrounding the
Southgate exit on Interstate
84.
In 2010, the commission
approved an interchange
area management plan that
is meant to ease congestion
along the off-ramp and
on-ramp at exit 209.
The plan calls for the
four-way intersection of
Southwest Emigrant Avenue
and Southwest 20th Street to
be moved west, where some
homes and retail spaces are
now.
Instituting such a change
would require realigning
20th Street and building
a new road to access the
Exit 209 entrance and exit,
among other changes.
The plan broke the
project into three phases
with an estimated total cost
of $18.5 million.
The commission is
meeting with the Oregon
Department of Transporta-
tion on Thursday to discuss
whether the area surrounding
exit 209 has met a traffic
benchmark that would
trigger the implementation
process for the first phase
of the project, which would
realign parts of the intersec-
tion, widen southwest 20th
Street to a five-lane cross
section between southwest
Emigrant Avenue and south-
west Court Street and widen
the southwest-bound Court
to accommodate dual left-
turn lanes at the 20th Street
intersection.
To trigger the first
phase, the traffic queue on
the northbound lane at the
existing intersection must
consistently back up past the
I-84/Southgate terminal.
Even if the commission
decides that the traffic
meets the trigger, ODOT
spokesman Tom Strandberg
said Pendleton residents
probably won’t see designs
or construction in the near
future because neither the
city or state has committed
money to it.
“It would be kind of a
shelf project — we could
have it ready to go once the
funds are found and take it
off the shelf,” he said.
Although the action at
the commission meeting
is mostly procedural, the
management plan warns
that the interchange area
could pose a safety hazard
to motorists and pedestrians
if the issues aren’t addressed
within 20 years.
At a larger level, the
plan states that an unsafe
interchange could cause I-84
travelers to avoid stopping
in Pendleton or force the city
to declare a development
moratorium on the south
side of town.
The commission will
meet on Thursday at 7 p.m.
in the council chambers at
Pendleton City Hall, 500
S.W. Dorion Ave.
BRIEFLY
Legislators to
talk budget in
Hermiston
HERMISTON — The
Oregon Legislature’s
Joint Ways and Means
Committee will visit
Hermiston Feb. 17 as a
part of a series of town hall
meetings to discuss the state
budget for the 2017-2019
biennium.
Members of the public
will have the opportunity to
comment on the upcoming
budget and the “Existing
Resource Framework”
released by committee
co-chairs state Rep. Nancy
Nathanson and state Sen.
Richard Devlin, which
anticipates a $1.8 billion
shortfall if revenues remain
the same.
The committee will meet
at Hermiston High School,
600 S. First St., on Feb. 17
from 5-7 p.m.
Superintendent
to address retired
educators
PENDLETON — Andy
Kovach, superintendent
of the Pendleton School
District, is the special
speaker for the upcoming
Oregon Retired Educators
Association-Unit 9 meeting.
Anyone who is interested
is invited to the no-host
gathering. Kovach will
discuss current school
district news Thursday at
11:30 a.m. at Sundown Bar
& Grill, 233 S.E. Fourth St.,
Pendleton.
OREA membership
isn’t limited to retired
educators, the group is open
to anyone interested in
promoting education. For
more information, call unit
president Bill Mayclin at
541-276-4540.
Oldies Night takes
listeners to Chicago
MILTON-FREEWATER
— With more than three
dozen albums and 50 chart
singles, the band Chicago
was inducted into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame in
2016.
Originally known as The
Big Thing, they later were
called The Chicago Transit
Authority. After the real
transit authority — which
operates buses, subways,
and elevated trains —
threatened to sue the group,
they shortened their name to
Chicago.
BJ the DJ will spin tunes
of the group — including “If
You Leave Me Now,” “Hard
to Say I’m Sorry,” “Look
Away” and “Hard Habit to
Break” — during Oldies
Night at Milton-Freewater.
The free event is Saturday
from 7-10 p.m. at Wesley
United Methodist Church,
816 S. Main St., Milton-
Freewater. Light snacks will
be available from The Frogs.
For more information,
contact Bob Jones
at 541-938-7028 or
dubuquer@charter.net.
MULTI-MEDIA SALES
Great work environment.
Super awesome team.
Good pay. Retirement plan.
Weekends off. Interested?
OREGON
HUNTERS
ASSOCIATION
HUNTER’S RIGHTS • HUNTABLE WILDLIFE • HABITAT
BUCKAROO BOOSTER
CLUB FUNDRAISER
Dinner & Auction
“We know our customers
expect great products with
great service, and this new
facility will enable us to
handle more of those prod-
ucts and deliver when our
customers need them,” he
said. “We are very proud of
that capability.
For more information call
541-922-5672 or visit www.
simplotgrowersolutions.
com.
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Chris McClellan,
Multi-Media Sales Consultant
Send resume and letter of
interest to
EO Media Group
PO Box 2048
Salem, OR 97308-2048
by fax to 503-371-2935 or
e-mail hr@eomediagroup.com
East Oregonian has an
opening for multi-media sales.
No multi-media experience?
That’s fine, as long as you
understand the importance
of customer service,
working hard and a desire
to enjoy your job.
Could this be you?
Base wage plus commissions,
benefits and mileage
reimbursement. Benefits
include Paid Time Off (PTO),
insurances and a 401(k)/Roth
401(k) retirement plan.
Banquet, Raffl e & Auction Featuring
An All State ELK Tag Sponsored by
the Access and Habitat Program
February 11th • 5:00 pm
at the Pendleton Convention Center
Raffl e & Auction Items including a D&B
Treasure Chest & M2D Properties Youth Hunt
To Register Call Rebecca 541-379-1074
or Terry 541-231-4384
MONEY RAISED BY OUR BANQUET
STAYS IN OREGON!
Columbia Basin Chapter supported the
following events and many others:
• Youth Bow Hunt
• Coyote Predation Management
• OHA/ODFW Pheasant Hunt
and Skeet Shoot