WRESTLING/1B
OIL PIPELINE
PROTESTERS
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39/23
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HERMISTON
HOPING FOR
ANOTHER
STATE TITLE
Trump lifts
transgender
bathroom
guidance 8A
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2017
141st Year, No. 93
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
PENDLETON
Proposed pot shop faces heat
Tutuilla residents worry about
proximity to school bus stop
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Opposition is mounting
to a proposed recreational
marijuana store on Tutuilla
Road in Pendleton.
Thur’s Smoke Shop,
which is currently located
at 34 S.W. Emigrant Ave.,
requested a conditional use
permit from the Pendleton
Planning Commission to
open a dispensary at 1292
S.W. Tutuilla Road.
Julie Chase of the city’s
planning department said
there was a signifi cant
amount of public testimony
at the planning commission
meeting Thursday, most of it
in opposition to Thur’s.
Given the large amount
of testimony, Chase said the
commission decided to hold
off on a decision until its next
meeting March 9.
Sunridge Middle School
principal Dave Williams said
he was one of the people who
testifi ed against the store.
Williams said Thur’s met
the zoning requirements
— it’s more than 1,000 feet
away from Sunridge and
Grecian Heights Park — but
that doesn’t mean its right for
the area.
Williams said there are
more than 600 students who
See MARIJUANA/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A sign warming about a proposed marijuana dispensa-
ry being “not a good fi t” sits at the corner of Southwest
Tutuilla Road and Nye Avenue on Tuesday in Pendleton.
PENDLETON
PENDLETON
Bike week
makes deal
with Harley-
Davidson
Motorcycle company to
sponsor event in its third year
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
“Despite the treacherous treatment regiment and many complications and surgeries,
Ruth shows up to work daily, ready and excited to serve our clients.”
Pendleton Bike Week rides into its third
year high on the hog.
Eric Folkestad, bike week co-founder,
confi rmed
Harley-Davidson
Motor
Company inked a deal as the rally’s title
sponsor.
“We just signed the contract [Tuesday],”
he said. “We’ve been working on this since
last August.”
Folkestad said he, Pat Beard of Travel
Pendleton and representatives from the
city of Pendleton met with Harley-Da-
vidson offi cials Jan. 25 at the company’s
headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The company found Pendleton and its
annual Round-Up share Harley-David-
son’s values, Folkestad said, and would be
a good fi t for the brand.
“It’s the only event they’re going to do
on the West Coast,” Beard said.
Folkestad and Beard said Harley-Da-
vidson expect to issue an offi cial statement
March 1.
The inaugural bike week in 2015 had
about 6,000 attendees, and last year that
ramped up to around 16,000 across four
days. Beard said the deal with Harley-Da-
vidson legitimizes Bike Week in a big
way for motorcycle enthusiasts. Given
Harley-Davidson’s brand recognition, its
marketing power and social media reach,
Beard estimated 20,000 or more could
attend this year. And the door is open for the
rally to morph into the annual “Harley-Da-
vidson’s Pendleton Bike Week.”
Folkestad said the American motor-
cycle maker will send a team with two
semitrailers of demonstration bikes, which
people can ride for free, to the rally at the
Pendleton Convention Center. He also
said local sponsors, including Hill Meat
Co., Oxford Suites, and Les Schwab Tires,
— Amy Ashton-Williams, director of Umatilla County Human Services
See BIKE WEEK/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Ruth Silva fi les paperwork at her job with the Umatilla County Human Services offi ce on Wednesday in Pendleton. Silva
refused let her third bout with cancer keep her from coming into work.
Human Services employee won’t let cancer keep her from work
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
After Ruth Silva was
diagnosed with cancer, she
decided she wasn’t going to let
her illness stand in the way of
doing her job.
Silva, who has stage three
ovarian cancer, works as
support staff for Umatilla
County Human Services offi ce
in Pendleton. She has kept
working through three different
battles with cancer, emergency
surgery and a grueling schedule
of chemotherapy.
“I don’t want it to get me
down,” she said. “Sometimes
I feel lousy when I come into
work but I try not to let people
see it.”
Her
coworkers
are
supportive, and tell her not to
feel guilty if she needs to go
home and rest before the work
day is over. This week they
surprised her at a staff lunch
by wearing matching T-shirts
with teal ribbons (the symbol
of ovarian cancer awareness)
and the slogan “I wear teal for
Ruth.”
Silva said while she appre-
See SILVA/10A
Day 180: Recovery
Hurricane Katrina’s aft ermath off ers some lessons
on what a Cascadia recovery eff ort might look like
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
AP Photo/David J. Phillip
A man moves items damaged by fl oodwaters in the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on Sept. 9, 2005 in
Slidell, La. near New Orleans. Emergency responders
look to the disaster as a guide for what to expect in
the months after a potential massive earthquake and
tsunami in the Pacifi c Northwest.
As those in charge of emergency prepared-
ness try to understand what the aftermath of
Cascadia might look like six months after
the quake, Hurricane Katrina can offer some
lessons.
The hurricane hit New Orleans on Aug.
29, 2005, breaching levees and fl ooding 80
percent of the city. An estimated 1,800 people
were killed by the hurricane and its aftermath
and more than 1.3 million evacuees from the
region submitted aid applications to FEMA
Editor’s note: This is part four of a
fi ve-part series about a possible
9.0 Cascadia subduction zone
earthquake in the Pacifi c Northwest.
from new addresses across all 50 states.
Six months later, the Tulsa World reported
only 38 percent of New Orleans residents had
returned to the city. Half of the 60 million cubic
yards of debris had been removed from the
city, and only one third of the city’s structures
See CASCADIA/10A