Page 8A
East Oregonian
HERMISTON:
Conference center hosts
over 500 events per year
Continued from 1A
of Commerce.”
“Our chamber members
will continue to be our main
focus,” said the release. “In
the meantime the chamber
will continue to manage
the conference center with
assistance from the city.”
Morgan said the city is
in the process of a $125,000
renovation of the basement
of the old Carnegie Library
located at 215 East Gladys
Avenue across from city
hall. He said that space will
be available to the chamber
to use for free starting
January 1, 2018 if they are
interested in it.
“The chamber has done
an excellent job operating
the city-owned conference
center facility for us over
the past two decades,
which is why the city is
offering to continue to look
at future partnerships with
the chamber,” he said in an
email.
According to informa-
tion from the chamber, in
1994 community members
decided to pursue creation
of a venue for community
events, meetings and
other activities. The city
purchased the conference
center — which had
previously been a Safeway
— and the chamber helped
raise donations of more than
$600,000 of private funds
to renovate the building at
no cost to taxpayers. Now
the building hosts more
than 500 events per year.
The city has contracted
with the chamber to run
the center in the past,
with profi ts split between
the city, the chamber and
maintenance of the confer-
ence center.
Morgan said the city
has felt that it would be
diffi cult to continue that
arrangement now that the
Eastern Oregon Trade and
Event Center is competing
for events that might have
previously been held at the
conference center.
In the contract between
the city and chamber,
both parties are required
to give six months’ notice
if they plan not to renew
the contract for the next
calendar year. Morgan
said that timeline was sped
up when the chamber’s
conference center facili-
tator Barb Martin recently
gave her two weeks’ notice.
He said city staff did not
want to see the chamber
hire someone new only
to fi nd out shortly after
that they did not need the
position anymore.
“That’s not good for the
chamber, or good for the
(facilitator),” he said.
The chamber’s news
release encouraged people
to stay tuned for more
information as the process
moves forward.
“Many folks associate
the chamber and confer-
ence center as one and the
same and we have enjoyed
working with all the groups
who have utilized the
conference center over
the years,” the statement
said. “We have developed
many friendships and part-
nerships at the conference
center and you are assured
that you will have the same
great customer service you
have enjoyed as we transi-
tion.”
The Hermiston city
council meets the second
and fourth Monday of each
month at 7 p.m. at city
hall, 180 Northeast Second
Street.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
PERS: Reforms were reversed by
Oregon Supreme Court in 2015
Continued from 1A
The pension system
is a perennial political
fl ashpoint because future
obligations are at least
$22 billion more than the
system could pay for today.
Although that bill is not
immediately due, advo-
cates of reform say that
legislative inaction would
increase fi nancial pressure
on local governments and
school districts.
Many legislators are
also wary of making
changes to the pension
system for fear of a legal
challenge.
In 2015, two years after
the Legislature passed
certain reforms to PERS,
the Oregon Supreme
Court reversed most of
them, ruling that benefi ts
already accrued by public
employees cannot be
changed.
In addition to the legal
parameters, Taylor said
Wednesday, because a
number of factors are in
play every proposal needs
to be carefully vetted for
secondary effects
“The interplay between
the proposals makes a big
difference,” Taylor said.
Meanwhile, legislators
are also wrestling with
balancing
the
state’s
budget in the face of an
approximately $1.6 billion
gap between what the state
is expected to realize in
revenue and what budget
writers say is necessary to
pay for the existing level of
services.
Many Democrats, such
as Taylor, and Speaker
of the House Tina Kotek,
D-Portland, say that while
public employee benefi ts
do cost the state money,
they are not the only
“drivers” of the budget.
COMMISSION: Also approved
extension of ambulance service
area franchise agreements
Continued from 1A
the mercantile area, where
they are paying to construct
a mercantile building.
The county approved
the leases on condition that
two minor legal changes be
implemented to bring them
in line with what type of
lease the county can legally
enter into.
“It’s really starting to
take shape,” commissioner
Larry Givens said, noting
that construction on the
barns had begun recently.
During
Wednesday’s
meeting the commission
approved a request from
emergency manager Tom
Roberts to update the coun-
ty’s emergency operations
plan to include a procedure
for handling Chempacks,
which are stockpiles of
nerve agent antidotes the
Centers for Disease Control
has placed in strategic loca-
tions around the country.
Roberts said Umatilla
County has one of
the CDC’s Chempack
containers and, as such,
needed plans for retrieving
and distributing the mate-
rials to be included in the
county emergency opera-
tions plan. The Chempacks
could be used in the event
of a terrorist attack or large-
scale fertilizer poisoning.
On Wednesday the
commission also approved
an extension of the coun-
ty’s ambulance service
area franchise agreements,
approved a supplemental
budget, approved purchase
of new HVAC systems for
two county-owned build-
ings in Milton-Freewater,
approved purchase of two
trailers, approved a request
for proposals on a new
stage for the fair, approved
renewed franchises with
multiple companies for
solid waste disposal and
passed resolutions recog-
nizing National County
Government Month in
April and supporting the
Hidden Heroes program
honoring caregivers of
veterans.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
Thursday, April 6, 2017
OFF PAGE ONE
New hurdle proposed for solar on high-value farmland
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Solar power
facilities on high-value
farmland in Oregon would
have to clear a new hurdle
under a bill being consid-
ered by state lawmakers.
Commercial developers
would fi rst have to demon-
strate that alternative sites
aren’t
available
under
House Bill 3050, a require-
ment that currently applies
to solar facilities larger than
12 acres.
Proponents of the bill,
including
the
Oregon
Farm Bureau and the
1,000 Friends of Oregon
conservation group, say the
new test would discourage
conversion of the state’s
most productive land.
An uptick in commercial
solar power proposals in
Oregon’s Willamette Valley
has raised concerns that
clusters of developments
will change the agricultural
character of affected areas,
supporters say.
Such close groupings of
solar facilities effectively
undermine the current
12-acre
exemption
to
the alternative analysis,
according to proponents.
The growing popularity
of long-term leases of
farmland for commercial
solar projects has prompted
the Oregon Board of Agri-
culture to ask for a review
of land use regulations for
such sites.
Supporters of HB 3050
say that solar developments
drive up rent prices for
farmland even while long-
term leases for solar panels
may permanently take land
out of agriculture.
The Oregon Farm Bureau
was alerted to the problem
by “mass mailings” from
solar companies to farmers,
said Mary Anne Nash,
public policy counsel for the
group.
Developers should fi rst
look for other options before
seeking to lease high-value
farmland, she said.
Wind turbine projects
are already subject to
the alternatives analysis
requirement, so it should
also apply to commercial
solar facilities, said Meriel
Darzen of 1,000 Friends of
Oregon.
Critics of the bill coun-
tered that the new require-
ment is overly broad and
ignores existing rules that
protect farmland.
Marty Dozler, a farmer
near Aumsville, Ore., said
some of his property is
considered high-value farm-
land even though the soils
aren’t of the highest quality.
It’s tough to break even
fi nancially on this land, so
solar development provides
a new revenue source that
makes the farm viable for
the next generation, he said.
“We
believe
every
farmer should be allowed
to place solar facilities if
they choose, regardless of
where they live in the state,”
Dozler said.
Dozler said he’s installed
solar panels in the corners
of fi elds and other areas that
don’t interfere with farming
practices.
“It’s a steady income
with very little impact to our
land,” he said.
MCGEE: Spent decades as a successful drag racer
Continued from 1A
boisterous
parade
that
started across the street. He
would stride through the
bar carrying an Irish fl ag
and wishing a “top o’ the
morning to ya” to his rowdy
patrons.
On a recent day off, Adair
sat at the Rainbow’s long
wooden bar, sipping a cock-
tail and letting memories
of McGee come. McGee’s
presence is embedded in the
place as much as the neon
shamrock on the ceiling, the
mounted buffalo head or the
sign that informs patrons
how many days until the
next St. Paddy’s Day bash.
The man permeates the
bar — photos of a bearded
McGee at hunting camp, a
favorite racing car and the
self-styled McGee family
crest that bears the image
of a dodo bird or maybe a
fl amingo. When McGee
and cronies rolled dice for
drinks, Adair said, he would
raise the dice cup to the crest
and rattle it before letting the
cubes clatter onto the bar.
His drink of choice?
Usually Laphroaig single
malt Scotch, a shockingly
non-Irish whiskey.
Despite his playfulness,
McGee worked hard, Adair
said. When not bantering
with customers, he used his
mechanical abilities to main-
tain cranky appliances and
attend to the unglamorous
parts of running the business
he operated with his wife
Joanne. Adair said McGee
also felt responsible for
preserving the 1883 bar and
its history.
“Steve used to say, you
don’t own the Rainbow,
you’re just the caretaker,”
Adair said.
People who knew McGee
say his personality roamed.
The lovable jokester who
adored children, underdogs
and animals also got down-
right ornery sometimes.
And he was a guy who
chased his dreams. Before the
Rainbow, he spent decades
as a successful drag racer.
During his racing career, he
set West Coast records with
his dragsters and funny cars.
With $250,000 in sponsor-
ship money from Sunshine
Pizza, an unheard of sum in
1983, he burned up the track
in a Z-28 Camaro.
“He was on top of the
world in the early ’80s,” said
Ron Huegli, curator of the
World of Speed museum in
Wilsonville.
Huegli, a funny car racer,
considered McGee a mentor.
“In 1996, he was unde-
feated. Everywhere he went,
he set a track record,” Huegli
said. “He had an incredible
career doing what he wanted
to do.”
Huegli said he tried to
emulate McGee. The racer
“was a fi erce competitor, but
was always nice to people.
He showed up to win, but
he’d buy you a beer at the
end of the night.”
The drag racing commu-
nity honored McGee in
January by inducting him
into the Northwest Division
Hall of Fame.
McGee also loved to
restore classic cars and
started working on his last
project — a 1953 Chevy —
eight years ago. He never
fi nished. A group of car
friends known affectionately
as the Dirty Dozen will fi nish
the job.
“Originally, the Chevy
belonged to his high school
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The Rainbow owner Steve McGee walks the Irish fl ag through his bar after retiring
the fl ag at sundown during a St. Patrick’s Day celebration in Pendleton in 2015.
“Steve used to
say, you don’t
own the Rain-
bow, you’re just
the caretaker.”
— Betty Adair, longtime
Rainbow employee
Contributed photo
Steve McGee stands with his hotrod at a car show
near the beginning of his successful racing career.
buddy,” said son-in-law
Ryan Krusee, who is one of
the Dirty Dozen. “They used
to cruise it in Pendleton. It
sat in storage for years and
years.”
McGee stripped the car
down to metal and rebuilt the
motor, while his friend Dale
“Metal Master” Withers
worked on the body at his
Estacada hot rod shop. The
Chevy, missing its fi nal
paint job and pin striping,
was almost fi nished when
McGee died.
“His friends will fi nish
the car and show it,” said
McGee’s daughter, Nixie
Krusee. “He knew at the end
of his life that his friends
would continue his dream.”
The car will appear in
the June Cruisin’ Car Show
in Pendleton on June 3.
After that, Ryan Krusee and
Withers will drive the car to
a number of West Coast car
shows. McGee would have
loved the trip, Ryan said.
He recounted an excur-
sion he took with McGee
to the Portland International
Car Show three weeks ago.
Krusee, of West Linn, drove
to Pendleton to fetch McGee
and then delivered him home.
McGee was weak from his
six-year battle with cancer,
but he and Ryan stopped
for a couple of chocolate
milkshakes and an order of
onion rings in Arlington.
They listened to classic rock
together on Pandora. McGee
got into it.
“Here
was
this
76-year-old rocking out to
Kid Rock and AC/DC,”
Ryan said, laughing.
Nixie Krusee will miss
her dad’s encouragement to
follow dreams.
“He dreamed big,” she
said. “He was a go-getter. He
always had goals for himself
and he’d fi gure out a way to
get them accomplished.”
She said his dreams
evolved. About 17 years ago,
he and Joanne got tired of
the hustle and bustle of Lake
Oswego, where McGee also
ran an auto electric shop.
They had both grown up in
Pendleton and wanted to
go home. They saw that the
Rainbow was for sale and
headed back. It would be
Steve’s fi nal destination.
He made it, though, to
one fi nal St. Patrick’s Day
celebration at the Rainbow.
Adair said McGee didn’t
have the strength to do
the reading he had chosen
this year, so he called on
friend and customer Randy
Brandson.
“Let’s all put on our
dancing
shoes,”
read
Brandson, “and wear our
shamrocks green and toast
our friends both here and
there
and
everywhere
between.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or call 541-966-0810.
LENT
April 7th from 5 to 7:00 p.m.
@ the St. Anthony Hospital Blue Mountain Cafe
Cedar Wrapped Salmon - $7.50/Adults
- $7.00/Children & Seniors
with Rice Pilaf & Buttered Green Beans
Baked Potato Bar - $4.00/with toppings
All you can eat.
Salmon/Potato Bar Combo - $11.50
Clam Chowder Bread Bowl - $4.25
Single Cup $1.25
2801 St. Anthony Way, Pendleton, OR 97801