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TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2017
141st Year, No. 136
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
HERMISTON
Path open
for more
housing
New zoning make
development easier in
town primed for growth
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
The Hermiston city council took
steps forward Monday toward its goal of
promoting more housing development in
Hermiston.
The council added multi-family dwell-
ings as a conditional use in a commercial
zone off Highland Avenue and also
gave planning staff the green light to
begin researching and preparing code
amendments that will make residential
development easier and more profi table in
Hermiston.
“Let’s get some more houses built,”
mayor David Drotzmann said.
The council held a public hearing
Monday on creation of a neighborhood
commercial overlay zone that would add
multi-family dwellings and mini-storage
as allowable uses on a roughly 8 acre
section of land along Highland Avenue
west of Southwest 11th Street.
No apartment buildings are currently
See HOUSING/8A
PENDLETON
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Roughly 225 people took part in a March for Science on Saturday in Pendleton.
STREET SCIENCE
Earth Day events in Pendleton showcase everyday applications of science
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Coinciding with rallies in hundreds of
cities all over the globe, about 225 people
gathered Saturday morning at Roy Raley
Park in Pendleton to participate in the March
for Science, emphasizing the importance of
scientifi c work in the local community.
Supporters trekked down Court Avenue,
some carrying signs, before returning in
silence to the park along the Pendleton River
Parkway where event organizers also held
a Community Science Fair, featuring food,
music, informational displays and hands-on
activities for kids.
Dick Smiley, a retired plant pathologist for
Oregon State University, took part in the march
wearing a shirt that read “Science is not a
Phil Richersen, a groundwater expert
from the Oregon Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality, demonstrates to
several children what happens when
pollutants such as fertilizer and cow
manure get into the ecosystem.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
liberal conspiracy,” echoing the political over-
tones of marchers nationwide who protested
the policies of President Donald Trump.
“Scientists are often feeling under threat
in today’s environment,” Smiley said. “We
needed to show as much support and encour-
agement for science funding as possible.”
Andrea Mann, who spearheaded the
Pendleton march, said the purpose of the
demonstration was to highlight the value of
science while also refl ecting on the value of
Earth Day.
“Science has so much to do with every-
thing we touch,” Mann said.
See SCIENCE/8A
Final four set in
search for new
superintendent
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
The Pendleton School Board narrowed
the search for a new superintendent to four
candidates. Board chair Debbie McBee
said the fi nalists will be in Pendleton on
Wednesday, May 3 to meet district staff
and the community.
The district in a written statement
Monday announced the fi nalists as:
• Aaron D. Chavez. Chavez has been
the superintendent at Wahluke School
District in Washington since 2010. The
district has 2,450 students.
Before Wahluke, he was superinten-
dent at Brewster School District (1,000
students) for three years and superinten-
dent/principal at Almira School District
(100 students) for two years. Chavez spent
six years in the classroom as a teacher
before becoming an administrator.
He has a bachelor’s degree in social
sciences from Eastern Washington
University and a master’s in administra-
tion from Heritage University, Toppenish,
Washington.
• Christopher J. Fritsch for the last
See SEARCH/8A
Farmers fear losing immigrant
workers under Trump crackdown
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
SALEM — The head of Bethel
Heights Vineyard looked out over
the 100 acres of vines her crew
of 20 Mexicans had just fi nished
pruning, worried about what will
happen if the Trump administration
presses ahead with its crackdown on
immigrants.
From tending the plants to
harvesting the grapes, it takes skill
and a strong work ethic to produce
the winery’s pinot noir and char-
donnay, and native-born Americans
just aren’t willing to work that hard,
Patricia Dudley said as a cold rain
drenched the vineyard in the hills of
Oregon.
“Who’s going to come out here
and do this work when they deport
them all?” she asked.
President Donald Trump’s hard
line against immigrants in the U.S.
illegally has sent a chill through the
nation’s agricultural industry, which
fears a crackdown will deprive it of
the labor it needs to plant, grow and
pick the crops that feed the country.
Fruit and vegetable growers,
dairy and cattle farmers and owners
of plant nurseries and vineyards
have begun lobbying politicians
at home and in Washington to get
them to deal with immigration in a
way that minimizes the harm to their
livelihoods.
Some of the farm leaders are
Republicans who voted for Trump
and are torn, wanting border
See CRACKDOWN/8A
Next state bird?
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
An osprey dives over the top of some shrubs near the shore of
McKay Reservoir while hunting on Friday south of Pendleton.
A bill is moving through the Oregon Legislature that would
designate the species as the state bird. It has passed the Senate
and is currently in the House rules committee.