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FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 2017
141st Year, No. 139
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PENDLETON
Your Weekend
School district to cut 10 positions
Layoffs could be spared if state increases funding
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
•
•
•
Saturday, Walla Walla
Kennel Club Dog Show
Doolittle Raider Gala
at Pendleton airport
LiveWire radio records
live at Hamley’s saloon
After months of internal
planning and deliberations,
there was little to say about
the
Pendleton
School
District’s first significant
round of layoffs in six years.
In a meeting that lasted
about 20 minutes Thursday,
the Pendleton School Board
unanimously
authorized
the layoff of 10 employees,
including teachers, admin-
istrators and classified
positions.
Human resources director
Brad Bixler broke down the
layoffs by position — one
district director, one district
coordinator, one elementary
assistant principal, one
secondary math teacher,
Bixler said these layoffs
would pair with the 7.5
positions that would go
unfilled after retirements and
resignations.
“Much of this process
was built on the fabric of
keeping our classrooms in
the best shape as possible,”
he said.
See CUTS/12A
More inside
Superintendent
candidates to meet
public next week. 3A
one business teacher, one
secretary, three assistants/
paraprofessionals and one
facilities assistant.
For times and places
see Coming Events, 6A
Weekend Weather
Fri
Sat
Sun
58/36
64/49
62/39
Watch a game
vs.
Pendleton vs. Hermiston
baseball and softball
doubleheader
Friday, 3 p.m., Hermiston
Gov. Brown
moves to
step up
state’s debt
collection
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — In an effort
to address the “overhead
costs” of state government,
Gov. Kate Brown announced
plans Thursday to direct state
agencies to step up their debt
collection efforts.
As of June 30, 2016, the
state was owed about $3.3
billion for things such as
unpaid fees, fines, and taxes,
according to a December
analysis by the nonpartisan
Legislative Fiscal Office.
Brown, a former secre-
tary of state who oversaw
audits of the state’s revenue
department, says about $600
million to $800 million is
owed to the state’s general
fund. About 95 percent of that
amount, she said Thursday, is
related to unpaid taxes.
Through the executive
order, Brown plans to direct
state agencies to determine
if a contractor has debt with
the state before issuing or
See DEBT/12A
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Vehicles rush through the intersection of Highway 395 and Elm Avenue in Hermiston. Recently, a cyclist died at this intersection after
colliding with a semi truck.
Where there’s traffic ...
Problem areas in West Umatilla County lead to higher crash rates
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
It’s easy to blame traffic accidents
on poor driving and electronic
distractions, but some spots in
Umatilla County have proven
dangerous time and time again —
and not just because of poor drivers.
Several agencies keep track of the
most problematic spots for traffic,
including the Oregon Department of
Transportation.
“Our system, the Safety Priority
Index System (SPIS) identifies
hotspots for crashes or incidents, and
prioritizes them,” said ODOT’s Tom
Strandberg. “It takes into account
average daily traffic volume, what
kinds of crashes, the severity.”
Compiling data over a period
of three years, Strandberg said,
the system identifies the areas that
are the highest priority for road
improvement projects.
A few of the hotspots in west
Umatilla County, he said, are the
Highway 395 intersections with
Punkin Center Road, Theater Lane
and Elm, and the Highway 207
intersections with Highland Avenue
and Punkin Center.
The identification of those
problem spots has led to work at
some of those areas in recent years.
At Punkin Center Road in 2014, a
flashing yellow light was installed
and some sidewalk work was done,
likely prompted by SPIS data.
In 2015 at Elm and Highway 395,
the turning radii were improved, and
temporary traffic separators were
installed, to prevent cross-traffic
turning movements into business
entrances. Those turns had caused
accidents in the past. In 2016,
ODOT also resurfaced Highway
395 between Southwest 6th Street
and Highway 730, including more
than 80 ADA ramp upgrades and
pedestrian crossing upgrades.
There are also plans to install
traffic signals at Highway 207 and
Elm Avenue, and at 207 and Orchard
HERMISTON
Cans, bottles flow at drop center
after deposit doubles statewide
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
On April 1, Oregonians
got a new incentive to recycle
cans and bottles when
the state’s bottle deposit
increased from a nickel to a
dime.
People at the Hermiston
Bottle Drop are taking
advantage of it, and the state
has seen double the returns
since the increase.
“I was going to come in
yesterday, but there was a
line,” said John Sobotta, who
brought a cart full of plastic
and glass bottles. “I had to
come back.”
The bottle drop, at 740
W. Hermiston Ave., was
consistently busy Thursday
afternoon, with most of the
self-serve machines occu-
pied.
Avenue later this summer.
Hermiston police chief Jason
Edmiston has dealt with the
dangerous intersections in town at
both a professional and personal
level.
“Obviously, Highway 395 is
where we get our largest number
of complaints,” he said. Often, he
said, people report problems with
semi trucks on that road, either with
speeding or being in the wrong lane.
Many semi trucks, he said, will
drive in the left lane even though
there’s a state law prohibiting them
from doing so.
See INTERSECTION/12A
PENDLETON
Large-scale pot grow
gets the green light
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Patrons use the recycling kiosks at the Bottle Drop
recycling center on Tuesday in Hermiston.
Before the deposit was
increased, the Oregon Liquor
Control Commission evalu-
ated redemption data for the
entire state for the past two
years to determine whether
the number of containers
returned for refund was less
than 80 percent of the total
number sold in the state. If it
was less than 80 percent, the
state would have to increase
the redemption rate per bottle
from five to 10 cents.
See DEPOSIT/12A
GhostTown Organix
will become Pendleton’s
first recreational marijuana
grow operation.
The Pendleton Plan-
ning Commission voted
Thursday evening 6-1 in
favor of the conditional
use permit to allow the
facility at 2515 N.E.
Riverside Place, home
years ago to the Prairie
Market grocery store.
Commissioners posed
several questions en route
to the approval, primarily
about waste and on-site
security quarters. Ghost-
Town Organix owner
Sheri Ramirez of Boise
was on hand to answer.
“We basically are
just a grow facility,” she
said, that could sell to
retailers and wholesalers
and would not handle
processing. While the
building is 17,647 square
feet, Ramirez said Ghost-
Town plans to use 5,000
square feet for its hydro-
ponic operation.
“Eventually,
we’d
like to grow into a larger
grow facility,” she told the
commission.
The business would
employ three people,
including security, who
would live on site, she
said, but no one younger
than 21 can be in the
operation per Oregon
rules. The conditional use
permit limits the size of
the security quarters to
1,200 square feet.
“We do need it for
security reasons,” Ramirez
said. “We have a lot of
See GROW/12A