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SPECIAL PROSECUTOR
NAMED TO PROBE
TRUMP-RUSSIA TIES
HERMISTON
FFA WINS
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NATION/7A
REGION/3A
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017
141st Year, No. 153
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PENDLETON
BENT, state, feds arrest four in drug raids
Search warrants served at Wicked Kitty,
Thur’s Smoke Shop and city residence
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Three drugs raids Wednesday
in Pendleton resulted in four
arrests, including of downtown
business owners Jason Lybrand
and Bryson Thurman.
Pendleton Police Chief Stuart
Roberts in a written statement
reported the Blue Mountain
Enforcement Narcotics Team
served search warrants at 11 a.m.
at Thur’s Smoke Shop, 34 S.W.
Emigrant Ave., Wicked Kitty
Tattoo and Piercing, 132 S. Main
St, and a residence at 409 S.W.
11th St.
Lybrand, 46, owns Wicked
Kitty. Police arrested him there on
probation violations, according to
Roberts.
Lybrand is serving three years
See DRUGS/8A
Lybrand
Thurman
Servi
Hamilton
ATHENA
Mainstreet
association
buys old
PGG store
Will host meetings to collect
input on building’s future use
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
BMCC president Cam Preus looks on Wednesday in Pendleton as EOU president Tom Insko signs a memorandum to establish
a fast track transfer program that offers students the benefi ts of being able to co-register and co-enroll at both of the higher
learning institutions.
Seamless institutions
BMCC, EOU to allow co-enrollment,
create fast track transfer program
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The word of the day for Blue
Mountain Community College and
Eastern Oregon University was
“seamless.”
At a ceremony at BMCC’s
Pendleton campus Wednesday,
the presidents of BMCC and EOU
signed a memorandum of agree-
ment that enables co-registration
and co-enrollment at both schools.
Administrators
from
both
institutions made short speeches
thanking the people who made
co-enrollment possible, which they
said would make the transfer from
BMCC to EOU seamless.
With the Timberwolves mascot
standing between BMCC president
Cam Preus and EOU president Tom
Insko, Insko said he was recently
in Salem and heard other education
offi cials talk about the diffi culties of
transferring students from commu-
See SCHOOL/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
BMCC is the largest source of transfer students to
Eastern Oregon University, averaging 28 transfers stu-
dents per term and 32 co-enrolled students per term.
Athena is one of several Eastern
Oregon cities that is home to an empty
Pendleton Grain Growers retail store. But
there’s hope it can be fi lled once again
after the community literally took it back.
After raising a total of $55,200 in
donations to purchase and operate it,
the Athena Mainstreet Association
announced Tuesday that it bought the old
PGG building on 459
W. Main St.
In an interview “The longer
Wednesday, April
a building
Vo r h a u e r - F l a t t ,
sits, the
an
association
board member and
project coordinator, more it falls
explained
how
apart.”
concerned commu-
— April
nity members started
gathering last year Vorhauer-Flatt,
to fi gure out what to
association board
do with the vacant,
member
9,000-square-foot
building.
“The longer a building sits, the more it
falls apart,” she said.
The association volunteered to lead
the effort to purchase the building and
put it under community control. It raised
$15,200 from local citizens, $20,000 from
the Port of Umatilla, $10,000 from the
Athena-Weston Education and Resource
Enhancement program, $5,000 from the
Watts Fund and $5,000 from Umatilla
County for their campaign.
People have bandied about a number
of ideas on how to re-use the building,
including turning it into a gym, a civic
center or keeping it as retail space. The
association plans on hosting a series
See ATHENA/8A
HERMISTON
Man’s life turned upside down
after not reading instructions
Spent 20 minutes trapped
feet up on inversion table
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Glen Taylor is just happy to be right-
side up.
The Hermiston octogenarian spent a
harrowing 20 minutes or so stuck upside
down on an inversion table last Thursday
evening. He’d purchased the device after
watching an infomercial about health
benefi ts of inversion therapy.
Advocates of inversion tables say
hanging upside down can relieve back-
aches, soothe arthritis, stimulate the
immune system, improve circulation
and otherwise counteract the effects of
gravity. Taylor, who relies on a wheel-
chair and walker to get around, was
intrigued with the idea. He deals with
both diabetes and back pain and is a lung
cancer survivor. He had polio as a boy.
He ordered a Teeter ComforTrak
Inversion Table, which arrived several
days later. A
friend
helped
“I love the
Taylor assemble
the unit. The damn thing.”
82-year-old tested
— Glen Taylor,
the table a couple
does not plan to
of times with the
give up on the
friend
spotting
inversion
table
and liked how
his back felt.
On Thursday night, Taylor, who lives
alone, found himself in the mood for a
little spinal decompression. He climbed
See INVERSION/8A
Glen Taylor
of Hermiston
got stuck
upside down
in his Teeter
ComforTrak
Inversion
Table and had
to activate his
Life Alert help
button to
contact local
paramedics
and police to
help free him
from his
predicament.
Staff photo
by E.J. Harris