GET READY
FOR GOAT
YOGA
ROCKETS
BLAST OFF
AT STATE
Kick in the pants
to low voter
turnout
REGION/3A
SPORTS/1B
OPINION/4A
FRIDAY, MAY 19, 2017
141st Year, No. 154
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Your Weekend
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Pendleton Underground
Comes to Life
Law Enforcement
Memorial Ceremony
Seffarine in concert at
Pendleton Arts Center
For times and places
see Coming Events, 5A
Catch a movie
Twentieth Century Fox via AP
Everything probably goes
just fi ne and everyone’s
innards likely stay inside
their bodies as a crew of
earthlings explore a distant
planet in “Alien: Covenant.”
For showtime, Page 5A
Weekend Weather
Fri
Sat
Sun
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Morrow County is considering Bombing Range Road as a green energy corridor, where multiple renewable energy facilities could connect
to the grid via a single transmission line.
72/50
72/49
76/50
HERMISTON
Supporters
speculate
why school
bond failed
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
The Hermiston School
District’s $104 million bond
failed decisively in Tuesday’s
election, and the district will
spend the next few months
trying to fi gure out what went
wrong and what its next steps
will be.
“At Monday’s school
board meeting, the members
will begin to unpack some
of what they’re hearing from
community members and via
social media,” said district
superintendent Dr. Fred
Maiocco, adding that the
district was in conversations
with a third party to help
gather community feedback
in a more structured way.
He added that once the
new board is seated, the
See BOND/10A
Pilot project seeks to balance agriculture, energy in Morrow County
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
As more wind and solar projects take shape in
Eastern Oregon, the Umatilla Basin fi nds itself
caught between interests.
On the one hand, Oregon utilities must provide
an increasing amount of energy from renewable
sources, and green energy developers are eager
to build around the
region.
Farmers,
“It’s a whole lot
however,
worry
about a mess of
better to have
transmission lines
criss-crossing their this corridor with
property to connect one big transmis-
to the power grid,
cutting over fi elds sion line through
and taking valuable
land out of produc- it than four small
tion.
corridors over a
The
confl ict
10-mile area.”
is so great that
Gov. Kate Brown
— Kent Madison,
established
an
Madison Ranches in Echo
advisory committee
in October 2015 to
brainstorm possible solutions. After more than a
year of meetings, the committee issued its fi nal
report in February, taking stock of local agricul-
ture and energy needs.
Morrow County offi cials also asked to work
with the state Department of Land Conservation
and Development on a pilot project that, if
successful, would allow multiple renewable
energy facilities to combine into a single large
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Siting a portion of the Boardman to Hemingway transmission line on Navy land is crucial
to establishing a green energy corridor across Bombing Range Road in Morrow County.
transmission corridor — eliminating the veri-
table spiderweb of power lines that would be
required to connect each individual project.
In a letter dated March 30, Gov. Brown
expressed support for the project and directed
the department to work with Morrow County
on crafting temporary rules later this year. Carla
McLane, Morrow County planning director,
said there are no concrete plans in place, but
the advisory committee was critical to lay the
groundwork and create goodwill.
“We are at the point where we have this
See ENERGY/10A
PENDLETON
Learning to give
Teens reach out with
student-led foundation
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Freshman Emily Rinehart, the only non-senior in the fl edgling
CommuniCare Club at PHS, introduces a grant recipient Tuesday
night at the Pendleton Center for the Arts during the miniature
foundation’s fi rst grant award ceremony.
Eight teenagers fi nished a long
humanitarian journey Tuesday night
by giving away $8,000.
Last fall, the Pendleton High
School students formed a tiny
foundation called the Commu-
niCare Club. The philanthro-
pists-in-training learned about
nonprofi ts from advisor Jill Gregg.
They raised $500, which was
increased by the Harold and Arlene
Schnitzer CARE Foundation with
an additional $7,500. The students
invited nonprofi ts to apply for grants
funding projects geared toward
homelessness or scholarships.
After fi elding a dozen requests
totaling $20,000, the students
conducted interviews and site visits.
Whittling the list down was
incredibly diffi cult, the teens
discovered. They didn’t anticipate
caring quite so much.
“I didn’t expect it to be as
emotional as it was,” said Dania
See FOUNDATION/10A