Tip of the hat
to a group
of bathroom
remodelers
OPINION/4A
TRUMP PULLS
U.S. OUT OF
CLIMATE PACT
COACH
HAWKINS
RETIRES
WORLD/9A
SPORTS/1B
FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 2017
141st Year, No. 164
TRANSPORTATION PACKAGE
Your Weekend
•
•
•
June Cruisin car show
Saturday in Pendleton
Old Iron Show all
weekend in Pendleton
“The Little Mermaid Jr.”
in Hermiston
For times and places
see Coming Events, 6A
Catch a movie
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Taxes on gas, vehicles, bicycles
to fund local street, port projects
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
The 298-page transportation
package released by the state prom-
ises money for multiple projects in
Eastern Oregon, but also extra taxes.
The long-awaited House Bill 2017
was published online by the Oregon
Legislature’s Joint Committee on
Transportation Preservation and
Modernization on Wednesday.
The 10-year plan would raise
more than $8 billion for transpor-
tation projects around the state.
Revenue streams would include
raising the statewide gas tax from
30 cents to 44 cents over 10 years,
putting a 0.75 percent tax on all
vehicle sales, a 0.1 percent payroll
tax and a series of increases in
vehicle registration fees over the
next eight years based on a vehicle’s
miles-per-gallon rating.
One of the bill’s revenue streams
is a three percent excise tax on sales
of adult bicycles costing over $500.
Scott Cimmiyotti, owner of
Scott’s Cycle and Sports in Herm-
iston, said he disagreed with the
provision that only bicycles over
$500 would be taxed. In the big
cities where commuting to work by
bicycle is more popular, commuters
are likely paying $500 or more for
a bicycle, he said. But in rural cities
like Hermiston more expensive
bicycles tend to be for mountain
See TRANSPORTATION/10A
HERMISTON
Warner Bros. Entertainment via AP
An Amazonian warrior
princess leaves her island
paradise to help end WWI
in “Wonder Woman.”
For showtime, Page 5A
For review, Weekend EO
Weekend Weather
Fri
Sat
Sun
77/53
80/54
69/46
Watch a game
vs.
Pilot Rock vs. North Douglas
State Championship game
Friday, 1 p.m., at Oregon
State University
BOARDMAN
Fight over
mega-dairy
continues
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Construction is underway on the rodeo arena at the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center in Thursday in Hermiston.
EOTEC will hire manager
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Opponents of a 30,000-
cow dairy farm in Morrow
County are pressuring state
regulators to change their
minds on a recently approved
water pollution permit for
the facility, or risk taking the
matter to court.
A coalition of groups
has fi led what’s known as
a petition for reconsider-
ation, asking the Oregon
Department of Agriculture
and Department of Environ-
See DAIRY/10A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The framework for the livestock barns is up as construction
continues Thursday at the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event
Center in Hermiston.
The Eastern Oregon Trade and Event
Center board will start recruiting a
general manager after getting a consensus
from the Hermiston City Council and
Umatilla County Commission.
The position will pay $70,000 to
$85,000 per year and will supervise an
administrative assistant and mainte-
nance/operations position.
“We need to get good management,”
commissioner Larry Givens said. “It’s
got to be done, and we need to do it as
soon as possible.”
The council and commission
discussed the plan during a joint meeting
Thursday night. The EOTEC board had
previously asked the two partners in the
project to approve a similar plan, but
they asked for salary fi gures before they
were willing to sign off on it.
Byron Smith, EOTEC chair, said the
Pendleton Convention Center’s new
manager, Pat Beard, will make around
$80,000. The manager for the TRAC
facility in the Tri-Cities makes $84,000
to $113,000, while the Linn County
Expo Center manager makes $71,000 to
$90,000 per year.
Smith said at $80,000 per year (plus
$50,000 for the maintenance position
and $40,000 for the administrative
assistant) the city and council would
each need to chip in $75,000 next year
for operations, compared with $45,000
this year. He said that’s based on a
conservative estimate for revenue so it
could end up being less if, like this year,
See EOTEC/10A
PENDLETON
Tonya’s House, teen girls
crisis home, closes its doors
Nonprofi t ran for 20 years
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Tonya’s House is no more.
The Pendleton nonprofi t that gave a
temporary home and foster care to teen girls
in crisis closed its doors in May.
Casey White-Zollman chairs the Tonya’s
House board of directors. She said arriving
at the decision to end the organization took
months of conversations and a hard look at
the books.
“All expenses were increasing, but dona-
tions were not,” she said. “As we looked
down the road at our fi nancials, we didn’t
see it improving.”
The fi nal vote came about a week ago,
she said, and was diffi cult.
“There were tears, I can tell you that,” she
said.
See TONYA’S HOUSE/10A
EO fi le photo
Shawn MacGregor moved to Pendleton from Minne-
sota to become director of Tonya’s House in 2016. The
young women’s crisis center, the only of its kind in the
area, closed this week for fi nancial reasons.