84/55
DAWGS
TO JOIN
WIAA
PROTESTERS
CLASH IN
PORTLAND
SPORTS/1B
NORTHWEST/2A
London attacker
was a known
radical Islamist
WORLD/8A
TUESDAY, JUNE 6, 2017
141st Year, No. 166
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Bus buff
has drive to
ride every
U.S. route
Checks Hermiston Hopper
off list in 15-year quest
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
A group of soon-to-be graduates smiles for PHS athletic secretary Anita Lewis Saturday morning before processing to their
commencement ceremony at the Pendleton Round-Up Arena.
Congrats class of 2017
Graduates, parents
refl ect on the past and
future at PHS graduation
185
Pendleton High School
graduates
See BUS/10A
7
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Rather than a unifi ed force, the audience
that assembled in the Pendleton Round-Up
arena were informally organized into well
over 100 cheering factions at the Pendleton
High School graduation ceremony Saturday.
As the green-gowned
seniors fi led onto the fi eld,
recognized for their accolades
and handed their diplomas,
family and friends whooped
and hollered from disparate
sections of the grandstands.
Two students saw their
cheering section pop confetti when their
names were called to receive their diplomas.
A consistent theme from parents was
how quickly time seemed to fl y as their sons
and daughters grew from small children to
the verge of adulthood. Ingrid Larsen said it
See GRADUATION/10A
It would be hard to fi nd anyone who
loves buses more than Loring Lawrence.
When he boarded the Hermiston
Hopper on Friday, he was adding it to the
hundreds of bus systems he has ridden all
over the world.
“My long range goal is to ride every city
bus system in the United States,” he said.
Lawrence, a travel agent from
Manchester, New Hampshire, estimates
he is about three fourths of the way to his
goal, which he started pursuing in earnest
about 15 years ago. He plans his vacations
around hitting bus systems he has never
tested out before, and only travels by air if
he is going overseas.
“Some states I’ve done completely,
like North Dakota. They only have four
systems,” he said. “I only have three left
to do in Florida. Usually I travel by bus
or train, but if there is no service between
Nixyaawii Community
School graduates
18
Hawthorne Alternative
High School graduates
(plus 4 GEDs)
296
Scholarships awarded
$2,060,572
Legislators
propose plan
to save $1B
in budget
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
in total scholarship
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Caden Smith stands up as he is announced as a scholarship
recipient during Saturday’s Pendleton High School
graduation at the Round-Up Grounds.
$243,182
in local scholarship
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Pendleton High School graduates watch as diplomas are awarded Saturday at the Round-Up Grounds.
SALEM — Legislators Monday released
a series of cost-cutting proposals that they
say could eventually save more than $1
billion in the state’s budget.
However, the impact in the short term
— as legislators are trying to reconcile a
$1.4 billion shortfall between revenue and
expenses in the upcoming two-year budget
— would likely be considerably lower.
The $1.4 billion gap corresponds only
to the state’s General Fund and Lottery
Funds. Savings incurred by changing public
employee compensation and benefi ts would
be felt not only in agencies tapping those
funds, but throughout the entire state budget,
which includes agencies that rely also on
fees and federal funds.
Cuts are part of the equation when
it comes to closing the gap, but Senate
President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, said
in a prepared statement that passing one
of the bills, which makes changes to the
See BUDGET/10A
PENDLETON
A rodeo with an
uplifting message
Safety conference
hosts forklift contest
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Safety is rarely guaranteed for
competitors at Pendleton rodeos,
but at the Pendleton Convention
Center Tuesday, the safest rides
took home the prize.
At the Blue Mountain Occu-
pational & Safety Conference,
21 attendees plunked down $50
for a chance to test their mettle at
the forklift rodeo.
People have been competing
in forklift obstacle courses for 20
years, but the rodeo is going on
its second year at the Pendleton
workplace safety conference,
organizer Chuck Long said.
Long won the rodeo last year,
but he decided to sit out the 2017
contest when he became the
chair of the conference’s rodeo
committee.
The obstacle course is timed,
but a fast run won’t automati-
See FORKLIFT/10A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Kenny Langton of Baker City negotiates an obstacle during the forklift rodeo
Monday at the Blue Mountain Occupational Safety and Health Conference
in Pendleton.