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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 23, 2017)
ROADKILL ON THE MENU GOP UNVEILS HEALTH CARE OVERHAUL RICHARDS ALL EO PLAYER OF THE YEAR REGION/3A NATION/9A SPORTS/1B FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 2017 141st Year, No. 179 Your Weekend One dollar WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Tensions flare over Rainbow Gathering Group refuses to sign permit for massive event in National Forest EO Media Group • • • Wiener dog races Friday in Pendleton Umatilla Landing Days at Marina Park Purple Ridge Lavender Festival in Hermiston For times and places see Coming Events, 5A Catch a movie The Eagle/Rylan Boggs Ken Mayhead, left, demands to know how the Rainbow Gathering will benefi t Grant County while Rainbow gathering attendee Kathleen Todd waits to respond Paramount Pictures/Bay Films via AP Summer just wouldn’t be complete without another Michael Bay blockbuster full of explosions, CGI toys and Mark Wahlberg. “Transformers: Last Knight” The U.S. Forest Service acknowledged there isn’t much it can do about a Rainbow Family Gathering expected to bring thou- sands of counter-culture types to Eastern Oregon over the next two weeks. The organizers don’t have a permit, and the Forest Service’s response to that as well as the toll the group is expected to have on county resources has angered area residents. Some 2,000 Rainbow Family members have set up camp at Flagtail Meadow off of Forest Road 24, near the towns of Seneca and John Day, the Forest Service reported Thursday. The 46th annual National Rainbow Gathering July 1-7 could draw an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people. The Forest Service requires groups of 75 or more to sign a special use permit. Ryan Nehl, deputy Forest Service supervisor on the Malheur and the agency administrator for the event, took the permit form to organizers at the gathering spot Wednesday. The Forest Service reported the group refused to sign. The Forest Service responded Thursday with an “event design criteria” document for the gathering to follow and said the Forest Service could take action if conditions are violated. But Nehl said the Forest Service will not attempt to stop the gathering. See RAINBOW/6A More than 50,000 acres set to expire from Conservation Reserve Program For showtime, Page 5A Weekend Weather Fri Sat Sun 85/54 91/58 98/69 Democrats give up on new biz taxes this session By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Capital Bureau Major changes to the way Oregon taxes businesses won’t materialize before the Legislature adjourns, the governor and top legislative leadership said Thursday. The announcement comes after several weeks of height- ened revenue discussions at the Legislature, and months of disagreement between business and labor groups over how the state should tax businesses after a divisive ballot measure campaign. The decision effectively tables reforms to the state’s public pension system and “clears a path forward” for a major transportation funding package, said Gov. Kate Brown. See TAX/2A Staff photo by E.J. Harris Large swaths of Stage Gulch north of Interstate 84 are currently in the Conservation Reserve Program. Hard choices loom as farms exit conservation program Putting land back in production a challenge for farmers By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian It was about a year ago when Pendleton farmer Henry Lorenzen learned, much to his surprise and disappoint- ment, that a portion of his land would not be re-enrolled in the federal Conservation Reserve Program. As a third-generation wheat grower with 4,000 acres west of town, Lorenzen remembers hearing “horror stories” from his father about dust storms that would sweep across the fi elds, eroding soil and kicking up a dusty haze that reached all the way to Interstate 84. Not only did the gusts cause some very serious traffi c problems — like the 1999 pileup on I-84 that killed six people and injured 27 others — but created signifi cant farm management and environmental issues as well. “You lose topsoil, and ultimately you lose produc- tivity,” Lorenzen said. The Conservation Reserve Program, or CRP, was established in 1985 to help protect vulnerable areas. Administered by the Farm Service Agency under the U.S. Department of Agri- culture, CRP is essentially a rental agreement between the government and landowners where a portion of farmland is taken out of production and planted in native grasses, which in turn helps protect against erosion, increase wildlife habitat and improve water quality. General CRP contracts run for 10-15 years, with payments averaging around $45 to $65 per acre. Land enrolled tends to be less suit- able for growing crops, and is scored by the feds based on a number of environmental criteria, known as the Envi- ronmental Benefi t Index. “If you look back in the mid-’70s, there were 270 to 280 farmers and now there’s about 75 or 80. A big chunk of that was ground put into CRP.” See CRP/10A — Eric Orem, Morrow County wheat grower PENDLETON Police staff to get eight percent raise over two years Firefi ghters in mediation for new contract By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian Pendleton’s unionized police staff will receive an 8 percent raise over two years in a new labor contract. The 19 members of the Pendleton City Police Asso- ciation already ratifi ed the contract, and Tuesday night the city council approved it. Andrea Denton, the city’s human resources manager, said the fi rst 3 percent increase goes into effect July 1, then another 3 percent bump on Jan. 1, 2018, and the last 2 percent in July 2018. Denton and Howard Bowen, president of the association, said the salary hike is so Pendleton can catch up to other like-sized police departments. Denton explained the city compared police pay in Oregon cities from about half Pendleton’s size to 50 percent larger than Pendleton. The long list, she said, included cities near the Portland-metro area, and thus under the “metro infl uence,” as well as some of the most rural cities with the lowest pay. While not every city government provided information, she See POLICE/2A
