Thursday, July 6, 2017
OFF PAGE ONE
TRANSPORTATION: Bill lists $3 million each for HEALTH: Many rural
Heppner, Irrigon and Milton-Freewater improvements area patients tend to put
surveys show there is scarce
tion of a road at the Port of said.
Continued from 1A
off care because of time
Among projects specified support for that method of
Umatilla that will increase
Page 8A
East Oregonian
when we invest in public
infrastructure, private invest-
ments follow,” he told his
colleagues as he urged them
to vote for the bill.
Projects from Umatilla
and Morrow counties specif-
ically listed in the bill are:
• $1.1 million for paving
Ott Road and improving
Airport Road to provide
better access to the Eastern
Oregon Trade and Event
Center in Hermiston
• $4.5 million for
widening and improving
North First Place in Herm-
iston, including the addition
of traffic signals at Orchard
Avenue
and
Highland
Avenue
• $7 million for improving
access to the former Umatilla
Chemical Depot, including a
re-design of its interchange
with Interstate 82
• $6.55 million for the
Port of Morrow’s East Beach
Industrial Park rail expan-
sion project
• $2 million for construc-
access to industrial land there
• $3 million each to
Heppner,
Irrigon
and
Milton-Freewater
for
“pedestrian safety and road
improvements”
In a statement, Smith
called District 57 a “trans-
portation reliant” region with
two interstates, five ports, a
Union Pacific Mainline and
thousands of miles of road.
Rep. Caddy McKeown,
D-Coos Bay, a chief architect
of the plan, said the package
is based on overwhelming
feedback from Oregonians
that they need congestion
relief on Portland thor-
oughfares and more public
transportation options.
“When cars and trucks
grind to a standstill prod-
ucts take longer to get to
market, workers are less
productive and quality of life
is degraded. Today, we can
take steps to help Oregon
businesses get their goods to
market while also improving
quality of life,” McKeown
in the plan are congestion
relief on Highway 217,
widening
northbound
Interstate 205 from Powell
Boulevard to Interstate 84
and initial investment in
adding new lanes to Inter-
state 5 through Portland’s
Rose Quarter. The plan
also includes other projects
around the state. It will be up
to the Oregon Transportation
Commission to prioritize
some of those projects.
Rep. Susan McLain,
D-Forest Grove, said the
plan maintains and modern-
izes roads and bridges and
increases funding for seismic
upgrades and repairs by 462
percent.
She said it will give the
state a long-term and short-
term economic boost, with
16,000 more short-term
construction jobs.
Rep. Julie Parrish, R-West
Linn, who voted no on the
bill, said she opposed the
launch of a tolling program
on freeways, given that
funding road projects.
“Maybe it’s just deep in
our DNA,” Parrish said of
respondents’ dislike of tolls.
The plan hikes the state’s
existing 30-cent gas tax
gradually over seven years
to 40 cents. Registration fees
would climb by $13 and title
fees by $16 in 2018.
Beginning in 2020, the
state would move toward a
tiered system of registration
and title fees based on a
vehicle’s gas mileage.
The plan also levies a 0.5
percent tax on the purchase
of new vehicles. About $12
million of the revenue from
the proceeds of the vehicle
excise tax would be used for
rebates on the purchase of
electric vehicles.
A $15 flat fee would be
charged on the purchase
of new adult bicycles with
a price tag of more than
$200. The proceeds of that
would go toward paying
for commuter bicycle and
pedestrian paths.
RUG: Full class of 15 signed up for the workshop
Continued from 1A
closely with weaving.
Stevenson said her mom,
who died six years ago,
was the inspiration for her
to start weaving again. An
unfinished rug still hangs in
the loom they built together,
and now Stevenson said she
is filled with ideas for how
to finish what her mother
started.
“Even though she’s gone,
I still feel her presence,”
Stevenson said. “She’s a
spiritual guide, so to speak.”
For Deborah Barrett,
the connection she felt to
weaving came from her
father. Barrett traveled more
than 500 miles to Mission
from her home near the Pend
Oreille River in Washington
for the Navajo rug work-
shop. Though Barrett is an
avid beadworker and potter,
she said this was her first
experience with textiles.
Barrett said she has a
barrel full of yarn left to her
by her late father, who was a
talented spinner. Barrett said
her plan is to use that yarn to
make a blanket of her own.
“It will give me an
opportunity to feel close to
him and feel him in my life,”
she said. “I loved him very
much.”
Karl Davis, executive
director for Crow’s Shadow,
said they had a full class of
15 women sign up for the
workshop, including several
locals, Navajo members
and residents of the Warm
Springs Indian Reservation
in central Oregon.
The workshop comes one
year after Hathale, who lives
on the northern edge of the
Navajo Nation in Mexican
Hat, Utah, arrived for a pair
of rug weaving demonstra-
tions at Crow’s Shadow.
Davis said the sessions were
so popular that when the
workshop was announced
in March, registration filled
almost immediately.
“We’ve had a great
turnout,” he said. “We’ve
never done this style of
weaving before.”
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Andrea Mann of Pendleton works on a blanket during a Navajo rug weaving
workshop at Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts on Friday outside of Mission.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Cherie Simpson of La Grande beats down the weft
on her loom with a comb-styled instrument during a
Navajo rug weaving workshop at Crow’s Shadow
Institute of the Arts on Friday outside of Mission.
The women worked dili-
gently at their tables, weaving
on relatively small looms
measuring roughly 24 inches
tall by 15 inches wide. Most
agreed the most difficult part
is getting started, and they
spent Friday practicing how
to line up the warp strings in
a figure-8 pattern.
The looms were built
and donated by wood shop
students at Sunridge Elemen-
tary School in Pendleton,
based on measurements
taken by teacher Ken Jacobs
of Hathale’s own portable
loom she brought for the
demonstrations last year.
Hathale, who learned rug
weaving from her mother
and grandmother, said she
was excited to share her
art and her culture with the
class.
“It makes me happy to
see a diverse people learning
how to weave,” she said.
“It’s my art, and a gift from
my parents. I just want to
share it with the world.”
Navajo
weaving
is
July 7th-9th
Athena Caledonian Games
Featuring the Celtic folk rock band Guess When
& Michael Mullen’s Trio of One
Friday July 7
Saturday July 8
5:30-7:30pm
Caledonian
Dinner in the
City Park
8:00am - 8:00 pm
7:30pm
Candle lighting
ceremony and the
blessing of clans,
family and the
festival.
Parade, Vendors
Entertainment
in the Park
Dancing, Piping &
Scottish Athletic
Competitions
Kids’ Games
Story Tellers
Caledonian Tattoo
Sunday July 9
Beginning at 9:30am
Kirkin’ O’ the Tartan
Wool Demonstrations
Pipe Band
Horseshoe Tournaments
A Family
F am
mi l y Event
Even with Scottish Music, Dancing & Sport
www.athenacaledoniangames.com
influenced by a mix of
their own tribal traditions
as well as from the Pueblo
Indians, Hathale said. Rugs
were traditionally used for
utilitarian purposes such as
dresses and saddle blankets,
before later being sought
after for trade.
Hathale still remembers
the first rug she completed
when she was 12 years old
— a Third Phase Chief’s
Blanket, which took her all
summer to finish and later
sold for $50 at a trading post
in Arizona. Chief’s blankets
were the first to be woven by
the Navajo people, Hathale
explained. The first phase
features only horizontal
stripes, while the second
phase incorporates rectan-
gular patterns and diamond
shapes in the third phase.
Hathale said she was
pleased how well the
workshop did, and how the
women who participated
seemed to have a good grasp
of it by the end of the week.
“I’m proud of them. All of
them,” she said.
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
Continued from 1A
in Hermiston it’s easier
to get them to stay, but
they compete with bigger
medical groups that can
offer a more flexible
schedule and work-life
balance.
He said while Good
Shepherd is fairly small,
that sometimes help with
the recruiting process.
And he hopes combining
Gifford with Good Shep-
herd will right-size the
search for some applicants.
“The plan with Gifford
is to expand upon the
legacy they have of
excellent care,” he said.
“Many physicians want to
work for a group — it’s
more like working for an
employer versus starting
your own business.”
Judith
Mitchell,
a
physician assistant at the
Hermiston Urgent Care
clinic, said there are certain
health issues specific to
rural areas, especially
those where agriculture is
an economic driver.
She said many of the
patients they see in rural
areas tend to put off care
because they don’t have
time, or feel they should be
doing other things.
“So we have to figure
out how to make it work
for them,” she said. “We
have patients that haven’t
been seen in 20 years, so
you’re getting hyperten-
sion, diabetes, eyes and
feet problems. When you
live in urban areas with a
lot of access, people are
more aware of their health
and what they should be
doing.”
She added that part
of her job as a provider
in a rural community is
making medicine work
for those who haven’t
always had access to care.
“We’re picking up a lot
of people that have fallen
through the cracks,” she
said.
Mitchell
said
it’s
common for providers
to travel from hub cities
to rural areas, instead of
living there. She lives south
of Portland and travels to
and from Hermiston twice
a week. Mitchell said she
has been commuting to
her job in Hermiston for
about three years and loves
the job, but has no plan to
move closer.
“It kind of depends on
each person’s preference,”
she said. “It depends on
what you’re looking for. If
you’re a brand-new PA and
you’re looking to get your
foot in the door, you may
like it and decide to stay.
But you may be a person
who may want to work
with the ‘big dogs,’ and
then you have to go to the
cities.”
She added that the
decision can be financial-
ly-driven, as well.
“Sometimes in big
cities, companies can
offer
larger
financial
packages to providers, and
rural communities can’t
compete,” she said. “When
you’re facing $150,000 to
$200,000 of student loans,
that has a tendency to
factor in.”
Hermiston has an urgent
care clinic, which has three
primary care practitioners,
and Mirasol Family Health
Center, which has nine.
The Morrow County
Health District also has
clinics in some of its
communities,
Bejarano
said. He said Good Shep-
herd sees patients from all
over the county, as well as
Morrow, and even as far
away as Arlington. Dennis
Burke, the president of
Good Shepherd, said he
hopes to expand Gifford
Medical Center’s urgent
care from six days to seven
and expand hours.
———
Contact
Jayati
Ramakrishnan
at
jramakrishnan@eastore-
gonian.com or 541-564-
4534
BUILDING: Was once the
old Pendleton High School
Continued from 1A
Landis also dismissed
with prejudice all counter-
claims from the Gartons and
ruled they “are not entitled
to recover any amount on
any alleged counterclaim.”
The
McClintocks’
lawsuit named other defen-
dants who might have a
claim to the property.
Kal and Silva Garton,
according to the documents,
deeded some interest in the
property to Nickola A. and
Alla Mae Hicks and Shane,
Travis and Joshua Garton.
The city of Boardman
also is on the list of
defendants, along with the
Fraternal Order of Eagles
Pendleton No. 28 and local
attorney Henry Lorenzen.
Those three parties have
liens against Kal Garton’s
properties after prevailing
against him in civil court
cases.
The McClintocks can
purchase the property at the
auction. Pat McClintock
referred questions to their
attorney, Tim O’Hanlon
of Pendleton, who did not
immediately return a call.
The
John
Murray
Building was once the old
Pendleton High School,
then a junior high school. It
now provides office space
for professionals and the
United States Department
of Agriculture.
Umatilla County tax
records show the lot at 626
S.E. Second St. has a real
market value of $23,510,
while the John Murray site
has a real market value
of $437,500. The auction
will take place Aug. 10 at
10 a.m. in the lobby of the
Umatilla County Sheriff’s
Office, 4700 N.W. Pioneer
Place, Pendleton.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0833.