AND THEN
THERE WAS
THREE
HILLCLIMB
READY FOR
SECOND GO
REGION/3A
SPORTS/1B
84/55
Sen. McCain
diagnosed with
brain tumor
NATION/7A
THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2017
141st Year, No. 198
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
STANFIELD
City to pursue legal action
against dehydration plant
DEQ must give company a chance to
show it’s working to reduce the smell
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Frustration with the rotten
smell hanging over Stanfi eld
came to a head Tuesday as
the city council unanimously
approved a motion directing
city staff to fi ne 3D Idapro
Solutions and seek a court
order to shut down the
company’s dehydration plant.
In a free-wheeling meeting
that often involved multiple
citizens talking over each
other at once, more than
two dozen residents packed
into council chambers and
demanded to know why the
city had not shut down 3D
Idapro Solutions already or
prohibited them from coming
into Stanfi eld in the fi rst place.
City manager Blair Larsen
explained multiple times that
he hadn’t taken those actions
because he did not feel the
city was legally allowed to
do so, but others in the room
— including Mayor Thomas
See SMELL/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The Stanfi eld City Council unanimously approved a
motion directing the city attorney to levy fi nes against
3D IdaPro Solutions and seek a court order to shut
down the company’s dehydration plant in Tuesday
evening’s council meeting.
IONE
A helping
hand for
harvest
Farmers pull together for
family facing emergency
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Wheat harvest is already a busy
time of year for Eastern Oregon
farmers, but for Virgil and Debbie
Morgan, the stress was compounded
by an unexpected family emergency.
On June 13, the couple’s daugh-
ter-in-law, Larissa, gave birth to a
healthy baby girl in El Paso, Texas.
However, Larissa developed a rare
obstetric disorder known as amniotic
fl uid embolism, where amniotic fl uid
enters the mother’s bloodstream
and triggers a serious allergic-like
reaction.
For the next two weeks, Larissa
was fi ghting for her life in a medi-
cally induced coma. Virgil and
Debbie rushed from their farm in
Ione to be by Larissa’s side, though
Virgil was soon pulled back home to
prepare for harvest by himself. Or so
he thought.
It was Brent Martin, a neighbor
and fellow farmer, who fi rst
suggested the community roll up
its sleeves and give the Morgans a
helping hand. A meeting was held
June 29 at the Ione Fire Department,
where 16 people organized a team of
12 combines, eight bank out wagons
and 20 grain trucks.
Together, they harvested all nine
of the family’s wheat fi elds — 1,600
acres in all — in a single day, working
from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, July
16.
“It was really great for them to
take a day off and bring everything to
my place,” Virgil Morgan said. “We
just had a wonderful response.”
Morgan, 68, has been farming
outside of Ione for 40 years. He also
See HARVEST/8A
Hanging with friends in the park
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Holiday Friends from Astoria perform on stage to kick off the Wednesdays in the Park summer concert series at Roy Raley Park
in Pendleton. The Wednesdays in the Park series will feature Foxtails Brigade on July 26, Lincoln Barr on Aug. 2, Ian Moore and
The Lossy Coils on Aug. 9 and New Transit on Aug. 16.
Panel approves bill to boost testing of self-driving cars
WASHINGTON (AP) — A
House panel on Wednesday
backed legislation designed to
allow automakers to increase the
testing of self-driving cars on U.S.
roads.
The bill would let automakers
deploy up to 100,000 self-driving
vehicles without meeting existing
auto safety standards, a move
designed to boost testing of new
technology. The current cap for
such exemptions is 2,500. The bill
would also require manufacturers
to report information about all
crashes involving the exempted
cars and give the Transportation
secretary authority to halt the
exemptions for any manufacturer
if a defect is discovered.
“We want aggressive oversight
of the industry, but with the fl ex-
ibility needed to test and generate
the safest and most affordable tech-
nologies possible,” said Rep. Greg
Walden, R-Ore., the chairman of
the House Energy and Commerce
Committee, which could take up
the bill as early as next week.
A subcommittee approved the
bill by voice vote. The full House
would not act on the bill until
September at the earliest, giving
lawmakers more time to work
out changes designed to increase
support for the measure.
A top priority for lawmakers
and the automotive industry is
to limit states on regulations.
Generally, the federal government
regulates the vehicle while states
regulate the driver.
The bill would prohibit any state
or municipality from imposing its
own laws related to the design and
construction of self-driving cars.
Federal offi cials say 94 percent
of auto accidents are caused by
human error, so self-driving tech-
nology has the potential to save
thousands of lives and improve
the mobility of many elderly and
disabled Americans.
“We can forget about the
Jetsons, the future of the automo-
bile is here,” said Rep. Fred Upton,
R-Mich. “The automotive industry
is revolutionizing how we are
going to get around for decades to
come.”
PENDLETON
Pioneer Ladies Club
folding after 98 years
By EMILY OLSON
East Oregonian
Photo credit Heritage Station Museum
A large group of members of the Pendleton Pioneer Ladies Club gather
in their fi nery to have a tea in the early 1940s. Mrs. Walter Moore is in
the pouring position on the far left.
Just two years short of cele-
brating their 100th anniversary, the
Pioneer Ladies Club has dissolved.
The club, one of the oldest social
clubs in Pendleton, was formed in
1918 to document and preserve
the stories of Umatilla County’s
pioneers. In March, club president
Sonja Erickson Hart decided to
disband the club due to lack of
interest. The club’s membership,
which once numbered over 100,
had dwindled to fi ve.
“I’m sorry to see it end. I wanted
them to go to 100 at least,” said
member Dorys Grover, whose
mother was a member of the
Bowman family and a charter
member. “There’s no more pioneer
women left.”
Originally, the club required
25 years of residence in Umatilla
County for membership. Hart said
they changed that standard several
years ago, allowing anyone with
an interest in history. Still, the club
struggled to recruit new members.
The meeting time — Tuesdays at 2
p.m. — could have been one factor,
See CLUB/8A