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SMELL: Company employs 40 people Trump
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East Oregonian
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McCann — weren’t having it.
“Nobody in their right
mind should have to put
up with that in their city,”
McCann said. “Shut it down
until you’ve got it fixed
and approved. If people are
working out there, they’re
going to be talented enough
to find other work. They’re
not going to be left destitute.”
The company employs 40
people, including 13 Stanfield
residents, according to a
letter Larsen read from vice
president of operations Mark
Johnson.
In the letter Johnson
explained that a fire in
February had burned up the
plant’s scrubber used to miti-
gate odors and the new one
rushed into use had turned
out to be inadequate. He said
the company has hired engi-
neers to custom-build a new
system that should reduce the
problem once it is in place by
November. In the meantime,
the company has taken
multiple steps to reduce odor
by rerouting trucks, bringing
in higher-quality potato waste
and only storing the raw
materials on site for one day
before processing.
Residents, however, said
those measures didn’t seem to
be helping. Some reported the
stench had triggered asthma
attacks or vomiting in people
they knew. Others said it was
an embarrassment during
the spring when rival sports
teams had commented on the
rotten aroma. McCann said
he knew of two families that
were trying to sell their homes
and move out of town due to
the odor, and a woman said
the smell had made it “the
worst summer of my life.”
Leland
Winebarger
brought newspaper clippings
about the 3D Idapro’s oper-
ations in Burley, Idaho. One,
from May 2013, reported
the DEQ was investigating
odor complaints against the
company’s plant. A second,
from February 2016, reported
that the city had filed a
criminal complaint against
3D Idapro for misdemeanor
counts of non-permitted use
and failure to conform to
permitted use requirements.
“These people in Burley
have been fighting this for
three years now,” he said,
asking why they should
believe Johnson that things
would get better.
Several residents told
Larsen that he should have
looked into the 3D Idapro’s
history and then told them
they could not operate in
Stanfield. But Larsen said that
since the company was oper-
ating on private land with the
correct zoning and the proper
permits, he didn’t see how the
city could legally block them
from opening a business in
town.
“There was nothing in
our laws that would let me
say, ‘No, you can’t build that
here,’” he said. “We have
laws that respect property
rights. You’re allowed to buy
industrial property and do
industrial things on it.”
Larsen
denied
one
person’s accusation that he
didn’t care about the problem
because his family lives in
Hermiston. He said he hadn’t
started levying fines on the
company for violating the
nuisance ordinance because
the company could decide it
was easier to just pay the fines
than spend money trying to
fix the problem. But he said
he would follow the directive
of the council and use the
city’s nuisance code to start
levying fines.
Getting a judge to issue
an injunction against the
company, forcing it to “cease
and desist” as the council
voted to pursue, is more
complicated. Lawsuits over
odors do happen, but head-
lines from around the country
indicate they’re generally
brought by neighbors instead
of cities. Larsen said he hasn’t
taken that step so far because
he has been trying to protect
the city from being count-
er-sued.
Greg Svelund of the
Department of Environmental
Quality said he can only
speak to the DEQ’s power,
not individual cities’ or coun-
ties’ ordinances, but said the
DEQ can’t just come in and
shut down a plant immedi-
ately because residents have
complained. The number of
complaints about 3D Idapro’s
Stanfield plant have reached
a threshold that allows the
department to act, he said, by
requesting information from
the company about possible
causes of the smell and what
they are doing to mitigate it.
He said the company has done
that and has submitted its
plan to fix the problem. Now
DEQ must give 3D Idapro a
chance to implement the plan
and show that it’s working to
reduce the smell.
Industrial operations in
Oregon are not required to be
odor-free.
“What it comes down
to is, is the company doing
every reasonable thing it can
with the type of operations
they have to reduce odors?”
Svelund said.
He said that if a company
is complying with the plan it
worked out with DEQ and is
still producing strong odors,
the problem could be referred
to a special panel that could
refer it to a years-long court
process, but so far “Oregon
has not gone down that path
before.”
Odor complaints are not
an unusual, even in Umatilla
County.
Hermiston city manager
Byron Smith said there is a
municipal court hearing this
week for the city to begin
levying fines on an individual
with a wet silage operation
off Highway 207 that has
been drawing complaints. He
said giving due process under
the law in such situations can
be frustrating, as neighbors
continue to deal with the
nuisance in the meantime.
Stanfield city councilors
told the audience Tuesday
that although the bad smells
might not go away immedi-
ately, they were committed to
doing what they could.
“We want the smell to
stop,” said councilor Jason
Sperr, making a motion to
fine 3D Idapro and look for
a way to order the plant to
“cease and desist.”
McCann said if the city
can’t get the help it needs
from the state level, it will
turn to lawmakers at the
federal level for help.
CLUB: Published their own book in 1937
Continued from 1A
Hart said.
She added, “there’s just
not much of an interest in
social clubs anymore.”
The
pioneer
ladies,
frequent collaborators with
the Pendleton Women’s
Club, held events like ice
cream parties, charity dinners
and award banquets. But
they also preserved a history
that represents “many towns,
cities, states throughout the
United States that were built
by that same determination
and tremendous hardships of
the immigrants — individ-
uals and families who made
us the great country we are
today,” Hart wrote in a letter
to club members.
The women kept histor-
ical scrapbooks and artifacts,
such as old clothes. The
Vert Club Room where the
ladies met, a space named
for charter organizing officer
Jesse S. Vert, was like a
museum, Hart said. She
plans to distribute the club’s
assets to the Children’s
Museum, Pendleton Arts
Council, Umatilla County
Historical Society and Pend-
leton Underground Tours.
The club endeavored to
immortalize the pioneers
with
monuments.
The
renaming of Cabbage Hill
to Emigrant Hill was coor-
dinated by the ladies. They
also erected a memorial
bench for Aura M. Goodwin
Raley in Pioneer Park, a
sign for Minnie Stillman
in Stillman Park and a wall
around the grave site of Dr.
W.C. McKay, who worked
as an assistant surgeon on the
Umatilla Indian Reservation.
Among the club’s greatest
accomplishments was the
publication of their book,
“Reminiscences of Oregon
Pioneers,” in 1937. The book
includes narrative stories,
essays and poetry from
Pendleton’s earliest white
citizens, including the first
mayor, dentist and school
teacher. Significant historical
figures like Nancy DeSpain,
J. H. Raley and Minnie
Stillman wrote extensively.
“It paints a picture of
what life was like in the old
days,” said Rebecca Frostad,
manager and membership
coordinator for the Heritage
Station Museum. “The town
felt more like a family at
that time. They didn’t really
have the option of pulling
themselves up by their boot-
straps.”
The book sold well
locally and was reprinted
in 1993 with funds from the
Umatilla County Historical
Society. Frostad said it’s
the only book of its kind, a
critical first-person record
of early European life in
Umatilla County.
“Reminiscences
of
Oregon Pioneers,” once for
sale in the Heritage Station
Museum, is currently sold
out. The club’s supply will
be donated to libraries in
Umatilla County, as well as
the Pendleton Underground
Tours, Friends of the Library
and Historical Society.
Frostad said a second
edition, made more acces-
sible to modern audiences
by maps and footnotes, has
been discussed as a future
project.
First motorcycle race on this track since 1940
NITRO IN THE BLUES
Sat & Sun, July 22-23, 2017
Oregon's ONLY hillclimb, held on a wicked steep 400.foot watered hill,
3 miles from town on the Jim Whitney Ranch along the Umatilla River
Tickets: $20 Adults 13-Up • $5 12-Under kids
(Admission covers entire weekend)
THUNDER IN THE BLUES
Thursday, July 20, 2017
exhorts Senate anew
to rid U.S. of Obamacare
WASHINGTON (AP)
— Lecturing fellow Repub-
licans, President Donald
Trump summoned GOP
senators to the White House
Wednesday and told them
face-to-face they must not
leave town for their August
recess without sending him
an “Obamacare” repeal bill
to sign. Senators responded
by vowing to revive legis-
lative efforts left for dead
twice already this week.
Success was far from
assured, but Trump declared
“I’m ready to act,” putting
the
responsibility
on
Republican lawmakers, not
himself. During last year’s
presidential campaign he
had declared repeatedly it
would be “so easy” to get
rid of the Obama law.
The
developments
Wednesday came just a day
after the latest GOP health
care plan collapsed in the
Senate, leading Trump
himself to say it was time to
simply let President Barack
Obama’s health care law
fail. Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell had indicated
he was prepared to stick a
fork in the Republican bill
and move on to other issues
including overhauling the
tax code.
But in an apparent
change of heart, in keeping
with his erratic engagement
on the issue, Trump pres-
sured McConnell to delay
the key vote until next week,
and he invited Republican
senators to the White House
for lunch.
There, with the cameras
rolling in the State Dining
Room, Trump spoke at
length as he cajoled, scolded
and issued veiled threats to
his fellow Republicans, all
aimed at wringing a health
care bill out of a divided
caucus that’s been unable to
produce one so far.
“For seven years you
promised the American
people that you would
repeal Obamacare. People
are hurting. Inaction is not
an option and frankly I don’t
think we should leave town
unless we have a health
insurance plan,” he said.
Seated next to Nevada
Sen. Dean Heller, who is
vulnerable in next year’s
midterm elections, Trump
remarked: “He wants to
remain a senator, doesn’t
he?” as Heller gave a
strained grin.
Contributed photo by Sally Christensen
Wheat farmers in Ione pulled together to help harvest the fields of Virgil and
Debbie Morgan on Sunday, July 16.
HARVEST: A community fundraiser
is scheduled for Sunday, July 30
Continued from 1A
serves as chief of the all-volunteer Ione
Rural Fire Protection District.
Melissa LaRue, who works with Morrow
County Grain Growers in Ione, was one of
the residents who helped plan the harvest-
in-a-day. She said the entire party consisted
of about 50 workers, all of whom were
eager to give back to the Morgans.
“Virgil and Debbie have done so much
in our community,” LaRue said. “When
someone needs anything in our town,
they’re usually the first to step in.”
Harvest is usually a three-week affair on
Morgans’ farm. With the job finished, Virgil
was able to leave for El Paso Thursday
morning to rejoin Larissa on the road to
recovery.
Amniotic fluid embolism is rare, occur-
ring at a rate one in every 20,000 childbirths,
but can result in potentially life-threatening
complications. The disorder accounts for
5-10 percent of all maternal deaths in the
country.
After 16 frightening days in intensive
care, Virgil said Larissa has since come out
of her coma and been transferred to a reha-
bilitation center where she is undergoing
physical therapy. She is once again able to
talk, walk with some assistance and hold
her new baby, named Natassia.
“Everything is getting better so far,”
Virgil said. “She still has a long road to go.
We don’t know how long it’s going to take.”
A community fundraiser is scheduled
for Sunday, July 30 from 5-7 p.m. at the
Contributed photo by Sally Christensen
Virgil Morgan has been farming wheat
near Ione for 40 years.
Ione Legion Hall, according to the Heppner
Gazette-Times. Volunteers will be preparing
and serving a dinner of pulled pork or
chicken sandwiches, baked beans and salad.
Plates are $10 for adults and $7 for children.
Virgil Morgan said he still gets emotional
thinking about all the community support
they’ve received from their neighbors.
“For everyone to come together to help
out ... I don’t know how to thank them for
it,” he said, choking back tears. “That’s
what this community is about.”
———
Contact George Plaven at gplaven@
eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0825.
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August 21
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Fri, July 21, 2017 • 3-10 PM • 16,000 Seat • Pendleton
ROUNDUP STADIUM UNDER THE LIGHTS
First motorcycle race held on this¼ mile, fast clay dirt track since 1940!
Classes for kids, vets, women and more.
Tickets: $20 13-Up • $5 12-Under kids
Info: Ron Dillon 208.673.4255
www.nitrointheblues.com
East Oregonian
1-800-522-0255
211 SE Byers Ave. Pendleton 333 East Main St. Hermiston