THE JUICE WILL BE
LOOSE: O.J. SIMPSON
GRANTED PAROLE
FORESTS INCREASE
PUBLIC USE
RESTRICTIONS
NATION/6A
REGION/3A
FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2017
141st Year, No. 199
Your Weekend
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One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PENDLETON
“The Fire” at Pendleton
Center for the Arts
John Nilsen in concert
in Hermiston
Celebrate Agriculture
at SAGE center
For times and places
see Coming Events, 6A
Catch a movie
Vikram Gounassegarin/STX Entertainment
A pair of intergalactic
hotties have action-packed
adventures in space in
“Valerian and the City of a
Thousdand Planets.”
For showtime, Page 5A
Weekend Weather
Fri
Sat
Sun
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A motorcyclist pulls out of a long line of parked motorcycles on Main Street in front of Hamley Steakhouse on Thursday in Pendleton.
88/59
94/65
99/67
Gonorrhea
on the rise
in Oregon
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
What’s going on with
gonorrhea?
The sexually transmitted
disease is not only on the
rise in Oregon and around
the globe, but its ability to
shape-shift has the World
Health Organization warning
of an antibiotic-resistant
strain of super gonorrhea on
the horizon.
Gonorrhea has nearly
tripled in Oregon since
2012. In 2016, Multnomah
County led the way with 250
cases per 100,000 residents.
Morrow and Umatilla coun-
ties followed with the second
and third highest rates of 160
and 110. The state averaged
107. In actual numbers of
cases, Multnomah had 760
and Umatilla reported 88.
Morrow, the least populated
of the three, had 19 cases.
Despite the dubious
distinction of having the
third highest rate in the state,
See GONORRHEA/10A
Bike Week attracts riders near and far
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
John Hansen left his home in The
Dalles and covered about 1,500 miles
on his Harley-Davidson touring
bike before arriving Wednesday in
Pendleton.
“I was on the road for 10, 11
days,” he said.
Hansen, 65, said he took off for
Glacier National Park, Montana,
and with the Canadian line so close
by he decided to cruise along that
country’s Highway 3, visiting small
towns. Dipping back into the United
States a few days ago, he said, he
actually gave a cheer.
His Harley was one of hundreds
at the Pendleton Convention Center
for Pendleton Bike Week 2017, but a
few Indian Motorcycles and foreign
bikes dotted the wide parking lot.
Convention Center manager Pat
Beard said the riders run an array
from bricklayers to doctors, and the
thing that have in common is the
love of a certain lifestyle.
And perhaps some disposable
income.
Originally from Prineville,
Hansen said he is retired from
the U.S. Forest Service, where he
worked as a business manager. He
said he rode all kinds of motorcycles
in his youth, but 20 years ago he and
Staff photo by Phil Wright
Retired U.S. Forest Service employee John Hansen of The Dalles
rode his 2014 Harley-Davidson Street Glide about1,500 miles before
arriving Wednesday for Pendleton Bike Week. And that’s a jaunt, he
said, compared so some riders at the annual event.
his wife moved to Hawaii and he
sold the machines.
After 13 years in the Aloha State,
he said his wife Debbie missed
having four seasons and found a job
in The Dalles. To entice him to come,
she promised him a new Harley.
“Holy crap!” he told her. “I’m on
the plane, dear.”
While they have been in The
Dalles a while now, he said last
year’s Bike Week brought him to
Pendleton for the fi rst time. The
couple had such a blast they came
back. Learning about new places,
he said, is one on of the reasons he
rides. Even taking a road that goes
nowhere, he said, is part of the
journey.
“If your wife isn’t with you,
you’re not lost,” he quipped.
Bike Week founder Eric Folke-
stad said that’s the attitude these
folks bring. Many come from Port-
land and Seattle, and they want new
experiences. And Pendleton delivers
that in spades.
Around 16,000 registered for
Bike Week last year, and Folkestad
said this year is up about 25 percent.
He said that’s a healthy amount of
growth.
One of the big attractions could
be Harley-Davidson. The event’s
primary sponsor has a big pres-
ence, with dozens of motorcycles
available for full-on test drives. And
Folkestad said plenty of riders are
coming to take on The Rattlesnake
400, a 400-mile loop through the
Blue Mountains, north to Clarkston,
Washington, east all the way to
Rattlesnake Mountain Harley-Da-
vidson in Kennewick, then back to
Pendleton, but with a stop fi rst in
Helix to Holton Secret Lab. Riders
who prove they completed the
endurance ride in 12 hours earn a
pin.
Folkestad said bikers are coming
from Texas and Tennessee for that
pin.
Hansen said he takes about two
big trips a year on the Harley Street
Glide, and he already put in a bit of
an endurance ride, so maybe next
year he will take on the Rattlesnake.
And for now, he said, he had to get
ready for his wife’s arrival and make
sure the beer was cold.
Hundreds stay after Rainbow Gathering to clean up mess
By RYLAN BOGGS
EO Media Group
As Don Joseph picks his way through a pine forest used
by the Rainbow Gathering, it’s obvious people were here.
Paths snake in between trees and sites where tents and
latrines were set up a couple weeks ago for more than 13,000
attendees, but it’s hard to
say where exactly they
“The idea is to
were.
Beyond a few orange
make it look like
peels, there’s no garbage
we were never
in a small chunk of forest
used by several hundred here, but we’ll nev-
Rainbow
Gathering
er achieve that.”
attendees who stayed
behind after the July 1-7
— Scott, member of
gathering to clean up.
the clean-up crew
Joseph, a Vietnam
veteran and regular gath-
ering attendee, takes pride in the condition in which the
gathering attendees leave their sites.
As with the gathering, many volunteers on the clean-up
crew prefer not to give their full name, including Scott. He
The Eagle/Rylan Boggs
Lesa sorts recycling after the Rainbow Gathering Friday, July 14.
See RAINBOW/10A