TRAVEL
PENDLETON’S
NEW DIRECTOR
BARCELONA
VAN ATTACK
KILLS 13
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WORLD/6A
FREEMAN’S
FINAL
FLIGHT
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FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 2017
141st Year, No. 219
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Your Weekend
PENDLETON
March Against Racism
takes to Main Street
•
•
•
Pendleton Rock & Roll
Camp Finale Concert
Portable Planetarium
Program in Weston
Athena Block Party
downtown Friday
For times and places
see Coming Events, 5A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Demonstrators walk down Main Street during the
Pendleton March Against Racism on Thursday. More
than 100 supporters gathered and marched through
downtown to speak out against hate and violence.
Catch a movie
More online
By EMILY OLSON
and ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The March Against Racism in Pendleton
on Thursday had something the previous
demonstrations didn’t — a prominent
elected offi cial.
As the marchers gathered at Museum
Park near the Pendleton Chamber of
Commerce, Pendleton Mayor John Turner
gave a short speech in support of their cause.
For video of the march
visit eastoregonian.com
Turner bookended his speech with refer-
ences to the Pledge of Allegiance
“The Pledge is a collection of sentences
that we learn as children,” he said. “We kind
of mumble through it half the time without
giving it a lot of thought. But this afternoon,
See MARCH/10A
Fingerprint Releasing/Bleecker Street
An all-star cast assembles
to pull off a big-time heist
during a NASCAR race in
“Logan Lucky.”
For showtime, Page 5A
Weekend Weather
Fri
Sat
Sun
91/58
83/55
83/58
UMATILLA
Mabbott
gives up
county post
for city job
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Longtime
Umatilla
County planning director
Tamra Mabbott is leaving
the county to become the
city of Umatilla’s new
community
development
director.
Mabbott has been in
county planning for 26
years, including 15 as plan-
ning director for Umatilla
County. She said in a state-
ment that the job would be
a change from what she’s
used to but she is excited to
be part of Umatilla’s future.
“Citizens
are
engaged. City Council and
staff are focused and enthu-
siastic. New development is
coming to Umatilla. It’s the
perfect recipe for success in
the community,” she said.
Mabbott, who lives just
outside Umatilla, has been
working with the city in
See MABBOTT/10A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The Yamaha Fazer unmanned crop spray helicopter fl ies a demo fl ight over a vineyard Wednesday during the Future Farm Expo at Echo
West Ranch & Vineyard outside of Echo.
The era of robotics
Expo sets the stage for Future Farm program with local and international growers
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
A hush fell over the crowd
Wednesday afternoon as Kevin
Gould prepared to fl y the Aqweo
QR-200 drone over rows of premium
wine grapes at Echo West Ranch &
Vineyard.
Not that Gould, founder and CEO
of Hawk Aerial based in San Fran-
cisco, had much to do with the actual
fl ying. The aircraft is programmed
to follow a predetermined fl ight
path, meaning it essentially runs on
autopilot while surveying fi elds with
a multi-spectral camera.
“It’s a pretty straightforward
process,” Gould explained. “There’s
really not a lot to do in fl ying it, other
than keeping an eye on it.”
Several hundred spectators
watched from beneath a large white
tent during fi eld demonstrations
as part of the Future Farm Expo, a
three-day exhibition of unmanned
vehicles, robots, drones, mobile apps
and other technology meant to trans-
form farming in the 21st century.
The conference, which began
Tuesday and wrapped up Thursday
morning in Pendleton, is meant to
connect high-tech developers with
local agriculture professionals,
bringing in large companies like
Yamaha Motors and John Deere for
a meeting of the minds with growers
in the fi eld.
Organizers believe the expo could
also attract more of these innovators
to the Columbia Basin, a region
responsible for tens of billions of
dollars in farm gate value.
Field demonstrations allowed
Gould to show off the QR-200, which
buzzed like a swarm of bees as it
See FARM/10A
“We believe there is plenty of labor for agriculture,
if you remove the requirement they have to be physically present where the labor is needed.”
— Young Kim, Digital Harvest CEO
HEPPNER
Fair draws Morrow County faithful,
hopes to attract curious travelers
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Moun-
tains, usually quiet Heppner will get a double
dose of crowds this weekend: visitors coming
to watch the eclipse, and the usual crop of
people attending the Morrow County Fair.
The fair, in its 104th year, started on
Wednesday and by Thursday was bustling
with a small crowd of locals, some of whom
have been coming to the fair for a long time.
“We were born and raised in Heppner,”
said Sandra Blanke, who was there with her
brother and sister-in-law Gary and Doris
Jones. “We entered in the fair when we were
growing up. Our grandma often won blue
ribbons.”
Many of the longtime residents of
Heppner said the fair has continued to attract
a small but faithful crowd of locals, but
acknowledged that it’s smaller than when
they fi rst started attending — like the town of
Heppner itself.
See FAIR/10A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Janae Warren, 9, of Vancouver, Wash., holds a La Man-
cha/Boar cross goat kid on Thursday at the Morrow
County Fair in Heppner.