90/62
PENDLETON
STOCKS UP
ON WHISKY
UMATILLA
COUNTY FAIR
RESULTS
REGION/3A
PAGE 8A
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2017
141st Year, No. 222
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
CTUIR to
consider
putting
marijuana
on ballot
East Oregonian
One year after the city of Pendleton
voted to legalize marijuana sales, the
sovereign nation next door will may make
a similar decision at the ballot box.
At a meeting Monday, the Confeder-
ated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reser-
vation Board of Trustees will consider
putting a referendum on legalizing
marijuana on the tribes’ Nov. 14 general
election, CTUIR spokesman Chuck Sams
said Tuesday.
Sams said the referendum consists of
eight questions proposed by the General
Council, which range from legalizing
recreational consumption of marijuana to
growing industrial hemp on the reserva-
tion, although he didn’t know the exact
language of each question because they
have yet to be reviewed by staff.
Under tribal government, the General
Council is comprised of all tribal
members 18 years and over and has its
own offi cers. The General Council elects
See MARIJUANA/10A
Echo agrees
to wastewater
solution with
Stanfi eld
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
The Echo City Council has approved
an agreement to send its recycled water
to Stanfi eld instead of Michael Yunker’s
ranch.
Yunker had been preparing for a court
battle after being notifi ed last December
the city was considering using eminent
domain to carve out a 10-acre piece of his
ranch to deposit the city’s recycled water
as part of a wastewater system upgrade.
Instead, the city will begin searching for
funding to pipe the water into the city of
Stanfi eld’s system.
Yunker said he was “delighted” that
the city had found a solution that worked
for everyone.
“Man, that’s good news,” he said. “I
don’t know what to say. I’m one happy
camper.”
Stanfi eld’s city council still has to vote
to approve the agreement, but it was Stan-
fi eld councilor Jason Sperr who came to
an Echo City Council meeting earlier in
the year to state Stanfi eld’s willingness
See WASTEWATER/10A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A powered paraglider fl ies over the campground at the industrial park at the beginning of the eclipse on Monday in John Day.
APOC-ECLIPSE? NO.
Planning pays off for eclipse rush in rural Oregon
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
After months of bracing for
massive crowds, gnarled traffi c
and barren supermarket shelves,
it turns out rural Eastern Oregon
was more than prepared to handle
the infl ux of visitors who came
for Monday’s total solar eclipse.
Locals were reportedly busy,
but not overwhelmed by the
number of eclipse watchers who
fl ocked from around the world to
tiny towns like John Day, Fossil
and Spray to witness the rare
cosmic event within the path of
totality.
Nick Green, John Day city
manager, estimated they had more
than 10,000 people stay in town,
including 3,000 who camped at
the city’s airport industrial park
and the former Oregon Pine mill
site. Both tent and RV campsites
were booked solid, in addition to
motels and landowners renting
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
additional space for guests.
An Oregon National Guard Humvee sits on a street off Highway 395 on Sunday in John Day.
“There were a lot of logistics,
but it was a great event,” Green toward Prairie City, and members Strandberg with the Oregon He said eclipse travelers largely
said. “Everyone had a great of the Oregon National Guard Department of Transportation heeded the agency’s advice to
time.”
were brought in to direct the fl ow said they did not have any major come early, though not as many
While traffi c was mostly of traffi c downtown.
wrecks or closures in the area.
stayed late, which led to periods
steady throughout the weekend,
“We’ve never seen anything
Strandberg, who serves as of congestion Monday.
John Day did experience a hefty like that in Grant County,” he the spokesman for ODOT in
Still, it could have been much
backup along Highway 26 imme- said.
Eastern Oregon, said they are still worse.
diately following the eclipse on
Despite the relatively high crunching the numbers to deter-
“I think we were pretty
Monday. Green said the line of volume of drivers on otherwise mine just how many vehicles did
See ECLIPSE/10A
cars stretched for eight miles east sparsely populated roads, Tom arrive and stay in Grant County.
Gov. Brown signs
transportation bill
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
Pamplin Media Group
Gov. Kate Brown quietly signed a $5.3 billion transportation funding bill Friday,
but will travel to Malheur County next week for a ceremonial signing. The bill
provides funding for a rail transloading facility for the area.
SALEM — Gov. Kate
Brown is scheduled to appear
at a ceremonial signing of a
$5.3 billion transportation
funding bill in Eastern Oregon
Aug. 28, the Capital Press
reported Monday.
Brown offi cially signed
House Bill 2017 without notice
or fanfare on Aug. 18.
The governor and lawmakers
have touted the legislation as a
chief accomplishment of the
2017 legislative session, which
concluded July 7.
The ceremonial signing is
set for 10 a.m. at the Ontario
Train Depot. Brown is expected
to visit Ontario to highlight a
$26 million project in the bill
to construct a reload facility
central to moving products out
of Malheur County, The Argus
Observer reported Tuesday.
The Governor’s Offi ce was
not immediately available
Tuesday morning to elaborate
on the reasons for holding the
ceremonial signing in Ontario.
An author of the legislation,
Republican Rep. Cliff Bentz
represents Ontario. Bentz
played a crucial role in negoti-
See TRANSPORTATION/10A