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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 2017)
HOW TO MAKE BIG BUCKS DURING ROUND-UP MILWAUKEE SHERIFF DAVID CLARKE RESIGNS REGION/3A Letter to the editor: “What is going on with this stupid railroad?” OPINION/4A NATION/6A FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2017 141st Year, No. 229 HERMISTON Your Weekend Welder, mother turns 109 Catch a movie InYo Entertainment Indian-made indie fi lm “Neither Wolf Nor Dog” shows at Wildhorse. For review and showtimes see Page 5A Weekend Weather Fri 94/60 Sat One dollar WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Sun 100/65 100/66 Watch a game vs. La Grande vs. Pendleton Friday, 7 p.m., at Pendleton Murder suspect Dayton does not contest bail hearing By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian Conor Michael Dayton is staying put in the Umatilla County Jail on charges of murder and more. The 24-year-old Milton-Freewater man did not contest his bail at a hearing Wednesday in Pend- leton. Dayton appeared in court via Dayton video from the Pendleton jail, Herman Bylenga of Intermountain Public Defender Inc. by his side while the fi rm’s director, L. Kent Fisher, was in court. Dayton confi rmed for Circuit Judge Christopher Brauer that he agreed the state did not need to show the strength of its evidence against him. The district attorney’s offi ce charged Dayton with the murder of Marcos Gutierrez Rodriguez, as well See DAYTON/10A Geneva Eddings celebrated her birthday Thursday By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian Geneva Eddings turned 109 on Thursday, but if you want to know the secret to living a long life you’ll have to ask someone else. “I haven’t the foggiest idea,” she said. Her children, who are all older than 80, have a few ideas. “It’s the genes, I guess, and good honest living,” her son Ralph Eddings said. He and his sister Muriel Eddings celebrated Gene- va’s birthday with her at Regency Hermiston Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, along with staff and a few other family members. They said their mother never smoked, rarely drank and placed an emphasis on fruits and vegetables that was ahead of her time. Parts of Geneva’s memory are fading, but one can’t blame her for not recalling some details from her childhood or exactly how her husband proposed. She was married before many peoples’ grandparents were born. Still, she always recog- nizes family and can recall hiking, picnicking, fi shing and other activities with her children as they grew up. “We played games,” she said. “I just enjoyed being with them. I love them.” Geneva was born in 1908, just a month before Henry Ford unveiled the Model T automobile. Her father had left Virginia to work on the railroad in the Pacifi c Northwest, and her mother soon followed in a cross-country train while eight months pregnant. After Staff photo by E.J. Harris Mitch Eddings, of Snoqualmie, Washington, helps his grandmother, Geneva Eddings, with her birthday cards during her 109th birthday party on Thursday in Pendleton. off from the railroad and traveled the country for a while until he found a For video visit job as a longshoreman. eastoregonian.com When World War II started, Benjamin was brother to a cold house and they would have to start the too old to be drafted and fi re and dinner while their Ralph, their oldest child, mother was at work. Geneva was too young. “Mother wanted to know eventually dropped out of high school to help support from Dad what was the best job for a woman that could the family. She met Benjamin Ralph make the most money, and Eddings at a dance hall, and he said that was as a welder,” remembers thinking how Muriel said. So Geneva learned to good-looking he was. They married when she was 20 weld and began working on and the couple had three Navy ships in Tacoma. She was one of the only female children. “I don’t know that they welders around, but it didn’t expected me,” Muriel, the faze her. “I was so busy that I youngest, said. “I was a didn’t have time to have it surprise.” Muriel was born in the bother me,” she said. midst of the Great Depres- See GENEVA/10A sion, and her father was laid More online Staff photo by E.J. Harris Geneva Eddings raised her family in the Tacoma area with her husband Benjamin Ralph Eddings. Geneva was born in Troy, Idaho, the family moved to Pullman, Washington, and then Colfax, Washington, where she spent most of her childhood. Geneva’s father died of the Spanish fl u when she was 9, forcing her disabled mother to go to work in a laundry to support the family. Muriel said Geneva would come home from school each day with her “It’s the genes, I guess, and good honest living.” — Ralph Eddings, son of Geneva Eddings, on the secret to living a long life PENDLETON Main Street Cowboys decline confederate fl ag vendor’s application By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian Round-Up week’s most visible purveyor of the Stars and Bars will not be back on Pendle- ton’s Main Street this year. The Main Street Cowboys, the organization who hosts vendors and entertainment on Main Street during Round-Up, did not accept the vendor application of Liberty Flags & Gifts. Last year the Douglas County-based vendor drew controversy for prominently displaying and selling Confederate fl ags and the Cowboys drew their own for driving up and down Main Street with Confederate fl ags affi xed to their vehicles. Johnny Blagg, the vendor director for the Main Street Cowboys, said the current political climate and the media scrutiny were factors in the organization’s decision to pass on the vendor’s application. Liberty Flags & Gifts owner Viola Moody said the business has set up a booth on By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Capital Bureau the vendor’s top selling fl ag, accounting for 75-80 percent of the business’ fl ag sales in Pendleton last year, according to Moody. Moody thought that she SALEM — A task force appointed by Gov. Kate Brown has come up with some early ideas for reducing the state’s unfunded pension liability, but it’s not yet apparent how far they could go. Some proposals fl oated at the task force’s most recent meeting Monday involve substantial policy changes, and Oregon’s House Republican leader has already criticized certain proposals. Brown, a Democrat, has asked the task force, which includes representa- tives from both the private and public sector, to reduce the unfunded actuarial liability of the Public Employees Retire- ment System by $5 billion. The unfunded actuarial liability is the amount by which the pension system’s future obligations exceed its ability to pay. Most of the $24.2 billion unfunded liability has already been earned by public employees. According to a 2015 Oregon Supreme Court opinion, benefi ts already earned cannot be modifi ed by the Legislature. So the state must pay down most of See FLAG/10A See PERS/10A Staff photo by E.J. Harris The vendor Liberty Flags and Gifts out of Douglas County will not be back selling fl ags on Main Street during the Pendleton Round-Up. The vendor’s application was not approved by the Main Street Cowboys. Main Street during the past two Round-Ups, but didn’t receive negative attention until “liberals” complained about the booth when it was placed on the 400 block of South Main Street in 2016. Confederate fl ags were PERS task force solutions have uncertain future