WEEKEND EDITION
DAWGS BREAK BEND’S
WINNING STREAK 1B
HIDDEN TREASURES ON
THE BEACH LIFESTYLES/1C
SNAKE RIVER
RETURNS BEAT
EXPECTATIONS
OUTSIDE/6C
OCTOBER 14-15, 2017
141st Year, No. 260
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PENDLETON
ODOT
bracing
for winter
with new
plows, salt
La Niña could mean
wetter, colder weather
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Snow fl urries are already
starting to fl y in northeast
Oregon, foreshadowing what
could be another unusually cold
and wet winter for the region.
Forecasters say it is still too
early to tell if this year’s winter
will be as severe as last, when
icy conditions forced highways
to close for days at a time. The
Oregon Department of Transpor-
tation, however, is preparing for
the worst after purchasing fi ve
new tow plows — capable of
plowing two lanes at once — and
expanding its pilot program to use
rock salt on more local highways.
Shelley
Snow,
ODOT
spokeswoman, said the plows
will be placed strategically along
Interstate 84 through Eastern
Oregon, including at Pendleton,
Meacham, La Grande, Baker
City and Ontario. The depart-
ment is also building three new
salt sheds along I-84 at Mission,
Echo and Boardman, which
should be completed before the
end of the year. Each shed is
capable of storing up to 1,000
tons of salt.
“Based on what we’ve seen
on the interstates the last couple
of years, this could be a really
good thing,” Snow said. “I think
statewide, there’s a trend where
we’re seeing (winter) events
that are potentially more cata-
strophic.”
According to ODOT, one
person was killed and 92 were
injured in 58 crashes on local
highways just in December 2016.
The issue caught the attention
of the Oregon Legislature this
year, which included a provi-
sion in the latest transportation
package requiring the Oregon
Transportation
Commission
develop a winter maintenance
strategy that includes the use of
rock salt.
ODOT initially launched its
salt pilot project in 2013, along
Highway 95 in southeast Oregon
between the Nevada and Idaho
borders and along Siskiyou Pass
at the Oregon-California border.
The program has yielded positive
results, Snow said, and this year
See ODOT/12A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The Vert Auditorium is currently home to the Oregon East Symphony, but was only used 24 days all of last year.
T V V
Complex has low occupation rate, $1.6 million in deferred maintenance
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The Vert Auditorium hosts
symphony concerts, ballroom
dancing and the occasional
wedding and a funeral.
It also sits empty for most of the
year.
The 800-seat auditorium is
a part of the Vert Complex, an
80-year-old building in Pendleton
that also houses a club room and
second, smaller theater.
The building has more than
$1.6 million in deferred mainte-
nance and City Manager Robb
Corbett said the Vert is in need
of marketing and promotion. But
with the city’s budget stretched
among its many other infrastruc-
ture needs, major changes are not
imminent.
———
“A Century of News and People
in the East Oregonian: 1875-1975”
was unsparing in its assessment
of the man who funded the Vert’s
construction.
“(John) Vert was one who did
“This ol’ girl needs
some help.”
— Glenn Graham,
Vert Complex facilities manager
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Andrew Picken, president of the Rivoli Restoration Coalition
board, and Jason Terry, of Kirby Nagelhout Construction, man the
scissors at Friday’s ribbon cutting in front of the Rivoli.
little for his community during
his life but who enriched it at his
death,” author Gordon MacNab
wrote. “His biggest role in the
news before 1927, in nearly a
half-century in Umatilla County,
was the time he threw an egg at a
minister who was advocating for
prohibition.”
After his wife Mary died in
1927, Vert decided to use some of
his considerable fortune to erecting
a memorial to her. Mary was an
educator, community organizer
and prominent socialite.
Upon his own death in 1934,
Vert bequeathed $76,400 to the
city to build the memorial. With
the help of the Pendleton school
system and a federal grant, the Vert
Memorial Community Building
was dedicated in 1937.
Today, the Vert is co-managed
by Pendleton Parks and Recreation
and the city’s facility department.
It is still in operation, although
business is slow.
According to city calendars,
the Vert Auditorium was booked
for 30 days in 2015. Subtracting
the days the Vert is closed for
holidays, that’s equivalent to an
8 percent occupation rate. 2016
See VERT/12A
Umatilla, Morrow counties
fi rm up alliance on key issues
Talk touched on health,
housing, job training,
taxes, water and wolves
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Umatilla County commissioners Bill Elfering, George Murdock and Larry
Givens listen to Morrow County Public Health Director Sharee Smith talk
about the county’s health concerns during a joint meeting of the Umatilla
County and Morrow County commissioners Friday in Heppner.
The boards of commissioners
for Umatilla and Morrow counties
had not sat down together for more
than a decade. During their meeting
Friday morning in Heppner, the
two boards agreed that they have
faced similar challenges in the
intervening years.
Commissioners
Melissa
Lindsay, Don Russell and Jim
Doherty of Morrow County hosted
their Umatilla County counter-
parts, Larry Givens, Bill Elfering
and George Murdock, at the
Bartholomew Building, Morrow
County’s new administrative
home. Several Morrow County
department heads also attended,
as did Umatilla County counsel
Doug Olsen. The chit chat lasted a
moment before the two boards dug
into several topics that affect both
counties, starting with workforce
and housing.
More than 1,000 people will
move into Umatilla County to
work during the next three years,
Elfering said, including 600 in
data centers for careers that pay
$62,000 a year. With that kind of
income they can afford a house, he
See COUNTIES/12A