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WHAT IS AN
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COMMUNITY/6A
63/41
SPORTS/1B
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2017
142nd Year, No. 6
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
HERMISTON
Ranch & Home gets new deadline
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Construction continues on the new Ranch and Home
site on Monday in Hermiston.
Hermiston residents hoping to hit up a
new Ranch & Home store for Christmas
shopping will be out of luck this year after
the company told the city it won’t open its
doors by its original goal of Jan. 1.
The Hermiston city council voted
Monday to extend deadlines until June
for the outdoor lifestyle retailer after
owner George Dress asked for a new
deadline of March 1 to fulfi ll require-
ments needed to be reimbursed for some
development costs.
The city had previously approved
an agreement with Ranch & Home
to reimburse system development
charges, building permit fees and some
sewer costs — an incentive package
worth an estimated $107,800 — if the
store being built on south Highway 395
gained its occupancy permit by Jan. 1,
2018. The agreement also stated that
the city would reimburse the company
$185,000 in road development costs
PENDLETON
if the company managed to recruit a
grocery store to build next door by Oct.
1, 2018.
In the original deal, the company
would be reimbursed 10 percent less
— about $11,000 — for each month it
missed the deadline, for up to six months.
The company has had diffi culty
fi nding electricians, however, causing
Dress to request that the full reimburse-
ment be extended to March 1. After
See HERMISTON/8A
UMATILLA
City’s third
marijuana
grow applies
for permit
East Oregonian
The building at 504 S.E. Fourth
Street in Pendleton used to be an auto
repair shop, but its owner now has
higher aspirations.
Ron Harrison of Notus, Idaho has
applied for a conditional use permit
to turn his shop, Harrison’s Auto
Enhancer, into an indoor marijuana
grow. Harrison’s application will be
considered by the Pendleton Planning
Commission at a meeting Thursday.
The property is zoned light resi-
dential, and as a marijuana grow and
not a retailer, the city’s 1,000-foot
buffer for schools and parks does not
apply. The facility is within 1,000 feet
of May Park.
Located at the base of South Hill, the
proposed grow is in close proximity to
residential neighborhoods. Although
most marijuana businesses have been
approved by the commission with
minimal public opposition, the location
of a proposed marijuana dispensary
on Tutuilla Road was changed after
garnering outcry from nearby residents.
Harrison did not return a request for
comment, but he did share his thoughts
on how the cannabis grow would affect
nearby residents in his conditional use
application.
“There will be no negative impact on
the neighbors of the property, as there
won’t be a higher traffi c rate,” he wrote.
“No ‘new’ people in the area as it’s not
a retail business. Neighbors are already
acquainted with me.”
If the planning commission approves
Harrison’s application, it would be third
one the commission has approved since
marijuana businesses became legal in
Pendleton at the beginning of the year.
The commission already approved
Burnswell Family Farms at 2612 N.E.
Nursery Lane and GhostTown Organix
at 2515 N.E. Riverside Place.
The marijuana growers would also
join the three operating dispensaries
— Kind Leaf Pendleton, Pendleton
Cannabis and High Desert Cannabis.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Fourth-grader Jose Perez runs with his teammates during practice for the McNary USA running team on Monday in Umatilla.
McNary gets kids running for fun
Elementary students learn about
the team aspect of cross country
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Students runs sprints while warming up before practice for the
McNary USA running team on Monday in Umatilla.
The kids of the McNary USA
running team are becoming a
force to be reckoned with.
The elementary school cross
country program meets every
day after school as part of
Umatilla School District’s after
school STEM program. The 26
students, ranging from second to
fi fth graders at McNary Heights
Elementary School, spend the
next few hours training, and
learning about the different ways
to stay healthy. The students will
run anywhere from two to three
miles during practice, and races
are between one and three miles.
“They’ve blossomed,” said
Emily Potts, one of the coaches
of the McNary USA team. “Their
fi tness levels have increased.
They’re becoming friends.”
After school on Monday,
the students gather in Francisco
Garcia’s fi fth grade classroom,
See RUN/8A
State senator: Sexual harassment common in Capitol
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
SALEM — A female state senator
who accused a male colleague of inap-
propriate touching said Monday she’s
heard accounts from other women
in the Oregon State Capitol of such
behavior by men and insisted “the
culture needs to change.”
Kruse
Democratic Sen. Sara Gelser said Gelser
the accounts were relayed to her over
the weekend, after a senator who was just a friendly way, that hand around
accused of making unwelcome moves the shoulder and the fi ngers beneath
your shirt ... or someone that is talking
on Gelser was punished on Friday.
Gelser told Oregon Public Radio’s to you so close that your ear is wet
“Think Out Loud” program that the when you step away,” she said.
Women have been touched “under
women told her about various offen-
the dais at a committee hearing, and,
sive behavior.
“It can be anything from being you know, it’s happened on the fl oor
touched too long, having a hand on of our chambers, and that is not appro-
your thigh either above or below your priate,” Gelser added.
The complaints in Oregon were
skirt, and what someone believes is
“I think as an elected leader in the Legislature,
I have a responsibility to the many, many young
women that work in the building, and older
women too, as staffers and as lobbyists who are
encountering these problems on a regular basis.”
— Sen. Sara Gelser
brought to light after Senate Repub-
lican spokesman Jonathan Lockwood
said a week ago on Twitter that Gov.
Kate Brown and Gelser had received
cash linked to Hollywood producer
Harvey Weinstein, who recently was
accused of sexually harassing and
abusing many women over decades.
Lockwood asked if Brown and Gelser
returned the money.
Weinstein donated $5,000 to the
Democratic Party of Oregon during
the 1995-1996 election cycle, a
decade before Gelser was elected to
the Legislature.
Gelser, who is from the university
town of Corvallis, shot back on Twitter,
denying receiving any Weinstein
money and asking if Lockwood would
ensure that no Senate Republican
“inappropriately touches or gropes”
female lawmakers and staffers.
See CAPITOL/8A