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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2017
142nd Year, No. 7
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WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Transgender inmate settles
lawsuit over medical care
Michalle Wright to receive hormone therapy, $167K in damages
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
PORTLAND — The state prison
system in Oregon will provide a
transgender Two Rivers Correctional
Institution inmate with hormone therapy,
bras and women’s underwear and will
consider transferring her to the state’s only
all-women’s prison as part of a settlement
agreement announced Tuesday.
The state will also pay Michalle
Wright $167,500 in damages, waive
medical fees associated with three
suicide attempts, provide counseling and
consider referring her for gender surgery
in January if it’s deemed medically
necessary, according to the agreement.
The agreement was announced by the
American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon
and confi rmed by the Oregon Department
of Corrections in a brief statement.
“She was begging for help, I was
begging for help — but nothing was
See TRANSGENDER/8A
Mat Dos Santos/ACLU of Oregon via AP
This July 2017 photo provided by the ACLU of Oregon
shows transgender inmate Michalle Wright at the
Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem.
Hermiston
to partake
in national
drug take-
back day
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A serpentine of riders carrying U.S. fl ags makes its way across the Pendleton Round-Up Arena at the end of the Westward Ho!
Parade during the 100th Anniversary of the Round-Up on Sept., 17, 2010.
Round-Up lassos new property
Association buys property
that houses Frontier Tavern
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Like the pioneering spirit the rodeo
has promoted since its conception, the
Pendleton Round-Up is expanding
westward.
In the last two months, the
Round-Up Association has purchased
three properties on the western edge
of much of its current holdings and the
famed Round-Up Grounds.
On Sept. 19, just days after the
2017 rodeo concluded, the Round-Up
Association bought a 36,142 square-
foot commercial property at 125
S.W. 18th St. that houses the Frontier
Tavern for $325,000, according to
Umatilla County records. Two weeks
prior, on Sept. 6, the association
completed the purchase of a 4,791
square-foot residential property at
1821 S.W. Byers Ave. The group later
purchased a second residential prop-
erty at 18 S.W. 18th Street on Sept.
28 for $85,000 — more than twice the
real market value. The purchases add
to the host of properties the nonprofi t
organization owns in that area.
The acquisitions represent the fi rst
expansion the association has made
since 2011 and adds to their consider-
able catalog of land.
Across three separate entities —
See ROUND-UP/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
One way to combat the nation-
wide opioid epidemic is to get
unused prescription drugs off the
street before they get into the hands
of people who abuse them.
On Saturday, the Drug Enforce-
ment Administration’s 14th National
Prescription Drug Take-Back Day,
Umatilla and Morrow County resi-
dents can drop off unused pills at the
Hermiston Police Department, 330
S. First St., from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
During the last such national
collection, Oregonians dropped off
12,120 pounds of unused drugs,
which reminded Oregon law
enforcement how prevalent prescrip-
tion opiates had become.
Pendleton Police Chief Stuart
Roberts said prescription drug use
and abuse have been on the rise
locally over the last several years.
Roberts said his police department
has a secure MedReturn in their
lobby, where residents can drop off
unused prescriptions at all times. A
few times a year, law enforcement
has the collection incinerated.
Amy Ashton-Williams, the
Umatilla County Director of
Human Services, said opioid use is
a serious local concern. And as law
enforcement cracks down on abused
prescription avenues, users can turn
to more dangerous ways to feed their
addiction.
“For those who are addicted, even
if they’re receiving them legally,
they’ll go and buy illegally, or turn
to an alternative form like heroin,”
she said.
A report from the 2018 Oregon-
Idaho High Intensity Drug Traf-
fi cking Area strategy states that an
The storefront building housing Jim’s Frontier Tavern has
been purchased by the Pendleton Round-Up Association.
See DRUGS/8A
Tree-free paper may
benefi t local farmers
Washington-based pulp
plant under construction
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Image contributed by Columbia Pulp
Construction is underway for the Columbia Pulp plant near Lyons Ferry, Washington.
The facility will use wheat straw, as opposed to wood, for tree-free paper products.
Farmers
in
Eastern
Oregon and Washington may
soon have another option for
selling their leftover wheat
straw after harvest, turning a
potential source of waste into
a source of cash.
A new pulp mill is under
construction near Lyons
Ferry along the Snake River
in southeast Washington that
will turn straw, as opposed
to wood, into material for
making household products
such as paper towels and
tissues
Columbia Pulp, based in
Dayton, Washington, held a
groundbreaking ceremony
Sept. 27 and CEO John
Begley said the mill could be
up and running by late next
year. Once completed, it will
take 250,000 tons of straw
per year and produce 140,000
tons of market-grade pulp.
Though the plant is
located an hour northeast of
Walla Walla, Begley expects
a portion of the straw will
be sourced from Umatilla
See PULP/8A