FFA TEAM
WINS STATE
COMPETITION
OSP LOOKS
INTO SURGE
OF WOLF
KILLINGS 5A
REGION/3A
A tip of the hat
to Stanfi eld’s
police chief
OPINION/4A
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2017
142nd Year, No. 27
Your Weekend
Catch a movie
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
HERMISTON
A tradition of giving
Volunteers
provide meals,
rides to residents
Disney-Pixar via AP
Aspiring musician Miguel,
confronted with his family’s
ancestral ban on music,
enters the Land of the Dead
to work out the mystery.
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
For showtime, Page 5A
Weekend Weather
Fri
Sat
Sun
53/34
49/43
59/36
Although donating was completely
voluntary, the glass vase where
donations were accepted already had a
hefty amount. Contway said Archie’s
had already collected $860 by the time
the restaurant opened on Thursday,
which meant it was on track to surpass
last year’s $1,200 total.
In its 30th year, the Herm-
iston Community Fellowship
Dinner was busier than ever.
By 10:15, the Hermiston
High School commons had
already started to fi ll up for
the 11 a.m. meal. Volunteers
buzzed around, helping
diners to their seats, writing
name tags, and packing to-go
boxes to take to housebound
people.
The Archer family packed
Styrofoam boxes into the
back of their vehicle, and
headed to West Hermiston.
They were dropping off
Thanksgiving meals, and
the four of them — parents
Adam and Rachel, and
daughters Jules and Riley —
knew the drill by now.
“This is our third year,”
Adam said. “We get a variety
of people, from the elderly to
just people that can’t afford
a meal.”
The Archers were part of a
100-plus group of volunteers
assisting at the twice-yearly
community meal, which for
the fi rst time was held at the
high school, after several
years at the Hermiston
Senior Center.
Organizer
Gary
Humphreys
said
they
wouldn’t know until the end
of the meal, but they were
planning to feed 900.
In addition to serving at
the high school, drivers took
meals to housebound people,
and drove people to the
meal. Organizers said they
deliver meals as far west as
Irrigon and south to Echo.
Dozens of others greeted
guests, brought food and
beverages to people, and
toiled in the kitchen.
By noon, the tables were
full of people enjoying the
meal, with another wave on
the way.
The dinner is something
of a tradition for many
people, both volunteers and
visitors.
“I wanted to volunteer,”
Adam Archer said. “I never
got to do this as a kid, so this
is my way of giving back to
the community.”
As they delivered meals
and gave rides to people
who couldn’t drive to dinner,
Adam and Rachel explained
to their daughters what they
See ARCHIE’S/10A
See HERMISTON/10A
5A football championship
vs.
Churchill vs. Hermiston
Saturday, 6 p.m.,
at Hillsboro Stadium
STANFIELD
Dangerous
intersection
to add two
stop signs
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Stanfi eld
residents
pushing
to
make
a
dangerous crossroads safer
got what they wanted.
Umatilla County Board of
Commissioners voted 3-0
at their meeting Wednesday
morning in Pendleton to
change the intersection
of Feedville and Edwards
roads into a four-way stop.
Heidi Carver and Angie
Connell of Stanfi eld said
they would be watching to
make sure the county made
good on its word.
Carver’s husband, Dustin
Scott, suffered serious
injuries in a crash at the
intersection in September
2016 when another driver
blew through the stop sign
at South Edwards. The
crash also seriously injured
a passenger in that car
and killed its driver. And
the crash there in early
November seriously injured
two teenage girls.
“I just feel if that inter-
See INTERSECTION/10A
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
The Archer family — parents, Adam and Rachel, and daughters Jules and Riley — deliver a Thanksgiving meal
to an apartment dweller as part of the free community Thanksgiving dinner at Hermiston High School.
ECHO
Archie’s dishes out free Thanksgiving meal
Diners donate money
to local food pantry
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Pilot Rock is normally considered
a sleepy town, but the Thanksgiving
Day scene in the downtown area was
practically catatonic.
What wasn’t already closed shut-
tered early — Coffee Station No. 1
was closed by 9 a.m., the Family Foods
grocery store was done by the early
afternoon and anyone who wanted
to pump gas at the Shell gas station
would have to do so themselves.
Instead of shortened operating
hours however, Archie’s Restaurant
at 194 Main Street offered a special
service: a free Thanksgiving meal.
For three hours Thursday, co-owners
Daniel Contway and Richard Carnes
offered turkey, mashed potatoes and
a full Thanksgiving spread to anyone
who stopped by.
Despite not opening until noon, the
Archie’s staff had been working since
6 a.m. to get the meal ready. As the
diners started to trickle in, Contway
greets most of them by their fi rst name.
Now in its seventh year, Contway
said the Archie’s Thanksgiving meal
started as a way to offer some sort of
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Richard Carnes, co-owner of Archie’s Restaurant in Pilot Rock, trans-
fers steaming turkey to the buffet table. The meal was free, but diners
could donate to the Pilot Rock Food Pantry.
service to travelers who couldn’t fi nd
anything else open on Thanksgiving.
The meal evolved further when
Archie’s partnered with the Pilot Rock
Food Pantry in its second year. Archie’s
would still serve a Thanksgiving meal
for free, but patrons would be asked to
pay it forward and donate to the food
pantry.
What net neutrality means in Eastern Oregon
Internet providers
respond to potential
FCC changes
By JADE MCDOWELL
and PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
The internet is up in arms Wysocki
Franell
over net neutrality — and
the debate is playing out lations on internet service
locally, too.
providers, including a Title
The discussion has been II protection that designates
making the rounds after the internet as a utility like
Federal Communications telephone lines. One result
Commission chairman Ajit would be providers no
Pai announced Tuesday longer have to treat all web
he was recommending the traffi c the same, allowing
commission reduce regu- them to prioritize certain
“Net neutrality is only a
problem when you only have
one choice. If you don’t like
what a company is doing,
go to a different company.”
— Joe Franell, CEO of Hermiston-based
internet provider Eastern Oregon Telecom
websites over others when
it comes to download speed
or charge customers more
for high-speed access to
sites such as Netfl ix.
Much of the battle over
net neutrality boils down
to a question of whether
government regulation or
free market competition is
the more effective means
of keeping the internet
accessible.
Joe Franell, CEO of
Hermiston-based internet
service provider Eastern
Oregon Telecom, believes
competition, not regulatory
control, is the key to a
healthy market. For decades
the internet was completely
unregulated, and he said
that’s what many people
believe allowed it to
fl ourish.
Franell said what Pai
is proposing would give
providers more fl exibility
but require them to disclose
their practices so consumers
could choose companies
offering what they were
looking for.
“Net neutrality is only
a problem when you only
have one choice,” he said.
“If you don’t like what a
See INTERNET/10A