HERMISTON
TRIES TO GO
OUT ON TOP
WEEKEND EDITION
WHEN IS YOUR CHILD
READY TO SKI? 4C
SPORTS/1B
NOVEMBER 25-26, 2017
142nd Year, No. 28
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PENDLETON
Betsy West
Round-Up
names 2018
queen, court
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
businesses that have come and
gone in the last few years around
Hermiston — home deçor shop
Indulge, fl orist Bloomz, barbecue
restaurant Sharon’s Sweet Treats
and Catering, clothing shop Bare
Necessities, craft store Defi ning
Details, UFO Gaming, Crazy
Mike’s Video and steakhouses
Stockman’s and Stet’s, to name a
few.
Often those spaces don’t stay
empty for long, however, as a new
group of entrepreneurs decide to
take a gamble on opening up their
dream business. UFO Gaming has
The thematic consistency of a potential
Round-Up queen’s name isn’t considered
during the selection process, but it certainly
doesn’t hurt Betsy West.
West, 21, has the perfect cowgirl name
but also has the experience to back it up.
An Athena native, a press release states
that West has spent so much time on a horse
she can’t remember her fi rst ride on the
front of her parents’ saddle.
“After a long weekend away from
home, going out
to the barn and
thanking
my More inside
horses for a great Stockholders get
parade, or getting special seat at
on my fi lly was Round-Up table
my favorite way REGION/3A
to wind down and
relax,” she said in
a statement. “I receive so much clarity and
joy from being horseback.”
As both a horsewoman and Round-Up
royalty, West’s roots run deep. Her sister,
mother and great grandmother were all
Round-Up princesses while her father was
a competitor. On top of that, her family
breeds and trains quarter horses.
West is a student at the College of Idaho,
where she’s studying health sciences.
Her accomplishments while in Caldwell
includes the Howard Berger Travel
Scholarship to document history at ancient
Chinese temples.
West and the rest of her four-woman
court were announced at Doug Corey’s
home in Athena. The ladies will now
embark on a promotional tour at events
throughout the Northwest and make more
than 200 scheduled appearances.
• Josilyn Fullerton, 18, of Dayton,
Washington, has been on horseback since
she was six and has carried pennants at the
Round-Up in addition to her help pushing
calves and with the Children’s Round-Up.
She also comes with rodeo court experi-
See BUSINESS/8A
See ROUND-UP/14A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Cindy Traner, owner of C and R Mercantile Co. in Hermiston, walks through her store Tuesday. After fi ve years in operation,
Traner is shuttering her business and moving on.
RISKY BUSINESS
Small businesses face big hurdles to survive
“You need some kind of
support to get through
the low times. As a
business owner you’re
the last one to get paid,
if you even get paid.”
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Cyndie Traner heard a lot of
words of support for her business
over the years, but words don’t
pay the bills.
That’s what she told people
who came into the C&R Mercan-
tile in Hermiston for the vintage
shop’s going out of business sale
this week.
“People come in once a year
and say, ‘See, I support your
business,’ but you’re not showing
me with your actions,” she said.
“Actions speak louder than
words.”
It’s a theme she said she has
heard from other friends who
have closed their small businesses
over the years — people want
the business to stick around as
an option, but they don’t spend
money there often enough to keep
the doors open.
Eventually, some business
owners like Traner decide they’re
done.
“I lost a lot of time with my
— Susan Bower, Eastern
Oregon Business Source
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
An empty store front has replaced Crazy Mikes Video on West
Highland Avenue in Hermiston.
husband,” she said. “I lost a lot
of money building something for
my community that I could have
been building up my own home. I
just got tired of doing so much for
so little in return.”
According to the federal Small
Business Administration, about
a third of businesses fail within
the fi rst two years and only half
make it past fi ve. Those odds are
what have helped inspire “shop
local” and pro-small business
movements like Small Business
Saturday, which encourages
people to shop at a small business
the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Traner can name a lot of
PENDLETON
Love of literature and the call of the cattle barons
At 96, Dorys Grover
publishes fourth book
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
As a student in a one-room McKay
Creek schoolhouse nearly nine
decades ago, Dorys Grover recalls
getting in trouble on purpose.
Her teacher would send her to
the dreaded closet where naughty
students went to ponder their wrong-
doing.
“I spent a lot of time in the closet,”
Grover said. “I liked it because all the
new books were there.”
That reverence of the written word
has stuck with her, and at age 96 she
still fi res up her laptop and writes
every day.
The words add up. This fall, she
released her fourth book, “Oregon
Pioneer Cattle Barons,” after 10 years
of writing and research. Now, she is
working on a novel.
When she isn’t writing, she reads.
Books fi ll shelves, her nightstand and
an entire closet.
Her interest in cattle and horses
came naturally while growing up in a
ranching family.
“I’ve always been interested in
cattle,” she said. “And I rode on
horseback to school for eight years.
Six miles in snow, rain or wind.”
She might have soaked in some of
her grandfather’s pioneer spirit, too.
Oliver Purl Bowman came as a baby
by wagon train to Emigrant Springs
in 1862. On 4,000 acres there and
in the Tutuilla Creek area, Bowman
raised cattle and sheep. He opened
Pendleton’s Bowman Hotel in the
mid-1950s.
See GROVER/14A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Pendleton author Dorys Grover, standing at the front gate of her fam-
ily ranch near Pendleton, has penned a new book called “Oregon Pi-
oneer Cattle Barons” about infl uential cattle ranchers in the state.