NORTHWEST/2A
WILD TURKEYS
TROT THROUGH
DOWNTOWN
EUGENE
McMAHON
RESURRECTS
THE XFL
Trump plan offers
citizenship path to
1.8M immigrants
SPORTS/2B
NATION/6A
FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 2018
142nd Year, No. 72
Your Weekend
County begins overdue charter review
Applications open for review committee
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
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Pam Tillis, Suzy Bogguss
& Terri Clark at Wildhorse
ArtWorkz Junior Art
Show opening exhibit
Melonville Comedy
Festival in Hermiston
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Umatilla County is past due for a
review of its home rule charter, the
document that establishes the form
and functions of county government.
The county is working to remedy that.
The charter requires a committee
of a least fi ve county citizens to
conduct the review every four years.
The last review was in 2008.
County counsel Doug Olsen said
the board of commissioners have a
For times and places
see Coming Events, 3A
goal of appointing seven citizens to
the review committee by March 1.
They would have until July 1, 2019,
to deliver a report and any recom-
mendations for changes to the charter.
“They can change any terms
of the charter or introduce some-
thing different,” Olsen said, while
Commissioner George Murdock
said the committee “can lay the
foundation to restructure county
government.”
Olsen and Murdock said
commissioners would not serve on
the committee so it would be free
of their infl uence. Four locals so
far applied to serve on the review
committee: former county fair
See CHARTER/8A
PENDLETON
Catch a movie
Twentieth Century Fox via AP
In the third installment of
the YA dystopian series you
probably forgot was still
going, a group of teens run
around a labyrinthine city
in search of a cure in “Maze
Runner: The Death Cure.”
For showtime, Page 5A
For review, Weekend EO
Weekend Weather
Fri
Sat
Sun
46/38
51/44
58/44
Audit fi nds
state must
do more
to prepare
for disaster
By ERICKA CRUZ
GUEVARRA
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Oregon is not prepared
for a catastrophic disaster,
according to an audit from
the Secretary of State’s offi ce
released Thursday.
The audit, which looked
at state and local emergency
management efforts, found
the state failed to meet
national baseline standards for
emergency management, and
that planning efforts lack on
all levels of the state’s emer-
gency management system.
That’s due in part to
“inadequate” staffi ng state-
wide, including understaffi ng
at the Offi ce of Emergency
Management.
See DISASTER/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Veterinarian Fiona Hillenbrand, center, checks the dental health of Tucker as veterinary assistant Erin Mills, left, and owner L’Rissa Sohappy
work to keep the dog calm during a checkup Wednesday at the Pendleton Veterinary Clinic.
Veterinary clinic gets new digs
Fresh Start grant helps
pay for new building
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
With the help of a local grant, the Pend-
leton Veterinary Clinic has a fresh start.
As a crowd fl owed out the door of the
clinic’s new facility at 625 S.W. Emigrant
Ave., owner Fiona Hillenbrand teared up
as she thanked her staff and the city for
their help at the ribbon cutting ceremony.
Members of the Pendleton Development
Commission then handed Hillenbrand an
oversized novelty check for $96,488, the
commission’s contribution to the project
through its Fresh Start grant program.
After the ribbon was cut, clinic staff
stationed themselves in various parts of
the building to explain its features and
how they are an improvement over the old
facility at 1901 S.W. Court Ave.
Veterinary assistant Amy Kline was
standing in the procedure room, the area
where dogs and cats receive check-ups,
dental work and other standard procedures.
Kline said the room now had four tables
instead of one, allowing staff to do more
work simultaneously. Additionally, all the
tables are heated. From the tables, staff will
be able to peek into a windowed intensive
care unit to check on recovering pets.
The clinic has another room for
surgeries and more complex procedures.
See VETERINARY/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A cat stares out of a holding cage in the cat ward
Wednesday at the Pendleton Veterinary Clinic.
Scientists, Morrow County wheat farmers talk shop
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Jayati Ramakrishnan
OSU researchers Larry Lutcher, Duncan Kroese, Christina Hagerty and Judit Bar-
roso (far right) dig up and examine some wheat plants Thursday in one of Sam
Myers’ fi elds. Myers is second from right.
A group of wheat farmers
and scientists sat down in a
barn Thursday morning to
talk shop — discussing chal-
lenges and potential solutions
to wheat farming issues in
Morrow County.
The meeting was part
of “Shop Talk,” a recent
effort by the OSU Extension
Service to meet with farmers
to discuss how their research
efforts align with practical
application, said Christina
Hagerty, a plant pathologist
and assistant professor at
OSU’s Columbia Basin Agri-
cultural Research Center.
About 12 Morrow County
wheat growers gathered at
a Heppner farm off Little
Butter Creek Road to address
topics that included which
varieties of wheat may be
most effective at managing
pests or disease, and how
to deal with weeds such as
cheatgrass and thistle.
They also discussed the
merits and drawbacks of
open variety seed.
Open variety seeds can
be saved and replanted, and
can potentially save farmers
money in the long run. But
those seeds can also become
more susceptible to disease if
they don’t have the modifi ca-
tions of newer seeds.
“It’s less expensive to save
seeds,” said Hagerty. “But
the older varieties where it’s
legal to save seeds also have
an older set of genetics, and
may not provide the disease
resistance packages that
come along with modern
See FARMERS/8A