REGION
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
East Oregonian
Page 3A
PENDLETON
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
The Department of Motor Vehicles office in
Hermiston has moved to the Hermiston Plaza, 810
S Highway 395.
New DMV office opens
in Hermiston Plaza
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Clay Winton, owner of Crosshair Customs in Baker City, chats with customers Saturday at the Pendleton Gun
Show at the Pendleton Convention Center.
Eastern Oregon’s largest gun show
packs benefits for local nonprofit
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Pendleton Gun Show
promoter Mike Voss of
Summerville had a problem.
Eastern Oregon’s largest
gun show was to open at 9
a.m. Saturday at the Pend-
leton Convention Center,
but a vendor from Indiana
never arrived. Voss did not
want a noticeable gap in the
exhibition hall, so the three
empty tables were used at
the last minute for a display
of military weapons from a
local collector.
Even without the Indiana
representation, the show had
48 vendors spreading out
across 140 tables to offer
everything from backpacks
to collector guns to tactical
weapons, including dozens
of AR-15s.
The vendors were from
throughout Oregon, Wash-
ington and Idaho, Voss
said, and is about twice the
size of the next largest area
show, which took place in
La Grande two weeks ago.
He should know — he orga-
nizes that one, too.
The Pendleton show is
in its third year and is a big
shot in the bank account of
the Pendleton City Club, the
charitable organization that
provides grants to benefit
Pendleton
youth.
Tim
Simons, City Club president
and Pendleton community
development director, said
close to 1,300 paid to get
into this year’s show and
the club hopes to clear more
than $5,000. The proceeds
help pay for a range of youth
programs, he said, from sports
to helping feed children.
“If it’s something we
think is a good activity for
the youth, we generally give
the money,” Simons said.
The City Club used to
operate the sportsman show
at the convention center, but
Voss and others said that
declined in popularity when
the event provided space to
sellers offering homemade
goods, such as candles and
jams. Simons said the City
Club reached out to Voss as
a solution.
Voss said he was eager
to have a show in Pendleton
as long as he oversaw the
vendors, and homemade
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
“TRUMP” and “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” are
engraved on a gungrip at the Crosshair Customs booth
Saturday at the Pendleton Gun Show at the Pendleton
Convention Center.
Pendleton City Club looks
to grow membership
PENDLETON — The Pendleton City Club this
weekend wrapped up one its biggest fundraisers of the
year — the annual gun show.
City Club president Tim Simons said the event could
bring in more than $5,000 to the charitable organization,
which in turn provides the funds to benefit Pendleton
youth programs.
The club has about 50 members, he said, and around
20-25 are active. He said the club wants to grow those
ranks and is looking for new members.
He also said there is a misconception the club
members must work for the city of Pendleton. Part
of that may stem from the fact Simons is the city’s
community development director and Bob Patterson, the
city planner, is the club’s vice president. Club members
do not have to work for the city, Simons stressed.
To learn more about the club, call Simons at 541-966-
0203, or email him at Tim.Simons@ci.pendleton.or.us .
goods were not going to be
a part of the show.
Voss and the city club
split the gate, and the club
gets a portion from the
show’s sponsors. The club
in exchange provides its
insurance policy to cover the
show, and its members lend
their muscle to help vendors
set up and tear down.
Simons said the club even
handle clean-up instead of
leaving it for convention
center employees.
Voss said the vendors dig
having the help and he likes
giving to a local commu-
nity. The show also has
some economic benefit to
Pendleton because only two
vendors were local, he said,
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and many of the rest were in
hotels and dined out.
John Stewart and Amy
Moody worked hard Friday
night to set up the display
for Crosshair Customs of
Baker City, which makes
guns and sound suppres-
sors, commonly known
as silencers. Stewart said
owner Clay Winton started
the business two years ago
in his home and now owns
a brick-and-motor store that
employs five people. The
business also is looking to
expand and add machinists.
“Those are quality jobs
in Baker City, not just
minimum wage,” Stewart
said.
Stewart said gun shows
promote the retail side of the
business, and they would
like to make more than
$4,000 at a show. Selling
four or five of their AR-15
rifles usually covers that.
Retired
pharmacist
Daniel Brown of La Grande
came to Pendleton to sell
from his extensive private
collection of guns. He said
his wife is forward thinking
and does not want to bother
with all the firearms if he
were no longer around.
While he had some newer,
shiny pieces, he also had
working guns from the 19th
century, including an 1889
Colt revolver.
Brown said he parted
with about a third of his
collection at the recent La
Grande show and for the
right price he would sell
everything on the table.
He also said the days of a
loophole for guns sales at a
show are over. Any sales he
makes have to go through
a background check, which
Oregon law requires, and
takes place on the show
room floor for $20.
“As a vendor selling my
private collection, I don’t
want to be nailed for breaking
the law,” he said.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0833.
HERMISTON — The
Hermiston DMV has
moved into a new office.
The Department of
Motor Vehicles office was
closed for part of last week
as it moved across the street
to 810 S Highway 395.
The new building, next
to Shari’s Cafe & Pies, is
larger and has more parking
than the former location,
where the DMV has been
since 1981.
David House, a DMV
spokesperson, said the
department has to relocate
two or three of its offices
per year that have outgrown
their old building, and
Hermiston was due for a
change. While right now
the number of counters,
hours and personnel levels
will stay the same there is
more lobby space and it
gives the office room to
grow with Hermiston.
“It was a pretty routine
move and from what I
understand it went pretty
smoothly,” he said.
For people who don’t
still don’t like waiting in
line in the larger lobby,
House recommended they
first visit www.oregondmv.
com to see if whatever busi-
ness they need to take care
of can be handled online, or
to print out forms and fill
them out before they arrive.
He also said that days with
no school — particularly
spring break and summer
vacation — tend to see the
heaviest foot traffic because
teenagers are coming in to
get their learner’s permit or
first driver’s license.
Photo contributed by J.D. Kindle
A fire damaged a home Monday near Mission.
Fire burns home on reservation
MISSION — A fire
Monday afternoon damaged
a home on the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation.
Umatilla Tribal Fire
received a call about 4
p.m. for a house fire at
72490 Billy Road, just
south of Interstate 84.
Both Umatilla Tribal Fire
Department and the Pend-
leton Fire Department
responded.
According
to Chuck Sams, CTUIR
spokesman,
emergency
crews knocked down the
blaze at about 5:20 p.m.,
but not after it tore through
the single family home.
According to Sams,
crews believe no one was
injured. An investigation is
underway and more infor-
mation will be available
Tuesday, said Sams.
OSHA investigating work site
death near Hermiston
HERMISTON — The
Oregon
Occupational
Safety and Health Divi-
sion (Oregon OSHA) has
opened an investigation
into the recent work site
death near Hermiston.
“I can confirm that
we’ve opened an investiga-
tion of Swaggart Brothers
in connection with the acci-
dent,” according to Oregon
OSHA spokesperson Aaron
Corvin. “Under Oregon
law, however, we do not
discuss the details of active
investigations.”
Swaggart
Brothers
is a general contractor
operating out of Stanfield.
One man died Tuesday,
March 6, at an industrial
site on Cottonwood Bend
Road, Hermiston, where an
Amazon facility is under
construction.
Authorities have not
identified the victim.
Corvin also said Oregon
OSHA has 180 days to
complete an investigation
but typically finishes them
in three to four months.
Preliminary information
from Oregon OSHA shows
there have been 17 work-
place deaths in Oregon this
year, with three in Eastern
Oregon: one from natural
causes on Jan. 26 at a
Milton-Freewater
appli-
ance store; one in a crash
Feb. 9 in La Grande; and
the death on March 6.