REGION
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
East Oregonian
Page 3A
STANFIELD
Photo contributed by Colleen Blackwood
Tina Witherell, committee chairperson for the Krazy
Horse Quilters raffle quilt, and Darrin Umbarger, Clear-
view Disability Resource Center, show off the 2018
raffle quilt. The drawing will be held during the May 5-6
Pendleton Quilt Show, with proceeds from raffle ticket
sales going to Clearview.
Staff photo by Jayati Ramakrishnan
A Stanfield motorcyclist died in a collision with a semi on the Highway 395 overpass above I-84 on Tuesday
afternoon.
Motorcyclist killed in semi crash
East Oregonian
STANFIELD — A Stanfield man
died Tuesday afternoon after being
struck by a semi on the Interstate 84
overpass that connects Stanfield and
Echo.
Sgt. Seth Cooney of the Oregon
State Police reported Jason Blanken-
ship, 40, of Stanfield was driving his
motorcycle when he was struck by the
semi.
The semi truck driver is Roberto
Rodriguez Diaz, 41, of Hermiston. He
was uninjured in the crash. Cooney
Clearview to
sew up donation
from quilt show
said the cause of the crash was still
under investigation, and that law
enforcement was still on scene as of
press time. The overpass was closed
while police investigate the wreck.
Cooney said he did not yet know
whether charges would be filed against
Rodriguez.
Historical society strikes ‘Umatilla Gold’
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Mineral mining was more prevalent
elsewhere in the American West, but
a Umatilla County Historical Society
exhibit will make the case that the
county is bountiful with a gold all its
own.
The historical society has been
working on “Umatilla Gold: The
History of Wheat in Umatilla County”
for years, but a recent large grant from a
private foundation meant the nonprofit
could finally publicize the project.
With the help of Formations Inc., the
Portland consultant that constructed the
SAGE Center’s exhibits, the historical
society plans to give locals and visitors
an interactive tour through the history
of a crop that’s nearly synonymous
with Umatilla County.
The exhibit
While the majority of the exhibit
deals with the past two centuries, it also
covers millions of years of the region’s
history.
After an introduction, visitors will
learn the geological history of Eastern
Oregon, from the sediment that was
deposited during and after the ice age
to the volcanic effect that created the
“bones of the region,” according to a
2017 outline of the exhibit.
The museum will also include a
section on the indigenous people of the
Columbia Basin, including the tribes
that would come to form the Confed-
erated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation.
From there, the exhibit will skip
ahead to 1862, a big year for Umatilla
County’s agriculture sector.
At the national level, President
Abraham Lincoln signed the Home-
stead Act, which entitled men older
than 21 to any unclaimed 160-acre
parcel of land. Domestic migrants from
the Oregon Trail and the Willamette
Valley poured into Eastern Oregon, as
did European immigrants from abroad.
More locally, Umatilla County was
created just as a Baker County gold
rush created demand for wheat.
While early settlers used wheat for
subsistence farming, the grain industry
started to flourish in the late 19th
and early 20th century in places like
Pendleton, Adams, Athena, Weston,
Stitching together a team
effort, the Krazy Horse Quil-
ters created a special raffle
quilt that will benefit Clear-
view Disability Resource
Center.
A nonprofit organization
in Pendleton, Clearview is
dedicated to helping seniors
and people with disabilities.
It offers resources to indi-
viduals and their families
regarding disabilities as
well as being an Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA)
resource center for people
who have concerns in regard
to employment, housing and
other areas where indepen-
dence is a priority.
Executive director Darrin
Umbarger is the driving
force behind Clearview,
said Colleen Blackwood
of the quilt group, and is
responsible for expanding
the reach of the organization.
Their goal is to help those
with a disability live a more
complete and successful life.
This
year’s
raffle
committee was chaired by
Tina Witherell of Pendleton,
Blackwood
said.
Each
member of the Krazy Horse
group selected scrap fabrics
and made sections that were
sewn into the blocks of the
quilt, which measures 88
inches by 105 inches. The
pattern, created by Karen
Griska, is called Hexagons
and Witherell designated it
as the “Honeycomb Quilt.”
Wendy Rohde of Pendleton
did the quilting stitches for
the group.
Tickets are currently
available at Thimbles Fabric-
N-More, 1849 Westgate
Place, Pendleton. They cost
$1 each or six for $5. Also,
they will be sold at the Pend-
leton Quilt Show, which is
Saturday, May 5 from 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m. and Sunday, May
6 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at
the Pendleton Convention
Center, 1601 Westgate.
Conceptual art contributed by Umatilla County Historical Society
The “Umatilla Gold: History of Wheat in Umatilla County” has
received a $121,780 grant and will open in 2019 at the Heri-
tage Station Museum in Pendleton.
Pilot Rock, Echo, Buttercreek and the
Umatilla Indian Reservation.
Those years saw farmers embrace
mechanical reapers, tractors and vehi-
cles while they grew and harvested
the wheat before shipping it off on rail
or boat to other markets. During the
Great Depression, farmers formed the
Pendleton Grain Growers co-op to help
keep farms from closing.
The exhibit eventually transitions
to modern wheat farming and its latest
trends like no-till farming and auto-
steering tractors that use GPS for more
precise rows during plowing, seeding,
fertilizing and harvesting.
Like the SAGE Center in Boardman,
“Umatilla Gold” will have interactive
elements to the exhibit.
Molding gold
While the Umatilla County Histor-
ical Society has featured many different
exhibits at the Heritage Station
Museum in Pendleton over the years,
executive director Barbara Lund-Jones
said they’ve never had an exhibit that
focuses exclusively on wheat.
Board president Tom Winn, a retired
wheat farmer, said modern changes
in the industry means that it’s time to
preserve history. Although agriculture
is still an economic driver in the region,
farm consolidation and the advent of
new agricultural technology means
fewer people are farming than they
used to.
East Oregonian
The historical society sketched out
its first exhibit outline in 2015, but the
nonprofit refrained from going public
until recently. It had been steadily
raising money from organizations like
Umatilla County Economic Develop-
ment, the Oregon Heritage Foundation
and the Pacific Power Foundation when
it got big news from the MJ Murdock
Charitable Trust. — the charity was
granting the historical society $121,780
toward fabricating and installing the
exhibit.
“Umatilla Gold” has an estimated
cost of $354,873, and the historical
society has already raised money
needed for planning and programming,
as well as the concept design. The
nonprofit is continuing to raise money
for the final design while the Murdock
trust dollars will go toward the final
construction phase, which has a total
cost of $287,113.
When the exhibit opens in 2019,
Lund-Jones said it will fit into Pend-
leton’s growing tourism industry and
downtown area.
“Umatilla Gold” is expected to be a
steady feature of the Heritage Station
for years to come. As one of the condi-
tions of the Murdock grant, the exhibit
will have to stay open for at least 10
years.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@
eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0836.
Admission is $5, which is
good for both days.
The featured quilter is
Janine Burke of Designs by
JB in Reardan, Washington
A fabric designer and store
owner, Burke has been
a vendor at the show for
several years. She will
teach a class on her pattern
“Neutral Thinking” Friday,
May 4. Also, she will share
her best tips and tricks. The
registration fee is $40.
In its 17th year, the
Pendleton
Quilt
Show
will include a number of
regional quilt supply vendors
offering their wares to those
in attendance. Blackwood
said people should enjoy
viewing the Krazy Horse
Challenge with a theme of
“Hexagons gone Wild.” And,
as always, people throughout
the region are invited to
register their quilts to display
in the non-juried show. For
questions about entering
a quilt, contact Marilyn at
lom1127@q.com
Additional details about
the show are available at
www.krazyhorsequilters.
org or www.facebook.com/
krazyhorsequilters. For ques-
tions, contact Blackwood
at bwood@wtechlink.us or
541-276-4240.
3/21
Cineplex Show Times
$5 Classic Movie • 12:00 PM
Lenny (R)
Tomb Raider (PG13)
6:50 • 3D 4:10 9:30
A Wrinkle in Time (PG)
4:40 7:10 • 3D 9:40
The Hurricane Heist (PG13)
5:00 7:30 10:10
Death Wish (R)
4:50 7:20 9:50
Black Panther (PG13)
4:00 7:00 10:00
* Matinee Pricing
wildhorseresort.com • 541-966-1850
Pendleton, OR I-84 - Exit 216
HERMISTON
Aspen Springs summer opening possible
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Lifeways hopes to open
the doors to its new psychi-
atric facility in Hermiston
this summer.
The Oregon Health
Authority issued a statement
last week that the facility
had received approval,
pending final review. Now,
Lifeways must complete the
certification and licensing
processes.
Tim Hoekstra, CEO of
Lifeways, said the facility
is almost complete, but is
still in the final stages of
construction.
“It’s going to be state-
of-the art,” he said.
Hoekstra said the timing
of the next few steps of the
project are up to the state.
“The certificate of need
final order is the driver in
terms of the timeline for
when we can open up,”
Hoekstra said.
Hoekstra said they also
have to complete the hiring
process for the facility.
Some employees have
already been hired to staff
the round-the-clock oper-
ation and are working for
Lifeways in an outpatient
capacity. He said when the
facility opens it will employ
between 42 and 50 people.
Wyden to hold town halls in Umatilla, Boardman
East Oregonian
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden
will make a six-county tour
of Eastern Oregon in April,
including town halls in
Umatilla and Boardman
According to a press
release, Wyden will be at
Umatilla High School at
9:30 a.m. on April 3. The
following day, Wyden will
visit Riverside Senior/Junior
High School in Boardman at
9:15 a.m.
Since he was elected
senator in 1996, Wyden has
held town halls in all 36
Oregon counties every year.
When he finishes this tour,
he will have appeared at 887
town halls.
“Throwing open the doors
of government for town halls
where anybody can come to
ask any question is a huge
part of what I call the ‘Oregon
Way,’” he said in a statement.
“Participatory democracy is
alive and well in our state, and
I look forward very much to
hearing from Eastern Oregon
at these town halls.”
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