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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018
142nd Year, No. 119
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PENDLETON
APRIL 4, 1968
‘This was like a war’
Witnesses remember day Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed
King’s work led the way
for future generations
By ADRIAN SAINZ
and KRISTIN M. HALL
Associated Press
lara Ester’s eyes were fixed on the Rev. Martin Luther
By JADE MCDOWELL
King Jr. as he stood on the concrete balcony
East Oregonian
of the Lorraine Motel.
King was in Memphis to support a sanitation
For John Carbage of Hermiston, remembering
workers’ strike, and Ester, a college student, had
the untimely death of Martin Luther King Jr. is
been marching alongside the strikers as they
personal.
sought better pay and working conditions. She and
Carbage, president of the Hermiston Cultural
some friends had gone to the motel for a catfish
Awareness Club, didn’t have a chance to get to
dinner when she saw King chatting happily, not
know the civil rights icon personally. But as a
far from where she stood.
black man who grew up in Arkansas, he credits
Then Ester heard the shot. It was 6:01 p.m. on
King with changing the America he grew up in
April 4, 1968.
for the better.
“I’m still looking at him,” Ester recalled. “He
“I wouldn’t be in the place I am today,” he
looked like he was lifted up and thrown back on
AP Photo/
the pavement. Next thing I remember, I was stepping over Charles Kelly said. “He opened the door for us to have better-paying
Dr.
jobs, better housing, better education.”
his body, and I’m noticing that he’s struggling for air.”
Martin
While many think of the civil rights movement in terms
King’s death changed the world and altered the lives of
Luther
of
desegregation
of schools and buses, King also fought
those who lived through it. Some would spend the rest of
King Jr.
against economic inequality and worked to combat housing
their lives fighting for racial equality and economic justice.
discrimination and poverty. When he was assassinated on
Others, including Ester, would struggle to come to terms
April 4, 1968, he was in Memphis to support a strike by sani-
with what they saw.
tation workers for higher wages and better working conditions.
C
See KING/8A
See WORK/8A
Demonstrators, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., stream over an Alabama River bridge at the city limits of
Selma, Ala., during a voter rights march on March 10, 1965. King’s participation in the 54-mile march from Selma, Ala.,
to the state capital of Montgomery elevated awareness about the troubles blacks faced in registering to vote.
AP Photo/File
Burnswell
withdraws
pot grow
application
Rezone denied for
another marijuana
operation
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The local battle over cannabis
didn’t end when Oregon voters
legalized it in 2014 or when Pend-
leton voters approved selling it in
2016.
Instead, the battle has shifted to
the Pendleton City Council and the
Pendleton Planning Commission
meetings, where marijuana busi-
nesses and residents spar over land
use laws and how they apply to the
town’s growing crop of cannabis
dispensaries and farms.
The latest conflict was set to take
place at a Tuesday meeting, where
the council would decide whether
to approve a conditional use permit
for Burnswell Family Farms, a
proposed Highway 11 marijuana
grow that would take the place of
the old Riverside Nursery.
The Burnswell application has
been bouncing between the plan-
ning commission and the council
since August and has been subject
to appeals from both the applicant
and its opposition.
Although he said he was
confident he could win approval,
Burnswell co-owner Brandon
Krenzler withdrew the application
Monday.
Also a co-owner of the Kind
Leaf Pendleton marijuana dispen-
sary, Krenzler said his company’s
business model was changing and
the owners didn’t want to be tied
to a land use that didn’t encompass
their new ideas.
Krenzler said he still intends
to use the land for something, but
declined to share the owners’ plans
beyond an assurance that it would
be a “better, more efficient” use for
the property.
He said he wasn’t frustrated that
a resident appealed the planning
commission’s Dec. 28 decision to
approve the Burnswell application,
adding that it was commonplace
for people to object to marijuana
developments and he has grown
used to it.
The Pendleton resident who
appealed the planning commission
decision was Bonnie Bischke,
although she isn’t one of the homes
or businesses located near the
property.
See POT GROW/7A
April means spring cleaning for Hermiston
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
It’s spring cleaning month in
Hermiston.
“Clean-sweep” events over the
course of the next three weeks offer
opportunities to get rid of junk, weeds
and litter community-wide before
code enforcement takes notice.
“We have three components,
none of which are new, but they’re
enhanced,” parks and recreation
director Larry Fetter said.
The first is Sanitary Disposal’s
clean-up week, which runs April
1-7. Umatilla County residents can
dump loads up to 454.5 pounds and
2.5 cubic yards for free, excluding
tires. Cash customers can receive
$14 off larger loads. The loads can
be dropped off from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to
5 p.m. on Saturday.
The transfer station is located two
miles north of Hermiston at 81144 N.
Highway 395. For more information,
call Sanitary Disposal at 541-567-
8842.
For recyclable items, all Umatilla
County residents can take advantage
of the city’s free recycling event
Saturday, April 14 in the Umatilla
Electric Cooperative parking lot at
750 W. Elm Avenue.
“We’re taking all the standard
recyclable items we’ve taken in the
past, the bulk of which are tires,”
Fetter said.
This year, however, tires do not
See HERMISTON/7A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Garbage lays underneath a tree in an open lot off Southeast
Fourth and East Tamarack on Tuesday in Hermiston. It’s part of the
area targeted for cleanup this month.