HERMISTON
RACEWAY
REVS UP
Q&A WITH GOP
GOVERNOR
CANDIDATES
SPORTS/1B
NORTHWEST/2A
TUESDAY, MAY 8, 2018
142nd Year, No. 143
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Bounds bound
for hearing on
Ninth Circuit
ley as well as U.S. Rep.
Greg Walden.
Wyden and Merkley,
both Democrats, released a
joint statement on Monday
excoriating the Senate Judi-
ciary Committee, which is
By ANTONIO SIERRA
controlled by Republicans,
East Oregonian
for holding the hearing in
the wake of their objec-
Ryan Bounds will go tions becaus “inflamma-
before the Senate Judiciary tory writings revealing his
archaic and alarm-
Committee
on
ing views about
Wednesday, bring-
ing him one step
sexual assault, the
rights of workers,
closer to the bench
people of color,
of the Ninth U.S.
and the LGBTQ
Circuit Court of
community.”
Appeals despite
“It’s a shame
the
objections
the U.S. Senate
of Oregon’s two
Judiciary Com-
senators.
mittee is further
A
Hermis- Bounds
ton native and
diminishing any
an assistant U.S. Attorney sense of respect for comity
for the District of Oregon, and fairness in the Senate,”
Bounds was twice nomi- the senators wrote. “For six
nated by President Donald years while Democrats con-
Trump for the court, and was trolled the Senate and Pres-
recommended for a hearing ident Obama was in office,
along with three other can- no judicial nominee moved
didates by a bipartisan com- forward over the objec-
mittee appointed by Sens.
See BOUNDS/8A
Ron Wyden and Jeff Merk-
After eight months,
attorney will face
Senate committee
questions
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Patrons eat their meals on the sidewalk in front of OMG! Burgers & Brew restaurant Monday on Main
Street in Pendleton.
Pendleton al fresco
Outdoor dining pushes
at downtown seams
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
P
endleton’s uptick in downtown
has brought an equal increase
in outdoor seating. Some estab-
lishments on Main Street have a han-
kering for more room than the side-
walks allow.
Kim and Rodney Burt own and
operate OMG! Burgers & Brew, 241
S. Main St., which manages a few
tables and chairs on Pendleton’s faux
wood sidewalks. With the weather
turning better, they said, those seats
fill up first.
“I love to sit outside,” Kim Burt
said. “On the nice days, you get to
visit with the people. ... There’s all
kinds of benefits to it.”
To gain more outdoor space, she
said, they are fixing up the restau-
rant’s back patio with shrubs and
an awning. The Burts also said they
would be interested in a parklet in
front of their storefront.
The Pendleton Development
Commission in 2015 tried to revive
the idea of parklets, publicly acces-
sible decks that replace on-street
parking spots with space for seating
and planters. Charles Denight, asso-
ciate director of the commission,
said parklets have proved popular in
other small cities such as Astoria, La
BOARDMAN
Lender pushes for
auction to proceed
despite bankruptcy
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The results of a 2017 survey conducted by the Pendleton Downtown
Association and the Pendleton Development Commission was that
there was plenty of parking in the downtown area.
Grande and The Dalles.
During public meetings, Denight
recalled, some people were against
the idea because they would reduce
downtown parking, and the idea
faded away.
Addison Schulberg would like to
see more Main Street parklets. He
helps operate the Great Pacific Wine
And Coffee Co., 403 S. Main St., the
restaurant his parents, Ken Schul-
berg and Carol Hanks, established
a few decades ago. Curbside dining
at the restaurant is common during
good weather.
“A lot of folks specifically ask
to eat outside,” Addison Schulberg
said. “I don’t blame them — I want
to be outside.”
The narrowness of the side-
walks, however, limit the GP’s out-
door seating, he said, but a parklet or
wider sidewalk would provide more
room. Parklets also come with the
benefit of allowing establishments to
bring their style to the outdoors, he
See AL FRESCO/8A
“A lot of folks specifically ask to eat outside. I don’t blame them ...”
— Addison Schulberg, Great Pacicifc Wine and Coffee Co.
Lost Valley Farm
put liquidation in
limbo with filing
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
EO Media Group
A major farm lender is
arguing bankruptcy pro-
tections shouldn’t stop the
liquidation sale of cattle
owned by a Boardman dairy
that’s become financially
unsustainable.
Since starting opera-
tions a year ago, Lost Valley
Farm has encountered seri-
ous financial and regulatory
problems that now threaten
its survival.
The company’s owner,
Greg te Velde, recently filed
for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection to halt the fore-
closure of property at his
three dairies in Oregon and
California while he restruc-
tures debt.
By filing a bankruptcy
petition on April 26, te Velde
was able to cancel an auc-
tion of Lost Valley Farm’s
14,500 cattle scheduled for
the next day.
Rabobank, one of his
main creditors, had previ-
ously convinced an Ore-
gon judge to order the auc-
tion because te Velde had
defaulted on $67 million
worth of loans for which the
cattle served as collateral.
Because te Velde isn’t
able to meet financial obli-
gations to feed and water
See DAIRY/8A
Coba focusing on state technology,
workforce development in first year
Pendleton native
moved from ag
to executive office
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Katy Coba
was the very public face of
the department when she
was director of the Oregon
Department of Agriculture.
But as the state’s chief oper-
ating officer Coba works
behind the scenes of state
government
The Pendleton native
says it’s a bit of a change
from her prior post leading
the ODA — the “customer”
has changed from farmers,
ranchers and consumers of
agricultural products to the
enterprise of state govern-
ment itself.
“But the principles and
the way that I operate are
very much the same,” Coba
said in an interview with the
EO/Pamplin Capital Bureau.
Since becoming COO
and director of the Depart-
ment of Administrative
Services in October 2016,
she’s been working to foster
state agency leadership and
upgrade state information
technology.
Coba’s role involves
helping state agencies imple-
ment the policies of the gov-
ernor, to communicate with
each other, and finding ways
to streamline state services.
Then Gov. John Kitzhaber
created the position of COO
in early 2011, part of his
effort to make state govern-
ment more efficient. It can
partly be described as that
of a “manager’s manager”
See COBA/8A
Claire Withycombe/Capital Bureau
Once the public face of the Oregon Department of Agricul-
ture, Katy Coba has worked behind the scenes since being
named Oregon’s chief operating officer in October 2016.