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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 7, 2018)
The sun sets over Eastern Oregon on Monday from the foothills of the Blue Mountains east of Pendleton. Staff photo by E.J. Harris THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 2018 142nd Year, No. 165 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD PENDLETON Officials hope drones can lift airport out of debt $25 million investment planned at new UAS industrial park By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian On the heels of a long- term, plan-altering work ses- sion, top Pendleton city offi- cials discussed their vision for the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport industrial area. And their view is that millions of dollars in new investment are needed at the indebted air- port and its planned industrial park. At a May 29 work session, staff reported to the Pend- leton City Council that the city was in the running for a $3 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to help estab- lish new development at the Pendleton Unmanned Aerial Systems Range. While the city would match the grant with $3 mil- lion of its own, staff estimated it would take a total of $25.4 million to extend utilities to the UAS park, as well as build a reservoir and booster station to increase water flow to the site. Although the Airport Road extension is less than a decade old and was paid for with a temporary 4-cent gas tax, staff told the council that the city should prioritize the UAS industrial park instead of the property off Airport Road, which would still need additional investment before it would be shovel ready. The council took the first step in prioritizing the UAS park by approving a $356,359 booster station and a reser- voir design at a meeting on Tuesday. At a meeting with the East Oregonian editorial board Wednesday, Steve Chrisman, economic development direc- tor and airport manager, made the case that the UAS range is doing enough business that it requires the millions in new investment. The federal grant would help build new hangars at the airport, and Chrisman said See DRONES/3A Excavation is underway at the west end of the tarmac in this May 1 file image of the Eastern Oregon Region- al Airport in Pendleton. EO file photo Brothers die after raft hits river rock Father tried to save sons on Wallowa County trip SHANE DIXON CAVANAUGH The Oregonian/OregonLive Cash Troyer dreamed of getting his pilot’s license one day. His younger brother Grady longed to score goals on the soccer field. The two young siblings, 9 and 7, died during a weekend rafting trip with their father on the Grande Ronde River in Wallowa County, police and family said. Clinton Troyer fought frigid waters and a swift current in an attempt to res- cue his boys after they were launched from the vessel, authorities said. The tragedy occurred near the end of one of the many outdoor adventures the three shared together through the wilds of northeastern Oregon. “Dad loved those little boys with every ounce of his being,” their older sister Remington Frazier, 22, told The Oregonian/OregonLive in an inter- view Tuesday. Cash was a third-grader at Pay- ette Primary School in Payette, Idaho, where he lived with his and Reming- ton’s mother Toiresa Frazier, the sis- ter said. Grady lived with their father and his mom, Brooke Neal-Troyer. He attended Imbler Elementary School outside La Grande, where his last day of first grade was Friday, according to Frazier. See BROTHERS/6A “TRUMP” and “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” are engraved on a gun grip at the Crosshair Customs booth on March 10 at the Pendleton Gun Show at the Pendleton Convention Center. A group will try to collect enough signatures to get a Second Amendment Preservation Ordinance on the ballot in Umatilla County, which would direct county govern- ment to not spend county resources enforcing any gun ownership laws the county sheriff deems unconstitutional. EO file photo Second Amendment advocates launch local initiative petition Umatilla County group models petition after ones passed in other counties By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian The Second Amendment Preserva- tion Ordinance movement has come to Umatilla County. Gun rights advocates are collecting signatures to get an initiative on the November ballot that would restrict Umatilla County from using any resources to enforce state or federal laws that will “infringe on the right of the people to keep and bear arms.” The initiative designates the county sheriff as the authority to decide which state or federal laws meet the definition of Inside Oregon high court to consider gun control measure PAGE 2A unconstitutionally infringing on those rights. Umatilla County’s chief petition- ers are Jesse Bonifer of Athena and Kevin Pettey of Hermiston, but Boni- fer said similar efforts to pass an ordi- nance with matching language are taking place in counties around the state. Four — Wallowa, Coos, Curry and Wheeler counties — already have passed a Second Amendment Preser- vation Ordinance through their county board of commissioners or, in Coos County’s case, via ballot initiative. “This is a firewall for anyone com- See PETITION/6A
