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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 2018)
CATTLE TRUCK CRASH KILLS DRIVER BUCKS FALL IN MUST-WIN HOME MATCH REGION/3A SPORTS/1B WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2018 143nd Year, No. 1 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD PENDLETON Round-Up land deal makes way for BMCC project Council approves giving land to rodeo association By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian Staff photos by E.J. Harris Inmates are processed in the intake area on the Umatilla County Jail on Tuesday in Pendleton. Umatilla County sheriff explores jail detox possibilities By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian S taff at the Umatilla County Jail deal with addicts every day. Sheriff Terry Rowan said he wants to find a way to change that. “Essentially what we’re trying to do is to make the people that come out of the jail in better shape than when they came in,” Rowan said. The sheriff participated in Friday’s discussion in Pendleton with Rep. Greg Walden on fighting the opioid epidemic. Rowan said the treatment providers there led him to consider if the county jail could do some intervention. He said his inter- est piqued after reading an email from the National Sheriff’s Association on jails using “medication-assisted treatment,” or MAT — pharmacotherapy to treat inmates for recovery from substance abuse. Only a handful of jails are trying this, he said, and the nearest is the Snohom- ish County Jail in Everett, Washington, which started a medically assisted detox- ification program for inmates in January. Rowan said he met Monday with Dr. Dan Marier to look into the matter further. Marier recently retired from his Pendle- ton practice but now works in detoxifi- cation with Dr. Joel Rice of La Grande. Both doctors participated in the meeting with Walden, where Rice said jail can help people get clean, but staying clean requires diligent follow-through from Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Mynde Lee monitors the inmate pop- ulation from the control room Tuesday at Umatilla County Jail in Pendleton. service providers. Jail commander Capt. Stewart Harp said the jail operates a small medical detoxification process now for inmates coming in high or drunk, and that can cre- ate a bottleneck at intake. “You can’t put someone who is high on meth in the same room with someone who is clean and about to get out,” Harp said. “Can you see how counter-produc- tive that is?” And the opioid epidemic requires staff to adhere to strict procedures to stay safe from dangerous street drugs, particularly fentanyl. “Just getting exposure to the skin can kill you,” he said. Beyond gloves, deputies at times don goggles during strip searches. Cor- rections staff also no longer pass along See JAIL/8A The city of Pendleton is divesting itself from the Southwest Byers Avenue real estate market. The Pendleton City Council unan- imously agreed Tuesday to give the Round-Up Association 11 properties the city owns west of the rodeo grounds. The move paves the way for the Round-Up to lease the land to Blue Mountain Com- munity College for its Blue Mountain Regional Training Center project, which includes an indoor arena and classroom space for its agriculture program. “We acquired these properties on the expectation that the (Round-Up) campus would expand in the future,” City Man- ager Robb Corbett said. “This day has come.” Although no money will change hands in the deal, Pendleton isn’t leaving empty-handed. The deal is contingent on Happy Can- yon giving the city 60,337 square feet of land it owns west of the Pendleton Con- vention Center for future development. After the meeting, Corbett said the city is still engaged in negotiations with Happy Canyon about acquiring the property. BMCC also needs to fully fund the training center to activate the agreement. The state has already promised $5 mil- lion toward the project’s estimated $12.5 million cost, and Pendleton joined the Port of Umatilla and Umatilla County in donating $150,000 each. BMCC hopes to cover the differ- ence by applying for more money from the state and possibly a local fundraising effort. The city’s interest in the parking lot west of the convention center is tied to the belief that the additional space would enable the city to develop a hotel at the convention center. The city has gone as far as commis- sioning a rendering of what a convention center hotel would look like. At an Oct. 9 city council workshop, Mayor John Turner said a hotelier has looked into developing a facility. Councilor Paul Chalmers said the con- vention center has missed out on host- ing events because the potential customer preferred having a hotel on or near the site. See DEAL/8A Race for governor again coming down to Clackamas County By AUBREY WIEBER and PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau Knute Buehler Gov. Kate Brown and Rep. Knute Buehler have traversed the state in search of swing voters to court. They have debated public pension reform, health care, edu- cation and gun rights. They have coined catch phrases to distill their messages. In the final days of the cam- paign, the race is likely to be won or lost in Clackamas County, according to pollsters, campaign officials and political consul- tants. The county, which includes Oregon City, Lake Oswego and Tualatin, has gotten more liberal over the past few years, and local Democrats have ramped up voter outreach this year. While Portland is likely far too blue for Buehler to swing his way, analysts say the greater metro area remains the main battleground. “There’s no doubt Kate See GOVERNOR/8A Governor Kate Brown AP file photos