EVENT CONNECTS
HOMELESS TO
SERVICES
FINAL MATCH
FOR PENDLETON
VOLLEYBALL TRIO
REGION/3A
SPORTS/1B
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2018
143rd Year, No. 5
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PENDLETON
CTUIR offers $2 million
for Hamley properties
Wildhorse would
manage establishments
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
The Confederated Tribes of
the Umatilla Indian Reservation
have offered $2 million to buy the
Hamley operations in downtown
Pendleton.
Chuck Sams, communica-
tion director for the tribes, said
Candidates
take liberty
with truth
in late ad
pushes
the Board of Trustees sent the let-
ter of interest on Aug. 27. He said
the deal would include all Ham-
ley assets, from the western store
to the saddle shop to the restaurant.
“We wanted to show the bank-
ruptcy court there are viable buy-
ers here,” Sams said.
Hamley owners Blair Wood-
field and Parley Pearce are in a
legal fight over the limited-liabil-
ity companies under the Hamley’s
umbrella. Woodfield wants to sell
the properties and is suing Pearce,
who seeks to retain them. HIPO, an
Idaho limited-liability company,
owns about $1.4 million of Ham-
ley debt and planned to auction
memberships that control the busi-
ness entities to recoup the expense.
Woodfield in early June filed for
bankruptcy protection, a move that
blocked the sale and stalled any
movement in the lawsuit.
Sams emphasized the legal dis-
pute between Pearce and Wood-
See HAMLEY/8A
EO file photo
The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation have
offered $2 million to buy all of the Hamley properties.
Rural Fossil gets
statewide call center
Gubernatorial
candidates release
multiple TV, social
media ads in final
days of campaign
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
The two prime candi-
dates for Oregon governor
are releasing multiple tele-
vision and social media ads
in the final days of the cam-
paign. Some make mislead-
ing and sometimes inaccu-
rate claims.
Gov. Kate Brown, the
Democratic incumbent, and
state Rep. Knute Buehler,
her Republican challenger,
are funneling millions into
advertising in the most
expensive governor’s race in
state history.
“What we are seeing now
is the candidates trying to
define who their opponent
is,” said Jim Moore, direc-
tor of the Tom McCall Cen-
ter for Policy Innovation at
Pacific University. “It is not
so much lying, but the con-
text is completely wrong.”
Brown, for instance,
released an ad Oct. 16
that ties Buehler to Don-
ald Trump, flashing images
of the president and U.S.
Supreme Court appointee
Brett Kavanaugh.
See ADS/8A
Staff photo by E,J. Harris
The Oregon Department of Revenue has recently opened at call center in the J.E. Burch Building in Fossil.
Six people will handle calls
out of Wheeler County office
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
T
he next time a local resident has a ques-
tion on their state income taxes, it could
be directed to Fossil.
The Oregon Department of Revenue will
be holding a grand opening ceremony for its
first standalone call center in the town of less
than 500 people on Tuesday.
Wheeler County Economic Development
Director Greg Smith said it was a “game
changer” for Fossil and akin to Nike mak-
ing a major expansion at its headquarters in
Beaverton.
Joy Krawczyk, the department’s spokes-
woman, said state legislators began discuss-
ing the Fossil call center as a way to invest
more resources into Oregon’s rural commu-
nities in 2017.
Smith said that he and then-Rep. John
Huffman, who represented Fossil in the Ore-
gon House of Representatives, began talking
about decentralizing state jobs with Wheeler
County Judge Lynn Morley and former Rep.
Cliff Bentz, who represented neighboring
District 60 in the House.
“Why can’t we divest some of these jobs
from Salem and move them to frontier coun-
ties like Wheeler County?” Smith said.
Staff photo by E,J. Harris
A pair of deer rest under the shade of a tree in the backyard of a residence on Wash-
ington Street on Monday in Fossil.
Smith is no stranger to the Legislature
either, having represented western Umatilla
County, eastern Wasco County and Morrow,
Gilliam, and Sherman counties in the Ore-
gon House.
The group of legislators and government
officials presented the idea to Gov. Kate
Brown, Smith said, and she liked it enough
to sign off on the proposal.
The call center now employs six cus-
tomer service representatives and a supervi-
sor located at the Jeanne E. Burch Building
in Fossil.
Krawczyk said the call center has been up
See FOSSIL/8A