SPORTS: hermiston’s madi Wilson to run track at eWu | PAGE B1
E O
AST
143rd year, No. 46
REGONIAN
Thursday, december 20, 2018
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
State spent
$1.6 billion
extra over
two years
WESTON
Inconsistent
buying practices,
lack of oversight
found in audit
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — State offi-
cials could have saved
up to $1.6 billion over a
two-year period by being
smarter shoppers, accord-
ing to a state audit released
Wednesday.
but, auditors said, old
technology and outdated
practices largely prevent
the state from digging into
whether it is spending each
dollar of taxpayer money
wisely.
auditors looked at all
information technology pur-
chases in 2016 and 2017
by 10 state agencies whose
buying is subject to over-
sight from the Oregon
department of administra-
tive services.
They found the state
bought 1,300 24-inch dell
monitors for prices ranging
from $176.40 to $241.15
and could have saved over
$16,500 by always paying
the lowest price.
In another example, the
state paid 131 different
prices for the same surge
protector, ranging from
$65.90 to $173.98.
While focusing on tech-
nology, the auditors used
their findings and other
research to conclude that
Oregon could have trimmed
up to 20 percent of $8 bil-
lion in state government
purchases in the 2015-17
budget.
The administrative ser-
vices department has “price
agreements” with ven-
dors to set prices for goods
bought by the state. The
state encourages agencies to
negotiate for lower prices.
but auditors found that
state buyers use multiple
systems to track spending
and don’t follow consistent
buying practices.
some state agencies
monitor spending in mic-
rosoft excel spreadsheets.
Only two state agencies reg-
ularly analyze individual
purchases, auditors found.
“Without the ability to
analyze detailed purchase
data for all procurements,
Oregon is unable to identify
opportunities for potentially
millions of dollars in cost
savings,” auditors wrote.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Weston Middle School teacher Katie Groshong grins after getting a pie in the face on Wednesday as part of a successful canned food drive.
A just dessert
charitable food
drives pies into faces
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
T
eachers at Weston middle
school dared their unique
cohort of students to col-
lect 300 items of food for the
small town’s food bank.
The dare cost them each a pie
in the face Wednesday when the
students came back with 1,537
items.
The cans and packages were
given to bill dobos, the Weston
Food Pantry manager and pastor
at Weston community church,
at a surprise ceremony at Weston
middle school.
The drive was the brainchild
of the middle school’s fourth and
fifth grade teachers. Although
the fourth and fifth grade classes
are in a traditional elementary
school format, its approximately
100 students are housed at the
athena-Weston school dis-
trict’s middle school facility.
searching for a unique iden-
tity, the grades’ four teachers
created The hub, a term they use
to refer to the four classes that
includes its own motto and logo.
as a part of the initiative, the
teachers looked for a service
project the kids could all take
part in, developing a food drive
that would benefit the Weston
Food Pantry.
a few days before the drive
was supposed to begin, Olson
explained to her class that it
would run from dec. 3 to dec.
19 and the goal was the 300 food
items.
Olson said the drive began
modestly — a single can of
diced tomatoes — before the
flood gates opened.
by the second day, The hub
had collected more than 300
items.
“There was never a cooling
off period,” Olson said. “We
had a bombardment of food
everyday.”
The teachers revised their
goal to 1,500 food items and
introduced a new incentive.
In addition to the popsicles
and gingerbread houses that
were already promised, the stu-
dents would be able to smash a
pie in all of their teachers’ faces
instead of the single teacher that
was set to act as a sacrificial
lamb.
See Food, Page A8
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Bill Dobos, manager of the Weston Food Pantry, hugs a Weston Middle
School student after being surprised on Wednesday with the donation
of more than 1,500 food items.
See Audit, Page A8
budweiser maker teams up with
Tilray to explore pot drinks
NeW yOrK (aP) — The
maker of budweiser is partnering
with medical cannabis company
Tilray in a $100 million deal to
research cannabis-infused drinks
for the canadian market.
The
alliance
announced
Wednesday is the latest foray by a
major beer company into the can-
nabis business in canada, which
legalized recreational marijuana in
October.
anheuser-busch Inbev and Til-
ray Inc. said each would invest
$50 million in the project to study
non-alcoholic drinks contain-
ing cannabidiol, or cbd, which
some claim has calming and heal-
ing affects, and Thc, the cannabis
compound known for its psychoac-
tive effects.
Historical preservation the
final barrier to depot transfer
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File
In this March 5, 2015, file photo,
Budweiser beer cans are on ice at
a concession stand at McKechnie
Field in Bradenton, Fla.
belgium-based ab Inbev,
the owner of more than 500 beer
brands including budweiser and
stella artois, said it will participate
See Drinks, Page A8
as the columbia development
authority continues to discuss how
best to preserve historical and cul-
tural resources at the former uma-
tilla chemical depot, they got a lit-
tle bit more to work with this week.
during a cda board meet-
ing held via conference call on
Wednesday, executive direc-
tor Greg smith told board mem-
bers he was in redmond, on his
way to pick up a trove of original
construction plans and communi-
cations from when the depot was
built in the mid-1940s.
“It fell right out of the sky and
into our lap,” he said.
smith said state sen. betsy
Johnson (d-scappoose) had called
him and told him she had found
something that would be of interest
to umatilla and morrow counties.
Johnson’s father, sam John-
son, owned saw mills and other
lumber holdings in the bend and
redmond area, and his business
had been contracted to provide the
lumber for the construction of the
depot’s buildings. she offered up
the construction plans and corre-
sponding documents to the cda to
preserve as part of the depot’s his-
torical record.
Preservation of historical and
cultural resources on the former
depot land — including origi-
nal ruts made by the Oregon Trail
See CDA, Page A8