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OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
Fair: Couple known for volunteering
Continued from Page A1
“As a couple, they are
more than deserving,”
Miller said. “Dan and Terri
are valued members of our
team.”
Tears were plentiful as
the 2018 fair court — Laik-
lyn Fields, Rebekah Miller,
Bobbie Sharp and Olivia
Warner — said their final
farewells. A video with can-
did and posed shots pro-
vided a glimpse of their role
as ambassadors for the fair
and county.
“The girls do a lot of trav-
eling and have a lot of fun,”
said Alice Newman, fair
court chaperone. “It’s also a
lot of hard work.”
Newman invited the 2019
court to the stage and each of
the young ladies introduced
themselves and their fami-
lies. They are: Nive Hamil-
ton, 15, and Kyleigh Sepul-
veda, 16, both of Hermiston,
and Madison Pryor, 15, of
Pendleton.
Others recognized during
the event included Terrie
Dennis, who was selected as
female volunteer of the year
for her ongoing work in the
sheep barn.
David Fesler received
male volunteer of the year
for everything from his sup-
port of the fair court to help-
ing on the grounds.
The business partner of
the year went to Velasco
Used Car Sales. Fair board
chairman Lucas Wagner
said for the past handful of
years, Miguel Velaso’s fam-
ily-owned business has been
instrumental in supporting
Latino Night.
Steve Wallace of Western
Ag Improvement received
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Staff photo by Tammy Malgesini
Kyleigh Sepulveda, 16, and Nive Hamilton, 15, both of Herm-
iston, and Madison Pryor, 15, of Pendleton, were introduced
as the 2019 Umatilla County Fair court Saturday at Eastern
Oregon Trade & Event Center in Hermiston.
special recognition for
countless hours provided
to abate dust at the EOTEC
site, as well as other volun-
teer activities.
In addition, Wallace was
introduced as one of the new
fair board members along
with Doug Bennett. The
two are replacing outgoing
board members Gay New-
man and Don Miller.
Wagner could barely
contain his excitement
about this year’s main stage
entertainers.
Since several have yet
to sign contracts, he could
only reveal two of the acts
— Tuesday, Aug. 6 brings
Tracy Byrd to the stage.
While his self-titled debut
album reached “gold” sta-
tus, people likely will rec-
ognize his chart-topping hit,
“Watermelon Crawl,” which
appeared on “No Ordinary
Man.”
And, Wednesday, Aug. 7
features Jackson Michelson,
an up-and-coming country
musician from Corvallis. He
has opened shows for Lee
Brice, Blake Shelton and
Zac Brown Band.
General admission to the
concerts is free with fair
tickets. The sale of reserved
and premium seats will be
announced.
The Umatilla County Fair
is at EOTEC, 1705 E. Air-
port Road, Hermiston. For
more information, contact
541-567-6121, fair@umatil-
lacounty.net or visit www.
umatillacountyfair.net.
———
Contact Community Edi-
tor Tammy Malgesini at
tmalgesini@eastoregonian.
com or 541-564-4539
Starnes: Pushing to limit donations
Continued from Page A1
gave $2 million to Buehler’s
campaign.
Those
contributions
helped make 2018 the most
expensive governor’s race in
Oregon’s history.
While Starnes is pressing
for a $1,000 limit, the gov-
ernor prefers matching the
federal limits of $2,600 per
individual and $5,000 per
political action committee.
Starnes admitted his
number probably won’t
appeal to most lawmakers.
“I don’t think it’s viable,
but one still has to haggle,”
Starnes said.
When Brown testified at
the first meeting of the new
Senate Committee on Cam-
paign Finance Wednesday,
Starnes watched from the
audience with his signature
smile.
She spoke to kick off the
committee’s work on cam-
paign finance legislation.
When the governor
entered the meeting, Starnes
intercepted her to shake her
hand and did the same thing
when she left the meeting.
She declared her support
for a constitutional amend-
ment and requiring “dark
money” groups to disclose
the names of their donors.
Such groups include polit-
ical nonprofits that can
legally receive unlimited
contributions from corpo-
rations, unions and individ-
uals and spend it without
identifying donors.
“Political interests should
be able to speak out publicly
but not to be able to dis-
guise their voices and finan-
cial interests in the outcome
they seek to influence,”
Brown said.
In late 2018, Starnes’s
mission to reform cam-
paign finance found a nexus
with Jeff Golden. Golden, a
freshman senator from Ash-
land, chairs the campaign
finance committee.
During his campaign, he
vowed not to accept con-
tributions from political
action committees to show
he wouldn’t be influenced
by special interests, accord-
ing to the Medford Mail
Tribune.
Golden said he asked
Senate President Peter
Courtney to establish the
committee, an effort that
went hand-in-hand with the
governor’s agenda.
“That’s why he says the
stars aligned,” Starnes said
of Golden. “It’s just like this
crazy huge moneyed cam-
paign, me running in it, him
running in it. It seems like
the public is ready, even
across party lines.”
Starnes said he has asked
House Speaker Tina Kotek
to convene a campaign
finance committee in the
House but has not received
an answer yet. Starnes said:
“The good news is they
didn’t say hell no.”
———
Paris Achen: pachen@
portlandtribune.com or
503-506-0067. Achen is a
reporter for the Portland
Tribune working for the
Oregon Capital Bureau, a
collaboration of EO Media
Group, Pamplin Media
Group and Salem Reporter.
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A McDonalds employee takes orders from drive-through customers on a busy Satur-
day made even more hectic by the Best of the West AAU basketball tournament, which
brought about 4,000 people and 119 teams to town.
Hoops: Weekend event draws players,
parents ... and paying customers
Continued from Page A1
hard to find a table.”
While some teams were
left scrambling to find a
restaurant to accommodate
a large group for a Satur-
day night team dinner, oth-
ers planned ahead. Shortly
after lunch, the South-
east Boise team placed
an order for more than a
dozen pizzas from Ye Olde
Pizza Shoppe, said Nicole
Roldan.
“The pizza place was
really busy but because we
called so early, we didn’t
have to wait,” she said.
Members of the Idaho
Elite teams were scattered
at several different hotels,
said Blaine and Dusty
Moriarty. The Boise cou-
ple and their two sons,
Parker, 11, and Cooper,
8, booked a room about
a month ago at Oxford
Suites.
While Cooper gave it a
“thumbs up” for the swim-
ming pool, Dusty was
impressed with the hotel
scheduling extra help to
assist with the compli-
mentary breakfast.
“The tournament peo-
ple do a good job of letting
the town know,” Blaine
said. “The town appeared
ready for all the teams.”
Kelly Schwirse, who’s
in charge of marketing and
communications with the
Hermiston Chamber of
Commerce, forwarded an
email to its membership
that the weekend tourna-
ment was the biggest yet.
The Hermiston Youth Bas-
ketball Club hosts four,
with the final one — For
the Love of the Game —
scheduled for Feb. 9-10.
The Moriartys said the
weekend would likely cost
their family about $500-
$600 — including lodg-
ing, meals, gas and snacks.
Roldan, whose daugh-
ter plays on the Southeast
Boise team, estimated her
weekend costs at around
$500.
In October, Robin
Evans, the Southeast Boise
coach, reserved rooms for
the team at the Holiday Inn
Express. Selling points,
she said, included a com-
plimentary breakfast and
swimming pool.
“Also, it’s centrally
located with the games
and restaurants,” she said.
Roldan said they heard
about the Hermiston tour-
nament from other Boi-
se-area teams. In addi-
tion to a shorter driving
distance than going to
Portland, she said the
gymnasiums were more
conveniently located.
“The schools and their
facilities are amazing,”
Blaine Moriarty added.
Also, Usher said lit-
tle things like having food
vendors outside a couple
of the schools and onsite
custom printing of tour-
nament gear are added
touches that people like.
Anna Francis of AJ’s
Printed Apparel had sta-
tions set up at the high
school and Armand Larive
Middle School. In addition
to T-shirts, sweatshirts
and dri-fit long-sleeved
shirts with tournament
logos, people could have
their names and uniform
numbers added.
Francis, who launched
her business in 1996, gives
a percentage of her sales to
the Hermiston Youth Bas-
ketball Club.
Also, Usher said she
prints up special shirts
for the winning team and
the second place team.
The tournament logo gear,
Usher said, is a great way
to promote and market the
event.
“The tournament is a
great opportunity for our
community,” Francis said.
“It’s great to see that many
people in town. It’s a lot of
work but it’s worth it.”
———
Contact Community
Editor Tammy Malgesini
at tmalgesini@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4539
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