GIRLS HOOPS: bucks lose in double overtime | SPORTS, A8
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143rd year, no. 90
REGONIAN
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
“IF ANYTHING, IT’S OPENED MY EYES TO MORE THINGS I COULD DO.”
Saige Melson, a Hermiston High School senior, who is enjoying her internship at Hermiston Municiple Airport. Melson hopes to become a pilot.
Pendleton
to take out
$2.6 million
loan for new
hangar
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Airport manager Rolf Anderson Leirvik, left, and mechanic Lisa Sturgeon move a Piper PA12 out of the maintenance hangar for
repairs on Tuesday at the Hermiston Municipal Airport.
SMALL HERMISTON
AIRPORT TAKING OFF
Mechanic services and
youth outreach among
offerings under new
management
The Pendleton City Council has
always bet big on the Pendleton
Unmanned Aerial Systems Range, and
they’re willing to take on more debt to
keep it growing.
The council on Tuesday approved tak-
ing out a $2.6 million loan from Business
Oregon to build an 18,000-square-foot
hangar at the airport.
The council got a letter from PAE
ISR President Chico Moline saying that
his drone company would like to expand
their presence in Pendleton by leasing
the new hangar for five years, adding
that their intention was not a “binding
commitment.”
The state proposed the city pay back
the loan over 25 years, using $216,000 in
expected annual rental revenue to make
the payments.
Associate engineer Wayne Green said
the new hangar would be near Northwest
56th Street, adjacent to the hangar rented
by a^3, the airbus subsidiary that is
See Hangar, Page A7
Hermiston
woman gets six
months in prison
Veronica Rivera gets federal
sentence for dealing fentanyl
East Oregonian
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
n the months since Gorge Aviation
Services took over management
of the Hermiston Municipal Air-
port, the airport has expanded its
services.
Flying lessons, on-site mechan-
ics, internships, student field trips and
other perks have been drawing more
people to the airport and could be fos-
tering some future aviation careers.
Previously, Hermiston’s plane own-
ers were taking their machines outside
of Hermiston for repairs and required
annual inspections. Now they can get
those services right at Hermiston’s
airport.
Rolf Anderson Leirvik, airport man-
ager, said not only are local pilots get-
ting their airplanes fixed and inspected
in Hermiston, but there are people fly-
ing in from cities in other parts of Ore-
gon and southern Washington to have
their planes seen by Ron Berg, the full-
time mechanic and Leirvik’s partner in
Gorge Aviation Services.
“Ron Berg has a great reputation
and following, and people bring their
planes to him because they like him so
much,” Leirvik said.
I
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston High School senior Saige Melson files paperwork on the computer in the
front office Tuesday at the Hermiston Municipal Airport.
He said the aviation industry has a
shortage of mechanics, pilots, air traf-
fic controllers, engineers, technicians,
airport planners and other related
careers, so Hermiston is lucky to have
local mechanics.
“There is a tremendous need for
those kinds of workers,” he said.
Gorge Aviation Services is trying to
do its part to entice the younger gen-
eration to look into aviation careers.
The airport just took on its first high
school intern, and is hosting activities
for teens to learn airplane repair skills.
Saige Melson, a senior at Hermiston
High School, started her internship in
January. She said she wants to be a pilot
someday.
So far Melson has gotten a wide
range of experience, from working
with the mechanics to helping out in
the offices. But her favorite so far has
been getting to try out the flight sim-
ulator. she said it was harder than she
See Airport, Page A7
Veronica rivera of Hermiston will
spend six months in federal prison after
she was sentenced on Tuesday for selling
fentanyl.
According to federal court documents,
Rivera, 46, was part of a drug traffick-
ing organization the Drug Enforcement
administration and local blue Moun-
tain enforcement narcotics Team inves-
tigated in October 2017. The organization
was distributing small blue pills pressed
to look like oxycodone 30 milligram tab-
lets, but the pills contained fentanyl, a
schedule II controlled substance.
A DEA agent wrote in court records
that a confidential source met Rivera on
two separate occasions in March of 2018
in Hermiston, and she sold them 167 pills.
Rivera was charged with two counts
of distribution and possession with intent
to distribute fentanyl. She pleaded guilty
to one count, asked for five years proba-
tion and 250 hours of community service
and she agreed to forfeit $5,000. The U.S.
Attorney for the District of Oregon asked
for Rivera to serve 15 months in prison
with three years of supervised release
and a $100 fee.
Rivera has several charges of drug
possession in Umatilla County, including
possession of methamphetamine in 2014.
Wait, I owe the IRS how much this year?
Many americans
shocked by impact
of new tax law
By SARAH SKIDMORE SELL
AP Personal Finance Writer
The first tax filing season under
the new federal tax law is proving
to be surprising, confusing — and
occasionally frightening — for some
Americans, especially those accus-
tomed to getting money back from the
government.
Take andy Kraft and amy elias of
Portland. The couple had grown com-
fortable getting a small refund each
year, a few hundred dollars or more.
Then they found out they owe $10,160
this year.
“I will never forget the moment, I
thought ‘We look good’ and then we
added in the next W-2 and my jaw hit
the floor,” Kraft said. “There was no
way I wanted to believe that what I
was looking at was accurate.”
President Trump promised a
reduction in taxes with the new law.
And by most measures, the majority
of americans will see one. The non-
partisan Tax Policy Center projected
the tax law would reduce individual
income taxes by about $1,260 on aver-
age, although it benefits higher earn-
ers more.
AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus
so not everyone will see a massive Husband and wife Andy Kraft and Amy Elias, of Portland, talk during an
tax bill or a drop in their refund. Some interview about their 2018 tax paperwork in their Portland home on Mon-
day. The couple got a small refund last year but this year owe more than
See Taxes, Page A7 $10,000 in taxes under the new tax law.