TACO TRUCK
STAPLE OPENS
HERMISTON
RESTAURANT
REGION, A3
WEEKEND EDITION
GOLDEN EAGLES SOAR INTO
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
LONG-HAUL
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SHORTAGE
HITTING HOME
BUSINESS, A8
SPORTS, B1
E O
AST
143rd Year, No. 98
REGONIAN
MARCH 2-3, 2019
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
BRINGING THE
MOUNTAIN TO LIFE
Legislators
prepare for
statewide
redistricting
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
From his home in Heppner, Greg
Smith has represented various swaths of
eastern and central Oregon without hav-
ing to move.
Thanks to multiple rounds of redis-
tricting, the Republican legislator has
represented Wallowa County to the east,
Crook County to the south, parts of
Wasco County to the west and a lot of the
space in between over his 10 terms in the
Oregon House of Representatives.
And in a state where the Oregon Leg-
islature draws its own districts, Smith
expects his constituency will change
again once the U.S. Census delivers its
2020 population count.
“There’s nothing more political than
redistricting,” he said.
A coalition of civic organizations is
banding together to try to take the poli-
tics out of the process.
See Redistricting, Page A10
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Victoria and Ren Williams sit in the common area of the bed-and-breakfast they are developing to complement their other
business, Alpine Outpost restaurant, in Tollgate east of Weston.
Alpine Outpost owners expand
restaurant, lodge to Blue Mountains
Lawmakers come and go,
but the lobby remains a
powerful voice in Oregon
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
M
ountain travelers stopping for a hot meal or fresh
baked bread will soon have a place to sit back and
stay a while — and it’s just across the road. Ren
and Victoria Williams, who operate the Outpost farm stand
and the Alpine Outpost restaurant on Highway 204 between
Weston and Elgin, are working to turn the vacant building
across the highway back into a bed-and-breakfast.
The house, with four bedrooms, a hot tub, and a large
kitchen and living room, was once the Tamarack Inn Bed-and-
Breakfast. The previous owners closed it several years ago,
according to Ren Williams, due to health problems. Ren said
an investor purchased it, and he and his wife will manage and
operate it. He hopes to retain the name “Tamarack.”
Wood-paneled walls and A-frame ceilings give the place a
cabin-like feel. With the exception of one bedroom that’s under
construction, the place is almost ready for visitors. The cou-
ple awaits permits, and plans to open to the public within six
weeks. In the summer, they hope to add RV hookups in the
back of the property.
“It’s nice we didn’t have to do much work (on the place),”
Victoria said. “They kept it up well.”
Lobbyists the
only constant
in Capitol
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE,
AUBREY WIEBER
and PARIS ACHEN
Oregon Capital Bureau
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Cookies are among the more popular items on the menu at the
Alpine Outpost in Tollgate. Owners say they have sold 33,000
cookies in the last six months alone to visitors.
The couple have big plans for the space. In the large, open
kitchen, they’d like to host classes for things like baking and
soap-making. They hope to bring back the weekend brunch
that the previous owners used to host.
Reopening the bed-and-breakfast is the couple’s latest step
in trying to tap into the mountain’s potential.
SALEM — As the 2019 Legislature
steams ahead, an army of 1,000 lobbyists
is at work to gain political favors from the
state’s 90 legislators.
Two years ago, special interests
reported to the state that they spent $39
million on that effort.
The most expensive lobbying effort
in 2017 was staged by the Oregon Asso-
ciation of Realtors, followed by West-
ern States Petroleum Association and the
Oregon Nurses Association, according to
spending reports required by the state.
See Lodge, Page A10
See Lobbyists, Page A10
February snowfall destroys previous record
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Snowfall for February in Pendleton reached
32.5 inches, almost twice the previous record.
The National Weather Service in Pendleton
also reported record amounts of snow for the
month in other local towns.
Pendleton’s old record stood at 16.8 inches
from 1994. Snowfall this February surpassed
that by Valentine’s Day.
Hermiston recorded 17.6 inches for the month
at the treatment plant in Hermiston’s northwest
end. Assistant forecaster Ann Adams explained
the Weather Service has used that locale since
1999, and before it used the airport on the oppo-
site end of Hermiston. That site holds the record
for February snowfall in Hermiston at 25 inches
from 1916.
Heppner reported 31 inches of snow for
the month, well past the previous best of 22.5
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Many areas of Eastern Oregon still had a foot or more
of snow on the ground on the last day of February.
inches, also from 1916. And Milton-Freewater
set a new monthly total with 19.8 inches. The
old mark was 13.5 inches in 1993.
Snow fell more days than not during the
month. Adams said counting even trace
amounts, Pendleton had 22 days of snowfall and
Hermiston had 19. And it was enough to shut
down schools for multiple days, including Pend-
leton schools the last four days of the month.
Temperatures also were below normal for
the month. Pendleton’s average was 27.7, 10.8
degrees below normal, with the lowest at 3 on
Feb. 7. Low temperatures for the town dropped
below the freezing point 25 out of the 28 days.
Hermiston averaged 27.8 for the month, 10
degrees below normal and with low tempera-
tures below freezing 26 days.
Adams said the cold temperatures will
remain through the weekend but without much
chance of more snow. That could change by the
middle of next week. She said another moisture
system looks to be pushing in Tuesday from the
south-southwest and could deliver more snow.
“But that’s still too far out for us to guessti-
mate amounts,” she said.