PGE ESTABLISHES
SCHOLARSHIP FUND
FOR LAID-OFF WORKERS
COOPER ROBERTS TO MAKE
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME DEBUT ON THE
MOUND FOR BUCKS ON SATURDAY
REGION, A3
SPORTS, B1
E O
AST
143rd year, No. 162
REGONIAN
Friday, May 31, 2019
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Your Weekend
PERS eats into city budget
Hermiston general fund
seeing 25% increase in
PErS costs
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
• Kids Fishing Derby,
Twin Ponds, Ukiah
• Stahl Building open
house, Athena
• Oldies Night salutes Elvis,
Milton-Freewater
FOR DETAILS, VISIT WWW.
EASTERNOREGONEVENTS.COM
Weekend Weather
FRI
SAT
SUN
85/59
87/59
88/59
Community
looks to
support
ex-railroad
employees
May 25 was the final
day of work for most
employees at the
Hinkle Rail Yard
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — The shock
of last week’s announcement
that Union Pacific Railroad
would be laying off nearly 200
employees in Hermiston may
still be wearing off, but area
organizations are looking at
what they can do to help those
facing unemployment.
Saturday, May 25, was the
final day of work for most
employees at the Hinkle Rail
yard.
Oregon laws require large
employers conducting a “mass
layoff” of 50-plus employees
or at least 33 percent of their
workforce to post notice of the
event, triggering assistance for
the newly unemployed workers.
CAPECO of Pendleton is Uma-
tilla County’s “rapid response”
agency in such situations.
The nonprofit is holding an
event on Tuesday at 10 a.m. and
1 p.m. at the Hermiston Com-
munity Center, 415 S. Highway
See Railroad, Page A8
HErMiSTON — as Herm-
iston city officials budget for the
coming fiscal year, the costs of the
Public Employee Retirement Sys-
tem continue to grow.
City manager Byron Smith
wrote in the forward to the pro-
posed 2019-20 budget that the
city’s general fund was seeing a
25% increase in PErS costs, on
top of steep increases over the past
few years.
“This will not be sustainable for
many more years,” he said. “This
increase is eating up most if not all
of our revenue growth.”
In the police department, for
example, PERS expenses are
increasing by $210,000. Police
Chief Jason Edmiston said the
continued increases restrict his
ability to add new personnel.
The city council will vote on the
2019-20 budget during their June
10 meeting. The budget includes
a 2.75% cost of living increase for
employees, and maintains cur-
rent staffing levels at 120 full-time
employees.
PERS COSTS
Hermiston’s annual payments
into the Public Employees Re-
tirement System have increased
by 128% in the past six years. On
Thursday the House passed a bill
which will pull small amounts of
current employees’ contributions
into paying down some of the
system’s $27 billion debt.
See Budget, Page A8
Extension
leader
plans to
retire
Saying a sad goodbye
Congregation
sells historic
church and
moves out
Phil Hamm
stepping down
after 29 years at
the Hermiston-
based center
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
PENdLETON
—
From her pew, Lou-
ise Thompson gazed up
at a lofty stained glass
window.
The scene depicted
Jesus with a child on
his lap and she imag-
ined herself sitting on his
lap, too, basking in his
glow. Thompson, who
grew up in Pendleton’s
First United Methodist
Church, has done this
almost every Sunday of
her life.
But this would be the
last time.
A couple of years ago,
the 113-year-old stone
church went on the mar-
ket for $410,000. A buyer
is in the process of final-
izing the sale, so the band
of believers is looking for
a new home.
The stately house of
worship at 352 S.E. Sec-
ond St. has become a
money pit that members
just can’t afford any lon-
ger. Inside the sanctu-
ary’s south wall lurks
extensive water damage
that requires something
in the neighborhood of
$100,000 to repair. Other
challenges include asbes-
tos, cracking and peeling,
crumbling mortar and
deferred
maintenance
throughout the building.
For years, members
hung on, but finally voted
to sell their house of
worship.
“This building is old
and we have tried to
keep it up, but it’s con-
suming our resources,”
said Wanda Remington,
president of the church’s
administrative council,
at the time. “It was an
By MITCH LIES
For the EO Media Group
Staff photos by Kathy Aney
A stained glass window glows inside the 113-year-old Pendleton United Methodist
Church building on Southwest Second Street after the church’s final service inside
the historic building.
INSIDE
Evangelists Nathan and
Tracy Webber to speak
Sunday in Stanfield,
Page 3A
Online
See more photos from
Sunday’s final service at
EastOregonian.com
Three worshipers aren’t
able to sing the final
hymn at the congrega-
tion’s last service at the
historic Pendleton Unit-
ed Methodist Church.
See Church, Page A8
“WE REALIZE THIS CHURCH IS AN ALBATROSS. IT’S A
BEAUTIFUL ALBATROSS, DON’T GET ME WRONG, BUT IT’S STILL
AN ALBATROSS.”
Wanda Remington, president of the church’s administrative council
HERMISTON — There
was the late blight scare,
bouts with silver scurf, corn
smut and a beet leafhop-
per that came from out of
the blue and transmitted a
deadly plant virus.
And through it all there
was the underlying principle
that Phil Hamm operates by,
the idea that he and others
at the Hermiston Agricul-
tural Research and Exten-
sion Center are there to help
farmers be more successful.
As plant pathologist and
then director at the Eastern
Oregon research and exten-
sion facility, Hamm has
helped growers battle sev-
eral potentially devastating
plant diseases over the past
three decades. Come the end
of August, however, those
days will be over.
Hamm
announced
recently he is retiring after
44 years with Oregon State
University, including serv-
ing the last 29 years at the
Hermiston-based
center
and the last 14 as the cen-
ter’s director. He has worked
half-time since 2012.
Looking back, Hamm
identified several highlights,
including multiple bouts
with plant diseases of pota-
toes, such as silver scurf and
late blight.
A foliar disease of pota-
toes, late blight spread rap-
idly after appearing sud-
denly in the Columbia Basin
in the mid-1990s.
“In the ‘90s, we spent
considerable effort and col-
laborated with many others
to help overcome issues with
late blight,” Hamm said.
“Today, it is still out there
and costs growers money
to manage, but for the most
part, we know how to man-
See Extension, Page A8
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