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WEEKEND EDITION
JUNE 22-23, 2019
143rd Year, No. 178
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WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Republicans
threaten lawsuit
in climate standoff
EO SPOTLIGHT
By SARAH ZIMMERMAN AND
GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
SALEM — Republican state senators
in Oregon continued to engage in a high-
stakes game of brinksmanship Friday
with Democratic lawmakers, saying they
are prepared to sue if the governor goes
through with her threat to impose a $500
fi ne for each day they delay a vote on a
landmark climate plan that would be the
second of its kind nationwide.
“We will fi le legal action,” said Sen.
Tim Knopp, a Republican from Bend
who has said he has been in three states
in the past three days. “If they were try-
ing to bring us back, threatening to arrest
us and impose fi nes isn’t going to work.”
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown deployed the
state police Thursday to try to round up
11 Republican senators who fl ed the Leg-
islature — and in some cases, the state —
to thwart the passage of a cap-and-trade
proposal that would dramatically lower
greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The
minority GOP caucus wants the plan to
be sent to voters instead of being insti-
tuted by lawmakers — but negotiations
with Democrats collapsed, leading to the
headline-grabbing walkout.
or
See Republicans, Page A12
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A single-use plastic bag sits tangled in a shrub along the side of North First Place on Thursday in Hermiston.
Round-Up plans
new construction
after 2019 rodeo
Local stores contemplating how to adapt to ban on single-use plastic grocery bags
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
ERMISTON —
Those hundreds of
plastic grocery bags
stuffed under your
kitchen sink are about to become a
rare commodity in Oregon.
Gov. Kate Brown signed House
Bill 2905 on Thursday, banning
single-use plastic grocery bags
from stores and restaurants start-
ing in 2020. The bill also requires
stores to charge at least 5 cents per
bag for alternatives, such as paper
and reusable bags.
Area stores are still considering
how they will adapt.
Dave Mead, manager of Har-
vest Foods in Umatilla, said they
H
had already been offering paper
bags as an option and selling reus-
able bags. They also just pur-
chased mesh bags that customers
can use for produce.
“We’re not sure yet how we’ll
handle the meat department yet,”
he said, noting the potential sani-
tation concerns of raw meat prod-
ucts leaking onto other groceries.
The new law will likely drive a
large increase in demand for paper
bags, which Mead said he hoped
would not cause a shortage. He
said her understood the environ-
mental concerns behind the law,
but most stores have been using
plastic because it’s cheaper.
“This is a cost of doing busi-
ness, and it gets passed on,” he
said.
Plastic bags are a major source
of waterway pollution and often
turn up in the stomachs of dead
sea turtles, dolphins and whales.
Concern about their effects on
wildlife and the environment in
general have led 127 countries to
ban or tax single-use grocery bags,
according to the United Nations.
In the United States, Califor-
nia, Hawaii and New York have
already enacted bans. Some indi-
vidual cities in Oregon, such
as Hood River, had previously
banned the bags via city ordinance.
Brandt Koo, owner of the 11th
Street Market in Hermiston, said
he questioned how much the ban
would really decrease pollution.
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Like every other
stage of the Pendleton Round-Up’s expan-
sion, the association’s approach to its lat-
est development has been careful and
methodical.
The Round-Up Association announced
in June 2018 that intended to use the for-
mer Albertsons property for an expanded
parking lot and a new retail/administra-
tive building.
The vacated grocery store’s demolition
before the September rodeo made way for
the larger parking lot, but there’s been no
construction activity since then.
Round-Up President Dave O’Neill
explained that the board of directors, staff,
See Plastic, Page A12
See Store, Page A12
Reese oversaw school budget during tough times
Longtime Pendleton School
District business manager died
earlier this month
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Those who knew Bob Reese
say the longtime Pendleton School District busi-
ness manager wasn’t afraid to face tough fi nan-
cial facts.
Reese, who died this month at age 77 from a
neurological disease, was cool and accurate, but
also human and approachable.
During Reese’s fi nal year at the district before
retiring in 2009, he shepherded to completion a
cut-to-the-bone budget that addressed a brutal
projected shortfall of $3.8 million. Under his guid-
ance, the board trimmed 19 positions, froze cost-
of-living adjustments and cut 10 days from the
school year. At one of the meetings, the even-keel
Reese looked uncharacteristically downhearted.
“We have to play the cards we are dealt,” he
told the board. “You don’t spend money you don’t
have.”
It was a role that could have cast Reese as a
sort of economic grim reaper, but didn’t.
“He was patient and caring and a true gentle-
man,” said former Pendleton School Superinten-
dent Al Meunier.
Michelle Jones, who worked for Reese and suc-
ceeded him, said people perceived that Reese had
their backs, even during the toughest of times.
See School, Page A12
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