FRIDAY, JULY 5, 2019
143rd Year, No. 186
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Your Weekend
BMCC gets $13 million for FARM II
New, multi-use facility
will include indoor rodeo
arena, classroom space
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
• Wildhorse Pow Wow,
Wildhorse Resort & Casino
• Sen. Merkley Town Hall,
SAGE Center
• Kids’ Fishing Derby,
Jubilee Lake
PENDLETON — Blue Moun-
tain Community College got an
early sign that it was going to get
what it wanted — a new, multi-use
facility that will include an indoor
rodeo arena and classroom space
for classes in veterinary science,
unmanned aerial systems, and
other agricultural education.
They then had to wait almost the
entire 159-day session to confi rm
they were getting it.
The college announced Tues-
day that the project, which was
once known as the Blue Moun-
tain Regional Training Center and
is now back to operating under
its FARM II working title, had
received $13 million from the Ore-
gon Legislature just before it closed
shop for the year on June 30.
In a press release, BMCC Pres-
ident Dennis Bailey-Fougnier cele-
brated the state’s decision and cred-
ited Northeast Oregon’s legislative
delegation.
“We are very grateful to the Leg-
islature for its support of this unique
community project,” he said. “Gov-
ernor (Kate) Brown showed her
support by including the project in
her proposed budget, and then Sen.
Bill Hansell and Rep. Greg Smith
— who both sit on the Ways and
Means Committee on Capital Con-
struction — as well as Rep. Greg
Barreto, helped us keep the proj-
ect in front of their colleagues in the
Capitol in a positive way that gar-
See FARM II, Page A8
FOR DATES, TIMES AND VENUES, VISIT
WWW.EASTERNOREGONEVENTS.COM
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Eastern Oregon Cancer Center expects to start seeing patients in December
Worries
linger over
Washington
sales tax
Gone are the days of
showing Oregon ID
and skipping sales tax
in Washington
By KATE DAVIDSON
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SALEM — Oregonians, say
goodbye to your Washington sales
tax break — at least as you’ve come
to know it.
Gone are the days of showing
an Oregon ID at a Washington reg-
ister and getting an automatic pass
on sales tax. Starting July 1, Orego-
nians who shop in Washington must
save their receipts if they want to get
reimbursed later. Washington Gov.
Jay Inslee signed the measure into
law in May.
Washington leaders project the
change will raise about $54 million
for their general fund over the next
two years. But some business own-
ers in Southwest Washington fear
the revenue comes at their expense.
Their concern — and confusion
— can be summed up in tractors and
teak.
Skip Ogden owns Dan’s Tractors
outside Battle Ground, Washington.
He’s been at it for decades. He says
he’s learned something about his
Oregon customers: They hate paying
sales tax.
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Dump trucks and other heavy machinery work to prepare the site for the new Eastern Oregon Cancer Center in Pendleton on
Wednesday afternoon. The center is expected to be completed in December.
By ALEX CASTLE
East Oregonian
P
ENDLETON — Access to can-
cer treatment is coming closer to
home for Eastern Oregon residents
with construction of a new oncol-
ogy radiation center underway.
Radiation Business Services, the Ten-
nessee-based company in charge of plan-
ning and overseeing the project, held an
informal groundbreaking event on June
18 and is eyeing a December completion
date. The facility will be known as the
Eastern Oregon Cancer Center at Pend-
leton and will be located on the almost
2-acre lot on Southwest 24th Street across
from Rice Blakely Park.
Trip Leasure, the RBS vice president
of project development and the Pendleton
center’s project manager, was joined by
Mayor John Turner and a number of other
community members associated with the
project for the groundbreaking event.
“It was great,” Leasure said. “Espe-
cially on relatively quick notice to get
all the critical community members that
helped get us to groundbreaking to be
there.”
This April, Turner announced that he
was free of throat cancer, which he had
faced over the previous eight months.
Though he was given as much as an 80%
chance for recovery at the time of his
diagnosis, the mayor had to travel nearly
40 miles to Walla Walla fi ve days a week
over the span of seven weeks to receive
his treatments.
“I received excellent care,” he said.
“But it would have been nice to not have
to travel so far to get it.”
Thanks to the new center, Turner’s
hope will become a reality.
See Oncology, Page A8
See Tax, Page A8
Local legislators refl ect
on tough 2019 session
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
SALEM — The 2019 legisla-
tive session came to a turbulent
conclusion as Republican senators
returned from a nine-day walkout
over cap and trade, but the drama
overshadowed the hundreds of
less-controversial bills passed over
a four-month session, often with
bipartisan support.
Rep. Greg Smith, Rep. Greg
Baretto and Sen. Bill Hansell
worked on a variety of policy and
budget bills throughout the session,
some tailored specifi cally to East-
ern Oregon issues and others that
have more broad benefi ts through-
out the state.
Hansell was a sponsor or chief
sponsor of 138 bills and resolu-
tions, not all of which became law
by the end of the session.
He was the chief sponsor of Sen-
ate Bill 290, which protects people
voluntarily helping fi ght a fi re in
good faith, such as farmers help-
ing fi ght wildfi res on neighboring
farms, from civil liability. Hansell
likened it to Good Samaritan laws
that protect people who stop and
render fi rst aid at the scene of a car
crash.
He was also sponsor of SB 312,
which requires public universities
See Wrap up, Page A8
AP Photo/Andrew Selsky
The 2019 legislative session came to a turbulent conclusion as Republi-
can senators returned from a nine-day walkout over cap and trade, but
the drama overshadowed the hundreds of less-controversial bills passed
over a four-month session, often with bipartisan support.