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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 13, 2019)
OFF PAGE ONE Tuesday, August 13, 2019 East Oregonian A7 Auction: Hundreds of thousands of dollars goes to area youths Continued from Page A1 hard it would be to say good- bye to the lamb she raised since birth. But she said she comes back year after year because she loves how much confidence she gains from the process. Over the course of the hourslong auction in the larg- est barn at the fairgrounds, hundreds of thousands of dol- lars flowed from local busi- nesses and individuals to area youths. Many of them plan to use the money for college, or to reinvest it into more ani- mals next year. The check comes at a price, however. Some of the animals sold at auction will be used for milk, for breeding or as a pet. But every kid who raises an animal for the fair also knows there is a good chance that the companion they fed and watered and walked for months is destined for some- one’s dinner table. Wyatt Harris, 11, from Echo, said the money he got from selling his sheep Smoke would go into his savings fund for college and a truck. When asked whether he was worried about parting with Smoke, he shrugged. “Not really,” he said. “I live on a farm so I kind of know what will happen.” Macy Rosselle, 17, from Pendleton, was also prag- matic about what would hap- pen to her grand champion goat Maverick, who sold for $12 a pound to United Grain Corporation. “His purpose is for meat, and he will be fulfilling his purpose,” she said. Still, it tugged at her heart- strings. Although Macy has 25 head of goats, Maverick was her award-winner she has traveled with to multiple fairs. “He’s definitely my favor- ite goat by far,” she said. “I’m sad to see him go.” Ayrin Davis 11, of Herm- iston 4-H, had a harder time. She cried in the pens behind Staff photo by Kathy Aney Hunter Dyer herds his pig around a pen as the animal is auctioned off Saturday morning at the Umatilla County Fair. Daytona Tracy, 16, said for some, that lesson is harder than others. “You have to under- stand the process and know next year you’re going to get attached to another animal,” she said. “I know some kids are in it for the money, and then there are ones like me who get really attached.” She said she tells herself each year that her animals are just going to a new home and “the worst is not going to happen.” Her goat Rowdy went for $10.25 a pound to Nutrien Ag Solutions on Saturday. She put on a brave smile as she entered the ring with the 76-pound brown and white goat Saturday, but earlier in the week she got teary-eyed as she talked about their impend- ing separation. “He’s like my baby,” the Hermiston FFA student said. “When I first got him he wasn’t really tame at all so I had to hang out with him as much as possible. I would eat dinner with him.” Sales results Staff photo by Ben Lonergan Daytona Tracy, 16, interacts with her market goat Rowdy at the Umatilla County Fair Wednesday afternoon in Hermiston. Staff photo by Kathy Aney Ayrin Davis, of the Farm City Wranglers, stands with her sheep as it is auctioned off Saturday morning at the Umatilla County Fair. the auction arena after selling PJ, her backup lamb. She had already unexpectedly lost her primary lamb a week earlier when it got spooked by some- thing and ran into a fence, breaking its neck. Rapidash, she said, weighed much more than PJ and might have won grand champion. “I cried for two and a half days,” she said. The experience was part of the “circle of life” lessons that raising animals teaches youth who participate in 4-H and FFA. This year’s auction “smashed” the previous sales record for the fair, accord- ing to coordinator Marie Linnell. She said the sales gross was $610,000 com- pared with the 2015 record of $494,000. The sale included 53 steers at an average of $3.89 a pound, 120 hogs averag- ing $7.88 a pound, 60 lambs averaging $8.79 a pound, 17 goats at $12.62 a pound, 13 turkeys at $475 each, 1 pen of rabbits at $525 and one pen of chickens at $400. In addition to bidding on animals, buyers can also choose to “bump” the check youths receive if their animal drew a price on the lower side. About 30 businesses partici- pating in the UCF Bump pro- gram added an extra $28,000 to sales for more than 130 FFA and 4-H exhibitors. Newsome: Dead by his own hand Continued from Page A1 Staff photo by Ben Lonergan The Pendleton Convention Center will host the 2019 Oregon GOP Platform Convention on Aug. 23 and 24. explained a stalking order requires “protracted, unso- licited and unwanted con- tact” that includes elements such as threats of harm. This harassment did not meet that standard. Still, Pendleton officers talked to Newsome, Rob- erts said, and he told them he would not cause more problems. Newsome ended up in the Umatilla County Jail in September 2018 on a post- prison supervision violation. State court records show he wrote a letter to the Uma- tilla County Circuit Court seeking clarity on when he could get off the supervision and wrote another accusing parole and probation officers of bias against him and of corruption. Come November, Rob- erts said, police records indicated Newsome’s behavior prompted con- cern from friends and even his parole officer about his mental state and the possi- bility of suicide. Newsome became the recipient of a new complaint at the end of January, when the boyfriend of the woman who reported the harassment in 2018 told police someone left a teddy bear and mes- sage near her residence. That led state police to contact Newsome’s parole officer, who issued a detainer for his arrest. Pendleton police once more booked Newsome into the county jail. The woman at the time was in an ongoing rela- tionship and wanted noth- ing more than for the situ- ation with Newsome to go away, Roberts said, which he described as “a fairly normal response.” The couple in February reported someone slashed a tire on their vehicle, and Roberts said they believed Newsome was the culprit. Roberts said law enforce- ment also had a strong suspi- cion Newsome was responsi- ble but had no solid evidence he committed the vandal- ism. Newsome remained free until May, when he again went to jail on a parole detainer. He stayed off police radar until officers investigated the shooting early Thursday on the 300 block of South- east Dorion Avenue. Cops at the scene that night found no evidence of gunfire, but offi- cers returned during the day and dug out a bullet from a window sill. Roberts said that win- dow belongs to the home of the woman Newsome was harassing for more than a year. Newsroom’s death, however, means the investi- gation can only go so far. Newsome’s mother con- tended her son was not the person the Pendleton com- munity thought he was. “He spent the last two years trying to prove that,” Schertenleib said. “He was unable to.” into the summer and early fall. The hope, Schultz said, is to create the habitat to attract beavers to move in and main- tain the dams. The best part, he said, is the dams quickly create desired results. Immediately following the 2017 installa- tion of a dam on Bear Creek, a tributary to the lower stem of the John Day River, Schultz said water started backing up and extended a wetted reach almost 2 miles. “It went from solid dry to completely wetted. Within a month, a side channel was reengaged,” Schultz said. Side channels, he said, are crucial rearing habitat for juvenile fish. Herb Winters is the district manager for Gilliam County Soil and Water Conserva- tion. He said he’s built bea- ver dam analogs and passage barrier removals in summer steelhead reaches with the funding. A lot of the work Gilliam County does is on 30 Mile Creek, Winters said, a major tributary to the lower John Day River. Umatilla County Soil and Water District Manager Kyle Waggoner said a lot of his projects benefit fish indi- rectly, like developing upland water sources to encourage livestock to spend less time along streams. He listed plant- ing along stream banks and fencing waterways to prohibit livestock impact as other proj- ects he’s led funded through the Watershed Enhancement Board. According to a press release from Gard Commu- nications, the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund has invested nearly $237 mil- lion in Oregon since 2000. Together with state lottery money, $603 million was invested in habitat resto- ration through the Watershed Enhancement Board. GOP: Oregon Republicans from around the state will flock to Pendleton Aug. 23-24 Grant: Salmon and steelhead to benefit Continued from Page A1 tions himself, Oregon Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Ath- ena, said he’s maintained a strong connection to the GOP infrastructure at the county level since his time as a Umatilla County commissioner. When he attended a state party platform con- vention for the GOP, how- ever, it wasn’t his cup of tea. “What I remember was a lot of arguing and in-fighting,” he said. “It wasn’t something I was particularly attracted to.” With that being said, Hansell said the nature of the platform conven- tions often “depends on leadership,” and he’s been impressed and appreciates where state GOP chairman Bill Currier is leading the party. This time around, Hansell said he expects the convention to be more unified. Away from the con- vention, Danforth said she and the Umatilla County branch of the Republican Party are hoping the dele- gates get to enjoy some of what the region has to offer too. “We want to showcase some of what’s in Umatilla County and Pendleton,” she said. “There’s a lot of people that are going to be coming that maybe have never been here.” On Thursday before the convention officially gets underway, Danforth and the party are hosting a wel- coming event at the con- vention center with a bar. Attendees can also choose between pre-registering for the Pendleton Under- ground Tour or a wine tast- ing tour at the cost of $20. Along with that, options for single meals are avail- able throughout the con- vention’s two days so that those with significant oth- ers or children can plan accordingly. Danforth said she’s also been sure to tell people about the var- ious museums and parks in the area along with all that Wildhorse Resort and Casino has to offer. Hansell sees the con- vention as another oppor- tunity for others from the state to see what Eastern Oregon is like. “I think it’s special anytime we’re able to attract people from across the state to come out to our neck of the woods,” Hansell said. From the convention itself to the tourist attrac- tions around it, Danforth is hoping next weekend’s convention is just the first of many for the Oregon GOP in Pendleton. “I’m just so excited. I hope for it to return again in two years,” she said. Continued from Page A1 third with federal money and two-thirds with lottery proceeds. In Wheeler County, Chase Schultz, the soil and water conservation district man- ager, said the grants he’s received through the Water- shed Enhancement Board are used to cool stream tempera- tures and improve water qual- ity with streamside planting and fake beaver dams. “Beaver dam analogs are a hot button topic,” Schultz said. Built from untreated wooden posts driven perpen- dicularly into the stream and woven with willow whips, the analogs simulate a beaver dam by spreading a stream’s water out into the floodplain, benefiting adjacent wetlands, Schultz said. The analogs also increase stream flow later in the summer, slowing water down that is released longer
