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AST
143rd year, No. 225
REGONIAN
THURSDAy, AUGUST 29, 2019
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2019 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
City gives
The Lodge
$80,000 for
renovation
TOUGH QUESTIONS,
HONEST ANSWERS
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — In about a minute’s
time, the Pendleton Development Com-
mission granted the owner of The Lodge
$80,572 for extensive internal and exter-
nal renovations for the bar and performance
venue.
Acting as the development commis-
sion, members of the Pendleton City Coun-
cil quickly agreed to cover 40% of the cost
of $201,428, which includes sign restoration
and installation, an exterior paint job, heat-
ing, ventilation and air conditioning replace-
ment, and plumbing and electrical work.
The commission already approved the
façade and upper story grants in July, but
it deferred on assigning a dollar amount
as The Lodge owner Lance Leonnig spent
more time refining his grant request.
An electrician by trade, Leonnig bought
the old Pendleton Elks Lodge in late 2018.
Since then, The Lodge has hosted sev-
eral concerts in its auditorium and simulta-
neously opened up some of the building’s
multiple bars to serve drinks during the
shows.
Leonnig has already put in some sweat
equity into restoring the defunct frater-
nal hall and estimates he will contrib-
ute $20,500 in labor to repaint the faded
exterior.
He’s also been successful in obtain-
ing grants, previously obtaining a share of
a $155,609 Oregon Main Street grant and
securing $6,000 from Umatilla County.
Arriving to the meeting after the vote,
Leonnig thanked the city for its support.
“This HVAC package couldn’t come
soon enough,” he said.
The Lodge is hosting multiple events
during Round-Up week and Leonnig said
he just booked a “big event” in December.
The
council
was
similarly
complimentary.
Councilor Scott Fairley said he’s heard
good things about the events The Lodge
hosts, and Mayor John Turner said the city
wants to see the project succeed.
“With you guys helping out, it should
keep it from sinking,” Leonnig said.
Although more than $80,000 is signif-
icant expenditure for the urban renewal
district, its grant programs remain under
budget.
The façade grant is spending $42,387 for
The Lodge, but even with the new grant on
the books, it’s only expected to spend a frac-
tion of the $279,900 budget.
The $49,708 from the upper story fund
is relatively cheap compared to its expected
expenditures.
The rest of the money is set to go to
Pendleton developer Al Plute, a former city
councilor, who should get $130,000 for his
project to convert Bowman Building office
space into apartments.
Although the grant hasn’t been approved
yet, the development commission is also
projecting Plute to receive $225,000 in
upper story grant funds for his Odd Fellows
Building project.
But all those projects combined still
come in well below the upper story pro-
gram’s half-million budget.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Eighth-grader Hunter Houck asks Rep. Greg Walden about climate change and the Green New Deal during Wednesday’s
town hall in Heppner.
Walden questioned
on Green New Deal
and bipartisanship at
Heppner town hall
By ALEX CASTLE
East Oregonian
H
EPPNER — While many
Morrow County residents
used Wednesday’s town
hall in Heppner to bring up
concerns of divisiveness in the cur-
rent political climate with Rep. Greg
Walden, R-Hood River, the congress-
man’s toughest question came from
13-year-old activist Hunter Houck
about the climate itself.
“I read that you don’t currently
support the Green New Deal,” Houck
said. “Could you elaborate on why
not?”
Nearing the end of his third and
final town hall of the day, Walden
began his response by asking Houck’s
age and then answered him by describ-
ing the Green New Deal as “aspira-
tional goals rather than legislative
ones.”
“I think there are other ways to get
to where they want,” he said, present-
ing a prepared slide that showed the
high costs of the deal that includes
Medicare For All.
Walden reassured Houck and Mor-
row County residents that he “thinks
the climate is changing and we are
contributing to it,” but said the solu-
tion will be careful to protect con-
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Rep. Greg Walden answers a question Wednesday at a town hall in Heppner.
sumers and will focus on innovations.
The congressman added that there’s
already a number of efforts in hydro-
power and maximizing the electrical
grid that are underway in the U.S.
“Thank you for your question, it’s
your generation that’s going to be
really effective,” Walden said to end
his response.
“I thought that his was response
was nice and honest,” Houck said
after the meeting. “Personally, I dis-
agree with his lack of support and
think that Congress should support
the Green New Deal and work as hard
as they can to keep the planet awe-
some for my generation.”
Houck, who was excused from
afternoon classes at Heppner Middle
School for the meeting, has been trav-
eling around the region to attend town
halls and question politicians about
their stances on climate change and
the Green New Deal.
In July, Houck asked Sen. Jeff
Merkley the same questions at a town
hall meeting in Boardman. And back
in May, Houck and his friends orga-
nized an event titled “Fight for our
Future,” which was a protest urging
See Walden, Page A7
Pendleton Police Department welcomes new K-9
By BEN LONERGAN
East Oregonian
PENDLETON – Mem-
bers of the Pendleton Police
Department were given
the opportunity Wednes-
day morning to welcome
the newest addition to their
department, K-9 Officer
Bali. Bali, who will offi-
cially join the department
in early summer, spent the
gathering meeting his new
co-workers and acclimat-
ing to the station.
If all goes well, Bali
will begin training with his
handler, Pendleton Police
Officer Cass Clark, in the
spring for five to 10 weeks
before transferring to the
department. Clark said that
while he has been inter-
ested in becoming a police
officer since he was a child,
it was a summer intern-
ship with the United States
Marshals Service K-9 Unit
that made him fall in love
with the idea of being a K-9
handler.
“I’m honored to be a
part of this program,” said
Officer Clark. “This oppor-
tunity is very rewarding for
me personally, but this dog
will also be a great asset for
our community.”
Unlike the department’s
current dog Lucy, who will
retire early next year, K-9
Bali will be trained in not
only drug detection but
also tracking and capture
of subjects. While the exact
list of substances that Bali
will be trained to detect is
still under discussion, he
will not be trained to detect
marijuana products due
to the legalization of rec-
reational marijuana in the
state of Oregon.
“Not only will the dog
help with drug detection,”
said Corporal John Leh-
man, “the dog will be
trained for tracking and
catching subjects as well,
making it a more versatile
See K-9, Page A7
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
K-9 Bali sits and chews on a toy during a conversation about
the future of his training Wednesday morning. K-9 Bali will
join the Pendleton Police Department in early summer.