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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 12, 2019)
Jazlyn Romero commits to Oregon State for track | SPORTS, B1 E O AST 143rd Year, No. 299 REGONIAN THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2019 $1.50 WINNER OF THE 2019 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD MILTON-FREEWATER Enrollment dropping in M-F O Christmas tree Loss of students underlines housing, job shortages in rural Umatilla County community By SHEILA HAGAR Walla Walla Union-Bulletin MILTON-FREEWATER — Aaron Duff has lost a lot of sleep this school year. Duff, a first-year superintendent in the Milton-Freewater Unified School District, told his board members at their regular meeting Monday he’s been awake in the middle of many nights, worrying about the district’s dropping Duff enrollment. In broad terms, fewer students means less basic support from the state of Ore- gon, and that translates to a loss of about half a million dollars for MFUSD, offi- cials said. As of October, the district has 1,676 enrolled students, the lowest number in several years and 76 less than the 1,763 students from last school year. Almost 100 children left the dis- trict over the past summer, about half of those McLoughlin High School students. Records requests show about one-third of departing students went to schools in Walla Walla and College Place, Washing- ton, 22 went to Athena-Weston schools, and the remaining requests were a mix of private and online schools, or unknown locations. Duff said he searched for answers, examining enrollment trends in every grade. He boiled down variables to find two basic truths for Milton-Freewater. “I think you see a lot of this in regions struggling to provide adequate housing and adequate jobs,” he said. A robust job market elsewhere means people are moving away from farm towns, which can no longer provide the employment opportunities of days past, Duff said. “Fifty years ago, people in Mil- ton-Freewater could tie their income to agriculture. Now we have a lot less of that. Farmers are able to do a lot more with a lot less labor.” There are fewer small farms and more conglomerate farming. When that’s added to globalization, today’s agricul- tural picture is very different, he said. “Now we’re competing with the rest of the world. What we’re seeing is Mil- ton-Freewater is not competing with Walla Walla. We’re competing with other small towns in other countries.” Added to that, one of the town’s larg- est employers closed a year ago. Sykes Enterprises, a call-in help center, was See Enrollment, Page A8 Staff photo by Ben Lonergan Bobby Jarvie, left, and Hank Jarvie, 7, look at a tree that Josiah Bork pulled out for them on Tuesday night. Bork pulled a vari- ety of trees for each group of customers to look at and select their favorites. Christmas tree vendors in Umatilla County hope to see green at cash register By BEN LONERGAN East Oregonian MATILLA COUNTY — With a shorter holiday sea- son and the rising cost of Christmas trees, Christmas tree vendors around Umatilla County are hoping for a productive season despite tree shortages in recent years. Boy Scouts of America Troop 700 Scout Josiah Bork has been sell- ing trees with the Boy Scouts for six years and said the sale raises money to help Scouts pay for campouts and summer camp. Bork said the trees, which are purchased wholesale from a farm in Molalla, have gotten harder to come by in recent years resulting in many substitutions or incomplete orders from their wholesaler. Substi- tutions occur when vendors are unable to meet demand for a particular type of tree and must substitute in other varieties. “For the last few years, it’s been harder to get the full order,” he said. “Last year, we really had a major shortage of trees and only got about 200.” This year, Troop 700, which is set up in the parking lot of Dave’s Chev- ron across the street from Roy Raley Park, were able to get its full order of 260 trees and said that, as of Tues- U Staff photo by Ben Lonergan Tyler Halo, left, and Josiah Whitsell set up a sign advertising the Boy Scouts Troop 700 Christmas tree lot in the parking lot of Dave’s Chevron in Pendleton on Tues- day night. day night, it had sold more than half. Unlike other stands that open the day after Thanksgiving, the troop opens its stand for just 10 days in the first full week of December. Bork said the stand will most likely close this com- ing Sunday and he expects that they will have sold all of their trees by then. Bork said the shorter holiday sea- son led to increased purchases in their first few days open this year. “The first two days were a lot bus- ier than last year,” he said. “It’s a bit busier due to the late Thanksgiving this year.” The Hermiston Kiwanis Club tree stand experienced a similar rush at the start of the season, according to Doug Barak, a past Kiwanis president in charge of this year’s stand. “We barely had the trees on the lot when people started coming out,” he said. The Hermiston Kiwanis Club tree stand, in the parking lot of the Herm- iston Community Center, has been selling Christmas trees as a fundraiser since the 1970s. Barak said commu- nity support has always been key in their efforts to sell trees. See Trees, Page A8 College student seeks Dem nomination for District 58 Nolan Bylenga, PHS grad, Portland State student, enters Democratic primary By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian PENDLETON — Nolan Bylenga arrived back in Pendleton early Wednesday morning after finishing his last set of finals at Portland State University, and he still had multiple essays to turn in before the end of the week. Amid all that, he also declared his candidacy for state House District 58 Democratic primary. Republican Bobby Levy announced her candidacy for the seat on Tuesday, but Bylenga was the first to file for the seat on Dec. 5. A 22-year-old PSU senior and Pend- leton High School alum, Bylenga will attempt to flip a seat Bylenga that’s been domi- nated by Republicans for decades. In trying to explain why he was running for office, Bylenga cited Barack Obama’s 2004 keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention: “The Audacity of Hope.” Bylenga said he would like to bring a sense of hope to the district. Despite his youth, Bylenga is already well-traveled. A standout on the Pendleton High School track team, he initially attended the University of Florida to run for the Gators. But after an injury, he decided to transfer to a college closer to home. After stints at Lane Community Col- lege and the University of Oregon, he was recruited to run track for Portland State, although he ended up injuring himself again. A political science major at PSU, Bylenga holds some views that run against the grain of the Democratic Party. Bylenga expressed admiration for state Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, and his participation in a nine-day walkout to deny the Democratic-con- trolled Senate a quorum to vote on a cap-and-trade bill. Bylenga said he liked how Hansell was willing to put his reputation on the line to protect local interests. Bylenga said he also supports the Second Amendment and wants to prevent small businesses from being overtaxed. “I don’t want to be taxing busi- nesses and forcing them to leave Ore- gon,” he said. On the other hand, Bylenga said he wants the state to do more to help low-income families and find a way to bring down health care costs, although he wasn’t committed to a particular policy. Although Bylenga is a student in Portland, he said his permanent resi- dence remains in Pendleton. Bylenga said he’s on track to graduate from college in June and plans to move back to Pendleton full time after that. Bylenga said he’s assembling a team to help with his campaign, including some sort of role for his father, local defense attorney Herman Bylenga. The younger Bylenga said See Nomination, Page A8
