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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 24, 2019)
DECEMBER 24-25, 2019 EOU RANKS TOP IN BUSINESS, ED DEGREES REGION, A3 PREP WRESTLING: RIVERSIDE CROWNS 3 CHAMPS AT TOURNAMENT SPORTS, B1 144th Year, No. 49 WINNER OF THE 2019 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD UMATILLA COUNTY $1.50 HEART OF THE HOLIDAYS Federal SNAP change could make waves From local businesses to food pantries, the new federal rule is expected to make an impact By JESSICA POLLARD East Oregonian PENDLETON — Able-bod- ied adults without dependents who aren’t working in Umatilla County could face a restriction on govern- ment food assistance benefi ts in April. A new rule, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture described as a “rule to promote work” in a press release earlier this month, tar- gets able-bodied adults ages 18-49 with no dependents if they aren’t employed, training or volunteering for at least 20 hours each week and are receiving assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It’s got Tori Colvard, a food and nutrition program manager at CAPECO, concerned. The program receives donations through the Ore- gon Food Bank and from local grow- ers, and distributes them to food pantries and meal sites across Uma- tilla, Morrow, Gilliam and Wheeler counties. “It most defi nitely would put pres- sure on our area,” she said. “Having benefi ts reduced or cut off, that’s going to mean more people com- ing to banks and sites. We cannot match the power of the Supplemen- tal Nutrition Assistance Program.” Colvard noted that SNAP pro- vides some benefi ts that a food bank can’t. Staff photo by Ben Lonergan Members of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association unload a truckload of gifts for Ivamay Tallman’s children on Sunday morn- ing in Pendleton. Spreading holiday cheer Motorcycle clubs give back to family reunited just before Christmas By BEN LONERGAN East Oregonian See SNAP, Page A11 MERRY CHRISTMAS The East Oregonian wishes your family a joyous holiday. The EO will not publish a newspaper on Christmas Day due to the postal holiday, and will close its offi ce early at 2 p.m. on Christmas Eve. The newspaper offi ce will reopen for regular business hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., on Thursday. Wednes- day’s comics and other features can be found with the comics in today’s edition. P ENDLETON — After having not seen her children for more than four years, Ivamay Tallman was reunited with her two sons last week. When Tallman left her sons with their father to move to Oregon, she assumed that they would be in safe hands and would be able to join her shortly. “When I left their dad, I thought I could come out here and get a roof over their head and then go back to get them,” she said. “Hindsight is 20/20.” Tallman received a call on Dec. 11 from the Iowa Department of Human Services saying that her boys’ father was no longer fi t to take care of them and if Staff photo by Ben Lonergan See Cheer, Page A11 Members of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association pose for a picture with, front row from left, Wesley Foster, TJ Tallman, Jim Russell and Ivamay Tallman. Giving trees provide hundreds with presents in Pendleton Donated gifts go to local children in need By ALEX CASTLE East Oregonian PENDLETON — By the time the deadline for donating gifts to this year’s giving tree in Ham- ley’s had passed, there wasn’t space to collect any more in the store’s lobby. “I had to call them to come and start picking them up because there was no room to walk in here,” said Jessica Lapp, who handles the store’s shipping and receiving. “We were just running out of space.” During the 2019 holiday sea- son, giving trees throughout the Pendleton area alone have yielded hundreds of gifts for hundreds of people in need. A common feature of the sea- son, giving trees allow for peo- ple to anonymously donate gifts to strangers in need by taking a tag that corresponds to a recip- ient and returning with a gift to donate to them. The giving tree at Hamley’s ran from Nov. 29 through Dec. See Giving, Page A11 Staff photo by Kathy Aney Rite Aid shift supervisor Barbie Fleming loads gifts col- lected at the store into a car for transport to the Desire for Healing assisted living center in Pendleton. Residents will open the gifts on Christmas morning. Behind Fleming is Les Scott, new co-owner of the facility.