REGION
Thursday, May 21, 2020
East Oregonian
A3
Celebrating 90
HOUSE DISTRICT 58
Bylenga to face Levy in November
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Nolan
Bylenga came from behind
on Tuesday night to win
the Democratic primary
for House District 58.
He fi nished the night
with 53% of the vote
against Barbara Wright,
who received 45%. Wright
won the vote in Union and
Wallowa counties and was
initially ahead, but a surge
of votes from Umatilla
County put Bylenga in the
lead later in the evening.
Bylenga, a 22-year-
old Portland State Univer-
sity senior and Pendleton
High School alumnus, will
face Bobby Levy, an Echo
farmer and president of the
Eastern Oregon Women’s
Coalition, in the general
election in November.
Levy ran unopposed for
the Republican nomination
for the seat currently held
Bylenga
Levy
by Republican Greg Bar-
reto of Cove, who is retir-
ing from offi ce at the end of
his term. Statewide, Levy
received 37 write-in votes
against her out of 9,437
votes.
Bylenga said he knows
that his youth probably
counted against him in
the race against Wright.
During the primary, he
said, he was focused on
getting voters to take him
seriously as a candidate
who has experience lob-
bying in Salem as part of
his work to earn his polit-
ical science degree. Now,
he hopes to talk about
the issues as he faces off
with Levy.
“I want to be excited, but
I also know there’s a lot of
work to do in the general,”
he said of his win.
The legislative seat
hasn’t been won by a
Democrat since 1996, but
Bylenga said even though
that is his party affi liation,
in some cases he has com-
mon ground with Eastern
Oregon Republicans.
“Like cap and trade —
personally, I’m not a big
fan of that, even though
I’m part of the Democratic
Party,” he said.
Levy said she was look-
ing forward to continuing
her campaign and listening
to the concerns of voters,
including some one-on-
one interactions with peo-
ple as stay-at-home restric-
tions begin to lift. She said
she will continue to be pas-
sionate about fi nding ways
to ease the tax burdens on
Oregonians, and she is hon-
ored to be able to continue
on to November.
“It’s been an incredi-
bly humbling experience
to see how many people
voted, and how many peo-
ple voted for me,” she said.
House District 57
Rep.
Greg
Smith,
R-Heppner, didn’t have a
primary challenger for his
seat representing House
District 57, but he will
face off with a Democratic
opponent in November.
Smith received 99% of
the vote as he ran unop-
posed to keep the seat he
has held for 10 terms after
being elected in November
2000. This is the fi rst time
he has had a Democratic
opponent since 2010.
He will run against
Roland Ruhe, a Democrat
from Irrigon who owns
a construction business.
Ruhe ran unopposed in the
primary.
SENATE DISTRICT 29
Hansell beats primary challenger
Athena senator
receives 92% of the
vote in east win
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — State
Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Ath-
ena, survived a primary
challenge on Tuesday
night, but still has to face
off against a Democratic
challenger in November.
Hansell, who is in
his eighth year of offi ce,
received 92% of the vote
in the Republican primary
against Garison Lee Alger,
a Pendleton carpenter.
On the Democratic side,
Mildred O’Callaghan of
Joseph ran
unopposed,
sweeping
up 97% of
the vote.
Hansell
said
he
Hansell
was “grat-
ifi ed”
by
Tuesday’s wide margin of
victory.
“Whenever you throw
your hat in the ring, you’re
always very pleased when
it’s chosen,” he said.
As he looks forward to
November, Hansell said
he remains focused on
issues surrounding agri-
culture, water, timber and
other natural resources
important to such a heav-
ily agricultural district. He
said he is already hearing
reports of bills planned for
2021 that would “greatly
affect” farmers’ work, and
he is anxious to be able to
address those in the next
legislative session.
He also said he was
pleased to hear of his
former colleague Cliff
Bentz’s victory in the
Republican primary for
Congressional District 2,
and, if both men win in
November, looks forward
to working with him in a
new capacity.
Hansell’s Democratic
challenger, O’Callaghan,
acknowledged Wednesday
that it would be tough for
a Democrat to win District
29, but she said she wanted
to see Democrats provide
more opposition to Repub-
licans in red counties, and
to spark increased voter
turnout for Democrats in
November, when a presi-
dential election is on the
line.
“I was disappointed in
the Democratic turnout,”
O’Callaghan said of Tues-
day’s primary. She added,
“My concern is trying to
get more Democrats to be
energetic in the general.”
She said in the coming
months she will also be
concerned with encourag-
ing businesses in Wallowa
County and the rest of the
district to follow proper
protocols to try to reduce
the spread of COVID-19.
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Sharron Reis, 90, waves from the window of Avamere at
Hermiston during a drive-thru birthday party in her honor
on Tuesday afternoon.
MORROW COUNTY
Bailey Cave, Papineau
advance in treasurer race
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
MORROW COUNTY —
The races for county posi-
tions in Morrow County were
all close on Tuesday night,
meaning top vote-getters will
have to run off against each
other again in November after
failing to receive more than
50% of the vote.
SaBrina Bailey Cave came
in fi rst in the race for trea-
surer, with 30.6% of the vote,
while only 16 votes separate
Jaylene Papineau and Erik
Patton in unoffi cial results
released Tuesday night. Pap-
ineau edged out Patton with
684 votes to his 668, sending
her into a runoff with Bailey
Cave in November.
Bailey Cave, who is run-
ning for offi ce for the fi rst
time, said the experience
has been an educational one,
and she enjoyed waiting for
results on election night.
“It was pretty exciting,”
she said.
Morrow County’s voter
turnout stood at 47% for the
election, but Bailey Cave said
she was disappointed it wasn’t
higher, particularly since sev-
eral races were so close. The
treasurer’s race, which stood
Bailey Cave
Diehl
alone on the back of the ballot
for Democratic ballots, had
more than 300 undervotes —
signifi cantly more than the
other races — and she won-
dered if some voters forgot to
turn over their ballot.
She said she had hoped
that if she didn’t make the
cut to compete in Novem-
ber, Papineau would, so she
is looking forward to a good
race between the two of them.
In the race for judge for
the Morrow County Justice
Court, incumbent Glen Diehl
ended up with 42.2% of the
vote. He will face off in the
November general election
against Theresa Crawford,
who received 39.7%. With a
third-place fi nish at 17.8%,
Kelly Doherty will not be on
the ballot again in November.
Diehl was appointed
as Justice of the Peace in
November 2019 after the
retirement of Judge Annetta
Spicer.
LOCAL BRIEFING
Man charged with
vehicle theft after
turning himself in
IRRIGON — A man
was arrested Monday after
turning himself into the La
Grande Police Department
and confessing to stealing a
vehicle from Western Alfalfa
in Irrigon, according to Mor-
row County Sheriff Ken
Matlack.
The Morrow County
Sheriff’s Offi ce arrested
Gregory Carl Rogers, 46,
and he was arraigned on four
charges, including one count
of second-degree burglary
and one count of unautho-
rized use of a motor vehicle,
which are both felonies.
Rogers is also charged
with second-degree criminal
mischief and trespassing.
Matlack said his depart-
ment was fi rst contacted on
May 16 about a 2014 Chev-
rolet Silverado that was sto-
len from Western Alfalfa on
Patterson Ferry Road.
The next day, Morrow
County was contacted by La
Grande police about a man
who had turned himself in
and confessed to the crime.
Rogers told police he left the
vehicle somewhere on Inter-
state 84 between Ontario
and Huntington, Matlack
said, and Oregon State Police
located the vehicle and are
arranging to return it to the
owners.
Matlack said Rogers
allegedly cut a chain and
damaged a shop door in the
process of the theft.
Rogers is currently being
held at the Umatilla County
Jail in Pendleton on $40,000
bail. He is scheduled to
appear for a probable cause
preliminary hearing on May
26.
Hermiston Budget
Committee meeting
on YouTube Live
HERMISTON — The
Hermiston Budget Com-
mittee will review the city’s
2020-21 proposed budget at
6 p.m. Thursday at the East-
ern Oregon Trade and Event
Center.
The meeting will be
accessible on the city’s You-
Tube channel and through
the Amazon Chime phone
platform.
The budget committee
is responsible for reviewing
the proposed city budget and
making recommendations
to the city council, which
will vote in June on whether
to adopt the budget for the
upcoming fi scal year begin-
ning on July 1.
The proposed budget
includes funding for city
departments and projects.
Once approved, it becomes
the policy document to
implement the goals and
objectives of the elected city
council. State and local pol-
icy requires an annually
balanced operating budget
before funds can be spent.
The city council will
review the proposed bud-
get at its regular meeting on
June 8, and public comment
will be accepted at that time.
To view the proposed budget,
as well as previous budgets,
visit www.hermiston.or.us/
fi nance/budget.
— EO Media Group
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