WEEKEND EDITION
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Costumed children line up Friday, Oct. 29, 2021,
along East Main Street in Hermiston for Treats
on Main in celebration of Halloween.
OCTOBER 30-31, 2021
146th Year, No.
Dollar stores
come to area
in droves
Pilot Rock sees
uptick in businesses
as two dollar stores
move to open
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PILOT ROCK — Pilot Rock,
which lost 11% of its population
in the last census, also is the
hottest market for dollar stores
in Umatilla County
On Tuesday, Oct. 26, local
offi cials and other people asso-
ciated with the project gripped
their shovels and grinned for the
camera during a groundbreak-
ing ceremony near 241 S.W.
Fourth St. Eyes North Corp. of
Chicago will build the store and
then lease it to the Family Dollar
chain of dollar stores.
At a reception at the old
Pilot Rock schoolhouse next
door, Eyes North President
Randy Coakley said national
dollar store chains realized
Oregon was an untapped
market and began expanding
accordingly. Coakley said his
company is working on dollar
stores in Oregon locations as
far flung as Lakeview and Port
Orford.
Dollar store chains seemed
to have taken a special interest
in Umatilla and Morrow coun-
ties. When the Family Dollar
in Pilot Rock is completed next
year, it will complement its other
location in Boardman. Family
Dollar’s competitor, Dollar
General, has been even more
aggressive in the area. Dollar
General intends to replace Pilot
Rock’s old hardware store with
a dollar store on top of the stores
its already built or in the process
of developing in Hermiston,
Umatilla, Milton-Freewater,
Irrigon and Heppner.
With the exception of Herm-
iston, all of the new dollar stores
are going in towns with less than
10,000 people. Despite only
having 1,328 people, the small-
est population in the bunch, Pilot
Rock is getting both dollar store
chains.
While dollar stores are rela-
tively new to the region, their
decision to heavily populate
Eastern Oregon is well within
their previous expansion
patterns.
See Stores, Page A10
$1.50
WINNER OF 16 ONPA AWARDS IN 2021
PUMPKIN
PICKING
TRADITION
Moving
on out
Rocky Heights Elementary School
kindergartener Ruby, 5, carries a
pumpkin Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021,
during a class trip to Bellinger Farms’
pumpkin patch in Hermiston.
other candy. Her sister, Mia, said
she was also excited about the
season. She likes scary things,
she said.
Witches, according to Mia,
are the scariest.
See Pumpkins, Page A10
See Police, Page A10
Photos by Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Local youths enjoy a
bit of normalcy with
fun at Hermiston’s
Bellinger Farms
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
Rocky Heights Elementary School kindergartener Ema, 5, strug-
gles to pick up a pumpkin Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021, at the Bellinger
Farms pumpkin patch in Hermiston.
an actual Halloween season with
activities, family members said.
After she picked out her
pumpkin, Mallory said she was
happy and was looking forward
to trick-or-treating later in
the week. She was especially
excited for Sour Patch Kids and
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
MILTON-FREEWATER — For nearly
a century, the Milton-Freewater Police
Department operated out of a basement.
Now the department is getting its version
of an extreme home makeover.
The city went out for a $7.7 million bond
for a new department, which passed in May
with 403 people voting for and 241 voting
against. If all goes well, city offi cials plan
to go out for a construction bid this spring,
with the hope construction will begin next
summer.
For decades, the department’s nearly
20 employees have moved
through a crammed maze
below city hall. The depart-
ment is nearly windowless.
Spiders crawl up the door
frames. Chains and hand-
cuff s sit atop tiny benches
with chipped paint. A
small sink, refrigerator, Boedigheimer
microwave and Keurig in
a hallway comprise the “break area.”
The department keeps evidence in two
small places: filing cabinets and a safe
that looks like it’s from an old-school
bank.
“I could break into one of those
with a paperclip,” Police Chief Doug
Boedigheimer said.
Boxes and shelves overfl owing with
documents make the halls feel claustro-
phobic.
And there is little to no private space
where police can interview victims of seri-
ous crimes. Police sometimes interview
people on the three small chairs sitting
in the lobby beside a drug drop-off box,
Boedigheimer said.
“There have been times where someone
has come in and wanted to talk to an offi -
cer, they’re out there waiting for the offi -
cer, and they just leave because they see
where they’re going to be talking,” said
Boedigheimer, who added: “On those
really sensitive crimes like sexual assault,
it’s a huge issue.”
The air in the department is stuff y. The
department becomes uncomfortably cold
in the winter and hot in the summer, city
offi cials said. During one winter storm,
water drained into the basement, turning
the department’s carpet fl oor into one big
sponge.
Pumpkins sit in a bin at the Bellinger Farms pumpkin patch Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021, as students from
Rocky Heights Elementary School line up for a hay ride.
HERMISTON — Dressed
as a pair of mermaid princesses,
5-year-old kindergarteners Mia
and Mallory Martin were among
60 Rocky Heights Elementary
School students who took a
fi eld trip Thursday, Oct. 28, for
hayrides and pumpkin picking.
The Hermiston children
and their classmates went to
the pumpkin patch at Bell-
inger Farms off Highway 395
on the south end of Hermiston.
Throughout October, children
from local towns have been
enjoying the same fi eld trip.
For the Martin girls, twins,
they were happy about having
Milton-Freewater
police to exit basement
with new department
Pendleton explains why some streets remain under construction
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Well into
the fall season, some of Pend-
leton’s worst streets went from
bad to impassible.
It wasn’t from a lack of
trying from the city. — the city
allocated $2.2 million to street
work this year plus another
$1.3 million from the urban
renewal district for street
repair projects. But many of the
big repairs that were supposed
to be done by now are still torn
up mid-project, a trend the city
attributes to multiple contrac-
tors, shallow natural gas lines
and a misunderstanding over
construction schedules.
On Thursday, Oct. 28,
the city put out a press
release explaining why street
construction was delayed
before adding the city was
considering assessing damages
against one of the contractors.
“Currently, several roads
have been under construction
for a few months, causing frus-
tration for residents and trav-
elers,” the press release states.
In an interview, Commu-
nity Development Director
Tim Simons said one of the
most signifi cant impediments
to street construction this year
was natural gas lines. Unlike
crack sealing or an asphalt
overlay, fixing a poor-qual-
ity road requires some exca-
vation so that work crews can
completely replace the street.
Prior to staring the street
projects, Simons said city of
Pendleton officials met with
representatives from Cascade
Natural Gas to determine
whether the gas lines needed to
be repaired or would come into
confl ict with the various paving
contracts around town. Accord-
ing to Simons, Cascade assured
the city the lines didn’t need to be
replaced and should be buried 30
inches deep in accordance with
the company’s standards.
But when contractors
started digging up Northwest
10th Street, they discovered
the gas line was only about 10
inches deep and needed to be
buried deeper. The 10th Street
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
project halted as Cascade
brought in their own contrac- A road closed sign sits at the intersection of Southwest
Seventh Street and Southwest Dorion Avenue in Pend-
tors to work on the line.
leton on Friday, Oct. 29, 2021. The street is among sever-
See Roads, Page A10 al in the process of receiving updates.