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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2022
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146th Year, No. 47
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PORT OF MORROW
Feeling the loss
POM is not
ready to choose
a new director
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
BOARDMAN — The
Port of Morrow is operat-
ing under an administra-
tive team in the wake of the
recent death of its executive
director.
Former port boss Ryan
Neal died Jan. 17 at age
40 after suff ering a heart
attack. Rick Stokoe, pres-
ident of the port’s board
of commissioners, said
Friday, Feb. 4, the port has
no immediate plans to fi ll
the vacancy
“Ryan was a very smart
young man,” Stokoe said.
“He led the port in a very
positive direction, so
the loss that the port has
in losing him has been
extreme.”
Stokoe, who also is the
Boardman chief of police,
said the loss extends beyond
the port; the entire region
is suff ering from losing a
leader who was “very good
at what he did.”
The commissioner said
the passing of Neal has “hit
staff ” as well as people who
benefi ted from Neal’s work
in the community.
“He was an important
leader,” he said of Neal.
“He was very involved in
education. He cared about
education for youth, not to
mention he was a loving
father.”
At the port, according to
Stokoe, there is an admin-
istrative team covering for
the absence of an executive
director. The team members
are experienced, Stokoe
said, and have been able to
manage.
“Ryan was instrumental
in creating a team environ-
ment that keeps the rails on.
And two of those individ-
uals, senior leaders of the
team, have stepped up and
they are fully involved until
we go through a process
(of hiring a new executive
director),” Stokoe said.
See POM, Page A8
Elite Taxi, Uber
drivers allude
to compromise
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — While
there are important details
to hammer out, both sides
in the debate over allow-
ing Uber in Pendleton are
showing a willingness to
compromise.
In January, Pendleton
resident Alicia Reynen
went before the Pend-
leton City Council to
request the city amend its
taxi ordinance to include
ride-hailing companies
such as Uber, which city
law prohibits from operat-
ing within city limits. The
council met Tuesday, Feb.
8, to hear out Reynen some
more but also invited the
owners of Elite Taxi, who
had expressed some oppo-
sition to the proposal.
Reynen recapped some
of the points she made
from the January meet-
ing, including the need
for more transportation
options in the city and the
potential customers it could
service. She also said there
are communities where
Uber and traditional taxi
companies have coexisted
and suggested the council
adopt a six-month or year-
long trial period to see if it’s
feasible.
“A g reat major it y
of the community has
commented, reviewed and
(written) letters on all the
concerns with the options
currently off ered,” she said,
“and there should be suffi -
cient evidence to suggest
that Elite Taxi is no longer
able to keep up the great
demand and additional
service should be consid-
ered to fi ll these voids.”
Reynen said she already
knew a group of driv-
ers willing to commit to
Uber, but Councilor Dale
POWER PLAY
PA G E 8
Idaho Power
goes to courts
to gain access to
private property
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
R
ic h a r d a n d
Jean Hemphill
can look out
the window of
their Pilot Rock
home and see where massive
towers will stand and carry
the Boardman to Heming-
way transmission line.
Those towers will stand
100-140 feet tall, accord-
ing to Idaho Power Co., the
primary force behind the
500-kilovolt line that would
stretch almost 300 miles
from a substation in south-
western Idaho to Boardman.
The Hemphills traced
the route with their hands.
They said they felt bad about
a line they believe will mar
the beauty of the area.
“I love it,” Jean Hemphill
said. “In the summertime,
I sit out on the deck in the
evenings and enjoy this
beautiful view all the way
around. I’m always sorry
when winter comes and
I can’t do that anymore. I
truly love it.”
She and her husband are
the respondents in a peti-
tion for precondemnation
that attorneys for Idaho
Power fi led. The petition,
if a judges grants it, would
allow Idaho Power to enter
and survey their property.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Jean Hemphill fl ips through a folder of information on the
Boardman to Hemingway transmission line Wednesday,
Feb. 2, 2022, at her home near Pilot Rock.
they said their own view has
changed little, by compar-
ison, since they moved in
roughly half a century ago.
The region means a great
deal to them, they said. Both
Hemphills trace their family
tree to ancestors who farmed
the land with their hands.
The land also is mean-
ingful to the Hemphills
because of their dreams for
the future.
“My granddaughter’s
starting a sheep herd,” Jean
Hemphill said. She said it
would be nice to have this
land available for her grand-
daughter and future gener-
ations.
Idaho Power claims
surveys necessary
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Richard Hemphill on Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022, indicates
where the Boardman to Hemingway transmission line will
cut across his property near Pilot Rock.
The petition is one of
seven Idaho Power fi led in
Umatilla County to gain
access to private property,
according to state court
filings. The company has
fi led six petitions in Morrow
County and about two dozen
more in Malheur, Baker and
Union counties.
Jean Hemphill said her
family moved to a nearby
property in 1942, and she
has lived there all of her
life. She and her husband
moved into their home after
its construction in the early
1970s.
“For us, who have lived
here all our lives, we cher-
ish our lands and our views,”
Jean Hemphill said.
While many areas nearby
have grown a great deal,
Sven Berg is Idaho
Powe r’s c om mu n ica-
tions specialist. He said
permitting on the project
will conclude sometime
this year, and geotechni-
cal, cultural and biological
surveys are underway now.
These surveys will reveal
important information, he
said, such as area wildlife
and archaeological sites.
“We’re working with
landowners along the route
to try to negotiate rights of
entry to their property and
easements,” he said.
These easements would
give Idaho Power and its
partner on B2H, Pacifi Corp,
rights to land use on proper-
ties where they may some-
day build a structure, Berg
explained.
He said there are 98
parcels that 47 landowners
own where the companies
See Power, Page A8
The setting sun silhouettes transmission lines Thursday,
Feb. 3, 2022, near the future starting point for the 290-mile
Boardman to Hemingway transmission line in Boardman.
See Drivewrs, Page A8
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Pendleton gets Sears Hometown Store
Appliance store
to move into old
J.C. Penney Co.
building
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — One
legacy department store
brand name will replace
another in downtown Pend-
leton following a nearly fi ve-
year gap.
Charles Denight, the asso-
ciate director of the Pendleton
Development Commission,
confirmed Sears Home-
town Store, a spinoff of the
national department store
chain that focuses on appli-
ances, tools, mattresses and
other home goods, is moving
into the space at 124 S. Main
St., which has been vacant
since J.C. Penney Co. closed
the retail space in 2017.
Several washing machines
now are visible from the main
entrance, although no one
appeared to be in the building
during the late morning or
mid-afternoon Monday, Feb.
7. Sears Hometown already
is advertising four part-time
positions online.
Denight said the new
Sears Hometown store could
increase foot traffi c on a part
of Main Street that has had
several empty storefronts in
recent years. Following J.C.
Penney’s closure, two neigh-
boring businesses — Wicked
Kitty Tattoo and Piercing
and Mosa — also shut down.
At 41,000 square feet, the
former J.C. Penney space
is much larger than most
retail and restaurant spaces
on Main Street. Before the
Hometown moved, Denight
said he had talked with the
building owners about fi ll-
ing the space with multiple
vendors.
But with a future tenant
now set, Pendleton residents
soon will get their fi rst look
at Sears Hometown, a much
diff erent store than the main
chain of Sears department
stores. Sears Hometown
was spunoff from the main
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Appliances sit inside the new location of the Sears Hometown
Store on Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022, in downtown Pendleton. The
location was the former home to J.C. Penney Co. until 2017.
company in 2012 before
Transformco, Sears’ parent
company, acquired Home-
town and reunited the brands
in 2019. In 2021, there were
about 312 Hometown stores
across the country, mostly in
rural areas and most oper-
ated by independent contrac-
tors, according to the White
See Sears, Page A8