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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022
FEB RUA
146th Year, No. 50
WINNER OF 16 ONPA AWARDS IN 2021
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INSIDE NORTHWEST MUSICIANS SHARE THEIR MUSIC ‘Litt le
Women’
Idaho Power seeks property access before B2H approval
PA GE 3
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Greg Larkin
has worked for decades to create his
dream retirement spot off the grid
south of Morgan Lake. That dream
could be off the table if proposed
electricity lines are installed on his
property.
Idaho Power Company is
attempting to establish a 500-kilo-
volt line across Eastern Oregon that
would extend approximately 300
miles from Boardman to Heming-
way, Idaho. For locals like Larkin,
the lines present a number of issues
such as lowered property value and
an overall decrease in the serenity
of the land in question.
“The site view with the towers
going across and the static hiss of
the line, I think it will destroy the
peace and tranquility of the lake,”
Larkin said.
And in Larkin’s case, the line
could have serious negative health
repercussions.
As Idaho Power pushes forward
with its plans for the B2H trans-
mission line, the company has
fi led about a dozen civil petitions
in Union County Circuit Court to
gain access to private property in
order to conduct surveys and exam-
inations on the land. The company’s
verbiage in the petitions indicates
that work could begin as early as
2023, if approved.
The sound of silence
Larkin, a native of La Grande,
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Greg Larkin, along with his blue heeler, Killie, on Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022,
stands outside the home he is building on his property near Morgan Lake
Road, La Grande.
Farm bill
provokes
partisan
warfare
PA GE 9
See Access, Page A8
PENDLETON SCHOOL DISTRICT
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — The return of
parliamentary guerilla warfare
in the Oregon Legislature
loomed Tuesday, Feb. 15, with
the return of robotically-read
bills in both the House and
Senate.
The metallic speed-read-
ing female voice is a tool the
majority Democrats have used
to off set the minority Repub-
licans’ use of a constitutional
quirk to require bills be read
in their entirety before final
passage.
The full readings, along with
a boycott to prevent a two-thirds
quorum for the Legislature to
conduct business, has slowed
or stalled sessions in 2019, 2020
and 2021.
Offi cial optimism from both
parties that 2022 would be
diff erent now faces a challenge.
Both chambers had the bill
reading machines going on Feb.
15, as Republicans and Demo-
crats considered their next
moves.
The fragile political peace
threatened to unravel after a
key panel voted Feb. 14 along
party lines to advance a highly
contentious farm labor bill.
The House Business and
Labor Committee approved
House Bill 4002, which would
end exemptions of agricultural
workers from state overtime
pay laws.
See Warfare, Page A8
MIDCO GETS THE BOOT
Ohio company
wins bid despite
having higher off er
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
P
ENDLETON — The Pendleton
School District’s 40-year relation-
ship with Mid Columbia Bus Co.
is coming to an end.
The Pendleton School Board on
Monday, Feb. 14, approved a bid
from First Student, a Cincinnati,
Ohio, school bus company, to take over the
district student transportation services for
the next fi ve years. Midco, the only other
bidder for the contract, was the runner-up.
Michelle Jones, the district’s director of
business services, said this was the fi rst time
Pendleton had put its school bus contract up
for bid. Districts aren’t required to solicit
bidders for transportation contracts, but
Jones said school offi cials felt it was some-
thing they owed their various constituencies.
“I think we have a duty to our stakehold-
ers, to our parents and our students to make
sure that we are providing the best service to
our families,” she said. “And we wanted to
go out to bid to make sure that what we were
off ering was the best that we could do and I
think we found that we couldn’t justify that
Photos by Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
TOP: A Mid Columbia Bus Co. school bus departs Washington Elementary School on Tuesday,
Feb. 15, 2022, in Pendleton. ABOVE: Students exit a Mid Columbia Bus Co. school bus Tuesday,
Feb. 15, 2022, at Pioneer Park in Pendleton. The Pendleton School District’s 40-year relation-
ship with MidCo is coming to an end after the Pendleton School Board on Feb. 14 approved a
bid from an Ohio bus company to take over the district’s bus service.
by just continuing to renew contracts and
we needed to see what else was available
for our families.”
The district on Nov. 17 issued a request
for proposal for its school bus services.
Potential bidders would be evaluated on
their qualifi cations, fi nancial stability and
their service and performance, among other
factors. Following the Jan. 5 bid deadline,
ST. ANTHONY HOSPITAL &
OREGON HEALTH AUTHORITY
NO APPOINTMENT
NEEDED.
ESTIMATED RESULT
TIME 2-4 DAYS
Jones said a panel composed of herself,
Superintendent Chris Fritsch and Matt
Yoshioka, director of curriculum, instruc-
tion and assessment, evaluated the propos-
als.
In the cover letter attached to its bid, First
Student got off to an inauspicious start.
See Midco, Page A8
OPEN TO ALL
WEDNESDAYS
11AM TO 2PM
ST. ANTHONY HOSPITAL
2801 ST ANTHONY WAY - PENDLETON
FREE
C OVID
D RIVE -T HRU
T ESTING
(S ELF A DMINISTERED )
PA GE 13
has owned 160 acres just south of
Morgan Lake since 1974. After
moving back from The Dalles
in the late 1990s, he has spent
countless hours working to build
up the land and create an ideal
retirement location. In addi-
tion, work has been done on the
trees and topography of the land
to make the acreage as silent as
possible.
The silence is impor tant
because Larkin suffers from
tinnitus, a constant ringing in
the ears that makes him sensitive
to buzzing and loud noises. The
crackling and hissing of the B2H
power lines could force the land-
owner into an unlivable situation.