WEEKEND EDITION Pendleton basketball coaches stepping down | SPORTS, B1
APRIL 9 – 10, 2022
146th Year, No. 72
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WINNER OF 16 ONPA AWARDS IN 2021
High gas
prices hit
local public
transit
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
UMATILLA COUNTY — For
public transit agencies across East-
ern Oregon, rising gas prices are a
double-edged sword.
The high global price of oil
means Oregonians are paying an
average of $4.68 per gallon to keep
their vehicles fueled, according to
AAA. While public transportation
agencies in Umatilla and Morrow
counties haven’t yet seen data for
March, they’re starting to see some
anecdotal evidence that residents
might be hopping on a bus more
often to avoid paying the price at
the pump.
J.D. Tovey, who oversees Kayak
Public Transit as the planning direc-
tor for the Confederated Tribes of
the Umatilla Indian Reservation,
said he expects Kayak to see a bump
in March based on an increase in
inquiries about routes and sched-
ules. Pendleton finance director
Linda Carter said she’s noticed
more of her employees have started
riding on the city’s Let’er Bus public
transit instead of driving to work.
It’s a welcome rebound after a
couple of tough years for public
transit. Amid the coronavirus
pandemic, Tovey said Kayak lost
about two-thirds of its ridership
between 2019 and 2020, recover-
ing slightly in 2021 but still nowhere
near pre-pandemic levels.
While some residents might
seek refuge from high gas prices in
public transportation, buses aren’t
shielded from the rising cost of fuel
themselves. Katie Imes, the trans-
portation coordinator for Morrow
County, said her proposed budget
for the next fi scal year will be larger
in anticipation of higher fuel prices.
Carter said the city doesn’t just
cover 100% of the fuel costs asso-
ciated with Let’er Bus, but also
provides reimbursements for its
subsidized taxi ticket program for
disabled and low-income residents.
The city’s taxi ticket contractor,
Elite Taxi, covers its own fuel costs
up to $2 per gallon, but the city is
required to reimburse Elite an addi-
tional 25 cents for every 50 cents
above that $2 threshold.
Tovey said the CTUIR has
explored adding vehicles that run
on electricity or alternative fuels
to its fl eet, but even if the tribes
acquire the vehicles and develop
the infrastructure to sustain them,
they likely would run on Kayak’s
intra-city routes, such as the Herm-
iston Area Regional Transit, which
Kayak operates on behalf of the city
of Hermiston.
Pendleton, Morrow County
and Kayak all run on a fare-free
system, meaning they can’t pass
on increased operational costs
See Transit, Page A7
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
From left, guest Kayla Henshaw talks with Ryan Smith and Shannon Hartley on March 30, 2022, for an edition of their podcast The East-
ern Oregon Connection.
IT’S THE
Local podcast puts
focus on The Eastern
Oregon Connection
TALK P
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
OF THE
TOWN
ENDLETON —
Shannon Hartley
and Ryan Smith are
trying to turn the
art of a small-town
conversation into a
podcast.
The pair of long-
time friends are behind The
Eastern Oregon Connection,
an interview series where Hart-
ley and Smith talk with various
community members about
their life and times.
“We’re celebrating small-
town community,” Smith said
in an interview. “We’re having
conversations with people
to share their stories. It’s not
necessarily one set of people.
These are business owners.
They’re going to be people
involved in charities and local
events that are going on that we
want to talk about.”
The duo have varied profes-
sional and personal histories.
Hartley grew up in Pendle-
ton but only recently returned
after initially leaving for
college. He attended East-
ern Oregon University in La
Grande before transferring to
University of Oregon, where he
did a stint cleaning metalsmith-
ing labs. After graduating from
college, he stuck in Eugene as
an admissions offi cer for Bush-
nell University, a small liberal
arts college. He worked in
marketing for a book publisher
and became a real estate agent
upon his return to Pendleton.
Smith was born in Pend-
leton, raised in Salem and
returned to Pendleton a few
years before graduating high
school. He worked at the
Pepsi bottling plant in Pend-
leton during high school and
transferred to the plant in La
Grande while attending college
at EOU. He graduated with a
degree in business and worked
in accounting before settling
in his job at McLaughlin Land-
scaping.
Both Hartley and Smith
graduated from Pendleton High
School in 2010, and with their
wives acting as best friends,
they stayed connected through
the years.
See Talk, Page A7
PENDLETON CITY COUNCIL
New ‘forward thinking’ candidate joins race
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Pendleton City
Council candidate Addison Schulberg
wasn’t supposed to stay in Pendleton.
When he graduated from Willa-
mette University in 2014, he antici-
pated resettling in Portland like many
of his peers were doing. Instead, he
returned to his hometown of Pendle-
ton.
“I came back with an intent to stay
here for a year and then just kind of
re-fell in love with the town as an
adult, rather than having that kind of
disdain for your hometown as a teen-
ager,” he said.
Since 1980, Schulberg’s parents,
Carol Hanks and Ken Schulberg,
Schulberg said he has strong opin-
have owned and operated the Great
Pacifi c Wine & Coff ee Co. at 403 S. ions about many local issues, but since
Main St. After returning to Pendle- he’s still a layman, he wants to use his
ton, the younger Schulberg became early time on the council to listen and
involved in the family business and learn. He said he’s aligned with the
one day intends to take over
city council’s goals, espe-
the popular restaurant.
cially since he’s encountered
He also now is getting
many of the issues it’s trying
more involved in the city’s
to tackle as a business owner.
civic life.
Take the issue of the lack of
After receiving some
housing in Pendleton. Schul-
encouragement from friends,
berg said he’s losing two good
Schulberg fi led to run for an
employees because their rent
at-large seat on the Pendle-
Schulberg
became too expensive and
ton City Council that’s being
they couldn’t find another
vacated by Councilor Jake Cambier, suitable place to live. He added he was
who declined to run for reelection. excited that Pendleton was becoming
With no one else fi ling to run against an in-demand place to live, point-
Schulberg, he’s all but assured victory ing out that growth at the Pendleton
in the May 17 election.
Unmanned Aerial Systems Range was
bringing new people to town. But he
wanted the city to continue leverag-
ing land and incentives to increase the
housing stock within the city.
Before the pandemic, one of the
more frequent points of discussion
was how the city should respond to a
growing population of unhoused resi-
dents. While there’s been less discus-
sion at the council level in recent
months, it’s not an issue that’s gone
away.
Over the cold weather months,
Schulberg said staff discovered
that two people were sleeping near
the Great Pacifi c doorway at night.
Rather than trying to force them to
vacate, Schulberg said he spoke with
See Candidate, Page A7