WEEKEND EDITION
Pendleton names swim scholarship after Pete Wells |
SPORTS, B1
APRIL 30 – MAY 1, 2022
146th Year, No. 57
$1.50
WINNER OF 16 ONPA AWARDS IN 2021
CAMPAIGN FINANCE
A homeless man pushes
a grocery cart full of his
possessions across Dorion
Avenue in Pendleton on
April 5, 2022. Local charities
are reporting a struggle to
meet the demands for needs
as the pandemic subsides.
Counting
the dollars
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Umatilla County
commissioner
candidate Bower
leads in spending
By WYATT TEGGINS
East Oregonian
UMATILLA COUNTY —
Candidates running for Umatilla
County commissioner have collec-
tively received $25,500 in contribu-
tions and spent $40,000 on campaign
eff orts.
Nine candidates in all are seek-
ing two seats on the county board.
With less than three weeks until the
May 17 election, Cindy Timmons of
Milton-Freewater leads the group
in fundraising, and Susan Bower of
Pendleton leads in campaign expen-
ditures.
The two are among six candi-
dates seeking the Position 1 seat.
The others are Bob Barton of Herm-
iston, Jesse Bonifer of Athena, David
Nelson of Pendleton and Alvin
Young of Hermiston.
Position 2 Commissioner John
Shafer is running for reelection
against HollyJo Beers and Rick
Pullen, both of Pendleton.
A $5,000 donation April 4 from
the International Union of Paint-
ers and Allied Trades, AFL-CIO,
in Maryland pushed Timmon’s
campaign coff ers to a total of $8,550,
according to ORESTAR, the Oregon
Secretary of State’s website for
campaign fi nance activity.
She explained the union
represents the employees at Marv’s
Glass Shop in Milton-Freewater,
which she and her husband own.
Timmons, who also is a professional
tutor at Blue Mountain Community
College, discussed her gratitude
for the contribution and beliefs in
proper worker education and protec-
tion, referring to career and technical
education programs in high schools
as “the next step in education.”
Timmons so far has spent
$8,827.55 on her campaign, more
than $14,000 less than Bower. So far,
Bower has spent $23,200, more than
every other candidate combined.
But she also has been campaign-
ing for the position since June 2021,
nearly six months before any other
candidate in the race. Bower’s spend-
ing has helped her run a plethora of
Facebook ads, send out several waves
of mailers, host meet-and-greets and
hire a campaign assistant to help with
the process while Bower works full
time managing her small business.
“It’s incredibly important that
every person in the county gets to
know the candidate,” she explained.
Bower said she set a budget of
$30,000 for this election and fully
intends on spending that much.
“I am at a position in my life where
I can make choices,” she said. “I want
See Dollars, Page A9
Local charities struggle
in period of declining
donations, inflation,
supply shortages and
influx of those in need
By JOHN TILLMAN
East Oregonian
H
ERMISTON — Charities
in Northeastern Oregon
are struggling to meet
the needs of an increas-
ing number of clients.
While the pandemic has
subsided, some donations
have declined and prices
soared, amid supply short-
ages.
Mark Gomolski of
Agape House food bank painted the overall
scenario.
“When everything was shut down
during the pandemic, monetary dona-
tions increased,” he said. “Food donations
stayed about the same. Now demand is up
for services. We have very few fresh vege-
tables. Fresh fruit, yes, and bread, but not
vegetables.”
Pendleton’s Salvation Army faces the
same issues.
“During the pandemic, donations went
up, but so did our needs,” Maj. DeWayne
Halstad said. “Now donations have dropped
off . We’re feeding a bit fewer people, but our
costs are way up.”
The Irrigon Emergency Assistance Center
East Oregonian, Flle
Lois Cram, right, stocks shelves at Agape House in Hermiston on April 15, 2020, for the orga-
nization’s backpack program. Now as the pandemic wanes two years later, Agape House and
other local charities report several challenges are making it harder to serve a larger number
of clients.
helps with rent and utilities and fi nding jobs, as
well as providing food. Coordinator Ina Aber-
crombie said need has increased in the area.
“Three-and-a-half months into 2022,
we’ve already spent half as much as in 2021.
This year is going to be tough,” she said.
Lisa Patton of Heppner’s Neighborhood
Center of South Morrow County echoed that.
“Demand has very much increased,” she
said. “The need is great. People suff er sticker
shock at the grocery store.”
Halstad said during the pandemic, The
Salvation Army in Pendleton fed about 150
meals daily.
“Now we’re down to around 105 per day,
with 50 here (105 S.E. Emigrant Ave.) and
55 delivered to elderly and shut-ins. But
prices of supplies don’t come down,” he
said. “For example, to-go containers used
to cost us $20 for 200; now it’s $55 for 200.”
Serving indoors has hurdles as well, he
said, with a need for more staff and with
clients getting into fi ghts and arguments at
the tables.
“We could really use support,” Halstad
concluded. “Especially big, No. 10 canned
goods. We have vegetable shortages. Frozen
hamburger, chicken breasts, stuff like that.
Spaghetti sauce.”
Business changes, problems
also fall on charities
Gomolski said changes in agribusiness
aff ect the Hermiston food bank.
“Bud-Rich Potato was bought out, so it
See Charity, Page A9
Search and rescue teams train in Baker County
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
BAKER COUNTY — The
searchers will clamber over logs and
rock outcroppings and wend their
way between the pines, looking for
someone who isn’t actually lost.
But the status of the “victim” is the
only part of the episode that’s simu-
lated.
Every other aspect of a three-day
training exercise in the forests south-
west of Baker City is to replicate,
as accurately as possible, a real-life
mission in which lives are at stake.
The subject of the search is a
real person — just not one who’s in
danger.
“These are very realistic scenar-
ios,” said Baker County Sheriff Travis
Ash, who is serving as host for the
annual regional training bringing
together search and rescue members
from the 10 counties that comprise
the Eastern Oregon Search and
Rescue group.
Ash said he expects about 60
ties in addition to Baker: Gilliam,
Grant, Harney, Malheur, Morrow,
Umatilla, Union, Wallowa and
Wheeler.
The exercise started Friday,
April 29, and will continue through
“IT IS A REAL SCENARIO WHERE
THEY WILL HAVE TO USE THEIR
SKILLS TO FIND THE PERSON.”
— Travis Ash, Baker County Sheriff
people will gather this weekend at
Union Creek campground, on the
north shore of Phillips Reservoir,
about 17 miles southwest of Baker
City.
They’ll represent nine other coun-
Sunday morning, May 1.
Ash said travelers in the area,
which includes the Union Creek
Road north of Highway 7, should
expect to see offi cial vehicles from
all the participating counties. Signs
announcing the training will be
posted.
He said he doesn’t expect any traf-
fi c delays on Highway 7 itself.
The regional training sites rotate
among the counties, Ash said. Last
year’s exercise took place at Salt
Creek Summit in Wallowa County.
Baker County most recently hosted
the event in 2015.
Union Creek campground, which
is not open to the public for the
season, is an ideal base for the train-
ing, Ash said.
Many of the search and rescue
members will be camping for the
weekend, and Union Creek, rare
among Forest Service facilities,
has campsites with full hookups for
trailers and RVs.
See Training, Page A9