REGION
Saturday, July 9, 2022
Full morning for a senator
Ron Wyden visits
Umatilla County,
discuss veteran
aff airs, drones,
Latino issues
By ANTONIO
ARREDONDO
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Oregon
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden on
Thursday, July 7, highlighted
the move to block certain
changes at the Veterans
Aff airs clinic in Walla Walla.
Wyden was on a swing
through Umatilla County and
also visited the Hermiston
Hispanic Advisory Commit-
tee and learned more about
the Pendleton Unmanned
Aerial Systems Range.
Wyden held a press
conference in the morn-
ing at the Oregon National
Guard Aviation Facility
at the airport in Pendleton
to discuss the VA’s Asset
and Infrastructure Review
Commission’s proposals to
reclassify the Walla Walla
veterans facility as a commu-
nity-based outpatient clinic
and move its 31-bed residen-
tial rehabilitation treatment
program 180 miles north
of Walla Walla to Spokane.
That proposal would have
caused Eastern Oregon veter-
ans to have to drive 180 miles
to Spokane for other care.
“I’m also a veteran,”
Pendleton Mayor John
Turner said, “and I use the
VA in Walla Walla all the
time, and I know that there
are hundreds of veterans in
Oregon who do the same.”
Wyden recently held town
halls for Eastern Oregon
veterans, their families and
veterans service providers to
ask top VA offi cials about the
proposals to change the Jona-
than M. Wainwright Memo-
rial VA Medical Center in
Walla Walla. In the end, a
bipartisan Senate committee,
including Wyden, blocked
the commission, securing the
Walla Walla center for years
to come.
Ken McCormack, chair
for the Veterans Advi-
sory Council in La Grande,
covered some of the staff -
ing issues the VA has faced,
a problem Wyden said he
would look into.
“I want to pledge today
that I will keep watchdog-
ging this issue on behalf of
rural veterans,” Wyden said,
Yasser Marte/East Oregonian
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden speaks Thursday, July 7, 2022, at the Oregon National Guard Aviation
Facility in Pendelton.
“because I know that there
are a lot of questions.”
Pendleton
UAS Range
Wyden headed to the
nearby Eastern Oregon
Regional Airport for a meet-
ing to discuss drone testing
and its economic impact on
the airport.
Wyden remarked he was
shocked when driving in,
noting the newly-built Radis-
son Hotel. It’s certainly a far
cry from what the airport
used to be, a sentiment
Steve Chrisman, Pendle-
ton economic development
director and interim airport
manager, agreed with.
“The airport was dying,
there was no hope in gener-
ating operations,” Chrisman
said.
Chrisman estimates Pend-
leton’s UAS range is one of
the best in the nation, and the
burgeoning work at the range
is driving the construction of
the Raddison and more.
The drone tech is some-
thing that interests Wyden.
“I am a privacy hawk,”
he said, “I think we’ve seen
the needs for some of that
recently, but part of privacy
policy is not freezing tech-
nology out, but about how
we use technology.”
The technology not only
has increased airport reve-
nue, it also increased inter-
est. Sitting next to the senator
and local offi cials were four
interns — recent Pendleton
High graduates interested in
the program.
With all that interest
comes some complication.
“It’s all about the red
tape,” UAS pilot and instruc-
tor Michael Avery said. ”If it
wasn’t for the (certifi cates of
waiver or authorization) with
the UAS, we wouldn’t be able
to get off the ground.”
Addressing
cultural gaps
That meeting concluded a
busy day for Wyden in East-
ern Oregon, which began
at 8:30 that morning with a
meeting with the Hermiston
Hispanic Advisory Coun-
cil at the Hermiston Public
Library.
“There’s a lot of hate in the
world towards immigrants
right now,” City Councilor
Maria Duron told Wyden.
“About how we’re here to
take other people’s jobs. I
would like for that to turn
around.”
Wyden used the meeting
as one to build ideas, aiming
to work with the commit-
tee to solve problems. He
suggested designating Duron
as someone who could fi nd
immigrant success stories to
tell.
Other issues also arose.
Some Hermiston Latino
residents may not understand
how to fi le taxes and delegate
that task to their children.
“The children end up
educating their parents and
play a third parent role,” City
Councilor Roy Barron said,
“We want the next generation
to be successful and balance
those roles.”
Mark Gomolski, vice-
chair of the committee as
well as the executive direc-
tor for Agape House food
bank, raised concerns about
food access. While Agape
House receives food from
several vendors, it gets very
little Hispanic food. Gomol-
ski often has to travel to fi elds
to distribute what little rice
and beans he has.
Wyden agreed with most
of the points made and chal-
lenged the group to take the
next step.
“We need to start talking
about what the legislative
steps are,” Wyden said. “I
don’t think we can recreate
a big bill right now, I don’t
think we can, but we ought
to get started.”
After an hour, Wyden
closed the meeting with the
committee by offering his
support. As a child of immi-
grant parents who escaped
the Nazis from Germany, he
related to many of the issues
that the Hermiston Latino
community is still dealing
with today, including Duron’s
point made at the beginning
of the discussion.
“A lot of people are angry
about immigration, but they
forget where they come from,”
Wyden said. “Unless you are
Native American, you are part
of the immigrant experience
like the Wyden family.”
UMATILLA COUNTY
Commissioners OK election banning psilocybin
By JOHN TILLMAN
East Oregonian
PEN DLETON
—
Umatilla County voters get
to decide in November if they
want to prohibit psilocybin
businesses.
The county board of
commissioners at its meeting
Wednesday, July 6, in Pend-
leton voted to place a county
law on the November general
election ballot to ban psilo-
cybin manufacturing and
service centers.
“I passionately move to
adopt Ordinance No. 2022-
08,” Commissioner Dan
Dorran said.
Commissioner George
Murdock “passionately”
seconded the motion.
The motion passed 3-0.
Psilocybin is an hallu-
cinogenic alkaloid in some
toadstool mushrooms, the
spore-bearing, fruiting body
of a fungus. Oregon voters
in November 2020 approved
Ballot Measure 109, the
Oregon Psilocybin Service
Act, which allowed for the
manufacture, delivery and
administration of psilocybin
at licensed facilities.
Peter Dejong/The Associated Press, File
Umatilla County Board of Commissioners are letting vot-
ers decide in November if they want to prohibit psilocybin
businesses. This photo from Aug. 3, 2007, shows psilocybin
mushrooms in a grow room in the Netherlands.
The vote in Umatilla
County was strongly in oppo-
sition to the state measure,
with 64% against and 36%
in favor. The county board at
its June 29 meeting expressed
its desire to have local voters
decide whether to allow
psilocybin manufacturing
and centers in the county.
Staff drafted an ordinance to
implement a ban and refer the
matter to the voters.
Under Measure 109, the
Oregon Health Authority
regulates the manufacturing,
transportation, delivery, sale
and purchase of psilocybin
products and the provision of
services for the psychoactive
drug in the state. OHA initi-
ated a rule-making process to
implement the state’s psilo-
cybin regulatory program
and intends to begin accept-
ing applications for related
licenses on Jan. 2, 2023,
according to the board.
OHA by July 6 had not
completed the rule-making
process for implementing
the state’s psilocybin regu-
latory program. The county
board was uncertain how the
manufacture, delivery and
administration of psilocybin
at licensed facilities would
operate within the county.
Me a s u r e 10 9 a l s o
provided the governing body
of a county or city may adopt
an ordinance to be referred to
the electors of the jurisdiction
prohibiting the establishment
of state licensed psilocybin
product manufacturers and
service centers in the area
subject to the local govern-
ment.
Based on Umatilla County
voters’ rejection of Ballot
Measure 109, commissioners
sought to let voters decide the
question of establishing a ban
on state-licensed psilocybin
product manufacturers and
service centers within the
unincorporated areas of the
county.
The county board unan-
imously adopted the ordi-
nance, deeming it necessary
for the immediate preserva-
tion of public peace, health
and safety.
If voters approve it Nov. 8,
the county law would go into
eff ect 30 days after.
East Oregonian
A3
LOCAL BRIEFING
May, June were
the wettest of this
century
PE N DLETON —
Almost twice as much rain
fell in April, May and June
in Pendleton as the 30-year
normal for those months,
1991 to 2020, according to
National Weather Service
records.
In January, February and
March, the region still was
in drought, with 3.60 inches
of precipitation at Pendle-
ton, versus the normal of
4.04. But a deluge fell in
April, May and June, with
7.22 inches of rain, 1.95
times the norm of 3.71.
June was the wettest of
this century in Pendleton, at
2.16 inches of precipitation.
It barely beat June 2017,
when 2.15 inches of rain fell.
May also set a record for
this century, at 3.04 inches,
versus 2.97 in 2010. April
2010 and 2012 were soggier,
at 2.04 and 2.50 inches, than
this year’s 2.02.
The rainiest May since
1894 occurred in 1906,
when 3.36 inches fell. The
record for June was set at
2.90 inches in 1923. The
accuracy of early weather
records at Pendleton has
been challenged, however.
Pendleton renews
convention center
catering contract
PENDLETON — Food
service at the Pendleton
Convention Center is set
for the next three years, but
that could turn into a nine-
year run for the Pendleton
Catering Co.
The Pendleton City
Council at its meeting on
Tuesday, July 5, approved a
new contract with Pendle-
ton Catering to provide food
and drink service for the
convention center. Accord-
ing to a statement from Pat
Beard, convention center
manager, the new three-year
contract ends June 21, 2025,
and the city can extend it
twice after that date, poten-
tially giving the company a
nine-year deal.
Pendleton Catering Co.
began in 2018 and took
over the food service and
catering contract at the
convention center in 2021
for one year. Since then,
the company has broken
every sales record the center
tracks: most gross sales in
a month, most off site sales
in a month and most alcohol
receipts in a month.
Beard said he expected
the business this year to
surpass the annual sales
record of $500,000.
Per the terms of the
contract, Pendleton Cater-
ing collects 15% commis-
sion on in-house catered
events and 5% off site.
Hermiston city
councilor earns
spot on ODC
HERMISTON — Herm-
iston City Councilor Nancy
Peterson recently took a seat
on the Oregon Disabilities
Commission.
The ODC is a gover-
nor-appointed commission
housed in the Department of
Human Services. Peterson
will be one of 15 members
of the commission, which
aims to identify and hear the
needs of Oregon’s disabled
individuals and prioritize
public policy that should be
addressed.
“You know all of the
lobbyists for companies that
come to the government and
talk about their company?”
Peterson said. “Well, we
are the lobbyist groups on
behalf of the public.”
Most of the members
of the ODC have disabil-
ities; Peterson is a non-bi-
nary disabled person. Along
with their work on the city
council and now the disabil-
ities commission, Peterson
also works for Columbia
Basin College as a disabil-
ity services accessibility
specialist.
Pe t e r-
son has
been
a
member of
the Herm-
iston City
C o u n -
cil since
Peterson
winning
an election in 2020 and has
a long history of diversity
rights activism, advocating
for many disabled people.
“Government is not
about wearing a tie or sweat-
ers,” Peterson said, ”it’s
about letting people know
which road to walk on — or
in my case, roll on — to get
the job done.”
If you are interested
in joining one of the 250
commissions available
in the state of Oregon, go
to www.oregon.gov/gov/
Pages/board-list.aspx.
Umatilla County
burn ban to
start Thursday
PE N DLETON —
Umatilla County’s burn ban
begins Thursday, July 14,
the board of commissioners
decided at its July 6 meet-
ing.
The unusually wet
spring left conditions about
a month behind last year,
county Planning Director
Bob Waldher reported.
Airport passenger
traffi c up 32% in
fi rst half of 2022
PENDLETON — Air
travel at Eastern Oregon
Regional Airport, Pendle-
ton, was up in the fi rst half
of this year compared to
last.
Departing and arriv-
ing passengers were higher
every month in 2022 than
in 2021 Enplanements were
up 31.6% and deplane-
ments were up 32.5% for the
six-month period, according
to data from the city.
There were no delayed
or canceled fl ights during
the Fourth of July week-
end, according to Boutique
Air’s records, despite wide-
spread chaos in the national
air transport system.
Steve Chrisman, Pendle-
ton economic development
director and interim airport
manager, Erica Stewart,
administrative specialist,
reported Boutique in 2021
had 4,108 boardings and
3,994 disembarkations.
The fi rst six months of last
year saw 1,725 passengers
deplane and 1,803 board.
In the fi rst half of this year,
2,372 passengers departed
and 2,285 arrived.
Former airport manager
John Honneman provided
fi gures for previous years
of Boutique’s service. The
eff ect of the pandemic on
fl ights is dramatic, crash-
ing from 561 boardings in
January 2020 to 58 in April.
Passenger numbers
have not yet recovered to
their pre-pandemic peak
of 642 enplanements in
October 2019. That year,
6,763 passengers boarded.
Enplanements fell to 3,565
in 2020, then rose to 4,108 in
2021. If the trend for the fi rst
half of this year continues,
2022 could register more
than 5,400 boardings.
— EO Media Group
Kids ages 4-7 years weighing 55 lbs. or less
24 contestants will be chosen from a blind draw
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1705 E Airport Rd
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July 14, 2022
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