Bilingual basketball camp bridges cultural boundaries | SPORTS, A11
Shadows of children
stretch across the court
Saturday, July 23, 2022,
before practice at the
Bilingual Basketball
Camp at A.C. Houghton
Elementary School in
Irrigon.
Yasser Marte/East Oregonian
TUESDAY, JULY 26, 2022
146th Year, No. 93
$1.50
WINNER OF 16 ONPA AWARDS IN 2021
MORROW COUNTY
Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle
Mayra Colin and her mom at their home in Boardman’s West
Glen neighborhood. Her tap water tested three times the
safe limit for nitrate established by the EPA. She lives in the
house with her parents and three sons.
County waits for
state money to help
with water crisis
By ALEX BAUMHARDT
Oregon Capital Chronicle
BOARDMAN — It’s
been more than two-and-
a-half months since Mayra
Colin found out the water
coming from her kitchen tap
in Boardman contained high
levels of nitrates, which can
cause serious health issues.
She’s still waiting for a
permanent fi x.
“We’re on the list to have a
fi lter installed in the future,”
she said in a text message
on Monday. “We have been
provided with bottled water
and more recently, water jugs
weekly.”
For three months, Morrow
County offi cials have been
testing the tap water of resi-
dents who rely on wells, and
more than a month ago, the
county commission declared
an emergency over the
contamination. The county
is paying for bottled water
deliveries, and a consortium
of area businesses is paying
for reverse-osmosis fi lters for
homeowners in the area.
The state has provided
some help – but no direct
money, county offi cials said.
Jim Doherty, chair of the
Morrow County Board of
Commissioners wants the
state to contribute $4 million
to expand nitrate testing in
the county, pay for reverse
osmosis filter systems and
help fund the digging of new
wells.
That’s how much the state
recently gave to Klamath
County to subsidize the cost
of new wells for homes where
they’ve gone dry.
Regional state lawmakers
told Doherty to wait until a
meeting of the Legislature’s
Emergency Board in Septem-
ber when county offi cials can
request funds.
The contaminated water
comes from the Lower
Umatilla Basin, used by resi-
dents in Umatilla and Morrow
County. It has become
increasingly contaminated
with nitrates during the last
30 years from farm fertilizers,
animal manure and wastewa-
ter from the Port of Morrow
and area food processors.
Water that contains more than
10 parts of nitrates per million
is unsafe to drink, according
to the Federal Environmental
Protection Agency.
Colin’s water tested more
than three times that.
About 1,300 households
rely on private wells in
Morrow County. So far, the
county has tested nearly 270
wells for nitrates, with nearly
half showing high levels,
according to Ana Pineyro,
com mu nicable disease
specialist at the Morrow
County Health Department.
The highest so far has tested
more than six times the EPA
limit. Many people who rely
on wells in Morrow County
are Latino, officials at the
Oregon Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality said.
They’ve largely been
ignored by state and local
lawmakers and officials –
and agencies. State offi cials
do not regulate water quality
in private wells.
At least two state lawmak-
ers have met with leaders at
the Port of Morrow, with
area food processors and
large area farm owners. And
in June, the Eastern Oregon
Economic Summit, spon-
sored by the Port of Morrow,
included a regional water
tour through Morrow and
Phil Wright/East Oregonian
CANNABIS PRICES DROP
Pendleton stores see shift in what people buy
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
P
Yasser Marte/East Oregonian
Top: Budtender Shayla Engstrom completes a sale Sunday, July 24,
2022, at Kind Leaf in Pendleton. Prices of cannabis products have been
trending down statewide compared to last year. Local shops report
they remain busy as customers shift to buying less expensive goods.
Above: Chris Adams, morning supervisor of Thur’s Smoke Shop, Pend-
leton, shows the strands of an indica hybrid on Monday, July 25, 2022.
ENDLETON — Pendleton
cannabis stores are weathering
the latest trend in their indus-
try — declining prices at the
counter.
The Portland Business
Journal has reported the median price
for usable cannabis in Oregon is down
19% from last year. The drop is happen-
ing while infl ation is driving up the
costs of fuel and groceries nationwide.
Brandon Krenzler is co-owner of
Kind Leaf, one of the four cannabis
dispensaries operating in Pendleton.
He said he sees a few factors at play in
the price drop.
“Everyone is spending their
paycheck on food and fuel,” he said.
“When people are spending more on
gas, food, they don’t have as much to
spend on cannabis.”
And then transportation costs, he
said, “are killing everybody.”
Kind Leaf co-owner Erin Purchase
concurred and said it’s not just prices at
the pump and grocery stores that have
been rising, but also utilities are cost-
ing more.
See Cannabis, Page A9
Colorful pipes and bongs are on display Monday,
July 25, 2022, at Thur’s Smoke Shop, Pendleton.
See Water, Page A6
Yasser Marte/East Oregonian