NEWS
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
HeRMIsTOnHeRald.COM • A3
Economist talks growth at regional summit
By ANTONIO SIERRA
STAFF WRITER
Two emerging employers
in Eastern Oregon sought
to either fulfill or defy the
region’s economic projec-
tions Friday.
As a part of a presenta-
tion during the inaugural
Eastern Oregon Economic
Summit in Hermiston, Chris
Rich, a regional economist
for the Oregon Employ-
ment Department, explained
to a room full of local busi-
ness leaders and govern-
ment officials at Hermiston
High School how Eastern
Oregon (which the state
defines as Baker, Grant,
Harney, Malheur, Morrow,
Umatilla, Union, and Wal-
lowa counties) was trending
economically.
The employment depart-
ment looked at various
industries in the region and
projected where they would
be through 2027. They pre-
dict that there will be 7,500
jobs added to the economy
during that time, and nearly
nine out of 10 of those jobs
will come from the private
sector. Health services was
expected to see the biggest
increase, followed by trans-
portation, warehousing, and
utilities. Other growth indus-
tries include construction,
manufacturing, and leisure
and hospitality.
“Is that growth outra-
geous?” Rich said. “It’s actu-
ally a little tame.”
staff photo by Kathy aney
Business leaders from around the state gathered Friday for the Eastern Oregon Economic
Summit at Hermiston High School.
At left, Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, speaks Friday during a Legislative panel at the economic
summit. At right, Rep. Greg Smith, R-Heppner, responds to a question during the summit at
Hermiston High School. Smith is flanked by Rep. Lynn Findley, R-Vale, and Rep. Dan Rayfield,
D-Corvallis.
He then flipped to a slide
that showed that many of the
anticipated growth industries
had shown more dramatic
growth from 2007 to now
than their future projections.
Eastern Oregon has come
a long way from the reces-
sion, when unemployment
peaked at 7.9% and more
than a third of the region’s
unemployed were without
work long term. Unemploy-
ment has now fallen to 5.1%
and long-term unemploy-
ment has been cut in half.
With the economy recov-
ered, representatives from
the lumber and drone indus-
try highlighted their fields.
Lindsay Warness, the
safety and environmen-
tal manager for Woodgrain
Millwork, a Fruitland, Idaho,
wood products manufacturer
that recently bought lum-
ber mills in Pilot Rock and
La Grande, said she thought
Woodgrain could play a role
in the projected growth in the
manufacturing sector.
“It’s dirty work, but
there’s a lot of satisfaction
and we get a lot done at the
end of the day,” she said.
Warness said the North-
east Oregon timber industry
has been hit hard by environ-
mental regulations, losing
1,800 jobs since 1997.
While the state’s employ-
ment department didn’t
anticipate much growth
in the region’s tech indus-
try, Ken Bisconer, the West
Coast director of flight oper-
ations for PAE ISR, a Vir-
ginia-based defense con-
tractor that tests its Resolute
Eagle drone at the Pendleton
Unmanned Aerial Systems
Range, was optimistic that
PAE and its growing work-
force would prove the pro-
jection wrong.
Bisconer said most of the
people he works worth are
ex-military, but he’d like to
recruit more people outside
the armed forces by training
students in high school and
Blue Mountain Community
College.
“It’s a job you can hang
your hat on,” he said. “It’s a
retirement job.”
Bisconer estimated that
his employees contribute a
total of $80,000 to $100,000
to Pendleton per month, and
they could continue to do so
as PAE prepares to bid on
several nine- and 10-figure
government contracts.
One area of the Eastern
Oregon economy that isn’t
seeing growth is the number
of young and middle-aged
workers.
“As a share of the work-
force, we’re seeing a loss of
the 45- to 54-year-olds in
Eastern Oregon. That cor-
responds with changes in
population as well,” Rich
said. “We’re seeing older
age groups work longer, but
we’re seeing a drop in the
younger age groups.”
While Rich said his pre-
sentation just scratched the
surface of the data at the
employment department’s
disposal, he made his pitch
in front of an influential
crowd.
In addition to govern-
ment officials and business
leaders, the audience for
the daylong summit eventu-
ally swelled to include sev-
eral legislators, the Oregon
state treasurer, and former
congressional
candidate
Jamie
McLeod-Skinner.
Panels during the event
included topics such as
water, infrastructure, hous-
ing, broadband and business
recruitment.
Police investigating death
after man’s body found
By PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER
Contributed photo by Bernie sanderson
Smoke billows from a fire that closed Highway 395 on Saturday and burned multiple structures.
Fire burns vehicles, two homes
A grass fire along High-
way 395 in Hermiston
burned several vehicles
and two homes on Saturday
morning.
Umatilla County Fire
District 1 was first to
respond to the blaze, which
was between Theater Lane
and Punkin Center Road,
shortly after 10 a.m. The
fire was under control by
1:40 p.m. Umatilla, Irrigon,
Boardman and Pilot Rock
rural fire protection districts
offered mutual aid.
Umatilla County Fire
District Chief Scott Stan-
ton said the fire was likely
caused by an illegal burn on
a nearby property.
“When it’s hot and
windy like that the prob-
ability of an ignition is up
to 90 to 100%,” he said.
“That’s why we have the
burning season closure.”
Stanton said firefight-
ers faced access problems
when trying to contain the
fire as it spread from one
residence to another.
The fire caused closures
on Highway 395 for sev-
eral hours. No major inju-
ries were reported, but the
department did report two
“minor medical issues”
resulting from the inci-
dent. According to a Face-
book post by UCFD1, Lt.
Jeremy Gillette, who was
off duty at the time, was
driving past when the fire
first started and was able to
evacuate a disabled resident
who would not have been
able to leave on her own.
The fire district also put
out a tractor and grass fire
that was reported shortly
before 5:30 p.m. Sunday on
Brown Lane near East Loop
Road in Hermiston.
The cause is under
investigation, and Stanton
said that the fire district is
unsure whether the fire ini-
tiated on the tractor, or on
the surrounding land.
The fire district also
responded to a railroad fire
shortly after 1 a.m. Mon-
day near Cascade Street in
Hermiston. Stanton said it
appeared that several rail-
road ties had caught fire.
and the fire was contained.
Edmiston added that
likely will take place early
next week.
Smith also said he had a
probation violation hearing
earlier that day, but the judge
postponed the sentencing so
he could present evidence he
was following the probation
requirements. If the judge
had not postponed the hear-
ing, Smith said, he would
have been in jail for 30 days
and not have found the body.
Hermiston police are
investigating the death of a
man after a transient discov-
ered the body.
Brandon Smith said he
is homeless and late Fri-
day was walking the edge of
the One Stop Mart at 1050
S. Highway 395, Herm-
iston, looking for cans or
loose cash when he passed
the air machine at the ser-
vice station and headed up a
small path to the back of the
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Hermiston police Chief
Jason Edmiston confirmed
officers at approximately
10:50 p.m. responded to that
call and found the body in a
thicket of shrubs.
“The
34-year
old
deceased male has been
identified,” Edmiston stated,
“but due to the state of
decomposition, our agency
is withholding additional
information from public
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