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A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
Shearer’s
Continued from A1
the Oregon Food Bank supplied
the food for the employees.
Large pallets of food lined the
west end of the building going
around to the east end on March 4,
Gomolski said. The Shearer work-
ers arrived at the Agape House,
opened their vehicles and had them
filled, he said.
There were 35 volunteers,
Gomolski said, and seven of the
volunteers came from Shearer’s.
The event, which was 8 a.m.
to 2 p.m., provided food to 127
Shearer’s families, he said. Many
of these people seemed very upset,
Gomolski said.
“There were people crying as they
were getting food here,” he said.
Gomolski said there is a possi-
bility of holding another food drive
in April.
Job fair coming next week
Since the start of the fire, local
government has been in communi-
cation with Shearer’s to see what can
be done. Mark Morgan, Hermiston
assistant city manager, is one of those
officials who has expressed a desire
to help.
“We’ve been in coordination
with the Shearer’s folks, as well as
all of our other partners here on the
state, local and federal level,” he
said.
Morgan said the city has been
working with the Hermiston Cham-
ber of Commerce on its planned
job fair.
He said planning for the fair
was delayed while waiting to find
out whether Shearer’s would hold
onto its employees and rebuild.
Now that Shearer’s released those
employees, the city and the cham-
ber is pushing forward with the job
fair.
“I’ve been in touch with all the
wonderful companies in Hermis-
ton,” Val Hoxie, executive director
of the Hermiston Chamber of Com-
merce, said, as she helped organize
the fair.
On the afternoon of March 8, she
said 14 employers confirmed partic-
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2022
“There are some really large com-
panies out there that are literally beg-
ging for employees,” he said.
He said the misfortune of losing
jobs could become opportunities for
people to find something new and
better.
Hermiston looks to the future
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
The wreckage of Shearer’s Food in Hermiston has been shifted some
by March 9, 2022. More work needs to be done for a full investigation,
however, according to the state fire marshal’s office.
ipation at the fair, and she said she
expects more to join. Some partic-
ipating companies, which will be
looking for new employees, are
Lamb Weston, Amazon, Tillamook,
Rogers Toyota of Hermiston and
Two Rivers Correctional Institution
in Umatilla.
The job fair is Wednesday. March
16, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Hermiston
Community Center, 415 S. Highway
395.
Hoxie said Workforce will be
present, too, as representatives will
be on hand to answer questions about
unemployment issues.
Employees enter strong job market
Former Shearer’s workers may not
be looking long for work, according to
Craig Smith of Food Northwest.
He said Food Northwest did not
have an association with Shearer’s. It
does, however, have connections with
several other local food processors
around the region. Already, he said, he
has heard a lot of eagerness in hiring
the Shearer’s workforce.
“We have a lot of companies in
that area that are looking for people,”
he said, including Lamb Weston, Port
of Morrow, Boardman Foods, Tilla-
mook and Oregon Potato.
Smith
Continued from A1
made an offer to purchase
the Malheur Enterprise.
Other than being publicly
‘mocked’ by the seller, no
reply to our offer has been
received. Moreover, Greg-
ory Smith and Company has
not publicly stated its reason
for purchasing the paper. It
is unfortunate, some specu-
late to the negative.”
Smith’s history with the
Enterprise
A two-time Pulitzer Prize
nominee with The Orego-
nian, Zaitz, along with his
family, bought the Malheur
Enterprise in 2015.
Zaitz eventually took over
the paper’s editorial oper-
ations and worked toward
growing the weekly’s pres-
ence. Zaitz expanded the
newsroom and started col-
laborations with national
news organizations as the
Enterprise collected new
accolades and awards.
Today, Zaitz said the
Enterprise is profitable and
growing. As he neared his
50th year in the journal-
ism business, Zaitz said he
decided to sell the paper
because he felt it was the
right time to hand over
the Enterprise to a new
generation.
“We’re not going to
sell to anyone that shows
up with a check or a suit-
case full of $20 bills,” he
said. “The Malheur Enter-
prise is an essential source
of local news and is a role
model for local journal-
ism. So it’s import goes
Hermiston Herald, File
Les Zaitz works in 2018 at his newspaper, the Malheur Enterprise in Vale. He put the paper up
for sale in early 2022, and Rep. Greg. Smith, R-Heppner, a frequent subject of the Enterprise’s
investigative work, sent Zaitz an email offering to buy the paper. Zaitz, however, is not selling
to Smith.
beyond just reporting on
Malheur County. Its import
is also helping show news-
rooms large and small how
to do effective local journal-
ism that generates business
success.”
When Smith made an
offer to buy the Enter-
prise, Zaitz said he took it
seriously.
Elected in 2000, Smith is
the longest-serving legisla-
tor in the Oregon House of
Representatives. Although
his district’s lines have
shifted significantly over the
years, Smith always has rep-
resented a chunk of North-
eastern Oregon from his
home in Heppner.
But being a legislator is
only a part-time position.
His full-time work involves
him serving a number of
economic
development
positions throughout Ore-
gon, both within and outside
his legislative district. Some
of his titles include being
the project manager for the
Columbia
Development
Authority in Boardman, the
director of the Eastern Ore-
gon University Small Busi-
ness Development Center
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in La Grande and the eco-
nomic development director
in Malheur County.
His status as an influen-
Morgan expressed confidence the
displaced laborers would find new
work at the upcoming fair.
“I know there’s been significant
interest from employers looking to
hire some of these folks coming out of
the Shearer’s facility,” Morgan said.
The assistant city manager also
articulated his belief the community
will recover.
“We’re strongly committed to
making sure that we can see some
reinvestment here in the commu-
nity and that type of operation here as
quickly as possible,” he said.
He also plugged Hermiston as an
excellent place for business.
“I think it’s proven that our region has
some of the best workforce,” he said, “as
well as assets in the form of water and util-
ities needed for processing operations.”
tial lawmaker who also is
in charge of raising money
for local projects and insti-
tutions around the state
has earned him scrutiny in
the media. The Willamette
Week referred to Smith as
the “best compensated law-
maker in Salem” while also
noting his actions were “per-
fectly legal.”
The Enterprise also has
done reporting on the con-
nections between Smith’s
personal business and his
work in the Legislature, in
addition to focusing on his
work in Malheur County,
publishing stories on his con-
tracts with the county and his
handling of local economic
development projects.
Zaitz declined to pro-
vide further details on the
editorial that prompted the
exchange with Smith before
it was published, but later
summarized the Enterprise’s
various dealings with Smith
over the years.
“He complained that our
reporting on him represented
criminal conduct,” he said.
”The sheriff looked into that
and essentially laughed him
out of Malheur County on
that allegation. He has pub-
licly ridiculed the Enterprise
and has made representa-
tions that raise questions
about whether the Enter-
prise is paying its taxes. This
is a man who has a pattern
of taking aggressive actions
against the newspaper that is
doing no more than report-
ing on matters of public
importance.”
After Smith made his
offer, Zaitz followed through
on his promise and shared
excerpts from the exchange
on the Enterprise’s Face-
book page and asked read-
ers what they thought. As
of the evening of Thursday,
March 10, nearly 70 peo-
ple have commented on the
post. Almost all the com-
ments either opposed Smith
buying the paper, expressed
support for the Enterprise’s
current ownership or both.
Many questioned Smith’s
motivations.
Even if Smith doesn’t get
involved in the Vale media
business, he’ll continue to
be a prominent figure in
Eastern Oregon for the fore-
seeable future. No one filed
to contest Smith in either
the Republican primary or
the general election, all but
assuring him a 12th term in
Salem.
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