WEEKEND EDITION
NATION:
Supreme Court to make
ruling on gay marriage 8A
OUT OF THE VAULT:
Til Taylor statue the fi rst
Pendleton bronze 7C
HERMISTON
Youth outreach
GIRLS WIN
a safe place for
IN OVERTIME teens to grow up
BASKETBALL/1B
LIFESTYLES 1C
JANUARY 17-18, 2015
139th Year, No. 67
WINNER OF THE 2013 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
$1.50
Sipe to see
State of
the Union
PENDLETON
Sen. Merkley invites
Umatilla superintendent
to be guest for speech
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Heidi Sipe hasn’t missed a State of
the Union address on television since
childhood. This year, she will listen
in the House Chamber gallery, mere
yards away from President Obama.
Sipe, the superintendent of the
Umatilla School District, will attend
as the guest of
Oregon Sen. Jeff
Merkley. Sipe
got the word
Tuesday shortly
after her cell-
phone buzzed
during a meeting
in Portland and
she excused her-
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The business occupancy rate for Pendleton’s Main Street did not change over the course of the last year, although the overall
downtown occupancy rate has dropped since 2012.
Downtown vacancy stays steady
Main Street grows by 7.8 percent in 4 years;
rest of downtown shrinks by 3.1 percent
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
No two Main Street vacancies are cre-
ated equal.
That was the message that Keith May,
a member of the advisory committee to
the Pendleton Development Commission
and a former city councilor, gave to the
commission at a meeting Tuesday.
May presented the results of his an-
nual storefront count of Main Street and
downtown businesses, which he con-
ducted Jan. 1.
pied — the same as the year before.
May offered the caveat that the num-
bers didn’t note some of the larger vacan-
May pointed to buildings like the for-
mer Bank of American branch, which
had been abandoned by its tenant for
two years before Old West Credit Union
moved in.
May’s report also noted that three new
See PENDLETON/10A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A “for lease“ sign sits in the window of an emp-
ty storefront Friday at the corner of Southwest
Court Avenue and First Street in downtown
Pendleton.
PENDLETON
Sheriff: Evidence doesn’t support woman’s version of shooting
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
The woman who reported masked
Pendleton may have made up the
story, Umatilla County Sheriff Terry
Rowan said.
“I think from our perspective the
story that was reported — we’re not
version of events the female told us,”
Rowan said Friday. “So it’s possible
at the end of the day she may end up
being charged with initiating a false
report.”
If that happens, her identity would
be a matter of public record, Rowan
said.
The case began the evening of Fri-
day, Jan. 9, when she told Pendleton
police that masked men forced her car
to the side of a rural road north of the
male also gave information that helped
law enforcement arrest members of
the local United Aryan Empire gang.
But Rowan said the story she told
detectives “was all over the board,”
and she changed details, from two men
to three to four. And the crime scene
that Pendleton police Chief Stuart
Roberts reported was on Snyder Road
between Highway 37 and Hagen Road
See SHOOTING/10A
call.
Sipe
had Sipe
recognized the
number on the
“The oppor-
display as one
of her contacts tunity to go in
from Merkley’s person — I’m
Merkley staffer overwhelmed
Jessica Stephens,
by it.”
quickly dropped
the bomb. How
— Heidi Sipe,
would Sipe feel
Umatilla SD
about being the
superintendent
senator’s guest
at the State of
the Union address? Dumbfounded,
Sipe thanked Stephens and hung up,
but called back two hours later just to
make sure she had heard correctly.
“I’m having a hard time believing
it,” Sipe admitted.
Those who know of Sipe’s past
relationship with Merkley are hav-
ing less trouble believing the senator
would choose the superintendent. The
two have something of a mutual admi-
ration.
Sipe credits Merkley for nudging
the district’s robotics program into ex-
istence a couple of years back and he
periodically calls or drops in to check
on the program’s progress. In Novem-
ber, the senator stopped to eat tacos
with students and drive the team’s
award-winning robot. The team quali-
championships in 2013 and 2014.
a No Child Left Behind discussion in
2011. After hearing the teenage mem-
ber of a Portland-area robotics team
speak, Sipe got Merkley’s ear. Chief
See SIPE/10A
Rowan
PENDLETON
Kindergarten could
clash with early start
day of school for the 2015-
2016 calendar to Aug. 31, but
not before Superintendent Jon
Peterson revealed that kinder-
garten will be affected as a re-
sult.
of Hawthorne School, now
known as the Pendleton Early
Learning Center, complete by
the beginning of the school
year.
But that was before the
school district considered
starting the school year be-
fore Round-Up. Under the old
schedule, school would have
started Sept. 21.
Peterson’s statement was
prompted by comments from
board member Dave Krumbe-
in about his opposition to the
calendar change.
aimed to have the renovation
See KINDERGARTEN/10A
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The two biggest changes to
the Pendleton School District
each other.
The Pendleton School
Board approved a motion
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A boom crane is used to place the front façade of the new Pendleton Early Learn-
ing Center on Friday in Pendleton.