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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 13, 2015)
Page 12A OFF PAGE ONE East Oregonian PRINCIPALS: Students may gain better knowledge of what it takes to be a leader have to do the work,” Owens said. On Tuesday, Reyburn is joined The activity is the brainchild of by fellow assistant principal Lexi ¿UVW\HDU6KHUZRRG+HLJKWV3ULQFL- Chandler. Chandler said she was really pal Theresa Owens, who brought it over from her previous job as prin- excited for the chance to be assis- cipal of Creekside Park Elementary tant principal and was even worried she’d get sick and miss her day. School in Anchorage, Alaska. As part of their duties, Owens Owens said she was inspired to start the activity when a student directs them from class to class for asked if he could help her with her observations. In Donna Bostwick’s kindergar- duties. She decided to make it a for- mal event, extending the opportuni- ten class, Reyburn and Chandler W\WRDOO¿IWKJUDGHUVUHJDUGOHVVRI help students with a St. Patrick’s Day activity before typing a brief their behavioral status. Owens’s intent is to give stu- observation into an iPad. Reyburn and Chandler will skip dents a new-found awareness of the challenges teachers and administra- PRVW RI WKHLU FODVV WLPH WR IXO¿OO their duties as assistant principals, tors face on a daily basis. “‘All it is is drama, drama, dra- checking in with their teachers at ma all day long,’” Owens recalled the end of the day to collect home- one student saying after his stint as work. While they’ll just be regular stu- assistant principal. Even for students that enjoy the dents by the next day, two new em- experience, Owens said there are ployees are expected to join Sher- wood Heights staff next week. WDQJLEOHEHQH¿WV ——— She hopes some of children will Contact Antonio Sierra at asi- have better knowledge of what it erra@eastoregonian.com or 541- takes to be a leader. “If you want to be in charge, you 966-0836. Continued from 1A CONFERENCE: County has third highest teen pregnancy rate in state to help teens avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and but decided against it. Oregon learn about healthy relationships. Health Authority spokesman Jon- This isn’t a simple matter of push- athon Modie defended the confer- ing abstinence and walking away, ence, saying in a statement, “The said DeBolt and Southwick. To conference aligns with our goals do so, they said, would ignore the around youth using accurate in- universe of temptation and incor- formation and well-developed rect information available in cy- skills to make thoughtful choic- berspace. “The access is just huge — es about relationships and sexual health.” OHA co-sponsored the ZKDWWKH\FDQ¿QGZKDWWKH\FDQ see,” Southwick said. “I want to conference. Despite that support, this week, come from a perspective of ‘I a month before the 2015 event, know what they know and what they’re talking about.’ It’s about organizers decided to cancel. A news release from the Ore- meeting kids where they are.” That means frank discussions gon Teen Pregnancy Task Force, WKH ¿VFDO VSRQVRU UHDGV ³:KLOH about protection, STDs and the we remain steadfast in our vision, smörgåsbord of disastrous advice we feel current conditions have available on the Internet. To teach shifted the setting and our abili- good choices, they said, you must ty to offer open, safe and honest talk about the bad ones, too. “Otherwise, they’re going to conversations about sexuality.” guess,” Southwick said. “They’re Registrants will receive refunds. No Umatilla County Health going to have unsafe sex and have Department employees attended unwanted pregnancies.” Others, however, feel dif- the 2014 session, though they did attend in past years. Southwick ferently. Opposition revved up had registered for the 2015 con- again as the 2015 conference ap- ference, “Healthy Bodies, Minds proached. “This conference has morphed and Communities.” Grants and into such a perversion from actual state scholarships pay the way. Both DeBolt and Southwick health and welfare that it is time said the conference serves youth to bring it to a stop and get back by providing strategies for teach- to some sanity,” Clatsop County ers, parents and peer counselors Sheriff Tom Bergin told a Daily Continued from 1A FERGUSON: Attack created more race-related mistrust Continued from 1A ready fraught relationship between police and protesters just as the city seeks reforms in the wake of a withering Justice Department report on racial bias in its law-enforce- ment practices. The attack also seemed to create another layer of race-related mistrust after a week in which an unarmed young black man was killed E\ D ZKLWH RI¿FHU LQ 0DGL- son, Wisconsin, and a Uni- versity of Oklahoma frater- nity chapter was thrown off campus after a video surfaced showing members singing a racist chant. In Washington, President Barack Obama took to Twit- ter to relay his prayers to the RI¿FHUV DQG WR GHQRXQFH YL- olence against police. “Path to justice is one all of us must travel together,” Obama wrote, signing the tweet with his initials to indicate the president personally com- posed it. Attorney General Eric Holder said the gunman was “a damn punk” who was “try- ing to sow discord in an area that was trying to get its act together, trying to bring to- gether a community that had been fractured for too long.” 7KH VKRWV ZHUH ¿UHG HDU- ly Thursday just as a small crowd of protesters began to break up after a late-night demonstration that unfolded hours after the resignation of Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson. The shots were believed to come from a handgun across the street from the police de- partment, which has been a national focal point since the fatal Aug. 9 shooting of Mi- chael Brown, who was black and unarmed, by a white po- OLFHRI¿FHU The gunman may have ¿UHG IURP XS WR \DUGV away, a distance longer than a IRRWEDOO¿HOG%XWZLWKDOLQH RIURXJKO\RI¿FHUVVWDQG- ing in front of the building, the shooter did not have to be particularly accurate to hit two of them, Belmar said. “We’re lucky by God’s JUDFHZHGLGQ¶WORVHWZRRI¿- cers last night,” he said. A 41-year-old St. Louis &RXQW\ RI¿FHU ZDV VKRW LQ the right shoulder, the bul- let exiting through his back. $ \HDUROG RI¿FHU IURP Webster Groves was wearing a riot helmet with the face shield up. He was shot in the right cheek, just below the eye, and the bullet lodged be- hind his ear. On Thursday night, about 50 people gathered at a public plaza in downtown Ferguson near the police station for a vigil. The group sang spiri- tuals, prayed for peace and expressed sympathies for the LQMXUHGRI¿FHUV Tensions have been high in Ferguson since August and escalated in November after a St. Louis County grand jury declined to prosecute Darren :LOVRQWKHRI¿FHUZKRVKRW Brown. Justice Department investigators concurred with WKDW ¿QGLQJ LQ D UHSRUW UH- leased March 4. But a separate Justice Department report released that same day found racial SUR¿OLQJLQWKH)HUJXVRQSR- lice force, and a municipal FRXUWV\VWHPGULYHQE\SUR¿W largely on the backs of black and low-income residents. In the week after the re- port, Ferguson’s court clerk ZDV ¿UHG DQG WKH PXQLFLSDO MXGJH WZR SROLFH RI¿FHUV and the city manager volun- tarily stepped aside. Wilson resigned in November. John Gaskin III, a St. Louis community activist, speculated that the shooting was conducted by outside agitators intent on hijacking attention from peaceful, re- Friday, March 13, 2015 form-minded protesters. Activists “cannot afford these kinds of incidents hap- pening, because that gets us absolutely nowhere.” In a statement, Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III and the city council said al- though they respect the right to protest peacefully, “we cannot continue to move forward under threats of vi- olence and destruction to our community. We ask our residents and clergy in this area to partner with us as we make our way through this process.” Astorian reporter in December. The cancellation saddens De- Bolt, who said that educators will miss out on the quality informa- tion they would bring back to their counties. “We want to make sure that the youth of Umatilla County and Or- egon have the right education in terms of their bodies and health,” she said. Umatilla County, she said, has the third highest teen pregnancy rate in the state at 47.1 per 1,000 girls, aged 15 to 17. Southwick said the county recently part- nered with the state and Baker and Malheur counties to replicate evidence-based programs proven successful elsewhere. “These are programs they’ve implemented along the I-5 corri- dor,” Southwick said. “We want to replicate that on the east side to bring our rates down.” Using peer counseling is one tool. “Teens are going to listen to other teens,” she said. “It’s been proven time and time again. That’s why teen peer educators attend the conference with chap- erones.” ——— Contact Kathy Aney at kaney@ eastoregonian.com or call 541- 966-0810.