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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 24, 2015)
Page 8A OFF PAGE ONE East Oregonian WILDFIRE: Initial offer would have provided only $19 million in coverage EH DZDUH RI IRU ¿UH VHDVRQV going forward as part of the D-Ashland, co-chair of the EXGJHW´ Joint Ways and Means Com- Sen. Fred Girod, R-Ly- mittee. ons, said Lloyd’s initial offer “It is unlikely we will re- would have provided only FHLYH WKH VDPH VRUW RI ¿UH $19 million in coverage to insurance coverage we have the state after Oregon put up received in the past from more than twice that amount /OR\G¶VRI/RQGRQ´KHVDLG in deductibles and payouts — “They will either want lot a deal he says would not be more money up front for the worth it. policy, or they will place it in Girod, who is on the bud- such a way our deductible is get committee, says negotia- so high that it’s not going to tions are continuing. PDNH¿QDQFLDOVHQVHIRUXVWR 7KLVVWRU\¿UVWDSSHDUHG FRQWLQXH 6R WKDW¶V D VLJQL¿- LQWKH2UHJRQ&DSLWDO,QVLGHU cant challenge in the tens of QHZVOHWWHU7RVXEVFULEHJR millions of dollars we have to WRRUHJRQFDSLWDOLQVLGHUFRP Continued from 1A ANIMALS: Second-degree animal neglect changed to a felony when 11 or more animals are involved 7KH QRQSUR¿W ODZ ¿UP WKDW ¿JKWVWRSURWHFWDQLPDOULJKWV misdemeanors. ranked Oregon third in the na- Still, the Oregon Depart- tion in its 2014 U.S. Animal ment of Justice appealed Wal- Protection Laws Rankings lace’s sentencing, and the Or- Report, a drop from second egon Court of Appeals sided place in 2013. with the state. And the Oregon The Nix case, though, Supreme Court on Aug. 25, prompted the 2013 Legisla- DI¿UPHG WKH DSSHOODWH ture to change second-degree decision. animal neglect from a misde- The new ruling, though, meanor to a felony when 11 revealed the state in early or more animals are involved. September 2014 asked the And this session, Sen. Tim court to hold off on issuing the Kopp, a Republican from appellate judgment and “en- Bend, and Senate President tertain a motion to determine Peter Courtney, D-Salem, MXULVGLFWLRQ´7KDWLVWR¿JXUH are pushing Senate Bill 614, out if the state even had the which would allow law en- authority to appeal Wallace’s IRUFHPHQWRI¿FHUVWRREWDLQD sentence because the charges search warrant or other legal were misdemeanors. permission to seize animals After several pages of le- stuck without food or water gal explanation, the supreme in a hot car or other premises. court determined: “In this The bill remains in the House case, the appellate courts nev- Committee On Judiciary. er had appellate jurisdiction; ——— the state lacked authority to &RQWDFW 3KLO :ULJKW DW appeal defendant’s judgment SZULJKW#HDVWRUHJRQLDQFRP of conviction for a misde- RU meanor. Although neither the state nor defendant raised the issue of jurisdiction until after both the Court of Appeals and this court issued their opin- ions, the fact remains that nei- ther court possessed authority WRLVVXHDQRSLQLRQ´ The state supreme court vacated the 2012 appeals court ruling and its own 2014 ruling and dismissed the state’s ap- peal for lack of jurisdiction. Wallace said the new rul- LQJDPRXQWVWR³QHYHUPLQG´ what the courts did before. That could mean animals can no longer be victims of crimes. An attorney for the Animal Legal Defense Fund in Portland did not immedi- ately return a call Monday. Continued from 1A Tuesday, March 24, 2015 STUDENTS: Nixyaawii was only able to graduate half of its 12-person class last year Continued from 1A the soon-to-be-opened Pendleton Early Learning Center. Unlike other kindergarten teachers, the position will require a candidate ZKRFDQÀXHQWO\VSHDNWKH8PDWLOODODQ- JXDJH%DUULQJÀXHQF\WKHGLVWULFWZLOO seek out a teacher with an English as a second language endorsement on their teaching license and a willingness to learn the tongue. Mooney said the teacher won’t just teach Indian students but increase cul- tural awareness within non-Indian chil- dren as well. If the district is successful in hiring a teacher of American Indian descent, the person would be one of the few Indian teachers on staff. A dozen students have joined Or- egon Teacher Pathways at Pendleton High School, a program designed by Eastern Oregon University to help dis- tricts cultivate teachers from their own minority student population. But given the Pathways program will take at least IRXUWR¿YH\HDUVWRVHHUHWXUQVWKHGLV- trict is moving ahead in recruiting Indian teachers for next year. The district received a $20,000 mi- nority teacher retention grant last year. But with so few minority teachers to retain, the Oregon Department of Edu- cation has allowed the district to use the money for recruitment instead. Mooney said the district will expand their job fair presence to include fairs in Spokane, Idaho and Montana, areas ZLWKVLJQL¿FDQW,QGLDQSRSXODWLRQV Brent Spencer, lead Indian education coordinator for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, will be a part of Pendleton’s envoy to offer candidates a local tribal perspective. Ramona Halcomb, the CTUIR’s ed- ucation director, said those kind of ideas have made Pendleton one of the best school districts she’s worked with in her 25-year career in education. “It’s hard to recruit when everyone at WKHWDEOHLVZKLWH´VKHVDLG The district and the tribes’ combined efforts mirrors another collaboration from more than a decade ago — the opening Staff photo by E.J. Harris Art teacher Mary Green, center, and assistant Syreeta Azure look through supplies for a traditional art class on Wednesday at the Nixyaawii Com- munity School in Mission. of Nixyaawii Community School. Established in 2004, Nixyaawii of- fers classes in the Umatilla language, Native art and tribal drumming while RIIHULQJDÀH[LEOHVFKHGXOH Despite these culturally inclusive practices and Level 4 rating from the state last year, Nixyaawii was only able to graduate half of its 12-person class last year. Nixyaawii Principal Ryan Heinrich said one of his biggest challenges is get- ting students to come to school to take advantage of its classes and programs. While attendance is an issue dis- trict-wide, Halcomb said the CTUIR is VSHFL¿FDOO\ WDUJHWLQJ ,QGLDQ DEVHQWHH- ism by offering parenting classes in his- torical trauma and bullying. Academic success for Indian stu- dents is possible. On the other side of the state, the Lin- coln County School District has a simi- lar Indian population due to its proximi- ty to the Siletz Indian Reservation. Last year, Lincoln County graduated 72 percent of its Indian seniors. Clint Raever, the principal of Toledo Junior/Senior High School and the dis- trict’s Indian education administrator, said the relatively low number of Native seniors can lead to some statistical vari- ance — last year’s graduation rate was a 10 percent jump from the previous year. But even if 2014 was an unusual- ly good year, Lincoln County’s Indi- an graduation rate has been at least 10 percentage points higher than the state’s average in each of the past three years. In addition to an already implement- ed American Indian curriculum, Raever also points to the three Indian education specialists the district employs to work one-on-one with Native students. Despite Lincoln County’s success, LW¶V DOVR LPSRUWDQW WR QRWH LWV ¿QDQFLDO resources — Lincoln County spends $11,516 per student last year versus Pendleton’s $10,230 and is much less reliant on state funding. But even with the funding challeng- es, Halcomb said the district and the tribe have done a good job pooling re- sources to close the gap. Starting this year, every newly hired teacher was taken to the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute for cultural training. ——— &RQWDFW$QWRQLR6LHUUDDWDVLHUUD# HDVWRUHJRQLDQFRPRU Neighbor to Neighbor Banking Since 1955 DANCE: This LV6HLEHO¶V¿IWK season coaching 60 YEARS Continued from 1A from 1A to 6A. The winners learned they were selected Friday night and performed Saturday evening for the Dance & Drill crowd. Coach Debbie Kishpaugh has known Thorne since she started dance as a kinder- gartner. Thorne eventually excelled at hip-hop, jazz and ballet before joining Rhyth- mic Mode as a freshman. Kishpaugh called Thorne supremely talented, “silent- O\ FRQ¿GHQW´ DQG LQFUHGLEO\ humble. “She doesn’t have one ar- URJDQWFHOOLQKHUERG\´.LVK- paugh said. Like Thorne, Hermiston Head Coach Ashley Seibel was shocked when named as 5A Coach of the Year. 6KH KDG MXVW ¿QLVKHG watching her team dance their hearts out at the Vet- erans Memorial Coliseum. The routine, based on Ed- gar Allen Poe’s poem “The 5DYHQ´ IHDWXUHG GUDPDWLF heart-pounding music. “Our challenge this year ZDVWREHDVELJDVRXUPXVLF´ Seibel said. “The girls rose to the occasion. They gave it ev- HU\WKLQJWKH\KDG´ 7KH WHDP ¿QLVKHG VHF- ond last year and the dancers hoped to win it all in 2015. When they fell short, the dis- appointment was tempered when the team learned Seibel had been named top coach. Seibel, who started danc- LQJ DV D ¿YH\HDUROG LV LQ KHU ¿IWK VHDVRQ RI FRDFKLQJ Hermiston. She knew she had been nominated, but honestly GLGQ¶W ¿JXUH VKH ZRXOG ZLQ She was happily wrong. “I really had no idea. 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