REGION
Saturday, April 18, 2015
BRIEFLY
Hansell’s
annexation bill
passes Senate
SALEM — The Oregon
Senate unanimously
passed a bill Wednesday
that will give the city of
Milton-Freewater options
besides forced annexation
of a nearby trailer park with
drinking water has been
deemed unsafe.
By current state law,
Milton-Freewater must
annex Locust Mobile
Village about 1 mile
northeast from the city’s
growth boundary because
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petition for annexation,
and there are not any
alternate means for
providing safe drinking
water to the community.
The bill was sponsored
by Bill Hansell (R-Athena)
and allows the city to stop
forced annexation if 40
percent of the petitioners
wish to remove their names
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solution for all parties.
“Milton-Freewater will
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121,” Hansell said in a
press release. “Currently,
cities have no choice but to
accept forced annexation if
as few as eleven residents
request it. Now, cities can
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other solutions to the health
hazard abatement that may
be less costly and more
effective.”
Hansell said the city
would have to pay $15
million to run sewer and
water pipes to the park.
The bill, SB121, now
moves to the Oregon House
of Representative for
consideration.
EOU announces
top candidates
LA GRANDE —
Eastern Oregon University’s
board of trustees, led by
David Nelson of Pendleton,
announced its top four
candidates for university
president on Friday.
The university is
looking for a president to
replace interim president
Jay Kenton, who plans to
step down at the end of the
school year.
Nelson said the
university cast a wide net,
reviewing applications
from candidates in 13 states
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“The candidates all
interviewed really quite
well, and I think they’re
passionate about becoming
president of Eastern,” he
said.
The board’s search
committee has forwarded
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Oregon University
System Chancellor for
consideration.
•Marysz Rames was
appointed as interim
president of Dakota State
University in Madison,
South Dakota in 2014 and
has increased enrollment
since.
•Cynthia Pemberton is
provost and vice president
for academic affairs at
Dickinson State University
in Dickinson, N.D. and also
serves as an author, speaker
and consultant.
•Tom Insko is area
manager of Boise Cascade’s
Inland Region in La
Grande, overseeing multiple
operations for the company
in the region. He has served
on the EOU board of
trustees and as president of
the EOU Foundation.
•Martin Tadlock has
been provost and vice
president for academic
affairs at Bemidji State
University in Bemidji,
Minnesota, since 2012 and
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at Northwest Technical
College since 2014.
For more information
on the candidates and
when they will visit EOU’s
campus for interviews and
a meet and greet, visit eou.
edu/presidentialsearch.
East Oregonian
Page 3A
Pendleton council will talk pot, walkways
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The Pendleton City Coun-
cil has several major deci-
sions on the docket for Tues-
day’s meeting.
The council will consider
an ordinance that would reg-
ulate medical and recreation-
al marijuana sales in the city.
Under a draft passed by
the planning commission,
marijuana retailers can be
located in the city’s com-
mercial service and central
mixed use zones granted they
are not within 1,000 feet of a
K-12 school or another mari-
juana facility.
The ordinance will not be-
come law until passed by the
city council, and some coun-
cil members have suggested
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commission’s draft.
Tuesday’s meeting is the
last scheduled meeting be-
fore a year-long ban on med-
ical marijuana dispensaries
expires May 1.
Also on the agenda is con-
sideration of a law that would
ban obstruction of any public
walkway in Pendleton.
Because youth gather
in the middle of Bedford
Bridge, which sometimes
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Police Chief Stuart Roberts
recommended not only ban-
ning obstruction on the Bed-
ford Bridge, but on any side-
walk, walking path or bridge
in the city.
At the last city council
meeting, councilwoman Jane
Hill said Roberts’ propos-
al was too far reaching and
suggested he supplement his
next report to the council.
Another issue with big
implications is a resolution
to adopt master plans for the
city’s water, sewer and storm-
water drainage systems.
Although the council
could adopt those master
plans Tuesday, a set of rate
hikes and system develop-
ment charges won’t be ad-
opted until later.
Public Works Director
Bob Patterson wrote in a
press release that the system
development charge rates
will become available for
public review May 22. The
council will consider adopt-
ing the charges and their ac-
companying rates July 21.
A recent letter to the East
Oregonian suggested op-
ponents of the planned Don
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Park will attend the coun-
cil meeting. Staff included
two letters in support of the
Requa statue in the agenda
packet.
The Pendleton City Coun-
cil will meet at 7 p.m. at the
council chambers in city hall,
500 S.W. Dorion Ave.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
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on annexing
interchange
property
STANFIELD —
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last opportunity for input
before the city council votes
on an ordinance annexing
25 acres near the Interstate
84 interchange.
The council will hold a
public hearing April 21 at
7 p.m. before voting on the
ordinance.
The property in question
is east of Highway 395
where it meets Interstate 84
across from the Pilot Travel
Center. If annexed the land
would be added to the city’s
tax rolls and be covered by
city services.
The council and property
owners alike have expressed
interest in annexation
as a way to encourage
commercial development,
such as a hotel or restaurant,
on the property once it is
eligible to be hooked up to
the city’s water supply.
Umatilla considers
extension on
dispensary ban
UMATILLA — As
Umatilla’s one-year
moratorium on medical
marijuana dispensaries
comes to a close the city is
considering an ordinance to
extend the ban.
The city council is
meeting in special session
at 6:30 p.m. at city hall, 700
6th St. in Umatilla, to hold a
public hearing and vote on
the moratorium. The council
will also meet in executive
session before adjourning.
Last year city staff stated
the year-long moratorium,
meant to extend from April
2014 to May 1, 2015, was
needed to give the city time
to come up with regulation
of the facilities. The city’s
planning commission plans
to have a draft of those
rules — part of the city’s
comprehensive overhaul of
its commercial zone rules
— ready for the council’s
review on May 5.
Meanwhile the ordinance
before the city council on
Tuesday would extend
the city’s moratorium on
dispensaries for another 120
days.
———
Briefs are compiled
from staff and wire reports,
and press releases. Email
press releases to news@
eastoregonian.com
Jackie Downie, LCSW
Individual, Child and Family Therapist
is closing her private practice
as of April 27th 2015.
A big thank you to Pendleton area
for supporting the practice!
Records available after closing date
by sending request to:
Jackie Downie, LCSW
PO Box 484
Pinedale, WY 82941-0484
New trophy in town
Sculptor Micheal Booth stands next to the East Oregonian “Let’er Buck” all-around trophy after delivering it
to the East Oregonian office Wednesday in Pendleton. The old trophy went home with Decatur, Texas, cowboy
Trevor Brazile after he won the all-around title for the third consecutive time at the Pendleton Round-Up.
Bill would limit elementary expulsions, suspensions
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
A bill passed by the Or-
egon Senate and headed to
the House would limit the
reasons schools can expel or
suspend students, but East-
ern Oregon educators don’t
see it as a problem.
Senate Bill 553 is meant
to address what bill sponsor
Sara Gelser (D-Corvallis)
called a “school to prison
pipeline” in which students
are excluded from school
starting at a young age for
minor infractions, leading
to more serious behavior-
al problems down the road.
The bill passed the Senate
with a 27-3 bipartisan vote
last week.
The most notable provi-
sion in the bill would limit
elementary schools to only
expelling or suspending stu-
dents if they harm someone
or pose a threat to the safety
of staff or students. Accord-
ing to Gelser last year 8,000
elementary school students
were suspended in Oregon,
often for “disruptive behav-
ior.”
But Umatilla School
District superintendent Hei-
di Sipe said in her 13 years
as an administrator she has
never once expelled an el-
ementary student, and sus-
pensions in that age group
are few and far between.
“We have sometimes giv-
en out of school suspensions
for students due to weapons
(usually brought because
they are really excited to
show their friends their new
knife or because they forgot
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she wrote in an email. “This
is RARE, it’s also for short
durations.”
As a result she said she
has no problem with the bill.
In Pendleton, assistant su-
perintendent Tricia Mooney
said she hasn’t seen a single
expulsion of an elementary
school student in her seven
years with the district, and
suspensions are rare. She
said an out of school sus-
pension may mean more
to a teenager, but in the
younger grades lower level
consequences like missing
a recess often get the point
across just as well.
“Really at the elementary
level, we’re looking at those
things as a teaching opportu-
nity,” she said.
Dirk Dirksen, superin-
tendent of Morrow County
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School District, said Mor-
row County schools “pretty
much use the guidelines set
forth by the Senator any-
way.” When students are
causing problems in the
classroom Dirksen said
administrators would rath-
er have them meet with a
counselor or work with their
teacher to come up with a
solution.
“Usually there’s a rea-
son behind the acting out,
so we try to support them in
whatever way they need,”
he said.
Hermiston deputy super-
intendent Wade Smith can’t
remember handling a sin-
gle elementary school sus-
pension in his career either,
and said even in the older
grades, Hermiston School
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District handed out a single
expulsion last year.
The district tries to use
out of school suspensions
judiciously, too, which re-
sulted in 25 out of school
suspensions between the
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year.
Smith said he didn’t see
the legislation changing
Hermiston’s policies.
“I don’t see anything
problematic, although I al-
ways start getting nervous
when the legislature starts to
infringe on school districts’
right to ensure a safe learn-
ing environment for our stu-
dents,” he said.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
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