Hermiston
cleans up
DAWGS LOSE IN
EXTRA INNINGS
BASEBALL/1B
64/39
REGION/3A
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015
139th Year, No. 139
WINNER OF THE 2013 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
PENDLETON
Police,
airport
get boost
in budget
Property tax revenue
falls short of projections
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Teacher Brianna Conlon plays with four-month-old Oliver (last name withheld), on Monday at the Pioneer Relief Nursery in
Pendleton.
Relief nursery grapples
with funding shortfall
Children overcome
lives of uncertainty,
stress and poverty
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Barb Ceniga worries about money —
that’s part of her job as executive director of
the Pioneer Relief Nursery in Pendleton.
The worry ratcheted up a notch, however,
when Ceniga learned last month that the
nursery wouldn’t receive expected funds
from United Way in 2015. Support for United
Way has eroded over the past several years
DQGWKHQXUVHU\ZDVRQHRI¿YHRUJDQL]DWLRQV
to have funding requests rejected. The local
United Way campaign raised about $137,000
this year, compared with $353,000 in 2005.
“We expected to get $10,000 from United
Way in a grant,” Ceniga said. “We’ll still get
$1,300 in pledges, but it leaves a hole. We
QHHGWR¿QGUHSODFHPHQWIXQGV´
The center provides respite care and
therapeutic early learning for kids at risk for
abuse and neglect.
“These children live in toxic stress,”
Ceniga said. “They live in uncertainty. Many
of them experience dire poverty.”
Parents are in survival mode, battered by
unemployment, drug addiction, domestic
violence or other stressors. Their children,
Benefi t concert
What: Dakota Brown and Luke Basile
Where: Pendleton Center for the Arts
When: Thursday, April 30, 6:30-9 p.m.
How much: $40 for music, light dinner
and one pour of wine or beer.
Proceeds go to Pioneer Relief Nursery.
immersed in the upheaval, pay a steep price.
“Most of the children have reduced
language ability,” Ceniga said. “They come
with hostility. They are withdrawn.”
Over time, she said, they learn to share,
trust, make choices and form bonds with
other children. The instructors, trained as
See NURSERY/8A
State considers gun bill targeting domestic abusers
By SHEILA V KUMAR
Associated Press
SALEM — Advocates of
gun control often say states
that have expanded background
checks have far fewer women
gunned down by their domestic
partners. Now, lawmakers in
Oregon are targeting convicted
domestic abusers directly with
legislation making it harder for
WKHPWRNHHSWKHLU¿UHDUPV
Under the bill, Oregon law
enforcing it and no current
Oregon statute matching the
federal version, said bill sponsor
Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson,
a Democrat from Gresham.
— Ellen Rosenblum, state Attorney General The measure closes that gap
and brings Oregon in line with
19 other states that have passed
HQIRUFHPHQW RI¿FLDOV ZRXOG after a hearing.
KDYHWKHDXWKRULW\WRFRQ¿VFDWH
There is a federal law prohib- similar bills, she said.
The bill’s backers say women
WKH¿UHDUPVRISHRSOHFRQYLFWHG iting certain domestic-violence
of a misdemeanor crime of offenders adjudicated by the are more likely to be killed if
domestic violence against an FRXUWVIURPSRVVHVVLQJD¿UHDUP their abuser owns a gun. Of the
intimate partner or subject to a But there are only 14 federal
See VIOLENCE/8A
restraining order that was upheld agents in the state capable of
“Research shows that domestic abusers
who possess guns tend to use them as part
of their pattern of abuse.”
Despite being hot topics for city council
discussion, the major development in Pend-
leton’s 2015-2016 proposed budget wasn’t
related to streets or the airport’s unmanned
aerial systems range.
Instead, parts of the $53.2 million budget
ZLOO SURYLGH D VLJQL¿FDQW ERRVW WR SXEOLF
safety.
At a meeting Tuesday morning, the city’s
budget committee reviewed the general
fund, which covers police, emergency
services and many other city departments.
Though the general fund will see a
decrease from $15.7 million last year to
$15.4 million, small increases were made to
the police and emergency services budget to
accommodate hiring four new personnel.
2QH QHZ RI¿FHU ZLOO EH DGGHG WR WKH
ranks of the Pendleton Police Department.
According to the budget, the position
was agreed upon during negotiations with
the police union in 2013 and will be the
¿UVWVZRUQSRVLWLRQDGGHGWRWKHGHSDUWPHQW
since the late 1960s.
See PENDLETON/8A
MILTON-FREEWATER
Gun club
a go to grow
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Umatilla County Board of Commis-
sioners approved changes in local land use
laws that would allow gun clubs to expand
IDFLOLWLHVIRU¿UHDUPVWUDLQLQJ7KH(QG5RG
& Gun Club of Milton-Freewater has been
waiting for this since last year.
The approval came during a land use
hearing Tuesday morning at the Umatilla
County Courthouse, Pendleton, and it
follows the county planning commission’s
unanimous vote Thursday night in favor of
amending the county code.
County planning director Tamra Mabbott
LQDPHPRH[SODLQHGWKHDPHQGPHQW¿OOVLQ
a blank because the county code “does not
expressly permit nor does it prohibit expan-
VLRQ RI ¿UHDUPV WUDLQLQJ IDFLOLWLHV´ 7KH
“code conundrum,” Mabbott wrote, came to
light when property owners neighboring the
See GUN CLUB/8A
BOARDMAN
Controlled burn gets
away from city crews
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
)LUH¿JKWHUV UDFHG WR FRQWDLQ D
¿YHDFUHEOD]H7XHVGD\DIWHUQRRQ
in Boardman after a controlled burn
got away from city employees.
Boardman Fire Chief Marc
Rogelstad said the Public Works
Department was burning tumble-
weeds at North Main Street and
Marina Drive when winds picked
XSDQGVSUHDGWKHÀDPHVLQWRGU\
cheatgrass and sage brush.
7KH ¿UH SXVKHG QRUWKHDVW ²
away from downtown — before
it was surrounded by crews from
Boardman and Irrigon. No build-
ings were damaged and no one
was hurt.
City workers had taken safety
precautions before burning, Rogel-
stad said, but were caught unpre-
pared by the wind that picked up to
about 10-15 mph.
“The wind picked up and
carried it into the sagebrush, and
away it went,” he said.
Additional water trucks were
brought in from the Port of Morrow
and Dodge Logging Company to
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
KHOS FDWFK WKH ¿UH 3XEOLF ZRUNV Firefi ghters work to douse a fi ve-acre fi re Tuesday afternoon in Boardman
also remained on scene to assist after a controlled burn got away from city employees.
¿UH¿JKWHUV