TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
140th Year, No. 97
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
The Hermiston High School wrestling team crosses their arms in X’s after winning the 5A state championship Saturday at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.
TITLE X
Bulldogs win 10th state championship, extend reign of dominance
Hermiston wrestling entered a new class at this
weekend’s state tournament with its 10th title,
sealing its place for good among the state’s elite
programs.
Only four other teams — Newberg, Nyssa,
Lowell and Burns — have won 10 or more state
championships, and none have been more dominant
in a single decade than the Bulldogs. Hermiston has
only fallen short of the title once since 2007, a feat
matched but never bettered.
The Bulldogs won the title on the backs of three
¿ rsttime champions — Andy :agner, Bob Coleman
and 9alen :yse — as well as Sam Colbray, who
joins Joey Delgado as Hermiston’s only wrestler
with four titles to his name. Four others from the
team also placed, and by the championship round
Saturday night the title was well in hand.
But it wasn’t just the Hermiston show at Veteran’s
Memorial Coliseum in Portland. On the 3A mats,
Aristotle Rockwell from Riverside won a title, and
MacHi’s Rosendo Moreno did the same in the 4A
bracket.
For full results from the tournament, see Sports
on Page 1B.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Brock McDonough (left) and Sam Colbray hold up the
5A wrestling state championship trophy Hermiston
received Saturday night at Veterans Memorial
Coliseum as teammate Bob Coleman grins. Colbray
and Coleman took i rst in their weight brackets, while
McDonough brought home second place.
Growing by leaps and bounds
Odds of being born on
Feb. 29 are one in 1,461
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Trenton Ellis wasn’t supposed
to be a leap day baby.
:atching her 8yearold son
bounce around the Community
Park playground in Pendleton
Friday, Andrea Ellis said Trenton
was born two weeks earlier than
expected, although he still arrived
at a robust 8 pounds, 2 ounces on
Feb. 29, 2008.
Ellis was one of only two babies
born at St. Anthony Hospital on
that day that only comes around
once every four years, and one of
three born in the county altogether.
Leap Day birthdays aren’t just
a rarity in Eastern Oregon, but for
the population at large.
Peter Brouwer, cofounder of
the Honor Society Leap Year Day
Babies, told The Daily Mail that
the chances of being born on Feb.
29 are one in 1,461. Brouwer also
estimated that there were 200,000
leaplings in the United States and
about million internationally.
Because the leap year baby
PENDLETON
Local ed
leaders vie
for top job
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Trenton Ellis, 8, who was born on a leap year, stands on a swing at while playing at Community
Park on Friday in Pendleton.
club is relatively exclusive, the
Ellises have ¿ gured out their own
routine to celebrate his birth.
On years when February is 28
days, Andrea and her husband,
Daniel, pick a day when they’re
not both working to celebrate
Trenton’s birthday.
This year, both Daniel and
Andrea worked their jobs at
See LEAP/10A
:olf population reaches triple digits
Population increased 36 percent; fewer attacks
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
For the second year in a row,
the Oregon Department of Fish
:ildlife says wolf attacks on
livestock have gone down despite
an overall increase in the state’s
wolf population.
ODF: released its 201 wolf
report on Monday, which tallied
the number of known wolves in
Oregon at 110. That’s a 36 percent
jump over 2014.
Yet the department con¿ rmed
just nine attacks by wolves on
livestock in 201 — compared to
11 attacks in 2014 when the known
population was 77 wolves, and 13
in 2013 when the population was
64. Russ Morgan, ODF: wolf
coordinator, said the reason is
likely some combination of luck,
awareness and experience dealing
with the predators.
“Certainly, livestock producers
understand more and are doing
a tremendous amount to prevent
depredation,” Morgan said. “Some
of it could just be the luck of the
draw.”
Nonlethal deterrents remain
the crux of Oregon’s wolf manage
ment and conservation plan, which
entered Phase II last year. One
of the most effective tools for
ranchers, Morgan said, is simply
removing carcasses or bone piles
that might attract wolves to their
property.
“Of course, a wolf can’t depre
date if it’s not present,” he said.
The Oregon Fish and :ildlife
Commission voted to remove gray
wolves from the state endangered
species list last fall, though the gray
wolf remains federally protected
west of highways 39, 78 and 9.
Even now, it remains illegal to kill
wolves in Eastern Oregon except
in very speci¿ c cases.
It is possible Oregon could enter
Phase III of the wolf plan as early
as next year if packs can maintain a
minimum of seven breeding pairs.
There were 11 breeding pairs in
201, and eight in 2014. Phase III
would allow controlled hunts in
areas where wolves habitually prey
on livestock.
Todd Nash, a :allowa County
See WOLF/10A
The Pendleton School Board cast
its net across the :est to ¿ nd its next
superintendent, but in the end, board
members stuck to Eastern Oregon for
the ¿ nalists.
The district announced Monday
that three ¿ nalists would be inter
viewed to become Pendleton’s chief
administrator —
Pendleton School
District Assistant
Superintendent
Tricia Mooney,
Hermiston School
District Deputy
Superintendent
:ade Smith and
Ontario
High
School Principal Smith
Andy Kovach.
According to
a press release,
all three ¿ nalists
will meet with the
public and district
staff at the Pend
leton High School
library
from
330
p.m.30
p.m.
Tuesday.
Following their Mooney
visits, all three
candidates will be interviewed by the
school board behind closed doors.
After initially considering 23
candidates, the school board inter
viewed several and narrowed the ¿ eld
to Mooney, Smith and Kovach.
Mooney is the most familiar with
the Pendleton School District, having
been hired as the director of human
resources in 2008 and promoted to
assistant superintendent in 2009.
Prior to her arrival in Pendleton,
Mooney spent 13 years working for the
Hermiston School District, including
stints as a sixth grade teacher, the
assistant principal for Armand Larive
and Sandstone middle schools and the
principal at Rocky Heights Elemen
tary School and Armand Larive.
See SCHOOL/10A