DICTIONARIES
PUT TO GOOD
USE IN SCHOOL
HERMISTON/3A
58/37
HERMISTON
BOYS
ADVANCE
Man charged in
Milton-Freewater
drive-by murder
BASKETBALL/1B
REGION/6A
THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2016
140th Year, No. 99
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
UMATILLA
Council considers homeless camp
Mayor calls for collaboration to provide services, space
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
The city of Umatilla’s ban
on living in tents effectively
pushed the homeless popula-
tion outside city limits.
But city leaders said they
are willing to spearhead the
effort to help the transient
community now living near
the Umatilla River.
On Tuesday Mayor David
Trott said he wanted to put
together a workshop between
cities, county representatives
and state agencies to come
up with a comprehensive
plan for addressing problems
caused by homeless camps.
That plan could include a
designated transient camping
area with toilets, dumpsters
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“We need to discuss what
we can do and what we prob-
ably ought to do,” Trott said.
“We need to have a game
plan.”
After several homeless
camps were cleared out in
Umatilla and Hermiston last
fall, a group of former occu-
pants moved to a spot along
the Umatilla River between
the two cities. Rising water
levels have recently pushed
the camp to a more visible
location along Old River
Road, generating complaints
to the city and Umatilla
County.
The camp is in the
county’s jurisdiction, and
an email from county code
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Miller indicated the plan was
to have someone from the
sheriff’s department inform
the campers they were tres-
passing and needed to move,
then make arrangements with
County Corrections to clean
up the waste left behind.
Trott said that approach
was “kicking the can down
the road.”
“I’m going to say it straight
out: I’m very frustrated with
the county’s position,” he
said.
One solution the city
See HOMELESS/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Douglas Robertson, of Umatilla, unzipped the front of
a tent in February at his campsite along Old River Road
south of Umatilla.
PENDLETON
‘One of
the guys’
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By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
hirty-nine years ago, Seattle Superior Court Judge
David Soukup listened to both sides of a case
involving a 3-year-old girl named Sarah. Doctors
at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center had noticed a
suspicious pattern of bruises on her body. Her mom said
she’d fallen off a slide.
“I had to make a decision about this case,” he recalled
decades later in a video. “Was I going to take her away
from the only home and the only parent she’d known
all her life? What kind of emotional trauma would that
cause for her?”
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after years of deciding civil cases. He awoke at 4 the next
morning re-analyzing his decisions that day. He would
have many more restless nights in the following years
as the fate of hundreds of abused and neglected children
rested in his hands.
It was, Soukup realized, a heavy load.
The judge created Court Appointed Special Advocates
— volunteers who get to know foster children and
advocate for them in the court system. Starting with 50
It’s not unusual for family and friends
to pack city council chambers for a public
honor or promotion, but attendees were
also treated to a small piece of Pendleton
history at a meeting Tuesday.
After Fire Chief Mike Ciraulo pinned
a paramedic badge on Jaclyn Berentsen,
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department, she faced
a supportive crowd of
Pendleton and Herm-
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paramedics waiting to
shake her hand.
“I
know
it’s
supposed to be a big
deal,” Berentsen said
after responding to all
the
congratulations Berentsen
outside council cham-
bers. “But I just want to be one of the
guys.”
Ciraulo, who was hired in September
2015, said he was surprised that Berent-
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ment that didn’t have a full-time female
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for the job “irrespective of sex.”
Berentsen grew up in Portland before
moving to Pendleton when she was 16.
She caught the emergency services bug
as a Pendleton High School student when
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ment.
After completing a resident internship
with Hermiston Fire & Emergency
Services, Berentsen enrolled at Portland
See CASA/8A
See BERENTSEN/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Jeanette Herron is the only Pendleton-based Court Appointed Special Advocates volunteer. CASA volunteers advocate
in the judicial system on behalf of neglected or abused children.
A voice in the T
courtroom
for children
By KATHY ANEY Ƈ East Oregonian
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in kids’ lives as they navigate the courts
Senate
passes
renewable
energy bill
By HILLARY BORRUD
Capital Press
SALEM — A contro-
versial bill that requires
Oregon’s two largest utilities
to get 50 percent of their elec-
tricity from sources such as
wind and solar by 2040 is on
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desk for a signature, after the
state Senate voted 17-12 to
pass the measure Wednesday.
Brown has suggested that
See ENERGY/8A
Hoops on
the horizon
Kevin Her-
nandez, with
the Pendleton
Convention
Center, and Kyle
Stanfi eld, OSAA
assistant exec-
utive director,
hang sponsor
banners under a
basket Wednes-
day at the con-
vention center.
The OSAA 2A
state basketball
championships
begin Thursday
at 1:30 p.m. in
Pendleton.
For tournament
preview and
schedule, see
Page 1B.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris