REGION
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
PENDLETON
East Oregonian
Page 3A
HERMISTON
K-5 students to Two new brand options up for vote
start late, have
shorter year
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
East Oregonian
The Pendleton School
Board
unanimously
approved a new calendar for
the 2016-2017 school year,
staggering the start dates for
K-5 and 6-12 students.
Under the new calendar,
grades 6-12 start Aug. 29
and take a week off Sept.
12-16 for Round-Up, and
K-5 students start school
Sept. 19, although the
Pendleton Early Learning
Center will hold a “soft
start” for kindergartners
Aug. 29-Sept. 1.
The
school
board
was forced to consider a
new calendar to meet the
construction schedule for the
two new schools set to open
in the fall.
Contractors will complete
the new Washington and
Sherwood Heights elemen-
tary schools in time for the
next school year, but demoli-
tion of the old buildings and
other construction means the
schools won’t be ready until
after Round-Up.
The altered calendar does
present new challenges.
Since all students end
the school year on June 8
despite different start times,
K-5 students will only get
161 instructional days as
opposed to 170 for grades
6-12.
If the district doesn’t
add instructional hours to
the K-5 school year, those
students wouldn’t meet the
state threshold for instruc-
tion time, which would
require the district to notify
the Oregon Department of
Education and provide a
plan to avoid the shortfall in
the future.
Superintendent
Jon
Peterson said central of¿ce
administrators will discuss
their options with elemen-
tary school principals, which
include cutting time from
recess or lengthening the
school day.
Another internal discus-
sion among administrators
is scheduling make-up days
for inclement weather, a new
requirement the department
of education will institute
next school year.
Peterson said the district
is also working with Pend-
leton Parks and Recreation
to provide activities to
students who would ordi-
narily receive supervision
from older siblings attending
high school.
Umatilla County to combine
heath and human services
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
The Umatilla County
departments of public
health and human services
are about to merge under
one roof. The move comes
after turmoil in 2015 that
saw the county ¿re the
human services director
and two alcohol and drug
counselors.
Human services since
mid-2015 has been under
the oversight of the county’s
community justice depart-
ment. George Murdock,
chairman of the county’s
three-member board of
commissioners, explained
Mark Royal was retiring
as director of community
justice in mid-2015, so the
board tapped the veteran
administrator to step in and
right the human services
ship.
Royal did that, Murdock
said, and now the county is
ready to move the agency
out from community justice.
“It was never meant to be
a permanent arrangement
because there’s a much
more natural tie between
health and human services,”
Murdock said. “Most
counties in Oregon have a
combined health and human
services department.”
The
reorganization
takes effect July 1, he said,
and creates two deputy
directors, one to oversee the
health division and the other
for human services, which
covers drug and alcohol
treatment, developmental
disabilities and veteran
affairs. County health
director Meghan DeBolt
will become head of the
entire department.
The county commis-
sioners will consider the
creation of the human
services deputy when they
meet Wednesday at 9 a.m.
at the Umatilla County
Courthouse, Pendleton. The
county budget already has
the funds for the position,
Murdock said.
The board of commis-
sioners also will hold a
public hearing and vote
on a request to remove
about 90 acres from the
Milton-Freewater School
District and add them to
the Athena-Weston School
District.
The
request
came
from Preston Winn, long-
serving member of the
Athena-Weston
School
Board, who is moving
about a quarter of a mile
up the road from one end
of his farm to the other. But
that move would place him
out of his district and into
Milton-Freewater’s.
The county gave notice
of Winn’s request to change
the boundaries of the school
districts on Feb. 22 and
also published notices in
the East Oregonian and on
the county’s website. No
one ¿led a challenge, and
Oregon law allows county
boards to consider changes
or mergers of school
districts.
Murdock and county
counsel Doug Olsen said
Winn has property in both
districts, and changing the
boundaries affects only his
property and would allow
him to stay on the Athe-
na-Weston School Board.
EBT cards to improve WIC
East Oregonian
Recipients of WIC
(Women,
Infants
and
Children) now have a new
way to shop for food bene¿ts
using an electronic bene¿t
transaction card.
WIC families served by
Umatilla-Morrow County
Head Start recently began
receiving their cards. In the
past, recipients used paper
vouchers to purchase items.
The EBT cards will make
it easier for WIC families
to track their monthly food
balance and assist with
making healthy choices.
Participants will have access
to a new WICShopper smart
phone app, allowing them
to scan a food’s bar code to
determine if the food item is
allowed with WIC funds.
The local Head Start
provides services to nearly
4,000
lower
income
pregnant or nursing women,
infants and children under 5.
A program under the Oregon
Health Authority’s Public
Health Division, it has
offered nutrition education
and healthy food support for
more than 40 years.
There are WIC clinics
in Pendleton, Hermiston,
Milton-Freewater, Umatilla
and Boardman. For more
information, visit www.
umchs.org
or
www.
healthoregon.org/wic.
Watermelon is returning
to the Hermiston water tower.
The branding committee
commissioned by the city of
Hermiston and Hermiston
Chamber of Commerce
unveiled
two
possible
branding concepts for the city
on Tuesday, and both logos
feature a slice of Hermiston’s
famous melon.
Residents have until the
end of March to vote on the
two logo designs, two font
choices and between two
taglines: “Where Life is
Sweet” and “Where Oppor-
tunity Shines.”
The city council got a
sneak peek at the commit-
tee’s work on Monday night
and were pleased with the
results.
“I’m very happy with what
you’re bringing forward,”
Doug Primmer said. “This is
what I was hoping for.”
Doug Smith said he would
be “happy as a clam” with any
of the options presented, and
Jackie Myers said she was
impressed with the results.
The tagline that gets
the most votes from the
community will replace “You
Can GROW Here,” which
drew jokes about cultivating
marijuana after it was painted
on the water tower south of
town. When residents were
surveyed about the brand,
67 percent said they disliked
the “You Can GROW Here”
tagline, and 92 percent said
the logo needed to include a
watermelon.
In response, the city
and chamber of commerce
put together a 25-person
committee of citizens to work
with Focal Point Marketing
of Kennewick, Washington,
on a new set of logos,
taglines and fonts to present
for a community survey. The
results will be incorporated
into the city’s marketing
and used on city property,
including letterheads, vehi-
cles and the water tower.
Committee
member
Claudia Jimenez said she
enjoyed working with Focal
Point through the process,
and said she was happy the
committee included a wide
variety of ages and back-
grounds.
“We’ve been mindful of
community input,” she said.
“It’s been something that has
really been, you could say, a
guiding light.”
Dru Walchli, one of the
Hermiston High School
students on the committee,
said she didn’t know what
she was getting herself into
when she volunteered for the
role, but she was glad that the
city and chamber included
students in the process.
“It’s their brand too,” she
said. “They’re going to grow
up with it, so we want to
make sure they like it.”
Mayor David Drotz-
mann said he and the other
committee members had
worked hard through what
was “very much a consen-
sus-building exercise” to
come up with something that
captured what the community
was hoping for, so he was
relieved that the council liked
what they saw. He encour-
aged everyone to share the
survey on social media.
“We had a great turnout
with the previous survey and
we hope we can get a similar
turnout this time,” he said.
The survey, in English
and Spanish, can be accessed
online at www.hermiston-
brand.com and on paper at
city hall and the chamber of
commerce of¿ces through
March 31. It also will be
available at the Hispanic
Advisory Committee meeting
March 21 from 7-8:30 p.m.
at city hall and on March 16
from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. in
the Hermiston High School
commons.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at
jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
MILTON-FREEWATER
Seven Hills Vineyard applies for new well
Won’t increase amount of water to draw
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Seven Hills Vineyard is
drilling a new well on the west
side of its property in the Dry
Creek Basin near Milton-Free-
water, which has raised some
alarm from neighbors.
But Mike Ladd, region
manager with the Oregon
Water Resources Department
in Pendleton, said a new well
doesn’t mean new water for
the vineyard.
Rather, Seven Hills applied
in January to transfer a portion
of its existing water right to
a new delivery point where
the well is being built. The
transfer would not increase the
amount nor change the source
of water used for commercial
irrigation.
The Water Resources
Department continues to
review the application. Ladd
said Seven Hills is taking a
risk by drilling before the
transfer has been approved.
“They cannot use any
water from that well until the
transfer is approved, if it’s
approved,” Ladd said.
If for any reason the
transfer is not approved,
Ladd said Seven Hills could
wind up with a well they
can’t pump for irrigation. The
Water Resources Department
is still looking over the vine-
yard’s application to make
sure the transfer doesn’t harm
other water users or tap into a
different aquifer.
Norm
McKibben,
a
managing partner of Seven
Hills, said the vineyard has
reached out to its closest
neighbor and is con¿dent the
transfer will move forward
without any issue.
“There’s no intention to
increase the amount of water
we’re allowed,” McKibben
said. “Most people don’t
really understand what we’re
doing.”
Seven Hills is the corner-
stone property of a larger
collection of vineyards known
as SeVein, located on the
southern border of the Walla
Walla American Viticultural
Area. McKibben is one of
several partners in SeVein
who have joined together to
support each other’s develop-
ment.
All together, SeVein is
certi¿ed for 1,528 acres of
irrigation. There are four wells
on the property, which reach
down 1,200 feet deep.
The purpose for a ¿fth well
is twofold, McKibben said:
¿rst, to extend development
at SeVein to the westernmost
ridge, and also to phase out
one of their existing wells that
was drilled into a fault and has
slowly become plugged.
“We’re just now getting
into development at the far
west end,” McKibben said.
McKibben said they
expect the transfer application
will be approved. Once the
Water Resources Department
¿nishes its review, it will issue
a preliminary determination
and open public comment for
30 days.
“It’s a very open, public
process,” Ladd said. “If
(people) have concerns, they
need to follow that process
and make sure their voices are
heard.”
Seven Hills is one of the
¿rst commercial vineyards in
the Walla Walla AVA, selling
wine grapes to more than 25
different wineries. Varieties
include Cabernet Sauvignon,
Merlot, Syrah, Sangiovese,
Cabernet Franc, Semillon and
Sauvignon Blanc.
———
Contact George Plaven at
gplaven@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0825.
BRIEFLY
Hermiston schools
plan for growth
HERMISTON — The
Hermiston School Board of
Education unanimously chose
to plan for modest growth in
the 2016-7 budget.
The board approved the
¿nancial planning parameters
on Monday night for district
staff to use to build the next
year’s budget.
The board opted to plan
the budget based on:
A weighted student
enrollment growth of 50
The district’s portion of
the state of Oregon setting
aside $7.37 billion for schools
Maintaining the PERS
Reserve fund for 2017-8
school year
Keeping a 9 percent
ending fund balance
The district is projecting
a $42.3 million payroll and
$7.9 million in accounts
payable, which includes
items such as utilities,
transportation costs and
maintenance. The forecast
expenditures with is $50.2
million, and the forecast
revenue will these ¿nancial
planning parameters is $50.9
million.
Heppner YCC
offers summer jobs
HEPPNER — The
Heppner Ranger District of
the Umatilla National Forest
is recruiting students between
the ages of 15 and 18 for
summer jobs with the Youth
Conservation Corps.
Work will include
hands-on labor in the ¿eld,
such as noxious weed
removal, trail maintenance,
campground maintenance,
building fences and digging
¿re breaks around logged
areas within the district.
The program begins June
20 and will run for six weeks.
Youth are paid the current
Oregon minimum wage of
$9.25 per hour. Apart from
the age requirement, students
must have permission from
their parents to enroll, a valid
Social Security number and
transportation to and from
the Heppner Ranger District
of¿ce.
Applications will be
accepted through 2 p.m. on
April 15, and can be found at
the Heppner Forest Service
of¿ce or at Heppner, Ione,
Irrigon and Riverside high
schools. Successful applicants
will be selected through a
random drawing on April
15, and the winners will be
noti¿ed by mail.
For more information,
contact the Heppner Ranger
District at 541-676-9187.
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