Tuesday, March 22, 2016
OFF PAGE ONE
SHOOTING: More than 100 people MUSIC: A community creator, regardless
endured the rain for a candlelight vigil of socioeconomic status or language
Page 8A
East Oregonian
Continued from 1A
explained if this was a
Chuck Sams, spokesman homicide on the reserva-
for the tribes, and the FBI tion involving non-tribal
sent written statements about members, his of¿ce would
the shooting and case, and have jurisdiction. But the
a letter from Gary Burke, charge
was
attempted
chairman of the
murder, and while
tribes board of
neither Contreras
trustees, provided
nor Jimenez were
the names of the
enrolled members
victims and other
of the Umatilla
information about
tribes, Welch is a
the investigation.
member, thus the
Umatilla tribal
prosecution shifted
police responded at
to the federal
5:53 a.m. Saturday
courts.
to a report of
This is the
shots ¿red near Contreras
second
fatal
the tribal housing
shooting on the
development on Willow Umatilla Indian Reservation
Drive. Of¿cers arrived and in 2016, the ¿rst coming Jan.
found the bloodied Welch 27 when Thadd Nelson was
and Jimenez.
shot and killed at his home
An ambulance rushed near Emigrant Springs State
Welch to St. Anthony, and Park. Police in both cases
an air ambulance Àew arrested men from California
Jimenez to Kadlec Regional in connection to the crimes,
Medical Center, Richland, and both cases are now in
Washington, where doctors federal courts.
declared him dead.
FBI spokeswoman Beth
Tribal police led the Ann Steele said the criminal
shooting investigation with investigation into Saturday’s
assistance from the FBI and crimes remains active, and it
local and state law enforce- was too early to know if this
ment, including members of case is related to the murder
the area’s major crime team. of Nelson.
Police booked Contreras into
More than 100 people
the jail at 2:15 a.m. Sunday, endured the rain Sunday
according to the jail’s night for a candlelight service
website.
to honor Jimenez.
Tribal police also arrested
His family and close
two men Saturday morning friends huddled under a tent
on
warrants:
Cameron on stage at Roy Raley Park
Joseph Shawl, 30, for a in Pendleton to stay out
probation violation; and of the downpour. Many in
Joseph Benjamin Thompson, the crowd wore rain coats
32, for misdemeanor and or pressed together under
felony failure to appear. Jail umbrellas around the grass
website information showed amphitheater. Loudspeakers
these arrests and Contreras’ on either side of the stage
occurred at or near 30 Willow broadcast rap, soul and pop
Drive.
songs.
Umatilla County District
The music ended, and
Attorney
Dan
Primus Marisol Jimenez of Spring-
¿eld took the microphone.
She was Tony’s younger
sister and thanked so many
for coming. She said her
brother had a giving heart,
then tears choked off her
words.
Rocio Jimenez of Kenne-
wick, his older sister, said her
brother was loving and loyal
and a prankster. He once
mooned her and her sister,
she said, and they swiped
lipstick across his backside
for the stunt.
The story drew a laugh
from the assembly. Rocio
Jimenez said she was sad
those antics have ended,
and she would cherish her
memories of Tony.
Their mother, Florinda
Jimenez, came from Florida
for the vigil. She missed her
son, she said, but also could
not hold forth for more than
a few moments.
One friend, Eric Rodri-
guez, said he grew up with
Tony and called him the kind
of man who shook his friends’
hands and hugged them
whenever he saw them. Tony
had some troubles in the past,
Rodriguez said, but turned
that page and was becoming
involved in the lives of his
three children.
Marisol Jimenez said her
brother grew up in Pendleton.
His children, Eliana, Xavier
and Antonio III, are around
5-8 years old. An older sister,
Gloria, died when she was 4
months old.
The memorial ended
around 9 with a moment of
silence. The rain was letting
up by then. The hugs and the
tears lasted a while longer.
A fund to help pay for
funeral expenses has been set
up at www.gofundme.com/
ayv62f7w.
RECORDS: State of¿cials can waive public records
fees if releasing the information bene¿ts the public
Continued from 1A
a barrier imposed by the
legislator. It is not a barrier
engineered by the public.”
Inconsistencies in the way
state agencies answer public
records requests — including
delays and high charges —
contribute to the perception
that agencies sometimes
block release of public
information, according to a
November audit by the secre-
tary of state’s of¿ce.
The Capital Bureau’s
request illustrated that those
disparities can be even
greater when the recipients
of the requests are legislators.
Lawmakers shape public
records rules and have
exempted themselves from
many of the requirements.
Disparities in charges and
response times, along with
fewer options for recourse
when a lawmaker denies
a records request, raise
questions about whether the
public can access information
about how their representa-
tives spend their time and
make their decisions. Oregon
law allows lawmakers and
their staff to refuse to release
records during legislative
sessions.
Hourly charges and the
time estimated to release
calendars varied dramatically.
For example, Courtney’s
staff members indicated they
would charge nearly $80 an
hour to review, make redac-
tions and release his calendar.
Meanwhile, Sen. Michael
Dembrow’s of¿ce gave an
estimate of less than $23 an
hour.
State agencies charge
anywhere from $15 to $40
per hour for staff time spent
on ful¿lling public records
requests,
according
the
secretary of state’s audit.
Time estimates to produce the
calendars ranged from two
hours for Courtney’s to 10
hours for Sen. Arnie Roblan’s.
Lawmakers who volun-
teered to waive fees asso-
ciated with releasing their
calendars were Rep. Margaret
Doherty, D-Tigard; Rep. Ann
Lininger, D-Lake Oswego;
Senate Majority Leader
Ginny Burdick, D-Portland;
Senate Minority Leader
Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day;
and Sen. Floyd Prozanski,
D-Eugene.
At the bureau’s request,
Sen. Dembrow, D-Portland,
House Minority Leader Mike
McLane, R-Powell Butte, and
Sen. Roblan, D-Coos Bay,
later agreed to also waive
the fees. Senate President
Courtney, House Speaker
Kotek and House Majority
Leader Jennifer Williamson,
D-Portland, held ¿rm on their
charges.
Setting a cost barrier
In their leadership posi-
tions, Courtney and Kotek
shape the policy agenda, can
block bills from the chamber
Àoor and often negotiate
backroom deals on legislation.
Their power in the state rivals
only that of Gov. Kate. Brown.
Kotek and Courtney’s
estimates for their calendars
equaled nearly $300. As a
comparison, Brown agreed
to release nearly a year of her
calendar, with detail ¿elds,
for $45.
Courtney’s of¿ce indi-
cated it would charge for his
most expensive employee,
Chief of Staff Betsy Imholt,
to process the request, at a
cost of $80 per hour. Imholt
earns $110,838 a year.
Courtney’s of¿ce later
agreed to reduce the charge
to $60 an hour, when the
bureau pointed out the hourly
charge appeared inconsistent
with Imholt’s annual salary.
The original $80 charge
contained a prorated cost for
bene¿ts, said Robin Maxey,
Courtney’s spokesman.
Legislators are allowed
to charge fees for the time it
takes to release their calendar,
including redacting items that
are not legislative business.
That can include personal
information,
personal
appointments, such as doctor
visits, and campaign-related
events, Trujillo said.
The charge “recoups
the cost to the public body
incurred in responding to the
request — in this case, the
staff time that was diverted
from taxpayer-funded duties
to ful¿ll your request,” said
Lindsey O’Brien, Kotek’s
spokeswoman.
The Speaker’s Of¿ce
didn’t offer any evidence that
providing the records caused
an additional cost to the state.
Not every public record
request incurs overtime, so
if an employee doesn’t work
overtime to ful¿ll the request
and an extra employee isn’t
hired to do so, it is unclear
what bene¿t the fee serves,
except to discourage such
public records requests, said
Orchard of the ONPA.
Orchard also questioned
whether lawmakers have a
right to charge for removing
their personal appointments
from a public calendar. With
today’s technology, any
lawmaker can keep separate
personal and legislative
calendars and sync them,
Orchard said.
“The decision to merge
public and private appoint-
ments on a calendar is your
decision to make,” he said.
“To turn around and charge
the public for a decision you
made to merge the two seems
to me to set up a cost barrier
for people getting access to
that public record.”
Lawmakers “need to
know what time is really free
and not free,” said legislative
counsel Dexter Johnson.
“That inherently means kind
of a blended calendar of both
public and private events.”
Continued from 1A
Desert View Elementary,
some students burned
energy in the gym; others
clapped, sang and played
percussion
in
Rachel
Goller’s music classroom,
the walls decorated with
colorful musical notes,
posters and other reminders
of song. Down the hallway,
a bulletin board shows how
school staff have music in
their own lives.
Goller teaches 10 music
classes a day. Over 40
minutes, students learn how
to read sheet music. They
practice being piano and
mezzo, and they learn how
to compose music and play
the recorder. While students
sing, they read the words on
a screen, and as they count
beats, they do mathematics.
“It’s still academic, but
they’re not sitting behind
a desk,” Goller said. “They
can move, they can sing,
they can express them-
selves.”
For Goller’s students
in the classroom setting,
music isn’t just about
having a talent.
“When I teach them how
to play an instrument, I
expect them to at least try,”
she said. “I tell my kids to
just give me their best.”
While the elementary
students practiced beats
and danced to the music,
high school students were
also taking advantage
of Hermiston’s focus on
education. At the high
school, students can choose
from concert, marching and
jazz bands. They can take
music appreciation, join
the wind ensemble or the
drumline. For vocal perfor-
mance, the school offers
four separate performance
ensembles: concert choir,
chamber choir, Con Brio
and Majazzty.
Both the band and choir
hosted a district band and
choir festival where Herm-
iston ensembles competed
against 13 bands and 13
choirs from across Eastern
Photo Contributed by Josh Rist
The Hermiston High School choir performs in concert
at the Oregon State University’s Orange and Black
scholarship concert in Corvallis.
Oregon for a chance at
the state competition. The
Hermiston High School
bands continue to win
awards, and the Chamber
Choir recently toured Salem
and Corvallis, performing
and learning. Josh Rist,
HHS choir director, said
music should be a core part
of curriculum.
“I think that music
education should be as
fundamental a part of a
student’s education as
learning to read or to
engage in sciences or study
history,” he said. “It is a
study of who we are as
people as well as a study
of an art form that has been
a part of human history
as long as there has been
human history.
“Even if music didn’t
have all these other bene-
¿ts, it is worth investing
in so generations can tell
their story through music
and create communities
through music.”
Rist pointed to music’s
history as a community
creator, regardless of back-
ground,
socioeconomic
status or language. Music
is able to draw people
together, and Rist ¿nds
value in teaching students
how to create and explore
music.
“When people engage in
music, it becomes a more
beautiful world,” he said.
“It is really a place where
diversity is celebrated.
Athletes and computer
programmers, cheerleaders
and chess club members,
everyone working together
in harmony. We have an
ideal society where people
celebrate each other’s
differences
and
work
together for a common
good. That’s what the world
needs.”
For the educators, music
doesn’t stop at the edge of
the classroom. Whether it
is giving students an outlet
for expression or making
the world a more beautiful
place, the teachers hope to
bring music to life in the
Hermiston community.
“I’d love to see more
music
performed
in
Hermiston at the Saturday
markets, at the bars and
coffee shops, where music
becomes an integral part
of our culture,” Rist said.
“These kids not only
become musicians in high
school: They become
supporters of the arts, and
they want to live more
beautiful lives because of
this experience. We want
to make Hermiston a more
beautiful place.”
———
Contact Jennifer Colton
at jcolton@eastoregonian.
com or 541-564-4534
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