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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 12, 2016)
REGION Tuesday, April 12, 2016 East Oregonian HERMISTON BRIEFLY Smarter Balanced testing gets spirited start Woman a suspect in three Hermiston cases East Oregonian Standardized testing is being celebrated at Sandstone Middle School in Hermiston. On Monday, staff, friends and family were invited to the school’s Smarter Balanced Kick Off, an event with music — by the Sand- stone Band — enthusiasm and a “spirit line” where adults cheered on the middle schoolers at the start of school. Each student also received a personal, handwritten note encour- aging the student to do their best on the standardized testing and to be “greater than yesterday,” the school’s theme for the 2015-16 school year. Choir students from Sandstone also wrote lyrics to the “Sandstone Middle School Testing Theme Song” — to the tune of Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song” — and have performed the song for the school. A video of the song is available on the Sandstone Middle School website at sms.hermiston.k12.or.us. HERMISTON — Hermiston Police arrested a woman who is a suspect in three cases. Chief Jason Edmiston said the investigations are ongoing. Police responded to a report of a car prowl at Ridgeway Apartments, 725 W. Ridgeway Ave., and found Jessica Denise Pankey, 32, of Pendleton, who had a warrant for violating probation. Pankey is serving 18 months probation, according to court records, after she pleaded guilty in February to possession of methamphetamine. Of¿cers backtracked, Edmiston said, and connected Pankey to two burglaries, a vehicle theft plus the car prowl. He said car prowls ticked up the last two weeks in Hermiston, but police do not know if Pankey is connected to that trend. Police arrested and booked Pankey into the Umatilla County Jail, Pendleton, on two counts of ¿rst-degree burglary and one count each of second- degree theft, third-degree theft, second-degree criminal mischief and third- degree criminal mischief, as well as on the probation violation warrant. Edmiston said he is hopeful that warrant means she will be in jail long enough for police to gather more evidence in the other cases. Staff photo by Jennifer Colton Staff and parents from Sandstone Middle School make a spirit line for stu- dents on Monday morning to celebrate the kickoff of the Smarter Balanced testing this week. The school is working on increasing student pride and mo- tivation for standardized testing. Forrester to retire from DA after 28 years EO Media Group Steve Forrester has announced his plan to retire as editor and publisher of The Daily Astorian. “While I am retiring from this job, I will continue to work as president and CEO of our family’s company, EO Media Group,” Forrester told his managers on Monday afternoon. The company is recruiting for a group publisher to oversee the Astorian and four other EO Media Group publications on the coast. They include the Seaside Signal, Cannon Beach Gazette, Coast River Busi- ness Journal and Chinook Observer. John S. Perry, Chief Oper- ating Of¿cer for EO Media Group, said retiring from the Astorian allows Forrester to focus more on the company’s growing business. “When Steve arrived at the Astorian in 1987, the family owned only two other newspapers: the East Oregonian in Pendleton and the Blue Mountain Eagle in John Day. Today, EO Media Group owns and operates 11 newspapers in Oregon and Washington,” said Perry. magazine. The newspaper EO Media Group also produced a number of has invested in digital special series under his lead- services, including ership, including web sites, mobile three examinations communications of child care in and social media. Clatsop County, The company three on the Port publishes books of Astoria, another and magazines as titled “Teachers well. It employs Talk About nearly 200 people Teaching” as well in four states. as others. Forrester, The company’s 69, said he will Forrester newspapers also conclude his 28 collaborated on a years at the Astorian at the year-long series on climate end of August. He and his change, which won one of wife Brenda will continue to three awards of merit in live in Astoria. the Grantham Awards for Steve Forrester is the environmental journalism in third member of his family 2007. Another companywide to serve as publisher of the series covered changing Astorian. His brother Mike patterns in forest land was publisher there from ownership. Both efforts were 1971 to 1973, before moving initiated by Forrester. to the East Oregonian. Their In the 1990s, Forrester father, J.W. “Bud” Forrester committed the resources of was publisher in Astoria The Daily Astorian and his from 1973 until 1988. extended family to resto- As editor and publisher, ration of the Liberty Theater. Forrester introduced an For about a decade, the Asto- array of features to the rian absorbed the adminis- Astorian — such as In One trative costs of the non-pro¿t Ear, Everyday People and Liberty Restoration, Inc. Friday Extra — and related The most recent innova- publications including Coast tion Forrester pushed is EO Weekend and Our Coast Media Group’s collaboration Page 3A with the Pamplin Media Group that established a statehouse news bureau and Oregon Capital Insider, a digital newsletter. “Steve has made an indel- ible mark on this newspaper and the greater Astoria community,” Perry said. “His community leadership helped restore the Liberty Theatre and put Astoria on the map as a vibrant, historic city.” Forrester is one of three principal owners of EO Media Group. Others are his brother Mike and a cousin, Kathryn Brown, who is publisher of the East Orego- nian. Both live in Pendleton, where Steve graduated from high school in 1964. “We know that a hallmark of healthy family-owned businesses is that they plan ahead for the retirements of key family members,” Brown said. “Our family began actively planning for success more than 20 years ago, and has managed smooth transitions as Steve’s parents, my grandmother and my mother retired over the years. I’m con¿dent that we will manage well through this transition.” 6teeOheaG ¿shing season extended on northeast Oregon rivers ENTERPRISE — Anglers will have another 15 days to ¿sh for spring steelhead on the Grande Ronde, Wallowa and Imnaha rivers — including Big Sheep Creek — under revised regulations by the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife. ODFW extended spring steelhead season on the three rivers through Saturday, April 30. The old closure date was April 15. The change was made last year while the department worked to simplify its ¿shing rules for 2016. Jeff <anke, district ¿sh biologist in Enterprise, said they heard from people who felt steelhead ¿shing was being cut short despite great catch rates in mid-April. “The suggestions from anglers led to changes in the regulations, resulting in increased ¿shing opportunities,” Yanke said. Not all hatchery steelhead reach their ¿nal destination at trapping facilities before mid-April, and the extension is meant to increase harvest of those ¿sh, according to ODFW. And though April showers can cause the rivers to rise and dampen ¿shing success, Yanke said the extended season will help increase steelhead harvest during years of low snowpack or late runoff. Though the ¿shing season is extended, the Rondowa area at the conÀuence of the Wallowa and Grande Ronde rivers will still close to ATV access after April 15. Anglers can still hike into the area from Minam or Palmer Junction. City Council appoints planning commissioner BOARDMAN — For the ¿rst time in years, the city of Boardman has a full seven-member planning commission. On Tuesday, April 5, city councilors appointed Jacob Cain to ¿nish the remainder of a three-year term ending Dec. 31. Cain works as an engineer at the Port of Morrow and has lived in Boardman for about three years. It was the ¿nal vacancy left to ¿ll on the commission. Planning commission meetings are held on the third Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m. at Boardman City Hall. The commission is in charge of considering land use and zoning developments presented by city staff, such as potential subdivision projects. Meetings are open to the public. COLEMAN: Retired from career as ¿re¿ghterparamedic on March 31 career ¿re¿ghter. In 1993, Pendleton Fire averaged 1,200 calls a year. In 2015, that number was closer to 3,500. He has performed weddings and funerals and seen both the best and worst of Pendleton. “People never call when they’re having a good day. It’s the worst day of their life, and we are there to try and bring a sense of calm to a chaotic situation,” he said. “The thing that really drew me in was the camaraderie, the family atmosphere, and making a difference in some- one’s life. ... Plus, you get to drive fast with lights and sirens. Who wouldn’t want to do that?” On March 31, Coleman retired from his career as a ¿re¿ghterparamedic. Although he said he will not miss the sleepless nights and 3 a.m. runs to Tri-Cities or Walla Walla, he will miss the relationships with his fellow ¿re¿ghters and the ability to help people every day. “It’s been a great career. My only regret is not getting into it sooner,” he said. “The ¿re side is getting tougher for me. It’s a young man’s game.” Coleman will continue as a reserve ¿re¿ghter and medical responder. He also plans to continue playing basketball and golf, riding his motorcycle, and spending more time with his ¿ve grandchildren. He will continue as an adjunct instructor for the emergency medical technician program and plans to remain a chap- lain as long as Pendleton Fire will have him. “We’ve had some pretty traumatic motor vehicle acci- dents where the patient was being loaded into the back of an ambulance and it was hit by a truck,” he recalled. “The patient perished, and our guys were in the back of the ambulance and watched that happen.” A chaplain provides critical incident stress debrie¿ng, checks in with the troops daily, offers counsel and watches for signs of emotional or mental strain and struggle in an attempt to keep emergency responders emotionally and mentally healthy. “These guys are my family, and I care about what happens to them,” he said. “When you have a passion about something, it’s hard to walk away. I still have some- thing to offer the younger generations.” Energy efficiency workshop for business customers Please join us for a breakfast workshop to find out about Energy Trust of Oregon incentives and other wattsmart and renewable energy programs available to Pacific Power business customers. ® wattsmart is registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. struggle with mental illness. Born in Umatilla and raised on the west end of Umatilla County, Coleman has called Pendleton home for 38 years. During most of those years, he has offered his calming presence to Pend- leton’s residents through mental care services, as a minister, as a chaplain and as a ¿re¿ghterparamedic. While some children dreamed of being ¿re- ¿ghters, when Coleman was growing up he set his eyes toward a career in juvenile counseling. After majoring in psychology in college, Coleman took a position as a patient advocate with the Eastern Oregon State Hospital, which later became the Eastern Oregon Psychiatric Center and Blue Mountain Recovery Center. He worked with mental illness daily, and in his spare time he and his wife, Robbin, raised a family and helped out with the church where her father was a minister. They taught classes, ran the music and eventually became associate pastors. When work at the state hospital began to take a toll, Coleman took a break from his career, taking on a phys- ically demanding job with Pendleton Grain Growers. During his year at the McKennon Station, Cole- man’s supervisor became a volunteer ¿re¿ghter and convinced Coleman to do so as well, inadvertently changing the course of Cole- man’s life. In 1989, Coleman became a volunteer ¿re¿ghter. In 1990, when his colleagues discovered he was an ordained minister, he became the lone chaplain for the Pendleton Fire Department. Although the department had chaplains previously, Coleman said it had been a number of years since the department had a chaplain active in its ranks. Although the department brought in counselors and psychologists after traumatic events, the ¿re¿ghters and paramedics kept a wall between them. “As a working ¿re¿ghter, paramedic and chaplain, there’s a trust level because they know I’ve walked the walk,” he said. “I’m not a professional trying to get in their heads. I know what it’s like.” Scott Stanton, now the Hermiston Fire and Emergency Services chief, got to know Coleman as the two commuted twice a week to paramedic school in Wilsonville for 13 months in the mid-1990s. Stanton said Coleman touched many lives and is always a pleasure to be around. “He is such a great guy,” Stanton said. “I couldn’t have had a better traveling partner and friend as we attended paramedic school together.” When he retired, Coleman had claimed 26 years as a © 2016 Pacific Power Continued from 1A Tuesday, April 19, 2016 8:30 – 11:30 a.m. Wildhorse Resort & Casino Columbia / Snake Room 46510 Wildhorse Blvd. Pendleton, OR 97801 To register call Oregon Energy Green at 541-200-2000 or online at pacificpower.net/seminar.