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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 2016)
REGION Wednesday, April 13, 2016 East Oregonian Page 3A PENDLETON Board approves superintendent contract Ontario High School, was named superintendent March 7 The Pendleton School Board and will start July 1. Other topics discussed approved a three-year contract with incoming Superintendent Andy Kovach during the meeting: • The board unanimously at a meeting Monday. Michelle Jones, the district’s director approved new curriculum for of business services, said Kovach will the school district, which will HDUQ LQ KLV ¿UVW \HDU ZLWK DQ be used for the next six years. The adopted curriculum is opportunity to negotiate pay raises after K-8 Ready Math Curriculum, Kovach his annual evaluation from the board. The $127,500 salary represents the K-12 iReady Diagnostics low end of the pay scale offered by the and Interventions Tool, McGraw Hill board when it advertised the job, the $OJHEUD , +RXJKWRQ 0LIÀLQ +DUFRXUW Geometry and Algebra II, McGraw Hill maximum being $140,000. Outgoing Superintendent Jon Integrated Math and Glencoe Health Peterson retired last year but agreed to Series High School Health. With pension costs and the state’s work on contract through June while the minimum wage set to rise next year, board found a successor. For the 2014-2015 school year, the board member Steve Umbarger said last year before his retirement, Peterson purchasing new curriculum could be costly on a tight budget. earned $128,215. Peterson said the district could priori- Kovach, currently the principal of East Oregonian tize which curriculum to adopt if there’s not enough money in the budget for all of them. • Special Programs Director Julie Smith reported an improvement in results of the district’s special education report card. Although still behind the state target, special education VWXGHQWV¶ IRXU DQG ¿YH\HDU graduation rates nearly doubled from the year before — 52.4 percent and 53.6 percent, respectively. Special education students are also showing progress outside the classroom. While only 10 percent of special education students are enrolled in some type of higher education, well below the state target, that number jumps to 65 percent when competitive employment is included, which is above the state’s expectation. Photo contributed by OSP The heads of two bighorn sheep were removed by poachers east of Biggs Junction in Gilliam County. Alleged bighorn UMATILLA Robotics team heads to World Championships poachers get May 6 hearing By JENNIFER COLTON East Oregonian )RU WKH WKLUG WLPH LQ ¿YH \HDUV Umatilla Robotics will compete at the World Championships. This weekend, Umatilla’s FIRST Robotics Competition team, 4125 ³&RQ¿GHQWLDO´ FRPSHWHG DW WKH 3DFL¿F Northwest District Championships in Portland, a regional level competition against 159 teams from Oregon and :DVKLQJWRQ&RQ¿GHQWLDOEURXJKWKRPH the Engineering Inspiration Award, an honor that celebrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a team’s school and community. )RU8PDWLOODWKHDZDUGUHÀHFWVKRZ PHPEHUV RI &RQ¿GHQWLDO YROXQWHHU to lead robotics clubs and classes at McNary Heights Elementary School as well as participating and volunteering at community events across the county. “It’s really cool this year because we’re going to the championships on a completely different path. This isn’t just about the efforts of the robot, this is a whole WHDPDZDUG´WHDPPHQWRU.\OH6LSHVDLG 0RQGD\ ³7KLV DZDUG UHÀHFWV ZKDW WKH ZKROHWHDPGRHVLQWKLVFRPPXQLW\´ Only one team from each regional competition can win the Engineering Contributed Photo Umatilla’s Team 4125 “Confidential” qualified for the FIRST World Championships at the regional competition this weekend in Portland. ,QVSLUDWLRQ $ZDUG 7KH KRQRU TXDOL¿HV Umatilla Robotics to compete at the world championships, April 27-30 in St. Louis, Missouri. At the championship, 900 teams and 20,000 students from 39 countries will compete. Among those students will be WKHPHPEHUVRI7HDP&RQ¿GHQWLDO “We’ve been looking and hotels and talking to Mid-Columbia about busing DOOGD\WU\LQJWR¿JXUHRXWWKHORJLVWLFV of how we’re going to get everyone WKHUH´6LSHVDLG 7HDP &RQ¿GHQWLDO FRPSHWHG LQ WZR 3DFL¿F1RUWKZHVWGLVWULFWOHYHOFRPSHWL- WLRQV7KHWHDPTXDOL¿HGIRUWKHUHJLRQDO competition by winning the Chairman’s Award at one district-level competition and the Engineering Inspiration Award at the other. BRIEFLY Irrigon teen arrested for rape IRRIGON — A 15-year-old Irrigon boy raped an 18-year-old woman and now is in jail, according to the Morrow County 6KHULII¶V2I¿FH 7KHVKHULII¶VRI¿FHGLG not identify either person. The county’s dispatch center Sunday at 6:53 p.m. received information from Good Shepherd Medical Center, Hermiston, that an 18-year-old female from Irrigon reported a 15-year-old boy sexually assaulted her, according to a written statement from the VKHULII¶VRI¿FH A deputy contacted the victim at the hospital, and sheriff’s detective Brian Synder responded and began a sexual assault investigation. The woman and her boyfriend visited the 15-year-old Saturday evening at his home in Irrigon. Sunday at about 1 a.m., according to the sher- LII¶VRI¿FHWKH\HDUROG raped and sexually assaulted her. The survivor told her boyfriend in the morning “the 15-year-old did something to her during WKHQLJKW´DFFRUGLQJWRWKH statement, “but she did not GLVFORVHWKHGHWDLOV´6KH was “upset, confused and GLGQ¶WNQRZZKDWWRGR´WKH VKHULII¶VRI¿FHUHSRUWHGDQG decided to call a girlfriend, who told her to tell her parents. She did, the sheriff’s they are taking their time with the investigation CONDON — The two before the May hearing. men accused of poaching Weatherford said the duo bighorn sheep along could face up to $50,000 in Interstate 84 east of Biggs restitution — $25,000 for Junction will be arraigned each animal killed. Weatherford did not May 6 in Gilliam County. Cody Plagmann, 37, provide any other infor- and Justin Samora, 32, mation about the motive are accused of working for the incident. Bighorn together to kill and behead sheep were reintroduced in two bighorns from the I-84 Oregon in 1954 and wild- herd earlier this month. OLIH RI¿FLDOV HVWLPDWH WKHUH They were arrested by are now roughly 4,500 of Oregon State Police and the animals across the state. Drawing a bighorn tag is a have since posted bail. Plagmann, of Albany, once-in-a-lifetime hunting was booked on charges opportunity in Oregon, with of taking or possessing fewer than 100 tags issued. According to OSP, bighorn sheep, wasting a game animal and hunting troopers received a tip from on closed ground. Samora, a passing motorist on the of Layton, Utah, also faces morning of April 3 that charges of aiding in a someone was apparently game violation. There is no gutting a game animal hunting season for bighorns next to I-84. Samora was from the I-84 herd, which discovered at the scene have become a popular sitting in a vehicle, while viewing attraction along the Plagmann was found hours later hiding along railroad highway. Charges have not yet tracks two miles away. In EHHQ¿OHGLQFRXUW*LOOLDP the course of their search, County District Attorney troopers found the severed Marion Weatherford said heads of two bighorns. East Oregonian RI¿FHVWDWHGDQGWKH\WRRN her to the hospital. Synder obtained a search warrant for the residence and found evidence there, according to the statement, DQG³GHYHORSHGVXI¿FLHQW SUREDEOHFDXVH´WRDUUHVW and book him into the youth jail at the Northern Oregon Regional Corrections Facility, The Dalles. The Morrow County 'LVWULFW$WWRUQH\¶V2I¿FH arraigned him Tuesday afternoon via video from the MDLORQFKDUJHVRI¿UVWGHJUHH rape, two counts of unlawful sexual penetration and three FRXQWVRI¿UVWGHJUHHVH[XDO abuse. APRIL Teen dies, two injured in crash LA GRANDE — A crash Monday evening outside La Grande killed one teen and injured two others. Oregon State Police reported Melissa Book, 19, was eastbound in a 2008 Toyota Solara at 5:46 p.m. with two passengers, Alexis Browning, 18, and Hanna Doig-Cashell, 18. All three lived in La Grande. At about milepost 256, Book tried to pass a vehicle, according to preliminary information from state police, but the car left the road and rolled. Police do not know what caused the loss of control. Doig-Cashell died at the scene. Book suffered serious injuries and an air ambulance ÀHZKHUWR3URYLGHQFH Saint Mary Medical Center, Walla Walla. Browning was seriously injured as well, and an ambulance drove her to Grande Ronde Hospital, La Grande. State police closed both eastbound lanes of I-84 for approximately three hours following the crash. T. S. Eliot called April, “the cruelest month...” B UT IT DOESN ’ T HAVE TO BE . G IVE US A CALL www.pendletonpsych.com 541-278-2222 HIT THE ROAD WITH AN RV LOAN! 16 P t M h MUSIC @ 8 Pendleton Red Lion Inn • 304 SE Nye Ave Pendleton, Or 541.276.6111 Presented by www.glcproductions.com AS LOW AS for 60 months CONCEALED CARRY PERMIT CLASS Oregon - Utah - Valid 35 States HERMISTON Best Western: 2255 Highway 395 South April 29 th • 1:00 pm & 6:00 pm Walk-Ins Welcome! 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