Page 8A
East Oregonian
FIRE: Council wants to
start public education on
the bond immediately
Continued from 1A
Despite the setback,
Ciraulo said he was
conident the city could
ind a new site well before
November and said their
efforts should be focused
on inding one as close as
possible to the intersection
of Main Street and Dorion
Avenue.
Ciraulo said property
owners had approached him
about looking at their sites
after the St. Anthony nego-
tiations fell through and he
was prepared to set up a
political action committee
as soon as the council gave
him the go-ahead.
The council wasn’t
convinced, with several
councilors saying they’ve
received word from constit-
uents that they wouldn’t
vote for the bond without a
deinite site.
Citing the failed gas
tax campaign, Councilor
Chuck Wood said the city
couldn’t afford to make
another late start to a ballot
measure campaign.
Reaction from the public
was also mixed.
Larry O’Rourke, a
former city councilor and
a member of the PAC that
supported the failed 5-cent
gas tax measure, said a ire
station bond without a site
would be a hard sell.
“If you thinking selling
a $10 million bond issue
in this crowd in this city,
I don’t know how that
compares to asking for
nickels for the gas tax,” he
said. “We didn’t make it
on the gas tax and I don’t
think we’d make on the $10
million.
Some of those who testi-
ied also questioned why
the city would demolish the
old ire station when they
could sell it to someone
who could rehabilitate the
building.
Councilor McKennon
McDonald said selling an
empty site might be more
dificult because 911 S.W.
Court Ave. is subject to
the river quarter’s stringent
building codes.
Regardless of when the
city placed a bond on the
ballot, Councilor Becky
Marks said the council
needed to avoid postponing
a campaign indeinitely.
“We can put it off until
May, I understand that,”
Marks said. “But if we
don’t put some urgency
into
developing
this
project, we’ll never get it
done. We’ll ind all kinds of
reasons not to get it done.”
Even though the poten-
tial election date for a ire
station bond is now over
a year away, the council
urged Ciraulo to start a
public education effort
immediately.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.
TEACHER: Helps students
learn to work through problems
Continued from 1A
what I was supposed to do,”
she said. “School wasn’t
easy for me. I would have to
work extra hard, so I know
how hard it can be. I know
everyone doesn’t learn the
same way, and I know how
hard it is. I want to make a
difference.”
Kittelson went back
to school to become an
elementary teacher. She
began her teaching career 15
years ago in Reno, Nevada,
before she returned to
Oregon for family.
For 11 years, she has
taught Irrigon’s irst-graders
from the same corner
classroom at AC Houghton.
The bulletin boards, walls
and even closet doors are
covered with materials,
shapes hang from the ceiling,
and every space is packed
with information ready for
children to reference.
While her students iden-
tify hexagons and recite the
pledge of allegiance, they
also practice being leaders
and helping their fellow
students.
Kittelson is a mediator,
helping students learn to
work through problems.
She answers questions and
picks out just the right shade
of crayon. She is a triage
nurse, applying Band-Aids
to paper cuts and checking
bumps and bruises. She is
a friend and conidant who
listens to children’s stories
and gives them the encour-
agement they need.
“People sometimes think
that 6-, 7-, 8-year-olds can’t
bring anything to a conver-
sation, but they can,” she
said. “You have to listen.”
But even irst grade has
its challenges.
Kittelson
has
had
students whose parents have
split up or have other issues
at home. Two years ago, one
of Kittelson’s students died
in a car wreck over spring
break.
“It was really hard on
me, but the kids were so
supportive and sweet and
understanding,” she said.
“People don’t think irst-
graders are that in tune, but
they are.”
The atmosphere of the
Irrigon school also plays
into those relationships,
Kittelson said. The students
and staff all live in the same
community, and commu-
nity brings Kittelson full
circle — her family came
to Morrow County on the
Oregon Trail and her great
aunt Edith was a teacher at
the old schoolhouse next
door.
When she isn’t in the
classroom, Kittelson travels
and enjoys camping and
ishing. She makes the most
of her small window of
free time in July but always
returns to her classroom.
“I am one of those
people that even if I won the
lottery, I would still work,”
Kittelson said. “I love my
job!”
———
Contact Jennifer Colton
at jcolton@eastoregonian.
com or 541-564-4534.
Thursday, May 5, 2016
OFF PAGE ONE
OPIOIDS: Some users eventually switch to heroin
Continued from 1A
The culprits are pain-
killers such as Hydrocodone
and Oxycodone. Opioids
work by changing the way
people perceive pain. Once
lauded as a less-addictive
alternative to morphine,
synthetic opioids are now
getting a hard look. The U.S.
Department of Health and
Human Services reported
that the country is in the
midst of an opioid overdose
epidemic with more than
200,000 overdoses a year. An
estimated 2.1 million people
abuse opioids, according
to the National Institute on
Drug Abuse. The Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention recently reported
a drop in life expectancy
for white women — one
possible reason is the abuse
of prescription painkillers.
The group assembled
in Good Shepherd’s board
room gave Walden an unil-
tered look at the struggle to
subdue the opioid beast.
La Grande psychiatrist
Joel Rice said he helps opioid
addicts to break away by
prescribing buprenorphine
(sold as Suboxone). Critics
say using Suboxone, which
is also addictive, is simply
exchanging one drug for
another. But Rice considers
the drug a critical tool to
help people break free from
painkillers.
“It’s easier to get off of,”
he said. “You feel normal on
it. You can rebuild your life
so you have something to
live for.”
Rice said he isn’t able
to accommodate every
patient who needs medi-
cation-assisted
treatment
— prescribers are limited
to 30 patients initially and
a maximum of 100 after a
year. Holton is one of only
Staff photo E.J. Harris
CTUIR Housing Director Marcus Luke talks about drug usage on the Umatilla Indian
Reservation with Congressman Greg Walden on Tuesday in Hermiston.
six Suboxone prescribers
east of The Dalles, Holton
said.
Pending legislation would
lift the cap after a year for
substance abuse specialists.
With this in the works, Rice
is considering starting a new
clinic in Pendleton in order to
ill a gap in Umatilla County.
Rice said he sees patients
from every walk of life, from
millionaires to people who
are homeless.
Michelle Frizzell, a ther-
apist who works with Rice,
also sat at the table. Frizzell
knows the struggles their
patients face because she
went through them herself.
She broke her foot and was
prescribed painkillers.
“That was the beginning
of a 10 year addiction to
opioids,” she said.
When she became deter-
mined to break free, she
couldn’t ind a doctor nearby
to help her. She regularly
traveled more than ive hours
from her Milton-Freewater
home to Marysville, Wash-
ington.
“The detox is so bad — so
uncomfortable emotionally
and physically,” Frizzell said.
“I was driven to travel long
distances for Suboxone.”
By the end of an hour
and a half, most around
the table had commented.
Walden asked questions and
described pending legisla-
tion. He distributed a list of
a dozen opioid-related bills.
The legislation increases
access to treatment, reduces
overprescribing, seeks best
practices, requires more
stringent review of opioids
and makes opioid reversal
drugs more accessible.
One bill educates teens
and adolescents injured in
sports about the dangers of
addiction. Another funds the
improvement of electronic
prescription drug monitoring
to help prescribers know
if their patients are already
getting prescriptions from
other sources. The Reducing
Unused Medications Act
would allow pharmacists to
ill only part of a prescrip-
tion. If pain persists, the
patient could go back and get
more pills.
Getting a handle on opioid
prescriptions is only one
aspect of this murky mess.
The tendency for opioid
users to eventually switch to
heroin, which is cheaper and
easier to procure, is another.
Holton said he is opti-
mistic about subduing the
opioid monster, but he knows
heroin will bring additional
trials.
“I’m convinced we’re
going to ix this,” he said,
regarding opioid addiction.
“But we’ll have to meet
again down the road about
the heroin crisis.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or call 541-966-0810.
SHOOTING: Sregzinski has an arrest record going back to 2011
Continued from 1A
county’s Juvenile Justice
Center.
Primus
also
stated
Milton-Freewater oficers
Scott Clayton and Jesse
Myer and detective Morgan
Dunlap were involved in the
exchange of gunire with
Sregzinski. Clayton has
worked for the Milton-Free-
water police force for 10
years, while Myer has been
there for two years and
Dunlap for one. The trio
remains on paid leave.
Oregon State Police led
the investigation and detec-
tive Trampas McCrae stated
the facts support charges
of attempted aggravated
murder, unlawful use of a
weapon and felon in posses-
sion of a irearm.
The afidavit provided the
following account of police
taking down Sregzinski.
Dunlap and Myer were
in an unmarked police car
Thursday, April 28, at about
7:15 p.m. when they saw
a 2007 Ford Focus fail to
maintain the lane on Turbyn
Road near Eastside Road,
Milton-Freewater. Dunlap
was driving, and Myer
reported the Ford’s violation
to the police department’s
dispatch when the car
stopped.
Sregzinski was behind
the wheel and alone. Myer
checked Sregzinski’s Wash-
ington driver’s license and
found no problems. Then
Clayton rolled up, and the
trio of cops noticed three
guns inside the car.
The oficers told Sregz-
inski to get out of the Ford
but he drove off, and police
gave chase. Myer during the
pursuit told dispatch Sregz-
inski said he was not going
back to prison.
Sregzinski has an arrest
record going back to 2011,
according to McCrea’s
afidavit. The irst arrest
was for unlawful discharge
of ireworks, then nine
more follow, including for
burglary and theft in May
2012, three counts of irearm
theft in September 2014 and
burglary again in September
and November 2015.
Sregzinski ended up
taking Cemetery Road
into the Milton-Freewater
with cops on his tail, then
onto South Main Street
and through the parking
lot at Rite-Aid, 102 S.W.
Second Ave. He then headed
west on Second and a few
blocks later turned north
on DeHaven Street, which
borders the middle and high
schools, then onto Southwest
First Avenue.
The chase reached 50-60
mph on those residential
roads.
Police then reported
shots were ired Sregzinski’s
vehicle. Myer thought it was
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a shotgun.
Clayton used his car to
take out the Ford, ending the
chase.
“Once the Ford Focus
was disabled,” according
to the afidavit, “Sregzinski
stepped out of the vehicle
and ired shots at the ofi-
cers.”
The next radio transmis-
sion stated Sregzinski was
in custody and shot. Primus
reported Sregzinski suffered
the wound in a “lower
extremity,” but he has not
been more speciic.
McCrae searched Sreg-
zinski’s car and, in addition
to the shotgun and shells,
there was a smartphone and a
Fender guitar bag containing
a white towel and an ammu-
nition belt. And detective
Karl Farber with the state
police bomb squad took the
bottles of gun power.
Sregzinski faces charges
of attempted aggravated
murder would be in line
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with what Primus charged
Bryan Alberto Corona, the
24-year-old Pendleton man
who ired at state police
during a car chase in January
near Pendleton. Police also
maneuvered to crash his
vehicle, and he suffered
multiple injures when an
oficer struck him with a
police car.
In that case, Corona was
in circuit court in Pendleton
on Tuesday and pleaded
guilty to the following: two
counts of attempted aggra-
vated murder; one count of
unlawful use of a irearm;
attempt to elude; and two
counts of recklessly endan-
gering others.
Court records also show
Circuit Judge Christopher
Brauer will hand down
Corona’s sentence Tuesday,
May 10.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
541-966-0833 or pwright@
eastoregonian.com
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