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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 6, 2016)
STORM FLOODS PARK SISTERS MEET AFTER 70 YEARS BUCKS READY FOR REGIONALS HERMISTON/3A NORTHWEST/10A GOLF/1B FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2016 140th Year, No. 145 Your Weekend WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD One dollar Expanding the classroom Umatilla, Morrow county students take in outdoor school • • • Thomas Paul at the Pendleton Arts Center Cruisin’ for Scholarships Car Show at BMCC Cinco de Mayo festivals in M-F and Boardman For times and places see Coming Events, 6A Catch a movie Disney Marvel via AP Captain America clashes with Iron Man in “Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War.” For showtime, Page 5A Weekend Weather Fri Sat Sun 80/52 82/56 72/46 Salmon advocates cheer BiOp ruling Discussions could shift to dam removal By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian Once again, a federal district court judge is telling government agencies to reconsider how they operate hydroelectric dams in the Columbia River Basin to better protect endangered salmon runs. The ruling Wednesday drew cheers from conserva- tion, sport fi shing and tribal representatives, who pushed for new solutions to buck the status quo — up to and including removing all four dams on the Lower Snake River. Todd True, an attorney with the environmental group Earthjustice, spoke during a teleconference Thursday and said the system needs to operate more like a natural fl owing river, and See SALMON/12A By JENNIFER COLTON East Oregonian The classroom is a bit bigger for fi fth- and sixth- graders this month. Each year, school districts in Umatilla and Morrow counties take the classroom outside and travel up to the mountains and down to the coast for outdoor school. For some students, outdoor school will be the fi rst time they have gone camping or spent a full day in the mountains. For most, it is a chance to learn new skills and experiences. “Outdoor school provides kids an opportunity to learn in a different manner than what we might do in a class- room,” Helix sixth-grade teacher Sharilyn Newtson said Wednesday. “It allows kids to shine who might not with a pen or pencil.” Most school districts in Umatilla and Morrow coun- ties participate in an outdoor school program. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Some schools, including John Nelson of Pilot Rock learns how to butterfl y roll a fi re hose from suppression specialist Tyler Arbogast Stanfi eld and Echo, head up at a combined Helix and Pilot School school district outdoor school Wednesday at Meadowood Springs near to Tupper above Heppner, Tollgate. Irrigon Elementary travels to Camp Hancock in Fossil and TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK: PILOT ROCK Boardman’s Windy River Elementary sends students to the Oregon coast. Some districts will send as few as 15 students to an outdoor school program this year; the Mother goes back to Hermiston School District school to start career will sent 475 fi fth-graders. This week, students as an educator from Helix and Pilot Rock visited Meadowood Springs By JENNIFER COLTON near Tollgate for an outdoor East Oregonian school experience. Smaller schools, such Laura Byrnes has 23 as Pilot Rock and Helix or children this year. Echo and Condon, often She attends Little League combine to maximize the use games and musical perfor- of the camp facilities — and mances, she keeps up with to expose students to new their accomplishments and people. their struggles, and she calms “I think it’s great that we them when they are upset. join with Helix because we Byrnes even keeps up on are a small school and it’s each child’s homework — a an opportunity to meet new task simplifi ed by her position kids,” Pilot Rock sixth-grade as the class teacher. teacher Laura Byrnes said. After taking an uncon- Newtson agreed. ventional path to education, Staff photo by E.J. Harris “This is a nice opportunity Byrnes is now in her sixth year Pilot Rock teacher Laura Byrnes takes a photo on an iPad of students making of full-time teaching. Raised for them to see we’re really artwork on Wednesday during outdoor school at Meadowood Springs near very much alike. You can See TEACHER/12A Tollgate. compete in sports but still be friends,” she said. “Some older kids have kept in touch with the friends they made at It’s never too late to teach “I’ve raised my kids, so I pretty much know anything a kid can pull as a sixth-grader. That’s an advantage.” See OUTDOOR/12A — Laura Byrnes, Pilot Rock teacher PENDLETON Tonya’s House gets a new headmaster New director comes from Minnesota By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian Staff photo by Kathy Aney Shawn MacGregor moved to Pendleton from Minnesota to become director of Tonya’s House. It was cold the day Shawn MacGregor left Northern Minne- sota for Pendleton. Although already April, MacGregor said the temperature was 22 degrees and snow was still on the ground when she left the North Star State for the Round-Up City. “Those cold Minnesota winters, I hate them,” MacGregor said with a laugh. Sitting in her lime green offi ce in the basement Tonya’s House Wednesday morning, MacGregor recalled her journey from some of the coldest reaches of the Midwest to Oregon’s high desert, all to serve as the director of the Pendleton nonprofi t. The purpose of Tonya’s House is to provide temporary foster care to teen girls in need of place to stay while they sort through rough family situations, a purpose MacGregor said her experience is well matched to meet. MacGregor grew up in Minne- sota and ran a daycare for eight years in Arden Hills, a Minne- apolis suburb before packing up for Bemidji in 1993, a Northern Minnesota town not too far from the Canadian border. MacGregor moved to Bemdiji to work for the nearby Leech Lake Indian Reservation, fi rst in the tribe’s health division before moving on to its child welfare department. MacGregor was proud of See MACGREGOR/12A