REGION
Saturday, May 7, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 3A
TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK: ECHO
HERMISTON
Senior center
plans scaled back
City council to
discus plans at
Monday meeting
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
A packed agenda at
Hermiston’s city council
meeting
Monday
will
include consideration of
plans for the city’s new
senior center.
The plans for the Harken-
rider Center being presented
are a scaled back version
of what was presented in
March, when the city council
was asked to consider paying
for a daylight basement.
The plans that will be
recommended by staff
on Monday include a
7,200-square-foot
main
loor, a 3,800-square-foot
basement and a simpliied
parking lot design that would
include the same number
of spaces but remove some
of the aesthetic elements
included in the previous
design. The current senior
center at the Umatilla
County Fairgrounds is 5,500
square feet.
If the city council
approves the plans recom-
mended Monday it will cost
an estimated $550,000 above
and beyond the $2 million
Community Development
Block Grant paying for the
rest of the project.
Monday’s agenda also
includes:
• A presentation from
the Hermiston Branding
Committee, which will
reveal the results of the
community survey about
what logo and tagline the
city should use as it moves
forward with its branding
efforts.
• The city council also
will be asked to approve a
supplemental budget that
includes $437,333 (mostly
grant money from the Federal
Aviation
Administration)
for a new lighting system
at the Hermiston Municipal
Airport; $260,000 for capital
improvements by Hermiston
Energy Services; and $1
million for the city to clean
out and haul away sludge
from the storage pond at its
wastewater treatment plant
and plan improvements to its
solids handling system.
• Sanitary Disposal
will ask for a 7.81 percent
increase in rates for Herm-
iston customers, which
includes an increase of .5
percent in the franchise fees
that are paid back to Herm-
iston. The city plans to use
the extra $10,000 generated
by the franchise fee increase
to pay for abatement efforts
on properties with code
violations.
• The city council will be
asked to approve an inter-
governmental
agreement
with the city of Umatilla to
take over building inspec-
tions in Umatilla.
• It will also be asked
to approve an agreement
for a wastewater feasibility
analysis to discover options
for bringing additional
wastewater services to
the industrial land south
of Hermiston so the land
could accommodate a food
processing plant.
• The 7 p.m. regular
council meeting will be
preceded by a 6 p.m. work
session on future city hall
needs.
Assistant city manager
Mark Morgan said there are
no imminent plans to build a
new city hall, and city staff
have no recommendations
for the immediate future, but
they felt it was important to
start assessing how to the
city might address its needs
for ofice and meeting space
in what has become a “pretty
cramped space here” in the
current building.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
Missing Milton-Freewater man
linked to homicide investigation
By STEPHANIE TSHAPPAT
Union-Bulletin
A Washington State Patrol
crime lab team combing
through a Walla Walla house
earlier this week is part of an
investigation into a report of
a missing Milton-Freewater
man who may be a homicide
victim, oficials said Friday.
Walla
Walla
police
Detective Sgt. Matt Wood
said rumors of a man being
killed at 1589 E. Alder St.
led police to the family of
Gabriel Ledezma Rodriguez,
33, who hasn’t been seen
since about April 26.
Police took the rumors
seriously because infor-
mation was corroborating,
and “we believed we had
probable cause to search for
evidence of a crime,” Wood
said in an interview this
morning.
Detectives
contacted
Rodriguez’s family and
helped his father, who
doesn’t speak English, report
him as a missing person to
Milton-Freewater police.
On Tuesday around 4 p.m.,
detectives knocked at the
door of the Alder Street rental
duplex. After speaking with
the person who answered the
door, the house was secured
and police remained there
through the night until a
search warrant was served
Wednesday morning.
Wood conirmed the
duplex was being rented and
the occupant was relocated
elsewhere.
Wood said the Washington
State Patrol Crime Response
Team was called in to process
the scene to allow detectives
to continue to investigate the
suspected homicide.
“We have detectives freed
up, talking to anyone whose
name comes up and knocking
on doors,” he said.
A news release said
numerous
items
were
collected from the house
for further examination, but
Wood wouldn’t comment
on what those items were,
except to say that no body
was recovered.
“I can’t go into a lot of
speciics because we’re still
talking to people, searching
the area,” he said.
The areas being searched
are in the Walla Walla Valley
in Washington and across the
stateline in Oregon.
“Those are the areas
we’ve been concentrating
on, been working in,” Wood
said.
Ledezma Rodriguez also
goes by the names Luis,
“Chocolate” and “Choco.”
“We’ve been receiving
information from the public
and
community
since
Tuesday when this started,”
Wood said. “We’d really like
to ind him.”
Anyone who hears from
him or knows where he might
be is asked to call detectives
at 509-527-1960.
Staff Photo by Jennifer Colton
Teacher Brandi Russell pitches a softball game during a middle school physical education class at Echo Schools
on Thursday. Russell teaches math, science and P.E. classes at the small school.
Science to softball: teaching it all
Echo’s Brandi Russell
teaches three subjects
“The best thing
about teaching is
helping the students
see what you see
in them, to see the
potential, what they
can do.”
By JENNIFER COLTON
East Oregonian
In a small school, each
teacher wears many hats.
Brandi Russell is no excep-
tion.
Thursday
morning,
Russell started her day
pitching and teaching softball
to sixth-graders. In the after-
noon, she taught Algebra 1
and, in between, she checked
on the progress of the pill
bugs her elementary science
students are raising to race.
With 22 years of teaching
under her belt, Russell has
the experience, the creativity
and the drive to tackle
anything the Echo School
District can throw at her.
This school year, Russell
teaches junior high math,
junior high physical educa-
tion and is piloting a science
program for second- and
third-graders.
The curriculum has
allowed students to grow
vegetables, raise pill bugs
and engineer small robotic
vehicles. Giving students a
hands-on, practical appli-
cation to science allows
students who may not be the
best readers or test-takers to
thrive.
“Some of these kids who
hated school love it because
— Brandi Russell,
Echo teacher
Staff Photo by Jennifer Colton
Teacher Brandi Russell leads a physical education
class at Echo Schools on Thursday.
they get to do the things
they’re good at,” Russell
said. “If we can hook them
in second and third grade,
make them love school, then
we’ll keep them engaged.”
While the elementary
students provide a break
from the hours of junior
high, Russell said she loves
the hope and humor that
middle school students
provide.
“There’s so much hope in
junior high,” she said. “The
best thing about teaching
is helping the students see
what you see in them, to see
the potential, what they can
do.”
The hardest part of
teaching junior high, for
Russell, is overcoming
obstacles, such as students
not taking education seri-
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Corrections
A May 4, 2016 story
about Sunridge teacher
Erin Donnelly misstated
the number of years she
has worked at the school.
Donnelly has worked at
Sunridge for four years;
she worked for 11 years in
California before coming
to Oregon. The East
Oregonian works hard to
be accurate and sincerely
regrets any errors. If
you notice a mistake in
the paper, please call
541-966-0818.
ously. The best part, then, is
inspiring students to set and
reach goals.
“The biggest thing is
getting them to believe they
can do it,” Russell said.
“We teach them they have
value and they can do great
things.”
Russell’s career has
taken her from Gresham to
the Philippines, where she
provided relief and taught
English and life skills for a
year. The past 10 years have
been in the Echo School
District, including ive years
as a full-time teacher and
ive years as a substitute.
Russell said she chose Echo
as the place to raise her
own children because of the
community.
As a junior high teacher,
the 2015-16 school year is
the irst time Russell has had
one of her own children in
her class, which provides its
own joys and challenges.
Working in junior high
and wearing many hats,
Russell said she could not
picture herself in another
career.
“Some people that love
to teach have just always
taught. You teach your
dolls, you teach whoever
will listen,” she said with
a laugh. “I don’t think you
hit 18 and decided to do it.
You’ve always done it.”
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