REPORTED
COUGAR
SIGHTING
79/49
PENDLETON
DEFEATS
THE DALLES
REGION/2A
BASEBALL/1B
WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2016
140th Year, No. 148
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
IRRIGON
HERMISTON
Adan gets his chair
Senior
center
plans
OKed
GoFundMe supporters and wheelchair company surprise student
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Jose Adan Guardado’s
world just got bigger.
The Irrigon high school
student learned he has a brand
new ride — a cutting-edge
power wheelchair equipped
with Bluetooth and infrared
technology. Teachers, staff
and students gathered last
Thursday in the Irrigon High
School cafeteria to surprise
Adan.
Born
with
severe
cerebral palsy, Adan can’t
speak clearly or control his
muscles, but he has an agile
brain. He communicates by
pressing his head against a
padded bar to piece sentences
together letter by letter. Even
with his dysfunctional body,
he fi xes school computers,
creates 3-D videos, dreams
of working as a computer
technician and has an omni-
present smile.
His rickety old power
chair frustrated him. The
chair regularly powered
down at unplanned moments
and sometimes refused to
restart. Adan mounted a
GoFundMe campaign to
raise $18,000 for a high-tech
replacement.
Irrigon life skills teacher
Mark Rouska latched onto
the effort and acted as an
engine. The teacher, who has
stage 4 lung cancer, hoped
to secure the chair before
the end of a school year that
could be Rouska’s last.
The
campaign
rose
steadily to $13,000 and
caught a big break this month
from Nu Motion, the chair’s
manufacturer. The company
would take money raised and
write off the rest.
Rouska brushed tears as
he watched Adan take owner-
ship of his high-tech chair.
“It was really emotional,”
he said. “It kind of gave me
hope for my own situation. It
reinvigorated my own fi ght
and my own medical battle.”
Rouska admitted by phone
Tuesday that his condition
has taken a downturn. His
goal is to get back for the last
few weeks of school.
See ADAN/8A
City adds $550K
basement to project
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Irrigon senior Jose Adan Guardado has a brand new, state-of-the-art wheelchair thanks to donations
gathered using the website GoFundMe and a sizable donation from the wheelchair company.
“This new chair will help with my life, my job and school. I can go to places
and feel safe in my new wheelchair and I can be more independent.”
— Jose Adan Guardado, Irrigon high school senior, in a letter to supporters
The city of Hermiston has
decided to add a basement to the
new senior center planned for
downtown.
The city council approved plans
for the Harkenrider Center on
Monday night, including a $550,000
basement that would come from the
city’s general fund reserves.
The rest of the building would
be paid with the remaining $1.63
million from a Community Devel-
opment Block Grant. The city
will pursue other options for the
$200,000 needed for the parking lot,
but could eventually end up paying
for that too if other possible funding
sources don’t pan out.
“$2 million doesn’t go as far as
you’d think it would,” grant director
Larry Fetter said, referring to the
original grant amount.
The current Hermiston Senior
Center on the fairgrounds is 5,500
square feet. The plans approved
Monday include a 7,200-square-foot
main level (including great room,
reception area, kitchen, storage, two
breakout rooms and an offi ce) and
a 3,800-square-foot basement with
elevator access.
Reducing the main fl oor plan
from the $2.5 million design
presented a month ago to the $1.6
million design presented Monday
came with some sacrifi ces.
Members of the senior center told
the council they were unhappy with
the changes.
Virginia Beebe said changing the
fi replace from a double-sided one
in the center of the building to one
against the wall meant people would
end up looking out the window
instead of at the fi replace.
“If we’re going to have a fi re-
place it belongs in the middle of the
building,” she said.
There were also concerns that
the kitchen size had been reduced
— despite still being 50 percent
larger than the current senior center
kitchen — and that the senior center
bus would be parked in a secure
area at the public works department
instead of an on-site garage.
City administrators and coun-
cilors responded to the concerns by
pointing out that the previous plans
See HERMISTON/8A
PENDLETON
Old bank goes to
the auction block
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
An old bank is back on the
market in Pendleton.
Realty Marketing/Northwest
of Portland is brokering the
auction of the former Wells
Fargo bank branch at 256 S.
Main St.
According to the Realty
Marketing/Northwest website,
the minimum bid for the
9,500-square-foot building is
$135,000 and the auction will
take place Saturday.
Mostly vacant for the past 15
years, the building still contains
all the makings of a functional
bank.
“It has a main level lobby and
teller area, and has secondary
access from S.E. Dorion
Avenue,” the ad states. “There
is a large walk-in vault with safe
deposit boxes that remain. There
is a 2,500-square-foot mezzanine
area with lunch room, offi ces,
work area, and two restrooms.
There is a small basement that
had been used for storage which
also contains a walk-in vault.”
See BANK/8A
Photo by Antonio Sierra
The former Pendleton Wells Fargo branch sits vacant Tuesday afternoon.
The 9,500-sqaure-foot building will be auctioned off in Portland May 14.