REGION
Friday, May 27, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 3A
PENDLETON
BOARDMAN
Tough Enough to Wear
Pink raises over $39K
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Gary L. West
Fire destroys barn, trucks
A ireighter walks past a burning barn Thursday evening in the 78800 block of Laurel Lane south of the Port
of Morrow. Boardman Fire Marshal Marty Broadbent said 18 ireighters from the Boardman and Irrigon ire
departments were called to the scene of a barn ire about 6:24 p.m. The barn housed wooden pallets and
some potato trucks and it was burning between two trailer houses. Fireighters took up defensive attack
positions and were able to prevent the ire from spreading to the two homes. “Obviously, 20 mph winds didn’t
help,” Broadbent said. The cause of the ire had not been determined as of Thursday evening.
In 2015 the Pendleton
Round-Up Association’s
Tough Enough to Wear
Pink campaign raised a
record $39,604 for local
organizations that support
cancer patients and survi-
vors.
The amount eclipsed
the previous year’s total by
$13,476. The association
announced Thursday that
proceeds were donated
to St. Anthony Hospital
Cancer Care Clinic and
Kickin’ Cancer
New
Beginnings Program. A
$1,500 donation was also
given to Pendleton High
School Spanish teacher
and cancer patient Kathryn
Youngman.
Contributions
were
raised through sponsor-
ships, Tough Enough to
Wear Pink merchandise
sales, the TETWP Let’er
Buck Run, donations from
spectators,
volunteers
and the Happy Canyon
Company.
Casey White Zollman,
co-chair of the campaign,
said in a statement that
Tough Enough to Wear
PENDLETON
Pink has helped to raise
funds and cancer aware-
ness for the past decade.
“We are so apprecia-
tive of the community’s
generosity towards this
important program to
support
local
cancer
patients and survivors, as
well as the tremendous
amount of time and effort
our volunteers put in to
make the event a success,”
she said. “It’s always
heartwarming to see the
sea of pink on Thursday of
Round-Up each year.”
The Kick’n Cancer
program provides free
massages,
personal
training and Pilates for
recovering cancer patients.
The St. Anthony Cancer
Care Clinic provides
support such as breast
prosthetics, mastectomy
bras and swimwear, wigs
and inancial support for
cancer patients.
Anyone interested in
serving as a Tough Enough
to Wear Pink sponsor for
the 2016 Round-Up can
contact
White-Zollman
at cmwzollman@gmail.
com or Jill Gregg at
jill.c.gregg@gmail.com.
BRIEFLY
Conductor recuperates after crash
Bruce Walker may direct
rehearsals from wheelchair
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Six-foot-six-inch-tall
conductor
Bruce Walker normally doesn’t need
a podium to stand on when he directs
Pendleton’s Oregon East Symphony and
A Sharp Players.
The next time he conducts, however,
he may wave his baton from a much
lower vantage point — a wheelchair. The
Richland resident broke his pelvis and
suffered other injuries after crashing on
May 13 as he drove home from Yakima
on Interstate 82.
According to a Washington State
Patrol police report, Walker came upon
a disabled vehicle blocking a lane as he
drove eastbound in his Hyundai Sonata
near Prosser. The Sonata collided with
the vehicle, containing a Kennewick
woman, an adult passenger and four
children. All, including Walker, were
taken by ambulance to hospitals.
Walker prefers not to share details of
the accident because of ongoing legal
action, but he sums it up as “a major
wake-up call.”
The Washington State Patrol cited
Walker with negligent driving in the
second degree. Police charged the other
driver, Barbara Balcita, with three counts
of failure to use child restraints.
Walker had been returning from a
rehearsal in Yakima. Despite the jarring
crunch of metal on metal and the fact
that rescuers needed the Jaws of Life
to remove him from his vehicle, the
33-year-old said he felt fairly calm in
the aftermath. His glasses had lown off
to who knows where and a piece of his
pelvis had snapped out of place, but he
could move his hands.
“I opened my eyes and looked around
and knew it wasn’t my time to go yet,”
Walker said. “I told responders that the
biggest box has already been checked —
I was alive.”
He worried, however, about the
people in the other car. The four children
— 3 to 11 years old — and the other
two occupants were transported to PMH
Medical Center in Prosser.
Eventually that night, Walker’s sense
of humor emerged.
“At least it’s not raining,” he recalls
wisecracking to the six rescuers who
moved his gurney to the ambulance.
Surgeons at Kadlec Regional Medical
Center in Richland repaired his pelvis
with a plate and four screws and mended
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Fireighters put on gear before heading into the
Best Western on Highway 395 north of Hermiston,
where they put out a small ire in a room Thursday.
Fire evacuates
Best Western
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Conductor Bruce Walker leads a 2014 rehearsal of the Oregon East
Symphony at Pendleton High School. Walker is recuperating from a car
crash near Prosser on May 13.
“I opened my eyes
and looked around
and knew it wasn’t my
time to go yet.”
— Bruce Walker,
Oregon East Symphony and
A Sharp Players conductor
a tear in the area. Walker will recuperate
at home for a while before easing back
into his work life. The injuries have
caused the conductor to slow his frenetic
pace to granny gear.
“Bruce Walker has a walker,” he said.
“Walker’s walker.”
This is a man who dons a lak jacket
to teach cello at music summer camps
in Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. He
plays cello and is the assistant symphony
conductor for OES, and directs the
A Sharp Players. He also teaches at
Columbia Basin College in Pasco,
directs the Yakima Symphony Orchestra
and is cover conductor for the Yakima
Symphony Orchestra. When he lifts his
baton, Walker is known for an energetic
style with full-body twists, pokes of his
baton, meaningful looks and realistic
impressions of various instruments. In
the wake of the crash, he knows he has
to temporarily dial everything down.
“I’m an extremely independent indi-
vidual,” Walker said, “but this has taught
me to slow down. I just bought a new
recliner.”
He will continue to teach his online
music appreciation course at Columbia
Basin College. He hopes to try
conducting again when his doctor gives
a thumbs up.
“A conductor can do a lot of jumping
around,” Walker said, “but I may be able
to conduct from a wheelchair.”
OES Executive Director J.D. Kindle
said the organization feels Walker’s
absence.
“He’s pretty important to what we
do,” said Kindle. “He conducts our
rehearsals for weeks leading up to our
concerts.”
Walker won’t make the next OES
concert, “A Fundraising Tribute to
Saturday Morning Classics” at 8 p.m.,
June 11, at the Wildhorse Resort &
Casino. Symphony Director/Conductor
Beau Benson will direct a piece
performed by the A Sharp Players in
Walker’s stead.
———
Contact Kathy Aney at kaney@
eastoregonian.com or call 541-966-
0810.
Local author invited to Memorial Day breakfast with Obama
By WENDY CULVERWELL
Tri-City Herald
Karen Spears Zacharias
will make her annual trek to
Washington, D.C., to visit the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
over Memorial Day weekend.
This year, the Hermiston
author and Umatilla High
School educator’s agenda
includes a detour.
Zacharias is part of a
group of 10 members of Sons
and Daughters In Touch and
Gold Star Mothers who will
join the irst family for a
Memorial Day breakfast at
the White House. The event
honors families of fallen
soldiers.
She won’t arrive empty
handed.
The former East Orego-
nian and Tri-City Herald
reporter will present President
Barack Obama with a copy
of her irst book, a memoir
about her father who died in
Vietnam 50 years ago.
“After the Flag has been
Folded” was edited by Henry
Ferris, the same Harper
Collins editor who edited
President Obama’s memoir,
“Dreams from My Father:
A Story of Race and Inheri-
tance.”
There’s no reason that
Obama will know they shared
an editor, but Zacharias
expects it to be a fun talking
point.
“I’m sure we’ll both have
a laugh or two about being
edited by Henry,” she said.
Her White House visit
coincides with the 50th
anniversary of the death of
her father, Staff Sgt. David
Spears, who died at the Ia
Music
on the
Lawn
Drang Valley in July 1966.
Zacharias was 9 when
he died. As she grew older
and immersed herself in the
community of war families,
she came to count herself as
one of the lucky ones.
FRIDAY, MAY 27
Dakota
Brown
6:00-9:00 pm
H AMLEY S TEAK H ouse & S aloon
COURT & MAIN, PENDLETON • 541.278.1100
HERMISTON — Local
ire departments responded
Thursday afternoon to
a small ire at the Best
Western on Highway 395
south of Hermiston.
The damage was limited
to smoke damage in one
room and possible water
damage in adjoining rooms.
A customer had been staying
in the room but was not
present at the time of the
ire. The cause is not yet
known.
Guests were evacuated
from the building and no
one was injured.
Hermiston Fire &
Emergency Services,
Umatilla Fire Department,
Stanield Fire Department
and Hermiston Police
Department responded.
USFS to sell
home in Ukiah
UKIAH — The U.S.
Forest Service will conduct
a sealed bid, followed by
an oral auction, to sell a
residential home owned by
the Umatilla National Forest
at 301 E. Waid St. in Ukiah.
The bidding process
is open to the public, and
sealed bids will be accepted
through Monday, June 27.
Sealed bids will be
opened at 10 a.m. June 28,
followed by an oral auction
at the North Fork John Day
Ranger Station in Ukiah.
The minimum suggested
bid is $25,000, with a bid
deposit of $2,000. Two open
houses will also be held June
17 and 18 from 10 a.m. to
2 p.m.
The house was built
in 1933 and served as the
original Ukiah Ranger
District Ofice. Most
recently, it was used for
permanent and temporary
housing for forest
employees. The house has
been empty for 10 years.
More information about
the house is available
online at www.fs.usda.gov/
umatilla, or by calling Karen
Gamble at 541-523-1245
or Laura Livingston at
541-523-1230.
DHS seeks
public input
PENDLETON — The
Department of Human
Services is seeking public
input during a series of town
hall meetings, including one
in Pendleton.
The agency is interested
in information about
programs, services and
priorities for the 2017
budget and legislative
session. Programs and
services to be discussed
includes child welfare, aging
and people with disabilities,
intellectual/developmental
disabilities, self-suficiency,
vocational rehabilitation and
other central services.
The local meeting is
Tuesday, June 28 from 1-3
p.m. at the Vert Auditorium,
480 S.W. Dorion Ave.,
Pendleton.
Those planning to attend
are encouraged to send an
email with “Pendleton”
in the subject line to gene.
evans@state.or.us. For
more information, call Gene
Evans at 503-269-7950.