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TSPC: OEA argues against 90-day rule
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East Oregonian
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disciplinary action when an
educator violates standards
set by the organization.
On June 20 the
commission met in Warm
Springs and considered
amending current rules
to better address certain
types of sexual misconduct
complaints.
TSPC is still investi-
gating a case involving
Jake McElligott, a former
Hermiston teacher and
coach, regarding an alleged
relationship with a former
student he had taught while
at Irrigon Junior/Senior
High School. However,
TSPC meeting agendas
and minutes indicate the
commission
has
been
working on a new rule to
address situations like the
McElligott scandal.
In an interview with
police, a former Irrigon
student admitted to being
sexually active with McEl-
ligott on the morning prior
to her graduation from high
school in 2013, though she
was not a minor at that time.
According to the woman,
their physical relationship
continued through the
summer. During the police
investigation the former
student said McElligott
was appropriate with her
while she was a student and
helped her through personal
issues during that time. She
said McElligott followed a
personal code in which he
never gets involved with a
student until they graduate
and are over 18.
No criminal charges were
iled, but Morrow County
administrators
notiied
TSPC. McElligott, who left
Irrigon Jr./Sr. High School
when he was hired by the
Hermiston School District
in July 2014, was placed
on administrative leave by
the district on Aug. 4, 2015,
and resigned his position in
December of that year.
At the November 2015
TSPC meeting in Salem,
a Professional Practices
Subcommittee was formed
to review professional
practices. One of the
issues discussed at a Feb.
25 meeting, as shown
by documents from the
TSPC website, was further
clarifying the deinition of
“student” and, according
to notes from the subcom-
mittee, to “hold educators
responsible for not engaging
in inappropriate sexual
misconduct with students
who are at or near gradua-
tion.”
On April 6, the full
commission met in Portland
and reviewed the subcom-
mittee’s recommendations
regarding new professional
practices rules for educators.
At the meeting the TSPC
voted to open the proposed
new rule changes for public
comment.
One proposed rule change
would amend a current rule
to add to the deinition of
student, “Regardless of age,
a student remains a student
for 90 days past high school
graduation.”
The commission also
proposed amending rules
regarding grounds for disci-
plinary action so that Gross
Neglect of Duty included
“any sexual conduct with
any person who has been a
student and graduated from
high school within the past
90 days.”
According to Heidi Sipe,
who chairs the TSPC Exec-
utive Committee and is the
Umatilla schools superin-
tendent, those amendments
were not approved and
are still under discussion.
Meeting documents show
opposition to these amend-
ments came from attorneys
representing the Oregon
Education Association, a
labor union representing
Oregon educators.
A letter entered as
OEA’s public comments
to the proposed amend-
ments stated, “The OEA
strongly supports the aim
of keeping students safe
by discouraging and penal-
izing predatory conduct,
including sexual ‘grooming’
of students. ... We do not,
however, believe that the
proposed rule language is
the best way to target such
predatory conduct.”
The OEA argues the
amendments
are
“too
broad,”
“inconsistent,”
unconstitutional and would
lead to litigation.
The letter further states,
“Under the Commission’s
proposed rules, educators
who have a legal and
consensual
relationship
with an adult, non-student
with whom they have had
no previous contact would
be automatically subject to
discipline. This behavior
alone, in the absence of
any evidence of predatory
or grooming conduct,
however, is neither illegal
nor unethical.”
Audio from the meeting
suggests the subcommittee
members wanted more time
to discuss the testimony and
come up with a “compro-
mise” for the deinition of
a student. Elizabeth Keller,
TSPC director of profes-
sional practices, states
concern during the meeting
regarding social media use
and “Not making it easy for
... grooming activities.”
The next TSPC meeting
takes place Nov. 3-4 in
Salem. Comments on
proposed rules can be
emailed to TSPC.RuleTesti-
mony@state.or.us.
PLATINUM: A kiss before bed each night
Continued from 1A
Karin Hall and eldest son
Paul Hendricks. Their
oldest, Jimmy Hendricks,
lives in Friday Harbor,
Washington.
After 48 years in their
Pendleton
home,
the
Hendricks’ made the move
to the retirement center last
November because of health
concerns. But even in their
new surroundings, they ind
ways to keep busy.
At 94, Jim still drives and
Carolyn, 90, frequently tags
along.
“I was going to stop
driving at 90 and then I
reneged,” Jim said.
The two also frequently
take summer trips to
Wallowa Lake, where they
own property on the neigh-
boring Wallowa River. Ten
years ago, celebrating their
60th anniversary, the two
renewed their vows at the
lake with several friends,
one of whom is an ordained
minister.
Jim and Carolyn irst met
in high school in their home-
town of Cottage Grove.
They dated a few times,
but the relationship didn’t
last long. After graduating
from Cottage Grove High in
1941, Jim moved 20 miles
north to attend University of
Oregon in Eugene. Carolyn
remained in Cottage Grove
to inish high school.
Jim’s schooling was
interrupted when the United
States entered World War II.
He enlisted at an Air Force
recruiting ofice in Seattle in
September 1942.
Overseas in Italy, Jim
lew as an A-20 combat
pilot in numerous missions
between 1944 and 1945. He
also spent a couple of weeks
in Southern France ferrying
gas to General George
Patton’s tanks.
Jim returned to the U.S.
in 1945 and resumed school
at UO. Little did he know,
Carolyn was also attending
the school by then.
Jim made plans one night
with his friend, Dick Smith,
to go out to Swimmers
Delight — an old dance
venue in Eugene. The only
problem: Who were going
to be their dates?
“(Dick) said, ‘There’s
a couple gals here who are
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available.’ One of them was
Carolyn,” Jim recalls.
The two were reunited
when Jim asked Carolyn out
and this time, they wouldn’t
be separated.
“One thing led to another
and in June (1946) we got
married,” Carolyn said.
For the young newly-
weds, marriage and the idea
of starting a family soon got
in the way of school. Jim
and Carolyn irst settled
in Cottage Grove, before
leaving in 1960. The family
made stops in Portland and
Toppenish,
Washington,
while Jim worked as a truck
sales manager for both Peer-
less and Harvester Inter-
national. The job required
Jim to ly around Oregon
and Washington ive days a
week, leaving little time to
spend with Carolyn and the
kids.
“Of course I didn’t
like it very well,” Carolyn
remembers. “I don’t think
most wives would like to
have their husbands gone all
the time.”
But the family perse-
vered.
They moved to Pend-
leton in 1968 when Jimmy
and Karin had moved out,
though Paul was still a
sophomore in high school.
Jim took a job with
Woodpecker Trucks before
opening his own truck and
equipment business in 1970.
He would routinely wake up
at 5 a.m. and ly his plane
out of Pendleton to pick
up potential customers. In
addition to 1,000 hours
logged in the Air Force, Jim
said he lew an additional
5,000 civilian hours during
his career.
Meanwhile,
Carolyn
worked as a school secre-
tary at Hawthorne Middle/
High School for 22 years,
continuing a job she enjoyed
when the family lived in
Toppenish.
Moving cities and jobs
while the Hendricks’ chil-
dren grew up would take
a major toll on many fami-
lies. Their kids, however,
aren’t the least bit surprised
the marriage lasted this
long.
“They’ve been through a
lot,” said Hall, their middle
child. “Ups and downs with
kids and jobs ... they’ve
made it through with them-
selves intact.”
Jim
and
Carolyn
acknowledge they’ve had
their share disagreements
70 years of marriage. But
they’ve always been able to
round off the corners, never
ending a day on a sour note.
“Even if we haven’t
agreed on something that
day, we always kiss each
other goodnight before we
go to sleep,” Jim said.
“It’s hard to stay mad
then,” Carolyn adds.
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Tuesday, July 5, 2016
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A group of children watch the Fourth of July parade Monday on Main Street in
Pendleton.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Veterans ride on the back of a Tum-A-Lum Lumber loat on Monday in the Fourth of
July Parade in Pendleton.
BIRTHDAY: Williams rode on Wal-Mart loat
Continued from 1A
birth to a daughter on — you
guessed it — the Fourth of
July.
Williams said she has been
through a lot in her 40 years
and has overcome much. The
love of her life and father of
her children, Robert Hess,
died in November 2008 of
complications from diabetes,
she said. He was 30. Williams
said the loss sparked her to
be an advocate for everyone
checking to see if they might
be diabetic and to not letting
life sneak by.
“You just got to live life to
the fullest, make life count,”
she said. “That’s what I look
forward to with my birthday
each year.”
She has new signiicant
other, she said, and he has
two children of his own.
She works for Wal-Mart in
Pendleton and spent Monday
morning on the company’s
loat in the Round-Up City’s
annual Fourth of July parade.
Her beau’s almost-2-year-old
granddaughter rode with her
on the loat.
Williams said she and
her family will celebrate the
Fourth and her birthday with
a barbecue with friends and
relatives. If there is a down-
side to sharing your date of
birth with the establishment
of the United State, she said,
it is that your birthday cake
will inevitably be patriotic in
theme.
But she said that’s part
of going with the low and
sharing the day with the
people she cares about. Life
is too short and is about
moving forward, Williams
said, and you have to be there
with the people who will be
there for you.
AG: Tax compiles as fuel is bought and sold
Continued from 1A
some Oregon businesses
with high sales receipts but
relatively low proit margins,
said Dave Dillon, executive
vice president of Oregon
Farm Bureau.
Wilco typically nets
income of 2.5 to 3.75 percent
of gross sales, Hoffman said.
In some years, such as 2009,
the company doesn’t make a
proit. One reason he opposes
IP 28 is that even companies
that lose money have to pay
the tax as long as their gross
sales exceed $25 million.
Supporters are unmoved.
“A Better Oregon was
speciically designed to
protect farm co-ops and
it won’t raise taxes on the
supplies farmers buy through
their co-ops,” said Kath-
erine Driessen, a campaign
spokeswoman. “A Better
Oregon was also designed
to make large pesticide
companies like Wilco and
Monsanto pay their fair share
in taxes. Based on the claims
that Wilco has made, it has
to do at least $100 million
in non-farm co-op sales. It
can and should pay more
to support or schools and
critical services.”
Dillon said those extra
costs will be passed onto
farmers.
The impact of the tax
could be felt at every point of
sale, as suppliers and retailers
increase prices to cover their
additional costs.
The gas and diesel that
Wilco sells, for instance,
changes hands several times
before it gets to the end
consumer, Hoffman said. By
that time, the tax may push
the cost up 5 to 7 percent, he
said.
That will impact farmers
who have to drive their
products to market. The tax
also will drive up the cost of
fertilizer, farming equipment
and other necessities for
producing and selling a crop,
Dillon said.
“We are going to have
folks out of work, and there
isn’t going to be an economy
to pick them up,” said Katie
Fast, executive director of
Oregonians for Food and
Shelter.
The tax is estimated to
slow growth in private sector
jobs by 38,000 in the next
ive years years, but public
sector jobs would grow by
17,000 in the next ive years,
according to the Legislative
Revenue Ofice.
A recent study by Portland
State University, commis-
sioned by A Better Oregon,
found that the tax would
boost public sector jobs by
33,600 by 2027 and slow
growth in private sector jobs
by 13,500.
“You don’t see Wilco take
a stand on many things,”
Hoffman said. “We believe
we have the story that
touches people in a small
way It will affect us and our
consumers We couldn’t let it
stand and suck it up and not
get involved.”
