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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 6, 2016)
KIDZ POW WOW HONORS TRIBAL RIGHTS 66/51 BMCC KICKS OFF FIRST SEASON REGION/3A Obama to make push for TPP SOCCER/1B NATION/7A TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016 140th Year, No. 232 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Rural poverty persists despite broader recovery “Our tribe is a tribe of horse people.” — Toni Minthorn By NATASHA RAUSCH The Oregonian KLAMATH FALLS — Misti Scott and a dozen others show up each Wednesday for a two-hour parenting class at the Faith Taber- nacle church. Scott can’t stay long after class to chat. As a 38-year-old single mother, she has three teenage boys to tend to. “Do you want one?” she asks jokingly. The class is required if she wants to continue to receive two years of help with rent payments, according to The Oregonian. Her two years is up in March, though. That scares her. Her rental home is in the Mills Addition neighborhood of Klamath Falls. The southern Oregon county that once boasted dozens of lumber and paper mills now has three. In addition to the decline of its largest industry, the county suffers from a lack of housing availability, an aging population, an infl ux of alcoholism and drugs and a shortage of jobs. Compounding the problems, the county lost two grocery stores and a major employer last year. Scott’s neighborhood, where 35 percent of residents live below the poverty line, refl ects the repeated blows. Mills Addition is one of the poorest neighborhoods in Oregon. Its houses have been scooped up on the cheap by landlords who rent to low-wage workers. The homes are unkempt, grass overgrown, and for every few occupied houses, one is abandoned. The community is a stark reminder that even as the state enjoys historic job growth and low unemployment, pockets of deep poverty are untouched by the economic recovery. Communities like Mills Addi- tion are the fl ipside of gentrifi ed neighborhoods. Instead of a relatively rapid transformation to development and affl uence, See POVERTY/8A Staff photo by E.J. Harris Toni Minthorn, right, rides with Pendleton Round-Up Princess Ashley Moore and her friend Callie Hobson on Thursday at the Pendleton Round-Up Grounds. BORN TO RIDE Former Happy Canyon princess imparts family affinity for horsemanship Spring Hollow, feeling like the luckiest girl on earth. Minthorn, now 55, recalled a day in the Toni Minthorn doesn’t remember learning second grade when she wandered up to a to ride a horse. One of her parents likely lifted knot of girls on the playground and asked if she could play. She shook her her onto one sometime during head when one asked if Toni toddlerhood. had a doll. The gaggle of girls “It was just like learning to looked incredulous and even walk in my family,” Minthorn more so when she told them she said. didn’t need a doll because her The Minthorn family had family had 47 horses. little in the way of money Horses are part of Minthorn’s or possessions — except for DNA. Her parents, Douglas several dozen horses. Toni had 8 days until Minthorn and Caroline Motanic few toys. Their ranch southeast Round-Up Davis, competed in rodeo of Pendleton lacked a telephone and participated in the Happy and the television worked only if the wind didn’t blow the antenna out of Canyon Night Show and the Round-Up. She said her paternal grandfather, Chief Black- alignment. The lack of amenities didn’t matter, she hawk, headed the band of Indians on horse- said, because of the horses. She spent her back that rode in a cloud of dust to the fi rst- childhood riding bareback and working on See MINTHORN/8A the family ranch southeast of Pendleton in By KATHY ANEY East Oregonian Courtesy of Pendleton Round-Up & Happy Canyon Hall of Fame Toni Minthorn used her equine skills as a Happy Canyon princess in 1978 and on the Round-Up Court in 1982. Superintendents discuss their districts as fi rst bells ring As school starts in earnest in August and September, superinten- dents from districts across Eastern Oregon are tasked with leading their communities through another school year. Improving test scores, graduating more students and stoking attendance are just a few of the goals local superintendents will try to meet by the time schools close their doors next summer. The East Oregonian surveyed superintendents from the fi ve biggest districts in Umatilla and Morrow counties about the challenges they expected to face this year, what they most want to see improve in their district by the end of the year and other hot button topics in education. Top issues In the 2016-2017 school year, Hermiston will try to solve the problem it has been facing for the past several years — how to fi t an increasing number of kids into facili- ties not meant for that amount. Photo by Union-Bulletin By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian Rob Clark Dirk Dirksen Andy Kovach Fred Maiocco Heidi Sipe Milton-Freewater Unifi ed Fourth year 1,733 students 5 schools Morrow School District Sixth year 2,171 students 8 schools Pendleton School District First year 3,236 students 8 schools Hermiston School District 10th year 5,501 students 9 schools Umatilla School District 1 0th year 1,372 students 3 schools Hermiston Superintendent Fred Maiocco said the district’s current enrollment sits in excess of 5,500 students and many schools are feeling the effects. In addition to building more modulars next year, Maiocco expects the board to decide in November or December whether to pursue a bond for the May 2017 election. Tentatively, the bond package includes the construction of an additional elementary school, a new facility for Rocky Heights Elemen- tary School and the expansion of Hermiston High School. Hermiston isn’t the only commu- nity with capital construction bonds on its mind. Umatilla School District Super- intendent Heidi Sipe said one of her district’s top priorities will be educating voters ahead of a $10.5 million bond proposal on the November ballot. The bond covers signifi cant renovations at Clara Brownell Middle School, a McNary Heights Elementary School expansion and roofi ng, security and ventilation improvements across the district. If it’s successful, it will be the fi rst bond passed since 1998 and will be further aided by a matching $4 See SCHOOLS/8A
