East Oregonian : E.O., October 18, 2016, Image 1

GERALD SMITH
OF BOARDMAN
Enjoy a free
large mocha
at Bloomz
Coffee Bar in
Hermiston
BOXING INVITATIONAL HITS PENDLETON
SPORTS/1B
59/39
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2016
141st Year, No. 1
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
HERMISTON
Patterson
Former
newspaper
manager
dies at 77
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
General Manager C.K.
“Pat” Patterson, who died
Sunday at age 77, rattled
more than a few brand new
East Oregonian employees
during his 20-year tenure at
the newspaper.
Steven Brown, who later
rose to become managing
editor, started at the EO as
a part-time reporter who
covered agriculture, business
and sports. Shortly after
being hired, Brown burst
into Patterson’s offi ce with a
question, but got a shock.
“He stopped me in
my tracks and said, ‘Get
out — don’t ever come into
my offi ce without asking
permission again,’” recalled
Brown, now publisher/exec-
utive editor of The (Gresham)
Outlook, Sandy Post and
Estacada News.
Years later, Brown appre-
ciates Patterson’s scolding.
“He was trying to let me
know what my place was in
the world,” Brown said. “At
the time, I was a young punk.
My place on the pecking
order was on the bottom rung
of the ladder.”
Though the tall, brawny,
necktie-wearing newspaper
man could be intimidating to
newbies, Patterson warmed
up once employees became
established.
“He was tough to work for
when you fi rst started. He ran
you through your paces,” said
retired EO Publishing Co.
Controller Diana Porter, “but
then you were on his team
and he had your back. He had
a way of bringing out the best
in people. I just sat at his feet
and learned.”
She described Patterson
as an astute, savvy manager
of people and money who
knew everybody’s name
(plus family members and
pets) and took an interest
in their journeys. Patterson,
who had only an associate’s
degree, had a varied back-
See PATTERSON/10A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Science teacher Lisa McElroy helps eighth-grader Jaime Ramirez build a bird’s nest as eighth-grader Isiah Lopez works on his nest
Monday at Sandstone Middle School in Hermiston.
Science teachers say
fun is a key element
in high test scores
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Hermiston School District has
a lot of budding scientists in its
classrooms, if state test scores are any
indication.
For years, the district’s middle
school students have consistently
beaten the state average on science
tests by wide margins, and a similar
trend has begun at the high school.
Last year 79 percent of Hermiston
eighth graders met or exceeded the
science benchmark, compared to
63 percent statewide. Eighty-eight
percent of Hermiston 11th graders
showed profi ciency compared with
the state average of 63 percent.
Lisa McElroy, who has 15 years
in education and fi ve years teaching
science at Sandstone Middle School,
said the key to high test scores is to
stop focusing so much on teaching
to the test and instead make sure
students are engaged in the subject.
“We make an effort to teach in a
variety of ways, whether it’s music,
or art. We have so much fun you can’t
help but learn,” she said.
Middle school
science scores
2015-2016
2014-2015
2013-2014
2012-2013
2011-2012
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Seventh-graders Evelyn Romero, left, and Marlene Valenzuela work
on constructing a Ferris wheel out of Popsicle sticks on Monday at
Sandstone Middle School in Hermiston.
On Monday her classroom was
covered in freshly gathered mud,
sticks and grass as students built bird
nests using only the materials and
techniques of the birds they chose to
study.
“No knots, you guys, and no
glue,” McElroy reminded them.
Halle Thomas, a seventh grader,
worked on lining a hollow in a
cardboard “tree” with grass and other
fi bers to create a Mountain Chickadee
nest. She said she feels like she “got
smarter” from researching her chosen
HSD
79%
82%
76%
79%
84%
State
63%
65%
67%
67%
66%
bird for the nest project, which is one
of the reasons she likes McElroy’s
class.
“I like that we don’t have to sit in a
desk always,” she said. “We get to get
up and walk around and be active. I
don’t learn very well in a desk.”
She said she didn’t always do well
in science at other schools, but since
she moved to the Hermiston School
District this year her grades in the
subject have improved.
Aeric Allbee, an eighth grader,
echoed the idea that hands-on
projects helped him learn. He was
crossing long sticks together to
See SCIENCE/10A
PENDLETON
Post offi ce celebrates 100 years
Building also home to
federal court, used to
have railroad underneath
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Pamela Birdsell, right, carrier supervisor with the U.S. Postal Service,
gives a tour of the post offi ce to guests Monday on the 100 year anni-
versary of the John F. Kilkenny Post Offi ce and Courthouse in Pendleton.
The stately brick façade of the
John F. Kilkenny Post Offi ce and
Courthouse in Pendleton betrays
the sea change in the postal
industry since the building was
completed in 1916.
Stamps may no longer cost
2 cents each, but the post offi ce
is still standing, a fact that was
celebrated during the building’s
100th birthday party Monday.
Pendleton’s fi rst post offi ce
was established around 1870 on
the corner of Main Street and
Court Avenue and moved several
times around the downtown area
before fi nding a permanent home
at 104 S.W. Dorion Ave.
Built for $100,000 between
1903 and 1916 (about $2.2
million today), the building also
housed the U.S. Department of
Forestry, federal district court
and the U.S. Biological Survey in
addition to the post offi ce.
“The new building will stand
as symbol of the new Pendleton,”
the East Oregonian proclaimed
at the time.
Although the building now
stands as a symbol of old Pend-
leton, it still contains bits of
former ingenuity that makes it a
unique piece of history.
Leading a tour of the building,
post offi ce supervisor Pam Bird-
sell, a 36-year post offi ce veteran,
pointed to a register cage in the
See CENTENNIAL/10A