REGION
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 3A
PENDLETON
HERMISTON
School shooting victim’s family
pushes for better response plans
Melissa Doherty wins
Teacher of the Year
from ag organization
Daughter died in Colorado shooting
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Speaking in front of a
group of educators at the
Blue Mountain Community
College Theater on Friday,
John-Michael Keyes told the
story of how the death of his
daughter at the hands of a
school shooter put him and
his wife at the forefront of
school security discussions.
Keyes and his wife
moved their family from the
Denver metro area to Bailey,
Colorado in 1998, a place he
called “more a concept than
a town.”
In the unincorporated
community in the southern
foothills of the Rocky Moun-
tains, the Keyeses raised their
twin boy and girl in a county
spanning 2,211 square miles
with only three trafic lights.
Keyes
recalled
his
daughter, Emily, as a beau-
tiful set of contradictions as
she matured into her teenage
years. He spent much of the
irst hour of his talk soberly
describing the events that led
to her death.
At 11:40 a.m. on Sept.
27, 2006, a 53-year-old man
walked into Emily’s English
class and ired a shot into the
air, demanding the teacher
and all but seven female
students leave the classroom
and held the rest as hostages
at gunpoint, including Emily.
As calls to authorities
began to pour in, Emily’s
mother heard about the
hostage situation on a gas
station scanner, beginning
an hours-long process as
they waited to hear if their
daughter was safe.
The gunman told nego-
tiators that he had enough
explosives to level the
building, but slowly released
hostages as the day wore on.
Unfamiliar with how to
use text messaging, Keyes
composed a text with the
help of a local reporter asking
Emily if she was OK.
“I love u guys,” she
responded. He sent a
follow-up question, but it was
the last he heard from her.
Eventually, only Emily
and another girl were left,
and the decision was made to
deploy the Jefferson County
SWAT Team, a team from
a neighboring county that
had previously handled the
Columbine shootings.
At 3:45 p.m., the SWAT
Team burst into the class-
room, causing the perpetrator
to shoot Emily and then
himself, killing them both.
Emily was 16 years old.
Keyes went on to describe
the days that followed Sept.
27 — the outpouring of grief
and community support, the
onslaught of media scrutiny
from across the country,
the tributes and memorials
made in Emily’s name and
the formation of the I Love
U Guys Foundation just ive
days after their daughter’s
murder.
Familiar
with
the
bitterness
and
derision
aimed at local police after
the Columbine shootings,
the Keyeses made the early
decision they would place no
blame on local authorities.
Initially set up to support
other families and causes,
Keyes and his wife even-
tually shifted its focus after
discovering that there were
very few standardized plans
when it came to school safety.
I Love U Guys rolled
out the Standard Response
Protocol in 2009, a document
that provides standardized
deinitions and procedures
for “lockout,” “lockdown,”
“evacuation” and “shelter,”
among other things.
Updated in 2015, Keyes
said the protocol has been
adopted by 16,000 schools
across the country in addition
to courthouses, businesses
and other institutions.
One of the latest adoptees
is the Intermountain Educa-
tion Service District, which
gathered its 18 component
school districts and several
law enforcement agencies in
August and had them agree
to the terminology spelled
out in the protocol.
“The length between
schools and law enforcement
is becoming really tight,”
said Mark Mulvihill, the
IMESD superintendent.
The districts met again
Thursday and were asked to
respond to scenarios ranging
from a whiteout blizzard to
an active shooter, with Keyes
on site to provide input.
Mulvihill said what he
likes best about the Standard
Response Protocol is its
simplicity, and after intro-
ducing the concept to teachers
on Friday, he’s hoping local
school districts start seeking
buy-in from students and
parents, so Eastern Oregon
can avoid another Umpqua
or another Bailey.
ECHO
Haunted Warehouse provides frightful fun
By TAMMY MALGESINI
East Oregonian
More inside
Chainsaw Charlie —
Gary Marcum’s alter ego
— has been resurrected. The
Echo man is the mastermind
behind the Haunted Ware-
house at Echo Ridge Cellars.
Marcum and a ghoulish
crew worked like madmen
this past weekend putting
inishing touches on the
attraction, which is part of
Saturday’s Echo Oktober-
fest. A community event
coordinated by the Echo
Kiwanis, the Oktoberfest is
a fundraiser for a restoration
project of the historic St.
Peter’s Catholic Church.
Marcum headed up a
haunted house on Echo’s
Main Street for nearly a
decade. However, when
the building where it was
housed was sold and turned
into a winery, the ghosts and
goblins were all laid to rest.
When the Kiwanis decided to
create the Oktoberfest event,
they knew who to call for
ghostly entertainment.
“When you get someone
to pay you to scare them,
what’s wrong with that?”
Marcum said with a laugh.
“Halloween is my favorite
time of year.”
Screams and nervous
laugher
were
plentiful
Saturday as the warehouse
provided its irst frights. Jose
and Desirae Zamudio of
Hermiston brought their sons
The seasonal fun
continues this weekend
in Echo with the city’s
irst annual Oktoberfest
See Page 7A
Staff photo by Tammy Malgesini
Desirae Zamudio laughs in the background while
watching her group being confronted by creatures
lurking in the Haunted Warehouse Saturday at Echo
Ridge Cellars. The attraction will be open the next two
Saturdays and Halloween.
and several of their friends
for some spooky fun. The
Hermiston mom often lagged
behind the group to watch the
reactions of the youths, who
ranged in age from 7-12.
Mario Saldana missed
part of the excitement as he
often pulled his sweatshirt up
around his head.
“That’s so funny,” Desirae
Zamudio said with a laugh.
From the familiar Chucky
doll of the “Child’s Play”
licks to chainsaw-wielding
creatures and clowns, there’s
plenty of freaky characters
to keep your adrenaline
pumping.
Rick Denning, who’s
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known around town for
tinkering with cars, created
a Zombie Response Vehicle.
The Echo man along with
his son, Ryan Denning, made
some modiications on a
1986 Ford Ranger.
“It was a father and son
project ... we put it together
with the assistance of eBay,”
Denning said.
This is the second
zombie-mobile the Dennings
have worked on. When
Denning started working on
the current rig, he merely
planned on driving it around
town — but when he heard
about the Haunted Ware-
house, he igured it was good
timing to get things in gear
with the project.
“I heard about it (the
Haunted Warehouse) and I
knew that’s where I wanted
to be,” he said. “Halloween is
one of my favorite holidays.”
Also, Denning planned
to use the visor mirror as a
makeup station as he donned
liquid latex and fake scars
in preparation for the ware-
house’s opening night.
Dan McClinton often
volunteers around town, so
helping with the warehouse
was a worthwhile project,
he said. He enjoys playing
the town’s Santa Claus
during the Christmas season,
helps at the food bank and
assists elderly residents with
different projects.
“I’m a jack of all trades
and a master of none,” he
said with a laugh.
The Haunted Warehouse
will be open the next two
Saturdays and Monday, Oct.
31 from 7-9 p.m. It’s located
adjacent to Echo Ridge
Cellars, 551 N. Thielsen
St., which is on the left at
the bottom of the hill as you
come into Echo. It costs $2
per person.
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of germinating, planting
and harvesting potatoes
Hermiston
teacher to make their own potato
Melissa Doherty has been chips. Other learning
named the 2016 Oregon activities have included
Agriculture in the Class- ield trips, cooking classes,
gardening
and
room Teacher of
measuring
the Year.
weather data.
Doherty, who
O r e g o n
teaches second
Agriculture
in
grade at Rocky
the Classroom
Heights Elemen-
provides
free
tary School, was
resources
to
chosen to honor
teachers
for
her “exemplary
projects like the
incorporation of
chick-hatching
agriculture across Doherty
experience, and
curricula.”
in the spring
According to a news
release from the Oregon Doherty plans to use the
Agriculture in the Class- organization to get 100
room Foundation, Doherty saplings for students
realized that many of her to plant at city parks in
students did not know any conjunction with Arbor
more about where their Day.
In his recommendation
food came from than their
peers in big cities. As a letter for the award, Prin-
result, she worked to inte- cipal Jerad Farley said
grate information about Doherty has “a passion for
agriculture across subjects. teaching and an immense
“I saw how valuable wealth of knowledge.”
the experience was to AITC Executive Director
the students and how Jessica Jansen said in a
they remembered their statement that the organi-
experiences even years zation is happy to honor
afterward,” Doherty said. Doherty during its annual
“I was sold on the value of fall dinner on Saturday.
“It is wonderful to have
using agriculture to bring
a teacher who is cutting
subjects to life.”
Students in Doherty’s across so many disciplines
classroom have used with agricultural and
egg incubators to hatch natural resources educa-
chickens and care for the tion: literacy, math, science
hatchlings. They have also and sensory experiences,”
gone through the process she said.
East Oregonian
BRIEFLY
Boardman duplex destroyed by ire,
both families out safely
BOARDMAN — The top loor of a split-level duplex
in the 700 block of SW Wilson Road, Boardman was
destroyed by a ire Sunday night, leaving a family of
three out of a home.
The ire was reported at 8:58 p.m. in the two-story
house about half a mile west of the ire station. The upper
story was engulfed in lames when ireighters arrived,
according to Lt. Casey Zellars, and ireighters went to
work dousing the ire.
The man, woman and their infant child who lived
upstairs were out safely, Zellars said, as was the family of
three living downstairs. Red Cross was contacted to give
aid to the families.
The upper story was a complete loss and the family’s
belongings were destroyed, Zellars said. The cause of the
ire is still under investigation.
Boardman elementary schools briely
put on lockout Monday afternoon
BOARDMAN — Windy River and Sam Boardman
elementary schools in Boardman were briely put on
lockout early Monday afternoon.
Boardman Police Chief Rick Stokoe said a male
subject got into a into a physical altercation at the
Columbia River Ranch mental health facility before
walking toward the elementary schools, which are next to
one another.
A lockout means children are ushered inside while
staff locks the exterior doors, with school business
otherwise uninterrupted.
Police talked with man and the Morrow County
Sheriff’s Ofice transported him by his request to Good
Shepherd Medical Center in Hermiston. The lockout was
lifted after a few minutes.
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