NORTHWEST/2A
5 BODIES
FOUND IN
BURNED
HOME
HAPPY CANYON
NAMES 2017
PRINCESSES
REGION/3A
Tip of the
hat; kick in
the pants
OPINION/4A
FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 2017
141st Year, No. 59
Your Weekend
Tiny house stolen in Hermiston
Man missing home he left
in lot during snowstorm
•
•
•
HHS swim team talent
show on Saturday
SAGE Center movie
Friday and Saturday
Hymnspiration at
Victory Baptist Church
For times and places
see Coming Events, 5A
Weekend Weather
Fri
Sat
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Sun
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Lawrence Thomas is missing his house.
The 95-square-foot, custom-made tiny
home was stolen after Thomas parked it in
Hermiston while passing through the area.
Thomas said most of his possessions
were in the house, including important
documents like his birth certifi cate, and
sentimental items that can’t be replaced.
“I’m trying to get the word out so that
if anyone sees it, they can report it and
maybe I can get it back,” he said.
Because of a snowstorm in the Blue
Mountains, Thomas, who was moving
from Seattle to Las Vegas, stopped at the
One Stop Mart outside of Hermiston in
late December. He was driving an SUV
and hauling his house, where he’d been
living for the last four months.
Unable to drive in the bad weather, he
stopped at the travel center at the Westland
Road exit of Interstate 84. He spent the
night there and realized the next morning
that he couldn’t take the house with him in
the snow. He said he talked to the manager
at the truck stop, who said he could leave
the house there until he came back to pick
it up.
See HOUSE/8A
Contributed photo
This tiny house, owned by Lawrence Thomas of Las Vegas,
was reported stolen near Hermiston on Dec. 31 after he
left it at a travel stop on Interstate 84 due to bad weather.
HERMISTON
21/6
22/18
27/24
Watch a game
vs.
Dallas vs. Hermiston
Friday, 7 p.m., at Hermiston
HERMISTON
Friend detained
after driving
stabbing victim
to hospital
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
A 30-year-old Hermiston
man was released from
Good Shepherd Medical
Center on Thursday with
superfi cial stab wounds to
the head and shoulder.
He was taken to the
hospital by the 32-year-old
man — a friend, according
to police — later detained as
the possible attacker.
Hermiston police offi cers
responded at 10:50 a.m. to
a travel trailer at the Dun
Rollin Trailer Park at 445 E.
Jennie Ave., after receiving
reports of a stabbing there,
but couldn’t fi nd anyone
involved with the incident.
A vehicle was reported
to have fl ed the area and
some offi cers were diverted
to Good Shepherd, where
hospital authorities soon
told the police they were
treating a stab victim.
Police arrived at the
hospital and immediately
detained the 32-year-old
Hermiston man as a
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Highland Hills fi rst-grade teacher Madeline Laan checks students’ answers during a math class Thursday in Hermiston.
New teachers flood HSD
District enrollment at 5,651 students
East Oregonian
Hermiston School District has 51
new certifi ed staff members this school
year, in keeping with the steady growth
the district has seen over the last few
years.
The new additions to the district
range from recent college graduates to
experienced teachers, and there are new
staff from out of town as well as locals
— including Hermiston High School
graduates coming back to the school
to teach. There are 21 new teachers at
the elementary school level, nine at
the middle school level, 16 at the high
school and 5 in the district offi ce.
September 2016 enrollment was
5,651 students — a jump of 141 from
the previous year, and in line with the
district’s projections.
Here are three of the new teachers in
the district:
———
Growing up in a family of educators,
teaching was always a possibility for
Katie Montchalin.
“It was always in the back of my
mind,” said Montchalin, a new fi fth
grade teacher at Sunset Elementary
School.
See STABBING/3A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Katie Montchalin is in her fi rst year teaching fi fth-graders
at Sunset Elementary School in Hermiston.
Though this is her fi rst year teaching
at Sunset, she has a unique connection
to the school — her grandmother was
a fi fth-grade teacher at the same school
for 20 years.
A Pendleton native, Montchalin
recently spent two years as a substitute
in her hometown before coming to the
Hermiston School District.
“It’s been really good,” she said of
her fi rst year. “It’s been crazy.”
In getting used to the new rules and
curriculum, Montchalin has found that
much of her teaching job has been about
learning — especially to manage the
needs of 26 other people.
“You have to make sure each one of
them is doing well,” she said. “Learning
where you stand in relation to that —
how much infl uence you have over
them.”
She has enjoyed getting to know her
students.
“Probably one of my favorite things
is how much students can impact me
positively,” she said. “If I’m ever down,
they’re really quick to bring me back
up.”
Montchalin said knowing students
See SCHOOL/8A
“Probably one of my favorite things is how much
students can impact me positively. If I’m ever
down, they’re really quick to bring me back up.”
— Katie Montchalin, fi fth grade teacher at Sunset Elementary School