REGION
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 3A
Weather stalls schools, meetings Council PENDLETON
sets goals,
Inclement weather has once again
resulted in cancellations or postponements
of school days and scheduled meetings.
They include (as of 10 p.m. Tuesday):
• Schools in the following cities
are canceled on Wednesday, Jan. 18:
Umatilla, Boardman, Irrigon, Imbler.
• Schools in the following cities
are delayed two hours: Heppner, Ione,
Milton-Freewater.
•Oregon’s State Plan under the
Every Student Succeeds Act. The
Pendleton forum planned for Wednesday
to solicit feedback on Oregon’s State Plan
is postponed. An announcement will be
made when the meeting is rescheduled.
They are seeking feedback to improve
student learning and determine how to
best support schools in meeting the needs
of each student. For more information,
call Meg Boyd, 503-947-5990, or Jenni
Knaus, 503-947-5860 or visit www.ode.
state.or.us/go/ESSA.
•Morrow County School District
School Board Work Session. The
Tuesday meeting was canceled and is
rescheduled for Monday, Jan 23 at 6
p.m. at Windy River Elementary School,
500 Tatone St., Boardman. For more
information, contact Michele Madril
at michele.madril@imesd.k12.or.us or
541-966-3115.
•Eastern Oregon University Board
of Trustees. The Thursday meeting is
canceled. Individual board committees
scheduled to meet Wednesday will
convene via conference phone only.
Members of the public are welcome to
listen in at the EOU campus: Governance
Committee, 9:30-11:30 a.m.; Finance
and Administration Committee, 1-3:30
p.m., both in Ackerman Hall, Room 208;
and the Academic and Student Affairs
Committee, 2-4 p.m., Inlow Hall, Room
201. For more information, visit www.
eou.edu/governance or call 541-962-
4101.
• Boardman City Council canceled
its monthly January meeting Tuesday for
the second time this month. A makeup
date has yet been announced.
• Pilot Rock City Council canceled
its Tuesday night meeting.
The council’s main agenda item was
an update on the sewer lagoon project
from representatives of the engineering
firm Anderson Perry & Associates, Inc.,
which is in La Grande. City recorder Teri
Porter said in an email the only item that
may have needed swift attention was
awarding a $63,600 contact to replace the
stairs to the school, but that can wait until
the next meeting.
Pendleton schools stuck on how to
make up six snow days (and counting)
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
The Pendleton School
Board made no decision
Tuesday night on how to
make up school days lost to
winter storms.
Superintendent
Andy
Kovach said the district
has lost six days and two
hours of instructional time
so far. (Given Tuesday
night’s downpour of ice, that
number may have increased
after press time.) He handed
the board four proposals to
make up for the lost learning,
including adding 15 minutes
to the end of school days,
shortening Spring Break or
adding five days to the end
of the school year.
Some board members and
district employees expressed
dissatisfaction with the
proposals, but board member
Dave Krumbein reminded
the room that winter is not
done yet and the problem is
affecting districts statewide.
He also said the Oregon
Department of Education
could offer solutions some-
time in mid-February.
“I just hate to make a
decision at this time,” Krum-
bein said.
Gary Humphries, Pend-
leton High School teacher
and representative of the
Pendleton Association of
Teachers, said the board
faced tough choices that are
bound “to be unpopular no
matter what you decide.”
Debbie McBee, chair
of the board, suggested
members
mull
over
Kovach’s proposals, listen
to school staff and wait for
what the state education
department suggests. Board
member Steve Umbarger
added that the district needs
to hear feedback from the
community.
She said the board can
discuss the matter at its Feb.
7 work session and then
decide what to do at the Feb.
13 meeting.
The board and Kovach
also met in executive session
behind closed-doors to
discuss a survey giving him
feedback on his performance
so far. The board took no
action after the session.
Neither Kovach nor the
board discussed the details
of the meeting afterward,
but McBee said the survey
was an opportunity to solicit
feedback for improvement
and is just one tool the
district and its new chief
administrator are using.
The school board in
November gave Kovach
an early evaluation to help
him grow in his new role.
Kovach was a principal
at Ontario High School
before taking the step up to
Pendleton School District
superintendent.
“Pendleton is a high
functioning district with a
lot going on all the time,”
McBee said, and the job is at
a different level than school
principal.
“We’re trying our best to
support him,” McBee said.
“And he’s trying hard.”
Small avalanche blocks Bingham Road
“We just sent a road
grader with a V-plow,”
Fellows said. “It wasn’t a
huge thing.”
As the weather begins
to warm across Eastern
Oregon, avalanche condi-
tions could become worse at
lower elevations.
“When this stuff starts to
gain weight, that’s when it
stars to slide,” Fellows said.
Fellows said he doesn’t
anticipate a huge problem,
but advised residents to take
Photo courtesy Umatilla County
extra caution when out and Snow covers Bingham Road early Tuesday near its
about in the area.
boundary with the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
East Oregonian
A
small
avalanche
measuring about 150 feet
long and 6 to 7 feet high fell
over Bingham Road early
Tuesday morning at milepost
24, above the Umatilla Indian
Reservation boundary.
Umatilla County road
crews arrived just after
8 a.m. to clear the snow,
said Tom Fellows, public
works director. No one was
hurt, and no vehicles were
involved. Fellows said the
road should now be open.
Lybrand defense promises to file motion in drug case
PENDLETON — The
defense attorney for drug-
crimes defendant Jason
Lybrand of Pendleton said
he is working to submit key
motions for the case.
Lybrand
appeared
Monday morning for a
hearing at the Umatilla
County Courthouse, Pend-
leton, along with his attorney
Michael Breiling of Pend-
leton. Breiling told Circuit
Judge Jon Lieuallen that he
was working on a couple of
motions, one of which would
be complex.
Kate Hansen, deputy
district
attorney,
said
Breiling made statements
before about the motions but
has not explained what he
intends to file. She asked the
court to set a firm date to file
motions.
Lieuallen said all motions
are due Feb. 24, which is
enough time for the state to
respond and the defense to
reply before trial begins in
April.
Lybrand, 46, owns and
operates Wicked Kitty
Tattoo & Piercing in down-
town Pendleton. He has
pleaded not guilty to felony
charges of possession
and delivery of metham-
phetamine and delivery
of a federal Schedule III
substance
(methandro-
stenolone, a steroid) and
misdemeanor charges of
delivery of marijuana and
possession of the Schedule
IV opioid pain killer
tramadol. He remains free
on bail.
Hermiston School District selects ‘Educators of the Year’
HERMISTON — The
Hermiston School District
has selected several teachers
for its annual “Educators
of the Year” awards, which
will be presented at the
Jan. 23 board meeting.
Awards went to one teacher
from each of Hermiston’s
five elementary schools,
one from each of the two
middle school, and two from
Hermiston High School. An
award was also given to one
district employee. One of
the teachers will be selected
as teacher of the year at
the Distinguished Citizens
Award Banquet on Feb. 1.
A list of award winners is
below:
District: Linda White,
instructional coach
Hermiston High School:
Susie Cobb, Family and
Consumer Sciences; Ericka
Keefauver,
instructional
coach
Armand Larive Middle
School: Tate Enright, Special
Education
Sandstone Middle School:
Kimo Gabriel, Science
Desert View Elementary:
Garth Lind, fifth grade
Highland Hills Elemen-
STUDENT
OF THE
WEEK
13th Annual
Cattleman’s Workshop
Navigating the Future in the
Cow/Calf Industry
Saturday, January 21st, 2017
Blue Mountain Conference Center • 404 12th Street, La Grande, OR
FREE!
No
Pre-Registration
Required.
Lunch Included.
tary: Mark Douglass, Music
Rocky Heights Elemen-
tary: Jolene Davis, second
grade
Sunset Elementary: Joyce
Barak, Title One
West Park Elementary:
Margaret Gutierrez
Jennifer
Rodriguez-Pena
10:45 - 11:15
Break (provided by sponsors)
11:15 - 12:00
Ethics, Values & Science. Finding the Right Mix For
Building Consumer Trust
Donna Moenning, Center For Food Integrity; Gladstone, MO
12:00 - 1:15
Lunch (provided by sponsors)
Sponsored by:
1:15 - 2:00
Keys to a Successful Heifer Development Program
Dr. Che Trejo, Zoetis Beef Technical Services Veterinarian; Malad, ID
2:00 - 3:00
Navigation Tools for the Cow/Calf Producer
Kevin Ochsner, Host Cattlemen to Cattlemen TV; Kersey, CO
Workshop Introductions & Overview
Kevin Ochsner, Host Cattlemen to Cattlemen TV; Kersey, CO
9:15 - 10:00
Cattle Market Challenges and Opportunities in 2017
Dr. Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK
10:00 - 10:45
Genetic Technologies in the Poultry Industry, The Other Protein
Dr. Mitch Abrahamsen, Senior VP Research & Development;
Cobb-Vantress, Siloam Springs, AR
NOTE: For more information, please contact Kim McKague at
(541) 562-5129 • http://oregonstate.edu/dept/eoarcunion
Work session
held Jan. 24
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
At a meeting Tuesday
night, the Pendleton City
Council
unanimously
adopted a set of goals
that directs the municipal
government to improve
the city’s economy, land
development,
housing
and infrastructure for the
2017-2019 biennium.
How the council will
achieve these goals will
be decided at a later date.
Councilor
Dale
Primmer, councilor Scott
Fairley,
Mayor
John
Turner and city manager
Robb Corbett had tasked
themselves with figuring
out how they would
measure the city’s effec-
tiveness in meeting these
goals
At a work session
Monday, Primmer said the
group met several times to
discuss the issue but even-
tually decided that they
needed further input from
the rest of the council
and city staff before they
finalized the measures.
In order to have the
measures in place as soon
as possible, the council
agreed to schedule two
work sessions per month
until all the measure are
completed.
Corbett said the first
work session to discuss
the goal measurements
would be held on Jan. 24.
The council had goals
in place for the 2013-
2015 biennium, but only
its housing goal had
an objective measure,
requiring the council seek
an improvement in the
city’s housing inventory
by 100 units.
Shortly after he was
elected in May, Turner
convened a committee to
devise new goals for the
next three years.
The committee released
a draft list of 12 goals to
the public, who then voted
on the goals they thought
the city should prioritize.
The council also unan-
imously voted to amend
the city’s manufactured
home standards after
roughly a year of deliber-
ations at both the council
and Pendleton Planning
Commission levels.
Under the new stan-
dards, all newly placed
manufactured homes must
have been built in 1976 or
later.
Those that are built
within the past six years
are permitted outright
while those that or older
than that will need a
conditional approval from
the planning commission.
Sheriff’s office makes
two arrests over weekend
East Oregonian
In separate incidents,
the Umatilla County Sher-
iff’s Office arrested two
suspects on opposite sides
of the county last weekend,
according to an office press
release.
Early Sunday morning, a
sheriff’s deputy responded
to a home near the inter-
section of Sagebrush and
Bensel roads, where a
resident reported that a man
had stolen their vehicle and
crashed it on their property,
causing extensive damage.
After the collision, the
suspect failed to heed the
resident’s verbal warnings
as he exited the vehicle
and approached the house,
causing the homeowner
to fire his gun “in a safe
direction,” which prompted
the suspect to stop.
Heavily
intoxicated,
the suspect, Jorge Ulises
Cornejo, 20, of Hermiston,
later told authorities that
he had crashed his own car
on Bensel Road and tried
stealing the victim’s car to
get himself home.
Cornejo was arrested and
charged with unauthorized
use of a vehicle, criminal
trespass, DUII, driving
while suspended, reckless
driving, criminal mischief
and other charges.
Around midnight on
Saturday near Athena, a
sheriff’s deputy tried stop-
ping a sedan on Pambrun
Road near Highway 334.
The sedan tried to speed
away but lost control on
the snow-covered road,
spun sideways and nearly
crashed.
After the car came to a
stop, the deputy arrested
Shane Lance Purcell, 31, of
Athena, for possession of
methamphetamine, reckless
driving and possession
of a federal Schedule IV
controlled substance.
BEST STAND-UP
COMEDY ON IT'S WAY
TO HERMISTON!
Melonville Comedy Festival
January 28, 2017
Hermiston Community Center
The 24th edition of the Melonville Comedy Festival will
feature three headlining stand up comedians. These
comics are in demand corporate show entertainers.
C HASE M AYERS
is coming to Hermiston from Baton
Rouge Louisiana for the fi rst time.
Chase is a comedy club headliner
in the Gulf Coast area, He also
appeared in the movie "The Butler''.
Chase is a Back Porch Comedian.
- Boardman/Riverside
Jennifer Rodriguez-Pena is a senior at
Riverside Jr/Sr High School. Jennifer is
the daughter of Dalia Rodriguez. As a
student at Riverside, Jennifer has been
a leader on both the girls soccer and
cheer teams. She has been active in
a number of school organizations
including ASB, Key Club, and Honor
Society. Jennifer is known for her
willingness to volunteer to help
throughout the community, she can always be relied on to help those
in need. Jennifer’s future plans include attending college, though she is
still undecided on where.
9:00 - 9:15
but waits on how
to measure them
ELMER’S
IRRIGATION, INC.
“Proudly serving and investing in the future of our communities”
Hwy 395 • Hermiston
541-567-5572 • Fax: 541-567-8721
Emergency service also available
G ABRIEL R UTLEDGE
Another regular on the Bob and Tom Radio show
has appeared at the 2006 Melonville Comedy
Festival. He is on the comedy stage nightly all over
America. Gabriel's TV credits include
Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, and HBO. Two of
his albums are on the Sirius Satellite radio comedy
radio top ten. Rutledge fi nds humor is in his family
and everyday life. Gabriel is based in Olympia.
D WIGHT S LADE
is a regular guest on the Bob and Tom
Radio show. He appeared on the Tonight
Show, and on Comedy Central. Dwight is a
headliner on the biggest stages of standup
comedy throughout the world. Slade start-
ed working in comedy clubs as a teen and
at the Melonville Comedy festival in 2004.
His humor covers everything from driving
to pets. Dwight is based in Portland.
Tickets $35 per person
Sponsor:
Doors open at 7pm, Show starts at 8:00
Tickets available at
Hermiston Chamber of Commerce
Reserve Tickets at: 541-561-7488 •
NO REFUNDS • 21 & OVER