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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 2017)
REGION Thursday, January 26, 2017 Hermiston woman marches on D.C. By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN East Oregonian For Alex Hobbs, the deci- sion to go to the Women’s March on Washington was not a difficult one. “We booked our tickets shortly after the election,” she said. Hobbs and her husband, Fletcher, along with hundreds of thou- sands of others, gathered in Washington, D.C., the day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration to march in protest of much of Trump’s rhetoric during his campaign, including his comments against women, racial minorities and immi- grants. Crowds also marched in support of reproductive, LGBT and immigrant rights. “There are a lot of things I reject about Trump’s ideology, the campaign he ran — there’s a laundry list of reasons why I marched,” said Hobbs, 26. Hobbs, from Hermiston, said she was surprised by how many men showed up at the march, and by the diverse group of people who attended. Before the march, attendance was expected to be around 100,000, but several reports afterward estimated attendance to have hit more than 400,000. “To me, it felt like what Photo contributed by Alex Hobbs Hermiston residents Fletcher and Alex Hobbs attended the Women’s March on Washington Jan. 21 with hundreds of thousands of other marchers. America really looks like,” she said. Hobbs said one of her favorite moments at the march was a speech by Sophie Cruz, a six year-old who, joined on stage by her parents and little sister, spoke on behalf of immigrants. “I don’t think there was a dry eye in the crowd,” Hobbs said. Hobbs added that while there were a handful of Trump supporters in the audience trying to antago- nize marchers, the event was largely peaceful. Though Hobbs said she has not been too active with politics in the past, she is interested in getting more involved. “A couple of months ago, my friend and I put on an immigration forum,” she said. “And I’m finishing up my degree in political science at Oregon State in June.” While she doesn’t know what she’ll do after she graduates, Hobbs said she’s interested in advocacy for immigrants. “There’s certainly a need for it in the area,” she said. Students piece together art project Butte mosaic to be auctioned during fundraiser Beach & Beef Dinner and Auction Hermiston Education Foundation When: Feb. 4; 5 p.m., doors open Where: Hermiston Con- ference Center Cost: $35 Info: 541-567-5215 or www.mkt.com/hef By TAMMY MALGESINI East Oregonian Staff photo by Tammy Malgesini A three-year mosaic project of the Hermiston Butte created by groups of Highland Hills fifth grade students will be up for bid during the Feb. 4 Hermiston Educa- tion Foundation Beach & Beef Dinner and Auction. crab dinner is at 6:15 p.m. and a live auction follows. Tickets are $35 each and are available in advance at the conference center, the district office, 305 S.W. 11th St., or www. squareup.com/store/hef. Money raised from the event is used for grants awarded each fall and spring to staff in the school district to enhance the educational experience of students. Over the years, projects have funded the purchase of musical instruments, field trips, technology equipment, books, special curriculum and speakers. Espinosa is impressed with Temple’s leadership with the mosaic project. “I think it’s great that he’s taken that initiative to involve his students in that art perspective in the Hermiston School District,” she said. Prior to actually beginning to piece together the project, Temple met with students to discuss the history of mosaics, the importance of safety while working on the project and learning about techniques. After starting, Temple discovered the project was going to take longer than anticipated. Students looked forward to working on the piece, but also wanted time to socialize. “I had to reconcile to myself ... while we were making progress, it wasn’t all necessarily focused on the mosaic,” Temple said. Participants collected cups, plates and other items that could be re-purposed for the mosaic. The students enjoyed sharing about where they found particular pieces. However, their favorite part, Temple said, were “breaking days.” “Students used hammers and lots of enthusiasm in smashing plates, tiles and cups to be used in the mosaic,” he said. Temple said taping off and assigning portions of responsibility helped students envision the process. They couldn’t see progress putting in dime-sized pieces of mate- rial — but they could see their section filling up. “That’s what made it click,” Temple said. “They took ownership of their section.” The completed project is currently on display at the Hermiston Conference Center. ——— Contact Community Editor Tammy Malgesini at tmalgesini@eastoregonian. com or 541-564-4539 Hermiston Police Chief says crime is trending down By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN East Oregonian The Hermiston Police Department released its annual crime statistics on Monday and confirmed what they already know: Rates for some crimes are up this year, but overall crime continues to trend downward in the city. Police Chief Jason Edmiston said the two categories of crime that increased this year were rape and aggravated assault — the number of rapes increased from four in 2015 to seven in 2016. Aggravated assault numbers increased from 12 in 2015 to 20 in 2016. Edmiston said because numbers of both have been fairly low in Hermiston, a few instances can skew percentages. “Obviously one rape is one rape too many,” he said. “With the rapes last year, all participants were known to one another, and there was no random crime. Three of them were consensual but age was a factor.” With aggravated assaults tracked last year, Edmiston said 57 percent of the inci- dents were domestic-related, 43 percent involved the use of a controlled substance, and only one incident was definitively identified as gang-related. There are statistics provided for eight types of crime on the annual report: homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, auto theft and arson. Edmiston said the depart- ment prefers to look at crime over a longer period of time. “Crime can be very cyclical,” he said. “When it comes to identifying trends, we feel it’s more appropriate to look at 10-year periods.” Overall, he said, crime rates were comparable to last year, decreasing 2 percent overall from 2015. He said over the past 10 years, total crime is down 32 percent, even though the population of Hermiston has increased 15 percent during that period. Edmiston said officers have several strategies for addressing crime in Herm- iston. They look at statistics throughout the year, posting quarterly reports, looking for trends and redirecting funds if one area needs more attention. Edmiston also discussed crime stats for juvenile offenders. The department processed 186 juveniles for 315 different crimes. Drug charges dropped among juveniles and charges for alcohol stayed the same as last year, but use of tobacco increased. Charges of disor- derly conduct, harassment, assault and menacing were also down among juvenile offenders, Edmiston said. “It’s interesting that those things are down in the juve- nile world, but in the adult world they’re up,” Edmiston said. Edmiston also reviewed patrol statistics — officer-ini- tiated activity is down 12 percent, and traffic stops are down 13 percent. An unex- pected trend, Edmiston said, appeared with sick leave. “Use of sick leave increased 86 percent,” Edmiston said. A total of 2,280 hours were used for sick leave — essentially one full-time employee. He said after identifying the trend in May, he has discussed it with the department. Edmiston said that histor- ically, Hermiston has had low violent crime rates and high property crime rates — and that officers are trying to teach citizens to avoid becoming victims. “We know there’s offenders, and there’s people who allow themselves to be victimized,” he said. “Not on purpose, but by not locking their doors or something like that. We try to impede offenders, but also to teach people to lessen the likeli- hood they’ll be victimized.” Edmiston said he couldn’t compare Hermiston crime statistics to those of nearby towns, because many other cities don’t publish their statistics. “I get calls all the time from people contemplating moving to the area, asking about schools, crime, specific neighborhoods,” he said. “I think it’s important to report things, even things we’re not proud of.” The complete crime report is available on the city of Hermiston’s website. Page 3A HERMISTON Desert View employee stole from coworkers By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN East Oregonian HERMISTON A three-year art project created by groups of fifth graders from Highland Hills Elementary School will go to the highest bidder during a Hermiston Education Foun- dation fundraiser. Patrick Temple said the creation of “A Portrait of the Hermiston Butte” began in 2013. The fifth grade teacher has worked on other mosaic projects with students, which are on display in the Highland Hills library and at Martha’s House. “I have enjoyed doing mosaics for years,” Temple said. “It’s an interest of mine I find fun to share with my students.” Temple calls the Butte mosaic, which is approx- imately 3-foot by 5-foot, an “heirloom” piece. Tori Espinosa, treasurer of the Hermiston Education Foun- dation, agreed, saying “it’s beautiful.” The Beach & Beef Dinner and Auction is Saturday, Feb. 4 with the doors opening at 5 p.m. at the Hermiston Confer- ence Center, 415 S. Highway 395. People can view silent auction items, socialize and make purchases from a no-host bar. The beef and East Oregonian A Hermiston School District employee was fired on Monday after she was caught stealing credit cards from colleagues’ purses in October 2016 and spending the money on cigarettes. Lisa Bryan was a speech language pathologist at the Hermiston School District since the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year. Bryan was arrested and lodged in the Umatilla County Jail on four counts of identity theft, four counts of fraudulent use of a credit or debit card, and four counts of third-degree theft. According to school district documents received by the East Oregonian, Bryan was placed on paid administrative leave for three months, starting in October 2016, while Hermiston police investi- gated the alleged theft. During that period, district employees attempted to meet with Bryan to discuss the inci- dent, but Bryan did not appear for the scheduled meetings. The district then moved forward with the information they had, and recommended to the board that Bryan be terminated, which they did Monday. The investigation began October 14, when Hermiston police received a report that three teachers at Desert View Elementary School had their debit or credit cards stolen out of their purses during the previous few weeks. On October 20, police received surveillance video from the school showing a pregnant female entering and exiting several class- rooms. A few hours later, Bryan met with two Herm- iston police officers. Officers told Bryan she was caught on video surveillance at the 11th Street Market using one of the stolen cards. After initially denying having any knowledge of the alleged theft, Bryan admitted to using stolen cards to purchase cigarettes and other items. Officers learned that in addition to employees from Desert View, Bryan had also stolen from a colleague at Highland Hills Elementary School. When asked why she had stolen the cards, Bryan told police that she was having financial difficul- ties, but had not used the cards to pay for any bills or household items. BRIEFLY Transient with toy gun arrested HERMISTON — Richard J. Mills, 62, was arrested Wednesday afternoon for walking around the Stafford Hansell Building and the Eastern Oregon Higher Education Center holding what appeared to be a handgun in his hand. The weapon turned out to be an airsoft-style toy gun. Mills was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and taken to the Umatilla County Jail, Pendleton. An employee of the Umatilla County District Attorney’s office first observed the man walking around the two buildings with what looked like a handgun, and alerted Hermiston Police officers. Officers found Mills, a transient, inside the EOHEC building. Mills began to yell and cause a disturbance. Officers found that Mills had two airsoft handguns in his possession, both of which were seized as evidence. Hermiston police chief Jason Edmiston said in a statement that the department has dealt with Mills several times, and that he has been increasingly aggressive with officers. “The decision by Mr. Mills to walk around the courthouse and ultimately into the education building is very unfortunate as there were numerous people inside,” Edmiston said in a statement. “Our officers responded appropriately and took immediate action.” New BOT secretary will be elected Feb. 7 The race to replace David Close, the former Confed- erated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Board of Trustees secretary, is heading into its final stretch. Tribal members will choose from six candidates on Feb. 7, the date of a special election set after Close was recalled from office in October amid allegations of failing to fulfill the tribes’ constitution, elder abuse, abuse of position and other violations. The candidates are Kat Brigham, a former board secretary, Giselle Halfmoon, David Wolf, Lawanda Bronson, Roberta Kipp and Leila Spencer. The board secretary is responsible for all board correspondence, issuing of public notices, taking of minutes and recording of official actions, and is custodian of all board files and records. Tribal members can vote in person at the Nixyaawii Governance Center on Feb. 7 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Absentee ballots may be requested from the tribes’ election commission by going to the CTUIR website. ——— Briefs are compiled from staff and wire reports, and press releases. Email press releases to news@ eastoregonian.com MULTI-MEDIA SALES Great work environment. Super awesome team. Good pay. Retirement plan. Weekends off. Interested? 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