REGION
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
East Oregonian
STANFIELD
Page 3A
PENDLETON
Fire damages Morstarch factory Quezadas plead
not guilty to
nuisance violation
East Oregonian
Contributed photo
Umatilla County Fire District 1 crews
work to put out a fire Tuesday morning
at Morstarch in Stanfield.
Umatilla County Fire
District 1 responded around
6:05 a.m. Tuesday to an indus-
trial fire in Stanfield. The fire,
which damaged portions of
the outside of the Morstarch
factory on 405 Hoosier Rd.,
was mostly contained by 8 a.m.
Eldon Marcum of the UCFD
said the fire was likely caused
by one of the dryers at the
factory, which he said caught
fire and set some bins ablaze.
He said no one was injured
in the blaze, and most of the
damage was to the outside of
the facility.
“They’ve had problems in
the past,” Marcum said of the
dryers at the factory. “That was
probably what caused it.”
Marcum said he didn’t
know the cost of the damage,
and members of the company
did not want to comment on
the fire.
Facing daily fines
in excess of $22,000
East Oregonian
Contributed photo
Umatilla County Fire District 1 crews
work to put out a fire Tuesday morning
at Morstarch in Stanfield.
HERMISTON
Desert Cobbler celebrates 40 years
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
They don’t make shoes
like they used to. Dale Platt,
owner of Desert Cobbler in
Hermiston, knows that better
than anyone in town.
Although his business
celebrates its 40th anniver-
sary on Wednesday, he’s had
to adapt along the way.
“When I first came here I
just did shoe and boot repair,”
he said. “Now I do a little bit
of everything.”
“Everything”
includes
leather saddle bags, belts,
holsters and knife sheaths.
Platt has some standard
sizes on hand, but he can
also tailor-make holsters
or sheaths to fit a weapon
someone brings in.
Over the years, shoes and
boots have become cheaper,
but also more cheaply made.
Footwear has gotten more
casual (meaning less leather)
and the way the shoes are
put together by machines
makes it harder (and more
expensive) to repair. All that
has taught people to think
of their shoes as something
disposable that is not worth
repairing.
“Some people don’t want
to bother,” Platt said.
Of course, there are still
people in Eastern Oregon
who appreciate the value of
a good, high-quality work or
cowboy boot that has been
properly worn in. For those
customers, Platt can save
that favorite pair of shoes
with a new sole or heel. He
said some of his customers
BRIEFLY
Good Shepherd
gives $500,000 to
health foundation
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Desert Cobbler owner Dale Platt works on taking apart a baseball mitt a customer
brought in for repair.
have been coming to him for
almost as long as he has been
in business.
Despite the change in how
shoes are made, he said the
basic tools for fixing them
are “still pretty much the
same.”
Platt grew up in the
McKay Creek area, and
learned the trade from a
cobbler shop in Pendleton in
the 1970s. He had gone off
to college but came home
to work after he ran out of
money, and a cobbler offered
to train him up in the art of
shoe and boot repair. When
Platt heard that a cobbler in
Hermiston was selling their
business, he decided to take
it over and moved to Herm-
iston.
Platt said he used to bring
his children to work and let
them entertain themselves
in a playpen or, as they got
older, help greet customers.
Despite all the exposure to
the industry, none of the
three wanted to follow in
their father’s footsteps and
become a cobbler. He never
took on anyone to train,
either, since business started
declining around the time
that he would have consid-
ered it.
Still, Platt keeps on
working, adapting to the
changing industry and the
challenges that come with
being a downtown business
owner. He said one of the
keys is to remember is good
old-fashioned
customer
service.
“Just be here when you
tell people you’re going to be
here, and treat everyone the
same,” he said.
Desert Cobbler is located
at 120 N.E. Third St.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
PENDLETON
School board sets schedule for superintendent search
Aiming to have a replacement by early May
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Fourteen months after
initiating the last one, the
Pendleton School Board
began another search for a
superintendent.
The board met Monday
to declare the superintendent
position vacant and set the
process for finding Kovach’s
replacement.
Citing
“personal
reasons,” Pendleton School
District
superintendent
Andy Kovach announced
his resignation Feb. 13,
just seven months into his
tenure.
Many of the broad details
of the search are the same as
the previous one with some
minor tweaks added.
Given that the district
is starting its search at
a later date, board chair
Debbie McBee said the
schedule was slightly more
condensed. The district will
open the application period
Wednesday and close it
March 24.
After
a
screening
committee sorts through the
applications, the board will
conduct initial interviews
April 19-22 and select final-
ists April 24.
Following
reference
checks and visits to the final-
ists’ job sites, the remaining
candidates will participate
in a meet-and-greet and a
Facing $22,000 in fines
for violating Pendleton’s
nuisance ordinance — an
amount that is increasing
every day — the family
that owns old city hall
pleaded not guilty at
municipal court Tuesday.
In front of Pendleton
Municipal Court judge Will
Perkinson, Jose Quezada
and his daughter Diana
Quezada entered their plea
and told the judge that they
would utilize legal counsel.
Perkinson
explained
that the family had been
cited every day between
Jan. 4 and Feb. 16. Since
the presumptive fine is
$500 per day, the Quezadas
have been fined $22,000.
In an interview after
the meeting, city attorney
Nancy Kerns said the city
will continue to cite the
owners unless something
changes with a municipal
judge’s ruling.
A trial date has not yet
been set.
Old city hall was
heavily damaged by a July
2015 explosion, which
killed Eduardo Quezada,
Jose Quezada’s son.
More than a year after
the explosion, the city
began warning the family
that the building was in
violation of the nuisance
ordinance, which requires
fire-damaged
buildings
complete repairs within a
year of the fire.
The city initially offered
a few extensions as the
family began building a
new roof for the building,
but city council voted Jan.
3 to begin fining them
when they didn’t finish the
roof by the Jan. 1 deadline.
The Quezadas contend
that a historically bad
winter and other factors
outside of their control
prevented them from
completing the roof on
time.
second round of interviews
in Pendleton May 2-4.
The board will announce
the new superintendent May
8, who will start working
July 1, the same day
Kovach’s resignation goes
into effect.
Not everyone liked the
condensed timeline.
Board member Dave
Krumbein didn’t attend the
meeting, but McBee relayed
his thoughts on the hiring
process.
According to McBee,
Krumbein would prefer
the board appoint a interim
superintendent
while
members take more time to
find a permanent replace-
ment.
The shorter schedule also
caused the board to raise the
ceiling on the salary range.
Whereas the last super-
intendent search established
a range of $127,500 to
$140,000, McBee suggested
raising the maximum to
$150,000 to entice more
candidates during the later
portion of the hiring season.
Kovach
is
making
$127,500 for the 2016-2017
school year.
The board is also still
considering whether to use
a search consulting firm,
which the board hired during
the 2016 search.
Last year, the consultants
also conducted background
checks on the candidates,
but human resources director
Brad Bixler told the board
he was capable of doing
them if members decided to
go without.
The job requirements for
the position remain the same
— candidates must have a
master’s degree, a license
in administration, teaching
experience and superin-
tendent or administrative
experience in the central
administration of a school
system. The board also has
a 36-point list of qualities
they would like to see in a
prospective superintendent.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.
HERMISTON — The
Good Shepherd Commu-
nity Health Foundation
will be giving out more
grants and scholarships
after a $500,000 gift from
Good Shepherd Health
Care System.
The award, which
was given Feb. 14, is the
second largest donation
the foundation has ever
received.
Good Shepherd
Community Health
Foundation executive
director Bob Green called
the $500,000 “truly a
marvelous gift.”
“With this contribution,
we will be able to provide
grants to the community to
support health initiatives
and medical scholarships
to local students pursuing
a degree in health care,”
he said in a statement.
The foundation
supports health and well-
ness initiatives in Umatilla
County and Morrow
County. Since it began in
1995, GSCHF has given
more than $2.5 million in
health-related grants to
local nonprofits as well as
medical scholarships to
local students.
Presentation
to focus on
‘megafires’
Wildfire season is
still months away, but a
presentation scheduled
for March 1 at Whitman
College will touch on
the issue of larger, more
destructive megafires that
have threatened forests
and communities across
the West.
Paul Hessburg,
research landscape
S T U D EN T
W EEK
Trev or Riedm ann
Pilot Rock High School
Proudly Sponsored by
2801 St. Anthony Way, Pendleton, OR • 541-276-5121
Pendleton growth
subject of talk
PENDLETON —
Larry Lehman, former
Pendleton city manager, is
the special guest speaker
during the Umatilla
County Historical
Society’s February Terrific
Tuesday presentation.
The event is Tuesday,
Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. at
Heritage Station Museum,
108 S.W. Frazer Ave.,
Pendleton. In “Pendleton
1990-2010: A Time of
Growth and Change,”
Lehman will share his
research on the unique
development in Pendleton
during the last 10 years of
the 20th century and the
first decade of the 21st
century. Admission is free.
For more information,
call 541-276-0012.
———
Briefs are compiled
from staff and wire
reports, and press
releases. Email press
releases to news@
eastoregonian.com
PART-TIME
DRIVER
O F TH E
Trevor is an outstanding student in many
areas, but excels in academics. He is the
president of National Honor Society and did a
wonderful job as emcee of the NHS Initiation
and Awards Night. His love is theater and has
taken the lead role in many plays during his
four years of high school; he takes the stage
by storm. Trevor is the senior class president
and has held a class office every year. His
quick smile brightens a room and PRHS will
miss it as he pursues his college endeavors.
Congratulations Trevor!
ecologist with the U.S.
Forest Service, will
lead the 70-minute talk
interspersed with video
vignettes and photos.
Hessburg works at
the Pacific Northwest
Research Station in
Wenatchee, Washington,
and is a member of the
University of Washing-
ton’s affiliate faculty.
The presentation, titled
“Era of Megafires,” will
begin at 7 p.m. at Maxey
Hall, 173 Stanton St. in
Walla Walla. There will
be a Q-and-A session for
members of the audience
to ask questions of local
concerns.
For more information,
contact David Brauhn
with the city of Walla
Walla at 509-524-4436.
Pick up an application at
211 SE Byers, Pendleton
or e-mail resume and
cover letter to
hr@eomediagroup.com
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Shifts vary but will regularly
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