WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A fresh layer of snow covers the foothills of the Blue Mountains as a cold front moves through the area Tuesday on the Umatilla Indian Reservation south of Mission.
141st Year, No. 97
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
IRRIGON
ICE tells Brown it is targeting
Teacher’s license
‘violent and dangerous offenders’ revoked for student
By DICK HUGHES
For the Capital Bureau
SALEM — The nation’s top immi-
gration-enforcement offi cial stressed
to Oregon Gov. Kate Brown that the
Trump administration is focused on
deporting the “violent and dangerous
offenders” among the undocumented
immigrants in the U.S.
Brown was in Washington, D.C.,
last week for the National Governors
Association
Winter Meeting.
She met with
Homeland Secu-
rity
Secretary
John Kelly, as
well as several
other
cabinet
secretaries.
“They
had
no intention of Brown
picking up folks
who did not have
criminal penalties. I specifi cally asked
him about folks who had, for example,
a drug charge 20 years ago. He said
that is not their target,” Brown said in
an interview Tuesday.
She invited Kelly to Oregon to get
a fi rst-hand understanding of how the
Trump administration policies are
affecting immigrant families.
“What I explained to him is that this
is creating great fear in our communi-
ties around the state of Oregon. I used
some examples of families that I knew.
Folks are concerned about coming to
courthouses. They can’t go to simple
criminal or civil or family law hearings
because they’re afraid they’re going to
get picked up,” Brown said.
See BROWN/8A
Hermiston School District explains
approach to undocumented students
Hermiston School District, he felt
the need to address concerns many
families and students have.
“Turmoil in society is one thing
The Hermiston School District is
looking to quell the fears of families when it’s in the adult world,” he
worried about new immigration said. “We’d normally not speak out
— until it raises its head
policies implemented by
and has a nexus with the
the federal government.
public school system.”
At a work session
Maiocco said two
Monday, superintendent
specifi c incidents encour-
Fred Maiocco discussed
aged him to address the
how the district will
issue. The fi rst was the
handle
undocumented
immediate aftermath of
students, sanctuary juris-
the executive order signed
dictions and Immigration
by President Donald
and Customs Enforce-
Trump increasing the
ment.
Maiocco
deportation effort by
Maiocco
said
the district has a
“There ICE.“Our students at
non-discrimination
policy, and sent a
shouldn’t be several schools really
went into crisis,” he
letter to teachers and
police coming said. “We had to open
community members
stating the same. The to school solely a crisis response room
and have a fl ight team
letter can be found on
for immigration at Sandstone Middle
Page 4A.
Kids were
“Ultimately
we
questions.” School.
afraid they’d go home
have to comply with
the law,” he said. “But
— Fred Maiocco, and their parents
school is a safe place.
Hermiston School Dis- might not be there.”
Maiocco said the
In Oregon, there
trict superintendent
second catalyst for
shouldn’t be police
the district was the
coming to school
solely for immigration questions. Day without Immigrants protest
We’ll abide by what the law says two weeks ago, when a third of
but also want to provide resources.” the district’s students didn’t attend
Maiocco said while ICE agents
See SCHOOL/8A
have thus far not come to the
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
More inside
• Activist says immigration offi cers detained 10 workers in Oregon NORTHWEST/2A
• Maiocco says Hermiston School District committed to all students OPINION/4A
• Trump promises to build a great wall along southern border NATION/7A
relationship
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Former
Irrigon
and
Hermiston teacher Jake
McElligott’s license was offi -
cially revoked Jan. 26, after
more than two years under
review by the state’s Teacher
Standards and Practices
Commission.
McElligott agreed to a
revocation and gave up his
right to re-apply for a license
in the state. His license was
revoked due to an inappro-
priate sexual relationship with
a former student whom he
had also coached in softball.
The former Irrigon High
School student said she had
a sexual relationship with
McElligott that began the
day of her high school grad-
uation in 2013. According to
the commission’s report, the
student was 18 years old at
the time.
McElligott, who had
been licensed since 2003
and teaching in Irrigon since
2004, coached softball and
basketball at Irrigon High
School and led the teams to
state titles in both sports. In
2014 he was hired as a sixth
See TEACHER/8A
HERMISTON
Council pushes stalled
transportation package
City’s roads wish
list totals $53M
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Hermiston City Council
voiced its support for a
state transportation funding
package Monday with an
offi cial resolution urging the
legislature to pass a bill.
The council also threw its
support behind the Oregon
State Police crime lab in
Pendleton and continued
funding for detectives on the
Blue Mountain Enforcement
Narcotics Team.
Mayor Dave Drotzmann
said the legislature has been
promising a transportation
package for a couple years,
so it would be great to fi nally
see it happen.
The full list of major
road projects the city would
like to tackle carries a price
tag of about $43 million.
The city’s annual budget
for street projects is about
$300,000.
“We need some help,”
Drotzmann said.
One of the fi rst projects
the city would like to take on
is a $7 million overhaul of
See ROADS/8A
UmCo investigating illegal strip club allegations
No permits on record for
building in Power City
East Oregonian
The Umatilla County department
of land use planning has received
complaints of a strip club operating
illegally outside of Umatilla.
Planning director Tamra Mabbott
confi rmed that county code enforce-
ment employees had visited the
address of 82090 Highway 395 North
after allegations that a section of the
building had been used as a strip club
that weekend. No one answered the
door.
The property is outside of the city
of Umatilla’s limits but inside its
urban growth boundary. Mabbott said
“several” permits, including a land use
permit, would be required to use the
building for entertainment or to serve
food or beverages. But both she and
Umatilla planning director Bill Searles
said no one had applied for permits for
that address through either the city or
county.
The building is located in Power City
shortly before Highway 395 intersects
with Highway 730. Part of the property
houses two retail businesses, but on
Monday afternoon the storefront on
the south side, where the strip club was
allegedly operating, was locked and all
of the windows covered. A string of red
lights and several red light bulbs along
the front of the storefront were lit, but
no sign announced a business name.
Mabbott said if the code enforce-
ment offi ce determines a business is
not operating according to the county’s
land use codes, the fi rst step will be a
See STRIP CLUB/5A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Complaints that an illegal strip club at this location on Highway 395
in Power City have been fi led with the Umatilla County department
of land use planning.