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East Oregonian
BROWN: ‘I
will continue to
fight back and
protect Oregon’
Continued from 1A
“He said that is not their target, that is
not their focus, that the media is distorting
all of this.”
A 1987 state law established Oregon as
what is now called a “sanctuary” state. That
law bans local and state law enforcement
from using immigration status as the sole
reason to investigate or arrest someone.
After President Donald Trump said
his administration would crack down on
illegal immigration, Brown signed an
executive order on Feb. 2 that reaffirmed
the 1987 Oregon law and expanded it to
other state agencies.
Salem on Monday became the latest
Oregon community to adopt a “sanctuary”
resolution. The City Council voted unan-
imously to ban use of city resources to
enforce federal immigration law.
After the Trump administration threat-
ened to withhold federal funding, some
communities withdrew their “sanctuary”
designations. Brown said Kelly did not
indicate Oregon would lose federal dollars.
“I will continue to fight back and protect
Oregon. I want us to remain an inclusive
and welcoming state to our immigrant and
refugee populations,” she said.
Brown told Kelly that the federal immi-
gration roundups created distrust among
immigrants, making them afraid to go to
courthouses, state agencies or jobs for fear
of being targeted. As a result, the immi-
gration enforcement also will harm the
Oregon economy, because immigrants are
the backbone of the agriculture, forestry
and other industries.
On other topics, Brown said:
• As the Trump administration looks
to repeal and replace the Affordable
Care Act, Health and Human Services
Secretary Tom Price promised that no one
would lose health care coverage. Oregon
has added 400,000 residents to state health
insurance through the ACA, also known
as Obamacare.
• Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency, agreed with
Brown that the Superfund cleanup of the
Portland harbor needed to proceed faster.
SCHOOL: District is not required
to track its undocumented students
Continued from 1A
school and several businesses around
town were closed.
“That was a significant event,” he
said. “Societal-related issues are now
coming into our schools. That’s why I
chose to speak out.”
Using information from the Port-
land law firm Miller Nash, Maiocco
explained the details of the executive
order.
“The federal government will
increase efforts against ‘removable
aliens,’” he said. He added that the
federal government will ensure that
“sanctuary jurisdictions” are not
eligible to receive federal grants
except in special cases deemed
necessary for law enforcement. He
said cases where parole is used in
lieu of detention will now only be
used sparingly, and only in the case
of humanitarian reasons. He said
according to the order, significant
new resources will also be allotted
for enforcement agencies and deten-
tion centers.
After touching on some of the
basic principles of the order, Maiocco
discussed how schools may be
affected.
Under Barack Obama’s admin-
istration, he said, schools were
considered a “sensitive location,” and
ICE agents typically wouldn’t enter
— although they weren’t prohibited
from doing so. Thus far, he said
schools will still be treated as such,
but he added that it may not stay that
way.
“Things are changing very
quickly,” he said.
Maiocco said while there is no
common definition for “sanctuary
jurisdiction,” it typically means the
district office won’t provide student
or family information to ICE except
as required by law.
Maiocco said cases in which
the district would be required to
provide information about a student’s
immigration status may be if the
district is subpoenaed, and after
they have complied with the Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act
requirement to make substantial
efforts to let the family of the student
know they’re releasing their child’s
information. Another case, he said, is
if a law enforcement agency is in hot
pursuit of a student who they have
probable cause to believe is involved
in a felony.
Maiocco said Oregon law dictates
that state law enforcement agencies
can’t use agency money, equipment
or personnel to detect people whose
only violation is of federal immigra-
tion laws.
“We should not see (local or state
police) coming to our schools to
enforce solely immigration claims,”
he said.
Maiocco said while the district
knows it has undocumented students,
it doesn’t track them and is not
required to track them. According to
federal law, he said, the district can’t
even ask those questions. He refer-
enced Plyler vs. Doe, a 1982 Supreme
Court case that affirmed the rights
of undocumented students to attend
school — as well as the district’s own
policies on nondiscrimination.
“All students are entitled to a
school environment free of harass-
ment and bullying,” he said, referring
to board policy AC, which focuses
on nondiscrimination toward all
students.
Maiocco said to his knowledge
there have not been any bullying or
harassment incidents related to the
executive order or immigration status.
He said there was a concern that a
teacher had made comments and
shown signs of bias against students
participating in the protest by issuing
a pop quiz and not allowing them
to make it up, but said the district
investigated those claims and found
them to be false.
“Clearly there was some kind of
communication problem,” Maiocco
said. “The teacher and student didn’t
understand one another. The specific
allegations of bias, and that they
issued a ‘pop quiz’ are not true.”
Maiocco said in that instance,
there was a pre-scheduled quiz, and
the teacher gave students who missed
it the opportunity to make it up.
“We want kids and families to
know that schools are generally
safe,” he said.
TEACHER: Former student was not a minor when the relationship turned sexual
Continued from 1A
grade teacher at Hermiston’s
Armand Larive Middle
School and began coaching
the high school boys basket-
ball team.
The commission, which
determines
discipline
for educators in Oregon,
received a report from the
Morrow County Sheriff’s
Office in early October
2014, informing them of
an investigation due to
allegations of inappropriate
conduct between McElligott
and the student. The criminal
investigation was closed
soon after but the commis-
sion continued to investigate
professional malfeasance. It
concluded that McElligott’s
behavior constituted gross
neglect of duty in violation
of several Oregon laws, and
subsequently revoked his
teaching license.
The former student said
she was not a minor when the
relationship turned sexual,
and that she had initiated the
first sexual encounter.
She said McElligott
insisted she wait until she
graduated before discussing
her feelings for him.
According to the woman,
McElligott said he followed
a code in which he never
got involved with a student
before they graduated.
According to the police
report, at the time of the
interview McElligott was
also involved with another
former student who was
also over the age of 18.
That former student did not
respond to reported attempts
by the police to contact her.
Further investigation by
the commission revealed
that McElligott and the
student had exchanged
personal phone calls and
text messages during the
2012-2013 school year, and
in spring 2013 the two met
in the softball dugout before
school because the student
had to make up time from a
practice she missed.
McElligott talked with the
student about some personal
conflicts she was facing.
He told her he cared about
her, and that he disapproved
of her date to the prom and
some of her lifestyle choices.
McElligott also gave the
student a gift of some nuts
that she liked, which he had
done with other students.
Before leaving, McElligott
gave the student a “full-on
hug,” the report said, and
told her again that he cared
about her.
Dr. Monica Beane, the
executive director of the
TSPC, said some cases take
longer because of the avail-
ability of witnesses. She said
if a case is also being inves-
tigated by a law enforcement
agency, the commission’s
investigation can be delayed
so it doesn’t interfere with
law enforcement.
“In this case, we had
to wait for other factors,”
Beane said. She added that
McElligott initially requested
a hearing, but the case was
settled before the hearing.
Heidi Sipe, the Umatilla
School District superin-
tendent, also serves on the
TSPC. While she recused
herself from the McElligott
case, Sipe said her district
has very specific policies on
inappropriate teacher-student
relationships intended to
prepare a student for a future
sexual relationship — also
known as grooming.
“In the handbook, it
shows that state law requires
all school districts to provide
training on sexual miscon-
duct, including grooming,”
Sipe said. She added that
employees also receive
training about how to report
behavior they think might
constitute sexual misconduct.
Sipe said a key point in
preventing this kind of inci-
dent is having staff recognize
what grooming looks like, in
order to raise alarm about it.
Dirk Dirksen, the super-
intendent of Morrow County
School District, said the
district does a lot of training
and professional develop-
ment about the practice.
“We stay alert and ask
people to report it,” he said.
“We investigate. Every time
we get a report we do an
investigation and turn it in —
but the process is slow.”
–——
Contact
Jayati
Ramakrishnan at 541-564-
4534 or jramakrishnan@
eastoregonian.com
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
ROADS: Projects won’t happen
without state or federal funding
Continued from 1A
North First Place between
Highland Avenue and Elm
Avenue. Assistant city
manager Mark Morgan
told the East Oregonian
that the project would
include widening the road
and adding sidewalks, turn
lanes and traffic signals
where First Place intersects
with Highland and Orchard
avenues.
When school gets out
for the day and during
lunch rush, both intersec-
tions are highly congested
— sometimes to the point
that they block emergency
vehicles trying to leave the
fire station.
The city would also like
to extend Gettman Road
on the south side of town,
connecting it to Highway
395. The road currently
ends at First Place, but
extending it would create
another path to the highway
and relieve congestion on
Highland Avenue.
“As we continue to
grow to the south we need
to look at how to provide
additional connection from
Highway 207 to Highway
395,” Morgan said.
The project would cost
$2.5 million, Morgan
said, in addition to the
cost of paving the portion
of Gettman that already
exists.
A third major project the
city would like to accom-
plish using transportation
package dollars would
be realignment of Harper
Road, Geer Road and First
Place where they create
a confusing three-way
stop stretching across the
railroad tracks. That would
cost $1.5 million.
“It’s a mess,” Morgan
said of the intersection.
“But obviously it’s a chal-
lenge due to the alignment
of the railroad and the
roadway.”
Other projects on the
city’s to-do list include
widening 10th Street
near Sandstone Middle
School and Highland
Hills Elementary School
for $8 million, building a
bridge to connect Punkin
Center to Interstate 82 for
$15 million, improving
Second Street’s connection
to Highway 395 near the
Hermiston
Conference
Center for $2 million and
developing a new road in
the city’s industrial area for
$3 million.
Those projects won’t
happen without state or
federal funding.
Without state funding
the area will also lose
three drug detectives on
the BENT task force and
the entire forensics lab in
Pendleton.
Hermiston police chief
Jason Edmiston said that
if the crime lab in Pend-
leton closes, forcing law
enforcement in Eastern
Oregon to use the one in
Portland, it will take longer
for evidence to travel back
and forth from the lab,
longer for that evidence
to be processed, longer
for analysts to come out to
testify at trials and longer
for them to drive to Eastern
Oregon to collect evidence
from major crime scenes.
“A lot of people already
believe justice is slow,” he
said. “Stand by if the foren-
sics lab closes, because it
will get even slower.”
Drotzmann
said
Governor Kate Brown’s
proposal to close the lab
was an example of her
acting against Eastern
Oregon. He said if the
state takes such a valu-
able resource away it
will “speak poorly” to
lawmakers’ treatment of
Oregonians on the eastern
side of the state.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
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March Events!
Pendleton Parks and Recreation Presents:
Wee Bit O’ Ireland Annual
St. Patrick’s
Celebration
k
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r
B
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n
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r
p
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n
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Stay-
Join us for a great weekend every March in Heppner for “A Wee
March 28, 29
29, 30
Xplore Pendleton (K-4th)
March 27
15) )
Get Air Tri-Cities Road Trip (7-15)
March 31 • 7pm
es)
Movie Night: “Moana” (all ages)
www.pendletonparksandrec.com
• 3/12 - Winter Triathlon: 3k ski, 3k run, 3k ski
• 3/19 - Taste of Nordic
• 3/27-3/31, open daily for Spring Break!
for event details and information
www.AnthonyLakes.com
Bit O’ Ireland” St. Patrick’s Celebration. “Always held the weekend closest
to St. Patrick’s Day” (for 2017, March 17-19), you will fi nd lots of activities
and events to keep you busy; enjoy the great Irish community and start a
new tradition in coming back again and again. The weekend starts with
with a 3 on 3 basketball competition on Friday night; Saturday begins with
the Sheep Dog Trials, KUMA Coffee Hour, CEILI, Bouncin Leprechauns
Fun Zone for Children, Lot of Arts and Crafts on display, Cruz-In Cars on
display, Great Green Parade, the Welly toss, just to name a few. The
main Saturday evening entertainment will be “The Gothard Sisters” and
the”Old Time Fiddlers”. All entertainment is free to the public due to
funds provided by the Morrow County Unifi ed Recreation District. The
weekend ends with a “Road Bowling competition! We extend “Caed
Mile Failte” (Gaelic meaning 100,000 Welcomes) to all our visitors! You
don’t have to be Irish when you come, but you’ll be Irish when you leave!
Call the Heppner Chamber for a schedule at 541-676-5536; or email at
heppnerchamber@centurytel.net.
Check it out online at: “heppnerchamber.com/stpattysday.
Join us on Facebook: “Facebook.com/pages/St-Patrick-Celebration-
Heppner-Oregon-USA/182932548392756”