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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 3, 2017)
REGION Friday, March 3, 2017 East Oregonian PENDLETON BRIEFLY Minivan crashes into Walker’s Furniture East Oregonian A minivan with three passengers crashed into Walker’s Furniture & Mattress in Pendleton, causing damage to the store but leaving no one injured. Susan Struzinsky said she was driving the Kia Sedona from South- gate/Highway 395 so her 90-year-old aunt could check on a delivery from the store at 1907 S.W. Emigrant Ave., Pendleton. Her cousin and dog were also in the car, she said, and they entered the parking lot from Southwest 20th Street and drove around vehicles parked out front. “I went to stop the car, and it just kept going,” she said. The Kia clipped a nearby pickup, went over the yellow parking barrier and smashed into the front of Walker’s, taking out a large window and caving in the wall below. Struzinsky said she and her family were OK, though the crash was a fright. And a Good Samaritan found Struzinsky’s dog and brought it to her. Staff photo by Phil Wright Pendleton police and paramedics attend Thursday to Susan Struzinsky, who was unharmed following this crash into Walker’s Furniture & Mattress at 1907 S.W. Emigrant Ave., Pendleton. PENDLETON Oregon East Symphony to present ‘Sunrise Mass’ East Oregonian Concert-goers can take a metaphorical journey during an upcoming performance of “Sunrise Mass.” Conductor Beau Benson will lead the Oregon East Symphony and Chorale — taking listeners from the starry Heaven to Earth, from undifferentiated darkness to solid, warm life, evolving spiritually as a human, said OES executive director J.D. Kindle. The performance is Saturday, March 11 at 7:30 p.m. in the Vert Auditorium, 480 S.W. Dorion Ave., Pendleton. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for students/ seniors or $45 for a family. An orchestral chorale work by contemporary Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo, it’s a spin on the tradi- tional Latin Mass chorale works, Kindle said. Gjeilo was born in Norway in 1978, and moved to the United States in 2001 to begin his composition studies at the Juilliard School in New York City. He is currently c o m p o s e r- i n - r e s i d e n c e with Voces8 and DCINY. A full-time concert music composer based in New York City, Gjeilo also is interested in film, and his music often Photo contributed by J.D. Kindle Steve Muller, Oregon East Symphony assistant chorale conductor, leads a rehearsal of “Sunrise Mass.” The performance is Saturday, March 11 at the Vert Auditorium in Pendleton. draws inspiration from movies and cinematic music. Additional pieces to be performed by the sympho- ny’s string orchestra include Heinrich Biber’s “Battalia,” Arvo Pärt’s “Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten,” Franz Schreker’s “Intermezzo” and Antonio Vivaldi’s “Concerto Gross Op. 3, No. 11.” The Oregon East Symphony Chorale, with rehearsals conducted by assistant chorale conductor Steve Muller, features singers from across northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. Participants include Jenny Barnett, Norman Baton, Kate Botorff, Nika Blasser, Tammy and Gary Burnett, Clara Burton, Andy Cary, Beth Condon, Marva Dawley, Kate Dimon, Murray Dunlap, Suzi Eaton, Chris and Gary Ferguson, Bill Finney, Carol Guenther, Matt Henry, Anita Herbig, Alan Kendrick, J.D. Kindle, Karen Lange, Robert Lanman, Luz Martell, Bill Mayclin, Janet Miller, Sharon Miller, Steve and Cathy Muller, George Nelson, Denise Owen, Bob Pfieffer, Beth Read, Aaron Thomas, Jacob Try, Christina van der Kamp and Chuck Wood, with Sue Nelson as the rehearsal accompanist. Advance tickets are avail- able at www.oregoneastsym- phony.org, Pendleton Art+ Frame, 28 S.W. Court Ave., and the symphony office, 345 S.W. Fourth St. They also will be sold at the door. For more information, call 541-276-0320. FIRE: First time the building will be staffed around the clock Continued from 1A station. Two paid firefighter/ paramedics and an intern staff the station. The building is 31 years old, but this is the first time it will be staffed around the clock. It also went through some upgrades and remodels to make the building more livable. A semi truck hit the station in June 2014, and though no one was inside the building at the time of the crash it hit the area where firefighters would stay. It took several months to repair. The three district employees staffing the station on Thursday were Lt. Nate Stephens, firefighter and paramedic Dan Shult and resident intern Hunter Eynon. “Before, the closest (fully-staffed) station was Station 21,” Gorham said, speaking about the down- town safety center shared Staff photo by E.J. Harris Some renovations like installing kitchen appliances to the living area were necessary in getting the station ready for full-time staff. with the police station. “You couldn’t get any ambulance response out of here until yesterday.” The station has four vehi- cles, including a brush truck, an interface truck, a water tender and a medic unit. Stephens said the district always budgets for new equipment, but didn’t purchase any new engines or trucks for the station yet. “Probably a new engine is needed next,” he said. Gorham said the current staff at Station 22 will stay there for the whole year, and in January, other firefighters will rotate in. The increased hours for the station were made possible when the Hermiston and Stanfield departments merged in 2016, creating the UCFD. The consolidation of the two districts resulted in a combined tax rate of $1.75 per $1,000 assessed property value for Hermiston and Stanfield residents. The merger is expected to generate about $900,000, which will go toward new staff, replacing vehicles and toward staffing the Punkin Center station full-time. UCFD Chief Scott Stanton said he estimates about $625,000 of the funds generated from the merger would go toward staffing the station. ——— Contact Jayati Ramakrishnan at 541-564- 4534 or jramakrishnan@ eastoregonian.com Garden club offers scholarships PENDLETON — The Dirt Dabblers Garden Club is offering a $1,000 scholarship to students attending or planning to attend Blue Mountain Community College during the 2017-18 academic year who are interested in horticulture. Students interested in landscaping, botany, birds, forestry, nurseries, beekeeping or wildlife are eligible to apply. Scholarship applications are available on the Blue Mountain Community College website, www. bluecc.edu, under Local Scholarships. The deadline for applications is March 30, 2017. For more information, call Mary Jane Peterson at 541-966-1017. Trail riders plan cleanup, vaccination clinic IRRIGON — A group of area horse enthusiasts are heading up a trail cleanup at the Columbia Heritage Trail. The event is being held in conjunction with a Spring Vaccination Clinic. The OET Vaccination Clinic is Saturday, March 11 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Columbia River Equestrian Center, 81900 Pleasant View Road, Irrigon. Dr. Don Peters will be offering vaccinations, Coggins tests and health certificates. There is a $5 farm call fee. For more information, contact Julie Errend at 541-314-0137 or julieerrend@yahoo.com. assistant manager position he left has not been refilled to this day, but public records show the district’s board voted to terminate Pelleberg for unsatisfactory perfor- mance. Trott also felt that Pelleberg should have been more forthcoming about the fact that the institution where his bachelor’s and master’s degrees are from — Breyer State University — is an unaccredited online company that has been labeled a “diploma mill” by the Alabama Community College System. Trott also said he was calling the meeting to discuss concerns about Pelleberg’s interactions with city plan- ning director Bill Searles, whom Pelleberg had sent a letter of discipline to. Trott said he was also in contact with citizens who had alleged unethical behavior by some city employees that he was attempting to look into. At the following city council meeting on February 7 city councilor Mel Ray asked for an executive session to be added to the end of the meeting to discuss Trott’s performance. Trott denied the request, saying that the public needed prior notice, and requested that councilors’ concerns about him be aired in an open session on March 7. Later, after receiving emails from councilors crit- icizing his request to have the discussion in public, Trott withdrew his request for an open session. The city also canceled a planned Feb. 21 executive session for Pelleberg’s annual review. In his resignation letter Trott criticized councilors’ suggestions that it would be “political suicide” for the city if the council had the discussion about Trott in open session. “We, the collective Council (Councilors and Mayor) asked for the public’s trust by electing us to office,” he wrote. “We took an oath to represent and serve the public, and to uphold local, state and federal laws. We are not above the public, we are here to serve the public, and I fear that some of our Council has either lost sight, or never had sight, of that obligation. We should not be ‘trans- parent’ because it is some word of the time, we should be transparent because it is the only means by which the public knows that we are properly conducting ‘their’ business, for the good of ‘their’ community.” Trott said he would take his concerns to the state ethics commission, and his resignation was effective immediately. City councilor Michael Roxbury declined to comment on Trott’s resigna- tion and other city councilors did not respond by Thursday evening. The city council meets Tuesday at city hall at 7 p.m. ——— Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdowell@eastorego- nian.com or 541-564-4536. about the event, contact Jennifer DeBoer at dlcjam@yahoo.com. Free genealogy workshop offers help ATHENA — Who are your ancestors, where did they live, how did they earn a living? These questions and more may be answered as people research their family trees and put the pieces together. Help is available during a genealogy workshop sponsored by the Athena Public Library. The free event will be lead by Kayla Durfee and Deborah Johns, who have traced their own family trees as well as researching families for their church’s history. Both women have a keen interest in history, said library director Carrier Bremer. Facilitated by Durfee and Johns, the basic genealogy class is Saturday, March 11 from 9 a.m. to noon at the Athena Christian Church, Fifth and Van Buren streets. Bremer also will be on hand to share public library resources for people’s family history searches. People should bring names and pertinent dates (birth, death, marriage) for siblings, parents, grandparents and great- grandparents. Participants may also bring their own laptop. In addition to the scheduled workshop time, people are invited to bring a lunch and stay after noon for some one-on-one assistance. For more information, call 541-566-2470 or 541-566-2342. Memorial tourney deals in poker, EOU hosts bingo, bunco student writing IONE — The Bob Baker seminar Memorial Texas Hold ‘em Poker, Bingo and Bunco Fundraiser is gearing up for its 13th year. Formerly known as the Ione American Legion & Auxiliary event, fundraising activities also include a bake sale, a rifle raffle and a pair of raffles for half a beef, which are cut and wrapped. The event is Saturday, March 11 with the doors opening at 5 p.m. at the American Legion Hall, 325 W. Second St., Ione. A sandwich and salad bar meal is by donation from 5-7 p.m. The poker buy-in is $40 (with re-buys until 7:30 p.m.) with sign-ups at 6 p.m. and play beginning at 6:30 p.m. Bunco runs from 5-7 p.m. and bingo is from 7-9 p.m. Raffle tickets can be purchased in advance at the Ione Market, Morrow County Grain Growers in Ione, from American Legion members and auxiliary. Tickets also will be sold at the door. Born in Pendleton, Baker was a lifelong Ione resident who died in March 2014. He was a member of the Ione American Legion Post 95 for 43 years and served as post commander for 13 years. For more information LA GRANDE — A conference for young writers brings students, teachers and parents together to participate in workshops. Writers in grades three through 12 are invited to register for the Oregon Writing Project’s Student Writers’ Workshop, which is Saturday, March 11 at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande. The student cost is $30 and includes the opening session, workshops, lunch and an anthology. Teachers and chaperones attend for free. CPDUs and graduate credit are also available. The session provides an opportunity for students to build on their enthusiasm for creative writing, working alongside students and teachers for whom writing is a passion. At the end of the day, participant writing is celebrated in an open mic session and writers can revise and submit their work for inclusion in an anthology. For more information or to register, contact Nancy Knowles, professor of English/writing, at 541-962- 3795, nknowles@eou. edu or visit www.eou.edu/ engwrite/student-writers- workshop. MULTI-MEDIA SALES Great work environment. Super awesome team. Good pay. Retirement plan. Weekends off. Interested? TROTT: Said he will take his concerns to the state ethics commission Continued from 1A Page 3A East Oregonian has an opening for multi-media sales. No multi-media experience? That’s fine, as long as you understand the importance of customer service, working hard and a desire to enjoy your job. Could this be you? Send resume and letter of interest to EO Media Group PO Box 2048 Salem, OR 97308-2048 by fax to 503-371-2935 or e-mail hr@eomediagroup.com Base wage plus commissions, benefits and mileage reimbursement. Benefits include Paid Time Off (PTO), insurances and a 401(k)/Roth 401(k) retirement plan.