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FAITH/7A
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141st Year, No. 109
Your Weekend
FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2017
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Umatilla County cuts drug court
Court-supervised treatment program serves 90 people, has six employees
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
•
•
•
Wee Bit O’ Ireland
celebration in Heppner
“Homeward Bound”
concert at BMCC
“Into the Wood” at
Riverside High School
Umatilla County is cutting its
drug court program due to reduc-
tions in funding from the state. The
move is effective June 30 and means
laying off six employees.
Larry Givens, chairman of the
Umatilla County Board of Commis-
sioners, said the county has a general
policy of not backfi lling when the
state stops providing money.
“We’ve seen that happen time
and time again,” Givens said, “
... and we’re at the point we can’t
keep doing that.”
Drug court provides court super-
vised alcohol and drug treatment
for offenders. County counsel
Doug Olsen said the decision to
end the program came Wednesday
See COURT/12A
Givens
Primmer
For times and places
see Coming Events, 5A
Catch a movie
Disney via AP
A beautiful young woman is
held captive by a beast in a
mansion fi lled with human
souls trapped in furniture
and dishware in Disney’s
“Beauty and the Beast.”
For showtime, Page 5A
For review, Weekend EO
Weekend Weather
Fri
Sat
Sun
51/45
59/32
50/30
HERMISTON
Fair moves
forward
without
manager
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Teacher Sherril Cain receives a hug from second-grader teacher Diana Ellis during a retirement party for Cain on
Thursday at Sherwood Elementary School in Pendleton.
Hoping for more
volunteers this year
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Pendleton teacher Sherril Cain retires after 59 years
The change in venue for
the Umatilla County Fair has
come with a shift in staffi ng,
too.
The county commis-
sioners laid off the fair’s
manager and maintenance
head last fall and talked
about having staff at the
Eastern Oregon Trade and
Event Center staff run the
fair. But the operations
plan for EOTEC that the
county commissioners and
Hermiston City Council
will jointly review Monday
does not include giving
See FAIR/3A
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Teacher Sherril Cain reacts after receiving a tee-shirt from principal Theresa
Owens during a retirement party Thursday at Sherwood Elementary School
in Pendleton.
Sherril Cain has technically been retired for more
than two decades, so when the staff of Sherwood
Heights Elementary School in Pendleton surprised her
with a going away party, they sang “Happy re-retirement
to you” to the tune of “Happy Birthday.”
After working as a full-time teacher from 1958 to
1995 and a substitute teacher since then, Cain decided
to let her substitute license expire on Friday, marking the
end of 59-year career in education.
Pendleton School Board chairwoman Debbie McBee
was on hand to congratulate Cain, delivering a short
speech where she noted the history Cain brought to the
district.
Cain, who will turn 81 on Friday, was quick with her
reply.
“I have a lot of history,” she said.
Cain said she always wanted to be a teacher and would
sometimes take on that role when she was younger,
whether it was dropping off homework for the neighbor
boy when he missed school or fi lling in as a substitute for
See CAIN/12A
More than 450,000 Oregonians would lose
health coverage under proposed GOP plan
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — As many as 465,000
Oregonians would be unable to
afford coverage and lose health insur-
ance by 2026 under the U.S. House
GOP health care proposal, according
to an analysis released by the state
Thursday.
And it would cost the state an
additional $2.6 billion through 2023
to maintain Medicaid coverage
extended to 375,000 Oregonians and
subsidized by the federal government
under President Obama’s Affordable
Care Act, the state anaylsis says.
The Republican plan, known as
the American Health Care Act, would
also cost 42,000 jobs, the state says.
“This bill is not about improving
health care. This bill is about giving
tax breaks to the wealthy,” said Gov.
Kate Brown, during a news confer-
ence Thursday where she took no
questions.
The Governor’s Offi ce did not
specifi cally address an emailed ques-
tion about whether Brown intends to
have Oregon make up the losses from
the federal government, if the GOP
bill becomes law. However, Brown
and her communications director,
Chris Pair, said she plans to share
the report with federal offi cials and
Congress to “infl uence their deliber-
ations on the AHCA.”
Most of those who would lose
coverage now benefi t from the
Oregon Health Plan, the state’s
Medicaid program.
In addition to losses in Medicaid
See HEALTH/12A