HERMISTON
SERVES UP
A WIN
RAILROAD
REPLACING
10,000 TIES
86/61
House to
vote on GOP
health care
bill NATION/7A
SPORTS/1B
REGION/3A
THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2017
141st Year, No. 143
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PENDLETON SCHOOL DISTRICT
SUPERINTENDENT SEARCH
Candidates
make their
pitch to
community
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Agricultural burn has silver lining
The four fi nalists vying to become the
next Pendleton School District super-
intendent got their fi rst chance to make
an impression on the
community, and the
community got its
fi rst chance to make
an impression on
them.
Following a day
of school tours and
meetings with local
education offi cials,
the candidates gath- Chavez
ered at Pendleton
High
School
to
meet with staff and
the public before
retreating
behind
closed doors for an
additional round of
interviews with the
school board.
Unlike the last
superintendent search
in 2016, none of the Fritsch
fi nalists are from
Eastern Oregon and
almost all of them
are sitting superinten-
dents.
The board’s fi nal
choice will replace
former
superinten-
dent Andy Kovach,
who formally left the
Stroder
district Friday.
• Aaron Chavez
doesn’t suffer from a
lack of superintendent
experience,
having
served in a series of
progressively larger
school districts across
Washington.
After serving as a
classroom teacher for
six years in Finley, Wagner
Washington, Chavez
ascended to superintendent/principal
position at Almira School District
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The smoke from an agricultural burn condenses into a cloud Wednesday over a fi eld north of Pendleton. According to the
National Weather Service in Pendleton it was a PyroCumulus, or fi re cloud, formed by rising smoke.
BMCC prepares for tuition hikes
Community colleges grapple
with stagnant budgets
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
After considering a $7-per-credit hike in
tuition, the six Blue Mountain Community
College board members held their noses and
voted in favor. Board member Susan Plass
admitted feeling sick to her stomach before
the offi cial vote at the April meeting.
“It’s a travesty that the state is putting
the cost of education more and more on the
backs of the students,” Plass said. “Students
struggle enough as it is with all the expenses.”
The BMCC board is not alone as it
struggles to fi nd revenue. The state’s other
16 community colleges are also preparing
for pain as Oregon legislators grapple with a
$1.6-billion budget shortfall.
Many, if not all, of the state’s community
colleges are considering similar bumps
of tuition or fees. Judging by preliminary
budget fi gures, state support will likely
remain fl at while costs keep rising, said
BMCC President Camille Preus.
“PERS, health care, salaries and wages
— every fi xed cost we have is escalating,”
Preus said. “The state proposal for 2017-19
is $554 million, which is exactly what it was
in 2015-17.”
EO fi le photo
Blue Mountain Community College will increase its tuition unless the Legislature
provides an increase in funding this biennium.
One concern is a collection of unfunded
mandates such as Title IX, minimum wage
and family leave.
“Across the state, for the 17 community
colleges, there is $70 million in unfunded
mandates,” Preus said. “That’s about
See CANDIDATES/10A
$700,000 for us.”
BMCC administrators will get a clearer
idea of the budget hole after the forecast
comes out around May 15.
Decision coming
The school board did not select a
fi nalist Wednesday and will reconvene
Thursday at 6:30 a.m. in executive
session to continue the discussion.
See BMCC/10A
HERMISTON
BOARDMAN
Man found guilty of
jealousy-fueled shooting
Utility plans may preclude
Carty gas plant expansion
Carranza, 25, over a woman
that Rodriguez had been dating.
Rodriguez fi red a gun and the bullet
Eduardo Rodriguez Barriga hit Lemus in the leg. After the
was found guilty Wednesday after shooting, Rodriguez drove off and
shooting another man last August in Lemus tried to follow him in his
own vehicle while calling
a dispute over a woman.
9-1-1. Dispatch told him
The eleven jurors
to stop following the
found Rodriguez, 26,
vehicle, and he parked
guilty of second-degree
at a convenience store
assault and two counts
where police and medics
of unlawful use of a
met up with him.
weapon. His sentencing
Lemus was treated
will take place Monday,
for a superfi cial gunshot
May 8.
wound to his leg.
One juror fell ill before
At
Wednesday’s
the trial concluded,
hearing, Rodriguez tried
but the decision was Rodriguez
to convince jurors that he
unanimous and the court
had acted in self-defense.
accepted the verdict.
Rodriguez said that the morning
Rodriguez was arrested in
Umatilla shortly after the shooting, of the incident he had met with the
which occurred August 24. He got
See SHOOTING/10A
into a dispute with Daniel Lemus
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Negotiations to fi ll demand
with existing resources
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Portland General Electric may hold
off on expanding the Carty Generating
Station in Boardman if offi cials can
instead acquire additional energy
from other Northwest facilities —
including existing hydro and thermal
plants — to meet future demand.
PGE fi led its most recent Inte-
grated Resource Plan, or IRP, with the
Oregon Public Utility Commission in
November 2016. The plan calls for
adding 561 megawatts of capacity by
2021, primarily due to the scheduled
closure of the Boardman Coal Plant.
In order to hit that target, PGE has
applied for site certifi cates to build
two new units at the Carty natural
gas plant, which also opened last
year. Environmental groups and tribal
activists opposed the request, favoring
wind and solar energy over increased
fossil fuels.
Laurel Schmidt, a spokeswoman
for PGE, said the permits to build
at Carty are still pending, but the
utility is considering alternatives and
actively pursuing deals that could
make up the energy shortfall from
existing resources.
PGE did recently renew its
commitment to the Wells Dam in
Douglas County, maintaining 135
megawatts of capacity over the next
10 years. That agreement was signed
with the Douglas County Public
Utility District on March 29.
But after the Boardman Coal Plant
closes, the utility will lose roughly 550
megawatts that needs to be recovered,
along with an anticipated 1.2 percent
load growth.
See CARTY/10A