REGION
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 3A
PENDLETON
Lions Club celebrates 100 years with state convention
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Visitors to Pendleton’s
downtown on Saturday
morning encountered a
procession of Lions walking
down Main Street.
It was no visiting circus
or escape from the zoo, just
Lions Club members from
around the state celebrating
the centennial anniversary of
the first Lions Club.
The parade was part of a
three-day state Lions Club
convention held in Pend-
leton, which drew chapters
from all around the state
for leadership workshops,
motivational speeches and
networking. On Saturday the
group donned Lions Club
shirts and lion costumes and
marched down Main Street
with the Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Office and a Pend-
leton Fire Department truck
for a “birthday” celebration.
John Taylor, a board
member and past president
of the Lions Club in Pend-
leton, said he has been a
member for 32 years.
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
The Milwaukie Lions Club marches in a parade celebrating the Lions Club’s centen-
nial anniversary in Pendleton.
“Our motto is ‘We serve,’
and doing service has been
so rewarding personally, I
just stuck with it,” he said.
“It’s become a way of life
for me.”
Taylor has served in a
variety of positions in the
club and been the “main
instigator” of many local
projects, but he said he
always gets more out of his
participation in Lions Club
than he puts into it.
“It’s been tremendously
rewarding,” he said.
He can’t pick just one
Lions Club project he
has enjoyed the most, but
helping with the annual car
show is always fun, as is
the “fun and hectic” time
running a concessions booth
at the Pendleton Round-Up.
So far, he said, the
convention
had
been
inspiring and fun. He said
it is always fun socializing
with people from other
parts of the state, and he
had enjoyed a talk by a man
who was able to turn his life
around thanks to assistance
from the Lions Club sight
program in getting him
surgery to restore his sight.
Carol Brink, district
governor for Lions Club
District
36E
covering
southern
Oregon,
said
Pendleton had given visitors
for the convention a warm
welcome, including a visit
from Mayor John Turner
and from representatives of
the chamber of commerce.
She said it was fun to come
see Pendleton and to get to
participate in the convention.
DA beats debt collector in court
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Morrow County District
Attorney Justin Nelson
fought a major debt collec-
tion company in court last
week and won.
“Large,
out-of-state
debt collection agencies
like Evergreen Financial
Services Inc. are required to
comply with the same rules
as the everyday person who
files a small claim,” Nelson
said in a written statement,
“and we should hold them
to that standard to protect
the rights of individuals
in Morrow and Umatilla
counties.”
Evergreen
Financial
Services Inc., of Yakima,
Washington, sued Nelson
in Morrow County Circuit
Court for $495.91 plus
$27.64 in interest stemming
from an April 1, 2016, bill
from Kadlec Regional
Medical Center, Richland,
Washington,
according
“I encourage anyone who receives
service of a small claim case to review
the claim carefully, and to review the
small claim laws for Oregon.”
— Justin Nelson, Morrow County District Attorney
to court documents. The
company sought a total of
$664.08, including a $53
filing fee and a $87.53
service charge.
Nelson in court docu-
ments asserted Evergreen
failed to comply with
Oregon laws for filing
small claims when it did
not make a good faith effort
to collect the bill before
suing, nor did the company
provide evidence to support
its reason for the lawsuit.
Nelson and the company
met in court Friday. Senior
Judge Michael Gillespie
ruled for Nelson, records
show, awarding him $153
— the $53 is for costs and
services and the $100 is for
Oregon’s prevailing party
fee.
Evergreen came away
with zero.
Nelson stated Evergreen
has a history of failing
to comply with Oregon’s
small claims laws, and since
April 7 the company filed
31 small claims in Umatilla
and Morrow counties. In
each case, according to
Nelson, Evergreen did not
follow the law and make
good faith effort to collect
the debt before filing the
claim.
Most people, however,
according to Nelson, fail to
respond to the claim, and
the court awards a default
judgment for Evergreen.
The collection company
then uses the default
judgments to place garnish-
ments against the people it
sued.
“I encourage anyone
who receives service of a
small claim case to review
the claim carefully, and
to review the small claim
laws for Oregon,” Nelson
advised.
He also stated he hoped
Evergreen learns from this
and reviews its process
for filing small claims
in Oregon. The district
attorney also encourages
the courts to consider
rejecting small claim filings
that “do not substantially
conform” to the court prac-
tices and rules,
The East Oregonian left
a message for a representa-
tive with Evergreen, but no
one replied by deadline.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0833.
PENDLETON
Business Oregon to open new office in town
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Business Oregon is
expanding its footprint in
Eastern Oregon.
Business Oregon, the
nickname for the state’s
business
development
department, plans to open
a new office in Pendleton
over the summer.
Melisa Drugge, the
lead regional development
officer for Business Oregon,
said the department under-
went a restructuring earlier
this year that redefined its
regional service areas and
the responsibilities of some
of its employees’ responsi-
bilities.
Although Drugge now
oversees development in
Gilliam, Morrow, Umatilla,
and Wheeler counties, she’s
still based in La Grande,
necessitating a move into
her new region.
Drugge said Business
Oregon’s new Pendleton
office will house three
employees — herself,
another officer and a
regional project manager.
The La Grande officer will
continue to operate under a
different regional develop-
ment officer.
Drugge said the recon-
figuration would allow her
office to focus on a smaller
collection of counties and
better collaborate with local
partners.
One
of
Business
Oregon’s local partners is
Eastern Oregon Business
Source, which will share its
245 S.E. Fourth St. building
with the state agency and
the Oregon Water Coalition.
Eastern Oregon Business
Source president Susan
Bower said she was excited
by the opportunity to work
closely
with
Business
Oregon.
Eastern Oregon Business
Source’s services include
grant writing for local
nonprofits,
coordinating
professional development
for Umatilla County and
operating the Schools to
Careers program for the
Pendleton School District.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.
“The conference is a way
to meet up with old friends
and get new ideas,” she
said. “We’re just a happy,
fun-loving group that loves
to serve.”
The Lions Club was
started by businessman
Melvin Jones in 1917 in
Chicago and has grown to be
the largest service organiza-
tion in the world, according
to the club’s website.
The service club helps
communities in a variety of
ways, from food drives to
scholarships, but has become
particularly
well-known
for its focus on vision after
Helen Keller addressed the
club’s international conven-
tion in 1925 and challenged
them to become “knights of
the blind.” The club recy-
cles eyeglasses, provides
hundreds of thousands of
vision screenings each year
and helps provide funding
for medical procedures to
save or restore sight.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
BRIEFLY
Sheriff’s office
investigates fire-
related death
Hermiston High
School holds
research night
MILTON-FREE-
WATER — Authorities
discovered the burned
body of a man early
Monday morning after
extinguishing a fire
underneath the Eastside
Bridge along the east bank
of the Walla Walla River in
Milton-Freewater.
The fire was reported
at about 1:35 a.m. After it
was put out, the Umatilla
County Sheriff’s Office
arrived to investigate and
found the body among
burnt debris between two
bridge abutments.
Umatilla County Sheriff
Terry Rowan said the
department had a possible
identification of the victim
Monday afternoon but
had not yet confirmed it
or spoken to next of kin.
He said the death did not
appear to be criminal in
nature, though it hadn’t
been completely ruled out.
Due to severe burning,
the sex and race of the
person were not imme-
diately determined. The
area where the body was
found is often frequented
by transients, according
to the sheriff’s office, and
has been secured pending
further investigation.
HERMISTON —
Hermiston High School
will host its first annual
“Research Night” on
Tuesday, where students
will present findings on a
variety of subjects they’ve
been studying all year.
The event is organized
by the Oregon Teacher
Pathway program, and
will feature presentations
from six students, covering
a variety of subjects.
Isabel Bartley will explore
the ways music affects
academic performance.
Paola Carmona will look
at how technology affects
student performance in
school. Hayden Meyers
will examine the impact of
extracurriculars on student
grades, and Alexis Mercado
will talk about how
GPA requirements affect
student-athletes. Haylie
Rahm will discuss how the
timing of the current school
day works with the amount
of sleep teenagers need,
and Morgan Wilson will
look at how standardized
testing affects academic
achievement.
The event will take
place at Hermiston High
School’s library, at 600 S.
First St., Hermiston.
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Th e Cinco de Mayo 2017
would like to thank the following sponsors for r t their
heir
support in making this year a successful event!
• Fiesta Foods
• Cleaver Farming
• Wal-Mart Distribution Center
• Heller & Sons, Inc.
• Umatilla Electric Cooperative
• La Ley 99.5
• Latino Partnership
• Radio Exitos
• Wal-Mart Super Center - Hermiston • El Caporal Fine Leathers
Join us today!
Apply Online:
Text for more info:
• Roger’s Toyota
• Adamari’s Boutique
• Prestige Motors, Inc.
• La Voz Hispanic Newspaper
• Velasco Car dealership
agle Ranch
• Eagle
• Windy y River Farms
ellinger Farms
ms
• Bellinger
