WEEKEND EDITION
TRUMP PARDONS FORMER
SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO 6A
Adults
look but
never leap
GRAND COLORS OF THE
SOUTHWEST LIFESTYLES/1C
OPINION/5A
AUGUST 26-27, 2017
141st Year, No. 225
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
HERMISTON
EOTEC
looks
ahead
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Susie Arroyo of Pendleton sits in a patient room in the day surgery unit of St. Anthony Hospital receiving her second dose of
newly approved drug, Exondys 51, to help treat a rare muscle weakening disorder called Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Susie’s battle
Woman with rare disease lobbies for drug approval, gets chance at life
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Susie Arroyo savored the moment.
The 27-year-old sat in her wheelchair
with a rubber tourniquet around her forearm,
looking calm as St. Anthony Hospital
registered nurse Sally Bishop installed an IV
port. Soon a drug called Exondys 51 sluiced
into her veins.
Arroyo’s green eyes conveyed a mixture
of elation and victory. She had waited for
years to try this drug, known generically
as eteplirsen. The Pendleton woman has
a rare, muscle weakening disorder called
Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Children
with Duchenne are usually in wheelchairs
by the time they’re teenagers and often die
in their 20s and 30s.
The disorder strikes one out of every
3,500 boys. Arroyo estimates she is one
of only 20-or-so females in the U.S. with
Duchenne. Girls usually serve only as
carriers, but Arroyo is what’s known as a
manifesting carrier and she exhibits the
same symptoms as her male counterparts.
As a young girl, her muscles progres-
sively weakened, then she seemed to rally in
her teenage years, warding off stiff muscles
with exercise. Then in 2009, things changed
when Arroyo fell, broke her back and was
encased in a full-torso cast for six months.
Her heart deteriorated rapidly during her time
of inactivity. Suddenly wheelchair-bound,
the Blue Mountain Community College
student was terrifi ed.
In 2013, a surgeon implanted a device
See ARROYO/12A
“Susie is a fi ghter. She’s trailblazing for all of us.”
—Pat Furlong, mother of two boys who died of Duchenne muscular dystrophy
The fi rst fair and rodeo
at the new Eastern Oregon
Trade and Event Center
grounds has come and gone,
and board members are now
turning their attention to
operating and maintaining
the facility.
Board members of both
the Umatilla County Fair and
Farm-City Pro Rodeo spoke
at Friday’s fi rst EOTEC
board meeting since those
events ended. Both said that
overall, their events went
well.
“The board didn’t meet ...
because they were worried
about getting it completed,
not having an event,” said
Dennis Barnett of the rodeo
board. “After months of
working on the facility, the
event went off without a
hitch.”
Dan Dorran, an outgoing
fair board member and a
member of the EOTEC
board, said seeing the facility
in operation was a dream
come true.
“I have thousands of new
friends I never would have
had before, and probably
as many enemies,” he said.
“Dreams don’t come this big
very often.”
Despite their overall
satisfaction with the fi rst
event at the new location,
EOTEC board members
quickly shifted focus. Their
next major job will be to fi nd
a permanent manager to run
the facility. Nate Rivera, the
superintendent of Hermiston
Energy Services, agreed
earlier this month to serve as
interim manager of EOTEC
for up to six months — but
one of his main goals will be
fi nding a candidate to replace
him full-time.
Rivera updated the board
on some tasks he’s been
working on since the fair and
rodeo ended.
See EOTEC/12A
LA GRANDE
PENDLETON
Anti-Trump sign in business
draws criticism, support
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
La Grande Dry Clean-
ing’s Facebook page is home
to nearly 1,000 reviews,
most of which deal less
with the company’s ability
to eliminate stains and more
to do with President Donald
Trump.
The business became a
hotbed of political attention
when owner Heidi Van
Schoonhoven posted a new
sign in the downtown store-
front’s window Aug. 16.
“White supremacy is
wrong,” the sign states.
“Trump condones white
supremacy. If you still
support Trump, your busi-
ness is NOT welcome here.”
Van
Schoonhoven
decided to post the sign
following Trump’s response
See DRY CLEANER/12A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
EO fi le photo
Heidi Van Schoonhoven,
owner of La Grande Dry
Cleaning and a former
Democratic candidate for
state representative, has
placed a sign in her shop
window that reads, in
part, “If you still support
Trump, your business is
not welcome here.”
Tomatoes of a different color
Yellow pineapple tomatoes sit in a bin in the Way of Life Farms booth on
Friday at the Pendleton Farmers Market.
Sat
90/58
Sun
97/64
Mon
98/66
Tues
99/65