REGION
Saturday, August 26, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 3A
Hermiston Junior Academy celebrates 75 years
“We’ll be preserv-
ing food, wood-
working — things
that may have
been taught 75
years ago.”
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
The Hermiston Junior
Academy will celebrate its
75th year by showing its
students what school was
like when they fi rst opened
their doors.
“We’ll be going back to
basics,” said principal and
teacher Jordan Lindsay. “We
will try to tie our curriculum
into 75 years of operation.”
For the students in the
school, open to kindergarten
through
eighth
grade,
that will include learning
skills that used to be more
common, but have fallen by
the wayside in many schools.
“We’ll be preserving food,
woodworking — things that
may have been taught 75
years ago,” Lindsay said.
Other lessons teachers are
considering include learning
how a camera from 75 years
ago worked, and skills still
applicable today — like
quilting and gardening.
The school will try some
new things, too, but the basic
tenets of the Seventh-day
Adventist education are
comparable to those when
the school started. The
school teaches all its courses
— Jordan Lindsay,
Hermiston Junior Academy
principal and teacher
Staff photo by Jayati Ramakrishnan
Hermiston Junior Academy teacher Mary Lindsay instructs students in art.
with a focus on the Bible,
including
creation-based
science curriculum.
The school is small, with
an average class size of 10
to 15 students. Classes are
taught in groups of three
grade levels: kindergarten
through
second,
third
through fi fth, and sixth
through eighth. There is
also an on-site preschool for
three- and four-year-olds.
While the teachers at the
school, of which there are
four, must be members of
the Seventh-day Adventist
Church, it’s open to all
BOARDMAN
Contractor sues to recoup
mega-dairy construction costs
Claims Lost Valley
Farm still owes
more than $1.4M
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
An Idaho-based contractor
is suing Greg te Velde, the
owner of Lost Valley Farm
near Boardman, for failing to
pay for construction work at
the new mega-dairy.
Laser Land Leveling Inc.
fi led the lawsuit June 13
in Morrow County Circuit
Court, claiming that te Velde
still owes more than $1.4
million. The complaint also
lists the Boardman Tree
Farm, Heiskell Holdings
LLC, Hatfi eld Manufac-
turing Inc. and Concrete
Special Ties Inc. as defen-
dants.
Lost Valley Farm opened
Lindsay said. “She’s taught
in Thailand and in the Phil-
ippines.”
The school’s music
program is fairly extensive,
with most of the students
learning violin at some point
during their education, and
several participating in a
handbell choir.
“I’d say music is a pretty
big focus,” Oltman said.
“We minister toward others
through music.”
In addition to performing
in churches, the students
also play music at retirement
facilities around town.
The small school also does
various forms of community
service. Locally, they pick up
trash around town and hold a
community service day two
to three times a month, where
they volunteer at assisted
living facilities. They also
take the eighth graders on a
mission trip each year, and
have traveled as far away as
Kenya to build churches.
The school will hold a
75th anniversary dinner on
Oct. 15.
–——
Contact
Jayati
Ramakrishnan at 541-564-
4534 or jramakrishnan@
eastoregonian.com
earlier this year following
a lengthy battle to secure
wastewater permits from
the Oregon Department of
Agriculture and Department
of Environmental Quality,
which jointly administer
the state’s Confi ned Animal
Feeding Operation program.
At full operation, the dairy
will have 30,000 total
cattle and between 125-150
employees.
Court documents indicate
Laser Land Leveling, of
Nampa, Idaho, worked on
construction at the dairy
between Oct. 19, 2015 and
Dec. 7, 2016, providing exca-
vation, concrete preparation,
gravel roads, fi eld grading
and stump removal services.
The fi nal bill amounted to
$5,812,089, of which te
Velde allegedly still owes
$1,413,224 plus interest at
$325 per day dating back to
May 12.
On Feb. 13, Laser Land
Leveling fi led a lien on the
project in Morrow County.
To date, the company still
has not been paid.
Lonnie Riggs, the compa-
ny’s owner, declined further
comment. A spokeswoman
for Lost Valley Farm also
declined comment.
Te Velde, 59, of Tipton,
California, is already facing
legal trouble stemming from
an undercover prostitution
sting in the Tri-Cities earlier
this month. He was among
10 people arrested in the
operation, and charged with
patronizing a prostitute as
well as methamphetamine
possession.
When reached directly
Friday, te Velde declined to
discuss either case.
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
students. Some parents,
Lindsay said, are drawn to
the school’s small size and
low teacher-to-student ratio.
The school also has
many families that maintain
tradition by sending their
children there. Paula Oltman,
the school’s volunteer strings
teacher and school board
chair, said her three sons
went there, and now her
grandchildren attend the
school.
“Last year we had a
preschooler
who
was
fourth-generation,” Lindsay
said.
This year, most of the
teachers are new. Lindsay
is in his second year, and
Oltman has been teaching
music at the school for four
years. Last year, Lindsay
said, two of the teachers left
for health issues and one got
another job.
But Lindsay and Oltman
are excited about the new
teachers at the school.
“We have one who’s been
a missionary all her life,”
East Oregonian offers new podcast
By EMILY OLSON
East Oregonian
The East Oregonian’s
audio desk is shaking up its
podcast offerings this month
by launching a new series
and welcoming back an old
favorite.
A new podcast, the
“Week in 10,” offers listeners
a condensed take on the
week’s top regional news.
True to its name, its only 10
minutes in length, a perfect
way to stay up-to-date while
you wash the dishes, fold the
laundry or do any task worth
multitasking through. It’s
hosted by the EO’s summer
reporting intern, Emily
Olson, and features inter-
views with other reporters.
the latest episodes from
the EO website by clicking
the microphone icon in the
upper right hand corner. Or,
you can download
podcasts
on
Stitcher or iTunes
or the iPhone’s
purple
podcast
app — just search
“East Oregonian”
or “EO Audio.”
New episodes
of
both
the
“Week in 10” and
“Pigskin Pickers”
are available on
Friday afternoons.
For questions on fi nding
podcasts or feedback on
content, contact Emily Olson
at eolson@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0809.
EO opinion editor Tim
Trainor returns to EO Audio
with guest Steve Hill for
“Pigskin Pickers.” It’s a
weekly show about
all things football,
presented with a
lot of personality.
They will also
feature
sports
reporters
Eric
Singer and Alexis
Mansanarez for
local prep updates.
A
podcast
— nothing fancier Olson
than a digital
audio fi le available via the
internet — is a great way to
get local news in a mobile
format. You can listen and
subscribe on your computer
or on your phone. Access
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