REGION
Friday, September 8, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 3A
Pendleton Mounted Band
considers joining Round-Up
First performed
at the 1911 rodeo
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Jayati Ramakrishnan
Stanfield Police Officer Joyce Wright chats with some Stanfield Secondary School stu-
dents. Wright is the new Community Resource Officer for Stanfield and Echo schools.
Echo, Stanfield schools add
Community Resource Officer
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Some parents may be
alarmed to see a police officer
regularly wandering the halls
of their child’s school. But the
goal of the new Community
Resource Officer at Echo and
Stanfield schools is to elicit
just the opposite reaction.
“I’m not here because
there are any problems,” said
Officer Joyce Wright, a Stan-
field police officer. Starting
this year, she will split some
of her time between Echo
and Stanfield school districts,
spending time in the class-
rooms and hallways and
getting to know students.
“The Stanfield Police
Department wanted to get
more involved with the
community. The goal is to get
someone in the school so they
see a familiar face (from the
police),” she said.
Wright spends about
20 hours per week going
between Echo and Stanfield
schools. She spends the rest
of her time working as a code
enforcement officer and on
general patrol.
“I bounce back and forth
between both schools during
the day,” she said. “I try to
make contact with each high
school at least once a day.”
Wright said the school
resource officer job is a jack-
of-all-trades position, with
some administrative responsi-
bilities like school safety plans
and emergency drills. But the
main goal of her position is
to get involved in classrooms
and interact with students and
teachers on subjects related to
law enforcement or drug and
alcohol abuse.
“The goal is to interact
with the kids and create a
bond so I can be there if they
have questions,” Wright said.
“We hope it will be a good
bridge between law enforce-
ment and students,” said Echo
School District superintendent
Raymon Smith. “Not just an
authority figure, but another
extension by which students
can achieve their goals.”
Smith said the students
seem to enjoy having Wright
around, and some even inter-
viewed her this week for the
school newsletter.
While Wright hasn’t taught
any specific lessons yet, she
said her first weeks getting to
know students and staff at both
schools have been positive.
“The students have been
receptive,” she said. “The
other day, I talked to a student
about forensics and careers in
law enforcement.”
Though she had only been
on the job for a couple of
weeks, Wright has already
developed a rapport with
some students.
“Can I say you got me in
trouble?” one student teased
her as she stopped by a class-
room.
“The kids have been very
polite and friendly,” she said.
Wright previously worked
in the Hermiston Police
Department for 15 years,
where she spent part of her
time as a school resource
officer at the middle schools
and two elementary schools.
Superintendent
Shelley
Liscom said the schools
wanted to use Wright’s posi-
tion to increase safety in the
school environment for both
students and staff.
“Over time, we hope that
students develop positive rela-
tionships with our local police
force so that they view them
as a resource when help is
needed and feel comfortable
asking for their help,” Liscom
said in an email statement.
Although it has always
been associated with the
Pendleton
Round-Up,
the Pendleton Cowboy
Mounted Band now has a
chance to officially become
a part of it.
When the mounted band
convenes in Pendleton next
week, its members will
be polled on whether to
accept an offer to become
an arm of the Round-Up
Association or continue as
an independent group.
Randy Thomas, the
Round-Up’s
publicity
director, described it as
an opportunity for the
Round-Up to preserve a
unique Pendleton tradition.
Originally formed in
1911, the only band in the
United States that plays
its instruments entirely on
horseback performed at
the second ever Pendleton
Round-Up.
The mounted band went
on an extended hiatus for
unknown reasons in 1938
before it was revived by
former Umatilla County
Circuit Court Judge Richard
Courson for the Round-Up’s
75th anniversary in 1985.
The group has performed
ever since, a fixture at the
Westward Ho! Parade
and a frequent presence
at other events around the
area. According to Emmett
Moore, an at-large member
of the group’s board of
directors, the mounted
band has about 45 active
members, 39 of which are
committed to performing in
this year’s Round-Up.
Thomas
said
the
Round-Up
Association
took a similar tact with the
Round-Up Wagon Train, a
multi-day journey by horse
and wagon from the Blue
Mountains to Pendleton in
June.
EO file photo
A man plays the drum in the Pendleton Mounted
Band during the 2014 Dress-Up Parade in Pendleton.
The band is considering an offer to become part of
the Round-Up Association.
“It takes a lot of
work to do this.”
— Emmett Moore,
at-large member of the
Pendleton Mounted Band
board of directors
After
the
previous
wagon
train
leader
expressed
interest
in
retiring, Round-Up Parade
Director Randy Leonard
took over this year’s event.
Thomas added that with the
Round-Up in charge, this
year’s event saw a boost in
attendance.
Moore, the mounted
band board member, also
understands the appeal the
mounted band has to the
Round-Up.
“If you don’t keep it
going, you’re shooting
yourself in the foot,” he
said.
Moore has been involved
in conversations with the
Round-Up about the poten-
tial acquisition and plans to
present the pros and cons
of the arrangement to the
band.
On one hand, the
Round-Up would be able
to provide its financial and
promotional heft to the
group.
Although the group
has taken steps recently to
create an organizational
structure and a board of
directors, it isn’t a formally
recognized nonprofit with
its own staff. In addition to
recruiting people who can
sit on a horse and play an
instrument simultaneously,
the group spends a lot of
time and energy looking
for horses who don’t easily
spook at the sound of loud
music.
“It takes a lot of work to
do this,” Moore said.
But he also understands
some members who would
be resistant to the move.
Moore said some members
object to adding the words
“Round-Up” to the group’s
title, in addition to other
concerns.
Moore doesn’t know
which way the mounted
band is leaning, but they
have a fan in Thomas, who
recently heard the band
when it performed at Fron-
tier Days in Walla Walla.
“Dang, they sounded
good,” Thomas said.
There’s a small constel-
lation
of
independent
organizations that are
associated with Round-Up
week, but Thomas said the
Round-Up isn’t interested
in consolidating all of them
into its fold.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.