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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 2017)
A light layer of fog hangs over the city of Pendleton and the foothills of the Blue Mountains on Wednesday morning. Staff photo by E.J. Harris THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2017 142nd Year, No. 8 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Bean bag shotgun dare leaves one injured By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris BMCC recruiter J.J. Hill speaks to a classroom of senior high school students on Wednesday in Echo. BMCC recruiter goes full-throttle College enrollment jumps 11 percent By KATHY ANEY East Oregonian Last year, J.J. Hill drove about 10,000 miles from high school to high school in his ride — a silver Subaru Crosstrek emblazoned with the Blue Mountain Commu- nity College logo. On Wednesday, the BMCC recruiter chatted with 25 Echo High School seniors about college. He blended with his audience, sporting a ball cap, jeans and T-shirt. The Pilot Rock native came to this position as head of the BMCC recruitment program by way of Eastern Oregon University, where he majored in theater, and New York and Chicago, where he did theater and stand-up comedy. Hill told a few jokes, but mostly kept the teens trained on the future. “Who’s going to college?” he asked. Almost two-thirds raised their hands. “We’re going to do a little word association,” Hill told the students. “When I say ‘commu- nity college,’ what’s the fi rst word that comes into your head?’” Words fl owed back to Hill: small, cheap, more affordable, future, cost. Hill fl ung out another phrase — four-year college — and got See BMCC/8A Staff photo by Kathy Aney BMCC student Lizzi Cox leads a group of middle school students on a recent campus tour. A Nevada man is in the hospital after a dare at a Umatilla County campground left him with a gunshot wound. According to reports from the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Department, two men — part of a group of about a dozen other people drinking and celebrating at Frazier Campground outside Ukiah on Tuesday — agreed to shoot each other with bean bag rounds from a shotgun on a dare. According to sheriff’s reports, one man who was shot received a serious wound on his thigh. Umatilla County Undersheriff Jim Littlefi eld said the incident was still being investigated. “I think what happened, is there were a group of people camping, highly intox- icated,” he said. “They decided they were going to shoot each other with bean bag rounds to see how they felt.” Umatilla and Union County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the scene around 9:21 p.m., and found a medic that had been nearby treating the 29-year-old victim. A private party took the man to Grande Ronde Hospital in La Grande. He was still in the hospital for treatment on Wednesday. Umatilla County Sheriff Terry Rowan said they could not release the names of the victim or the other person involved yet, because the victim was not yet in a condi- tion to be interviewed. He said the bullet went all the way through the man’s thigh. “There was some muscular damage, some bone damage,” Rowan said. Rowan said the individuals were staying in a bunkhouse that is a temporary home to about 20 people from all over the nation. “I believe they were working for the Forest Service,” he said. “It sounds like they were celebrating the end of fi re season and likely were a little overindulgent.” Rowan said from what he knew, only one gun was involved. “Bean bag rounds” are less-than-lethal ammunition that can be fi red as a shotgun shell. Law enforcement offi cials sometimes use them for riot control. HERMISTON City celebrates new playground By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris Matt Dietrich, youth development coach with the Portland Trail Blazers, leads a group of children in a defensive drill on Wednesday at Sunset Park in Hermiston. Children of all ages and abilities were soaking up the sun on the playground and on the basketball court Wednesday afternoon as Hermiston celebrated a newly revitalized Sunset Park. A central piece of the new playground, which was paid for by a grant from Moda Health and the Port- land Trail Blazers, has yet to arrive, but several pieces — including swings, climbing equipment, giant plastic drums and two large bears for sitting and climbing — have joined the new basket- ball court installed last year after the city doubled the neighborhood park’s size. City councilor Doug Primmer described the online voting competition that led to the grant for the new playground during the See PLAYGROUND/8A
