BLUE
DEVILS
BEAT
BUCKS
SPORTS/1B
WEEKEND EDITION
‘SAUCY MAMA’ LIFESTYLES/1C
HAPPY CANYON PRINCESSES
REGION/3A
DECEMBER 9-10, 2017
142nd Year, No. 38
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
“I have a good job, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with mortgage payments.”
— Letitia Kidder, may lose her Hermiston home on Christmas
County
abandons
hotel tax
after local
criticism
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
two and 10 years to process.
When her husband died,
Kidder was unemployed. She
found a job shortly after, but was
struggling to pay bills. Eventually,
Umatilla County Commissioner
Bill Elfering has abandoned the
idea of a county-wide tourism tax
on hotels after it was met with stiff
resistance by Pendleton hoteliers.
The proposed 2 percent tax,
added to hotel customers’ room
bill, would have been earmarked to
promote tourism
in
Umatilla
County
via
grants, product
development
and marketing.
But
after
Elfering listened
to concerns from
hoteliers
and
others during
a meeting in Elfering
Hermiston on
Thursday, he announced at a second
listening session on Friday that the
idea had been shelved.
“It’s off the table at this point,” he
said. “As long as Travel Pendleton
keeps doing what they’re doing and
everyone is satisfi ed with that, then
I’m satisfi ed with it.”
While hoteliers from multiple
cities had concerns about how the
transient lodging tax would affect
their profi ts and how the money
would be spent, it was Pendleton
hoteliers and those affi liated with
Travel Pendleton and the Pendleton
Convention Center who were most
vocal in their criticism. They felt
that Pendleton — which contains 15
of the 29 hotels affected — would
have been disproportionately paying
into a fund that would then be used
to subsidize other cities that didn’t
have their own tourism efforts going.
They also voiced concerns that the
assessment was just a way to come
up with more money to fund the
Eastern Oregon Trade and Event
Center in Hermiston.
“Please don’t hamstring Pend-
leton to supplement other towns
in Umatilla County who haven’t
committed to tourism and may not
have the infrastructure or events to
host tourism,” Pendleton Convention
Center manager Pat Beard wrote in a
letter sent to county commissioners
after the announcement of the
proposed tax.
During the meeting Thursday
See HOMELESS/12A
See TAX/12A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Marine Corps veteran Letitia Kidder may lose her Hermiston home of ten years to foreclosure by the end of the month.
The brink of homelessness
Homeless
students face
extra barriers
to success
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
and ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
A typical student has
many concerns: getting good
grades, making friends and
participating in extracurric-
ular activities are just a few.
But for many students,
they can come second to a
more basic need: fi nding a
place to live.
The
state
recently
released numbers for home-
less students in Oregon. The
state reached an all-time high
this year, with 3.9 percent
of public school students
qualifying as homeless.
Hermiston’s
numbers
See STUDENTS/12A
Unforeseen circumstances threaten residents’ housing
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Letitia Kidder had planned to
retire with her husband, sell their
home and move out to the country.
But when he died fi ve years ago,
Kidder found herself saddled with
expenses she couldn’t afford —
including her home.
The Hermiston house where
she has lived for a decade was
foreclosed on in June, giving
Kidder six months to either come
up with the funds or vacate.
“I have to be out at midnight
on Christmas,” she said.
While the 2017 count by the
state of Oregon found 55 home-
less people in Umatilla County,
many more like Kidder are on the
brink of homelessness.
Kidder is a veteran, as was her
husband. He died of a heart attack
in December 2012, in the middle
of fi ghting for VA benefi ts.
“He was in pain from an ankle
injury he received while he was in
the service,” she said.
With three sons in their teens
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A homeless woman who identifi es herself as “Nana” and
Christopher Stade of Kennewick panhandle at the Walmart
store Monday in Hermiston.
when her husband, Charles, died,
Kidder said her fi rst priority was
getting her boys through school.
But as she waited to fi le for
widow’s benefi ts, she said she was
informed that the last stage of the
application could take between
HERMISTON
Teen plots future with trips to Stanford and Yale
Canden Gutierrez explores
social justice, degree options
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston High School junior Canden Gutierrez works
on his precalculus homework after school Thursday at
Hermiston High School.
Even though he’s not sure where his
post-high school path will take him, the
wheels in Canden Gutierrez’s head have
been turning since he was in middle school.
“If you come from an underprivi-
leged group, you have to advocate for
yourself,” he said.
With a budding interest in social
justice and a curiosity about what
college has to offer, the Hermiston
High School junior has spent summers
educating himself about various courses
of study, attending camps at colleges
around the United States.
The fi rst, two years ago, took him
to Stanford University to learn about
bioscience and biotechnology. He spent
last summer at Yale University.
At that camp, Gutierrez said, the
groups were divided up into “capstones,”
each of which focused on issues such as
sustainable development, social entrepre-
neurship, global health and international
development. He was placed in a group
that focused on gender equality.
“Everything centered around different
goals,” he said.
Gutierrez already has another goal in
mind for this summer — a seven-week
program at Princeton University. The
program, “Leadership Enterprise for a
Diverse America,” admits 100 students
from across the country who come from
See GUTIERREZ/10A