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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 2, 2018)
E O AST 142nd Year, No. 54 The top of a ridge emerges from the fog in the foothills of the Blue Mountains on Monday east of Weston. Staff photo by E.J. Harris REGONIAN TUESDAY, JANUARY 2, 2018 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD FIRST BABY OF 2018 ‘Joey’ makes parents wait By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian Jose Phillip Escobedo may have been Umatilla County’s first baby of the new year, but he took a long time getting here. “I was not expecting a New Year’s baby. I was expecting a tax break baby,” his mother Jennifer Escobedo said. Escobedo’s water broke Friday morning, but little “Joey” didn’t arrive at until 4:30 a.m. Monday. He showed up a healthy 7 pounds, 4 ounces and 21 and a half inches. “I’m excited he’s out,” his father Jose Escobedo said. “I’m excited they’re both healthy and I’ll be even more excited when they get to come home.” The baby is Jose and Jennifer’s first. They moved from Stanfield to Umatilla in September after buying a house in anticipation of his arrival. Jennifer said she and Jose had bought a bottle of Martinelli’s sparkling cider to toast the start of 2018 and discussed how they wanted to spend New Year’s Eve together, not knowing they would be ringing in the new year in the maternity ward of Good Shepherd Medical Center. “The bottle is still in the fridge,” she said. Although Jennifer’s Staff photo by E.J. Harris Jennifer Dokka plays a card game with her sons, Bryson, 12, second from right, and Ashton, 13, right, and their friend, Caleb Bentley, on Friday at Dokka’s home in Pendleton. Measure 101 and the insurance net Single mom worries about losing insurance; opponents, proponents make case before vote By KATHY ANEY East Oregonian Jennifer Dokka doesn’t want to contemplate what might happen if Measure 101 fails. The single mother supports two sons by cleaning houses, but there isn’t a lot left over for medical care. She has two other sons who are grown. Thanks to Medicaid expansion in Oregon that Rep. Julie Parrish Dennis Burke happened under the Affordable Care Act, she and about 350,000 other Oregonians are insured by the Oregon Health Plan. Last year, when Dokka’s 11-year-old tore his ACL while jumping on a trampoline, insur- ance paid for medical care she Harry Geller couldn’t have afforded without it. “It cost thousands of dollars,” Dokka said. “The leg brace alone was hundreds. Now he is doing physical therapy. There’s no way to do that without insurance.” Two of her four sons have asthma. “An inhaler costs about $70,” she said. She fears voters might reject Measure 101, which endorses $320 million in fees (a .7 percent assessment on larger hospitals and 1.5 percent on the Public Employees Board, managed care organizations and insurers) to fund Medicaid for Oregonians. The measure affirms House Bill 2391, approved by the Oregon Legislature earlier in 2017 to plug a budget hole. Three Republican represen- tatives — Rep. Cedric Hayden, R-Cottage Grove, Julie Parrish, R-West Linn, and Sal Esquivel, See 101/10A See BABY/10A HERMISTON Resolution Run kicks off 2018 exercise routines Serious runners start year with light-hearted 5K By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian Staff photo by Kathy Aney Diane Knutz, of Hermiston, ushers in the new year by participating in the Resolution Run at Riverfront Park. Hermiston High School senior Isaac Sanchez got his first run of 2018 in before noon on New Year’s Day thanks to the annual Resolu- tion Run at Riverfront Park. Sanchez, a cross country and track athlete, was the first to cross the finish line at the bring-your-own-stop- watch 5K. The event brings together dozens of runners and walkers each year to help them kick off their fitness goals together. That usually includes members of the HHS cross country team. “It’s kind of been our tradition,” Sanchez said. Despite the Resolution Run moniker, Sanchez said he didn’t have any official New Year’s resolutions. “I don’t really believe in that,” he said. “I figure, if you have a resolution, why wait until New Year’s? You might as well get started on it right away.” Several other runners had a similar attitude, but Kimberly Owens said she had a goal: to participate in at least one 5K event per month this year. Owens showed up at the Resolution Run with her sister Leslie Snyder. The sisters frequently do 5K runs together, whether by them- selves around town or as part of an official community event. “It gets us up off the couch,” Owens said. “We don’t like being lazy bums,” Snyder added. The run/walk kicked off at Riverfront Park and followed the Oxbow Trail up to its ending across from Good Shepherd Medical Center and back again. Leggings and sweatshirts helped insulate participants from See RUN/10A