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