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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 2018)
Page 12A OFF PAGE ONE East Oregonian Saturday, January 27, 2018 PRISON: Inmates must pay for college classes themselves Continued from 1A On Thursday morning, one of Matteson’s colleagues, math instructor Jason Villers, taught nine inmates. Villers showed them how to calculate the circumference and area of a circle, projecting the calculations up on a screen at the front of the classroom. Then he worked backwards to figure out the diameter and radius. To an observer who squinted just a bit, it could appear as any other high school class, except all the pupils wore navy-blue shirts with Department of Corrections emblazoned on them in eye-popping orange. Villers turned the men loose with calculators, pencils and paper to work a similar problem. Two inmate tutors roamed the room to answer questions. “How many radii are in one diameter?” tutor Eric Burnham asked two students who sat together at a round table. “Two,” they said, in unison. Burnham pressed them further, asking how many radii in a circle. They hesitated, then Burnham informed them “there are infinite radii in a circle.” Convicted of murder at age 21, Burnham became attracted to education in prison. After earning his GED in 2002, he continued on, earning associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He is now working on his Ph.D. in counseling through Liberty University. While GED classes are free to inmates, inmates must pay for college classes themselves. Burnham said his mother, using a settle- ment she received after a car accident, pays his tuition. Now 40, he credits the GED program for showing him another path. “I was a young kid without a lot of life experi- ence,” he said. “The teachers here are incredible. It was an opportunity to function in an environment that expects professionalism, which sharpens us and prepares us for life on the outside.” Research suggests Burn- ham’s chances of staying out of prison after his 2026 release are good, said Matteson. “The numbers are out Staff photo by E.J. Harris Instructor Jason Villers helps inmate Trevor Kelly with a science assignment during a GED class at Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution on Thursday in Pendleton. “It weighs on me that I was a drain on the community. The last third of my life, I’ll have an opportunity to con- tribute something positive to society.” — Eric Burnham, inmate tutor Staff photo by E.J. Harris Instructor Jason Villers teaches how to find the radius of a circle during a GED class at Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution on Thursday in Pendleton. there,” she said. “The more education an incarcerated person receives, the less chance of recidivism.” John Thomas, BMCC’s associated vice president of corrections education, smiles at the college’s success in consistently grad- uating more GED students than any other corrections program in the state, though he insists, “It’s not a compe- tition.” “The marquee of this program is direct instruc- tion,” he said. “The teacher stands in front of the students. The students ask questions. Most of the other programs are computer- ized.” The test isn’t easy, Thomas said, especially after changes in 2014. “The rigor of the GED is LAWSUIT: Claims he was shot ‘assassination style’ Continued from 1A his inner jacket pocket. The investigation also found that an FBI agent at the scene failed to disclose that he fired two rounds that missed Finicum. The agent, W. Joseph Astarita, has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of making false statements and obstruction of justice. He is listed as a defendant in the lawsuit. The complaint compares the shooting of Finicum to the high-profile shooting of a North Korean defector in November 2017. It notes that the North Korean man survived and made it across the border to a friendlier government on the other side. “The story was capti- vating, because in the Amer- ican psyche, the idea of being shot in the back by your own government for trying to cross a border is unthink- able,” the lawsuit said. It claims Finicum was shot “assassination style” while trying to cross from Harney County into Grant County for a meeting with a sheriff who was sympathetic to the ranchers’ cause. Dozens of people took over the remote refuge in southeastern Oregon from Jan. 2 to Feb. 11, 2016. They were allowed to come and go for several weeks as authori- ties tried to avoid bloodshed seen in past standoffs at Waco, Texas, and Ruby Ridge, Idaho. But authorities moved in Jan. 26 when key standoff leaders left the refuge for a community meeting in neighboring Grant County, pulling over two vehicles and arresting the occupiers inside. Finicum, 54, was driving one vehicle. Video taken by a passenger showed the occupants panicking after authorities stopped the truck. With his window rolled down, Finicum shouted at officers: “Shoot me, just shoot me! Put the bullet through me.” Finicum then sped off, coming to a roadblock and plowing into a snowbank. The complaint says more than a dozen current and former Arizona officials wrote a letter to Oregon’s governor, asking her to conduct a more transparent investigation into what happened next. “Defendant has refused,” according to the lawsuit. tremendous, compared with the old program,” he said. “The rigor is great enough that if you score out at a certain level, you can get college credit.” Since BMCC got the contract in 1985, 5,904 inmates earned GEDs in the three prisons the college services. Almost 500 prisoners participate in the program annually at EOCI, along with 300 at Two Rivers and about 120 at Powder River. The road to a GED isn’t a cookie-cutter process. There are three levels leading to Toyota Safety Sense now standard on most Toyota models! Morgan said the app can also help people spot poten- tial leaks — if they notice all of the sudden they are using three gallons of water per hour even when they are asleep or not home, for example. Customers can set up their account to alert them to possible leaks or a pipe bursting, and city staff will also keep an eye out for irreg- ularities and can potentially contact customers if it looks like something is wrong. “It can’t hurt to have more data,” he said. Morgan said some people might feel like their bill has gone up since their new meter was installed, but that is because the new meters chart usage 12 months out of the year. Under the old system, where meters had to be read by hand instead of the meter sending data remotely, the city just estimated water usage for winter months and then once the meter was read in the spring added any extra usage on to the next bill. Anyone who feels like their December bill was higher than last December’s will likely have a smaller March or April bill than usual, he said. To view their detailed water usage information, customers can create a login on eyeonwater.com after inputting the account number found on their bill. Hermiston Energy Services customers will be able to keep closer track of their electricity usage soon, too. Allegiant Energy Services, on behalf of HES, is installing new “smart” meters between now and the end of March. Once a customer receives a new meter, their SmartHub payment portal they now use to pay bills and check their monthly usage will feature new data including usage by the day and by the hour. HES general manager Nate Rivera said people will be able to spot patterns about what times of day their home uses the most electricity, although temperature outside does tend to have a large impact by determining how much the heating system or air conditioning runs. Information has been sent out to HES customers about installation, and Rivera said when meters are installed in a neighborhood someone will go door to door to explain the installation to residents, and that there will be a few minutes without power during the switch. Customers with questions about the new electrical meters can call 541-289- 2000. ——— Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdowell@eastorego- nian.com or 541-564-4536. Toyota Safety Sense-P includes: • Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Detection • Lane Departure Alert with Steering Assist • Automatic High Beams • Dynamic Radar Cruise Control All New 2018 Camry % 0.9 APR / 72 mos. Every new Toyota comes with NHTSA 5-Star Safety Rating 2018 RAV4 Gas or Hybrid 0.9 APR / 72 mos. % PLUS $ 500 TFS AWD Subvention Cash 2018 Tundra CrewMax WATER: ‘Smart meters’ for electricity being installed Continued from 1A the diploma: Adult Basic Education, Pre-GED and GED. Some students don’t speak much English. Matteson opened a cabinet and revealed dozens of dictionaries from Spanish to Chinese, Russian to Hmong that instructors have used to facilitate communication. Tutors such as Burnham and Ryan Huebner say the positive experience with education has given them hope to resurrect themselves after messing up their lives and the lives of others. “It weighs on me that I was a drain on the commu- nity,” said Burnham, who hopes to use his counseling education when he gets out help others avoid his mistakes. “The last third of my life, I’ll have an opportu- nity to contribute something positive to society.” Both tutors said their love of education and their newfound work ethic became apparent to other inmates. Out in the yard, other inmates often ask questions about education. “They look at us a role models but not authority figures,” said Huebner, of Hermiston. “The tutors wear blue just like them.” The length of time needed to earn a GED varies. “There are guys who come in and do it in a month,” said Villers, the math teacher. “Some come in illiterate and take five years. It takes a while to go from 0 to 60.” At the most recent gradu- ation in December, Matteson got goosebumps again as 25 EOCI inmates accepted diplomas in a ceremony witnessed by their families. “It’s so emotional to achieve this goal and do something parents and wives and children are proud of,” she said. “That’s what rehabilitation is all about — to have a chance at a new life and a new way of thinking.” ——— Contact Kathy Aney at kaney@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0810. 1.9 % 4x4 APR / 72 mos. excludes TRD Pro OR $ 1,250 Cash Back Lease a New 2018 Highlander XLE $ 299 mo. / 36 mos. AWD All financing on approved credit through TFS. All vehicles subject to prior sale. All prices plus tax and title. $150 dealer doc fee. Offers end 1/31/18. For more details call 1-888-21-TOYOTA. (541) 567-6461 or 800-522-2308 ToyotaOfHermiston.com Mon-Fri 8:30a - 7:00p Sat 8:30a - 7:00p • Sun 10:00a - 5:00p