SPORTS/1B
STUDENT
GOES FROM
BROKEN TO
BRAVE 10A
VIKINGS
REPEAT
LEAGUE
CHAMPS
Trump unveils
$4.4 trillion
budget plan
NATION/9A
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2018
142nd Year, No. 84
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Wyden, Merkley
call college op-eds
disqualifying for
nominee Bounds
Hermiston graduate says he has matured
since ‘tone-deaf, insensitive’ writings
the rights of workers, people
of color and the LGBTQ
community.”
“While we have followed
Senators Ron Wyden and
Jeff Merkley say they no through on our commitment
longer believe Hermiston to forward to the White
graduate Ryan Bounds House the names reported
by the committee,
is a “suitable
we do not believe
nominee” for the
Mr. Bounds is a
9th U.S. Circuit
suitable nominee
Court of Appeals
for a lifetime
after
reading
appointment
to
a collection of
the bench,” they
opinion
pieces
stated.
he wrote during
Walden’s office
college, including
issued a statement
one
criticizing
that
although
m u l t i c u l t u r a l Bounds
Bounds had not
student groups that
been
required
“divide up by race for their
feel-good ethnic hoedowns” to provide “college kid
columns” to the review
and foster “race-think.”
he
had
Bounds, a Hermiston commission,
High School graduate and provided the columns to the
an Assistant U.S. Attorney Senate Judiciary Committee
for the District of Oregon, and “has fully denounced
was chosen by a bipartisan them.”
“Ryan Bounds is a
committee of attorneys
appointed
by
Wyden, talented and effective
Merkley and Rep. Greg prosecutor who should
Walden as one of four final- be judged on his adult
ists for a judicial vacancy on record of working to make
the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court Oregon safer by holding
accountable
of Appeals. Any judge lawbreakers
seated on the court will have and by his unblemished
to go through a confirma- record of public service,
tion hearing by the Senate including chairing the bar
committee on diversity and
Judiciary Committee.
However, Wyden and inclusion,” Walden said.
Bounds, according to
Merkley issued a joint state-
ment Monday saying that The Oregonian/Oregonlive,
after the committee named apologized to the Mult-
Bounds, it learned that nomah Bar Association’s
he had “failed to disclose equity, diversity and inclu-
inflammatory writings that sion committee — of which
reveal archaic and alarming
See BOUNDS/10A
views about sexual assault,
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
HERMISTON
School district aligns
2019 spring break with
Washington schools
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Hermiston
School
District students will align
even more closely with
their Washington peers next
year, as the school board on
Monday voted 4-1 to set its
2018-2019 school calendar.
The decision means
spring break will be from
April 1 to 5, the same as
Washington state schools
and
Hermiston’s
new
athletic league rivals, instead
of the last week in March
along with Oregon schools.
Board members Jason
Middleton and Dave Smith
were absent for the vote,
and Mark Gomolski was the
lone dissenter.
Interim superintendent
Tricia Mooney said she was
making the recommendation
to the board at the sugges-
tion of the Educational
Council, a group of staff
representing each school,
two administrators and two
school board members that
makes
recommendations
about scheduling that is
not mandated by the state
calendar.
At two previous school
board meetings, some
elementary school teachers
had spoken against the
proposed
change.
At
Monday’s meeting, Josh
Linn, a Rocky Heights
Elementary School teacher
who has been a vocal oppo-
nent of the schedule change,
again voiced his concern
about the change. Linn has
said at several previous
See SCHOOL/10A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Sidewalk shadows of the setting sun
A pedestrian walks through a shaft of light from the setting sun Monday on Court Avenue in Pendleton.
Forecasts call for more sun Tuesday before a cold front moves into the region in the evening bringing a
potential rain or snow, according to the National Weather Service.
PENDLETON
Hunters learn about elk conversation, conservation
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Verlyn Savage may
speak elk, but there’s more
than one language.
At
the
Pendleton
Convention
Center
Saturday, Savage stood
in front of a crowd of
hundreds, lifted a bugle
to his mouth, and blew a
series of short, high-pitched
sounds that faded into a
rasp.
“Notice any difference?”
he asked the crowd of
mostly children.
“Yes,” some yelled back,
already picking up the skill
after their first elk bugling
lesson.
“When a bull starts
bugling, try to match its
intensity,” he said.
“When they’re talking
certain languages you
have to know what they’re
talking, because sometimes
they’ll let out a bugle that’s
different than what they’ve
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Karsten Bracher, of Helix, and Layton Thompson, of
Adams, practice their elk bugling skills Saturday at
the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Outdoor Skills
Day at the Pendleton Convention Center.
been bugling, that means
he’s grabbing his cows and
leaving,” he told the audi-
ence. “You’ve got to start
distinguishing how this bull
reacts to your bugle.”
Savage was one of the
speakers at the Rocky
Mountain Elk Foundation’s
first youth outdoor skills
day. More than a thousand
people showed up for the
event, which aimed to teach
kids about how hunting and
outdoor recreation relate to
conservation.
“You see a lot of people
who don’t really understand
what [it] is,” said event
organizer Korie Campbell.
“The future of conservation
depends on the next genera-
tion. The goal is to get these
kids exposed.”
Campbell, a Pendleton
native, is currently attending
college
in
Missoula,
Montana, where she studies
wildlife biology. She works
for the Rocky Mountain Elk
Foundation headquarters,
where she plans educational
events. In August she called
her father, Tim Campbell,
who is in the local RMEF
chapter, about hosting an
event specifically aimed at
teaching youth.
“Our chapter had wanted
to do a youth event,” he
said. “This is Korie’s
passion.”
Though he runs a drywall
company by day, Savage
is a longtime hunter, and
gives several presentations
a year on elk calling.
Though much of his skill
at elk-bugling is self-taught,
Savage said each year, he
See ELK/10A