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OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
Hermiston takes over ownership of EOTEC
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
The Eastern Oregon Trade
and Event Center is officially
the city of Hermiston’s.
After the Umatilla County
board of commissioners
voted to withdraw from the
joint project last week, the
Hermiston city council voted
Monday to approve the deal,
taking on full ownership and
liability for EOTEC in the
hopes that the switch will
help the center run more
efficiently and cut down on
the amount of hoops other
organizations have to jump
through when dealing with
EOTEC.
“As my Scottish grand-
mother used to remind me,
too many cooks spoil the
broth,” said commissioner
George Murdock.
Representatives of the city
and county alike took pains
to stress that the breakup was
an amicable one.
“You are part of Umatilla
County and own the home of
one of our biggest events and
so obviously we want you to
be successful,” Murdock told
the council.
As a result, the county is
still living up to its share of
several costs of EOTEC in
the deal, the components of
which include:
•The city takes full owner-
ship of EOTEC and the land
it is on
•The city takes ownership
of Ott and Airport roads after
the county improves them to
a certain standard, with the
help of $1.5 million from
the state’s transportation
package.
•The city pays half of
the cost of building office/
storage space for the Umatilla
County Fair, up to $250,000.
•The county pays an
annual
contribution
of
$75,000 per year for oper-
ations through 2022 and an
additional $160,574 in 2018
for expected operational
losses.
•The
county
pays
$105,000 to cover its half
of construction budget over-
runs.
•The
county
pays
$595,000 by June 1 to
provide half the cost Venu-
Works estimates for fully
equipping the facility.
•The county agrees to
loan the city up to $500,000
for EOTEC if needed in the
future.
•The fair lease increases
from $10,000 annually to
$100,000 annually for the
use of the fairgrounds for six
weeks each year.
The lease for the fair was
renegotiated, and Smith said
there were a few things that
were clarified, such as the
guarantee that the county
can hold the fair apprecia-
tion dinner at EOTEC each
winter. He said there were
no plans to renegotiate the
Farm-City Pro Rodeo lease.
Mayor David Drotzmann
said the city was aware that
the county could have just
left the city “holding the
bag” and was grateful for the
county’s willingness to be
a good partner even as they
dissolved the intergovern-
mental agreement that first
formed EOTEC.
“It was a great partner-
ship and we achieved some
awesome things,” he said.
Councilor John Kirwan
said the deal represented the
next chapter for EOTEC and
said he was excited to see
how it will grow.
When it came time for a
vote on the deal, councilor
Lori Davis made a motion
to delay the decision for one
more meeting, but the motion
died for a lack of second.
Davis did not explain why
she wanted to wait. When a
second motion was made by
Kirwan to approve the deal, it
was passed unanimously.
Afterward the council
approved the first reading of
an amendment to the city’s
charter, adding an EOTEC
advisory committee to the
city’s list of committees. The
committee will be made up
of a member of the Umatilla
County fair board, a member
of the Farm-City Pro Rodeo
board, a member of the hospi-
tality/tourism
community
and two at-large members
who can apply through
the city’s usual committee
application process. The
city manager, the general
manager of EOTEC hired by
VenuWorks and at least one
city councilor will also attend
meetings as liaisons.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
WALKOUT: Protest one
month after 17 people
killed at school in Florida
Continued from 1A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Mark Morgan, right, talks about the renovations in the basement of the former Carnegie Library during a tour
Monday in Hermiston.
SENIOR: Board has raised funds for equipment
Continued from 1A
showed off the spacious
great room complete with
fireplace, offices, restrooms,
breakout rooms and a large
back deck.
“The LED lighting out
here, when it gets dark out,
it’s beautiful on the exterior,”
he said, noting that the deck
and landscaped back yard
would be a “nice draw” for
people. Under the terms
of the $2 million federal
Community Development
Block Grant the Harkenrider
Center must be used only for
activities for seniors for the
first five years, but after that
could be used in the evenings
for things like receptions and
recreation classes. The city
hopes to create a second
reception hall in the base-
ment as well.
On Friday, parks and
recreation director Larry
Fetter said one of the reasons
for the decision to finish
the parking lot separately
is because none of the
block grant money is going
towards it. He said the senior
center board had done a
good job of fundraising for
kitchen equipment and the
city would help where it
could with moving things
into the building.
After the council finished
the tour of the building,
which is mostly complete
but still without most of its
carpet or paint, they also
stopped by the old Carnegie
Library next door to see the
newly-remodeled basement,
which was transformed from
storage into a reception area,
two offices and a conference
room. Smith said the city
was still figuring out the
best staff configuration to
use that space, but one thing
it did allow was for the fire
marshal to have office space
for doing his building plan
inspections in the same place
as the building department
offices.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
TEACHER: Students in tears after Daniels resigns
Continued from 1A
over Daniels’ sudden depar-
ture.
“Why is she the one that’s
being forced to resign when
there’s tons of teachers who
are doing so much less,
who aren’t putting in the
extra mile?” Pendleton High
School student Madison
Furstenberg said.
Daniels had a much
broader base of support
than the four current and
former
students
who
testified on her behalf.
After the meeting ended,
Pendleton High School
student Natalie Waggoner
presented a petition with
198 student signatures to
Fritsch while urging him to
listen to students.
Daniels was in the audi-
ence but did not speak during
the public comment section,
leaving the room shortly after
the last person spoke.
As some students openly
wept in the hallway outside
the boardroom, Daniels
greeted and comforted them.
Daniels
said
she
attended
the
meeting
to support her students.
“I would walk through fire
for my students,” she said.
Daniels said she resigned
because Fritsch told her that
her contract would not be
renewed for the following
school year. She said
Fritsch’s reasoning is that
she had used bad judgment
and could not be trusted.
According to Daniels, she
has received good evalua-
tions throughout her tenure
but was getting complaints
from a particular family.
She declined to identify the
family.
Even if the district
changed its mind and invited
her back, Daniels said she
was unsure she could come
back to the district as long as
Fritsch was in charge.
While some audience
members pressured the board
to reverse the decision, board
member Debbie McBee
told the crowd that state law
mandated the board stay
uninvolved in personnel
issues, unless an employee
specifically asks the board
for a review.
“There’s a very clear
separation of roles and
responsibilities
between
board and superintendent,”
she said.
The board’s approval of
district staffing decisions
like hirings and resignations
was just upholding the state’s
procedural policy, McBee
said.
This is the second month
in a row that the board meet-
ing’s public comment section
has been used to protest a
staff resignation.
Several
community
members
voiced
their
opposition to Pendleton
High School Principal Dan
Greenough resignation last
month. Since then, the Herm-
iston School District has
announced that Greenough is
a finalist for the Desert View
Elementary School principal
position, for which he will
interview Tuesday.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
on Wednesday explaining
the concept. The campaign
encourages students to
perform an act of kindness
for their classmates every
day starting Wednesday
and lasting 17 days.
Students are then asked
to highlight their good
deeds on social media using
the
#PHSWhatsUR17
hashtag.
If students still feel the
need to walk out, Gree-
nough said the school will
remain lenient on students
who stick to the 17-minute
period.
But if students leave
longer than 17 minutes or
fail to return to class, they
will face the usual punish-
ments for an unexcused
absence, such as lunch
detention.
While some school
districts have threatened
to suspend students if they
participate in the walkout,
Greenough said its never
been his policy to suspend
students for absence issues.
“It flies in the face of
the what we’re trying to
do in trying to change the
behavior,” he said.
The Hermiston School
District isn’t proposing
an alternative activity
for Wednesday, but is
proposing some parame-
ters.
Interim Superintendent
Tricia Mooney wrote
a letter to parents and
community members about
the district’s response to
the walkout.
Mooney wrote that
students who choose to
walk out on Wednesday
will be supervised by
school
staff.
District
spokeswoman
Maria
Duron said students will
not continue to be super-
vised should they decide to
leave school grounds.
Although the district is
concentrating on potential
walkouts at Hermiston
High School, Sandstone
Middle School and Armand
Larive Middle School,
elementary school staff is
prepared to supervise their
students if they walk out as
well.
Like
Pendleton,
Hermiston students will
be expected to return to
class after 17 minutes.
The events are not open
to the public and students
or community members
who want to support the
students are being asked to
remain off school grounds
for safety reasons.
Mooney’s
letter
included a statement from
the Associated Student
Body of Hermiston High
School.
“We, the Associated
Student Body Leadership
of HHS, recognize that
there needs to be a solu-
tion found to end school
violence. There are varied
opinions and feelings
associated with this topic
throughout the student
body and we believe there
is no simple singular
solution. What we know is
that our students need an
opportunity to voice their
opinions ... We support our
student body in their opin-
ions and ability to express
their ideas and concerns
in a safe, appropriate, and
respectful manner.”
The
walkouts
are
supposed to be a part of
a national movement to
commemorate the 17
people killed in a high
school shooting in Park-
land, Florida on Feb. 14.
According to CNN,
the idea originated from
EMPOWER, the youth
branch of the Women’s
March. The organization’s
website lists more than
2,800 walkouts across the
country, although a map of
planned walkouts displays
no events in Umatilla
County or Eastern Oregon.
The national campaign
also
includes
policy
demands from Congress,
like an assault weapons
ban, universal background
checks on gun sales and a
restraining order law that
would allow authorities
to disarm people with
warning signs of violent
behavior.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.
March 4-5-6, 2016 | | Spokane Fair & Expo Center | | Spokane, WA
March 16-17-18, 2018
19th Annual Spring
Package bombs in Texas capital likely tied to earlier blast
Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas — Two
package bomb blasts a few
miles apart killed a teenager
and wounded two women in
Austin on Monday, less than
two weeks after a similar
attack left a man dead in
another part of the Texas
capital.
Investigators said the
bombings are probably
connected, and they are
looking into whether race
was a factor because all of the
victims were minorities. The
blasts unfolded just as the city
was swelling with visitors
to the South By Southwest
music festival.
The first of Monday’s
attacks killed a 17-year-old
boy and wounded a
40-year-old woman, both of
them black. As Police Chief
Brian Manley held a news
conference to discuss that
attack, authorities were called
to the scene of another explo-
sion that injured a 75-year-old
Hispanic woman. She was
taken to a hospital with
potentially life-threatening
wounds.
Authorities
suspect
that both of Monday’s
explosions were linked to a
March 2 attack that killed a
39-year-old black man. All
three blasts happened as the
packages were opened, and
officials urged the public to
call police if they receive any
unexpected packages.
“This is the third in what
we believe to be related inci-
dents over the past 10 days,”
Manley said while briefing
reporters near the site of
Monday’s second explosion.
He at first suggested that the
blasts could constitute a hate
crime, but later amended that
to say authorities had not
settled on a motive.
“We are not ruling
anything out at this point,”
said Manley, who said the
intended targets were not clear
since multiple people live in
the homes where explosives
were placed. “We are willing
to investigate any avenue that
may be involved.”
The police chief refused
to provide many details about
how the explosives were
packaged, citing the ongoing
investigation. But he said
they were an “average-size
letter box” and “not particu-
larly large.”
In all three cases, he said,
the packages did not appear
to have gone through the
U.S. Postal Service or private
carriers like UPS. They were
left on doorsteps without a
knock or ringing of doorbells.
The explosions happened
far from the main events of
the wildly popular festival
known as SXSW, which
brings about 400,000 visitors
to Austin each year. Manley
urged visitors to “be aware of
what’s going on.”
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