REGION
Saturday, March 17, 2018
East Oregonian
HERMISTON
The youngest protester
Lone Sunset
Elementary student
walked out of school
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
The night before students
walked out of schools around
the country in protest of
school violence, Alondra
Cadenas got out her markers
and started making signs.
“On Valentine’s Day in
Florida all these kids died
because they thought they
were safe at school,” the fifth-
grader wrote before carefully
copying down the names of
all 17 people — including 14
children — who died in the
Marjory Stoneman Douglas
High School shooting.
A second sign said “Hey
adults! It’s time to stop
school shootings.” But no
one was there to help her
hold it. Although one of her
friends had planned to join
her, in the end Alondra was
the only student to walk
out of Sunset Elementary
School in Hermiston on
Wednesday.
“I stood out there so
maybe the adults would
notice and do something
about gun violence,” she said.
The national protest called
for students to walk out at 10
a.m. and stay for 17 minutes
— one minute for each of
the victims memorialized on
Alondra’s sign.
“I just went to my back-
pack and grabbed my phone
and my poster and walked out
of the room,” she said.
When she was stopped
by a teacher she thought she
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Alondra Cadenas shows off the sign she made to hold up during her 17-minute
walkout at Sunset Elementary School on Wednesday.
might be sent back to class,
but she says the teacher
merely redirected her toward
the front door instead of the
back so that the office staff
could keep an eye on her
while she stood outside with
her sign, using her phone as
a timer. Three different adults
noticed her in front of the
school and asked her about
her protest.
“It felt good,” she said.
Alondra’s mother Norma
Regalado said she was proud
of her daughter for being
brave enough to walk out
all by herself. She said she
had discussed the Florida
shooting and news of the
planned protest with her chil-
dren (her son Saul Cadenas, a
freshman at Hermiston High
School, also participated in
the walkout) but in the end it
was up to them whether they
wanted to participate.
She said she thought it was
unfair for adults sitting safely
at home to say all of the kids
participating just wanted to
get out of class.
“I think most kids are
aware of that, that someone
could just walk in and start
shooting them,” she said,
noting that’s not something
she worried about when she
was that age.
Saul said he did know kids
who had used the walkout as
an excuse to skip class, but he
and his sister and many others
at the high school walked
out because they wanted to
call more attention to the
spreading problem of school
shootings.
Regalado said it’s not
just children who are scared
— as a parent it can also
be terrifying to send your
children off to school after
the news of the latest school
shooting. Amid a flurry of
recent reports in the area of
students making threats she
kept her children home one
day because she just couldn’t
face sending them off.
As for Alondra, the
elementary schooler said she
didn’t have specific laws she
was hoping got passed as a
result of the walkout, but she
hoped the adults did.
“I hope that gun violence
ends and stuff and the adults
might notice,” she said.
Noise still a concern for EOTEC neighbors
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Now that the city of Herm-
iston has taken full ownership
of the Eastern Oregon Trade
and Event Center, it will also
take on the responsibility of
responding to complaints
about the facility.
There have been plenty
from neighbors, some of
whom formed the Hermiston
Airport Road Neighborhood
Association last year when
the county was considering
changing the name of the
road to make it easier to find
EOTEC. They won a partial
victory — the county decided
to put off the decision until
after the road has been
improved using transporta-
tion package dollars from the
state.
Last spring some of the 34
neighbors (representing 17
addresses) also complained
during a board of county
commissioners
meeting
about bass-heavy music
blasting from the event center
until midnight or later during
events, about partygoers who
drive recklessly or trespass on
private property after events
break up, and about traffic
and dust problems generated
by EOTEC.
HARNA president Chris
Waine said in the last year
response to his complaints
has been a mixed bag, with
noise still a major concern
but dust issues getting better.
He said he and neighbor
Mariah Murray met with city
manager Byron Smith two
weeks ago about a request
they have made for the city to
update its noise ordinance.
Noise has been the main
complaint of property owners
near the event center. Waine
said people on social media
have made comments about
not being supportive of the
fair and rodeo, saying neigh-
bors of the old fairgrounds
dealt with similar issues for
decades. But he said the
neighbors are willing to put
up with noise during fair
and rodeo week for the sake
of supporting those events
— it’s the weddings and
quinceañeras blasting music
until midnight on other week-
ends that concerns them.
“We’ve been dealing with
this for over two years and
we’ve still made no progress
today from where we were
two years ago,” he said.
Waine said the city’s noise
ordinance measures dBA,
which measures decibel
levels for mid-range frequen-
cies, instead of dBC, which
measures decibel levels for
high and low frequencies.
As a result, he said, police
can come out and take dBA
readings during a party and
find they don’t violate the
noise ordinance even though
neighbors are being kept
awake by pounding bass.
Waine wants the city to
adopt an ordinance similar
to Pendleton’s, which states
the operation of sound-pro-
ducing devices such as radios
“between the hours of 11
p.m. and 7 a.m., so that it is
plainly audible at a distance
of 50 feet from the building,
structure, vehicle, or place
in which it is located” is a
violation of the nuisance ordi-
nance, as is action to “make,
continue, or cause to be
made or continued any loud,
unnecessary or unusual noise
nor any noise, which annoys,
disturbs, injures or endangers
the comfort, repose, health,
peace or safety of others,
within or over the limits of
the city.”
However, he said Smith
has so far declined to bring
the issue before the city
council.
Smith said Tuesday that he
hadn’t closed the door on that
option, but was still having
the city’s attorney research
the legal issues surrounding
noise
ordinances
and
enforcement before deciding
how to move forward with
HARNA’s concerns.
One request that has been
made in the past is to shut
down events at 10 p.m., but
Smith said the city believes
the earlier deadline would
hamper EOTEC’s ability to
attract events.
In
January
the
event-management company
VenuWorks was hired to
run EOTEC’s day-to-day
operations. Al Davis now
serves as general manager.
Smith said as the city part-
ners with VenuWorks on
policies and planning, issues
like noise control will be part
of the conversation. He said
trees planted and growing to
maturity should help as well.
“We’re going to do the
best we can with operating
an entertainment facility,” he
said. “We try to have as little
impact on the neighborhood
as possible, but it is a big
change for that neighbor-
hood.”
Williams appointed
to Echo city council
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Echo has a new city
councilor after a busy
council meeting.
Tammie Williams was
appointed to the council
Thursday to replace Lou
Nakapalau, who resigned in
January. She was chosen out
of a field of four applicants,
which also included Chad
Ray, Carol Neely and Mel
Wagner.
Williams has lived in
Echo 33 years, and said she
loves the small community
that feels like “a big family.”
She is a small business
owner and said she has
served in a number of public
positions through the years,
including Echo’s budget
committee and the Umatilla
County Planning Commis-
sion.
“I enjoy doing things for
the community,” she said.
“It’s just nice to feel like I’m
doing something good. I just
try to honor what the people
want.”
She will be up for elec-
tion in November.
Appointment of a new
city councilor was one of
several items on the agenda
Thursday evening. The
council also discussed a
petition by resident Vera
Burres to Kayak Public
Transit, asking for a bus
to stop in Echo. Kent and
Laura Madison, who deliv-
ered Burres’s petition, said
that Kayak administrators
seemed open to the idea but
would want to see evidence
from a more detailed survey
that people would actually
ride the bus on a regular
basis. The council voted to
send a survey in the next
city newsletter and make
copies available at city hall
for people who would ride
but live outside city limits.
The Madisons were
present
at Thursday’s
meeting to hand over a
rough draft of an applica-
tion to annex a portion of
land along Thielsen Road
between Echo and the
Interstate 84 interchange.
They hope to create a devel-
opment in the area north of
Echo that would include a
hotel, RV park and industrial
and commercial projects.
He said Thursday that one
reason it was a draft and not a
final application is he wasn’t
planning to add housing to
the development, but would
be open to applying for some
PENDLETON — The
Eastern Oregon Climate
Change Coalition looks to
engage people in discussions
about climate change.
Philip Schmitz, a physics
and geology professor at
Blue Mountain Community
College,
will
discuss
information about time he
spent with the Juneau Icefield
Research Program during
the upcoming 3rd Tuesday
Climate Conversation. The
no-host gathering is Tuesday,
March 20 at noon at Prodigal
Son Brewery & Pub, 230
S.E. Court Ave., Pendleton.
Schmitz will share about
the program, which takes
McKay Creek Estates
FREE Cognitive
Screening
students, scientists and
educators on a two-month
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EOC3 looks to engage
the audience, providing
an opportunity to share
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or just start having a climate
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encourage anyone who is concerned about
cognitive decline to take this short, in-person
screening. The screening is administered by a
qualified health care professional.
To schedule your cognitive screening today, please call (541) 704-7146.
McKay Creek Estates
7607 Southgate Pl.
Pendleton, OR 97807
www.PrestigeCare.com
time for questions, sharing
of information or articles,
and conversations relating to
individual or global solutions
to climate change problems.
The coalition meets
monthly.
For
more
information,
contact
eastoregonclimatechange@
gmail.com
or
search
Facebook for “Eastern
Oregon Climate Change
Coalition.”
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residential zoning along
Bowman Road if that’s what
the city preferred.
The Madisons proposed
holding a community
open house sometime in
April to go over what the
development might look
like and take input from the
community. Kent said they
did not currently own the
land but had an option to buy
as soon as the community
indicated it would support
a development. He also said
there were people who have
already expressed interest in
joining the project if it went
forward.
On
Thursday
the
council discussed progress
on the city’s wastewater
project. The city currently
empties treated water into
the Umatilla River but the
Department of Environment
Quality has said they must
find a new solution. The
city has since come up with
a plan to use an evaporator
to get rid of about half the
water and send the rest to
the city of Stanfield, but city
administrator Diane Berry
said they lack the funds to
move onto the final design
phase of the project and
build it.
She said in April the
state’s regional solutions
office will host a “one-stop”
for Echo leaders to learn
about all the different
options to apply for funding.
“I’ve been told private
foundations want to hear
your heart and soul and
tears and government orga-
nizations just want the nuts
and bolts and leave out the
drama,” Berry said.
The council also heard
from the Pioneer Humane
Society, which is pursuing
a taxing district for coun-
ty-wide animal control and
needed the city to sign off on
letting it appear on the ballot
in Echo.
Ben
DeCarlow,
a
member of the nonprofit’s
board, said the organization
provides services to resi-
dents all over the county,
including a pet food assis-
tance program, spay and
neuter program and a shelter
in Pendleton that has taken
in and then adopted out
about 5,000 animals in the
past five years. He said the
special taxing district with a
rate of 10 cents per $1,000
assessed value would allow
the nonprofit to increase its
staffing beyond three part-
time staff.
Climate change group to discuss Juneau Icefield
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