WEEKEND EDITION
HERMISTON
UPSETS
PENDLETON
BORN IN
BOMB
CITY
SOFTBALL/1B
LIFESTYLES/1C
MAY 12-13, 2018
142nd Year, No. 147
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Kathy
Aney
Comment
Six pairs
of hands,
three sets
of eyes
A
n Erma Bombeck
column on
motherhood has
endured since 1974.
In it, the newspaper
columnist describes God
preparing to create a
mother. The Almighty
discusses the list of specs
for the order with an angel.
The list is extensive.
A mother must have six
pairs of hands and three
sets of eyes, be completely
washable and run on black
coffee and leftovers. Her
kiss cures everything
from a broken leg to
disappointment. She can
feed an entire family on one
pound of hamburger. She is
soft, but tough.
A mother’s skill set is
indeed extensive. Many
have tried to quantify what
a mom does into monetary
terms. The website salary.
com once conducted an
annual Mom Salary survey
to determine the tasks
necessary for mothering.
The organization found in
a 2015 survey that moms
work an average 96.5 hours
per week and if paid for
their actual work would
receive six-digit salaries.
The tasks mothers spend
the most time performing,
according to the survey,
are housekeeping, cooking,
counseling, chauffeuring,
facilities management,
computer operation,
janitorial work, teaching
and acting as chief
executive officer.
Other roles include tailor,
judge, academic advisor,
photographer, athletic
trainer and coach.
As the mother of
two now-adult children,
memories of wrangling
toddlers and crying babies
RATTLED
Statewide project could help improve concussion data
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
S
ince March 2015, Dr.
Derrick Earl of Hermis-
ton has had 279 area stu-
dent athletes visit his medical
clinic because of a concussion.
More than 100 of those patients
— all local middle school and
high school students —have
arrived in the last year.
Earl said he and the staff at
his practice, the Family Health
Associates Concussion Clinic,
provide access to the most
up-to-date concussion care
available for student athletes
in Morrow County and west-
ern Umatilla County. They will
see anyone with a suspected or
confirmed concussion within
one clinic day, preferably on the
same day of the injury, and will
provide care regardless of the
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Derek Earl is the medical director for Family Health Associates
and is one of seven doctors that will spend time working at the
wellness center at Hermiston High School.
ability to pay.
Oregon law since 2010
required schools to implement
protocols for students who suf-
fer a concussion, including a
medical release required to
clear a student to play athletics.
Earl’s practice handles a lot of
that testing. A release contains
the student’s name, age and
grade, plus details of the injury
and concussion symptoms.
But Oregon’s law does not
require anyone to collect or ana-
lyze the reams of medical data
sitting in public schools. No one
knows how many students and
athletes suffer concussions. No
one knows what the data could
reveal about protecting kids.
Portland-based
journalist
Lee van der Voo is working to
change that.
She is managing director and
staff writer for the small non-
profit InvestigateWest. Van der
Voo heads up a small team that
takes on big topics, such as the
examination two years ago of
how race and the criminal jus-
tice system intersect.
See CONCUSSION/10A
Photo illustration by E.J. Harris
See MOM/10A
PENDLETON
Two sides of the river, two visions
Businesses ask for
development on south
bank, conservationists
want protection of
wooded north side
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Two Pendleton riverfront efforts
are flowing in different directions.
On the levied south side of the
Umatilla River, the city continues to
look at amending the River Quarter
Plan with the idea that the right plan
might spur desirable development
on Court Avenue.
The city is much cooler to the
idea of creating and implementing
Left: The city of Pendleton adopted the River Quarter Plan to develop
properties on the south side of the Umailla River between downtown
and the Pendleton Round-Up Grounds. To date, no new development
in the River Quarter has broken ground. Right: Between the houses on
Northwest Bailey and the north bank of Umatilla River runs a slice of
undeveloped land that some local citizens would like to preserve.
a conservation plan for the river’s
north bank, a discussion borne out
of a citizen’s group request to shield
a specific parcel from development.
River quarter
The city has long wanted to
change the Pendleton River Quar-
ter Enhancement Plan, but it’s start-
ing to run into some resistance
from businesses on the river quar-
ter itself.
When the city adopted the stan-
dards in 2010, the city envisioned
connecting Main Street with the
Round-Up Grounds by focusing on
the northern stretch of Court Ave-
nue from Southwest First Street to
Southwest 10th Street.
The river quarter was supposed
evoke Main Street by requiring
multi-story buildings with retail or
restaurants on the bottom and hous-
ing on top.
The program also included a
$100,000 incentive for the first
developer who built in the river quar-
ter, but despite the six-figure carrot,
See RIVER/9A