Page 8A
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Friday, June 8, 2018
GRADS: About 4,400 attended event in new Kennewick venue
Continued from 1A
guished alumnus, gave stu-
dents several pointers.
“Focus on lifelong learn-
ing, formal or informal,” he
said.
He urged the graduates to
engage with the world, put
down their cell phones and
take their futures seriously.
“If you think for some rea-
son you don’t have the right
stuff, I’m here to tell you that
you do,” he said. “I chal-
lenge you to prepare for every
opportunity.”
After each student had
received their diploma, vale-
dictorian Reed Middleton said
a few words. She asked her
classmates not to back down
from the challenges that might
come their way.
“We may even have to
pump our own gas — the
atrocity!” she said to laughs
from the crowd.
“Never forget to turn
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
A crowd of about 4,400 people watched the Hermiston High School Class of 2018 graduate Thursday night at the
Toyota Center in Kennewick.
around and thank the people
who got you there,” she said.
Then, she led her class-
mates in the turning of the
tassel.
As graduates tossed their
caps and reunited with their
families, many reflected on the
last few years.
Ja’Qwaya Gooden said the
reality hadn’t quite hit her yet.
“I’m really happy I made
it,” she said. “I thank everyone
who got me here.”
Though parents and fami-
lies faced heavy traffic while
traveling from Hermiston to
Kennewick, many said they
were happy with the new
venue.
“It was good to have it here,
so many families could come,”
said Betty Gutierrez, there to
watch her grandson Joey grad-
uate. “Everybody wants to be
here to see this happen.”
School board member
Bonnie Luisi said about 4,400
people attended the event.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Adilene Chavez-Moncada welcomed the crowd of
about 4,400 in Spanish Thursday night.
Thomas McCullough claps during a speech by fellow
graduate Salma Anguiano on Thursday night.
Monica Arias holds her diploma high Thursday night at
the Toyota Center in Kennewick.
BMCC: Frink has experience as banker, private consultant and SBDC advisor
Continued from 1A
and prospective entrepreneurs.
A 40-year Hermiston res-
ident, Frink didn’t start her
career as a turnaround artist.
Frink was a banker for
more than 12 years, working
at the same local branch as it
underwent a number of acqui-
sitions, going from Western
Heritage Savings and Loan
to Benj. Franklin Savings and
Loan to Bank of America.
Faced with approving small
business loans, Frink said she
became well-acquainted with
aspiring merchants.
Applicants were seldom
short on dreams or ideas,
but definitive business plans
weren’t always part of the
equation. Frink’s first priority
was to make sure the bank was
making a good investment and
not offering sound business
advice, so she often sent appli-
cants to the SBDC to refine
their proposal.
She got to experience the
other side of the coin when she
was hired as an SBDC busi-
ness adviser in 2002.
Not only did she help
prospective business own-
ers secure financing, but she
helped them develop business
plans and make sense of the
numbers.
Frink said the SBDC busi-
ness advisers offer a degree of
separation, offering objective
advice and preparing them for
the challenges that will come.
“If you run a marathon, you
don’t just show up on the day
of the race,” she said.
Frink had done private
business consulting work in
the past, and she left the SBDC
to start a new consulting busi-
ness in 2012.
When BMCC recruited
her to return to the SBDC as
the director, it was not in good
condition.
The turnaround
Ironically, Frink felt that
the SBDC was operating with-
out a plan and direction, and it
was reflected by BMCC’s cen-
ter being the lowest contrib-
uting member organization in
the state.
Frink replaced many of the
SBDC employees with a fresh
set of advisers and they set
about drumming up business.
From 2016 to 2017, the
center’s clients increased
from 213 to 265 and its capi-
tal infusion — the amount in
loans and equity investments
its clients made — grew from
$439,119 to $1 million.
They number of new jobs
Staff photo by Antonio Sierra
Kim and Rodney Burt, owners of OMG! Burgers &
Brew, worked with the BMCC Small Business Develop-
ment Center to launch their restaurant this year.
created and new jobs were
basically flat (15 to 16 and 33
to 31, respectively), but Frink
said one of the most import-
ant statistics was the SBDC’s
return on investment.
For every state dollar spent,
the BMCC SBDC created
$239 in state revenue while
every federal dollar produced
$2.56 in federal revenue.
Also important: SBDC-as-
sisted businesses last longer.
Frink said that only 18 per-
cent of business in Oregon last
longer than 18 months. With
the help of the SBDC, the per-
centage jumps to 85 percent.
Cumulatively, Frink said
is now the third best perform-
ing center in the state after the
SBDCs in Portland and Lane
County.
Among the smiling faces
on the program’s redesigned
website is Nadeem Akhlaq, the
owner of the Rugged Country
Lodge in Pendleton.
Testimonials
Originally from Pakistan,
Akhlaq immigrated to the U.S.
in 2014, initially settling down
in Orlando, Florida, where his
sister resided.
A physician by trade, Akh-
laq had trouble getting a job
in the medical field because
of his lack of experience in
American medicine.
Akhlaq befriended a man
who owned motels through-
out the Northwest, and with-
out any other job prospects,
accepted a job in motel man-
agement in the Tri-Cities.
His friend also owned the
Rugged Country Lodge, and
when the management posi-
tion opened, he moved again.
Akhlaq eventually con-
sidered buying the South-
east Court Avenue motel, and
under the advice of a differ-
ent friend, he contacted the
SBDC.
Adviser Terry Becktold
began directing him to banks
to apply for a small busi-
ness loan, but when the lodge
owner announced he was
moving to Delaware, Akhlaq
needed to make a decision.
He was hesitant to approach
the owner about buying the
property, but with Becktold’s
encouragement, Akhlaq was
not only able to secure the pur-
chase of the Rugged Coun-
try Lodge but a financing deal
with the owner.
Akhlaq said the SBDC
helped with other tasks —
setting up a limited liability
company, compiling a list of
restaurants to recommend to
lodgers — and he continues to
seek guidance from Becktold.
“She guided me (through)
everything,” he said.
Kim and Rodney Burt
were first-time restaurateurs
when they applied for a Jump
Start loan from the Pendleton
Development Commission to
help them open OMG! Burg-
ers & Brew on South Main
Street.
Rodney said the commis-
sion recommended they visit
the SBDC to create a busi-
ness plan during the applica-
tion process.
Rodney said the SBDC
offered valuable advice, like
maintaining an advertising
budget, and with the busi-
ness plan they formulated, the
Burts were able to secure the
$19,000 loan.
Frink said fresh business
owners often assume that the
most successful companies
thrive independently, but she’s
trying to disabuse them of that
notion.
“It’s not a bad thing to get
help,” she said.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com.
BOUNDS: Hermiston native will have lifetime appointment if approved
Continued from 1A
ingly of ethnically based
student clubs and “sensitiv-
ity” and criticized universi-
ties for using a lower stan-
dard of proof than “beyond a
reasonable doubt” when tak-
ing action against students
accused of sexual assault.
Bounds
has
since
denounced those writings,
calling them tone-deaf “col-
lege kid” opinions that “do
not reflect the views I have
hewn to as a lawyer and,
frankly, as a grown-up.”
Bounds declined to com-
ment to the East Oregonian
Thursday about the judiciary
committee hearing.
But after the op-eds came
to light Senators Ron Wyden
and Jeff Merkley declined
to issue a “blue slip” of sup-
port, which is customarily
given by a nominee’s home
state senators before the
Senate Judiciary Committee
moves forward. Democrats
have criticized the commit-
tee for going ahead with the
nomination process with-
out the blue slips, and last
month Wyden on the Sen-
ate floor called ignoring the
advice and consent of home
state senators a “dangerous
mistake.”
“What is clear to me is
that the majority is now
chipping away at a century
of bipartisan tradition that
has protected the interests
of those in our home state
and served as a check on the
power of the executive,” he
said.
Committee Chair Chuck
Grassley, R-Iowa, addressed
those concerns at Thurs-
day morning’s vote, accord-
ing to the video recording
of the proceedings, stating
that it was his policy that
negative or unreturned blue
slips should not necessarily
block a nominee from hav-
ing a hearing, and pointing
out that a screening commit-
tee convened by Wyden and
Merkley had recommended
Bounds as a nominee in the
first place.
He said that during the
hearing Bounds had been
able to answer questions
about his college writ-
ings and “clarify the confu-
sion” about why he had not
previously disclosed them
(Bounds testified that staff
from Wyden’s office had
only asked for materials
going back to law school).
“We shouldn’t assume
that views expressed years
ago during college and law
school represent the nomi-
nee today, especially when
the nominees tell us that
they don’t. Let’s let all 100
senators — not just two —
decide whether Mr. Bounds
deserves to be confirmed,”
he said.
After his remarks mul-
tiple Democratic senators
expressed their disapproval
of Grassley’s “unprece-
dented” decision to allow
nominees to have a hear-
ing after neither home state
Senator returned a blue
slip. Wyden also issued a
statement calling the views
expressed in Bounds’ writ-
ings as “archaic and alarm-
ing” and stating it was “a sad
day for justice when Senator
Grassley feels free to shat-
ter an agreed-upon process
that has long proved itself
as a fair and bipartisan way
to ensure nominees for a
lifetime appointment to the
bench meet the highest stan-
dards for honesty.”
Bounds graduated from
Hermiston High School,
then received an undergrad-
uate degree from Stanford
in 1995 and his law degree
from Yale.
He has practiced com-
mercial law in Portland, was
a federal prosecutor for the
District of Columbia, served
as an assistant to the Pres-
ident on domestic policy
and is currently an assistant
U.S. attorney in Oregon.
His community engagement
includes serving as a Court
Appointed Special Advocate
for foster children and on the
Diversity & Inclusion Com-
mittee of the Portland Bar.
Rep. Greg Walden has
supported Bounds’ nomi-
nation, describing him as a
“talented and effective pros-
ecutor” with a strong record
of public service. He has
also been the subject of let-
ters of support from local
politicians and attorneys,
some of whom wrote in a
guest viewpoint for the East
Oregonian that “We can rep-
resent without hesitation
that Ryan’s path has been
one of growth, intellectual
curiosity and rigor, love of
his family, friends, and com-
munity, and respect for the
humanity of others.”
If the Senate approves
his nomination he will have
a lifetime appointment as a
judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.