REGION
Saturday, June 16, 2018
HERMISTON
Boy in hospital
after bike accident
East Oregonian
A Hermiston boy is in
intensive care at a Port-
land hospital after an acci-
dent riding his
bike on Thursday.
Around 5:30 p.m.
Thursday, Zed-
drik Cota, 12, was
riding his bike at
the Campus Life
skate park, when
he did not see a
drop-off.
According to Cota
a Facebook post
by his father Oscar Cota,
“he fell off the deep end
face-first to the pavement
below.”
Cota was airlifted to
Portland, where he remains
in intensive care at Legacy
Emanuel Medical Center.
His father wrote on Face-
book that he is in a medi-
cally induced coma and has
swelling on his brain.
Nick Gutierrez, a neigh-
bor and friend of the Cotas,
has started a GoFundMe
page to raise money for
the family. As of Friday
evening, $840 had been
donated.
Gutierrez relayed infor-
mation that Oscar Cota had
sent to him Friday evening,
saying that his son was still
in intensive care but the
swelling on his brain was
going down.
He said that Oscar
wanted to thank the people
of Hermiston for
supporting their
family.
“He said he
never knew so
many
people
cared so much
about his family
and his children,”
he said.
G u t i e r -
rez relayed that
Cota’s brother, Junior,
called the paramedics.
He said Oscar Cota
mentioned that there were
no barriers that prevented
kids from using the skate
park at the youth center
on South First Street near
the high school, and he felt
it was unsafe. He said he
believes Cota was wear-
ing a helmet at the time of
the accident, and that his
father was present when it
happened.
Cota attends school
in Hermiston, and has a
brother and sister. Both his
parents are with him in Port-
land now, Gutierrez said.
“He’s just an awesome
kid, and full of energy,”
Gutierrez said.
HERMISTON
Principal touts new
graduation location
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
The Hermiston School
District wrapped up its first
out-of-state graduation on
June 7, successfully get-
ting diplomas into the
hands of 342 students at
the Toyota Center in Ken-
newick. Now, school offi-
cials are taking stock of the
event and considering their
options going forward.
Though most acknowl-
edged that the high school
gymnasium could no longer
hold the growing graduating
classes, many debates pre-
ceded the move to a Wash-
ington state graduation,
including looking at hold-
ing the ceremony at sev-
eral Hermiston venues, such
as Kennison Field or East-
ern Oregon Trade and Event
Center, before the school
board voted 6-1 to move the
ceremony across the river.
Hermiston High School
principal Tom Spoo said he
was satisfied with the cere-
mony, and that things had
gone largely as planned.
“Almost to a T,” he said.
“The only thing that didn’t
go the way I intended was
simply time. The kids
ended up speaking a lit-
tle longer than anticipated,
I went a little longer. Out-
side that, it went well.”
Spoo said he started the
ceremony a few minutes
late because of another
unexpected issue — traffic
coming from Hermiston to
Kennewick.
“We didn’t anticipate it
being that bad,” he said.
“The kids got there a lit-
tle late. We were ready to
go by seven, but I felt that
there were still parents that
weren’t there.”
The other issue, he said,
was getting the crowd of
more than 4,000 reunited
with their graduates after
the ceremony.
Spoo said he, the board
and interim superintendent
Tricia Mooney have yet
to discuss where they will
hold graduation next year.
Spoo and Mooney did a
lot of planning leading up
to the event, both in train-
ing the students and collab-
orating with Washington
schools’ superintendents
that already held their
graduations at the center.
“No matter how well it
goes, there’s always going to
be naysayers. So I was very
adamant with the kids that I
wanted this to go well, and
we wanted to be respectful.”
Spoo said with many
logistical issues, they had
to start from scratch.
“Transportation was a
big, big deal,” Spoo said.
“It’s not something we’d
ever dealt with at gradua-
tion before. I can’t tell you
how many times I changed
the leave times, the load
times.”
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East Oregonian
MISSION
New tribal education center
will allow Nixyaawii to grow
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The building boom on the
Umatilla Indian Reservation
continues unabated.
Months after the new Yel-
lowhawk Tribal Health Cen-
ter opened and amidst serious
plans to expand the Wildhorse
Resort & Casino, the Con-
federated Tribes of the Uma-
tilla Indian Reservation held
a groundbreaking ceremony
Friday for a new educational
facility that will house Nixy-
aawii Community School,
a charter high school estab-
lished in 2004, Cay-Um-Wa
Head Start, and adult educa-
tion programs.
After the ceremony ended,
Nixyaawii Principal Ryan
Heinrich explained how the
60,000-square-foot
facility
would be an improvement
over the school’s current build-
ing at the July Grounds. One
of the biggest upgrades, Hein-
rich said, will be an increase in
space.
Sally Kosey, an at-large
member of the Board of Trust-
ees and a member of the
Nixyaawii school board, said
the school’s current build-
ing was “out-of-shape” and
“overcrowded.”
While some of Nixyaawii’s
current classrooms are under
900 square feet, all six class-
rooms in the new facility will
be more than 1,000 square
feet.
With language classes or
Photo courtesy of BBT Architects and the Wenaha Group
A rendering of the new CTUIR education center.
Photo by Antonio Sierra
Tribal officials and local children take part in the
groundbreaking ceremony.
electives, Heinrich said the
school could subdivide the
rooms and science classes
will feature full lab space. And
more space also means more
enrollment.
A surge of freshman enroll-
ees forced Nixyaawii to set a
75-student enrollment cap for
the 2017-2018 school year.
Heinrich said Nixyaawii is
projecting to nearly double its
cap to 140 in the new facility.
Other
improvements
include a modern security sys-
tems and “community rooms”
as well as a gym, cafeteria and
commons area.
But beyond a new building,
the tribal officials who spoke
at the ceremony made it clear
that the school will has a wider
cultural resonance.
“It was expressed: At
school, learn as much as you
can, but don’t forget who you
are or where you came from,”
said Gary Burke, chairman of
the CTUIR Board of Trustees.
According to the Confeder-
ated Umatilla Journal, a learn-
ing center has been a tribal
goal since 1975. Multiple
speakers mentioned the years
of work that went into making
the project possible.
Kosey was hopeful that
the new Nixyaawii would not
only provide students with a
diploma, but also set them up
for success in higher education
or other opportunities.
Although young tribal
members may leave the reser-
vation to seek out those oppor-
tunities, Kosey said the edu-
cation at Nixyaawii could set
them up to return as the tribal
leaders the CTUIR needs in
the future.
The new Nixyaawii site
is located west of the new
Yellowhawk and the Nixy-
aawii Governance Center. The
school is scheduled to open
September 2019.
PENDLETON
Veterans memorial could get boost from city council
VFW has pillars, arts
commission asks to buy
medallions
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Following a two-year hia-
tus, Pendleton is getting back
into the public art business.
At a meeting Tuesday, the
Pendleton City Council will
consider authorizing $3,300
in medallions for a veterans
memorial sponsored by the
Veterans of Foreign Wars
Let’er Buck Post 922.
According to a staff report
from Charles Denight, chair-
man of the Pendleton Arts
Commission, the city would
use the money to purchase
five 16-inch, brass medal-
lions that represent each
branch of the military at a
yet-to-be-determined public
park.
The medallions will be
placed on basalt columns
that will circle a sculpture
that will be installed later.
The VFW has a large
stake in getting the project
completed.
“Members of the VFW
wish to take responsibility
for building the memorial
and have already sourced
and transported the basalt
columns to Pendleton,”
Denight wrote. “They would
set up the columns, attach
the medallions, install land-
scaping, perform electri-
cal and masonry service as
need, using the skills of vet-
erans. They would work
with the Arts Commission to
obtain additional funding for
the art centerpiece and work
with the Parks Department
to complete landscaping and
lighting.”
Pendleton’s public art is
funded through a 1.75 per-
cent earmark from the tran-
sient room tax. If the coun-
cil approves the medallions,
$52,000 will be left in the
art account with no other
commitments.
This is the first public art
project considered by the
city since a series of Main
Street bronzes. The some-
times contentious series
ended in 2016 when the city
installed statues of Cayuse
Chief Clarence Burke and
“Mother of Pendleton” Aura
Goodwin Raley.
Prior to the council meet-
ing, the Pendleton Devel-
opment Commission will
approve a 2018-2019 bud-
get for the urban renewal
district.
If approved as presented,
the commission’s $2.2 mil-
lion operating budget would
be nearly $1 million more
than last year.
Just before the commis-
sion meeting starts, the coun-
cil will hold a room dedica-
tion ceremony for Councilor
John Brenne, who died in
January. The city council
chambers annex will now
be called the John Brenne
Room.
The dedication meeting
will be held at 5:30 p.m.,
the commission meeting at
6 p.m. and the council meet-
ing at 7 p.m. The latter two
meetings will be held inside
council chambers at city hall,
500 S.W. Dorion Ave.
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$5 Classic Movie • 6/20 • 12:00 PM
Jaws
$5 Children’s Classic Movie
6/20 • 10 AM
Caroline
Free Small Popcorn & Small Soda
INCREDIBLES 2 (PG)
2D: 6:50
3D 4:10 9:30
TAG (R)
4:20 7:00 9:20
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