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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 7, 2018)
REGION Saturday, July 7, 2018 HERMISTON East Oregonian Page 3A PENDLETON Humane society seeks council’s help getting new district on ballot By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian Staff photo by Jayati Ramakrishnan Zeddrik Cota, center, stands with three of the UCFD paramedics who responded after an accident that left him in a coma. Left to right: Danny Hinton, Kyle Rutherford and Jesse Brown. Zeddrik Cota begins rehab journey after bike accident By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN East Oregonian Three weeks after an accident that left him in a coma, Zeddrik Cota is walk- ing and talking. To his family, those things are nothing short of miraculous. Zeddrik, 12, sat quietly Friday, with a smile on his face, as his parents recalled the last few weeks. He placed his hand on his moth- er’s, and listened as she talked about his recovery. While riding his bike on June 14, Zeddrik asked his father if he could go check out the skate park at Campus Life, across the street from Hermiston High School. As his father got out of the car, Zeddrik and his brother went into the park, not realizing there was a sharp drop-off close to where they were standing. “There’s a lip that goes into a bowl that just drops off,” said Oscar Cota, Zed- drik’s father. “He goes up and over it, and faceplants into the concrete.” Zeddrik had swelling on both sides of his brain, and was in a medically induced coma for four and a half days. Within a day of com- ing out of the coma, Oscar said, his son’s eyes were opening, and the day after, he was responding to ques- tions, and able to recognize his parents and siblings. Zeddrik has several months of rehabilitation ahead of him: He will go through occupational and speech therapy, and will have some dental work. “He’s had difficulty with a lot of stuff,” Oscar said. “His short-term memory is pretty affected.” Paramedics who responded to the scene esti- mate Zeddrik fell about 10 or 12 feet from the dropoff. Oscar said his son was wearing a baseball helmet at the time of the crash, which covered his ears and the side of his head. Zeddrik’s mother, Alainna Abbott, said he may be able to go to school for a few hours a day, but they will have to keep him pro- tected from any illnesses or other injuries. “I told him he’s stuck in mom’s bubble,” Abbott said, smiling at her son. “He’s really bored, just because he’s so active.” During his recovery, Zeddrik won’t be able to do many of the things he loves — hunting, playing sports and exploring the outdoors. But his family says he fully intends to get back to his energetic self. “Our whole family put in for bull tags. Guess who’s the only one who got one?” Oscar said, pointing at his son. “Hopefully he’ll be well enough to go up there, but we’re not going to push it — it’ll come again.” “At the end, hopefully it’s going to be a full recov- ery,” Oscar said. Oscar said he and his family had been over- whelmed by the support of the town, even people he didn’t know. “How I’m going to thank each and every one of them, I have no idea,” he said. He said he thinks there could be some more steps taken to make the skate park safer, or at least to alert peo- ple about the steep dropoff. “I’m glad he’s here, and I hope some safety precau- tions go up so that it doesn’t happen again,” Oscar said. “Especially because it’s near a daycare, and right behind the basketball court.” A week after his return to Hermiston, Zeddrik met with some of the paramed- ics, so that he and his family could thank them. “We remember these ones,” said Jesse Brown, the firefighter and EMT who called for a helicopter right after the accident. “Far too often, the outcome is not the same way. So these are the calls we live for, where we made a difference.” HERMISTON Ridership up 75 percent for HART East Oregonian Ridership for Hermis- ton’s public bus system has risen 75 percent in the first half of 2018. The HART, run by Kayak Public Transit on behalf of the city, began in January 2017. The fixed-route bus is free to any member of the public and runs Monday through Friday from approx- imately 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. According to numbers provided by the city, the HART had 168 riders in its first month of existence and 283 riders in Novem- ber. Ridership has continued to climb, with 355 riders in April, 386 in May and 459 in June. “We knew that this is the type of service that people will have to learn and get used to, but once they do, that ridership would really start to climb,” assistant city manager Mark Morgan said in a statement. During the HART’s first year the city and Kayak adopted several changes to the route, eliminating lit- tle-used stops and adjusting the schedule to make it more user-friendly and allow for more circuits per day. The city also installed bus shel- ters at some locations, and route information is now integrated with mapping sys- tems such as Google Maps. Morgan said he believes HART is now “a very usable system with no real changes WE HEAR YOU! 7/6-8 7/9-10 Cineplex Show Times $5 Classic Movie • 7/11 • 12:00 PM $5 Classic Movie • 7/11 • 12:00 PM Awakenings Awakenings $5 Children’s Classic Movie • 7/11 • 10 AM Ice Age 2: The Meltdown Free Small Popcorn & Small Soda $5 Children’s Classic Movie • 7/11 • 10 AM Ice Age 2: The Meltdown Free Small Popcorn & Small Soda ANT-MAN AND THE WASP (PG13) 1:50* 7:10 4:30 9:50 ANT-MAN AND THE WASP (PG13) 7:10 4:30 9:50 THE FIRST PURGE (R) 12:00* 2:20* 4:40 7:20 9:40 THE FIRST PURGE (R) 4:40 7:20 9:40 JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM (PG13) 1:00* 4:00 7:00 10:00 JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM (PG13) 4:00 7:00 10:00 INCREDIBLES 2 (PG) 1:30* 4:10 6:50 9:30 INCREDIBLES 2 (PG) 4:10 6:50 9:30 SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO (R) 1:20* 4:00 6:40 9:20 SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO (R) 4:00 6:40 9:20 * Matinee Pricing * Matinee Pricing wildhorseresort.com • 541-966-1850 wildhorseresort.com • 541-966-1850 Pendleton, OR I-84 - Exit 216 Pendleton, OR I-84 - Exit 216 Merkley holding town halls in Eastern Oregon East Oregonian U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) will hold a series of town halls this weekend in Eastern Oregon. He will be at Eastern Oregon University, La Grande at 9 a.m. on Sat- urday, before traveling to Wallowa for a town hall at the senior center at 12:30 p.m. Merkley on Sunday heads to the Pendleton Early Learning Center, 455 S.W. 13th St., Pendleton, where a town hall begins at 1 p.m. From there he goes to the Port of Morrow Riv- erfront Center, 2 Marine Drive N.E., Boardman, where the event begins at 4 p.m. Merkley made head- lines a few weeks concern- ing the separation of immi- grant children from parents seeking asylum. He also has raised concerns regard- ing who President Donald Trump could appoint to fill the latest vacancy on the Supreme Court. Who’s in the Woods? Ride the Bigfoot Train, July 28! with Bigfoot expert, Scot Violette or, July 18, Two Rivers Eagle Cap Excursion Train Book online at eaglecaptrainrides.com Renata Anderson, MA Cineplex Show Times planned.” He said there is still a mis- conception that the HART is only for the elderly or dis- abled, but ridership data shows only 39 percent of riders fall in that category. For more information visit ctuir.org/general-tags/ hermiston-hart or call dis- patch at 541-429-7519. As it attempts to launch a campaign for a coun- ty-wide special taxa- tion district, the Pioneer Humane Society will go before its hometown city council Tuesday to request help in getting ballot access. The humane society, which operates the Pend- leton Animal Welfare Shel- ter, intends to ask voters for 10 cents per 1,000 in assessed value. Officials from the nonprofit expect it will bring in $300,000 per year for society opera- tions, which would include expanded reach in Umatilla County, increased shelter capacity, expanded neuter and spay clinics, and new programming. The society is also expecting the tax revenue to pay for capital improve- ments to its Pendleton shel- ter and the ability to con- vert volunteer roles to paid positions. Similar to the proposed 4-H tax, the humane soci- ety needs approval from the Pendleton City Council and other Umatilla County governments to appear on the ballots in each city or unincorporated area. According to the Pio- neer Humane Society, the Oregon Humane Society performed an audit that determined that they were understaffed compared to other shelters. The council has a packed agenda with a few other topics of interest: • As the city puts together an application for a $25 million federal grant, the council will consider contributing a $2 million local match. The grant would pay for a project that would realign the Interstate 84 Exit 209 interchange to ease traffic congestion in that area. If the city wins the grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s BUILD program, the city and the Oregon Department of Transportation will each be required to contribute 7 percent each of the proj- ect’s total cost. ODOT has already com- mitted $2 million toward the project, and if the city follows suit, the project would total $29 million. While the council could commit the money as soon as Tuesday, a staff report states the city would need to determine a funding source at a later date. The deadline for the grant application is July 19. • Staff is requesting a $185,629 change order for the new fire station that would raise the budget for the first phase from $1.9 million to $2.1 million. In an interview, pub- lic works director Bob Pat- terson said the city is still committed to following the project’s overall budget of $9.4 million, but some of the bids came in over the original estimate. Patterson said the city needs to act quickly to take advantage of favorable steel prices, and staff will pore over the rest of its bids to make sure the overall budget isn’t expanded. The council will meet at 7 p.m. at the council cham- bers in city hall, 500 S.W. Dorion Ave. Pam Wagenaar, Administrative Assistant LOCAL, INDEPENDENT AUDIOLOGIST Working within the community of Pendleton, our clinic provides a variety of hearing healthcare services including hearing assessments and rehabilitation, education, and counseling. FULL SERVICE CLINIC Our clinic also fi ts and dispenses sophisticated hearing aids and related devices to suit all types of hearing loss and life styles. Renata Anderson is a certifi ed licensed audiologist with over twenty years experience. SERVICE YOU CAN RELY ON! You can trust Renata to provide a complete hearing evaluation and a professional diagnosis of your specifi c hearing loss. Call for an appointment with Renata today and start hearing what you’ve been missing. 2237 SW Court, Pendleton 541-276-5053 • www.renataanderson.com
