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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 12, 2018)
REGION Thursday, July 12, 2018 East Oregonian ATHENA Caledonian Games highlight Scottish culture in sport, song By TAMMY MALGESINI East Oregonian Personal and up close is what Athena Caledonian Games is all about, said president Sue Friese “We have many experi- ences that qualify,” she said. For instance, she said audiences love the experi- ence when the Boise High- landers Pipe Band marches in and makes a circle in the vendor’s area. Friese said they even let people stand in the middle of the circle of pipers. “Now that is closer than seeing the band on the field,” Friese said. “It is up close and personal and way cool.” For more up close and personal experiences, be sure to catch some of the festival, which kicks off Friday. A Caledonian fund- raiser, the dinner is from 5:30-7 p.m. at Athena City Park. The Candle Lighting Ceremony follows at 7:30 p.m. It serves as an infor- mal blessing of the clans, family and the festival. The festival gets into full swing Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. It includes a parade, park vendors, entertainment, dancing, piping, kids’ games and storytelling. The Scot- tish athletic events start at noon, which features the tossing of hammers, weights, hay bales, and the well-known caber. Beginners, masters and professionals — kilts not required — will compete all afternoon. The popular festival, Friese said, draws people from near and afar. Friese encourages peo- ple to catch Shindig, which starts Saturday after the parade (approximately 10:15 a.m.). It features lots of dancing and a variety of other acts — everything from dramatic poetry read- ing and telling jokes or tall tales to singing and play- ing instrument — all with a Scottish flavor. Thanks to a grant from Umatilla County Cultural Coalition, Cassandra Hum- phrys of Mid-Columbia School of Highland Dance of Richland has been teach- ing Highland dancing. About 12 dancers, ranging in age from 5-12, have been preparing to dance at Cale- donian to show off their kilts and their dancing ghil- lies (shoes). The demon- stration is Saturday at 1 p.m. The Port of Morrow will become a classroom this month, with two new pro- grams focused on educat- ing people about careers in manufacturing and industrial technology. The Port of Morrow will host a teacher externship, as well as a camp for junior high school students. The camp, called “Nuts, Bolts and Thingamajigs,” File photo John Odden of Bend prepares to release a 56-pound weight during the athletic competition at the 2017 Caledonian Games in Athena. Activities take place Friday through Sunday in Athena. Photo contributed by Sue Friese Young dancers perform “The Sword Dance” during the 2009 Athena Caledonian Games. The event runs Friday through Sunday in and around Athena City Park. “It is up close and personal and way cool.” — Sue Friese, Caledonian Games president “These are Athena youngsters that are doing a dandy job,” Friese said. “This is quite personal and we are proud.” Another highlight of the event, Friese said, is Sat- urday evening’s Caledo- nian Tattoo at 6:30 p.m. An outdoor concert, it fea- tures marching pipe bands — including Clan Macleay Pipe Band from Portland and the Boise Highlanders — who will join together for a fantastic finale with the Blue Mountains as a backdrop Sunday’s schedule fea- tures Kirkin’ o’ the Tartan, a church service, at 9:30 a.m. Also a new program will follow. “We are recreating the picnic and games that were celebrated in Athena at first in 1899,” Friese said. The Caledonian Ceilidh, which translates as party, will offer an open mic time for people to share their stories, talents or family secrets, she said. People are invited to bring blankets or chairs and a picnic or pur- chase food and beverages from vendors. “Again, this is down- right fun. That’s what Cale- donian is all about,” Friese said. For more information about Athena Caledonian Games, contact Friese at athenacaledoniangames@ gmail.com, 541-566-3880 or visit www.athenacaledo- niangames.org. ——— Contact Community Edi- tor Tammy Malgesini at tmalgesini@eastoregonian. com or 541-564-4539 will take place from Mon- day, July 23 to Friday, July 27. The port applied for a grant last year from the Man- ufacturing and Fabrication Association. Students from around Morrow and west- ern Umatilla County will tour businesses at the port, including Lamb Weston and Portland General Electric, and hear from speakers at Amazon Web Services and Boardman Foods. Students will also spend half of each day working on a manufac- turing project, applying the skills they’ve learned. There are only a few spots left in the camp, but those interested can contact Port of Morrow Workforce Training Coordinator Kalie Davis at kalied@portofmorrow.com. Five teachers from around Eastern Oregon will also study some businesses at the port, in order to develop les- sons that help their students understand careers in the manufacturing industry. Davis said the teach- ers are from different dis- ciplines, including math, career counseling and sci- ence. The teachers will spend a few days in Portland, and then will spend July 19, and July 23 through 26 at the port. They will shadow someone at Lamb Weston, meet with the Port of Mor- row Road Crew, Amazon Web Services, PGE and sev- eral construction groups. BRIEFLY Juvenile injured in Umatilla shooting UMATILLA — Police are looking into a shooting in a McNary neighborhood Wednesday afternoon. Around 5 p.m., police were called to Chenowith Street for reports of a male who had a gunshot wound. Police Chief Darla Huxel said the victim was a juvenile, and that he was taken to Good Shepherd Med- ical Center, Hermiston. Huxel would not confirm where the boy was shot, but she said his injuries were not likely to be life-threatening. Huxel said at the time, the incident was not being treated as a drive-by shooting, and that the police would con- Former Pendleton citizen wins prestigious teaching award Straughan told the Albany Democrat-Herald “I fell in love with teaching A former Pendleton cit- math because it is the land izen won a Presidential of the ‘ah-has,’ where the Teaching Award last week. light-bulb moments live.” According M e l i s s a to the PAEMST Straughan teaches website, this third grade at teaching award Waverly Ele- mentary School is the high- est recognition in Albany and is a K-12 teacher also a mathemat- ics instructional can receive coach. from the United States govern- She was nom- inated for a Pres- Straughan ment for teach- idential Teaching ing math and sci- Award for Excellence in ence. Awardees receive a Mathematics and Science certificate from the Pres- Teaching by a consultant ident of the United States for Teacher’s Development and travel to Washington, Group, an organization that D.C., to discuss how to works to enhance mathe- improve science, technol- matics teaching. ogy, engineering and math- After graduating from ematics education with Pendleton High School, policy-makers. They also Straughan left the city in receive a $10,000 award 1995 to attend college. She from the National Science received her bachelor’s Foundation. The award was estab- and master’s degrees from Western Oregon University lished in 1983 and recog- and has been teaching for nizes up to 108 teachers each year. 18 years. By BRITTANY NORTON East Oregonian PENDLETON Port of Morrow programs for teachers, students East Oregonian Page 3A tinue to follow up. She said some of the wit- nesses were not being coop- erative, and that the police had not yet identified who the shooter was. Wildhorse Casino temporarily closes for technical updates PENDLETON — Wild- horse Resort and Casino is normally open 24-hours per day, but standard main- tenance forced the casino and a few other facilities to close for about 13 hours Wednesday, according to a Wildhorse press release. Wildhorse officials said the casino, restaurants and retail stores closed at midnight Wednesday and reopened about 2 p.m. to usual operations. A press release stated only that the casino closed for a “portion of the day” for “technical upgrades and maintenance to internal systems.” The hotel, golf course, and RV park were not affected by the closure. In a statement, Wild- horse CEO Gary George said the upgrades were a necessary step to keep the casino running efficiently. EARTHLINK INTERNET HIGH SPEED INTERNET Council lops airport debt at expense of general fund first phase of the new fire station project from $1.9 million to $2.1 million. Public Works Director Bob Patterson said some bids came in higher than anticipated, but he still expected the total cost of the station to come in at its $9.4 million estimate. • The council agreed to provide a $2 million match if the city secures a $25 million BUILD grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The grant would cover the project costs of realign- ing the Interstate 84 Exit 209 interchange to allevi- ate traffic in that area. Pat- terson said the grant appli- cation is due July 19. • The council agreed to a 10-year, $118,180 lease with Queen B Storage to use the old Blue Mountain Recovery Center property. The city will continue to market the 4.76 acres to industrial companies for development, and the city can terminate the lease at any time provided they give Queen B 180 days notice and reimbursement for any improvements made to the property. Queen B already leases 8.82 acres of land from the city, a point of contention from Pendleton resident Gale Marshall, who said the city’s lease rate was too low and drove his own RV storage company out of business. By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian Being both the bank and the debtor has its benefits. With five “ayes,” the Pendleton City Coun- cil wiped away more than $259,850 in debt owed by the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport at Tues- day’s meeting. The move will further reduce the mil- lions of dollars of debt the airport holds, but it will also mean less money for the general fund. Across decades, the air- port borrowed as much as $2.5 million from the gen- eral fund and other parts of the budget to subsidize operations. The city is obligated to pay those interfund loans back by state law, and the city’s auditing firm has for years urged the city to address the debt. As the airport contin- ued to accrue debt over the years, the city charged itself interest, ranging from 1 percent to 7 percent. The city has been paying back the interest, but according to City Manager Robb Cor- bett, the interest payments act like “IOUs” rather than a payment backed by cash. For the past several months, staff have argued that the city isn’t bound to charge itself a high interest rate and state law allows the city to declare a retro- active rate lower than what was originally charged. The council’s action on Tuesday reset its inter- est rate to 1 percent, result- ing in the $259,850 debt reduction The airport’s gain will be a loss for the general fund, which has been the airport’s primary subsi- dizer. The general fund, which pays for services like public safety and parks and recreation, will be reduced by $201,400. Paired with a separate $200,000 payment the council agreed to in June, the city has reduced the air- port debt by $459,850 over the course of two months. 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