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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 2018)
TRUMP’S NEW DEAL EOU WINS OPENER SHERIFFS’ SANCTUARY PETITION NATION/7A SPORTS/1B LOCAL/2A TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2018 142nd Year, No. 212 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD HERMISTON Maiocco resigns from top school post Superintendent has been on active military duty since July 2017; deployment extended The board will pay Maiocco $281,346 as part of a sep- aration agree- ment. The majority of that money, $243,368.30, Maiocco will be paid in a lump sum. The district will pay him $27,456 in PERS contribu- tions, and $10,521.70 in a health By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN East Oregonian The Hermiston School Board has voted unanimously to accept the resignation of its superinten- dent, Dr. Fred Maiocco. benefit account. Maiocco is currently on active military leave, serving with the U.S. Army Reserves, and based in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The decision came after the board said they were informed in June that Maiocco’s deployment had been extended until January 2020. Previously, he was sched- uled to return to his job as superin- tendent in January 2019. The board approved a sepa- HERMISTON ration resolution at a meeting on Monday, which stated that they appreciated Maiocco’s service to the district and with the military, but that both parties recognized the negative effects Maiocco’s pro- longed leave was having on the district. The official date of Maioc- co’s resignation in the agreement is June 30, 2018, the end of the last fiscal year. “We started having the conver- sation shortly after Dr. Maiocco’s deployment,” said board vice-chair Josh Goller. “We knew there was a possibility it could be extended — and then we received word his deployment was extended.” Goller said the board received a letter dated May 26 about Maioc- co’s deployment extension in early June. Board chair Karen Sherman read out a brief resignation state- ment from Maiocco, which thanks the board and praises the staff and See MAIOCCO/9A BACK TO SCHOOL EO file photo Tyree Houfmuse listens to his defense at- torney Kara Davis during a pre-trial hear- ing in March at the Stafford Hansell Gov- ernment Center in Hermiston. Settlement drops charge of murder Tyree Houfmuse makes plea deal in 2017 death By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN East Oregonian Tyree Houfmuse has spent the last 14 months in jail facing a slew of charges in the death of James Cragun. On Monday, the Hermiston man pleaded guilty to a single count of felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to 25 months behind bars. Judge Patricia Sullivan dismissed all other charges, including murder, manslaughter, and unlawful use of a weapon, due to insufficient evidence. Houfmuse, 36, was arrested in June 2017 and charged with killing Cragun, who died from a gunshot wound on Memorial Day weekend in 2017. The two men knew each other. The night Cragun died, Houfmuse was with a woman they both had dated and who is the mother of See HOUFMUSE/10A Staff photo by E.J. Harris Janci Spoo calls on a student while teaching an intro to health services class on Monday at Hermiston High School. Ready for the real world New high school teachers hope to give students marketable skills By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN East Oregonian When students gradu- ate from high school, they have some options: go to col- lege, start working, or hone a skill that will land them a job. Some new teachers at Herm- iston High hope to give stu- dents a leg up with the latter. Hermiston High School welcomes new teachers this year in three career-focused subjects: family and con- sumer sciences, welding and woods, and health services. Brent Parks, the new weld- ing and woods teacher, is stepping into a quickly grow- ing field at the high school. “We’ve totally revamped the program,” said Parks, a 2007 Hermiston graduate. “We’ve switched over from a traditional woodshop to a construction program.” It’s a new approach for Parks as well. After graduat- See SCHOOL/10A Staff photo by E.J. Harris Teacher Brent Parks gives a walk-though of the shop to new students during the first day of class Monday. PENDLETON The best of times Graduates gather for 73rd reunion at Eagles By KATHY ANEY and BRITTANY NORTON East Oregonian Staff photo by Kathy Aney Verla (Thompson) Tomlinson and Jack Kelley served as student body secretary and president for the class of 1945. The pair also or- ganizes the class’ yearly reunions. At age 91, Jack Kelley and Verla (Thompson) Tomlinson are still presiding over the Pendleton High School class of 1945. The pair of nonagenarians kept up a lively presence at the class’ 73rd reunion, held Friday evening at the Eagle’s Lodge. The cohort, once 114 strong, now has 38 living members. They met every five years for a while, but of late, have come together annually. “We figure we better do it every year,” Tomlinson said. “We’re all our 90s,” Kelley said. Their sophomore and junior years, the class elected Kelley and Tomlinson as president and sec- retary. The pair presided over the entire student body their senior year. Now, they organize class reunions together. “We’re still co-chairing the these reunions,” Kelley said. “It’s a natural.” “And no one else wanted the job,” Tomlinson said, with a laugh. Members of the class and their spouses chatted over dinner, mesh- ing high school memories with tales of recent adventure and the latest on the grandchildren (and great-grandchildren). Six name tags sat unclaimed at the registra- tion table. All had sent regrets, cit- ing health reasons for not attending. The action in the lodge was low- key, lacking the high-octane activ- ities of earlier reunions. “We’re all in our 90s, so we don’t do a lot of dancing and whooping it up,” Tomlinson said. The class attended high school, located in what is now the John Murray Building, in a time that was both simple and so complex. In an era devoid of computers, cell See REUNION/10A
