KA-NEE-TA
RESORT
CLOSES
WEEK 2 FOOTBALL
PREVIEWS AND
PIGSKIN PICKERS
REGION/2A
SPORTS/9A/10A
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2018
142nd Year, No. 219
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
“He’s a phenomenal roper, and an even better human being.”
— Jake Stanley, roper and member of BMCC team
McLeod-Skinner
Walden
Democrat drives
35,000 miles
seeking upset in
Trump country
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
2003.
Stanley, a roper from Hermiston, qual-
ified for the NFR in 2008 and won team
roping at the Pendleton Round-Up in
2014 with his partner Bucky Campbell.
Patterson has loved rodeo since
boyhood.
“My dad started me roping when I
was a little boy,” Patterson said. “I went
to my first jackpot roping when I was 10.
I was hooked after that.”
Patterson arrived at BMCC in 1974 to
join the school’s rodeo team. The Idaho
native hadn’t planned on Pendleton until
a rodeo friend suggested the college and
convinced him to join the team.
The 18-year-old rode bareback,
roped calves, competed in team rop-
ing and wrestled steers. He later com-
peted for Washington State University
where he also earned an animal sciences
REDMOND — One of the largest U.S. con-
gressional districts voted overwhelmingly for
Donald Trump in 2016, yet an Oregon Demo-
crat campaigning against a Republican incum-
bent doesn’t see it as hostile territory.
Buoyed by electoral wins by a couple of
Democrats elsewhere in Trump territory, can-
didate Jamie McLeod-Skinner is undaunted,
traveling a district that’s as big as North
Dakota in her Jeep and tiny trailer that she
sometimes sleeps in.
McLeod-Skinner is enduring all this
because she doesn’t think the incumbent is
focused on the district’s issues. She’s driven
35,000 miles in 14 months of campaigning.
When a parade in the small town of Joseph
was set to start in July, she walked up to an
antique convertible carrying Rep. Greg
Walden, who’s running for his 11th term, and
challenged him to a series of debates.
“I look forward to debating you. We’ll
figure out a schedule that works,” Walden
replied. Five weeks later, a debate has not been
scheduled.
Nationally, Democrats are hoping a “blue
wave” in November will give them a major-
ity in Congress. The Democratic Congressio-
nal Campaign Committee is financing selected
candidates through its Red to Blue program,
hoping to flip seats in Republican-controlled
districts.
McLeod-Skinner’s campaign isn’t one of
them. If the Red to Blue’s 73 candidates are
long shots, ones like McLeod-Skinner — run-
ning in very conservative districts — are real
Hail Marys.
Walden, who typically wins around 70 per-
cent of the vote, had a war chest currently
totaling around $3.2 million in late June — 31
times bigger than McLeod-Skinner’s.
See COACH/8A
See DRIVES/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Retiring BMCC rodeo coach Larry Patterson heads a steer while team roping Wednesday outside of Pendleton.
A legacy of quiet leadership
Patterson competed for
BMCC rodeo team at age
17, spent 30 years with
team
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
S
ome might remember the old E.F.
Hutton commercial. As a client
starts to share his stockbroker’s
advice with a friend, the noise level at
the restaurant immediately plummets
to pin-drop levels. Everyone leans in to
hear.
“When E.F. Hutton talks, people lis-
ten,” an off-camera male voice says.
Larry Patterson is like E.F. Hutton,
except in the form of a college rodeo
coach. When he speaks, his athletes lean
in.
Note to readers
The long-time Blue Mountain Com-
munity College rodeo coach retired
recently (for the second time) from
coaching at BMCC. During his 30-plus
years with the team, a multitude of ath-
letes learned to appreciate his low-key,
unpretentious style.
“He was never the kind of coach who
was busy critiquing every single thing.
He wasn’t a rah-rah, overbearing kind of
guy,” said Jason Stewart, a member of
the 1994 team. “He was the guy who let
you figure it out. When he spoke, some-
thing really substantial came out of his
mouth.”
“He only said what needed to be
said,” said Jake Stanley, on the team
from 2002-05.
Patterson helped shepherd both rop-
ers into the rodeo limelight. Stewart, of
Heppner, is a two-time National Finals
Rodeo qualifier. He won the steer rop-
ing event at the Pendleton Round-Up in
Hermiston, Pendleton
enrollment on the rise
Doggie dippin’
Due to press main-
tenance, today’s
East Oregonian will
be presented as one
14-page section. The
sports section begins
on Page 9A and
comics can be found
on 14A.
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
AND ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
As the school year begins, the two largest school dis-
tricts in Umatilla County are both seeing growth, but at
varying rates. The Pendleton School District is starting to
see a gradual uptick in its student population, and hopes
the numbers will translate to additional funding from
the state. Hermiston School District has seen consistent
growth, and is trying to figure out how to accommodate
all of its students in its existing facilities.
Pendleton schools
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Triton, center, and Dre fetch the same Frisbee in the multi-use pool Wednesday
during doggie-dip day at the Pendleton Family Aquatic Center. Triton, a black lab,
is owned by Mindy Madgett of Pendleton and Dre, a lab/pit bull mix, is owned by
Cierra Madgett. Dozens of area dog owners brought their pooches to the pool for
doggie-dip day, which is the last day of the year the pool is open.
Following years of dwindling enrollment, the Pend-
leton School District received some encouraging news
Wednesday.
According to Matt Yoshioka, the district’s director
of curriculum, instruction and assessment, the district
counted a total of 3,106 students on Sept. 5. That rep-
resents a modest increase from the 3,072 students that
were in attendance on the same day last year.
Almost every level of school saw a small increase in
See SCHOOLS/8A