REGION
Thursday, September 13, 2018
East Oregonian
Sermon from the mount
HERMISTON
Forum in works
for superintendent
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Though Todd Pierce is
used to breaking horses as he
preaches sermons, he didn’t
have to fight too hard with
this one.
Pierce and his company,
Riding High Ministries, was
in Umatilla on Tuesday at
Two Rivers Correctional
Institution.
About 60 inmates from
Two Rivers watched quietly
as Pierce worked with Vixen,
an unbroken mare. Within 30
minutes the horse went from
having never been ridden
before to patiently carrying
Pierce around the corral.
Pierce travels around
Oregon and Idaho present-
ing sermons, using the exer-
cise of breaking an unbroken
horse as a metaphor for how
people can change their own
conduct.
Each time he does a ser-
mon, he uses a new horse,
one that’s never been saddled
or ridden. Vixen, now owned
by a family in Hermiston,
was rescued from a kill pen
two years ago.
Vixen showed a little hes-
itation at first, but quickly
grew comfortable with Pierce
and allowed him to ride her.
Pierce said he was sur-
prised by the outcome — in
most cases, he said, he gets
bucked off several times.
But he said it didn’t take
away from the lesson.
“Two years ago this horse
was starving, abandoned, had
no future,” he said. “Some-
one came along and said, that
one’s mine. Today, some-
one’s coming and saying to
you, ‘You’re mine, I’m going
to love you,’” Pierce said.
Inmate Sal Rojas watched,
rapt, as Pierce rode the horse
calmly around the corral.
“I thought he gave a per-
fect sermon,” Rojas said. “I
just liked how he took his
time telling the story. It gives
me hope.”
Donna Niemeyer and her
daughter Emilie Stockton
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Jayati Ramakrishnan
Todd Pierce rides Vixen the mare after she has been saddled for the first time. The
exercise was part of Pierce’s sermon for Riding High Ministries.
Staff photo by Jayati Ramakrishnan
Inmates pray at the end of a sermon in the Two Rivers Correctional Institution yard.
own Vixen, having rescued
her about two years ago.
Niemeyer said Vixen is
a gentle horse by nature,
but was surprised by how
quickly she took to being
saddled.
“Nobody’s been on her
back,” she said. “It’s just
shocking.”
Niemeyer said they have
rescued several other ani-
mals, as well.
“Every animal deserves to
have a home,” she said.
Pierce likened the strug-
gle for the horse, and for the
rider, to the things people
have to struggle with as they
try to improve.
“I see so many people that
just do what they can to stay
Page 3A
comfortable,” he said.
All the inmates, he said,
are capable of being more
than what they are now.
“You’re being asked to do
things normal men can’t do,”
he said. “There’s men who
go back out into the world
and survive. I believe you
guys will go back out and be
world changers.”
The Hermiston School
District has not yet final-
ized a decision about how
they will fill the super-
intendent role
vacated
last
month.
At a meet-
ing on Monday,
board members
said they were
leaning toward
appointing act-
ing
superin- Mooney
tendent Tricia
Mooney in the role, but
that they would first hold
a community forum so
that Mooney could speak
to members of the pub-
lic about her vision for the
district and the work she’s
done so far.
A date has not yet been
set for the forum.
Dr. Fred Maiocco,
superintendent of the
Hermiston School Dis-
trict for the past 10 years,
submitted a letter of res-
ignation the last week of
August, after informing
the board that his military
duty had been extended
until January 2020. When
he left for military duty
in July 2017, he told the
board he would return by
January 2019.
Fred Maiocco, a briga-
dier general with the U.S.
Army Reserves, is cur-
rently serving as the com-
mander, 7th Mission
Support Command, a for-
ward-deployed,
conse-
quence management and
civil affairs unit based in
Kaiserslautern, Germany.
He is also the deputy com-
manding general for the
21st Theater Sustainment
Command, coordinating
logistical support to U.S.
forces in Europe, Africa
and the Middle East.
He has been previ-
ously deployed in 2011,
to Kuwait and Iraq for 18
months.
Mooney was selected
as interim superintendent
after the board
interviewed three
candidates.
She
previously served
as the district’s
human resources
director.
During
the
meeting,
each
board
member
stated how they’d
like to proceed with filling
the position. Five of the
six members present said
they were leaning toward
appointing Mooney, and
the absent board member,
Dave Smith, submitted a
written statement saying
the same thing.
Board
member
Jason Middleton said
he would like to see the
search expanded to other
candidates.
“You’ve done a great
job,” he said to Mooney.
“While we get to see the
great things (Mooney) has
done, a search is a way for
the community to see what
she has done and can do.
I think going through that
process is a good thing for
the district.”
Board chair Karen Sher-
man said a search would
cost the district about
$10,000.
Most board members
said they see the value in
a broader search, but felt
appointing Mooney would
maintain a sense of stabil-
ity in the district.
“I’ve been contacted
by several people, and the
concern has been stability
and accountability,” Sher-
man said. “They feel they
can be stable with the cur-
rent administration.”
Hermiston second graders learn to stay safe in the water
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
This year’s crop of Herm-
iston second graders are
already getting a jump on
next summer.
All the district’s sec-
ond graders are spending
one day at the Hermiston
Family Aquatic Center this
week, getting a two-hour
water safety lesson. The day
includes learning how to
put on life jackets, breath-
ing techniques and basic
strokes.
Hermiston Parks and
Recreation has partnered
with the Hermiston School
District to offer lessons, with
the hopes of identifying kids
that may need further water
safety training.
Recreation
Supervisor
Brandon Artz said the idea
came about because the pool
was going to have some
extended hours this year.
When Blue Mountain
Community College closed
Echo
looking at
sewer rate
increase
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
The city of Echo is ready
to dive into its new wastewa-
ter systems upgrade, but the
project will come at a cost.
City manager Diane Berry
said engineers estimate the
city will need to charge res-
idents between $74 and $75
a month to operate the new
system and pay off its debt
service. The city council will
vote on a resolution rais-
ing rates at the city council
meeting next Thursday.
The city currently charges
residents $47 per month for
sewer. Berry will recom-
mend the council raise rates
Staff photo by Jayati Ramakrishnan
Sunset Elementary School second graders practice
swimming with life jackets at a water safety lesson on
Wednesday.
its pool, the city decided
to keep the pool open until
mid-October so that the high
school girls’ swim team
could practice there. In the
Washington Interscholastic
Athletic Association, which
Hermiston High School now
competes in, girls swim-
ming is a fall sport.
He said the longer season
gave them an opportunity to
offer more swim lessons.
“We got to talking about
water safety, and thought,
could we get schools and
kids here,” Artz said.
Artz said he hopes the
program will continue for
the next few years.
On Wednesday, students
from Sunset Elementary
were at the pool, enjoying
a sunny day as they honed
to $60 starting in October
and then up to $75 in the
spring.
The wastewater the city
discharges into the Umatilla
River does not meet state
standards for biological oxy-
gen demand, and the Depart-
ment of Environmental
Quality has ordered the city
to fix the problem by 2019.
The city got about 12 years’
worth of extensions from
the DEQ before then, but
the state agency has warned
it will not continue giving
extensions indefinitely and
failure to comply would
result in significant fines.
The city of Stanfield has
volunteered to take the recy-
cled water generated by
Echo, and Echo is ready to
move forward on designing
the project.
During the November
election, Echo residents
will be voting on who will
help guide the city through
the project. Four of Echo’s
seven at-large council seats
are up for election, as well as
its mayor.
Berry said incumbent
Jeanne Hampton was the
only person to file for the
mayor’s position. On the
council, Karl Jensen and
Gayle Yoder did not re-file.
Tammie Williams, who was
appointed to fill a vacant seat
earlier this year, has filed, as
has incumbent Janie Enright
and newcomers Dick Yoder
and Chad Ray. The top four
vote-getters in the election
— including the four on the
ballot and any write-in can-
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their water skills. Students
practiced staying afloat in
the water with kickboards,
retrieving rings from the
floor of the shallow pool
and jumping off the diving
board.
Aquatic center manager
Kasia Robbins said the pool
staff focused on several dif-
ferent areas of water safety.
“Knowing how to bob to
safety — using your height
and the push of a jump to get
yourself to where you can
stand,” she said.
They also taught stu-
dents about the importance
of floating.
“If anything can save
you, it’s rolling over, putting
your head up and floating till
you get to safety,” she said.
Robbins said they also
taught students the impor-
tance of having an adult
present when they’re in the
water, and how to put their
faces in the water.
At the end of the lesson,
all students got sent home
with a report card, scoring
them from a level of 1 to 5
in different areas — 5 being
mastery of the skill.
“They tell whether the
child can float, do arm
strokes, kicks, if they can
bob to safety,” Robbins said.
Each report card also offers
students a week of swim les-
sons for $10.
Robbins said the school
district covered the cost
of buses, as well as towels
and swimsuits for kids who
don’t have them.
“We hope spending the
money saves a life,” Rob-
bins said.
Cherilyn Spencer, a sec-
ond grade teacher at Sun-
set Elementary, said she was
glad students were getting
exposure to the water.
“This is a life skill,” she
said. “Some students hadn’t
ever been here (to the pool)
before. With all the water
we have around here, it’s
important.”
P.E. teachers from all
five elementary schools
were at the pool all week,
helping with land instruc-
tion. Bret Favorite of West
Park helped students prac-
tice different types of arm
strokes before they got into
the water, and Greg Hamm
of Rocky Heights showed
them how to put on life jack-
ets correctly.
In the water, students
got lessons from Hermiston
High School students who
had worked as lifeguards
and swim teachers through-
out the summer.
“The high school was
really awesome working
with us to excuse those stu-
dents to come out and take
part of this,” Artz said.
In addition to the Herm-
iston girls swim team, the
Pendleton Swim Club has
also been traveling to Herm-
iston four days a week to use
the pool.
“It goes back to the fact
that we need an indoor
aquatic center,” Artz said.
“We’re happy to have them.
We want to provide opportu-
nities for kids to swim.”
didates — will receive spots
on the council.
In other news, Berry said
the Thielsen Street project is
nearly complete. The proj-
ect placed sidewalks along
Thielsen Street from Main
Street to the bridge before
the cemetery, with benches,
planters and a bike lane
added as well. Landscaping
will be added in the spring.
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Jeremy
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Shipton
September 13, 1983 -
September 30, 2003
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