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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 2018)
Page 10A Tuesday, October 30, 2018 OFF PAGE ONE TEACHER: Award is a shared achievement for the entire school East Oregonian Continued from 1A Staff photo by Phil Wright Protesters line up Saturday along Highway 395. RALLY: 105 ‘will hurt my students’ Continued from 1A xenophobia, she said, which goes hand in hand with the rea- son for the rally. Hermiston City Councilor Roy Barron said the ballot mea- sure stemmed from the federal government’s failure to address immigration reform. The mea- sure forces Oregonians to “pick and choose sides” based on race, he said. Hermiston grade school teacher Delta Colbray said she was not well versed on Mea- sure 105 but it “will hurt my students,” allow police to racially profile and cause dis- sent between communities of color and law enforcement. She said she has seen students tell other students “they will be sent back.” But “back to where?” Col- bray continued. “They were born here.” McLeod-Skinner told the crowd elections carry conse- quences, and Measure 105’s consequences are bad for Oregon. “Measure 105 allows the focus not to be on someone’s behavior,” she said, “but on someone’s skin color.” The rally ended with many in the crowd grabbing hand- painted, anti-105 signs and dis- playing those to the passing traffic on nearby Highway 395. Drivers aplenty honked to show support for the rally. with another Weston teacher. It’s Doremus’ first year in her room and she decided to use the historic school’s windows as extra writing space for herself and her students. As of Monday after- noon, the windows were filled with angels and equations. She piloted an honors math program that paved the way for high-achieving students to take algebra a year early and helped spearhead the middle school’s transition to Eureka Math, an open-sourced math curriculum that’s aligned with Common Core. Without having to spend money on an expensive curricu- lum, Doremus said the school can use the savings to buy classroom laptops. In a small fish tank wrapped in tin foil near the doorway is the class’ science experiment. Doremus said students are cre- ating their own pond, inserting worms, frogs, and plants into the tank. Earlier in the day, Doremus said students used microscopes to inspect the single-celled organ- isms that were calling the class- room’s manufactured pond home. Three times a year, Doremus meets with other educators in Pasco as a part of the Next Gen- eration Science Standards Lead- ership Network, which she has used to help make science lessons more engaging and hands-on. With all that in mind, Weston Middle School Principal Ann Vescio said she nominated Doremus for the award because she exhibited the flexibility and determination epitomized by small school teachers. “She’s what we call a teacher leader,” Vescio said. Over her tenure, Doremus has taught math, reading, social stud- ies, science, and health. Although she mostly focuses on seventh- and eighth-grade math and science these days, Doremus also teaches a period of Staff photo by E.J. Harris Teacher Amber Doremus helps sixth-grader Madison Grigsby with a math problem on Monday at Weston Middle School. Doremus also leads a weight training program for girls and is attuned to some of the body image issues they might face. physical education. She’s worked with PE teacher Justin Funderburk to secure $100,000 in gym equipment and implement a system that had stu- dents set personal goals for their time in PE. Doremus also leads a weight training program for girls and is attuned to some of the body image issues they might face. “I’m really open about myself and what I went through,” she said. Beyond the gym, Doremus dedicates some of her time to assisting her students through the acute insecurities of middle school. A cluster of Post-It notes by the doorway “barriers” are evi- dence of that. Next to a sentence that reads “When I walk into math class I feel,” students wrote messages on their notes. While some were innocuous like “happy,” and “inspired,” others were a little heavy, like one that said “like I want to die.” Doremus said she works with kids to help them real- ize that math isn’t the intim- idating force it’s made to be. “There’s no such thing as a ‘math person,’” she said. “Math person” or not, Doremus, 39, grew up in the area and was a student in the Athe- na-Weston School District. She went to Blue Mountain Community College, and pur- sued a career in civil engineering before realizing that she would rather work closer to home, lead- ing her to become a teacher. When she found out that she had won the Teacher of the Year award from the Oregon Small Schools Association, she was shocked in more ways than one. “I had no idea the award existed,” she said. But Doremus thinks the award is a shared achievement for the entire school and a chance to spot- light the good work being done in Eastern Oregon. ——— Contact Antonio Sierra at asi- erra@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0836. TAX: The agency wants to raise $293 million through a $2 per pack tax on cigarettes Continued from 1A “The purpose of this was to use this as a lever to cut down consumption,” said Pat Allen, Oregon Health Authority director. But the success of such policies, or “sin taxes,” may depend on whether price increases are significant enough to deter consum- ers, and whether smokers or drinkers can find products elsewhere at lower prices. Nationally, alcohol taxes haven’t increased much since the 1990s, which makes it more challenging to understand drinkers’ sensi- tivity to price increases, said Benjamin Hansen, a profes- sor of economics at the Uni- versity of Oregon. The efficacy of tobacco taxes may also be changing with the growing popular- ity of largely untaxed alter- natives like e-cigarettes and vape pens, which typically have less nicotine and are marketed as less harmful. Those products aren’t currently taxed in Ore- gon, according to the Public Health Law Center, but the Health Authority is propos- ing to tax them. Hansen said policymak- ers should also consider whether tobacco consumers could get a similar product more cheaply on the black market, online or in another state. A successful “sin tax” doesn’t work as a long-term strategy for the state budget. “The better these taxes are for health, the worse they are for revenue,” Han- sen said. The Health Authority wants to increase taxes on beer, wine and cider by 10 percent, which officials esti- mate could raise $491 mil- lion over two years. The agency also wants to raise $293 million through a $2 per pack tax on cigarettes, a tax on “inhalant delivery systems” like e-cigarettes, and removing the 50-cent limit on taxes per cigar. Oregon’s cigarette taxes rank about 30th among states, according to the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C., think tank. Idaho is the only neighboring state with lower cigarette taxes. Advocates maintain tax increases dissuade people from smoking. “A substantial body of research, which has accumu- lated over many decades and from many countries, shows that significantly increas- ing the excise tax and price of tobacco products is the single most consistently effective tool for reducing tobacco use,” according to a 2017 study by the World Health Organization and the National Cancer Insti- tute. “Significant increases in tobacco taxes and prices reduce tobacco use by lead- ing some current users to quit, preventing potential users from initiating use, and reducing consumption among current users.” The Health Authority’s proposal would tax vape pens and e-cigarettes that are seen as a lower-nicotine alternative to cigarettes or cigars. The Health Authority is budgeting about $29 mil- lion of the taxes for tobacco and chronic disease preven- tion. The Legislature would decide how to distribute the rest. The state also has some of the lowest alcohol taxes in the country, according to the Health Authority. Beer taxes remain at the same level they were in 1977 and the rate for wines was last changed in 1983. COMMISSIONER GEORGE MURDOCK IS FOCUSED ON UMATILLA COUNTY “In real terms, beer and wine taxes fall every year because they do not keep up with inflation,” the Health Authority’s budget proposal states. The proposal includes automatic tax increases to account for inflation. The agency said a 10 per- cent increase in the price of alcohol would reduce excessive drinking by 5 per- cent. They said such alcohol abuse costs the state’s econ- omy about $3.5 billion every year. The agency said the tax increase would reduce by $287 million a year costs “related to lost productivity and absenteeism, premature death, health care, crime, motor vehicle crashes and fetal alcohol syndrome.” The agency proposes spending $49 million more on alcohol and drug treatment. The rest would be dis- tributed under an existing formula to the state general fund, which pays for general state operations, and cities and counties. As proposed, the tax increases on alcohol and tobacco would be one of the largest state tax hikes in recent times. Some prior tax bills have been comparable in scale. In 2009, lawmakers raised income taxes by about $801 million for the biennium. And last year’s transporta- tion package, which included several tax increases, was designed to raise more than $5 billion over 10 years. In the next two-year budget, it’s expected to raise $910 million. It’s not easy to raise taxes in Oregon, because those measures require approval from 60 percent of the law- makers in the House and Senate. Taxes on tobacco and alcohol are an especially big lift. In 2016, Gov. Kate Brown proposed raising cig- arette taxes by 85 cents per pack, but that did not come to fruition, and taxes remain at $1.33 per pack. Brown’s office didn’t respond to written questions about whether the gover- nor supported the proposed tax increases on alcohol and tobacco. “Agencies drive the con- tent of their proposals, and our office is not in the habit of striking ideas down or escalating them until the appropriate point, which takes place when the gover- nor finalizes her budget from a wide list of options that agencies bring to the table,” spokeswoman Kate Kon- dayen wrote in an email. Allen said he and his staff have discussed the proposal with her staff but got no direction on it from the gov- ernor or her office. Reporter Claire Withy- combe: cwithycombe@ eomediagroup.com or 503- 385-4903. Withycombe is a reporter for the East Orego- nian working for the Oregon Capital Bureau, a collabo- ration of EO Media Group, Pamplin Media Group, and Salem Reporter. Thank you to the following businesses for supporting Newspapers in Education Their generous support of the East Oregonian NIE program helps provide copies of the newspaper and unlimited access to EastOregonian.com and the e-Edition to schools throughout Umatilla, Morrow and Gilliam counties. Dean's Pendleton Athletic “If government is going to work in Eastern Oregon, it is vital the cities and the county are on the same page. Commissioner Murdock epitomizes the idea of working together for the benefit of not just Hermiston, but all of Umatilla County.” Dave Drotzmann, mayor of Hermiston “We absolutely have to keep Commissioner Murdock in the Courthouse.” Dan Primus, Umatilla County District Attorney “I’ve worked closely with George Murdock since the day I moved to Pendleton. At every step of the way, he is focused on making a positive difference - whatever the project and whatever the challenge.” John Turner, mayor of Pendleton “Commissioner Murdock understands rural values and he understands what it takes to balance a budget and yet listen to what people think is important. He grew in a small town and graduated in a class of 37 students.” Toni Hamby, Pilot Rock “He’s my go-to guy.” Terry Rowan, Umatilla County Sheriff EXPERIENCE IS THE DIFFERENCE Umatilla County Commission Board Chair George Murdock has earned a second full term Paid for by Committee to Re-elect George Murdock, County Commissioner. 191 NW Johns Lane., Pendleton, OR 97801 CHI St. Anthony Hospital 1415 Southgate Pendleton, OR 541-276-0880 | RAClub.us 249 S. Main St. Pendleton, OR 97801 541-276-6988 Facebook.com/ DeansPendletonAthletic 541-276-5121 SAHPendleton.org 2081 St. Anthony Way Pendleton, OR 97801 541-276-1260 BLUECC.EDU 301 S. Main St., Pendleton, OR 541-278-6800 • OldWestFCU.org 2411 NW Carden Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 505 SW 16th St. Pendleton, OR 541-612-8575 KirbyNagelhout.com Robert Alan Property Management For more information on the NIE Program, visit EastOregonian.com/eo/nie. To make a donation, call 800-522-0255.
