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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 12, 2019)
A10 East Oregonian Saturday, January 12, 2019 Rescue: ‘Let’s face it, nobody wants an old horse’ Continued from Page A1 EO file photo Horses are enclosed in this 2014 file photo at the Buck Brogoitti Animal Rescue after being seized from their owner. At the time, the animal rescue had 21 animals under its care. Concussion: District denied bulk of claims Continued from Page A1 usually only a few reasons that a case will be removed from state court to federal court. In this case, he said, one party decided that the issue at hand was related to a constitutional right, and as such should be dealt with in federal court. “The very simple answer is that they (the family) argue that the individual has a right to be free from bodily harm, under the 14th Amendment,” Blaine said. “So the school dis- trict moved to have the case in federal court rather than state court.” The Hermiston School District referred questions about the suit to its lawyers, who did not respond to request for comment, and neither the Martin family nor their lawyers responded to requests. But a federal court document respond- ing to the original lawsuit details the district’s admis- sions or denials of the fam- ily’s specific claims. In their response to the suit, the district admit- ted to basic facts, such as the titles of involved staff and administrators, Mar- tin’s age and status as a stu- dent and football player at Hermiston High School during the time the alleged incidents took place. But they denied the bulk of the claims surrounding the first football game that the family says led to Mar- tin’s injury. They admit that he participated in a football game between Hermiston High School and Mountain View High School on Sept. 15, 2016, but deny that he collided helmet-to-helmet with another player and about Martin’s encounters with school trainers the fol- lowing day. The district admits that Martin participated in another game on Oct. 20 between Hermiston and Redmond High School, but said they didn’t have enough knowledge to respond to the claim that Martin had a helmet-to-hel- met collision with another player, or that he fell to the ground and his head bounced off the turf. They admit that the same day, athletic trainer Dan Emery evaluated Mar- tin and concluded he may have suffered a concussion, but deny that Emery told his father to take him home to rest, as well as subse- quent claims about Emery’s assessment of Martin’s condition. They admitted that Dr. Derek Earl evaluated Mar- tin around Nov. 7, 2016, but said they lacked knowl- edge to admit or deny what the family claims Earl told them about his condition. They also denied the family’s claim that the dis- trict did not have rules or policies ensuring that coaches should be trained to recognize concussion symptoms, or policies that students should not return to play or training the same day they exhibit signs of a concussion. An article published Fri- day by the Pacific North- west-based news orga- nization InvestigateWest says that while Oregon has laws for when stu- dents can return to athletic activities after concussions, the state is lacking in spe- cific rules for when con- cussed students return to the classroom, or accom- modating students in class that are recovering from concussions. The article reports that many schools don’t know about or take advantage of the free resources for learn- ing about how to help con- cussed students. The Center for Brain Injury Research and Training (CBIRT), based in Eugene, released a free 10-hour online course to train educators, called “In the Classroom After Concussion.” The article also states that many times, the protocol for treating non-sports related brain injuries varies by individ- ual school. Federal court documents for the case state that the deadline for setting a pre- trial hearing is May 6, 2019. to Pendleton, and rescues, rehabilitates and re-homes horses, but Zirjacks-Stark said the operation right now is full. Commu- nity Equine Outreach will help get health and train- ing evaluations on the 15 horses, but the immediate focus is on feeding them. “We want to get some hay down to her right away,” she said, and is trying to raise $2,000 to buy that. Friday evening the effort was at the $300 mark. She said the easi- est way to donate to Buck Brogoitti Animal Res- cue is via the website Pay- Pal to communityequin- eoutreachofewa@yahoo. com. She stressed Commu- nity Equine Outreach is a pass-through in this case, so donors need to specify if they want their money to buy the feed for the Pend- leton rescue. Zirjacks-Stark also said the intervention developed quickly, so she does not have all the answers and does not know the condi- tions of the horses. She said she hoped they are all healthy enough to re-home but that may not be the case. “Let’s face it, nobody wants an old horse,” she said, so some may have to be humanely euthanized. Brogoitti said she was hopeful the community wanted the sanctuary, and she was willing to leave her land for that cause. Instead, she said, she will look to donate her hundreds of acres to other charities. And for now, she can breath a little easier as helps arrives. Bills: Energy use typically climbs in winter Continued from Page A1 “Customers enrolled in this plan have a monthly statement based on an aver- age of their last 12 pay- ments, so when the weather is unpredictable, their bill won’t be,” he said. “Equal payment plans are reviewed annually and compare the estimated amount to their actual usage and any differ- ence will be billed or cred- ited based on the option selected during enrollment.” Lofting also said the com- pany put her in touch with an “energy saver guy” who she talked to again Friday. Loft- ing said while she must pay their bill, at least Pacific Power is working with her and explaining what is happening. But Christan Bloom said she is not satisfied with the response she and her hus- band received from the com- pany. They saw the electric- ity use at their Adams home jump from 1,894 kilowatts in November to 4,041 kilowatts in December. She said the company sent someone to check their meter and found it running at 100.8 percent, but there was no explana- tion as to why. She also said the worker spoke with them for only 10 minutes before rushing off to another job in Umatilla. Bloom said they have to pay the $647 bill and have no answers to what’s happening with their electricity use. But Hanson said the Pacific Power customer care manager had several conver- sations with Bloom about energy usage since the initial meter reading Wednesday. “Based on her concern that the meter was not oper- ating correctly, arrange- ments were made for the meter reader to return to the site [Friday] to discuss and troubleshoot what could have caused an increase in the usage,” he said. That visit revealed the trailer and floor boards lacked insulation and the thermostat may have been on air conditioner mode. Han- son said that can trigger the heat pump to frost and sub- sequently the furnace to kick in to defrost the heat pump. “An inefficient dance that may be impacting her energy usage,” he said. “It was sug- gested that an electrician investigate further.” The meter reader also provided Bloom with his company cellphone number so they can continue to dis- cuss and troubleshoot her energy usage. Hanson said Bloom called Friday after- noon and made an appoint- ment for an electrician to come out. Hanson also said Bloom used equal pay for a short time but cancelled it in April 2018. “Equal payment is cer- tainly an option should it be something that Ms. Bloom is interested in reenrolling,” he said. Seth Peterson of Pendle- ton helped lead the charge two weeks ago to draw atten- tion to what he said was a spike in local power bills, starting with his own. He said his bill jumped to $122 in December, about double his November bill. Peterson did not immedi- ately respond to a request for an update, but Hanson said Pacific Power on Tuesday conducted a special reading of Peterson’s meter, which confirmed the usage. Peter- son’s son stayed with him a part of December, and Han- son said that could be a fac- tor contributing to a higher bill. He also said winter is typically when energy use climbs, and the Pacific Power offers billing assis- tance, energy usage tools and energy assistance pro- grams, including the equal pay option. You can find links to those at www. pacificpower.net/index.html or call 1-888-221-7070 for more information. Pacific Power also teams up with Energy Trust of Oregon to offer energy effi- ciency consultation and cash incentives to upgrade homes and save energy and money. Visit bewattsmart.com or call the Energy Trust toll free at 1-866-368-7878 to learn more about qualifica- tions and services.