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East Oregonian
Saturday, January 12, 2019
Rescue: ‘Let’s face it, nobody wants an old horse’
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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
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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
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“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.