Tuesday, June 4, 2019
East Oregonian
A9
Second chances: Troubled teens
learn how to succeed
Continued from Page A1
Capital Press File Photo
An Oregon congressman is urging lawmakers to pass a bill that would allow rural electric co-
ops to receive government grants for disaster relief and broadband internet service, with-
out losing tax-exempt status.
Co-op: Bill would open door for
electric co-ops to receive aid
Continued from Page A1
for rural broadband without
counting toward income.
Walden, a Republican
whose district covers nearly
all of Central and Eastern
Oregon, is co-sponsoring
the legislation.
“Rural electric cooper-
atives and other consum-
er-owned utilities are at the
center of efforts to grow
Oregon’s communities and
rebuilding when disas-
ter strikes,” Walden wrote.
“The utilities and their mem-
bers should not be penalized
with long-term tax costs for
keeping the lights and keep-
ing power affordable for
rural Oregonians.”
Keith Brooks, gen-
eral manager of the Doug-
las Electric Cooperative in
Roseburg, understands the
predicament all too well.
Earlier this year, a heavy
winter snowstorm damaged
about 105 miles of transmis-
sion lines across the co-op’s
service area, which covers
about 2,200 square miles
in western and southern
Douglas County. Some of
the co-op’s 9,000 members
were without power for up
to three weeks, Brooks said.
Brooks said the storm
was “beyond any other
experience we’ve had as a
company,” costing the co-op
an estimated $10 million.
“We worked more over-
time in less than a month
than we have in the last 10
years combined,” he said.
Douglas Electric Coop-
erative recently applied for
FEMA funding to cover
up to 75% of the expenses.
With uncertainty around
the tax law, Brooks said the
grant could have a consider-
able impact on ratepayers if
it is counted toward income.
“It’s just going to add
to the burden that we are
already carrying,” Brooks
said.
Across the state, the
Columbia Basin Electric
Cooperative in Heppner has
also applied for a signifi cant
USDA grant to extend fi ber
internet to every home and
business within the service
territory.
CBEC serves roughly
2,800 customers over 3,005
square miles spanning fi ve
Central and Eastern Ore-
gon counties, including
Umatilla, Morrow, Gilliam,
Wheeler and Sherman. The
co-op’s board of directors
approved the fi ber internet
initiative in 2016, which is
expected to cost $18 million
at full build-out.
Thomas Wolff, CBEC
general manager, said
access to rural broadband is
becoming more critical for
farmers and ranchers that
drive the region’s economy.
“From working futures
on your wheat crop to order-
ing parts on your combine,
today’s businesses run on
high-speed, quality broad-
band,” Wolff said.
Wolff said the co-op
could not afford the project
without government fund-
ing. Without the RURAL
Act, he said CBEC ratepay-
ers would be required to pay
substantially higher power
bills due to tax penalties.
“It would be an abrupt
and large increase in power
rates to rural consumers
due to this inadvertent over-
sight,” he said.
almost all the time, but
eventually ease into com-
munity life when they are
ready to attend class at the
high school, work part-
time jobs, live with fos-
ter families and do service
projects around town.
Julie Smith, the dis-
trict’s special education
director, said Homestead
averages about 22 boys at
any given time. Doebler-Ir-
vine said they generally
stay about a year. All are
pre-tested and tested again
after 90 days. Smith said
last year, of the 17 students
who stayed more than 90
days, 10 students increased
one grade level or more in
reading. Nine caught up in
math.
“Kids can work through
quite a few credits in a
year,” Smith said. “Our
goal is to get them caught
up to their grade level by
the time they leave.”
Part of the success
comes with a shift in mind-
set, Smith said.
“Students who come to
us don’t believe they can
learn,” she said. “With
support, they fi nd out they
can.”
She said the boys ben-
efi t from positive interac-
tions with adults.
“There are a lot of
adults looking out after
them, which may be new
to them,” Smith said. “It is
a culture of caring.”
Caring, with a huge dol-
lop of tough love.
“Here, if they have
a missing assignment,
their loco parentis is right
upstairs,” she said.
Much of the learning
happens in the Home-
stead’s daylight basement,
where four teachers —
Travis Zander, Emily Wil-
liams, Tina Williams and
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Elisa Doebler-Irvine is the executive director of Home-
stead Youth and Family Services in Pendleton.
Kim Richards — have
classrooms. The class-
rooms are typical with
white boards, computers
and motivational posters
on the walls. Six to nine
students sit in desks scat-
tered around every class-
room. Each boy starts at
his own level and works
his way forward in his
personalized
learning
program.
A little room apart from
the classrooms, called
the think-time room, is a
haven for students who feel
temporarily overwhelmed.
The room has no lock on
the door and gives boys
space to concentrate and
catch their breath.
Veteran teacher Travis
Zander helps the students
with credit retrieval, deter-
mining what they’ve done
and helping them fi ll in the
blanks.
“Their learning levels
are all over the map,” Doe-
bler-Irvine said. “When
they are behind, it’s demor-
alizing. They are out of
step with their peers. Get-
ting caught up gives them
a sense of success.”
Zander also runs a lead-
ership class where the boys
do community service.
Last spring, Homestead
residents received an award
for regularly maintaining
Pendleton’s youth baseball
fi elds. On Thanksgiving,
the boys brought Thanks-
giving dinner to the Pend-
leton Warming Station.
“They go out and do
good deeds,” Doebler-Ir-
vine said.
The academic work
is coupled with counsel-
ing and other sessions on
everything from handling
anger to balancing a check-
ing account.
The boys may be grab-
bing on to their last real
chance for success as an
adult, said Smith, who sug-
gested that focusing energy
on them now can change a
boy’s trajectory. For those
who continue on the same
unhealthy path, “there is a
huge cost to them and to us
societally.”
Doebler-Irvine loves to
see them fi nd success in
the community as they dis-
cover their wings.
“It’s a lovely thing to
have people see them as
the young men they are
today,” she said, “and not
as their labels.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kane y@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0810.
P E N D L E T O N
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St. Anthony Provider Spotligh t
Horse Staging Area: Western Auto/Baxter Parking Lot
Line-Up Area: SW Dorion Street
Aimee Rogers, MD
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OR 97801 or email requests to: fbradbury@yahoo.com
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Pendleton, OR 97801
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541.966.0535
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