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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 17, 2019)
ROUND-UP HOSTS NATIONAL ANTHEM TRYOUTS COUPLE FINDS LOVE AND SECOND CAREER AS RESTAURATEURS PILOT ROCK HIRES THREE COACHES FOR FOUR PROGRAMS REGION, A3 LIFESTYLES, C1 SPORTS, B1 WEEKEND EDITION E O AST 143rd Year, No. 217 REGONIAN AUGUST 17-18, 2019 WINNER OF THE 2019 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD $1.50 Ambulance service up to voters Fate of higher tax rate for ambulance services to be determined Nov. 5 By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian EO SPOTLIGHT MILTON-FREEWATER — Voters in and around Milton-Freewater get to decide if they want to sup- port ambulance service at a higher tax rate. The Umatilla County Board of Commissioners held a public hearing Friday morning in the small town’s library to consider putting the matter on the November ballot. The ambulance dis- trict was seeking to increase its taxing rate to $1.40 per $1,000 of assessed value but district board mem- bers asked the commis- sioners to go with $1.10 per $1,000 of assessed property value, which would generate $736,000 a year. “We have tried to crunch the numbers as much as we could,” district treasurer George White said. Property owners in the area now pay a rate of 25 cents per $1,000 in assessed value to the ambulance ser- vice district, generating annual revenue of about $137,000. The district then pays Milton-Freewater Emergency Medical Ser- vice, a private company, for ambulance service. The $1.10 rate means banking on the Milton-Free- water area growing at 3% a year. If that happens, White said, the district would have enough money to buy a new ambulance. He later said the dis- trict has less than $100,000 for the 2019-20 fi scal year and less than $50,000 in reserves. When the money runs out, he said, “we’re done.” District Vice President Wes Koklichi told the com- missioners and the 20 or so who attended the meeting that costs continue to climb. Ambulance crews today, he said, need to wear body armor, for example, and Aiming to curb Gun Violence Law enforcement, lawmakers, school offi cials offer ideas to curb gun violence By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian PENDLETON — Barely a day after back-to-back mass shootings rocked the nation, police in Hermis- ton on Aug. 5 were tracking down who shot and injured two teen boys. Pendleton police three days later were chasing their own shooting suspect, who ended the pursuit when he shot himself in the head. The East Oregonian and its sister publications in East- ern Oregon reached out to police chiefs, sheriffs, law- makers, mental health care providers, school offi cials and others to ask them to give their ideas for curb- ing gun violence. We asked them to provide no more than a few hundred words and to stay away from culture issues of violence or legal issues of gun rights. Not everyone we asked participated. In some cases we accommodated sources who preferred short inter- views. We primarily edited responses for length and clarity. What follows are their ideas. Marji Lind Clinical director for New Directions Northwest Inc. One possible idea to help curb gun violence across the country could be to focus on and provide more educa- tion and prevention measures See Violence, Page A11 AP fi le photos Active shooter incidents have clogged the news feeds in the last several years, including incidents in Florida, North Caro- lina, Maryland, California, Connecticut, Oregon, Texas, Ohio, Virginia and Nevada. See Ambulance, Page A11 Old schoolhouse gets fi rst business Former Pilot Rock Public School undergoing transformation By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian PILOT ROCK — Janelle Hamp- ton has a folksy metaphor for the ongoing renovation of the old Pilot Rock Public School. “She got her new hat last year and her new coat this year,” she said. Hampton and a team of volunteers and hired help spent Thursday after- noon putting a new coat of paint to the 114-year-old building. Hampton and her husband, a Pilot Rock native, bought the old school- house with the idea of restoring the Highway 395 building, which had fallen into disuse. Last October, the couple hired a crew to replace the roof and used the opportunity to hold an open house, inviting former students to share their memories and memorabilia from before the school’s closure in 1962. Staff photo by Ben Lonergan See School, Page A11 A fresh coat of paint is applied to the old Pilot Rock Public School building on Highway 395 in Pilot Rock.