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.