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143rd Year, No. 253
REGONIAN
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2019
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2019 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PROTECTING
THE TRADEMARK
INTERMOUNTAIN ESD
District to
coordinate
new educator
network
Local ESD will
be responsible for
network allocating $1
million to teachers
By JESSICA POLLARD
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
The Pendleton Round-Up Association bought this drawing by artist Wallace Smith for $250, had it registered and started
using it for a logo in 1925. The drawing hangs in the Pendleton Round-Up and Happy Canyon Hall of Fame.
Round-Up frowns
on misuse of
bucking horse logo
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
P
ENDLETON — Artist Wal-
lace Smith likely would have
raised his eyebrows in sur-
prise had he caught sight of a
poster hanging recently in a Pendleton
marijuana store.
Smith, a journalist and cartoonist
who died in 1937, sketched the buck-
ing horse that eventually became
the iconic image of the Pendleton
Round-Up. The colorful drawing
showed a bronc in mid-buck and a
cowboy riding, his hat flying and his
right arm stretched high for balance.
The image is now the rodeo’s trade-
marked logo.
The banner in Thur’s Smoke Shop
that might have brought consterna-
tion to Smith featured a similar bronc,
though the horse had smoke drifting
from its nostrils and the slogan “Let’er
Burn” positioned directly beneath.
After an East Oregonian write-up
about the business showing shop
owner Bryson Thurman stand-
ing in front of a partial view of the
poster, Pendleton Round-Up Associ-
ation President Dave O’Neill fielded
PENDLETON — A new network
allocating funds for teacher resources
like professional development opportuni-
ties and mentorship is coming to Uma-
tilla, Morrow, Union and Baker counties
through the Intermountain ESD.
The ESD was selected to coordinate
the Regional Educator Network this fall
after a proposal process. There will be
10 networks throughout the state that
encapsulate all districts and are made up
of teachers and educators. Even districts
that aren’t part of the ESD, such as the
Hermiston School District, will be able
to participate in the network.
“The hope that we have is that this
funding that’s going to come in is going
to bring the region together. We tend
to work in isolation in districts,” said
Matt Yoshioka of the Pendleton School
District.
He said that particularly in an area as
spread out as Eastern Oregon, the net-
work will facilitate resource sharing
between districts.
Yoshioka is also a part of the Educa-
tor Advancement Council, which estab-
lished the networks.
The EAC was established with the
passing of Senate Bill 182 in 2017, which
also carved out funding for the networks.
The IMESD’s network has about a $1
million budget for this biennium, accord-
ing to Yoshioka.
Mark Mulvihill, the superintendent
for IMESD, said the network is unique
because it is required to be made up of
51% of teachers.
The network has not been established
as of yet, but funding has started rolling
in and IMESD has hired a coordinator,
Caitlin Russell. She was not available for
comment before publication.
“The idea is to really have the peo-
ple on the ground floor allocating these
funds,” Mulvihill said. “What we’re
really focused on in this is taking care of
teachers. It’s a stressful job. This initia-
tive is intending to support these people.”
Yoshioka said the Regional Educa-
tor Network could be particularly useful
with the amount of new hires at the Pend-
leton and Hermiston school districts. The
districts welcomed 21 and 47 new hires,
respectively, this year.
“We have a high need to train and
mentor new staff,” he said. “Through the
ESD, we could provide better consistent
systemic support.”
See Logo, Page A7
See IMESD, Page A7
Cause of fire remains ‘undetermined’
Too much damage
to determine cause
of Pendleton fire
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Inves-
tigators are not able to pin
down just what started the
blaze Sept. 29 that destroyed
a downtown Pendleton
building. Pendleton assis-
tant fire chief Shawn Pen-
ninger said the damage is
too extensive to reach a
definitive conclusion.
“The best I can tell
you is it looks to be acci-
dental and possibly elec-
trical in nature,” he said,
and the official ruling is
“undetermined.”
The fire burned down
almost everything at 342
S.W. First St., home to
the second-hand business
We Sell Stuff. Penninger
explained the lack of phys-
ical evidence after a fire
means investigators turn to
witnesses, particularly from
the first crew at the scene.
And in this case, from Pen-
ninger, who was there four
hours or more.
Fire behaves in certain
ways, he said. Finding sev-
eral ignition points of a fire,
for example, would raise
red flags. But he said noth-
ing about the fire at We Sell
Stuff appeared suspicious.
In a news release Mon-
day afternoon, Penninger
reiterated the undetermined
finding. He reported investi-
gators from insurance com-
panies will assist with heavy
equipment and additional
resources at the scene in the
coming weeks.
He also stated the inves-
tigation is open and the fire
department will report new
developments.
Penninger said any con-
troversy about who may
have lived in the second
story apartment above the
See Fire, Page A7
Staff photo by Andrew Cutler
A firefighter sprays water down onto a burning building
on Sept. 29 in downtown Pendleton. The fire burned down
almost everything at 342 S.W. First St., home to the sec-
ond-hand business We Sell Stuff.