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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 15, 2019)
CROSS-COUNTRY: Amanda Nygard hasn’t missed a step | SPORTS, A8 E O AST 143rd Year, No. 258 REGONIAN TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2019 WINNER OF THE 2019 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD $1.50 Brown recall effort comes up short Staying power Leader of one recall effort denies it did not receive enough signatures Hermiston pastor Mark Adams’ 30 years at same church isn’t typical By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Oregon Capital Bureau Staff photo by Kathy Aney Pastor Mark Adams talks to his congregation during a recent worship service at Hermiston’s Bethlehem Lutheran Church. Ad- ams started as pastor 30 years ago when he was fresh out of seminary. By KATHY ANEY East Oregonian H ERMISTON — Pastor Mark Adams’ 30 years at Hermiston’s Bethle- hem Lutheran Church isn’t typical. According to a 2016 poll, the aver- age pastor’s tenure at any one church runs about six years, give or take. Becoming a minister wasn’t Adams’ original aim. He loved sci- ence in high school and elected to major in chemistry at University of California Santa Barbara. It wasn’t a good fit, though, and he found himself drawn in another direction the fall of his freshman year. “In my dorm, we had all these con- versations about religion and spiritual things,” Adams said. “People were coming to me for advice.” Theological questions absorbed the young man. At Christmas, he enrolled in Christ College (now Concordia University Irvine) for pre-seminary classes. After earning a bachelor’s degree there, he started at the Con- cordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and spent four years soaking in Hebrew, Greek, church his- tory and reforms, counseling methods, worship and scripture. He interned at a church in California in his third year. Adams arrived at the Hermiston church in 1989 with his wife, Tess, and children, ready to shepherd his first congregation. Five minutes with him reveals why his flock of 127 adores their pastor so much. He is a big, bearded bear of a man, easygo- ing and genuine. He regularly inserts humor into his Sunday messages. His wife, Tess, who has known Adams since eighth grade, sums up his per- sonality this way: “He’s the same person in the pul- pit as he is at home,” Tess said. “Our Staff photo by Kathy Aney Bryce Larsen takes his turn stacking a block on a tower during his preschool class at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church Preschool. “HE’S THE SAME PERSON IN THE PULPIT AS HE IS AT HOME. OUR DINNER CONVERSATION WITH FOUR CHILDREN WAS PRETTY SIMILAR TO WHAT HE SAYS ON SUNDAY.” — Tess Adams dinner conversation with four children was pretty similar to what he says on Sunday.” Those four children are now grown. Son Caleb is a minister. Twins Sarah and Rebekah teach school. Young- est daughter Mary is program direc- tor for Domestic Violence Services in Pendleton. Tom Nichols, church board presi- dent and friend of Adams, described Adams as the perfect pastor. “He has common sense. He has empathy. He’s so grounded with scrip- ture,” Nichols said. “Seventy percent of what he does is behind the scenes.” Adams doesn’t shy away from theological conundrums, such as bib- lical paradoxes or whether it’s normal to experience doubt. He explores such queries with all comers, whether in his office or while fishing with one of his See Pastor, Page A7 SALEM — Supporters of a petition to recall Gov. Kate Brown came up short of the signatures needed for a ballot chal- lenge, Oregon Republican Party Chair Bill Currier said Monday. Currier made the announcement mid- day on the Lars Larson Show, the conser- vative talk show. Supporters needed at least 280,050 valid signatures by 5 p.m. on Monday to put a recall on the ballot. One effort, filed by Currier, fell short by about 8 percent, or about 22,400 signatures. A separate effort, known as “Flush Down Kate Brown,” received 100,000 signatures by people who were not on the GOP’s signature list, Larson said on the show. Larson said that effort also was not as successful as the party’s. Michael Cross, the lead sponsor of the “Flush Down Kate Brown” petition, delivered nine boxes of petitions to the Secretary of State’s office around 2 p.m. on Monday, according to the Secretary of State’s office. Workers counted all 23,926 signature sheets. But since each sheet can only have, at most, ten signatures each, after counting the sheets it was clear there weren’t enough signatures for that effort to qualify for the ballot. Currier told Larson that there was “absolutely” support for another recall effort. “This fight is not over,” Currier said. Currier said that between the two efforts, enough valid signatures were collected. “Another way to put this, is, there were enough signatures collected…they just can’t be combined,” he said. Currier also said that the petition received quite a few invalid signatures that he said could be easily corrected if petitioners file again. Many invalid sig- natures were “simply illegible,” Currier said. He said over the weekend, they had been able to identify about 100,000 invalid signatures by registered voters whose signatures could be converted into valid signatures. “We have an address and a name, and with a little bit of research, we can tie that to a specific person and make that valid,” Currier said. “And there were other folks who didn’t put the correct information down, they put the wrong address, and so we can tie them back to a correct address.” Currier did not return requests seek- ing further comment Monday. Brown, a Democrat, was first See Recall, Page A7 Think twice about honors Local educators warn students to think carefully before paying money for college prep opportunities By JESSICA POLLARD East Oregonian PENDLETON — The invitations come on high-quality paper, sealed in gold. But that doesn’t con- vince biology teacher Shelle Bixler that National Society of High School Scholars is the real deal. Bixler, who also advises the National Honors Society at Pendleton High School, is one of a few area educators who are warning students to be wary of prestigious-seem- ing organizations that look to recruit students for a fee, like NSHSS. “Our high school does not recognize NSHSS or allow students to wear cords from them at graduation,” she said. The National Society of High School Scholars is listed as a nonprofit orga- nization. They have a web- site and tote the motto “Be Honored. Be More.” They recruit by sending mail and emails to students, asking them to accept invitations to the society for a one-time payment of $75. The organization adver- tises that in return, students will gain access to schol- arship opportunities and exclusive events at differ- ent college campuses. High schoolers have the opportu- nity to become ambassadors for the organization as well. “It’s always a mystery to us how they get their mail- ing list,” said Liz Marvin, Project College Bound coor- dinator at Hermiston High school. “Over the years, many students have brought in their letter and asked what it is.” See Honors, Page A7 EO file photo Pendleton graduates make their way off of the grass infield of the Pendleton Round-Up Arena after a June 1, 2019, cere- mony in Pendleton.
