UMATILLA STUDENTS
CHAT WITH SPACE
CENTER HOUSTON
VOLLEYBALL:
HERMISTON DONS PINK
FOR PASCO MATCH
REGION, A3
SPORTS, B1
E O
AST
143rd year, No. 261
REGONIAN
Friday, OctOber 18, 2019
WINNER OF THE 2019 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Your Weekend
Going with the flow
FOR TIMES AND LOCATIONS
CHECK COMING EVENTS, A6
By ANTONIO SIERRA AND
JESSICA POLLARD
East Oregonian
Weekend Weather
59/45
SAT
54/40
Local school
districts get
graded
Pendleton,
Hermiston show
minor changes
from last year
• Paint the Theater Day,
Rivoli Theater, Pendleton
• SAGE Center Movie
Event, Boardman
• Echo Corn Maze and
Field of Screams, Echo
FRI
$1.50
SUN
55/44
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Geotracking
tech cuts off
sports bets
Oregon Lottery
Scoreboard app
won’t launch
near reservation
Kelly Nobles indicates to Esmeralda Horn, the development and recreation manager for the city of Uma-
tilla, a section of the Umatilla River where he hopes the city will consider installing a bridge and using a
section of his riverfront property for a trail.
With the help of a National Park Service grant, plans for a western
Umatilla County trail network are rolling along the Umatilla River
UMatiLLa cOUNty — the
Oregon department of educa-
tion released its at-a-Glance Pro-
files for schools and districts Thurs-
day — brief dashboard summaries
of how schools are doing, with data
on attendance, student achievement
and whether students are on-track to
graduate.
Umatilla county’s biggest school
districts have been measured up to
state expectations for proficiency,
attendance, readiness and graduation
for the 2018-19 school year.
Variations from year prior are
minimal for Pendleton and Hermis-
ton school districts, minus a few key
areas.
Hermiston School District
PeNdLetON — Some
Pendleton-area folks might
have a harder time than oth-
ers signing onto the Oregon
Lottery’s new sports betting
phone app.
the Lottery on Wednes-
day unveiled Scoreboard,
the state’s first and only
legal online sportsbook. Lot-
tery spokesperson Matthew
Shelby said the rollout was a
“bit like black Friday,” with
so many people trying to reg-
ister the system bogged down
for a while. as of 7 a.m. thurs-
day, Scoreboard had 2,300
accounts, he said, with depos-
its near $80,000 and wagers a
little more than $15,000.
One local agreed to talk
about his experiences with
MatiLLa cOUNty
— Plans for the Uma-
tilla river trails Proj-
ect are beginning to
take shape.
“With the support that has
come along for it, we’re moving.
this thing’s got legs,” Umatilla
county commissioner bill elfer-
ing said.
the project would connect
Umatilla, Hermiston, Stanfield
and echo through a network of
recreational trails, which the
county released possible routes
for at four open house workshops
last week. they hope to develop a
concept plan early next year.
Using colored stickers, attend-
ees were able to place unofficial
votes for the different options.
“Nothing is set in concrete yet;
we know some of these routes
won’t be possible,” elfering said
at the Hermiston open house,
which took place thursday at the
Hermiston community center.
the county is hoping to keep
the string of trails as close to the
a slight increase in the percent-
age of freshman students on-track to
graduate has administrators at Herm-
iston School district smiling, as the
district meets the state average.
“We’re excited about that. that’s
a predictor of overall graduation
rate,” district Superintendent tricia
Mooney said.
She said the district’s new gradu-
ation coach is likely in part respon-
sible. the coach, Omar Medina, was
hired in 2017. His role is to identify
at-risk students in their early high
school years and to provide extra
support for them.
“For some of our kids, it’s just
about having a conversation regu-
larly,” Mooney said.
across the board, the district’s
at-a-Glance results level up with
state averages. the district is nearly
to the state average for english Lan-
guage Arts proficiency at the third-
grade level, and is behind slightly for
eighth-grade math.
Math proficiency dropped by 11%
for eighth-grade migrant students and
9% for Hispanic and Latino students.
“We do have some room for
growth,” Mooney said.
She said that for the district,
See Lottery, Page A8
See Trails, Page A8
See Schools, Page A8
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
By JESSICA POLLARD
East Oregonian
U
Oregon GOP accuses Democrats of hostile work environment
complaint stems
from republicans
nine-day walkout
this summer
By LAUREN DAKE
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SaLeM — a republican
in the Oregon Senate lodged a
handful of formal complaints
against his democratic col-
leagues for creating a hos-
tile workplace, in the wake of
threats another republican,
State Sen. brian boquist,
r-dallas, made against Ore-
gon state troopers.
Sen.
alan
Olsen,
r-canby, accused demo-
crats — including top legis-
lative leaders — of making
it uncomfortable for Sen-
ate republicans to return
to work after they staged a
nine-day boycott earlier this
summer.
Olsen’s complaint alleges
Senate Majority Leader
Ginny burdick’s comments
that the republican walkout
was an act of terrorism pre-
cipitated a “hostile work-
place upon” the republicans
return. Olsen also blames
Senate President Peter court-
ney, d-Salem, and House
Speaker tina Kotek, d-Port-
land, for failing to stop “the
insidious language” and
therefore allowing “fear and
distrust to spread.”
Olsen also filed a com-
plaint against Sen. Sara
See Hostile, Page A8
Contributed photo
State Sen. Alan Olsen, R-Canby, in the Oregon Senate on Jan. 14, 2019, in Salem.
Olsen has accused Democrats — including top legislative leaders — of making it
uncomfortable for Senate Republicans to return to work after they staged a nine-
day boycott earlier this summer.