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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 25, 2019)
HUNDREDS FLEE FIRE IN CALIFORNIA WINE COUNTRY PREP VOLLEYBALL: DAWGS TURN LIGHTS OUT ON SUNS NATION/WORLD, A7 SPORTS, B1 E O AST 143rd year, No. 266 REGONIAN Friday, OctOber 25, 2019 WINNER OF THE 2019 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Your Weekend PARKWAY ASSAULT • Blue Mountain Wildlife open house, Pendleton • Fall Festival, Heppner • Food Truck & Auction Extravaganza, Hermiston Weekend Weather SAT SUN 69/38 52/29 51/28 Dems see golden opportunity after years of being held by the GOP, dems see opportunity in Salem Senate seat By JAKE THOMAS Oregon Capital Bureau SaLeM — after deb Pat- terson lost her race against long- time state Sen. Jackie Winters, r-Salem, in 2018, she imme- diately began preparing for a rematch in four years. but Patter- son, a demo- crat, is getting a second chance Patterson to run for the Senate two years early. Winters died in May, set- ting in motion an election in November Boles 2020 to fill her seat. republicans and democrats have taken an interest in Senate district 10, a crescent-shaped district that includes west and much of south Salem. UMATILLA COUNTY Working to educate voters By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian FOR TIMES AND LOCATIONS CHECK COMING EVENTS, A6 FRI $1.50 Staff photo by Kathy Aney William Wehrli suffered wounds on his hand, leg and head while being assaulted on Tuesday on the Pendleton River Parkway. Two teenage boys arrested by Pendleton police shortly after the attack have been charged with third-degree assault. river levee attack leaves Pendleton man shaken By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian PeNdLetON — William Wehrli set out tuesday after- noon for his regular work- out along the Pendleton river Parkway. instead of ending with a good sweat, he called 911 to report he was the victim of an assault. Pendleton police arrested the suspects — a pair of teen- age boys. Wehrli, 30, stands well above 6 feet tall and works as a security officer at Wild- horse resort & casino near Pendleton. Over the course of the year, he said, he adopted a healthier lifestyle and has lost 56 pounds. “every day after i get off from work, my dog and i go for a jog on the levee,” he said. tuesday was no different. He and rossy, his chocolate Labrador retriever, started jog- ging around 3 p.m. at trail- head Park on the west end of the parkway that runs along the Umatilla river levee. the rou- tine takes them east to Wash- Staff photo by Kathy Aney William Wehrli suffered this injury to his hand during the assault on the Pendleton River Parkway on Tuesday. “I DIDN’T KNOW IF HE WAS YELLING AT ME OR SOMEONE ELSE.” William Wehrli ington elementary School, 1205 S.e. byers ave., before heading back. Some teens were hanging out at bedford bridge at South- west 18th Street, he said, and one of them started yelling pro- fanities and even racist slurs. Wehrli is white. “i didn’t know if he was yelling at me or someone else,” Wehrli said, so he kept going. the teen followed and harassed Wehrli as he passed roy raley Park. “i ignored him,” he said. Wehrli has autism and is a local autism advocate. He recalled dealing with his share of bullies in high school in ione, but the only time he encoun- tered similar harassment on the parkway was in March when another group of younger peo- ple threatened him while jog- ging. that time, he said, no one See Assault, Page A8 HerMiStON — ballots are already in the hands of vot- ers, but groups with measures on the ballot are still making the rounds to explain the conse- quences of a yes or no vote. Umatilla county commis- sioner bill elfering explained Wednesday night the two county charter measures for the audi- ence at an election forum hosted by the Umatilla county repub- lican Party. elfering said there had been some confusion about Mea- sure 30-133, titled “changes Law enforcement department to Sheriff’s Office in County charter.” the amendment to the charter would not affect the function of the sheriff’s office, but merely changes the words “Law enforcement depart- ment” to “Sheriff’s Office” in the charter to make it clear which law enforcement agency is being referred to. “there is absolutely zero change in anything about who the sheriff is or what he or she does, this is simply a name change,” elfering said. the other county measure would change the way elections for county commissioner are held. Under the current sys- tem, every race for a seat on the board of commissioners includes a primary in May and a general election in November. that creates situations, such as the 2018 race, when John Sha- fer and incumbent Larry Giv- ens faced off. Shafer won more than 50% of the vote in May, but was not technically elected until November, when his name again appeared on the ballot — this time as the only candi- date listed. He took office at the beginning of 2019, nearly eight months after voters first chose him. if voters approve Measure 30-132, when only one or two candidates file for a seat on the board of commissioners, no primary will be held in May. instead, the candidate or candi- dates who filed by the March fil- ing deadline will appear on the ballot in November, saving the See Voter, Page A8 See Democrats, Page A8 Local school libraries see fewer librarians Licensed librarians in Oregon and Umatilla county are becoming a rare breed, but that could change under Student Success act By JESSICA POLLARD East Oregonian PeNdLetON — it is the fall quarter at blue Mountain com- munity college and english instructor Ki russell is about to learn how much her students know about finding accurate informa- tion online for research papers. “i can never assume any- thing,” she said. “Some students are comfortable with reading and citing, but not with locating sources. in some cases, there is absolute panic.” She thinks it could have to do with K-12 libraries. in Umatilla county, according to the Oregon department of edu- cation, there are three full-time licensed school librarians at two districts. the rest of the districts keep their libraries open with the help of media assistants — who don’t have a Masters of Library Sci- ence — or with part-time licensed librarians. bMcc director of Library & See Librarians, Page A8 Staff photo by Ben Lonergan A group of third-graders at Highland Hills Elementary School in Herm- iston dig into a set of newly donated books in the school library on Thursday morning.
