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.