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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 2019)
WEEKEND EDITION KENDALL DOWDY NAMED ALL-EO VOLLEYBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR HERMISTON BMCC HERMISTON COMMUNITY LATINO CLUB IS CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTS TAKING OFF UP THE SEASON REGION, A3 LIFESTYLES, C1 SPORTS, B1 NOVEMBER 30-DECEMBER 1, 2019 143rd Year, No. 291 WINNER OF THE 2019 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD $1.50 Getting the word out on OregonSaves EO SPOTLIGHT More than 3,600 businesses, 50,000 individuals now enrolled in state-run IRA program By SAM STITES Oregon Capital Bureau Staff photo by Ben Lonergan Nine-year-olds, from left to right, Riley Insko, Kayden Willis and Josh Ndlovu watch as an aluminum foil boat begins to take on water during a science experiment in the after-school program at Sherwood Heights Elementary School on Nov. 19, 2019. The child care crunch By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian P ENDLETON — The story of child care in Pendleton can be told in three surveys. The fi rst came from Blue Moun- tain Community College in 2014 when the college was trying to determine the child care needs of its staff and students. The second arrived in 2018, when the city of Pendleton surveyed residents about the parks and recreation system and a majority favored an after-school program. The last survey has yet to come, but it’s intended as the next step for a recently revived nonprofi t and an issue its been trying to solve for a decade: the lack of professional child care options in the city of Pendleton. BMCC survey The college’s 2014 survey produced a bevy of data, but the real stories come from the students and staff who wrote in the document’s comment section. “I have either had to stay home from work/school OR brought my children with me,” one survey taker wrote. “Not fun during fi nals week! I have seen numerous times students bringing up to three children into the student service center or (early childhood education) offi ce for BMCC staff to help watch chil- dren so (students) can tend to school work or tasks.” One respondent summarized their con- cern succinctly. “It’s very hard to attend school while looking for child care,” the person wrote. “Grades keep dropping because I have a child that needs care.” Several survey takers wrote that they would like to see a child care center on campus, even though they didn’t have young children. Child care was certainly a relevant topic on campus. More than 80% of respondents said they needed child care in the past year and would need it again in the next two years. Only 1 in 10 survey takers said they got all the child care they needed, the top reasons why they didn’t being that child care was too expensive, they couldn’t fi nd anyone, or child care wasn’t available. Four out of fi ve respondents said they’ve missed time at work or school because of child care problems, and 1 in 5 said they quit a job or school because of child care problems. Casey White-Zollman, the vice pres- ident of college relations and advance- ment, said current staff didn’t remember many of the details surrounding the sur- vey and Cam Preus, the president at the time of the survey, gave a similar answer. But Bruce Clemetsen, the interim vice president of student affairs, said child care remains an issue on campus, not just See Child care, Page A11 SALEM — A salon in Port- land, a brewery in Astoria and an industrial fabric manufacturer from Eugene now have employees with retirement programs. They are among the 459 small businesses that recently enrolled in Oregon’s state-run retirement program, OregonSaves. That rep- resents the second phase of a pro- gram meant to provide workers a simple way to save for retirement. The fi nal phase starts next May, opening the door for compa- nies with four employees or less. More than 54,000 Oregonians at 3,637 businesses have enrolled in the program since it debuted a year ago. They are saving with Individual Retirement Accounts set up by the state and those accounts now hold around $36 million in assets. According to Michael Parker, director OregonSaves at State Treasurer’s Offi ce, the program helps employers who aren’t able to otherwise provide retirement savings. “We feel this program has the ability to make a huge differ- ence, not that it’s going to cover the entire retirement of every employee, but those who have this option after a few months are seeing a difference,” Parker said. “Folks out there who haven’t saved before are suddenly saving $1,000-$2,000 and now they love to save. It’s a cultural shift for Oregon, which is a huge impact on the state in assets folks are saving for the future.” Under the program, employees are automatically enrolled unless they elect not to participate, hav- ing a portion of their pay auto- matically deducted and deposited into OregonSaves. Participants See OregonSaves, Page A11 ‘Out of Character’ to spotlight local actors and landscapes By KATHY ANEY East Oregonian PENDLETON — Kate Brizen- dine sat in the hot seat. Several light beams sliced through the darkness and lit her dramatically. A microphone with a fuzzy cover hung overhead and a camera captured video. Brizendine was essentially onstage. She smiled brightly at four interviewers sitting just outside the pool of light. The interview, held Mon- day in the basement boardroom at the Pendleton Center for the Arts, was a casting call for a full- length feature fi lm called “Out of Character.” The movie’s co-directors, J.J. Hill and Liberty O’Dell, asked Brizendine questions designed to reveal her personality, pas- sions and background. Two oth- ers, photography director Jer- emiah Marshall and composer and sound designer Alan Arnson, listened intently. The actress, hoping to snag the role of an extra, answered conversation- ally as if she was on a coffee date rather than getting grilled in an audition. Brizendine was one of eight hopefuls who responded to the Pendleton casting call. Thirty-fi ve others showed up in La Grande last week. The panel will conduct another casting call in Baker. Hill and O’Dell — actors, writ- ers and friends who met while attending Eastern Oregon Univer- sity — are new fi lmmakers with high-octane dreams. They both have day jobs. Hill, of Pendleton, works at Blue Mountain Com- munity College as a student suc- cess counselor. O’Dell owns La Grande’s liquor store. They will shoot the movie on weekends See Casting, Page A11 Saturday DECEMBER 7 th , 2019 Friday DECEMBER 6 th , 2019 Evening Gala | 6:00 pm Family Day | 10am-2pm LOCATED AT THE Pendleton Convention Center For more information or to purchase tickets: sahpendleton.org/winterfest or 541-278-2627
