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