REGION
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
East Oregonian
A3
Happy Canyon Board of Directors announce 2020 court
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Clarise
“Clair” Huesties and Mary
Rivera have been named
as Happy Canyon prin-
cesses for 2020, the Happy
Canyon Board of Directors
announced on Friday.
The duo will serve as the
2020 ambassadors for the
Happy Canyon Night Show,
Oregon’s offi cial outdoor
night pageant.
“We are thrilled to have
these two talented local young
women represent Happy
Canyon this next year,” said
Happy Canyon President
Tanner Hawkins. “Their fam-
ily roots run deep in Happy
Canyon, so we’re honored to
have them serve as our repre-
sentatives in 2020.”
Huesties’ Native name is
X̣ ix ̣cí yu Hiʔlaká ʔwin̓ , which
means Little Star Lit Up in
Niimiipuu. She has called
the Pendleton area her home
for most of her life, and grad-
uated from Weston-McE-
wen High School in 2015.
Huesties is currently work-
ing on her bachelor’s degree
in
psychology
online
through Ashworth College,
and is a Sahaptin Language
Apprentice with the Confed-
erated Tribes of the Umatilla
Photo courtesy of Happy Canyon
Clarise “Clair” Huesties, left, and Mary Rivera, right, have been named as Happy Canyon prin-
cesses for 2020, the Happy Canyon Board of Directors announced on Friday.
Indian Reservation.
Huesties enjoys music —
she plays the guitar, piano,
ukulele and violin — and
enjoys traditional gathering
of fi rst foods and making
regalia. Upon completion
of her education, Huesties
plans to help with the pres-
ervation of Native languages
and eventually become a
school psychologist.
Huesties is an enrolled
member of the CTUIR, and
is Cayuse, Nez Perce, Walla
Walla, Umatilla, Palouse,
Lakota Oglala Sioux and
Winnebago. Her parents are
Brian Huesties and the late
Mylie Nash-Huesties. Her
great-grandmother, Velma
Patrick-Burke, headed the
Happy Canyon tipi and Indian
props maintenance and setup
‘Little Angels Gift Store’
for more than 40 years.
Huesties’ great-great-grand-
mother, Ada Jones-Patrick,
wrote the Happy Canyon wel-
come speech that is given at
the start of each show.
Huesties continues a long
tradition of Happy Canyon
royalty in her family. Her
grandmother, Alvina Burke-
Huesties, was a Happy Can-
yon princess in 1963, while
her aunts, Esther Huesties
and Althea Huesties-Wolf,
followed in 1993 and 1996,
respectively. Seven other
family members have also
been Happy Canyon prin-
cesses. Her great-great-great-
grandfather “Poker” Jim led
the Natives to and through
the fi rst Pendleton Round-Up
in 1910.
“Becoming a Happy Can-
yon princess means I get to
represent my family and our
history, our people, and the
Happy Canyon the best way
I can,” she said. “I also get
the chance to be someone
my little cousins, nieces, and
other impressionable young
girls can look up to and feel
inspired.”
Huesties has been a main-
stay in the Happy Canyon
show since birth, when she
participated while on a baby
board. She started her own
part in 2002 at age 5 — her
family used to carry in the
corn and wood led by her
grandmothers, but now they
represent the bride’s family in
the Wedding scene.
Rivera, whose Indian
name is Kuckuc Piswe (Lit-
tle Rock), is the daughter of
Nora and Shawn Rivera, and
she’s a 2018 graduate of Pend-
leton High School. She’s an
enrolled member of the Little
Shell Tribe of the Chippawa
Indians in Montana.
She is currently a sopho-
more at Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity in La Grande, where
she’s studying pre-nursing.
She plans to transfer to Cen-
tral Washington University
next fall, where she’ll con-
tinue her education and pur-
sue a degree in dietetics and
nutrition. After graduation,
Rivera would like to return
to Eastern Oregon where she
hopes to work as a Regis-
tered Dietitian for the Yellow-
hawk Tribal Health Clinic or
another clinic in the Pendle-
ton area. She enjoys bird hunt-
ing, running, snowboarding,
cooking and restoring and
refurbishing furniture.
As a young girl, Rivera
participated in the Junior
Indian Beauty Pageant during
the Pendleton Round-Up, and
participated in Happy Can-
yon in the Tribes from Other
Nations and Street scenes.
Her aunt, Drew Johnson
Rivera, was a Happy Canyon
princess in 2000.
“It has been a dream of
mine to wear the title since
I was a very young girl,”
Rivera said. “I consider it an
honor to represent the Happy
Canyon for 2020.”
Tree removal prompts I-84 slow downs
East Oregonian
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin/Greg Lehman
Mateo Zuniga, 3, dives into his just decorated Christmas cookie at the Little Angels Gift Store event
at Gib Olinger School in Milton-Freewater on Saturday morning. Saturday marked the third year
for the “Little Angels Gift Store” that lets children shop for Christmas presents with McLoughlin
High School’s leadership class members as helpers. At Gib Olinger Elementary School, Kiwanis
Club and other volunteers worked as cashiers, sorted and wrapped donated gift items while tod-
dlers to teens looked over table after table laden with merchandise. Founder Missy Miller said the
community’s response to the event has been robust — this year, thousands of items were donat-
ed as potential presents for parents, siblings and others. The proceeds help the Milton-Freewater
Elks Lodge fi ll Christmas baskets that go to in-need families, Miller said. Santa was on hand to
hear requests and Key Club volunteers served up a breakfast of bacon, pancakes and eggs. Money
brought in by breakfast sales helps fund club activities, convention attendance and help for Mac-
Hi students and their families, advisor Jennifer Hammer said between customers. Art Bussell of
Walla Walla, Washington, had brought his 6-year-old grandson, Austyn Bussell, to Miton-Freewa-
ter to check the event out after hearing about it last year. He said, “This is a cool thing.”
MEACHAM — The
Oregon Department of
Transportation announced
another round of rolling
slowdowns is coming for
westbound Interstate 84 to
accommodate the removal
of hazard trees between
mileposts 231 and 234,
about 22 miles east of
Pendleton.
The state road depart-
ment has schedule sev-
eral slowdowns to take
place Wednesday between
8 a.m. and 3 p.m. that
will impact traffi c for
about 15 minutes for each
occurrence.
The slowdowns will
begin at milepost 248 near
the Spring Creek Inter-
change for westbound
traffi c only, with pilot
cars slowing motorists to
about 35 mph. Once traffi c
has passed the work site,
the pilot cars will exit the
freeway and motorists can
return to posted speeds.
ODOT advised west-
bound drivers to plan for
extra travel time in this
area. The eastbound free-
way will not be impacted.
The operations involve
the temporary closures of
on-ramps in the slow down
zones until the pilot cars
and traffi c have passed.
Travelers will be able to
exit the freeway in work
zones, but may experience
delays in getting on the
freeway toward the direc-
tion of the work zones.
The rolling slowdowns
will create a window of
time when no vehicles will
be at the work sites for
approximately 10 minutes.
This will allow crews to
safely fell the hazard trees
without traffi c in the area.
“We really appreci-
ate everyone’s patience
and support,” said ODOT
Meacham
maintenance
manager Randy Randolph.
“The slowdowns we per-
formed last week enabled
us to safely remove sev-
eral. We hope to get more
hazard trees down on this
coming Wednesday.”
The work is weather
dependent and could be
rescheduled if conditions
are not favorable for the
operation.
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For this reason, Pioneer Memorial Home Health &
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BRIEFLY
Armed robbers
take $7,000 from
M-F restaurant
MILTON-FREEWATER
— Armed robbers targeted
a local restaurant Satur-
day night and made off with
cash, police reported Mon-
day morning.
Business owners Lian
Yuan Zhu and Shuyi Wu said
two unidentifi ed, masked
males forcibly entered Red
Tea Garden Chinese Restau-
rant & Lounge, 14 N. Colum-
bia St., after the business was
closed and they were count-
ing the daily earnings at
11:24 p.m. Saturday.
One male brandished
and pointed a fi rearm at
Zhu, Police Chief Doug
Boedigheimer wrote in a
release.
Nobody was injured, and
the robbers took about $7,000,
according to Boedigheimer.
Offi cers identifi ed and
collected several items of evi-
dence that could prove useful
in the ongoing investigation,
the police chief wrote.
Crashes block
traffi c on I-82 at
Umatilla Bridge
UMATILLA — Sepa-
rate car crashes on both sides
of the Umatilla Bridge along
Interstate 82 piled up roughly
two dozen cars and blocked
eastbound traffi c from Wash-
ington into Oregon for fi ve
hours on Monday morning,
according to Washington
State Trooper Chris Thorson.
Thorson said the crashes
halted traffi c from about
5:30-10:30 a.m. and included
eight cars on the Washington
side and “roughly 15” on the
Oregon side, Thorson said.
On the Washington side,
Thorson said there was freez-
ing fog in the area and the
crash was caused by drivers
going too fast for the road-
way and weather conditions.
Thorson said no serious
injuries were reported that
he was aware of and that all
lanes were cleared on the
bridge.
Oregon State Police are
currently investigating the
crash on the Oregon side of
the border and will provide
more details when they are
available.
Portland man
gets probation for
Boardman robbery
HEPPNER — The Mor-
row County Circuit Court
dismissed two counts of sec-
ond-degree robbery against a
Portland man and sentenced
him to three years of proba-
tion last Thursday for fi rst-de-
gree theft and attempting to
commit a Class B felony in
connection to a 2018 robbery
in Boardman.
Seth Laban Williams,
30, was arrested on June 23,
2018, along with Deng Peter
Makuey, 26, and Stacie McK-
oin Cadriel, 35, after wit-
nesses told Morrow County
law enforcement they saw an
armed man dressed in black
steal money and cigarettes
from a Boardman service
station.
Williams was indicted on
the four charges on June 29,
2018, court documents show.
After initially pleading not
guilty to all charges in July
2018, Williams pleaded no
contest to fi rst-degree theft
and attempting to commit a
Class B felony in April.
On Thursday, Judge Jon
Lieuallen dismissed both
counts of second-degree rob-
bery against Williams.
Second-degree robbery is
a Measure 11 crime and car-
ries a mandatory minimum
sentence of fi ve years and 10
months in prison.
Makuey pleaded guilty to
second-degree robbery back
in November for his connec-
tion to the theft and will be in
the Oregon State Penitentiary
until at least April 2024.
— EO Media Group and
wire services
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