CARS TRAPPED
OVERNIGHT BY MONSTER
TUMBLEWEED PILE
IMC WRESTLING: CROOK
COUNTY MAKES SHORT
WORK OF PENDLETON
NORTHWEST, A2
SPORTS, A8
E O
AST
144th Year, No. 55
REGONIAN
FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 2020
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2019 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Your Weekend
Local leaders look ahead to
• FREE FIRST FRIDAY, Tamástslikt
Cultural Institute
• FREE FIRST SATURDAY, Heri-
tage Station Museum
• OLDIES NIGHT: MOTOWN,
Milton-Freewater
FOR TIMES AND LOCATIONS
CHECK COMING EVENTS, A6
Weekend Weather
FRI
SAT
SUN
59/41
48/35
47/36
OUR NEW NEIGHBORS
Electrical
system
operator fi nds
new terrain
Doherty
Hansell
McGrath
Mooney
Morgan
Mulvihill
Murdock
Roberts
Shafer
Turner
Offi cials look to continue momentum from 2019 into new year
Editor’s Note: This story is part of
an annual series by the East Orego-
nian called “Our New Neighbors,”
which introduces the community to
people who have moved here in the
past year.
By ALEX CASTLE
East Oregonian
By ALEX CASTLE
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — Despite spend-
ing most of her life in the region,
Kathryn Kennington, 54, hadn’t
done much more than pass through
Pendleton or Hermiston.
After working for Oregon Trail
Electric Cooperative in Baker City
and La Grande since 1989, Kenning-
ton needed something new in 2019.
She got it in February when she
left her longtime home in La Grande
to start as a system operator for
Umatilla Electric Cooperative in
Hermiston.
“I just needed a job change,” she
says. “That opportunity came up and
I was able to take advantage of it.”
The work itself is mostly the
same, Kennington said. As a system
operator, the same position she held
MATILLA COUNTY —
The new year is a chance for
a fresh start. But in Umatilla
and Morrow counties, local
leaders aren’t as focused on
wiping the slate clean as they
are building off the momen-
tum of previous successes.
Coming off his fi rst year in offi ce,
Umatilla County Commissioner John
Shafer was most proud of contracting
management of the county’s vehicle
fl eet to Enterprise Fleet Management
and making progress on the Central
Line Ordnance project.
The Central Line Ordnance proj-
ect, which is the fi nal pipeline of three
that will pump Columbia River water
into the region, is especially import-
ant, according to Shafer, because it
will recharge the basin’s depleted aqui-
fer. While Shafer was pleased with the
county taking the lead on the project in
2019, he’s aiming for more this year.
“I’d love to see pipe in the ground in
2020,” he said.
U
“WE REPEATEDLY HEAR ABOUT THE
URBAN AND RURAL DIVIDE, AND IT’S
OFTEN AN UPHILL BATTLE MAKING
SURE OUR THOUGHTS AND INTERESTS
ARE REPRESENTED ON THIS SIDE OF
THE STATE.”
George Murdock, Umatilla County commissioner
Shafer said the county has recently
applied for a $7 million federal grant
that they’ll hear back on by the end of
January or start of February that could
move the project into its next steps.
Fellow Umatilla County Commis-
sioner George Murdock said his pri-
mary duty in 2020 will be maintain-
ing stability of the county’s budget
and fi nances, while he also takes on a
unique role locally and nationally with
the 2020 Census.
In October, Murdock was one of six
county commissioners in the nation to
be selected to serve on the census work-
ing group for the National Association
of Counties. According to Murdock,
public entities receive roughly $4,000
per citizen, making the census and its
accuracy this year a matter of fi nances
for Umatilla County.
Other focuses for Murdock in 2020
include helping the East Umatilla
County Fire District secure funding
for a new fi re station and continuing
the expansion of the county’s road dep-
uty workforce, which Murdock said has
grown from staffi ng seven deputies to
17 in the last fi ve or six years.
In Morrow County, commissioner
and chair Jim Doherty touted his suc-
cessful negotiations in 2019 with Nex-
tEra Energy to bring the nation’s fi rst
large-scale energy facility that com-
bines wind, solar and battery power to
the region, and pointed to consolida-
tion of the county’s facilities as a goal
for 2020.
In 2019, Doherty and Murdock were
elected to terms as the fi rst president
and second vice president, respectively,
of the Association of Oregon Coun-
See Leaders, Page A7
See Neighbors, Page A7
One of the country’s fi nest
teachers has Pendleton roots
PHS graduate, Julie
Rowell, named
Milken Educator
of the Year
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Julie Rowell, a 1997 graduate of
Pendleton High School, is one of
only 40 teachers in the country
honored with Milken Family Foun-
dation Educator Awards. Rowell
teaches English to migrant stu-
dents at Gresham High School.
GRESHAM — One of the
nation’s best educators credits two
Pendleton High School teachers as
her inspiration.
Earlier this month, Gresham
High School’s Julie Rowell won an
award often described as an “Oscar
for teaching” during a surprise
assembly at the school.
The assembly was supposed to be
a tutorial on the Student Success Act,
an important but dry topic. Rowell’s
mind wandered as she stood with her
back against the gym’s gray cinder-
block wall listening to someone from
the Oregon Department of Educa-
tion talk to the school’s juniors and
seniors about the legislation passed
during the 2019 legislative session.
Then Greg Gallagher, of the
Milken Family Foundation, took
the microphone to present a Milken
Educator Award — maybe the
nation’s most prestigious teaching
prize, one that comes with $25,000.
Rowell scanned the room, wonder-
ing which of her fellow teachers
would be recognized.
“The Milken Educator of the
Year goes to Julie Rowell,” said Gal-
lagher, drawing out the last name
like a basketball announcer intro-
ducing the hometown star.
A video shows Rowell’s eyes
widening as she mouths, “What?”
and the gym erupting in applause.
Rowell, who teaches English to
migrant students, still shakes her
head when she thinks back to that
moment.
“I felt like I was in a dream,” she
said.
See Teacher, Page A7