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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 2020)
St. Anthony welcomes its first baby of the decade | REGION, A3 E O AST 144th year, No. 57 REGONIAN TUESDAy, JANUARy 7, 2020 $1.50 WINNER OF THE 2019 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD PENDLETON Mayor Turner files for re-election Two councilors also announce plans for re-election By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian Contributed photo Brett Jewett poses for a picture at Devil’s Punch Bowl State Natural Area in Otter Rock, Ore., in 2018. Jewett, a sophomore at Hermiston High School, was killed in a two-vehicle car crash on Jan. 1 along Highway 207 outside of Echo. Remembering Brett Hermiston teenager killed in car crash remembered fondly by family, friends By JESSICA POLLARD East Oregonian H ERMISTON — A Hermis- ton teenager was a star stu- dent, a lover of debates and one of Lana Del Ray’s big- gest fans. Brett Jewett, 16, lost his life on Jan. 1 in a fatal car crash on Highway 207. But the stories that people who knew him have to share about their beloved son, brother and friend are so vivid, his authentic demeanor lives on. According to his sister, Maddie, 18, he just couldn’t wait to get a job after his 16th birthday in November. He wasn’t the type to wait around for life to hap- pen, she said. “He was mad at himself that he hadn’t gotten one yet,” she said. “He was excited about customer service because he can charm the pants off people.” It’s a quality that Brett always seemed to have, his mother, Shannon Jewett, remembers. When he was a lit- tle boy, he made a name for himself as a “cowboy Casanova.” When a teenaged family friend came to visit from Chicago, Brett was just an elementary schooler when he offered her a keepsake — one of his mother’s nicest amethyst rings, plucked from her jewelry box. See Brett, Page A8 Contributed photo Brett Jewett, left, and his sister Maddie Jewett take a selfie. Brett Jewett, a soph- omore at Hermiston High School, was killed in a two-vehicle car crash on Jan. 1 along Highway 207 outside of Echo. PENDLETON — At the same time they expect to sell the public on a gas tax and other measures to raise money for street maintenance, several members of the Pendleton Turner City Council will also be managing re-election cam- paigns, including Mayor John Turner Turner announced he was running for a second term Monday morning, about two months ahead of the March 10 filing Chalmers deadline. “For the past three years it has been my good fortune to serve as the mayor of Pendleton. I am very encouraged by the strong support of our cit- izens and I have enjoyed working with our city Fairley council, an energetic and cohesive group of hon- est, hard-working, for- ward-thinking civic lead- ers,” he said in an emailed statement. “The council has set clear goals for the city and we are beginning to see progress on major Marks projects such as housing and street repairs that will take years to complete. I want to continue to par- ticipate in this difficult but rewarding process.” Turner didn’t have any city council experi- ence when he was elected mayor in 2016, but he was Primmer a familiar face nonetheless. A former Blue Mountain Community College president and Port of Umatilla com- missioner, Turner unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for the open District 58 seat in 2014. In recent years, Pendleton mayors have faced a glide path to re-election. If Turner draws an opponent, it would be the first con- tested mayoral election since former Mayor Phillip Houk won his first term in 2004. Turner was diagnosed with throat can- cer in 2018, but later announced that he was cancer-free after eight months of treatment. In 2016, Turner was among three other men who were also elected to their first full terms — at-large Councilor Paul See Re-election, Page A8 Memorial on track for April 2021 completion Pendleton Arts Committee selects seven finalists in national search for memorial artist By BEN LONERGAN East Oregonian PENDLETON — A long-planned service mem- bers memorial in Pendle- ton moved a step toward completion. The Pendleton Arts Com- mittee met Friday to narrow down the list of finalists for the collaborative art instal- lation at the site of the dis- used fountain near the inter- section of Highway 11 and Southeast Court Avenue. The memorial, which will feature an arrangement of basalt columns and medal- lions from the five service branches, will be anchored by an artistic work in the center of the space. Earlier last year, the Pendleton Arts Committee put out a request for quali- fication on “multiple art-fo- cused websites” and received responses from 27 artists for the memorial artwork. Of the 27 artists, the committee has narrowed the list down to seven, with the aim of consolidating the list to three artists at their next meeting on Jan. 16. “It’s a learning expe- rience, we haven’t done this before,” said Charles Denight, the volunteer chair of the Pendleton Arts Com- mittee. “There’s a lot of good artists.” While Denight said that the Pendleton Arts Commit- tee is excited to move for- ward on the art installation, they are working to navi- gate the public bidding pro- cess and find artists that that best fit the nature of the proj- ect. The current selection includes four artists from Colorado, two from Califor- nia and one from Washing- ton, though the committee See Memorial, Page A8 Photo contributed by Johnny Blagg A medallion honoring the United States Air Force rests in position on one of the basalt columns during a ceremony in honor of Veterans Day on Nov. 9, 2019, at the future site of the memorial.
