REGION
Thursday, January 7, 2021
East Oregonian
A3
School districts prepare to welcome back students
Some students
could return in
Milton-Freewater
as soon as Jan. 11
By JEREMY BURNHAM
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
MILTON-FREEWATER
— The Milton-Freewater and
Athena-Weston school super-
intendents each sent letters
to their students’ families on
Monday, Jan. 4, in anticipa-
tion of an upcoming return to
the classroom for students.
Under Gov. Kate Brown’s
new policy, which she
announced on Dec. 23, met-
rics saying when districts
may reopen are now guide-
lines instead of mandates.
That means the fi nal deci-
sion is now made by the
local school district in con-
junction with its local health
department.
Brown also stated she
hopes students, especially
elementary students, can
begin returning to the class-
room by Feb. 15.
Duff
Quaresma
In
Milton-Freewater,
some changes could occur as
soon as Monday, Jan. 11.
Superintendent
Aaron
Duff said in his letter the dis-
trict hopes to return to lim-
ited in-person instruction on
that date.
Limited in-person instruc-
tion allows small groups of
students to attend classes
for no more than two hours
a day. It is meant for stu-
dents who have special needs
or who cannot access their
online education.
The Milton-Freewater dis-
trict used limited in-person
instruction this fall until an
increased rate of COVID-19
cases in the county required
the district to revert to dis-
tance learning.
Duff also said in his let-
ter that — pending a school
ArchitectsWest/Contributed Photo, File
Gib Olinger Elementary School and others in the Milton-Freewater and Athena-Weston districts might soon return for in-per-
son learning.
board meeting on Jan. 11 —
all K-12 students could tran-
sition to a hybrid schedule by
Feb. 16.
“The District will do its
best to communicate with
staff and families in a timely
manner,” Duff wrote, “but
please keep in mind that we
are making decisions with
the most current information
we have, which can and has
changed on a dime.”
Athena-Weston
Super-
intendent Laure Quaresma
said in her letter that her dis-
‘Stop the steal’ rally at Roy Raley Park
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
About half a dozen protesters gathered on the sidewalk at Roy Raley Park in Pendleton on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, for a
“stop the steal” rally in support of President Donald Trump. The group said they came out to protest in support of protesters
in Washington, D.C., and in opposition of alleged voter fraud.
New UCFD1 fi re station operational
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — Uma-
tilla County Fire District No.
1 has opened up a new fi re
station east of Hat Rock State
Park.
Known as Station 25, or
the Hawman station, it holds
three fi re trucks and will
assist in the fi re district’s cov-
erage of the Hat Rock com-
munity, which was annexed
into the district in May 2020,
and surrounding areas.
Fire Chief Scott Stanton
said the new station will put
about 95% of UCFD’s district
within fi ve miles of a station.
He said it will not only be of
benefi t for a quicker response
during fi res, but property
owners in Hat Rock and sur-
rounding areas should save
“a lot of money” on home
insurance premiums with
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
The new Umatilla County Fire District #1 Station 25 is at High-
way 37 and Walls Road east of Hat Rock State Park.
a much lower ISO rating,
which insurers use to deter-
mine a fi re district’s ability to
prevent or suppress fi res on a
property.
Usually fi re districts ask
voters to pass a bond for a
new fi re station, but in this
case, the district partnered
with Hawman Farms.
Stanton said Mike Haw-
man, who is a director on the
fi re district’s board, offered
to lease ground on his farm
to the district for $1 per year
and to pay for the building of
the new station up front. The
district will then purchase
the building — which Stan-
ton said was about $460,000
— from Hawman, allow-
ing it to make payments over
time.
The station is located at
the intersection of Highway
37 and Walls Road. Stanton
said after the district’s 2019
purchase of two new engines,
that freed up other engines
for Station 25. The station
won’t be regularly staffed by
paid UCFD personnel, but
Stanton said they are recruit-
ing volunteers for it.
He said the district always
needs new volunteer fi re-
fi ghters, wherever those vol-
unteers may live within the
district.
“Our volunteers are down
and calls continue to go up,
so we’re always looking for
help,” he said.
City delays vote on sidewalk stamps
Technical mistake
with draft
ordinance forces
Pendleton to push
decision back
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — A tech-
nical mistake meant the
Pendleton City Council had
to postpone a decision on an
ordinance that would pro-
hibit further preservation of
historical sidewalk stamps.
Shortly after the Jan. 6
meeting began, City Manager
Robb Corbett said the draft
ordinance failed to make an
important distinction.
Corbett said the ordi-
nance is meant to alter the
rules around the preservation
of historical monuments, but
the proposal needed to dis-
tinguish between historical
monuments and survey mon-
uments, a marker set by a
surveyor to mark a property
or land line.
The sidewalk stamps — a
series of historical etchings
in the sidewalk that spell out
the city’s old street names —
rose to prominence after the
Pendleton Historic Preserva-
tion Commission decided to
reinstall or restamp a series
of stamps that featured the
names of four Confeder-
ate fi gures: Jefferson Davis,
P.G.T. Beauregard, Stonewall
Jackson and Robert E. Lee.
In November 2020, res-
ident Joshua Walker broke
the Davis stamp in half and
nailed a pro-Black Lives
Matter sign to it as an act of
protest. He was later cited
for criminal mischief, and
his arraignment in Pendleton
Municipal Court is slated for
Feb. 24.
Mayor John Turner soon
ordered city staff halt rein-
stallation of the stamps, say-
ing the city had been incon-
sistent in preserving previous
sidewalk stamps. The ordi-
nance was an attempt to pre-
vent future sidewalk stamp
preservation, although the
four stamps that were along
Southeast Byers Avenue are
the only known stamps that
reference the Confederacy.
Briana Spencer was
among a group of residents
who encouraged the coun-
cil to remove the stamps at
a previous meeting, and she
was in the audience in the
Jan. 6 meeting. Mayor John
Turner apologized to her,
adding that staff hadn’t dis-
covered the error until a few
hours before the meeting, too
late to revise the draft ahead
of the vote.
The council’s next meet-
ing is scheduled for Jan. 19.
trict will continue offering a
distance-learning option for
families who wish it. She said
the district is currently fi gur-
ing out how many families
want their students to return
to the classroom so a plan can
be made.
Quaresma
told
the
Union-Bulletin on Tuesday,
Jan. 5, that a target date has
yet been set for in-person
instruction to resume, but
that more will be known after
the school board meeting on
Jan. 7.
LOCAL BRIEFING
Pendleton School
Board announces
retirements
PENDLETON — Come
this summer, nearly half of
the Pendleton School Dis-
trict Board will consist of
new faces.
At a Jan. 6 school board
meeting, Chair Debbie
McBee announced that
she and board members
Gary George and Steve
Umbarger intended to
retire from the board at the
end of their terms expiring
in June.
The retirements will
open three seats on the sev-
en-person school board,
and McBee encouraged her
colleagues to solicit inter-
est among district residents
in running for the seats.
The school board is los-
ing its most experienced
members: McBee was
fi rst elected in 2009 while
Umbarger was appointed
in 2010 before he was
elected to fi ll the rest of the
term in 2011.
George was appointed
in 2016 and went on to win
his single term unopposed
the following year. George,
the CEO of Wildhorse
Resort & Casino, is the
only school board mem-
ber who is also an enrolled
member of the Confeder-
ated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation.
McBee
said
she’s
already spoken with some
people who are interested
in running for one of the
seats. Although each seat
is designated a numbered
“position,” all the seats are
elected on an at-large basis,
meaning anyone who lives
in the Pendleton School
District can run for the seat
regardless of where they
live.
The deadline for school
board candidates to fi le
for the May 18 election is
March 18.
Port of Morrow
announces
internships
BOARDMAN — The
Port of Morrow, in part-
nership with regional
industries, is announc-
ing more than 50 summer
internships available for
the summer 2021 season.
Prospective interns can
choose from a diverse set of
opportunities that include
farming, food processing,
education, business, infor-
mation technology, work-
force development and
more.
Columbia Works was
established to link regional
employers with high
school and college stu-
dents who are looking to
gain experience in their
prospective career fi eld.
Columbia Works is part
of the Oregon Works net-
work that has seen success
in different regions across
the state. Initially designed
by the McMinville Eco-
nomic Development Part-
nership, the model has
been adapted to fi t Morrow
County business needs.
“We are excited to see
continued growth of our
summer internship pro-
gram,” said Kalie Davis,
workforce training man-
ager at the Port of Morrow,
in a press release. “We are
fortunate to have so many
businesses that see the
value in providing intern-
ship opportunities.”
Columbia Works is pro-
moting internship oppor-
tunities from 13 employ-
ers this year. The positions
are listed online at www.
columbiaworks.org. The
application period is open
through April 1.
Umatilla County
reports 58th
COVID-19 death
PENDLETON — The
Umatilla County Health
Department announced the
county’s 58th COVID-19
death in a Tuesday, Jan. 5,
2021, press release.
The victim is a 94-year-
old male who tested posi-
tive Nov. 29 and died Dec.
29 at Sun Ridge Retire-
ment Community in Pend-
leton. This individual had
underlying medical condi-
tions, according to the press
release.
The
announcement
comes as the health depart-
ment reported 50 new cases
on Wednesday, Jan. 6, and
75 new cases on Jan. 5,
bringing the county’s total
to 5,988 total cases reported
in the county, according
to the Umatilla County
COVID-19 dashboard.
Morrow
County
reported one new case on
Jan. 6 and seven new cases
on Jan. 5, bringing its total
to 8501 cases, accord-
ing to the Morrow County
COVID-19
dashboard.
Morrow County has had
eight deaths since the pan-
demic started early in 2020.
— EO Media Group
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