REGION
Thursday, April 22, 2021
East Oregonian
A3
UEC incumbents
hold onto seats
Bryan Wolfe
holds off District
3 challengers,
Phil Hamm wins
uncontested
Hamm
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Washington Elementary School fourth grade students raise their hands and shout “tentacles” during a dissection lesson on
Tuesday, April 20, 2021.
Pendleton elementary students dissect squid
Students get
hands-on
to examine
cephalopods
By BEN LONERGAN
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The
fourth grade students at
Washington Elementary
School donned goggles,
gloves and plastic aprons,
in addition to the now usual
masks, and headed outside
to rows of squid dissection
stations set up adjacent to the
school on Tuesday, April 20.
The group of excited
students found their way to
their stations as fourth grade
teacher Hunter Erwin began
to give instructions to the
classes.
Before leading off the
dissection he offered a
reminder to students that
the squid they were about to
dissect were once living crea-
tures and to treat them with
respect.
“Treat them with respect,”
he said. “We have these to
provide an opportunity to
learn.”
Students began to reach
for their tools as the first
instruction was given — to
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Washington Elementary School student Rosalie Siegmund
carefully inspects her squid during a squid dissection con-
ducted by fourth grade students in Pendleton on Tuesday,
April 20, 2021.
remove a tentacle from the
squid and inspect its sucker
cups under a magnifying
glass.
“I think it’s really cool,”
said student Griffin Hillen-
brand as he peered through
the magnifier at the small
sucker cups that adorned the
squid’s tentacles.
Fourth grade teacher
Garth McCaleb said the
students had spent the last
two weeks learning about the
internal and external struc-
tures that make up plants and
animals, and were excited to
be able to use those lessons
in real life.
McCaleb added that in
a traditional year students
would be paired into groups
of two or three and share
a squid in each group.
However, additional supplies
provided by the InterMoun-
tain Education Service
District allowed each student
to dissect their own squid.
“We were able to get a
squid for every student this
year,” he said.
Students followed along
with a list of instructions,
taking care to identify the
various str uctures that
make up the squid, carefully
cutting back the mantle and
removing internal structures
for closer examination.
“It’s kind of weird, but I
like it,” said student Chey-
enne Loomis before compar-
ing her squid to those of her
fellow lab partners.
While reactions to the
process varied slightly, there
was a buzz of excitement in
the air as students called out
parts they discovered and
small groups compared their
squid. In addition to iden-
tifying structures, such as
the beak and eyes, students
identified the gender of their
squid by looking for eggs
within the animal’s mantle.
A highlight of the dissec-
tion for many students was
finding the squid’s ink sac
and using the ink to write and
draw on paper.
Throughout the process
instructional staff circulated
between groups answer-
ing questions and helping
students find various struc-
tures if they were unable to.
“It’s very cool,” said
Dreux Hall, a student. “It’s
a little icky, but really cool.”
HERMISTON — Both
incumbents up for reelection
for Umatilla Electric Coop-
erative’s board of directors
kept their seats.
Br yan Wolfe will
continue to represent
District 3 and Phil Hamm
will continue to repre-
sent District 4. Hamm had
no challengers, while Lee
Carlson, Patricia Maier and
Danice McBee were unsuc-
cessful in running against
Wolfe. Members also
approved a proposed update
to UEC’s bylaws, which had
not been updated to reflect
current state and federal
laws since 2008.
Results of the election,
which was conducted by
mail by the cooperative’s
10,700 members, were
announced during UEC’s
annual members meeting
on Saturday, April 17.
According to a news
release, 280 members and
guests watched the lives-
treamed virtual event. The
annual report released at the
event states that UEC’s kilo-
watt-hour power sales were
up by 24% in 2020, as the
utility delivered 3.8 billion
kilowatt hours.
While UEC’s growth in
recent years has been mostly
driven by industrial custom-
ers, the 2020 report shows
growth between 2019 and
2020 was relatively equal
across industrial, commer-
cial, residential and irriga-
tion customers, with the
LOCAL BRIEFING
Cop recognized for
house fire response
U M AT I LL A — A
Umatilla police officer was
recognized by city officials in
a Tuesday, April 20, meeting
for his “valor and professional
actions under potential deadly
circumstances” during a
house fire on April 3, accord-
ing to a press release.
Cotter Butler rescued an
elderly resident during the fire
without hesitation, the press
release said, kicking in the
front door and entering the
house as it was engulfed in
flames before the fire depart-
ment arrived.
Butler then alerted neigh-
bors to evacuate their homes
as well, the press release said.
Umatilla Fire Chief Steve
Potts commended Butler’s
actions, which “made an
immense difference in the
successful outcome of the
traumatic incident for not
only the resident of the home
and nearby residences, but
by also allowing the fire
department to focus on the
fire rather than to engage in
a rescue operation,” the press
release said.
Traffic stop leads
to drug, weapons
charges
BAKER CITY — Three
people, including a Board-
man man, were arrested on
a variety of drug and weap-
ons charges early on Sunday,
April 18, in Baker City after
an Oregon State Police
trooper stopped their car
because the front passenger
was not wearing a seat belt.
According to a report
from Trooper Dakotah Keys,
he stopped the vehicle about
1:16 a.m. in Baker City.
The front passenger,
Jefferson Eli Cole Sharp, 26,
of La Grande, had two arrest
warrants, for second-degree
theft in Baker County Justice
Court, and for probation
violation from Union County
Circuit Court.
Keys wrote in his report
Sharp
Torres
that Sharp also “verbally
provided false information.”
While searching Sharp,
Keys found two unlawfully
concealed handguns, more
than two grams of metham-
phetamine, in excess of the
amount that constitutes a
violation rather than a crime
under a new state law, and
“suspected fentanyl,” a pain-
killer.
Keys wrote that the rear
passenger, Taylor Gordon
Morris, 29, of La Grande,
consented to a search,
which yielded a weapon that
Morris, a convicted felon, is
not allowed to have, and a
criminal amount of metham-
petamine.
Keys searched the vehicle
and found a semi-automatic
rif le, a Taser, a criminal
amount of heroin and “addi-
tional items of drug para-
phernalia.”
The driver, Francisco
Garcia Torres, 38, of Board-
man, who’s also a convicted
felon, was arrested on
charges of illegal posses-
sion of a firearm and another
weapon, and possession of 1
gram or more of heroin.
Morris was cited and
released.
Torres and Sharp were
both taken to the Baker
County Jail.
PSD selects
new high school
principal
PENDLETON — Pend-
leton High School will soon
have a new principal.
The Pendleton School
District School Board has
selected Patrick “Pat” Dutcher
as the school’s new leader.
Dutcher’s contract begins on
July 1. Dutcher will replace
current PHS Principal Melissa
Sandven, who resigned effec-
tive June 30 earlier in the year.
“Mr. Dutcher possesses
the qualities we were looking
for in our next principal, high
integrity, instructional leader,
student-centered and a great
communicator,” said Superin-
tendent Chris Fritsch. “Find-
ing someone with knowledge
and understanding of our area
was also important to the
selection committee.”
Dutcher is currently the
principal of EDGE High
School in the Salem-Keizer
School District. Prior to that,
he served as the curriculum
principal at West Salem High
School.
Dutcher started his career
as a special education teacher,
serving in both the Scio and
Salem-Keizer districts. In
2015, he was selected as the
principal of Scio High School,
a position he held for three
years before moving to West
Salem High School.
Dutcher earned a Bach-
elor of Science in business
administration from Eastern
Oregon University, a master’s
degree in education from the
University of Phoenix and
his administrative credential
from Portland State Univer-
sity.
— EO Media Group
Wolfe
largest increase in revenue
coming through irrigation.
During the pandemic,
according to the report,
UEC returned a combined
$7.6 million in Capital
Credits refunds to members
in 2020, in addition to
providing utility bill relief
to members affected finan-
cially by the pandemic,
and providing $800,000
in rebates and low-inter-
est loans for energy-saving
upgrades for customers.
UEC also created the Busi-
ness Resource Center in
April 2020 to provide free
assistance to area busi-
nesses working to apply
for the Paycheck Protection
Program and other grants.
The report referenced
several severe weather
challenges for UEC as well,
including the February 2020
flood and two major wind-
storms.
“During the year, our
crews and operations staff
faced historic weather
events, making for long
hours and dangerous work-
ing conditions,” a joint state-
ment by Wolfe and CEO
Robert Echenrode said in
the annual report. “Through
all, our employees have
worked safely and efficiently
and gone above and beyond
to help our communities.
“None of us could have
imagined how the coronavi-
rus would have changed the
world and our way of life.
The year proved how deep
the community spirit runs
in Eastern Oregon.”
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HONOR THE
SENIOR IN
YOUR LIFE!
Let their
accomplishments
shine with a sign
for your yard!
CLASS OF 2021
KATIE SMITH
STANFIELD HIGH SCHOOL
CLASS OF 2021
ALICE SMITH
HERMISTON HIGH SCHOOL
CLASS OF 2021
4/23-4/29
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1:40p 4:40p
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