COMMUNITY
Thursday, June 3, 2021
East Oregonian
A7
COMMUNITY BRIEFING
Pendleton Pride
gets ready for
Pride March
Pendleton Public Library/Contributed Photo
A young library patron climbs in a backhoe during Big Truck
Day in 2017 at the Pendleton Public Library. This year’s event
is Tuesday, June 8, 1-3 p.m.
Pendleton library
goes big for summer
reading program
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The
first big summer reading
activity at the Pendleton
Public Library is Big Truck
Day. The free event is Tues-
day, June 8, from 1-3 p.m.
Children will be able to
meet the men and women
who drive the big rigs. No
registration is required. This
year’s Big Truck Day features
a backhoe, police and fire
apparatuses, lawnmowers
of unusual size and a flight
simulator. The vehicles will
be parked behind the library,
but make sure you stop inside
for some fun vehicle-related
activities.
As youths are finishing
up school, the Pendleton
Public Library is gearing
up to start seeing lots of
tiny faces making their way
through the stacks. Library
director Jennifer Costley said
each year the library hosts a
summer reading program for
all ages. This year’s theme
is “Reading Colors Your
World.” Participants can
register online or in person.
Each person that turns in
a completed reading log will
receive a free book of their
choosing. In addition, there
will be a grand prize drawing
for each age group. Costley
said thanks to the Knights of
Pythias, the library will give
out three bicycles for grades
1-3 and a grand prize for kids
from birth to kindergarten, as
well as teens and adults.
For those of you who are
not familiar with the motiva-
tion behind the summer read-
ing program, Costley urges
people to consider the follow-
ing information:
Children who don’t read
during the summer can lose
up to two months of learn-
ing by the time they return to
school in the fall. Whereas
children who read a mini-
mum of six books during
the summer, and partici-
pate in the summer reading
program, score higher in
reading and math when they
return to school.
The Pendleton Public
Library is at 502 S.W. Dorion
Ave. It’s open Monday
through Thursday from
10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday/
Saturday from 10 a.m. to
5 p.m. For more information,
call 541-966-0380 or visit
www.pendletonlibrary.com.
———
Contact community writer
Tammy Malgesini at tmalge-
sini@eastoregonian.com or
541-564-4539.
PENDLETON — United
Pendleton Pride is gearing
up to celebrate Pride Month.
You ng people who
spearheaded the 2020 Pride
March started the new local
group, said Alice Hepburn,
president of PFLAG Pend-
leton.
Pride parades, marches
and gatherings are held to
help spread awareness of
the LGBTQIA+ commu-
nity who have struggled
and fought to be accepted
for who they are, Hepburn
said in a press release.
The Pendleton Pride
March, titled “Proud
Together,” will be Saturday,
June 12, beginning with
a gathering at noon in the
Museum Park parking lot on
Southwest Frazer Avenue,
Pendleton. A 2 p.m. march
will head down Main Street
to Brownfield Park.
Also during the month
of June, there will be an art
showcase at various loca-
tions. Pendleton Center
for the Arts, Tamastslikt
Cultural Institute, Pend-
leton Art + Frame, Great
Pacific Wine & Coffee Co.
and Crow’s Shadow Insti-
tute of the Arts have agreed
to display works of art
expressing the experiences
of LGBTQIA+ and others
who have found it difficult
to be heard and understood.
Participants are invited to
tell their stories through art.
For more information,
visit www.facebook.com/
up.pride.50 or send an email
to pf lag.pendleton.or@
gmail.com.
Cemeteries
commission adds
three members
SALEM — A La Grande
archaeologist who previ-
ously worked with the
Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reserva-
tion was appointed to the
Oregon Commission on
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
The 2020 Pendleton Pride event drew about 75 participants
to the streets of Pendleton to raise awareness and cele-
brate the LGBTQ community. This year’s Pendleton Pride
March will be Saturday, June 12.
Historic Cemeteries.
Lisa Sumption, director
of Oregon Parks and Recre-
ation Department, which
houses the Oregon Historic
Cemeteries, made Shawn
Steinmetz’s appointment
last fall and added two addi-
tional members in May.
Steinmetz said his interest in
nondestructive technologies
can be employed to docu-
ments, preservation and
helping interpret historic
properties, and can benefit
historic cemetery manage-
ment.
The other appointees are
Sarah Baylinson, who fills
a vacated Central Oregon
position, and Lisa Sears,
who will fill the vacated
coastal position. Baylinson
is the collections manager
and exhibits coordinator for
the High Desert Museum
in Bend. Sears is a gene-
alogist and family history
researcher who is volunteer-
ing in Tillamook County.
The new commissioners join
Milo Reed, chair, from Port-
land; Bev Power, vice-chair,
from Medford; Charlotte
Lehan from Wilsonville;
and Sarah Silbernagel from
Pendleton.
State law established the
seven-member commis-
sion to maintain a listing
of all historic cemeteries
and gravesites in Oregon;
promote public education on
the significance of historic
cemeteries; and help obtain
financial and technical assis-
tance for restoring, improv-
ing, and maintaining their
appearances. For more infor-
mation, visit www.oregon-
heritage.org. For questions,
contact coordinator Kuri
Gill at 503-986-0685 or kuri.
gill@oregon.gov.
Library district
nixes late charges
for overdue items
MORROW COUNTY
— The board of directors
of the Oregon Trail Library
District recently voted to
adopt a fine-free policy.
Patrons no longer will be
fined daily for overdue mate-
rials.
The change, according to
a press release from library
director Kathy Street, is
part of an institutional
movement from libraries
nationwide, guided by the
recommendations of the
American Library Associ-
ation in an effort to increase
free public access to library
services. As a special gift to
patrons during these chal-
lenging times, the Oregon
Trail Library District also
will erase all past overdue
fines for patrons. This does
not include past fees for lost
or damaged items. Street is
very excited for the change.
“Many new patrons are
afraid to establish an account
for fear of costs. Especially
families,” she said.
Fines should not prevent
any member of the commu-
nity from accessing services,
Street said. Studies in librar-
ies that have eliminated
fines show there has been
no impact on return rates.
In fact, it can even increase
use of library materials.
Only the overdue (late)
charges will disappear; lost
and damaged charges will
remain the patron’s financial
responsibility. If a patron
orders items from another
library and then checks them
out at an OTLD branch, they
will not be charged overdue
fines. If you go to a differ-
ent library that still charges
fines, and check items out
at that location, you will be
charged fines for overdue
items. Street said the Oregon
Trail Library District cannot
waive those fines.
Going fine free doesn’t
mean people don’t have to
return books to the library.
Items still have a due date
and materials need to be
returned. Materials can
be renewed two times if
there are no holds. If an
item is not returned, or is
returned damaged, patrons
still will be charged for lost
or damaged items. Many
libraries in Oregon have
gone fine free already.
For more information,
contact Street at kstreet@
otld.org or 541-481-3365.
Local grads earn
distinction at
Whitman
WALLA WALLA —
Salma Anguiano of Herm-
iston and Kaitlynne Jensen
of Milton-Freewater earned
academic distinction for
the most recent semester at
Whitman College.
This recognition is
given to students who have
completed a minimum of
12 credits and have earned
a grade-point average of 3.5
or higher on no fewer than
nine graded credits during
the semester.
— EO Media Group