REGION
Saturday, June 12, 2021
East Oregonian
A3
College grads celebrate with drive-thru commencement
More than 130
graduate June 10
from Blue Mountain
Community College
By BEN LONERGAN
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Iosefa Taula,
40, was smiling ear to ear as he rode
atop his family’s decorated SUV
Thursday, June 10, through the
graduation parade at Blue Mountain
Community College in Pendleton.
Taula, a first-generation college
graduate, spent the last two years
working toward his associate of arts
degree and plans to attend Oregon
State University in the fall to pursue
a degree in wildlife studies.
“It took me a while to get here,”
he said after accepting his diploma.
“It was a lot more complex than I
thought it was going to be, between
working, and family and school.”
Taula said he works for the
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation Fish and Wild-
life Department and wanted to
pursue a degree to help further his
career there. Career goals, paired
with support from his wife, who
received a degree last year from the
Blue Mountain, motivated Taula to
pursue a college education.
“If I can do it, so can you,” he said.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Iosefa Taula leaps from the top of his SUV to pose for his official graduation portrait Thursday, June 10, 2021,
during a drive-thru graduation ceremony at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton.
“I was one of the kids that got straight
Fs in junior high school.”
Taula said he found success at
Blue Mountain.
“I got straight As one of my terms,
which was something I’d never
accomplished before,” he said.
Tuala said he hopes his chil-
dren will look toward their parents’
accomplishments and want to pursue
higher education as well, and he was
glad to have several of them in the car
to celebrate his graduation.
Also looking to pursue further
education was Keyla Roman, of
Hermiston. Roman graduated with
an associate of applied science degree
in early childhood education and
several career pathway certificates
in education.
“I’m happy I’m done,” she said.
“But I’ve got another two years ahead
of me.”
Roman plans to continue her stud-
ies at Southern Oregon University in
the fall and hopes to be able to apply
the knowledge she has gained in her
work with the Boardman Head Start.
The Blue Mountain Community
College Class of 2021 included 274
graduates from the age of 17 to 59. Of
those graduates, 138 students gradu-
ated with honors or high honors, and
13 were veterans, according to the
college.
Among those graduating with
honors was Terri Johnson, who led
off the parade of graduates cheering
from the back of a white pickup deco-
rated with balloons. Johnson, who
completed her associate’s of applied
science degree in business admin-
istration, works for the college and
said she was proud to have received
her degree 35 years after graduating
high school.
“It feels amazing,” she said. “It
took me a long time to get here.”
Johnson, who is a service special-
ist at Blue Mountain, said the staff
and students were incredibly
supportive of her and helped keep
her motivated.
“It was a lot of hard work and
tears,” she said, “but I persevered
and made it.”
Pendleton native donates ship model to library Hermiston council to
SS Pendleton
consider fee increases
wrecked off coast
of Massachusetts
and a zoning update
in the 1950s
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The
SS Pendleton never traveled
to its landlocked namesake,
but the Pendleton Public
Library might have the next
best thing.
David Parrish, of Seat-
tle, met with Mayor John
Turner and City Manager
Robb Corbett to present a
scale model of the tanker,
which famously wrecked
off the coast of Massachu-
setts in the 1950s. Parrish
donated the model to the
library, which is placing the
model in a display case near
the library’s elevator.
Parrish, 78, grew up in
Pendleton before moving
away to Seattle in 1966.
A retired electrician and
Boeing employee, Parrish
has been an avid modeler
for years. He said a model-
ing kit for the SS Pendle-
ton had been sitting in his
closet for some time, but
the thought of donating
the completed model to his
hometown helped compel
him to spend the hundred of
hours he needed to make it.
“I had a lot of fun in this
town growing up,” he said.
Glenn Graham/City of Pendleton
Dave Parrish, center, Pendleton City Manager Robb Corbett, left, and Mayor John Turner
pose for a photo with a model of the SS Pendleton that Parrish donated to the Pendleton
Public Library. Parrish, who grew up in Pendleton but now lives in Seattle, spent hundreds
of hours constructing the model.
Parrish also remarked on
the SS Pendleton’s history,
which was dramatic enough
to capture the attention of
Hollywood.
Built in Portland in 1944,
the SS Pendleton was a
504-foot-long oil tanker that
was traveling up the East
Coast from Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, when it ran into a
storm near Chatham, Massa-
chusetts, in 1952. Beset by
strong winds, heavy snow
and 60- to 70-foot-tall
waves, the storm eventually
broke the SS Pendleton in
two, endangering the boat’s
41-person crew.
The U.S. Coast Guard
deployed a lifeboat to save
the crew from the ship-
wreck, and despite facing
the same inclement condi-
tions that led the SS Pend-
leton to its fate, the Coast
Guard was successful in
saving almost the entire
crew.
The guardsmen who
saved the crew were
awarded Coast Guard’s Gold
Lifesaving Medal and were
the subject of a 2009 book,
“The Finest Hours.” In 2016,
Disney produced a movie of
the same name that drama-
tized the events.
Tur ner and Corbett
thanked Parrish for his
contribution to the library
while listening to him share
memories of his younger
years in Pendleton.
The SS Pendleton may
be gone, but a piece of its
memory lives on in the city
it was named after.
HERMISTON — The
Hermiston City Council
has a busy agenda for its
Monday, June 14, meeting
as the end of the fiscal year
draws near.
The council will hold a
public hearing and vote on
the 2021-22 budget. The
budget is 19.5% larger than
the previous year, largely
due to revenue coming in
from the CARES Act and
for planned capital projects,
including the new city hall,
an airport apron repaving,
and a $2.5 million infra-
structure project at the South
Hermiston Industrial Park.
The agenda includes a
significant raise in fees for
the city’s building depart-
ment. According to a memo
in the agenda packet by
building inspector Chuck
Woolsey, the city is using a
free building permit program
by the state of Oregon and it
requires the city’s building
permit fees be in compliance
with state laws.
“Currently, the City of
Hermiston is not current with
the established fees required
by the State of Oregon,”
Woolsey wrote. “Indicated
fees will increase anywhere
from 17-33% to align the City
with the State of Oregon fee
schedule and will also be
comparable to other cities
local fees.”
The new fee schedule
also includes increases for
plumbing, mechanical, elec-
trical and structural permits,
“some of which have not
been updated for over 20
years,” according to Wool-
sey.
The council also will hold
a public hearing and vote on
updates to the code of ordi-
nances regarding two-fam-
ily homes. The city must
update its code to comply
with House Bill 2001, which
in part requires cities over
10,000 residents to allow
duplexes in all zones where
single-family dwellings
are allowed. Cities must
also hold single-family and
two-family dwellings to the
same standards.
As a result the city is
amending its code to allow
duplexes in all residential
zones. Duplexes will be
allowed on the smaller lot
sizes currently allowed for
single-family homes, but
new single-family homes
will be required to provide
two parking spaces.
Companies plan to build Family Dollar and Dollar General in Pilot Rock
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
PILOT ROCK — The
incoming Dollar General in
Pilot Rock looks to have some
competition.
Eyes North Corporation, a
Chicago-based corporation,
is seeking a variance to the
city code so it can go forward
with plans to construct a
10,500-square-foot Family
Dollar and adjacent parking.
The Pilot Rock City Council
considers that request when it
meets Tuesday, June 15, start-
ing at 6 p.m. at city hall, 144
N. Alder Place.
The council at the meet-
ing also plans to approve the
city’s 2021-22 budget of more
than $3.8 million.
The council in May
granted a similar variance
for the proposal to build a new
Dollar General. Pilot Rock
Mayor Virginia Carnes said
the city has talked about the
need for economic develop-
ment for years, and a pair of
new stores in town is a boon.
“We’re thrilled to pieces,”
Carnes said.
Eyes North is buying the
recently partitioned lot next
to Schoolhouse Village, 241
S.W. Fourth St., according to
the staff report to the council,
to build a new Family Dollar.
The retail chain store has
8,200 locations, according to
vault.com.
The city code requires a
retail store to have one park-
ing space per 200 square feet
of floor area, one space per
two employees and one bicy-
cle space per 600 square feet
of floor area.
That would require a store
of 10,500 square feet to have
54 parking spaces. But Eyes
North proposes 33 spaces as
sufficient to serve customers.
According to the staff
report, the site plan includes
as much parking as possible
given the dimensions of the
property, a lot of 200 feet by
240 feet, and the proposal
meets all setback and lot
coverage requirements.
The council in May
granted a parking variance to
the Zaremba Group of Lake-
wood, Ohio, which bought
Pilot Rock Hardware &
Building Supplies, 181 N.W.
Birch St., to build a Dollar
General. City code would
have required 54 parking
spaces for the 10,640-square-
foot building, but the council
approved a variance for 35
spaces due to the shape of the
property.
Dollar General is looking
to expand in Eastern Oregon.
The company announced
NEWS IN BRIEF
Hermiston couple on the hook for
$1,400 after illegally selling crab
HERMISTON — A Hermiston couple has been sentenced
to pay $1,200 in restitution after illegally selling recreationally
caught crab on the commercial market in Hermiston, accord-
ing to a press release from Oregon State Police.
Gerald and Shawna Wilson of Hermiston also will pay
$100 each to the Turn In Poachers Line fund, and they are
prohibited from obtaining a fishing or shellfish license for
three years.
OSP Fish and Wildlife troopers began an investigation after
receiving a call on the TIP Line reporting crab advertised for
sale on Facebook. Investigators followed up on the lead and
discovered the couple selling live or cooked crab through
social media, the release said.
The couple listed the crab as free of charge, but with a
suggested donation of $11 per pound to skirt marine fisheries
laws that prohibit people from selling their personal limits of crab
and other marine life on the commercial market, according to
law enforcement. At least 11 people purchased the crab through
Facebook or other social media, according to Lincoln County
District Attorney Kenneth Park, who prosecuted the case in May.
“This was a good resolution,” Park said. “We charged for
criminal negligence.”
— EO Media Group
last week its new store at 45
S. Columbia St., Milton-Free-
water, is open.
To commemorate that
opening, according to a press
release from the company,
Dollar General plans to
donate 100 new books to a
nearby elementary school.
Through the partnership with
the Kellogg Company, the
donation will be part of a plan
to donate more than 100,000
books across the country to
celebrate new Dollar General
store openings.
Once the city council
makes a determination on
the Eyes North Corporation
variance, it moves on to the
city budget.
The 2021-22 budget goes
into effect at the end of June
and is almost $2.8 million
less than the expiring budget.
That’s in large measure due
to the about a $3.1 million
decrease in federal, state and
other grants. The general
fund budget for the coming
fiscal year is $828,952, and
Pilot Rock’s equivalent
number of full-time employ-
ees remains at 9.11.