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Tuesday, June 29, 2021
East Oregonian
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Bill:
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the closure of the Capitol. If
one Democrat is gone, bills
won’t advance. That day, all
the Democrat senators were
in attendance. Another hurdle
jumped.
On the floor, the bill passed
unanimously and headed to
the House.
There, the bill hit another
wall. Rep. Janelle Bynum,
chair of the House Judiciary
Committee, seemed ready to
doom the proposed legisla-
tion by not scheduling it for a
hearing. If nothing happened
by the deadline, the bill was
officially dead.
The other members of
the committee dusted off a
seldom-used rule to force a
hearing. They invoked House
Rule 8.20, which states if
a majority of committee
members request a hearing in
writing, the chair must sched-
ule it within five days. When
the members signed a letter
requesting a hearing, Bynum
obliged.
The next obstacle came
in the form of two amend-
ments proposed by Rep.
Marty Wilde, D-Eugene, that
would have replaced most of
the verbiage with different
language that reflects Wilde’s
interest in starting a discussion
on sentencing reform. During
the hearing, Wilde spoke
about that, but acknowledged
he planned to vote for Bailey’s
Bill sans amendments. All 10
members voted aye.
When the bill reached the
House floor, it passed unan-
imously. On June 23, Gov.
Brown signed it into law.
Munck heard the news on
June 26.
“I felt really happy and sort
of relieved,” she said. “There
were so many obstacles. I’m
really happy that a teacher can
now be prosecuted differently
than DeYoe.”
Hansell attributed the bill’s
passage to “tenacity, team-
work and truth.”
“The bill was about dealing
with the abuse of children and
closing a loophole in the law,”
he said. “It was a fight to the
bitter end to get that embodied
in Oregon law.”
He pointed to a team of
supporters that included
Munck, Umatilla County
District Attorney Dan Primus,
former Umatilla County
Chief Deputy District Attor-
ney Jaclyn Jenkins, retired
Athena-Weston teacher John
Bartron, Rep. Bobby Levy,
who shepherded the bill
through the House, and and
co-sponsor Sen. Kathleen
Taylor, D-Milwaukie.
He reserved his biggest
praise for Munck.
“She was the star of the
team,” Hansell said. “Bailey’s
willingness to step up was
huge. Not everybody could
have done it.”
The senator said he spoke
to the governor about the
possibility of doing a ceremo-
nial signing with Munck in
attendance.
“I told her, ‘I want you
to meet her and her to meet
you,’” Hansell said. “She said,
‘Absolutely.’”
He said he believes the
signing likely will take place
in the fall during the Pendleton
Round-Up. If that happens,
Munck said she would make
the trip back to Pendleton
from Moscow, Idaho, where
she will be attending the
University of Idaho to study
criminal justice.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Concertgoers dance as Jesse Daniel performs on Saturday, June 26, 2021, at the Happy Canyon Arena for the Jackalope Jamboree. Hundreds turned out
for the festival in spite of 100-plus degree temperatures.
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Temperatures topped 103
degrees over several hours
on June 26, according to the
National Weather Service in
Pendleton, calling the heat
wave “historic and danger-
ous.” Hot gusts of wind
throughout the day provided
little relief.
Walters said he expects
the turnout would have
been a little bit larger had
the conditions been a tad
cooler. He even heard from
some people who chose
not to come out of health
concerns, which he said he
understands. Regardless, he
was grateful for the people
who endured the blazing
conditions with positivity.
“As terrible as the heat is,
I don’t think anybody looks
miserable at this festival,” he
said. “So that’s been great
to see. People have been so
starved for this kind of thing
that they appreciate it more
than ever.”
Friends and families held
water drinking contests,
comparing how many bottles
they had finished. They wore
hats and sunglasses and
stayed in the shade near the
misters draped overhead to
keep cool. Some said they
were reluctant to dance
too hard out of fear of heat
exhaustion.
The crowds slowly trick-
led in through the day as
temperatures remained
in the triple digits. They
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Shooter Jennings plays keyboard on Saturday, June 26, 2021, at the Happy Canyon Arena in Pendleton during the second
day of the Jackalope Jamboree.
peaked in the evening as
temperatures cooled slightly,
providing some relief.
Smoke from grilling
barbecue, Filipino food and
tamales wafted through
the area beneath the grand-
stands where people shared
meals and drank beers at
picnic tables.
Rawli Rodriguez, the
owner of Granny’s Tama-
les, said he was glad to
see people come out and
purchase food and support
his business after a difficult
pandemic year.
“That was horrible,”
he said of the pandemic.
“COVID was a big hit. But
it’s good to see people out
here supporting us as we’re
out here working hard in the
heat.”
Rog e r F lo r e s , a n
employee at Granny’s,
echoed Rodriguez’s senti-
ment.
“It’s the support from
locals that keep small busi-
nesses going,” he said.
Walters joined that
chorus.
“We have a huge amount
of gratitude to our partners
and sponsors and volun-
teers,” he said. “We’re very,
very, very grateful and
have been overwhelmed by
volunteer support.”
Facilities:
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is that there was a significant
need for infant and toddler
care, and also preschool,”
she said.
Brown is the former
publisher of the East Orego-
nian and an owner of the
EO Media Group, the parent
company of the East Orego-
nian.
Brown said the center has
spent 2021 looking to address
its short-term and long-term
facility needs. She said the
board looked at office spaces
across Pendleton, but none
of them had enough space
or amenities to meet their
requirements.
The center soon zeroed
in on BMCC, which had
available space. The board
eventually identified it as a
place where it could house
an interim facility while
it pursued building a new
building that would eventu-
ally serve 150 children.
Brown said the potential
marriage had advantages for
both sides: The children’s
center could begin offering
concrete services while Blue
Mountain could use the center
to offer child care services to
students and staff. Brown said
the center expected to launch
at the college on Sept. 21,
with the number of children
it enrolls dependent on the
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
The Pendleton Children’s Center is in talks with the Pendleton School Board to acquire this bare lot adjacent to the Pend-
leton Early Learning Center and construct a new children’s center.
college facility it uses.
Green said the college and
the center still are trying to
identify a specific building to
use, but the college was open
to helping the nonprofit get
started.
“We’re the baby step,” she
said.
But the children’s center
doesn’t want to stop at
BMCC. Brown said child
care policy experts have told
the board that a child care
facility needs to serve at least
100 students to make the
concept work financially.
Brown recently met with
the Pendleton School Board
to begin talks on the children
center’s acquiring bare land
next door to the Pendleton
Early Learning Center.
Prior to the 2013 bond,
the land had a building that
housed the district offices
and Hawthorne Alternative
School at various points of
time. The bond brought about
a facility reshuffle that led to
the leveling of the building
and an empty lot.
Brown told the school
board the children’s center
was looking to build a new
facility on that land, paying
a nominal rent to the district.
During the presentation,
board Chair Debbie McBee
suggested the children’s
center secure a grant to buy
the property outright, which
would allow the district to
garner fair value for the land
while the center doesn’t have
to worry about rent.
Brown said talks haven’t
advanced past the presenta-
tion but she expects discus-
sions to continue as the school
board swears in three new
members in July.
