REGION
Tuesday, November 30, 2021
East Oregonian
A3
Pendleton Round-Up announces 2022 president, new directors
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The
Pendleton Round-Up Asso-
ciation at its annual stock-
holders meeting Tuesday,
Nov. 23, elected Karl Farber
as president to lead the
iconic Oregon event into its
112th year.
Farber has been on the
Round-Up Board of Direc-
tors seven years and has
ser ved as
concessions
(three years)
and as secu-
rity direc-
tor (the past
four years),
according
Farber
to the press
release from the Round-Up
Association. Competitive
Events Director Nick Siro-
vatka was elected vice pres-
ident, Sponsors Director
Tiah DeGrofft was voted
in as secretary and Offi ce/
Ticketing Director Kevin
Jordan will serve as the
association’s treasurer.
Two new directors, Stuart
Roberts, of Pendleton, and
Nick Michael, of Pilot Rock,
were elected to four-year
terms on the Round-Up
Board of Directors.
Roberts served as chief
of the Pend-
leton Police
Depart-
ment for 18
years, retir-
ing from the
position in
De ce mbe r
Roberts
2020. He is a
graduate of Pendleton High
School, served on numer-
ous boards and committees,
including gover nor-ap-
pointed positions, and
served as president of the
Oregon Association Chiefs
of Police and as vice-chair
of the Oregon Department
of Public Safety Standards
and Training Police Policy
Committee.
Roberts works as a law
enforcement risk manage-
ment consultant for City
County Insurance Services
of Oregon where he supports
130 police departments and
sheriff ’s offi ces statewide.
He and his wife, Lisa,
an elementary school child
development specialist,
will have been married 30
years in August. They have
two children, Lauren and
Cooper. Lauren is a first
grade teacher at Washington
Elementary School in Pend-
leton, and Cooper attends
Eastern Oregon University,
La Grande, where he pitches
for the baseball team.
Michael was born and
raised in Pilot Rock. He
joined the Oregon Army
National Guard in 1998 and
served there until he retired
in 2020. He had 22-1/2 years
of service and spent 30
months deployed in support
of operation Enduring Free-
dom and other campaigns.
He met his wife, Allie
Wilgus,
in 2007
and they
married in
2 014. He
has worked
i n d if fe r-
Michael
e n t r ol e s
in the high
voltage electrical industry
since 2000. He works for the
Bonneville Power Admin-
istration in the substation
operations group.
He and his wife also raise
and sell performance horses.
Michael has been an active
Round-Up volunteer with
the hay and barns crew for
21 years.
The other Round-Up
Board of Directors are:
Publicity Director Pat Reay,
Indians Director Dr. Harper
Jones, Let ’er Buck Room
Director Tim Smith, Live-
stock Director Justin Terry,
Arena Director Berk Davis,
Queen and Court Direc-
tor Jason Hill, Grounds
and the quality of livestock
provided.
The Round-Up also was
nominated for the Women’s
Professional Rodeo Associ-
ation Large Outdoor Rodeo
of the Year. Further, the
association was informed
regarding their selection as
a fi nalist for the 2021 Massey
Ferguson “Sowing Good
Deeds” Award. The winning
rodeo committee will receive
a new Massey Ferguson trac-
tor and will be announced
Dec. 1 at the Professional
Rodeo Cowboys Associa-
tion Annual Convention in
Las Vegas.
In addition, there are
several other cont ract
personnel that contrib-
ute to the success of the
Round-Up. The PRCA
announced several contract
personnel who are nomi-
nated for awards in bull-
f ighting, pick up men,
secret a r y, t i mers a nd
photographer’s categories.
Director Casey Currin,
Concessions Director Jason
Graybeal, Programs and
Ushers Director Rob Burn-
side, Room 17 and Medical
Director Dr. Brad Adams
and Parades Director Tim
O’Hanlon.
According to the press
release, the Round-Up
A s s o ciat ion r ev iewe d
multiple successes during
t he 2021 f isca l ye a r
ending Oct. 31. In addi-
tion to the recap of 2021,
ref lection on the success
of the Let’er Buck Cares
Fund that provided nearly
$1 million in com mu-
nity, essential partner and
local business assistance
during the pandemic. The
2021 Round-Up also had
an increased media pres-
ence with the Rural Media
Group showing the events
on the Cowboy Chan-
nel. The media agreement
allowed for continued
growth in contestant payout
Sex abuse case comes back
to Umatlla County on appeal
Higher court
found trial was a
‘credibility contest’
involving no
physical evidence
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Bryce Dole/East Oregonian
Shoppers and employees of Scentsy, a fragrance company, talk about holiday products
Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021, at the Hermiston Christmas Bazaar. Racquel Rodriguez, a Hermis-
ton-based consultant for Scentsy, said the bazaar is one of the biggest events of the year for
sales. She said the event is essential for local businesses to connect with clientele.
Bazaar sees big turnout
Organizers had to
turn away at least
40 vendors as the
event overfl owed
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — It’s
Christmastime in Hermis-
ton.
For some, that means
it’s time to shop. More than
1,000 people fl ocked to the
Her miston Community
Center and The Arc Umatilla
County on Saturday, Nov.
27, for the annual Christmas
Bazaar.
The event featured more
than 60 vendors, and some
“overflow” vendors were
moved to The Arc Umatilla
County nearby, according
to Diana Picard, the city’s
recreation coordinator and
the manager of the commu-
nity center.
Picard said this year’s
bazaar was the biggest yet
— so big that organizers
had to turn away at least
40 vendors. Picard said she
was unsure why this year
saw so many more vendors,
but she assumed that many
people had taken up creative
hobbies during the pandemic
and were ready to put their
products on display.
Vendors remarked on
the bazaar’s bustling atmo-
sphere. Crowds of people
meandered through the
center browsing or na-
ments, woodwork, paint-
ings, jewelry, crochet hats,
bath bombs and other types
of goods. The air was fi lled
with the smell of holiday
fragrances and baked goods.
Shoppers said they were
excited to be out support-
ing local businesses after
months where the pandemic
shuttered them and brought
both supply chain and hiring
woes. Many purchased holi-
day gifts for loved ones,
noting the special feeling
of shopping local rather
than buying online through
Amazon and other shopping
websites.
“This is a way to connect
with each other,” Picard said.
“It’s a place to see the people
you haven’t in a while.”
And shoppers were eager
to buy. Stephanie Walchli
saw that firsthand. Next
to her crochet table, she
watched as her parents’
wood tables were completely
sold out before 11 a.m., hours
before the event was sched-
uled to end. By noon, the
tables were clear and her
family had left.
Walchli’s day was busy,
too. She said she typi-
cally makes around $200
at a bazaar, which she had
successfully made halfway
through her day on Nov. 27.
A substitute teacher,
Walchli taught herself to
crochet. She enjoyed seeing
other creative artisans reap
the benefi ts of their hobbies
at the bazaar.
“You see the results of
months of work,” she said.
Some vendors said the
bazaar is one of their biggest
sales days. And this year was
even more important after
the stresses the pandemic
placed on small businesses.
That was the case for
Racquel Rod r ig uez, a
Hermiston consultant for
the fragrance company
Scentsy. During pandemic
shutdow ns, Rod r ig uez
said she was unable to hold
“home parties” to showcase
products in a home. That
slowed business, and made
Rodriguez all the more
grateful for the community
support on a busy Nov. 27.
“It has not stopped,” she
said as a half-dozen custom-
ers approached.
Among the bazaar shop-
pers was April Huckstep,
from the Tri-Cities. A
weekly bazaar shopper, she
had checked out food, salsa,
handcrafts and other home-
made gifts at the event. To
her, shopping locally is a
more personable experi-
ence. It makes holiday gifts
meaningful. On Nov. 27, she
purchased for her daughter
a wooden Mickey Mouse
ornament to remind her of
a recent trip to Disneyland.
A few feet from Huckstep
stood dozens of stacks of
paintings. They were Donna
Anderson’s, who was show-
ing her work for the first
time at the bazaar. After
surgery last year left Ander-
son immobilized, painting
became her “saving grace,”
she said.
“It gives me peace,” she
said.
Now, Anderson’s house
is filled with countless
paintings, so her family
convinced her to start sell-
ing. That’s why she came to
the bazaar, where she said
she sold a few paintings. She
said she enjoyed the friendly
atmosphere, chatting with
locals about what they’re
buying and with vendors
about their passions.
Mary A. Johnson, Ph.D., wife of the late
Jim Hanks and former Pendleton resident,
announces the publication of her second book,
LOVE AND ASPERGER'S:
Jim and Mary's Excellent Adventure,
a Memoir, set mostly in the Pendleton area.
Available on Amazon.com
PENDLETON — A
former Pilot Rock man
is getting another shot at
defending himself against
sexual abuse charges after
the Oregon Court of Appeal
overturned verdicts against
him.
Hussein Ibrahin Hassan,
68, is out of state prison and
again in the Umatilla County
Jail, Pendleton, awaiting a
new trial.
A jury in 2019 convicted
Hassan on two counts of
first-degree sexual abuse
of a 13-year-old girl. He
appealed, and the higher
court heard the arguments
in the case on Jan. 26, and
issued its ruling Oct. 27.
The appeals court found
two reasons to remand
the case back to Umatilla
County.
The jury voted 10-2 to
convict on one count. That
meant the case was coming
back to the county in the
wake of the U.S. Supreme
Cou r t r uling against
nonunanimous verdicts.
The jury on the second
count was unanimous.
But the appeal court found
Circuit Judge Jon Lieuallen
erred during the trial when
he did not allow the defense
to posit a theory that would
have cast doubt on the actu-
ations.
According to the 12-page
ruling, Hassan and the
13-year-old girl lived in
diff erent halves of a duplex
in Pilot Rock, and the duplex
shared a backyard, accord-
ing to the ruling. The girl
accused Hassan of kissing
her and touching her right
breast while they were alone
in a yard.
During the trial, the girl
testifi ed to Hassan kissing
her and touching her right
breast. She also told the
jury this prompted her to
move from Pilot Rock back
to Pendleton where she
had lived for “pretty much
(her) whole life,” because
“we didn’t feel safe at home
anymore.”
The forensic evaluator
who conducted the abuse
assessment of the girl also
testifi ed. During cross-ex-
amination, the defense
asked the evaluator about
why the girl was not living
with her mother. The pros-
ecutor objected on the basis
of relevance, and the defense
responded, “Goes to bias.”
Lieuallen allowed the
defense to pursue the line of
questioning outside the pres-
ence of the jury to determine
whether to sustain the objec-
tion. The defense asked the
evaluator if it was correct the
child said she was not living
in Pendleton due to allega-
tions of theft. The evaluator
confi rmed that.
The defense explained
its theory of relevance: That
after getting into trouble
for stealing a phone, then
moving to a diff erent town,
the girl made up the sexual
abuse claim to get out of
trouble with her parents.
The prosecutor contin-
ued to object on the ground
that the two matters were
not related. After further
testimony, including from
the mother and the girl, the
judge sustained the prose-
cution’s objection. Lieual-
len explained, “I don’t think
there’s suffi cient relevance,
relevance to that. She’s not
under any further restric-
tions, punishment at the
time of the incident. While
it may be 30 days, it’d come
and gone. … There may
have been lots of choppy
stuff earlier some but (it
had) all been worked out and
smoothed out. .. I guess it
doesn’t appear (to) me there
was anything to avoid at that
time, and therefore no reason
to make up, fabricate a story,
anything of that nature, so.”
The jury ultimately
convicted Hassan on the two
counts of fi rst-degree sexual
abuse.
But the appeals court
found the judge should
have allowed the defense to
explain its theory of why the
girl may have fabricated the
account, even if the theft of
the cellphone had little eff ect
on the girl by the time she
made the accusations.
The general rule, the
appeals court explained,
is all relevant evidence
is admissible, and rele-
vant evidence is “evidence
having any tendency to
make the existence of any
fact that is of consequence
to the determination of the
action more probable or less
probable than it would be
without the evidence.” To
meet the test of relevance,
the ruling stated, “bias or
interest evidence ‘need only
have a mere tendency to
show the bias or interest of
the witness.’”
The court’s error in not
allowing the defense theory
also was not harmless.
“This case involved
a credibility contest in
which there was no physi-
cal evidence of abuse and
no eyewitnesses who testi-
fied other than (the girl).
The evidence regarding the
phone incident and subse-
quent move would have been
defendant’s only evidence
of (her) motive to fabricate
the allegations, and he was
denied the opportunity to
advance that theory and to
meet the prosecutor’s closing
argument that (the girl) had
no bias, motive or interest in
falsely accusing defendant of
abuse.”
Hassan has a pretrial
conference Tuesday morn-
ing, Nov. 30, at the Umatilla
County Courthouse, Pend-
leton. Lieuallen is presiding.
GOLD SPONSORS
Community Bank
SILVER SPONSORS
Alive and Well PPP
CHI St. Anthony Hospital
Corteva Agriscience
Desire For Healing Inc
Hill Meat Company
Northeast Oregon Water Association
OSU Extension Service- Umatilla County
RE/MAX Cornerstone
Rick’s Car Wash
Tum-A-Lum Lumber
Western Radiator
BRONZE SPONSORS
A & G Property Management & Maintenance
Blue Mountain Community College
Coldwell Banker Whitney & Associates, Inc,
Davita Blue Mountain Kidney Center
DuPont Pioneer HiBred Research Center
Jeremy J Larson DMD LLC
Kelly Lumber Supply Inc
Kiks Golf Center
Kirby Nagelhout Construction Co.
Kopacz Nursery & Florist
Landmark Tax Services
McEntire Dental
Mid Columbia Bus Co
NW Metal Fabricators Inc
Rob Merriman Plumbing & Heating Inc
The RBH Group LLC
The Saddle Restaurant and Lounge
Willowbrook Terrace
OTHER SPONSORS
Barhyte Specialty Foods
Umatilla Electric Cooperative
CMG Financial
Duchek Construction
Episcopal Church of the Redeemer
Hermiston Public Library
Hodgen Distributing
Pendleton KOA
Starvation Ridge Farming, LLC
Sun Terrace Hermiston
Want to see you name here? Call 541-276-2211