REGION
Thursday, January 13, 2022
East Oregonian
Dancer plans performance to honor police
LOCAL BRIEFING
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
Copeland retires
from BMLT
HERMISTON — Dancer
Breaeh Rios, 10, of Hermis-
ton, is looking forward to
paying tribute to Anthony
Dia, an Ohio officer who
was killed on the job. Breaeh
will dance to honor Dia and
other offi cers at upcoming
contests.
Her fi rst competition is
March 18-20 at Sheer Elite
in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. A
Highland Hills Elementary
student, Breaeh said she
feels a little nervous about
her upcoming performance,
where she has planned a
contemporary solo dance,
as well as jazz, lyrical and
hip-hop performances.
“I’ve only done one solo,
and that was last year,” she
said.
Still, she said, her last
performance earned her plat-
inum honors in Tacoma, so
she feels confi dent she will
do well in the upcoming
contest.
She said she is prepar-
ing with a lot of practice and
stretching. As part of her
practice, she will see a chore-
ographer in Texas.
WALLA WALLA — Tim
Copeland, executive director
of the Blue Mountain Land
Trust, is retiring.
BMLT announced the
news in a press release Tues-
day, Jan. 11.
Copeland joined the trust
as its executive director in
November 2014. During
his tenure, BMLT tripled
its geographic service area
in southeastern Washington
and Northeastern Oregon to
become one of the largest
regional land trusts in the
Pacifi c Northwest, accord-
ing to the press release,
and expanded its natural
resources education and
outdoor recreation activities.
BMLT’s conservation
easement holdings increased
from 866 acres to 13,659
acres with an additional
9,500 acres projected to
close in early 2022. In 2021,
the BMLT also acquired its
fi rst owned property, Phipps
Meadow, a 278-acre parcel
of environmental signifi-
cance on the Middle Fork of
the John Day River.
Thousands of guests
each year, even during the
pandemic, have attended or
viewed the trust’s education
programs, including Learn-
ing on the Land and Learn-
ing on the Land Online.
The Blues Crew also has
been successful in its contri-
butions to recreation oppor-
tunities in the Umatilla
National Forest, includ-
ing the restoration of the
Horseshoe Prairie Nordic
Ski Area, the press release
stated.
Copeland will continue
to serve as a director of the
Washington Association of
Land Trusts and the Oregon
Agricultural Trust. He is the
immediate past president
of the Washington Associ-
ation of Land Trusts. Cope-
land also will be involved in
the transition of leadership
through the fi rst quarter of
2022. Board member Greg
Brown assumes the role of
Dance history and
ambitions
Breaeh said she has been
dancing and competing since
she was 3 years old.
“I started dance because
my mom stuck me in it,” she
said.
Though her mom is not a
dancer, they dance together
and have enjoyed making
videos, she said. In addition,
they have watched many
videos on TikTok.
Throughout her years
of performance, Breaeh
has visited various cities
throughout Oregon, Idaho
and Washington, she said,
and has received awards with
her dance groups.
She dances with Dance
Unlimited, a Hermiston
school. There, she said,
she enjoys working with
her coaches. She added
they work well together to
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Breaeh Rios, 10, left, talks with members of the Umatilla County Sheriff ’s Offi ce and Herm-
iston Police Department on Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022, at the Staff ord Hansell Government
Center in Hermiston. Breaeh, a competitive dancer, will be performing a law enforcement
tribute dance at a set of upcoming competitions in remembrance of fallen Toledo, Ohio,
police offi cer Anthony Dia.
meet her goals.
“I want to become a
professional dancer and go
to Juilliard,” she said.
Breaeh credited The
Juilliard School for being
a premier performing arts
school that will require “lots
of dedication” from her if she
is to attend.
In addition, her ambitions
include learning choreogra-
phy, something she said she
will eventually study.
Forthcoming
performances
The daughter and grand-
daughter of men in law
enforcement, Breaeh said
police are important to her.
She was particularly touched
by the death of Dia, whom she
calls a hero. He stands out,
she said, because of his fi nal
radio call before his death in
which he told a dispatcher he
loved his family.
Her upcoming solo
performances, which she has
dedicated to Dia and other
police offi cers, are especially
meaningful to her. Dia, she
said, was 26 years old and a
father of two children.
“It touched my heart
specially, because I feel
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Hermiston dancer Breaeh Rios, age 10, fourth from right,
poses alongside members of the Umatilla County Sher-
iff ’s Offi ce and Hermiston Police Department on Saturday,
Jan. 8, 2022, at the Staff ord Hansell Government Center in
Hermiston.
police don’t get support
much,” she said.
Breaeh’s mother, Kelley
Rios, supports her daughter.
“I am incredibly proud of
Breaeh for doing this trib-
ute dance at competition and
doing what she feels is right
despite the outcome,” Rios
said.
But she expressed concern
that people will respond
negatively to a performance
in support of police.
“We placed platinum in
Tacoma last year,” she said,
“and Breaeh knows she may
not place this year simply
because of what she is doing
and how the judges perceive
it.”
After Coeur d’Alene,
Breaeh has performances
April 8-10 at Spotlight in
Portland, April 22-23 at Team
Dance in Richland, Wash-
ington, May 13-15 at Show-
stopper in Tacoma and June
28-July 2 at Nationals/Team
Dance in Nampa, Idaho.
interim executive director
pending the recruitment of
a new executive.
Four locals up
for state boards,
commissions
SALEM — Gov. Kate
Brown submitted a list of
state board and commission
appointments to the Oregon
Senate for confi rmation, and
four locals are up for consid-
eration.
Brown selected two
Umatilla County residents
and one Morrow County resi-
dent for fi rst-time appoint-
ments: Sandra Sampson,
treasurer of the Confeder-
ated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation Board
of Trustees, for the Health
Policy Board; Greg Clouser
of Umatilla to serve on the
Public Employees’ Benefi t
Board; and Morrow County
Commissioner Jim Doherty
to serve on the Energy Facil-
ity Siting Council.
Sampson would fi nish out
a four-year term that expires
Dec. 31. Clouser and Doherty
would serve four-year terms
that end in 2026.
The fourth selection is
a reappointment — Eric
Quaempts, CTUIR director
of Natural Resources, to the
Water Resources Commis-
sion for a four-year term that
ends in 2025.
“I am committed to
ensuring that all boards
and commissions represent
the growing age, racial, and
gender diversity of our state,”
Brown said in a press release.
“Our policies, programs, and
initiatives are stronger when
diverse perspectives have
been at the table, helping to
craft them. I appreciate the
willingness of all these nomi-
nees to help us build a safe,
strong, just and equitable
Oregon for all.”
T he Se n a t e Ru le s
Committee is scheduled to
consider the nominations in
February.
— EO Media Group
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