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Thursday, March 10, 2022
East Oregonian
A3
Armand Larive students earn national recognition for TV program
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — On
the afternoon of March 1, a
middle school teacher and a
handful of students busied
themselves with the produc-
tion of a TV broadcast.
They set up lights, turned
on a teleprompter and took
to their spots. When every-
one, and everything, was
ready, a young producer cued
her anchors, and they began
presenting the news.
“Good morning, Bull-
pups,” one student anchor
announced.
Thus, Armand Larive
Television, the student-cre-
ated program of Armand
Larive Middle School, Herm-
iston, started another show.
ALTV produces and
broadcasts morning student
announcements, which it
transmits to all of the school’s
students in their classrooms.
On occasion, ALTV lives-
treams Bullpup sporting
events. The students also
create a monthly storytelling
show in which they interview
interesting people and present
these interviews as in-depth
stories.
“You can call it a middle-
school version of ‘60
Minutes,’” Rob Doherty,
Armand broadcasting advi-
sor and teacher, said of the
storytelling programs.
Recently, ALTV did more
than present the news; it
became the news. The Student
Television Network Conven-
tion awarded ALTV with
second place in the Broadcast
Excellence competition for a
Christmas program.
The episode included
stories on Christmas spirit,
women in science and foster
parents who are making a
difference.
“This is a big deal,”
Doherty said of the placing.
ALTV’s history began
in 1997, starting as a school
Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
Armand Larive Middle School students and their instructor begin a broadcast recording
March 1, 2022. The class recently won national recognition for one of its shows.
Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
Armand Larive Television broadcasters pose with their re-
cent award March 1, 2022. Back row from left: Juliette Goyer
Rondon, Sofia Rodriguez, Aspyn Inners and Naima Velasco.
Front row from left Jaideny Orozco and Matea Sepulveda.
club that created weekly
announcements for students.
It has undergone changes
since, growing in recent
years. Doherty is the broad-
casting advisor and teacher
and said the second-place
victory was the highest plac-
ing ever for ALTV. He said he
has more than 150 students a
day involved in the program.
These students rotate in and
out to study and practice jour-
nalism, the advisor said.
In addition to adding
students, ALTV has accu-
mulated technology. Doherty
said in 2012, ALTV only had
one camera. Now, it has 12,
as well as additional other
equipment — microphones
and a formal setup for our
show.
The shows, dating to 2012,
are available to watch on the
ALTV website, altv.us.
Doherty expressed pride
in his students, who not only
created an award-winning
product; they did it on their
own.
“I didn’t help the students
put that show together,”
Doherty said of the particu-
lar program that won second
place. “They did it entirely by
themselves.”
He added their achieve-
ment was made even better
because of the strength of the
competition. ALTV’s contest
entry placed second to a
larger California school with
greater resources.
Six students, a mix of
sixth through eighth grad-
ers, discussed their work,
the award and their feelings
following their recent accom-
plishment.
One of the broadcasters
present was Aspyn Inners, 12.
An anchor on the program,
she said she has strong feel-
ings for broadcasting. She
first got involved because of a
friend who also was in it. She
started taking the classes, she
said, and then “fell in love”
with the program and the
field.
Now, she said, her work
is about more than an oppor-
tunity to spend time with
friends and is more mean-
ingful than winning awards.
“I think (journalism) is
about telling a story and
putting it in front of people
for them to see,” she said.
She added she feels a great
responsibility to do this work
and make sure she is telling
stories truthfully.
The friend who intro-
duced her to the class was
Sofia Rodriguez, also 12.
She anchored the Christmas
program with Aspyn. Sofia
said, though, that anchor-
ing is not a full-time job for
anyone. Students, she said,
rotate through several differ-
ent positions, which teaches
them about different aspects
of creating a show.
She did admit to having a
favorite position.
“I love anchoring,” she
said.
She stated she would like
to be an anchor as a career. It
was especially exciting for her
that ALTV won an award for
a program, she said, because
she helped anchor it.
“I was super stoked about
it,” Sofia said of the victory.
Sharing her classmates’
excitement for journalism,
Matea Sepulveda, 14, spoke
of the stories she has been
able to create with ALTV.
“I’ve done a ton of stories
about important topics, like
lockdowns and wearing
masks at school and how
people feel about it,” she said.
She added that ALTV is a
“really fun place to be” and
that she is very fond of her
teacher and classmates.
Juliette Goyer Rondon,
12, also said she is enjoying
herself and learning a great
deal.
“I’ve learned how to take
good shots, lighting, volume
and stuff like that,” she said.
The technical part of the
job is gratifying, she said, but
her focus remains on telling
important stories. She said
she likes to find important
topics and spread awareness
of them to others.
Jaideny Orozco, 11,
expressed her own feelings
about what she has learned.
“I’ve learned a lot — like
how we should respect other
people, but also how to shoot
videos and edit on other soft-
ware apps.”
Jaideny, a relat ive
newcomer to the ALTV, said
she is enjoying the company
of older classmates. Naima
Velasco, 14, for instance,
has been in the broadcasting
program for more than three
years.
Naima said her work has
changed during the past few
years. Her school was closed
for much of the pandemic, so
she had to be more indepen-
dent. She filmed with a small
Chromebook, which she also
used for editing.
“It was a complex
process,” she said.
She added the whole world
became more complex during
the past few years, and this is
one reason she finds journal-
ism exciting.
“Personally, I like to focus
on stories outside of school,”
she said. “I get to thinking
about what we haven’t heard
of yet, what is going on and
what people want to hear
about in our community.”
Pendleton looking to soften blow of utility hikes Shooting in Hermiston
some of the rate increases.
sends teen to hospital
Cou ncilor McKen non
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Utility
rate hikes likely are coming
to Pendleton residents,
but it’s still not expected
to be enough to cover the
increased costs of maintain-
ing the municipal water and
sewer system.
The city council typi-
cally avoids voting on
issues at workshops, such as
the one it met for on Tues-
day, March 8, but Public
Works Director Bob Patter-
son said he wanted to start
talks around the subject so
the council could vote on it
at its April 5 meeting.
Pat terson said t he
consumer price index the
city uses to determine the
cost of maintaining Pend-
leton’s drinking water and
sewer systems is rising more
than 6.5%.
“The supply chain is
killing us,” he said in an
interview before the meet-
ing, pointing out the costs
of materials for water and
sewer lines and other util-
ity infrastructure has risen
rapidly in recent months.
Patterson said city staff
are aware other utilities,
including electricity and
trash disposal, also are likely
to rise in the coming months.
In light of the economic situ-
ation, Patterson said staff
was recommending a 3.34%
rate increase, about half
of the 6.67% cost growth
reflected in the price index.
But even if the council
adopted the entire 6.67%,
Patterson and staff said it
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Treated water flows along a channel Dec. 19, 2019, at Pend-
leton’s wastewater treatment plant before being piped to
the Umatilla River. The Pendleton City Council at its upcom-
ing meeting on April 5, 2022, could vote on increasing city
utility rates.
wouldn’t cover the increased
expense of running the city’s
utility systems. While staff
recommended softening
the blow of utility increases
this year, Patterson said he
would like to return to the
council in a year to look
at the rate of inflation and
consider whether the city
can maintain the status quo
or raise utility rates again.
While the council didn’t
take any action on Patterson’s
recommendation, members
seemed to like the plan.
Noting how much the
costs of other utilities
and goods were rising,
Councilor Dale Primmer
said he was concerned
about how residents with
fixed incomes might be
affected by the city’s utility
increases.
“It’s death by a thousand
paper cuts with people on
fixed incomes,” he said.
Several councilors noted
the city would need to be
proactive about telling resi-
dents the city was eating
McDonald said she wanted
city staff to create a mock
water bill so councilors
clearly could show how the
rate increases would affect
everyday customers.
“We better communicate
that well, if that’s what we
decide,” Innes said.
While the council is set
to meet once more in March,
Patterson said he intended
to officially request the rate
increases at the council’s
April 5 meeting.
From 2015-20, the city
increased water and sewer
rates 10.5% per year to
secure a pair of massive
state loans that helped the
city replace its aging under-
ground utility infrastruc-
ture. From then on, the city
tied rate increases to the
price index, which had
been averaging about 3%
per year until recently.
Even with all the rate
increases, a 2019 study
the city conducted showed
Pendleton was in the middle
of the pack when it came to
utility rates compared to
other cities in the North-
west. The city of Hermis-
ton’s utility rates were in
the same ballpark as Pend-
leton’s. Hermiston Assis-
tant City Manager Mark
Morgan said at the time he
wasn’t sure how much these
studies helped with public
perception.
“If something’s too
expensive, it’s too expen-
sive,” he said. “It doesn’t
matter what the other person
is paying.”
LOCAL BRIEFING
Death of defendant
ends prosecution
of sex crimes case
PENDLETON — The
death of a Pendleton man
also brought an end to the
sex crimes case against him.
Richard James Sheldon,
75, died Monday, March 7,
according to the Umatilla
County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff’s Capt. Sterrin
Ward said the sheriff’s office
received request to check on
Sheldon, whose jury trial
was to begin March 9 at the
Umatilla County Court-
house, Pendleton. A sher-
iff’s sergeant found Sheldon
in the area of Barnhart and
Airport roads, Pendle-
ton, and he had died from
a self-inf licted gunshot
wound.
Pendleton police in
February 2020 began inves-
tigating Sheldon on sexual
abuse allegations and
arrested him April 1, 2021.
Police in a press release
at the time described the
investigation as “protracted
and complex.” Detectives
obtained several search
warrants that ultimately
“revealed that the alleged
sexual abuse occurred over a
several year period between
2017 to 2020,” according to
the press release.
The Umatilla County
District Attorney’s Office
subsequently charged Shel-
don with 19 counts of sex
crimes, including two counts
of first-degree sexual abuse.
State court records also
show the court on April 2 set
Sheldon’s bail at $500,000.
He paid 10% — $50,000 —
to bail out on May 7.
Circuit Judge Christo-
pher Brauer dismissed the
case the day Sheldon died.
— EO Media Group
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — Herm-
iston police are investigating
a shooting Monday, March 7,
that put three rounds into an
unmarked police vehicle and
sent a teen to the hospital.
Hermiston Police Chief
Jason Edmiston in a press
release also reported his
department asked the middle
schools and high school go
into a secure room protocol
during the incident.
Her miston police at
about 1:30 p.m. responded
to the area of West Madrona
Avenue and Northwest
13th Street on a report of
gunshots. According to the
press release, an on-duty
detective in an unmarked
police vehicle was in the area
on an unrelated matter and
called in the gunfire.
“As the detective followed
one of the involved vehicles
to call out the description and
direction of travel for patrol
officers, he began receiving
fire from an unknown loca-
tion,” Edmitson reported.
The detective observed a
second vehicle and reported
its description. Accord-
ing to the press release, the
detective’s vehicle sustained
damage from three rounds
but the detective was
unharmed.
After receiving the vehicle
descriptions, officers located
a red Nissan Altima on the
1000 block of West Orchard
Avenue. Police stopped the
car, detained the driver, who
was 17, and took the person to
the Hermiston Police Depart-
ment for questioning.
Police seized the car
pursuant to the execution of
a search warrant, according
to the press release, which did
not reveal any more informa-
tion about the identity of the
driver.
Officers learned a person
with a gunshot wound to the
leg was dropped off at Good
Shepherd Medical Center,
Hermiston. According to the
press release, police ques-
tioned the “uncooperative
18-year old from Umatilla”
who did not suffer life-threat-
ening injuries.
“This investigation is
ongoing,” according to
Edmiston, “however it
appears to be an isolated inci-
dent revolving around a fight
that escalated.”
The police chief also
explained the request to
have some local schools use
secure room protocol “was
not instantaneous as we were
trying to assess exactly what
we had (to include whether
our officer was injured or
not) while dispatch was
receiving numerous addi-
tional calls regarding the
unidentified vehicle speeding
around town. The elemen-
tary schools were released as
normal, 40 minutes before
this incident began.”
This is at least the third
shooting in Eastern Oregon
involving teens since
March 4.
The Grant County Sher-
iff’s Office arrested a 16-year-
old male in Prairie City after
a teen girl suffered a gunshot
to the face and suffered
significant trauma to her
head.
And Manuel Adam Peralez
Jr., 19, of Walla Walla, faces
a murder charge stemming
from a shooting March 5 in
Milton-Freewater that killed
Jason Samuel Warner, 18, of
Milton-Freewater.
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