REGION
Thursday, March 31, 2022
East Oregonian
A3
Hermiston City Council seats youth adviser
culus and U.S. history.
And she was the recipi-
ent of the Outstanding Young
Citizens Award this year at
the Hermiston Chamber of
Commerce’s 52nd Annual
Distinguished Citizens
Awards.
Drotzmann said she also
would learn a lot about how
government operates, and
Doherty concurred.
“Being a youth adviser
will be good for me,” she said.
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
HERMISTON — The
Hermiston City Coun-
cil at its meeting Monday,
March 28, welcomed its fi rst
youth adviser.
Hermiston City Manager
Byron Smith and a teacher
at Hermiston High School
arranged for the new youth
adviser program. Twelve
students were chosen to
comprise this group, and up
to three youth advisers would
be invited to each city council
and every committee meet-
ing. They have a table right
next to city councilors.
A few days earlier, Herm-
iston Assistant City Manager
Mark Morgan explained the
new advisers would be a
fi xture in future meetings.
While they would not be
allowed to vote, they would
have ring-side seats to witness
council proceedings and have
the opportunity to speak and
advise city government.
Morgan called it a learn-
ing opportunity for both
government offi cials and the
students.
Beginning
with just one
As the meeting started,
Hermiston Mayor David
Drotzmann looked out at
Objections to SHIP
Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
Elizabeth Doherty, 16, stands in front of the Hermiston City Council and city offi cials at the
end of her fi rst city council meeting Monday, March 28, 2022. Doherty is one of the council
city’s new youth advisers.
the youth advisers table and
wondered aloud if the advis-
ers had been scared away.
Only one member, Elizabeth
Doherty, was present. She is
an active student who takes
part in the FFA, Key Club
and HOSA — Future Health
Professionals.
Smith said attendance
likely would be inconsistent
because a student’s life is
busy. On March 28, Hermis-
ton High School was hosting
student conferences. Likely,
councilors stated, the miss-
ing advisers were tied up with
their conferences or perfor-
mances at the high school.
Granddaughter of a former
Umatilla County commis-
sioner, Doherty said she is
familiar with the politics
with the area. She knows
the people and the region
itself, she said, as her family
has lived in the area for four
generations.
Doherty, born in Arizona,
was brought here when she
New Dollar General in Hermiston
adds more jobs, makes donation
East Oregonian
Hermiston — Dollar
General announced the open-
ing of its store at 1206 W.
Highland Ave., Hermiston.
A press release states the
store intended to employ
approximately six to 10
people, depending on its
needs, and that employees
were to be given competitive
wages and benefi ts.
Dollar General carries
household essentials, includ-
ing food, cleaning supplies,
paper products, over-the-
counter medicines, hygiene
products and baby items.
Also, it sells home decor and
an expanded party prepara-
tion selection.
“At Dollar General, we
believe the addition of each
new store provides positive
economic growth for the
communities we proudly
serve, and the addition of our
new Hermiston store high-
lights our commitment to
deliver a pleasant shopping
experience that includes great
prices on quality products in
a convenient location,” said
Dan Nieser, Dollar Gener-
al’s senior vice president of
real estate and store devel-
Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
A banner on the front of Dollar General, Monday, March 28,
2022, gives notice to passersby that the store is open.
opment. “We look forward to
welcoming customers to our
new store and hope they will
enjoy shopping at our new
location.”
Dollar General stated
its plans to donate 100 new
books to a nearby elemen-
tary school to benefi t students
ranging from kindergarten to
fi fth grade.
Through the partnership
with the Kellogg Company,
the donation was part of a
planned donation of more
than 100,000 books across
the country to celebrate new
Dollar General store openings.
“The addition of the
Hermiston store opens the
opportunity for schools,
nonprofi t organizations and
libraries within a 15-mile
radius of the store to apply
for Dollar General Liter-
acy Foundation grants,” the
press release states. It adds,
since 1993, “the Dollar
General Literacy Foundation
has awarded more than $203
million in grants to nonprofi t
organizations, helpi ng
more than 14.8 million
individuals take their fi rst
steps toward literacy or
continued education.”
Fire erupts at
A-1 Industrial in
Hermiston
Community health
foundation awards
$99,065 in grants
HERMISTON — The
Good Shepherd Commu-
nity Health Foundation
in a recent news release
reported it is donating
almost $100,000 in grants
Doherty’s report
Doherty said she appre-
ciated the diversity in the
council. Hermiston’s coun-
cilors appear to have varied
opinions, she said, but seem
to work together well for the
betterment of their town. She
added the meeting presented
topics that were diffi cult to
understand but concepts were
explained well.
“It was approachable,” she
said.
She also said she appreci-
ated the community members
who came to the meeting to
speak, too.
“There were heated
moments, but that was good,”
she said. “It’s good that they
were passionate.”
By coming to the meeting,
and voicing their frustrations,
they were able to bring about
change. This is how things
should be, she said.
Morrow County hoping to ignite
better reading with pilot program
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
LOCAL BRIEFING
HERMISTON — A-1
Industrial Hose and Supply
in Hermiston caught fire
Tuesday morning, March 29.
Umatilla County Fire
District No. 1 in a news
release reported its fi re crews
responded at 6:48 a.m. to 5
Campbell Drive in the South
Hermiston Industrial Park,
the location of A-1 Industrial.
The first units on the
scene, the district reported,
found a “medium-sized
commercial building with
heavy fi re involvement.”
A fire district battal-
ion established command
at the scene and requested
additional resources. Fire
departments from Pendle-
ton, Boardman and Echo
responded.
Approximately 30 fire-
fi ghters were on the scene
working to extinguish the
blaze.
was only a year old to join
other family members already
long established here.
Now 16, she said she has
taken part in many school
and community activities.
In the 4-H, she serves as the
vice president of the Herm-
iston High School branch
and the president of the Blue
Mountain group. In addi-
tion to participating in other
clubs and sports, she takes
advanced placement classes
— physics, language, precal-
The fi rst real action of the
night came in discussion of
the South Hermiston Indus-
trial Park.
A few property owners,
one after the other, stood
before council and objected
to fees charged to them for an
enhancement project that they
did not feel benefi ted them.
The property owners
claimed the “city was not
honoring its part” of a deal
that would reduce costs to
SHIP lot owners. They called
it unfair, and they called for
the city to revisit past prom-
ises.
The city council and the
mayor agreed with the prop-
erty owners and agreed to
write a new ordinance, rather
than pass the one set before
the council. This new ordi-
nance will be presented at a
future meeting
Following the SHIP
discussion, the rest of the
meeting was relatively tran-
quil. The council passed a
resolution to authorize issu-
ance of pension obligation
bonds. Among other business,
the council agreed to estab-
lish a committee to implement
a Hermiston 2040 oversight
committee, and they heard the
monthly fi nancial report.
Umatilla County Fire District No. 1/Contributed Photo
Smoke blackens the sky Tuesday morning, March 29, 2022,
from a fi re at A-1 Industrial Hose and Supply in Hermiston.
this spring to organizations
in Morrow County and west
Umatilla County.
The Arc of Umatilla
County is receiving funds
for activity nights, camps
and other disability aware-
ness events.
Boardman Parks and
Recreation, the city of
Hermiston, the Oregon East
Symphony and the Seventh-
day Adventist Church are
among the 11 entities and
organizations the foundation
provided with grants total-
ing $99,065.
Grant money covers a
wide variety of projects,
including teen counseling
services, concert production,
an offi cer wellness program,
even a drone for Umatilla
County Search and Rescue.
Grant funding is made
possible by planned giving
and community support, the
release states.
Liz Marvin, Founda-
tion executive director, in
the release states residents
consistently give to the
Good Shepherd Community
Health Foundation.
“The next grant cycle will
close the end of July,” she
continued, “and we encour-
age nonprofi t organizations
to apply for funding.”
To apply for a grant
awarded this fall, submit
applications by July 31
online at www.gshealth.
org/gschf-grant-application
or by mail via application
that may be downloaded and
printed at www.gshealth.
org/awards. For more infor-
mation, call 541-667-3419.
— EO Media Group
LA GRANDE — The
online school format often
was blamed for academic
backsliding during the
COVID-19 pandemic, but a
reading program aims to use
some of those same tools to
make up for lost time.
The Morrow County
School District and East-
ern Oregon University
on Monday, March 28,
announced they were part-
nering with Ignite! Read-
ing to pilot a special reading
program over Zoom to
signifi cantly boost reading
skills in elementary school
students.
For 10 weeks, students
from EOU’s College of
Education will meet virtu-
ally with elementary school
students from Boardman,
Irrigon and Heppner for
intensive, 15-minute tutoring
sessions focused on reading.
“We are very excited to
partner with both EOU and
Ignite! Reading to maximize
the benefi ts of this program
for our students,” Erin
Stocker, Morrow County’s
executive director of elemen-
tary education and human
resources said in a statement.
“Coming out of COVID and
navigating through a much-
needed (English language
arts) adoption year, we
were searching for innova-
tive ways to better support
our students. Based on the
science of reading, Ignite’s
targeted, evidence-based
approach will be a great fi t
for the next generation of
students and teachers.”
Superintendent Dirk
Dirksen said Morrow
County was allowed to
reopen sooner than most
other districts in the area,
so students didn’t take as
large a hit academically. But
the district was interested
in improving reading at the
elementary level, “COVID
Eastern Oregon University/Contributed Photo
The College of Education at Eastern Oregon University, La
Grande, and the Morrow County School District on Mon-
day, March 28, 2022, announced they are partnering on a
program to use Zoom to boost reading skills with elemen-
tary school students in Boardman, Irrigon and Heppner.
or no COVID,” he said.
Based on a previous
pilot program Ignite ran
at an elementary school in
Oakland, California, Ignite
is expecting strong results.
In Oakland, students made
three weeks worth of prog-
ress for every week they
were in the program. And
93% of Latino students
passed their fi rst monitoring
assessment, a relevant fact
in a district that’s more than
half Latino.
Ronda Fritz, an associ-
ate professor of education
at EOU, said she would’ve
counted herself among the
skeptics about Zoom tutor-
ing three years ago. But that
was before she took a sabbat-
ical year and spent part of it
tutoring two girls online.
“(I) really found out I
could make great gains
with these kids in a fairly
short amount of time,” she
said. “You really could have
knocked me over with a
feather. There’s no way you
would have told me that was
what would work.”
Fritz said one of the main
benefi ts EOU derives from
Ignite is its potential as a
teaching tool for its own
students. There was some
concern students studying
education weren’t prepared
to teach reading after grad-
uating, and since all Ignite
sessions are recorded, Fritz
said staff and students could
go over recordings to deter-
mine how to better improve
the tutoring experience.
Jessica Sliwerski, the
founder of Ignite, said the
program works because it
provides rigorous one-on-
one instruction from a
tutor who is completely
focused on them during the
15-minute session.
“The kids love it and the
15 minutes flies by really
quickly,” she said. “They’re
super excited to come back
the next day and get that
support. But also they leave
their session and they go
back into their regular class-
room setting and they bring
these new competencies with
them, which then gives them
the confi dence to tackle work
that in the past, they might
have been like, ‘Forget it, I
can’t do this. It’s too hard.’
And now they’re persisting.”
Once the 10-week pilot
program ends, Sliwerski said
Ignite wants to further inte-
grate itself into EOU’s teach-
ing program and embark on
a year-long partnership with
Morrow County.
As with many things in
education, Fritz said Ignite’s
future in Eastern Oregon
depends on funding.
“It always comes down to
the almighty dollar, doesn’t
it?” she said.
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