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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 2015)
PREP HOOPS PROGRESS 2015 STANFIELD BOYS TAKE ON WESTON-MCEWEN AREA BUSINESSES, AGENCIES MAKE GAINS LAST YEAR SPORTS PAGE A9 SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015 SECTION INSIDE YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER HERMISTONHERALD.COM Few attend meeting about Hermiston charter Schools across region Discussion centers on appointing, victims of rather than electing, cyberattack municipal judge Internet now back up and running BY MAEGAN MURRAY HERMISTON HERALD Schools across the re- gion found themselves without Internet for about 30 minutes this week after they experienced a sweep- ing cyberattack that ran county-wide. In a press release, the InterMountain Education Service District reported that the attack, known as a Distributed Denial of Service attack, targeted area schools’ networks by ÀRRGLQJ WKHP ZLWK GDWD The attack used such a large amount of band- width that it shut down the Internet signal, according to the press release. The attack originally only affected the Umatil- la School District. Super- intendent Heidi Sipe said the district has had issues with attacks to its service since September 2014. “Every so often, the Internet would go down,” summary of the changes City Council members pro- posed to the city’s founding document Thursday, but only four people attend- ed, including Mayor Dave Drotzmann and Municipal Judge Thomas Creasing. To take effect, the char- ter must be approved by BY SEAN HART Hermiston voters, and the HERMISTON HERALD City Council plans to place Few people attended the it on the ballot in May. ¿UVW FRPPXQLW\ PHHWLQJ Council members worked to learn about or provide through the current charter feedback on proposed revi- line by line for months last sions to the city of Hermis- year using a model charter ton charter. created by the League of City Manager Byron Oregon Cities as a basis. Smith presented a brief Smith said most of the changes focused on mod- ernizing the document, such as removing a $500 purchase limit for certain items that is out of date and removing a provision stating that the mayor and councilors must be proper- ty owners. “Most of the changes are just language, just re- ally cleaning up things that QHHGHGWREHFODUL¿HG´KH said. “The council wanted to get a feel for the public, how they felt about this proposed charter, and then see if there was any chang- es that might be made be- fore it gets placed on the ballot.” Smith said he believed there were four major changes. The new char- ter draft stipulates the city manager must reside with- in city limits, he said, and there are changes to the SURFHGXUHIRU¿OOLQJFRXQ- cilor and mayor vacancies, which state the positions ZLOO EH ¿OOHG E\ DSSRLQW- ment if less than two years remain on the original term and by special election if more than two years re- main. The term for the mayor position was also changed from two years to four years in the draft. “We don’t want the mayor to have to spend all that time campaigning every two years and (want to) give some more conti- nuity,” Smith said. “If the mayor were to change ev- ery two years, that would cause some problems in continuity within the gov- ernment structure.” 7KH ¿QDO PDMRU UHYL- sion Smith presented was changing the municipal judge from an elected po- sition to a person appoint- ed by the City Council. SEE CHARTER/A16 CUTTING A RUG FOR A CAUSE SEE HACKED/A2 TODAY’S WEATHER Mostly Cloudy High: 39º Low: 32º OUTLOOK • SUNDAY Mostly cloudy High: 40º Low: 32º • MONDAY Partly cloudy High: 42º Low: 30º MAEGAN MURRAY PHOTO Dancing with the Hermiston Stars contestants learn their ballroom dances Monday night on stage in the Hermiston High School auditorium. Local standouts to dance in competition tonight A complete weather forecast is featured on page A2. Find the Hermiston Herald on Facebook and Twitter and join the conversation. BY MAEGAN MURRAY HERMISTON HERALD As the last few days of practice have wrapped up, competitive spirits have only gotten more in- tense among the six con- testants for this year’s Dancing with the Herm- iston Stars. The six community members will take the stage tonight in an effort to slide, jive, spin and fly during the third annual FOR LOCAL BREAKING NEWS www.HermistonHerald.com Dancing with the Herm- iston Stars competition. The group has spent the last week in hour-a-day practices with profes- sional ballroom danc- ers from Utah Ballroom Dance Company, where they each learned a spe- cific type of ballroom dance. During their perfor- mance, which begins at 7 p.m. at Hermiston High School, each pair will compete for the high- est scores and audience votes and donations, which will allow them to raise money for a charity of their choice. Ultimate- ly, only one star can take the title, however. MAEGAN MURRAY PHOTO Dave Smith prepares to dip his dancing partner, Dani Dunmire, Monday night during their Dancing with the Hermiston Stars practice at Hermiston High School. Some of the stars took on personal rivalries with one another to see who will take home the trophy for Hermiston’s best dancer. No rivalry is greater than that be- tween Eric Reise and Er- ica Sandoval, who have taken their similar names as a sign their face off is meant to be. During their first prac- tice Monday night, Reise joked how Sandoval, a Hermiston police offi- cer, was still wearing her police boots to protect against the harsh condi- tions of the competition. “Tonight, you can see it. She’s in her orthope- dic shoes,” he said with a laugh Monday. Reise also made jabs that he was sure Sando- val would wear some of the protective pads she uses while participating in roller derby as a sort of comfort and security. “She’ll have to bring her shoulder pads to the competition,” he said. Sandoval was quick to respond with a few jabs of her own. She said she was wearing her police shoes to give Reise a false sense of security. “When the heels come out, the fire comes out,” she said. Reise will perform the pasodoble to a song from “Pirates of the Ca- ribbean,” while Sando- SEE DANCING/A7 Down the chain Edmiston describes his role as HPD chief Editor’s Note: This is the last VWRU\LQD¿YHSDUWVHULHVDERXW EHLQJDSROLFHRI¿FHU BY SEAN HART HERMISTON HERALD Hermiston Herald $1.00 SEAN HART PHOTO © 2014 EO Media Group Chief Jason Edmiston works at his desk at the Hermiston Police Department. As chief, Edmiston is the head of the department, overseeing both captains, setting overall departmental goals and making personnel decisions. With gun-carrying employees who have the authority to arrest people, police departments require structure and accountability. Chief Jason Edmiston said the Hermiston Police Department is “a paramilitary-structured entity” with a chain of command, and, DV WKH WRS RI¿FHU LQ WKH FKDLQ KH makes decisions about the struc- ture of the department. “Nobody likes bureaucracy, and nobody likes red tape, but with what we do, there has to be FOHDUOLQHVGUDZQVSHFL¿FWRµZKDW are my responsibilities?’ and each SHUVRQVWDUWLQJZLWKDQRI¿FHUKDV those expectations or responsi- bilities,” Edmiston said. “If it’s something they can handle, we ex- pect them to handle it themselves. That’s why we put a gun on their hip. That’s why we give them the training we do. We expect them SEE EDMISTON/A16