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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 2015)
TAEKWONDO SPECIAL RECOGNITION DISTRICT ANNOUNCES EDUCATORS OF THE YEAR DOJO OWNER HELPS STUDENTS BUILD CONFIDENCE PAGE A3 SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2015 SPORTS PAGE A9 YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER HERMISTONHERALD.COM Sipe to join Merkley for State of the Union Crime rates decrease 35 percent in 2014 found Merkley to be an open-minded lis- tener who really cares Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley an- about education. nounced Friday that Umatilla In July 2011, at a Superintendent Heidi Sipe will FRQJUHVVLRQDO ¿HOG accompany him as his guest to hearing, Merkley talk- Sipe Washington, D.C., for the 2015 ed about his efforts to State of the Union Address, Tues- increase STEM ed- day. ucation in kindergarten through Merkley selected Sipe as his 12th grade. Sipe presented at the guest in recognition of the school hearing and spoke with him after district’s efforts to build a success- the event about the impact that a ful robotics program and for her robotics team would have on the promotion of STEM education. Umatilla School District and how 6LSH VDLG VKH ¿UVW PHW ZLWK rural school districts are largely Merkley in 2009-10, and she left out of those types of activities. BY MAEGAN MURRAY HERMISTON HERALD Escalated shoplifting, marijuana incidents double robbery rate from 2013 BY SEAN HART HERMISTON HERALD While the number of crimes reported decreased by 35 percent in 2014 from 2013, Chief Jason Edmis- ton said he expects certain crimes to increase in the fu- ture with the legalization of recreational marijuana. In a letter to residents about the annual crime sta- tistics, Edmiston said HPD “has been extremely busy staying on top of some of the trends we were and have been seeing crime-wise.” He said HPD reports four types of violent crime — homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault — and four types of property crime — burglary, larceny, auto theft and arson — to the FBI each year. Only 523 total incidents were report- During the event, students from Portland also gave a presentation on their robotics program. ”I was blown away by the pas- sion the kids had for that program, by the skills they were building,” Sipe said. “I developed what I can only refer to as metro envy. I could see that students in metro areas had access to these programs, but I was concerned that our kids in rural areas wouldn’t get the prepa- ration they deserve in STEM edu- cation, which I believe is critical to our nation’s future.” Sipe said she shared her con- cerns with Merkley after the event, and he was instrumental in con- necting her with some people in FIRST robotics, as well as locating some grants to start a program in Umatilla. “Through Sen. Merkley’s en- couragement and assistance, our FIRST Robotics team was born,” she said. In 2012, the high school start- ed a team that Sipe and her hus- band, Kyle, coached. The next year, team members made it to the ZRUOG ¿QDOV 7KHQ ODVW \HDU WKH\ placed 57th in their division at SEE SIPE/A2 PET RESCUE RESPONDS TO COMPLAINTS SEE CRIME/A14 TODAY’S WEATHER Showers High: 43º Low: 42º OUTLOOK • SUNDAY Morning Showers High: 55º Low: 39º • MONDAY Sunshine High: 51º Low: 34º SEAN HART PHOTOS Humane Society of Eastern Oregon Pet Rescue volunteer Claire Wilson, a 16-year-old National Honor Society member at Hermiston High School, walks a dog outside of the Hermiston shelter Thursday afternoon. A complete weather forecast is featured on page A2. mane Society of Eastern Oregon Pet Rescue in the past, and three other people, shared concerns about the shelter. Although the com- SODLQWV ZHUH QRW VSHFL¿F LQ nature, they argued the shel- ter needs to change. On Friday, Assistant City Manager Mark Morgan said, BY SEAN HART because the complaints were HERMISTON HERALD QRW VSHFL¿F FLW\ RI¿FLDOV $IWHU ¿HOGLQJ VHYHU- will try to meet with the con- al complaints from people cerned residents to get more about Hermiston’s animal information. VKHOWHUUHFHQWO\FLW\RI¿FLDOV Their primary concerns intend to meet with them to appear to center around the hear more about their con- fact that Pet Rescue is not a cerns. “no-kill” facility. At the Hermiston City Phillips said the Pendle- Council meeting Monday, ton Animal Welfare Shelter Suzanne Phillips, who has operates a “very nice, no-kill complained about the Hu- or low-kill” shelter and has a ‘No-kill’ Pendleton and open-door Hermiston shelters operate differently Find the Hermiston Herald on Facebook and Twitter and join the conversation. FOR LOCAL BREAKING NEWS www.HermistonHerald.com Humane Society of Eastern Oregon Pet Rescue volunteer Saige Borrego, 14, Hermiston, feeds the dogs at the shelter Thursday afternoon. much lower euthanasia rate than Hermiston’s Pet Rescue. Beau Putnam, Pet Res- cue’s executive director, said many more people in the community support the fa- cility than those who do not, and many of the detractors’ claims are inaccurate or mis- leading. Morgan said the way the Pendleton and Hermiston shelters operate and contract with the cities is different, which could contribute to misperceptions. He said, when Hermiston 3ROLFH 'HSDUWPHQW RI¿FHUV apprehend stray animals or ask Pet Rescue to do so, the animals are housed at the VKHOWHUIRU¿YHGD\VVRRZQ- ers have an opportunity to claim them before they are put up for adoption. The city SD\V D ÀDW PRQWKO\ IHH IRU the service to take and house every stray dog apprehend- ed in the city immediately, SEE RESCUE/A2 Hermiston votes to opt out of IMESD to pull its funding from the IMESD consortium this week. The Hermiston School Board ul- timately voted 5-2 in favor of opting out of the IMESD Tuesday night, with Dave Smith and Maria Duron opposed. Hermiston Superintendent Fred Maiocco said, by opting out, the district will gain $1.8 million of the BY MAEGAN MURRAY $2 million that the ESD otherwise HERMISTON HERALD would have received. About $1.3 The InterMountain Education million will be spent on special ed- Service District will take a major ucation, technology, teaching and ¿QDQFLDO KLW QH[W \HDU ZKLFK FRXOG learning and support services, but the mean a reduction of its programs and district stands to gain about $500,000 services beginning next year, after more in its general fund. the Hermiston School Board voted He also said the school district will Service district will lose more than $550,000 as a result of HSD pulling out of consortium Hermiston Herald $1.00 © 2014 EO Media Group KDYHJUHDWHUFRQWURORYHUVWDI¿QJDQG scheduling to ensure that students are able to meet with speech patholo- gists, school psychologists and others when they are needed. “While the technicians and spe- cialists provide great work (through the IMESD), we have limited control over those assignments, currently,” he said Tuesday. “Those assignments of staff, their schedules, their calen- dars are all controlled by the IMESD currently in the local service plan.” IMESD Superintendent Mark Mulvihill said, however, the loss of Hermiston’s funding allocation in its budget will not only hurt the IMESD ¿QDQFLDOO\LWZLOOKXUWWKHRWKHUGLV- tricts that rely on the IMESD’s ser- vices. He said, as a result of Herm- iston’s decision, IMESD will have approximately $550,000 to $700,000 OHVV WR ZRUN WR SURYLGH IRU VWDI¿QJ and services in special education, teaching and learning, technology and support services. Hermiston no longer participating in the IMESD will also weaken the consortium, overall, he said. “The ESD is about us, not me,” he said, Tuesday. “It is about equi- ty across the region. It is about the most vulnerable kids, whether they live in Hermiston or Imbler or Ione. SEE IMESD/A2