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
