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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 2015)
A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015 FROM PAGE A1 THRIVE: continued from page A1 tion in Hermiston last year, called Thrive. Through the program, the goal is to pro- vide children in less than desirable circumstances, including those foster care, those suffering from abuse and neglect and those who are homeless, with extra- curricular opportunities, such as music lessons and instruments and athletic opportunities and equip- ment. Dammeyer said she started the organization in January 2014, but only started working with chil- dren last June. She said she knows what it is like to have a particularly difficult childhood and wanted to provide children a chance to develop an interest in something that could pos- sibly save their lives. “It can change the mindset of a child,” she said of the having a hob- by. “It can make them feel like they can do some- thing. You never know if you are going to be that one person that says or does something that changes that child’s life.” After getting permis- sion from the adminis- tration, Lewis agreed the guitar could go to a good home. What he didn’t know, however, was that his offer to donate the instrument couldn’t have come at a better time. Dammeyer said she had just given the organi- zation’s last guitar away when she was messaged IMMIGRATION: continued from page A1 Spanish, she said, but can also be translated into En- glish. “The attorneys will be here to give information and hopefully answer any MAEGAN MURRAY PHOTOS )URPOHIW7ZR5LYHUV&RUUHFWLRQDO,QVWLWXWLRQRIÀFHU9LQFH'HPRVFRUUHFWLRQDORIÀFHU7KHUHVD 6ZDUW7KULYHGLUHFWRUDQGIRXQGHU.ULVV'DPPH\HUDQGLQPDWHV'DYLG:RRGZRUWKDQG3DWULFN 7\VRQSRVHIRUDSKRWRDIWHUWKH\ZRUNHGWRJHWKHUWRGRQDWHDJXLWDUWR7KULYHDQRUJDQL]DWLRQ WKDWSURYLGHVFKLOGUHQLQQHHGZLWKH[WUDFXUULFXODUDFWLYLWLHV by a 16-year-old girl whom she hadn’t before been able to help. “This girl had real- ly had a rough go and is homeless now,” she said. “We hadn’t been success- ful in finding anything that she would be inter- ested in. She was basical- ly dying inside. Then one day, she sent us a text and she told us she wanted to have guitar lessons, but we had just given our last guitar away.” Dammeyer said, the next day — Christmas — she received a call from TRCI telling her about the guitar. “I just couldn’t believe it,” she said. Dammeyer drove to TRCI recently to pick up the guitar and meet its donor. She was surprised to learn that Lewis, like many of his inmate peers, had a similar childhood to the children she is try- ing to help and identified with the work she was do- ing with Thrive. The two talked about their pasts while identifying why they felt they could make a difference. Lewis said he is cur- rently serving a life sen- tence for aggravated murder, for which he was sentenced when he was 18 years old. He said he came to prison basical- ly as a child, and it took awhile for him to grow up. “Had they had some- thing like this, how many kids would have turned out differently?” he said to Dammeyer. She agreed. Dammeyer said it is her goal with the organi- zation to try and stop the cycle of abuse and crimi- nal activity among youth. “We want to make sure that these kids don’t one day end up here,” she said to Lewis. Lewis said he could not feel better about help- ing a child who probably doesn’t have anyone to depend on, otherwise. He said it may be a small ges- ture to give a guitar away that he wasn’t going to keep, but it means a lot to him that he can do some- thing good for someone else while he serves his life sentence in prison. “The guitar, itself, is a little thing, but the oppor- tunity is huge,” he said. questions from our com- munity members,” she said. “Hopefully, a lot of mem- bers of the community will take advantage of this great opportunity, because where can you get some free in- formation without getting charged? Sometimes the attorney fees are kind of expensive.” A church in the Tri-Cities planned a presentation there, and Duron said she reached out to have the attorneys present in Hermiston. “Basically, what they will be explaining to people is who can apply, when they can do it and who should do it,” she said. “There’s a lot of misinformation out there. Oftentimes, not everyone has their facts straight, so this is from attorneys that that’s their main specialty is immigration.” She said the attorneys are Thomas Roach, Alva Guizar and Eamonn Roach, who have more than 35 years of experience in im- migration law. Hermiston attorney George Anderson said he has known Thomas Roach, Tri-Cities, for some time. “He is coming down here not because he needs busi- ness — he has more than enough business — he is coming down here because he cares deeply about help- ing the Hispanic communi- ty,” he said. “He, frankly, is a giant in immigration law in the state of Washington DQG WKH 3DFL¿F 1RUWKZHVW so it’s very fortunate that he is coming down here.” Hermiston’s Hispan- ic Advisory Committee Chairman Eddie De La Cruz said the presentation will help prepare the com- munity. “We want to make sure the community is already prepared when these appli- cations come out,” he said. “They’re supposed to come out right around April, but we want to make sure they get the right information.” Executive actions on immigration According to information from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: “On November 20, 2014, the President announced a series of executive actions to crack down on illegal immigration at the bor- der, prioritize deporting felons, not families, and require certain undocumented immigrants to pass a criminal background check and pay taxes in order to tempo- rarily stay in the U.S. without fear of deportation. These initiatives include: • Expanding the population eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to people of any current age who entered the United States before the age of 16 and lived in the United States con- tinuously since January 1, 2010, and extending the period of DACA and work authorization from two years to three years • Allowing parents of U.S. citizens BAN: continued from page A1 the Oregon Liquor Con- trol Commission, which is tasked with implementing regulations and collecting taxes for commercial mar- ijuana operations. Smith said the city’s ordinance will only ap- ply to people attempting to establish a commer- cial operation, not people who produce marijuana in their own home for pri- vate use. According to OLCC information, the agen- cy will begin accepting commercial license appli- cations by Jan. 4, 2016, for marijuana producers, processors, wholesalers and retailers and that lo- cal governments “may not prohibit licenses in their jurisdiction except via general election.” Smith said city offi- cials plan to attend an upcoming OLCC listen- ing session from 7 p.m. and lawful permanent residents to request deferred action and employment authorization for three years, in a new Deferred Ac- tion for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents pro- gram, provided they have lived in the United States continuously since January 1, 2010, and pass required background checks • Expanding the use of provision- al waivers of unlawful presence to include the spouses and sons and daughters of lawful perma- nent residents and the sons and daughters of U.S. citizens. • Modernizing, improving and clarifying immigrant and nonim- migrant visa programs to grow our economy and create jobs • Promoting citizenship educa- tion and public awareness for lawful permanent residents and providing an option for natural- ization applicants to use credit cards to pay the application fee.” to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Pendleton Convention Center, 1601 Westgate, to try to better understand the agency’s implementa- tion plans. OLCC marijuana listening session The Oregon Liquor Control Commission will host a public listening ses- sion to allow people to express comments about the agency’s mandate to implement the recreational marijuana law passed by Oregon voters from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Pendleton Convention Center, 1601 Westgate, Pendleton. priorities A hundred years from now it will not matter what My bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove... but the world may be different because I was important in the Life of a Child. 7ZR5LYHUV&RUUHFWLRQDO,QVWLWXWLRQLQPDWHV3DWULFN7\VRQ ULJKWDQG'DYLG:RRGZRUWKOHIWZDONGRZQDKDOOLQ75&, ZLWKFRUUHFWLRQDORIÀFHU7KHUHVD6ZDUW7\VRQREMHFWHGWR WKHLGHDRIDQROGJXLWDUEHLQJWKURZQDZD\LQVWHDGRIUHXVHG VRPHKRZ7KHJXLWDUKDVVLQFHEHHQGRQDWHGWRD\HDUROG JLUOZKRKDVDKLVWRU\RIKRPHOHVVQHVV “This has made my year.” Lewis said he doesn’t plan to stop with just one instrument donation. He plans on putting a propos- al together to support the organization further, ei- ther by collecting unused instruments at the prison for donation or by do- ing a fundraiser. He said there are plenty of unused instruments around the facility that could be do- nated to Thrive. “This is just the be- ginning,” he said. “I just wish we could do more.” Dammeyer said 1,900 children are affected by child abuse and neglect every day in the United States and four of them will die. “That is unacceptable to me, and I wanted to do something to change the statistics,” she said. Dammeyer people interested in donating instruments, especial- ly guitars, and athletic equipment can call her at 541-571-6169. She said guitar lessons are the most popular offering for children. Dammeyer said she is currently helping 20 chil- dren, and, because the organization is new, she is held to that number be- cause she wants to ensure those children can contin- ue their lessons or activ- ities for more than just a few months. “We want to support these kids for as long as we can,” she said. He said the committee desired to provide a similar event and plans to help pro- mote the presentation spon- sored by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. “This immigration attor- ney meeting we are going to have is very critical to our community,” he said. “Right now, it’s one of the hottest topics. The execu- tive order gets signed. Peo- ple are asking a lot of ques- tions. People are kind of confused. So this (meeting) right here is perfect.” For more information, contact Duron, 541-720- 3387. 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