A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015
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THRIVE:
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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
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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
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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.
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“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.
Rachel Dagley
Mike Stratton , CIC, CFP
Commercial/Farm Insurance Agent One Responsible Source Agent
Todd Tennant
One Responsible Source Agent
Tonia Mulcare
Family Insurance Agent
Call us today to find out more about
our “On Your Side” and
One Responsible Source Service!
1475 N. 1st Street, Hermiston • 541-289-3300
www.stratton-insurance.com
Hermiston • Pendleton • La Grande • Elgin