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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 2015)
PREP HOOPS WELCOME ADDITION DISCOUNT CLOTHING STORE OPENS TO WARM RECEPTION STANFIELD GIRLS TOP IONE PAGE A4 SPORTS PAGE A6 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2015 Voters to decide whether judge is appointed Council opts to make changes to ensure charter is approved BY SEAN HART HERMISTON HERALD Hermiston residents will get to decide whether the municipal judge should be elected or appointed by the City Council. At the regular City Council meeting Monday, council members directed city staff to prepare the doc- uments necessary to place a revised city charter on the May 2015 ballot after they agreed to make changes to the initial proposal. The charter serves as the city’s founding docu- ment, and the last charter approved in 1954 contained outdated language, so the council spent months last year updating it based on a model charter from the League of Oregon Cities. Most of the changes were basic and made the document more legally tenable, such as removing the requirement that coun- cilors be property own- SEE CHARTER/A10 TODAY’S WEATHER YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER HERMISTONHERALD.COM +3'UHSRUWVVLJQL¿FDQWGURSLQMXYHQLOHFULPH Hermiston Police Chief Jason Edmiston attend- ed the Hermiston School Board work session Mon- day night to report that, according to the depart- ment’s annual report, ju- venile arrests had dropped BY MAEGAN MURRAY by 32 percent in 2014 from HERMISTON HERALD the previous year. This has $VLJQL¿FDQWGURSLQMX- Edmiston scratching his venile crimes in 2014 has head as to why. +HUPLVWRQ 3ROLFH RI¿FLDOV “It was a little scary both worried and optimis- when you start seeing de- tic about what is contrib- clines like that and trying uting to those lower num- to explain what is going bers. on,” he said. “It is a good Police both optimistic and nervous about drop problem to have, but, over the course of three years (there has been) a 37 per- cent drop, 17 percent drop and a 32 percent drop last year.” Edmiston said one thing he must consider is if the police department has been turning a blind eye to juve- nile crime. While he doesn’t be- lieve that is happening, he said it is a factor that needs to be discussed. Edmiston reported that, in 2014, 181 juveniles were detained, and there were 354 offenses from that population. Of those, 52 were from drugs and DOFRKRO ZHUH WUDI¿F related, 25 were theft-re- lated crimes and four were weapons crimes. In addi- tion, 171 offenses stemmed from charges involving curfew violation, disor- derly/harassment, criminal PLVFKLHI WUHVSDVV JUDI¿WL assault/menacing, detain- ment warrants, providing D IDOVH QDPH WR DQ RI¿FHU misuse of the 9-1-1 system and conspiracy to commit a crime. Edmiston said, at the county level, 519 cases were referred to the Juve- nile Department in 2014, which is a slight increase from 2013, which had 512 referrals. Those numbers, KRZHYHU DUH VLJQL¿FDQWO\ lower from 2009, which had 1,013 referred cases. The number of juveniles referred to and taking part in Hermiston’s Commu- SEE CRIME/A10 SOLACE IN PAINTING MAEGAN MURRAY PHOTO Hermiston artist Michelle Hopper used those she met in treatment for anorexia and bipolar disorder this summer as inspiration for a new art piece that will be hung at TM Counseling in Pendleton. Hermiston resident uses art to cope with anorexia and bipolar disorder BY MAEGAN MURRAY HERMISTON HERALD Hermiston resident Mi- chelle Hopper was at her lowest weight since high school last summer and was frequently told she “looked like a cancer pa- tient.” Hopper said she has bat- tled anorexia since she was 12. She also struggles with bipolar disorder, and, last summer, she found herself in a dangerous place after she lost control of both. While seeking treatment at a mental health facility, she turned to an art that has always given her solace — painting. This month, she left her job as a teacher to focus solely on herself and her art. Hopper said she has painted since she was young. In the last several years, she has had a suc- cessful clothing line that features screen-printed im- ages and drawings of her own creation, in addition to hand-printed clothing and accessories. When she was seeking treatment for her mental struggles, however, she said she decided take a new path with her art. Hopper used some of her peers in treatment as inspiration for a colorful ¿QHDUW SDLQWLQJ WKDW IHD- tures a row of horses all Partly Cloudy High: 54º Low: 37º OUTLOOK • THURSDAY Times of sun and clouds High: 48º Low: 37º • FRIDAY Mix of sun and clouds High: 49º Low: 35º A complete weather forecast is featured on page A2. Find the Hermiston Herald on Facebook and Twitter and join the conversation. FOR LOCAL BREAKING NEWS www.HermistonHerald.com MAEGAN MURRAY PHOTO Hermiston artist Michelle Hopper works on a painting called ‘The Drive’ Monday afternoon at her home studio in Hermiston. Hopper uses painting as a means to cope with anorexia and bipolar disorder. coming together and star- ing straight out of the im- age. She calls it “The Gath- ering.” “I tried to feature all of those personalities who re- ally helped me get through that hard time as we went through it together,” she said. Now that Hopper is sta- ble, she said she uses the craft as an emotional re- lease on a day-to-day basis to make sure she doesn’t slip back to where she was just a few months ago. Hopper said what she believes is so therapeutic about painting is that she doesn’t have to be such a perfectionist. She said, in her everyday life, she can get so focused on perfect- ing herself and her work that it can cause her to reach emotional levels that are unhealthy for herself both mentally and phys- ically. With drawing and her clothing line, she said her work is much more de- tailed, and the perfectionist side of her shines through. With painting, however, she said she can let loose a bit, blare music in her stu- dio at her house in Herm- iston and zone out with a few strokes of the brush and lots of wild color. “When I’m painting, it doesn’t have to be per- fect,” she said. “There is a pretty big difference be- tween what I paint and my drawings. With drawing, it is a lot of concise lines and detail. With my painting, it is looser and there isn’t as much detail.” Since she has start- ed painting by tradition- al means using a canvas, Hopper said she didn’t ex- pect her hobby would blos- som into something that could potentially turn into a full-time career. She said, since she started painting on canvas, many people have wanted to buy items in her collection, which sell for anywhere between $300 to $1,500. This month, she has or is work- SEE HOPPER/A8 GSMC: Flu numbers this year no worse than in previous years stable in Hermiston. “It’s not necessarily higher than normal,” Pam Schulz, infection control employee health coordina- tor, said Tuesday. “If you look at the Oregon state numbers on the BY MAEGAN MURRAY ÀX RXWWKHUHLW LV QRWKLJKHUWKDQ HERMISTON HERALD normal.” 'HVSLWH WKH IDFW WKH LQÀXHQ]D As of Jan. 26, Schulz said that vaccine administered this year is 38 percent of people admitted to not as effective in preventing the Good Shepherd Medical Cen- LOOQHVVÀXQXPEHUVKDYHUHPDLQHG WHU IRU ÀXOLNH V\PSWRPV WHVWHG People still encouraged to get vaccinated Hermiston Herald $1.00 © 2014 EO Media Group SRVLWLYH IRU WKH ÀX LQ +HUPLVWRQ Schulz said she doesn’t have any VSHFL¿F QXPEHUV RI SHRSOH ZKR WHVWHG SRVLWLYH IRU WKH ÀX DOVR known as H3N2, because many SHRSOH ZKR FRPH LQ IRU ÀXOLNH symptoms won’t test positive. The number of people being treated for ÀXLVSUHWW\DYHUDJHIRUWKLVWLPHRI year, she said. Even though the numbers are no higher than normal, Schulz said she still recommends that people JHWWKHÀXVKRW According to the Center for Disease Control, a vaccine’s ef- fectiveness is based on how sim- LODUWKHÀXYLUXVHVXVHGLQYDFFLQH SURGXFWLRQ DUH WR WKH ÀX YLUXVHV actually circulating. The vaccine is designed to protect against three RUIRXULQÀXHQ]DYLUXVHVVRPHRI SEE INFLUENZA/A10