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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 2015)
A16 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2015 FROM PAGE A1 HOUSE: continued from page A1 when they started the walls, which they completed this week. Jaime-Garcia said building houses in the United States is a little different than what his family did in Mexico. In Mexico, Jaime-Garcia said his family didn’t use the tools that are commonplace in the United States. There were no nail guns, electric saws or air compressors. Rather, Jai- me-Garcia said the only tools his and other families used were a hammer, nails and a handsaw. “It was hard back in Mexi- co,” he said. “That’s just how it was. It was all they had.” The group of students, who are supervised by al- ternative education instruc- tor Shawn Franks, are using equipment, including elec- tric table saws to hammers MAEGAN MURRAY PHOTO Umatilla High School senior Cody Boggs uses a level to see if the surface of their tiny house, a STEM Academy afterschool class project, is uniform. and levels, which were pur- chased with 21st Century Learning Center grant funds. Jaime-Garcia said he is fortu- nate to be working with such equipment. Eventually, Jaime-Garcia said he would like to use his experience through the high school construction project to get a construction job and one day build his own home in the mountains. “Once I build my real house, it’s going to be at least twice as big,” he said. Additionally, Jaime-Gar- cia said he is happy to be par- ticipating in the home-build- ing project. “I’m excited to see how the whole building (process) is done,” he said. Josh Ego, the STEM Academy after-school coor- dinator, said the idea for the construction of a tiny house actually came from Umatilla Superintendent Heidi Sipe. “We both happened to watch the same documentary on tiny houses at the (same) time, as it is a growing trend, especially here in Oregon,” he said. “She just thought, ‘Why couldn’t our kids build one of those?’ ” Ego said the district has a budget of about $20,000 for the project, and when it is built, the house will be sold, and the money will be used to fund the next tiny house project. Ego said the project is a great way to teach students skills they can use after high school. “We are teaching the kids construction skills, all forms, including plumbing and elec- trical, budgeting skills, prob- lem-solving skills and inter- personal skills as they work with vendors to get pricing quotes on materials,” he said. “Before they could start to EXLOG WKH\ KDG WR ¿JXUH RXW what it would cost them in materials. Basically, they are doing the job of a contractor and all that entails, just tiny.” The house will have many features in a normal home: a kitchen, bathroom, living room, lofted sleeping quarters DQGSRVVLEO\D¿UHSODFH7KH house will have water and sew- age hook-ups similar to those in a recreational vehicle. Ego said the district al- ways welcomes construction professionals who are willing to help guide the students in the construction process. He said, to get involved, people can contact him at egoj@ umatillasd.org. ESCAPE: months left on their sentenc- es qualify to work on crews outside the institution. continued from page A1 “Two Rivers Correction- occurrence, the Department al Institution is committed of Corrections reviews each to ensuring the safety of the incident. public and providing skilled “The department has a supervision of inmate work solid history of successful crews in the communi- community work crews,” ty,” Iles said. “Inmates are she said. “On average, DOC screened and must meet has approximately 300 in- VSHFL¿FHOLJLELOLW\FULWHULDWR mates out on work crews be assigned to a work crew. daily statewide, and we ex- Criteria include clear con- perience very few incidents. duct, program compliance If a walk-away does occur, and an established work we work cooperatively with history with DOC. Inmates state and local law enforce- who are convicted of certain ment to ensure the inmate is crimes, such as sex crimes, apprehended and taken back are prohibited from working to custody quickly.” on outside crews.” Iles said, depending on Iles said, in Oregon, no labor demand, between one LQPDWHVZDONHGDZD\LQ¿V- and three 10-man work cal year 2014, with two in crews supervised by one ¿VFDO\HDUDQGWKUHHLQ FRUUHFWLRQDO RI¿FHU XVXDOO\ ¿VFDO \HDU DQG PRVW leave TRCI to perform var- were returned to custody the ious projects. same day, with the longest She said TRCI work escape lasting 10 days. crews operate within the cit- “We also conduct a re- LHVRI6WDQ¿HOGDQG8PDWLOOD view any time we experi- and at local school districts, ence a walk-away,” she said. the Umatilla County Fair- ³7\SLFDOO\ ZKDW ZH ¿QG LV grounds, West Extension Ir- that the individual has sim- rigation District and Finley ply made a poor decision to Butte — the site near Board- walk away. Sometimes it’s man from which inmate Ste- because of things happening ven Fox walked away Feb. at home.” 25 before being apprehend- Fox entered DOC cus- ed about 24 hours later near tody Dec. 7, 2010, for one South First Street and East FRXQW RI ¿UVWGHJUHH EXU- McKinney Avenue outside glary, one count of unlaw- of Hermiston. ful use of a vehicle and Iles said Fox, 49, had no one count of second-degree prior incidents while housed robbery from Multnomah in the minimum security fa- County and one count of cility at TRCI, and he has ¿UVWGHJUHH EXUJODU\ IURP since been returned and is Umatilla County. Before his now housed in the medium escape attempt, the earliest security facility. he could have been released She said only certain from prison was Aug. 12, inmates with less than 48 2016. Get Unlimited Everything. Plus $50 back. Switch to a Simple Connect Prepaid Plan for just $45/mo. with Unlimited Data, Talk and Text, including 1GB of high-speed data. Plus, for a limited time, get a $50 U.S. Cellular® Promotional Card to use toward the latest accessories or your next month of service. BREAK: has done its best to leave no rock unturned in planning for the transition. continued from page A1 “There will be nothing services such as speech pa- that will pose any great risk thology, special education or concern,” he said. “Our and more. ultimate goal is that parents “We have always been and family see an equal or pleased with the level of better service level for what service that the ESD has we will be offering. We also provided,” he said. “This is commend the ESD for the just a move that had many years of services they have different parts that affected given us.” the reasons why. We just 7R¿QGDUHSODFHPHQWIRU hope to continue the great Wilson’s position as Rocky level of service that the Heights Elementary School ESD has provided.” principal, the district will Smith said, because also hold a meet and greet Hermiston already offers VHVVLRQ ZLWK WKH WKUHH ¿- most of the services in-dis- nalists selected from a pool trict the ESD otherwise pro- of applicants. The meet vides, he doesn’t anticipate and greet will take place any major disruptions to from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. student learning or overall Wednesday at the Rocky operations. He said the dis- Heights library. trict already provides about People are asked to re- 90 percent of IMESD’s ser- main for the entire session vices in-house and main- in order to meet all the can- WDLQV LWV RZQ VWDI¿QJ DQG didates and provide feed- services in areas such as back to the selection com- technology, curriculum, mittee through anonymous some of the special educa- comment cards. tion services and nursing. 7KH ¿QDOLVWV IRU WKH SR- Smith said the district is sition include Jerad Farley, now preparing for current an instructional coach for Rocky Heights Elementary the Othello School District, School Principal BJ Wilson Michelle Jensen, who cur- to transition into the role of rently serves as the coordi- special education director. nator of the Hermiston On- He said the district is also line! program and academic hiring for nine other staff- support, and Stacie Rob- ing positions, including erts, who currently serves three school psychologists, as the assistant principal three speech and language of Armand Larive Middle pathologists and three School. For a more com- speech and language pa- prehensive account of each thologist assistants. He said candidate’s background, those should be the only visit the Hermiston School new staff the district needs. District website at hermis- Smith said the district ton.k12.or.us. Things we want you to know: Add. fees, taxes and terms apply and vary by svc. and eqmt. Use of svc. constitutes acceptance of agmt. terms. In order to receive plan minutes, the monthly charge must be paid before due date. You may be charged at any time of day on your due date and should refill before that date to avoid svc. interruption. Roaming, directory assistance and international calls require additional account funds to complete calls. Data speeds: Full applicable data speeds apply for the first 1GB of usage. Data speeds shall be slowed to 1x thereafter for the remainder of the billing cycle. $50 U.S. Cellular ® Promotional Card: New line activation on Simple Connect Prepaid Plan is required. 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