WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2016
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
COMMUNITY
Corrections staf celebrated at Two Rivers
By JENNIFER COLTON
Staff Writer
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Hermiston High School councilor Melody Bustillos helps
freshman Luis Almonte with forecasting his classes for
the next school year on Monday in Hermiston.
Helping guide
student choices
consider and answer those
questions of what I wanted
to do with my life.”
So with a college de-
gree in hand, Bustillos
considered working out-
side hospitals in public or
home health. Then a former
teacher asked if she had
considered looking outside
of medicine altogether.
Bustillos went back to
the basics of why she want-
ed to work in the emergen-
cy room: to be a calming
presence that could help
people through the dificult
and scary times. Through
working with a group of
school counselors on a
grant proposal, she discov-
ered the job had a lot more
in common with her life
goals than she realized.
“It was like a light bulb
turned on,” Bustillos said.
“I still get to help people
in the scary times, I get to
help with that journey and
seeing them through, show-
ing them that things will get
better. I love this job.”
Bustillos is now in her
eighth year as a school
counselor. At Hermis-
ton High School, the four
counselors each take a
grade level and follow
the class through gradua-
tion. She helped the class
of 2015 from freshman
through senior year, and
now she’s starting over
with the 450 students of
the 2019 class.
By JENNIFER COLTON
Staff Writer
High school freshmen
make decisions that set the
stage for their adult lives.
Every day, Melody Bustil-
los guides students along
that path.
A school counselor,
Bustillos works in the class-
room and in her ofice —
the walls covered loor to
ceiling with inspiration —
to help students prepare for
their futures.
While some people
could say Bustillos was
made for the job of inspir-
ing students, for students
and families scared and
stressed over the decisions,
Bustillos has her own story
to tell.
From age 6, Bustillos al-
ways planned on becoming
an emergency room doctor.
She focused in high school
on getting into college and
in college on completing a
pre-med degree. Then she
took a job at a hospital.
“I realized I didn’t like
telling people we couldn’t
do a procedure the doctor
recommended because in-
surance wouldn’t cover it or
because they couldn’t put
enough down. I felt like my
hands were tied and I was
a barrier to helping peo-
ple instead of a part of it,”
she said. “In high school, I
was focused. I knew what I
wanted to do with my life.
Then, at age 26, I had to re-
Special week for
educators
While restaurants thank teachers
with “freebies” and organizations
promote #ThankATeacher this week,
the East Oregonian will spotlight a
handful of amazing educators from
Umatilla and Morrow counties.
National Teacher Day dates back
to 1953, according to the National
Education Association and was
moved to the first full week of May
in 1985.
By presidential proclamation,
Teacher Appreciation Week is May
1-7, 2016, and Teacher Appreciation
Day is Tuesday.
The day is set aside to recog-
nize those educators who work
with students as teachers, coun-
selors and administrators.
Spending time in a cor-
rectional institution weighs
not only on the inmates but
on the staff. Correction-
al oficers and employees
may feel isolated — of-
icers rarely interact with
more than a handful of oth-
er employees in their spe-
ciic zones — and weighed
down by the pressure and
negative atmosphere.
In 1984, President Ron-
ald Reagan signed a proc-
lamation making the irst
full week in May “Nation-
al Correctional Oficers’
Week” to recognize per-
sonnel who work in jails,
prisons and community
corrections. For Two Riv-
ers Correctional Institution,
that recognition means a
week full of events hon-
oring and appreciating the
prison’s 450 employees.
The events include root
beer loats, a memorial ser-
vice, a poker walk, nacho
bar and competitions. With
the exception of the open-
ing ceremony on Monday
and Friday’s award ceremo-
ny, many employees most
look forward to the annual
barbecue.
Paul McDonough, a
transport oficer, has volun-
teered to help run the grill for
the barbecue — for 17 years.
“This gives us a chance
to let the other staff know
how appreciated they are for
what they do,” McDonough
said. “We get to spend time
with them, talk to people we
don’t always get to see, and
that’s nice.”
McDonough and Car-
los Torres, a correctional
oficer who grilled onions
and peppers alongside Mc-
Donough, were on site pre-
paring the barbecue at 4:30
a.m. Tuesday and were still
cooking burgers and hot
dogs through the “normal”
lunch time. Because of TR-
STAFF PHOTO BY JENNIFER COLTON
Paul McDonough, left, and Carlos Torres grill hamburgers and vegetables Tuesday at Two
Rivers Correctional Institution for “National Correctional Oficers’ Week.”
STAFF PHOTO BY JENNIFER COLTON
Heather Demos and Don Hodney serve correctional oficers
during a barbecue Tuesday at Two Rivers Correctional
Institution.
CI’s round-the-clock sched-
uling, employees may take a
“lunch” at almost any time.
For employee appreciation,
TRCI has made an effort
to include employees on all
shifts; the barbecue, for ex-
ample, ran from 6-9 a.m.,
from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30
p.m. and from 2:30-4:30
p.m. to make sure all em-
ployees had the opportunity
to stop in at least once.
Torres said he volunteers
to work the barbecue.
“It’s a tradition,” he said
Another inmate dies at TRCI
A 76-year-old inmate on staff found him unre-
was found dead in his cell sponsive in his cell at 7:53
Sunday morning at
a.m. Sunday.
Two Rivers Correc-
County medical ex-
tional Institution in
aminer Rudy Stefancik
Umatilla.
said the death was natu-
Tomas
Ve-
ral and no autopsy would
jar-Garcia had been
be performed.
serving a sentence
Vejar-Garcia’s next
since June 1, 2012,
of kin were notiied
for two counts of Vejar-
and the Oregon State
Garcia
irst-degree
sex
Police Criminal Inves-
abuse in Washing-
tigation Division con-
ton County and was eligible ducted an investigation, as
for release on June 6. Pris- it does with all unanticipat-
PGG members vote to dissolve co-op
Brings 86-year-old
co-op to an end
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Staff Writer
Members of Pendle-
ton Grain Growers vot-
ed overwhelmingly to
dissolve the 86-year-old
farmers’ co-op at a spe-
cial meeting Monday
night.
Board Chairman Tim
Hawkins said the vote
was about 95 percent in
favor of dissolution. At
least a two-thirds major-
ity was required to pass
the resolution. PGG will
now sell its remaining
assets in order to pay off
debt and return any left-
over equity to members.
The vote officially
brings an end to PGG,
which was established in
1930 during the Great De-
pression to protect local
farmers against slumping
grain prices. In recent
years, the co-op lost mil-
lions of dollars in profit
and misrepresented mil-
lions more in overstated
earnings. PGG attempted
to restructure its business
model before ultimately
turning to dissolution.
of the barbecue. “We look
forward to this week of the
year all year. Everyone is
happy.”
The week and the ap-
preciation raise morale for
correctional oficers, a ca-
reer that has been linked to
high rates of depression and
suicide. Tuesday, multiple
employees thanked the or-
ganizers for offering taking
the time to recognize them
because working in an insti-
tution is a “negative” envi-
ronment.
“Everyone needs to be
appreciated, but I think it’s
especially important here,”
said Dusti Hunter, inmate
assignment
coordinator.
“We work in an environ-
ment that’s a rough crowd.
Having something uplifting
like this makes a differ-
ence.”
On a typical day, the se-
curity oficers supervising in-
mate wards and activities will
not interact with the coun-
selors, nurses, administrators
and transport oficers who
also work in the institution.
“We have to rely on each
other — it’s not just secu-
rity that is recognized, but
everyone as a team,” cor-
rectional oficer S. Erickson
said. “Events like this bring
up morale of staff, and we’re
all able to come together,
build camaraderie.”
The fellowship builds
morale and allows employ-
ees to interact as a group
with others who understand
the stresses and pressures of
working in a correctional in-
stitution. It gives employees
a chance to remember they
are not alone.
Eric Anderson, a PGG
member for 40 years,
said the attitude at the
members-only meeting
was one of resignation.
“Losing
this
vast
amount of money is the
real tragedy,” Anderson
said.
Despite losing the co-
op, Hawkins said he felt
this was the best outcome
for PGG members, given
the circumstances.
ed deaths.
Vejar-Garcia is the ifth
TRCI inmate to die of nat-
ural causes in the past nine
weeks, according to Ste-
fancik.
Avis Woodrum, 60,
Shawn McMillian, 44,
Ronald Marcus, 60, and
Joel Abbot, 60, have all
died since February 27.
TRCI houses approxi-
mately 1,800 male inmates
and opened in 2000.
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