WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2016
COMMUNITY/COMMENTARY
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A9
Umatilla bond seeks to repair aging school infrastructure
By ANTONIO SIERRA
Staff Writer
Umatilla School District
Superintendent Heidi Sipe
has a great deal of affection
for Clara Brownell Middle
School.
Not just for its students
and staff, but the actual fa-
cility itself, having started
her teaching career in the
building.
Sipe has a fondness for
the way the ceilings of the
gym and cafeteria resemble
the bottom of a Viking ship
— she didn’t know wheth-
er the designers intended
it to be a reference to the
school’s mascot or if it was
just a coincidence. The
building’s sturdy structure
built in 1947 by the Army
Corps of Engineers while
they were constructing Mc-
Nary Dam.
The $10.5 million bond
the Umatilla School Dis-
trict is seeking in Novem-
ber is less about redeining
the characteristics of Uma-
tilla’s schools and more
about modernizing their ag-
ing infrastructure, especial-
ly at the nearly 70-year-old
Clara Brownell.
Sipe gave potential
voters a tour of the mid-
dle school and explained
many of facility’s worst
traits, which clash with its
charms.
Central to its deicien-
cies is its heating and cool-
ing system.
Sipe explained that
Clara Brownell’s original
single-paned windows are
still in use, causing class-
rooms to get either terribly
hot or cold depending on
the season.
School staff can use a
wall-mounted air condi-
tioner or the school’s anti-
quated heating system, but
both options are noisy and
distracting.
The heating system is
linked to a boiler, which is
contained in a room with
equipment original to the
school’s opening where as-
bestos is covered only by
thin plastic sheets.
Sipe said only mainte-
nance worker Ron West
knows how to ix the boiler.
If he leaves the district, the
Rowan gains endorsement from
department’s bargaining unit
By ERICK PALMER
Guest Comment
The Umatilla County
Law Enforcement Associa-
tion (UCLEA), the collec-
tive bargaining unit for the
employees of the Umatilla
County Sheriff’s Ofice and
Umatilla County Communi-
ty Corrections, proudly en-
dorses Terry L. Rowan for
re-election to the Ofice of
Sheriff of Umatilla County.
In the past four years as
Sheriff, Terry Rowan has
protected our communities
by substantially increasing
the number of patrol dep-
uties within the Sheriff’s
Ofice, allowing for better
response times to calls for
service and more thorough
investigations. This has also
increased the presence of
the Sheriff’s Ofice across
Umatilla County, which has
aided in crime prevention
and higher arrest rates for
people responsible for crim-
inal activity. This is a feat
that very few leaders from
other agencies have been
able to accomplish in such a
short time frame.
Sheriff Rowan has also
provided new equipment
and training to the staff at
the Sheriff’s Ofice, which
has been sorely needed for
a number of years. This has
provided for a more profes-
sional look and has given
the employees the tools and
skills they need to do their
jobs more eficiently and
more safely. Sheriff Rowan
has increased the number
of offenders being held in
the Umatilla County Jail
and holds them for as long
as legally possible. This has
helped all other police agen-
cies in the area, and with-
out a doubt, makes the en-
tire criminal justice system
work better. It also einsures
that the largest number of
offenders are held account-
able for crimes they com-
mit within Umatilla Coun-
ty. This makes our county
a safer place to live, work,
and raise a family.
Sheriff Rowan has also
tasked members of the staff
with helping our partner
agencies whenever pos-
sible and becoming more
involved in our communi-
ties and schools. We assist
others agencies in criminal
investigations and evidence
collection, and participate in
programs involving crime
prevention, trafic safe-
ty, animal care and safety,
school safety and education,
advanced medical care, al-
cohol and drug treatment,
Veteran’s services, mental
health counseling and Cri-
sis Intervention Training for
people who are in a mental
health crisis, and others.
As soon as Terry took
over as Sheriff, he started
making positive changes
and improvements to the en-
tire organization and contin-
ues to do so. Because of this,
employee morale within the
Sheriff’s Ofice has never
been higher. The agency has
improved exponentially un-
der Sheriff Rowan’s leader-
ship and he has proven to be
a tremendous leader in our
ofice and in the communi-
ties we serve. We know this
because we work with him
every day. As members of
this county, we owe Sheriff
Rowan our support in his
bid for re-election.
“The men and women
working in each of the divi-
sions of the Sheriff’s Ofice
work hard and put their lives
on the line to keep our fam-
ilies and communities safe,”
said Sheriff Rowan, “I am
truly honored and hum-
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STUDENT
OF THE
WEEK
Christina “Tina” Combs
U KIAH H IGH S CHOOL
Ukiah School District recognizes Christina “Tina”
Combs as Student of the Week! We enjoy Tina’s
enthusiastic approach to any class assignment or
extracurricular opportunity. Tina is a senior, involved
in Volleyball, Student Technology Association,
Robotics, and 4-H, as well as helping her family on
their farm. Tina’s hobbies include riding horses,
drawing, riding dirt bikes, and hunting. Her latest
adventure was attending fire camp with the United
States Forest Service. After graduation, Tina plans to
attend Blue Mountain Community College for
Veterinary Technician study, and perhaps transfer to
Oregon State University, majoring in Veterinary
Science. Congratulations, Tina! Thanks for being a
great all-around student and human being!
Proudly Sponsored by
2801 St. Anthony Way, Pendleton, OR • 541-276-5121
bled to have received their
endorsement and remain
committed to shaping and
gathering resources to meet
the public safety demands of
Umatilla County.”
Erik Palmer is vice
president of Umatilla
County Law Enforcement
Association and a resident
of Athena.
knowledge of how to main-
tain the school’s heating
system goes with him.
Plumbing is also a major
issue at Clara Brownell, re-
quiring the district to direct
water only to the kitchen
and bathrooms.
The district has some-
times had to cancel school
when its heating or plumb-
ing doesn’t work.
The Wenaha Group
evaluated Umatilla’s three
school facilities — Clara
Brownell, McNary Heights
Elementary School and
Umatilla High School —
and gave the middle school
a 38 out of 100, the lowest
grade between the three of
them.
But the bond would also
be used for projects at the
other locations, including a
new roof and expanded caf-
eteria at McNary Heights
and HVAC upgrades at
Umatilla High School.
All three schools will
also get new security sys-
tems, like one-touch lock-
down and an indoor en-
trance that will require
visitors to check in with the
ofice before proceeding
into the school.
As a member of the
Umatilla School Board, Jon
Lorence has been tasked
with selling the bond to the
community.
Lorence said one of his
main challenges is quelling
concerns that the bond would
increase their tax bills.
Rather than add on ad-
ditional costs, the bond
proposal would extend the
$3.13 per assessed $1,000
rate established under a
previous bond from 2023 to
2035.
“It’s not like we’re going
to cause a big ol’ shock to
the tax bill,” he said.
With the bond slated to
pay for new windows and
the replacement of rotting
wood along the border of
the roof, and the district
budgeting money for a
new coat of paint, Clara
Brownell has a shot at look-
ing better than the building
the Army erected in 1947.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at 541-966-0836.
Crash on Highway 207 kills one
A 63-year-old Heppner
man died in a head-on
crash Friday morning af-
ter a potato truck crossed
in front of his vehicle on
Highway 207.
Mervin Grubaugh was
driving north on the high-
way in a 1996 Subaru
Legacy about nine miles
south of Hermiston and
Maria Bautista Lucas, 60,
from Yakima was head-
ing south in a 1996 Mack
truck.
Lucas turned left at the
Echo Highway turnoff, ac-
cording to Oregon State
Police, crashing nearly
head-on into the Subaru
at highway speeds. Gru-
baugh died at the scene
and Lucas was taken to
Good Shepherd Medi-
cal Center in Hermiston
where she was treated and
released.
The crash took place
near the intersection at
mile marker 27B at about
7:45 a.m. and the highway
was closed for about ive
hours while investigators
reconstructed the crash
scene.
OSP was assisted by
Hermiston Fire and Am-
bulance, Echo Fire and
Oregon Department of
Transportation. The in-
vestigation is ongoing, ac-
cording to OSP.