WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2017
Umatilla County cuts drug court
By PHIL WRIGHT
Staff Wrigher
Umatilla County is cut-
ting its drug court program
due to reductions in funding
from the state. The move is
effective June 30 and means
laying off six employees.
Larry Givens, chairman
of the Umatilla County
Board of Commissioners,
said the county has a gener-
al policy of not backfilling
when the state stops provid-
ing money.
“We’ve seen that happen
time and time again,” Giv-
ens said, “ ... and we’re at
the point we can’t keep do-
ing that.”
Drug court provides
court supervised alcohol and
drug treatment for offend-
ers. County counsel Doug
Olsen said the decision
to end the program came
March 15 from the local
public safety coordinating
council, the body of law en-
forcement and community
leaders responsible for rec-
ommending to county com-
missioners how to use state
resources to serve the local
offender population. Olsen
said the county sent layoff
notices to four drug court
alcohol and drug councilors
and two staff in the Com-
munity Justice Department,
which oversees the court.
Dale Primmer, director
of Community Justice who
is also a Pendleton city
councilor, said eliminating
drug court resulted from an
unfortunate budget trend
and shows the state-wide
funding gap of $1.8 billion
hits local services.
Primmer recalled the lo-
cal public safety coordinat-
ing council applied for and
received a grant from the
Oregon Criminal Justice
Commission to begin drug
court in 2006. That grant
covered 100 percent of the
cost of the court and pro-
vided contributions to help
facilitate the program.
Around 2010, he said,
the state moved to a funding
model of providing $14 per
day per drug court partici-
pant, but that only applied to
offenders serving parole and
probation. Primmer said that
was about 140 people, and
Community Justice covered
the budget difference to
keep the court going.
The state in the last bi-
ennium dropped the rate
to $12, he said, and Com-
munity Justice used about
$273,000 to bridge the fund-
ing gap. In this biennium, he
said, the state is offering $9
per day per participant, and
drug court has 90 people.
“So not only is the rate
substantially reduced, so
is the total people being
served,” Primmer said.
Last biennium, the coun-
ty received about $976,000
to support drug court, and
the next biennium would
be about $591,000. Prim-
mer said when he ran the
numbers on drug court’s to-
tal cost, it came out around
$516,000 in the hole.
“You take three bienni-
ums in a row when the bud-
get keeps getting cut ... you
get to the point when the gap
becomes too wide,” he said.
He took the numbers
Wednesday to the coordi-
nating council, where he
presented a few scenarios.
Community
Justice
could cover the cost of
drug court with money
from other programs, such
as the day treatment oper-
ation for high-risk offend-
ers or treatment for people
in the county jail. Or drug
court could end, and Com-
munity Justice could re-
evaluate how to best use its
resources to serve as many
people as possible with an
eye toward finding sustain-
able replacement money to
restart drug court in the fu-
ture.
Ending drug court also
comes after a state review
found shortcomings in the
program.
Primmer said his de-
partment asked the state to
conduct an evaluation in
January to see how well
Community Justice im-
plemented drug court and
delivered evidence-based
practices. A final report is
forthcoming, he said, but
the summary showed the
department scored high in
areas related to oversight,
policy and assessment.
However, he said, the
examination also deter-
mined delivery of services
and treatment staff charac-
teristics were in the lower
ranges of “moderate and
needs improvement.”
And the weight of those
two categories, he said,
brought down the overall
evaluation.
Primmer attributed the
findings to new staff who
are still learning and ac-
quiring training hours to
reach state certification. He
said he would expect a bet-
ter result from a follow-up
evaluation as the staff gains
experience.
That, however, is likely
a moot point.
Primmer also stressed
ending drug court came
down to the money, not
the evaluation. He called
this an opportunity for the
county to “push the reset
button” and evaluate how
to deliver quality services.
The county also sent pink
slips to two staff members in
the Water Resources Depart-
ment, but that came from the
state’s plan to take over the
program. Olsen said at this
time the county does not an-
ticipate more cuts.
Givens added, “We’re
hopeful this is it.”
Sunset Elementary principal resigns
The Hermiston School
District will hire a new
principal for Sunset Ele-
mentary School, it posted
on its district website Mon-
day.
Principal Devin Grigg
submitted his resignation
for the end of this school
year, and will be moving
out of the area with his
family, according to assis-
tant superintendent Tricia
Mooney.
Applications for the new
principal are due April 10,
and from April 11-14 dis-
trict staff will review and
screen applications. Can-
didates will be interviewed
and visit the district be-
tween April 20 and 21.
The new principal will
start July 1.
Grigg said he and his
family are moving to the
Phoenix, Arizona, area to
start a small business. He
was the principal of Sunset
for eight years, and before
that a middle school assis-
tant principal for four years,
two at Armand Larive and
two at Sandstone.
“I love this community,
love this district,” Grigg
said. “There are phenom-
enal people, they’ve been
I found Dad’s remote in the fridge again.
…I’m beginning to get worried.
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very good to us.”
Grigg said the hardest
part of the decision to move
was leaving the people in
the district — but he wanted
to try to pursue his dream of
owning a small business.
“I love the community
support for the schools, and
the schools’ support for the
community,” he said. “It’s
been a very neat thing to be
a part of.”
Grigg was named district
administrator of the year for
the 2015-2016 school year.
Majority of seats in the special
election draw only one candidate
Hermiston Herald
Candidates in Umatilla
County won’t face much
competition in the upcom-
ing May elections.
After the Thursday filing
deadline, a list of candidates
published by the Umatilla
County Elections Division
revealed that 70 percent of
the 124 seats up for election
had only one candidate run-
ning while 18 percent had
no candidate at all.
Held in May during
odd numbered years, the
“special election” is used
to vote on candidates for
school boards, fire protec-
tion districts and other ser-
vice districts.
Despite the low number
of participants, there are
still a handful of contested
elections local residents
will see on their ballots.
The Umatilla Morrow
Data & Radio District, a
taxing district that pro-
vides
communications
system support for almost
every law enforcement
and emergency services
agency in Umatilla and
Morrow counties, has two
contested races that could
significantly change the
composition of its board.
Position 1 incumbent
Mike Roxbury, the former
chief of the Umatilla Rural
Fire Protection District, is
being challenged by Loren
Dieter, a lieutenant with
the Boardman Police De-
partment.
Dieter’s chief at the
Boardman
PD,
Rick
Stokoe, is also mounting
a challenge against Posi-
tion 2 incumbent Kathy
Lieuallen, Umatilla Coun-
ty Sheriff’s Office com-
munications manager.
If both Dieter and
Stokoe are elected, four
out of the five seats on
the board would belong
to people from Morrow
County.
Position 4 incumbent
Ken Matlack, the Morrow
County sheriff, is running
unopposed.
Other boards that fea-
ture contested races in-
clude the Stanfield School
District, the Echo Ceme-
tery District and the Uma-
tilla County Library Dis-
trict.
Some seats drew no
filed candidates, including
the Blue Mountain Com-
munity College Board of
Education Zone 5 seat,
which is currently vacant,
and Hermiston School
Board Position 3 seat,
which will be vacated by
Don Rankin.
Umatilla County elec-
tions manager Kim Lindell
said the elections division
will accept write-in votes
for all the seats without a
declared candidates.
Once the write-in votes
have been counted, the
winner will be asked to
accept the position. If they
decline, then the local
board is given the author-
ity to declare the seat va-
cant and appoint someone
to fill the seat for the next
two years.
The election will be
held May 16.
Dance teams score at state
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
Staff Writer
The Hermiston and
Pendleton dance teams
scored big at the state com-
petition this weekend, with
Pendleton taking second
place for the 5A category,
and Hermiston taking fifth.
There were 13 teams in the
5A competition.
The Hermiston dance
team, which has 18 stu-
dents, performed a jazz
routine, titled “The Witch
Hunt.”
Hermiston
senior
Aristea Loveland was also
selected to the All-State
team.
“All season, we floated
around in the top six, so
we knew [...] a trophy was
feasible,” said Hermiston
coach Ashley Seibel. “It
was a tough division, and
we feel genuinely honored
to be considered one of the
top five in 5A.”
The two teams got to-
gether at Homecoming
and performed a dance
to “Thriller,” by Michael
Jackson.
Pendleton performed a
jazz routine, called “Fear
the Mindkiller,” and re-
ceived several individu-
al honors as well. Senior
Ashleigh Bolling received
a $1,500 dance scholar-
ship, and senior Abby
Rinehart received a $1,000
academic
scholarship.
Two students, Bolling
and Madison Cates, were
also voted to the All-State
team, which honored eight
dancers from the 5A cate-
gory.
Pendleton head coach
Debbie Kishpaugh said
the team, which has 31
students was hoping to fin-
ish fairly high. They came
into the competition ranked
third, Kishpaugh said.
“The Pendleton and
Hermiston dance teams
don’t treat each other as
rivals,” Kishpaugh said.
“They’re really good
friends. They get along re-
ally well. The kids support
each other, which is nice.”
in a written statement. “Nei-
ther the courts nor law en-
forcement will solicit money
from citizens for not show-
ing up for jury duty.”
In recent complaints, the
caller claims to be a member of
the sheriff’s office and tells the
potential victim they missed
jury service and there is a war-
rant for their arrest. They are
told they can avoid jail by pay-
ing a fine immediately or giv-
ing personal information, such
as bank account, credit card or
Social Security numbers.
Don’t provide any person-
al or financial information to
the scammers, the sheriff’s
office warned. Citizens are
urged to report any suspicious
phone calls or possible scams
to local law enforcement.
For more information
about jury duty scams, visit
www.ord.uscourts.gov. For
tips from the Federal Trade
Commission on how to
avoid fraud, go to www.con-
sumer.ftc.gov.
IN BRIEF
Sheriff’s office warns
of jury duty scam
The Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Office announced it
recently received complaints
about scam callers trying to
solicit money from citizens
for missing jury duty.
“The Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Office has not and
will not contact citizens for
this purpose or in this man-
ner,” the sheriff’s office said
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