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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 2017)
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 2017 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3 LOCAL NEWS Rocky Heights team reads its way to state EOTEC looking By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN for a manager Staff Writer Students throughout the Herm- iston School District sparred for the top prize in a literary contest that’s become increasingly popular throughout the state: the Battle of the Books. Hermiston had a strong showing at all three grade levels, with the Rocky Heights Elementary School team besting all comers in the re- gion to go to the state competition, while Hermiston High School’s team took second at regionals. The statewide event assigns stu- dents at each grade level a selection of fiction books, which students gather into teams of four to read and discuss. The teams are then quizzed on those books in head-to-head competitions. After making it to the top of their respective schools, teams went to a regional competition at Blue Moun- tain Community College. Rocky Heights beat a pool of 21 teams, in- cluding Highland Hills in the finals, to become the regional champions. The team, which includes Cate Doherty, Eleanor Larsen, Caden Lloyd and Glyn Lystrup, will com- pete at the state competition April 8 in Salem. “We have an amazing team,” said Melissa Doherty, a Rocky Heights third grade teacher and coach of the winning team. “They gave up every recess to stay in the classroom and study, they made up their own battle questions — I’ve been so impressed.” Doherty said the competition has challenged students to read books they wouldn’t ordinarily pick up. At the state level, the students By JADE MCDOWELL Staff Writer The Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center’s partners agree the project needs a man- ager, but they are still working out the details on who that will be and how much they will be paid. “It’s got to be boots on the ground on a day-to-day basis,” Umatilla County commissioner Larry Givens said. “It can’t be someone who just knows mar- keting or just knows construc- tion or just knows fair and ro- deo.” During a joint work session March 20 the Hermiston City Council and the Umatilla Coun- ty commissioners discussed the operations plan proposed by the EOTEC board. The plan calls for a general manager to oversee an adminis- trative assistant and contracted janitorial/maintenance services, while also managing the budget, overseeing day-to-day opera- tions, booking events and creat- ing and implementing a market- ing plan. The manager would report to the EOTEC board, which would adopt the budget and general policies, while the city council and county com- missioners would appoint board members and approve funds. City councilors said they agreed with the overall struc- ture but wanted to see some dol- PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY DELIA WALLIS Ethan Atkinson, Chance Frederickson, Quincy Nordyke and Jessica Ferguson were on the Hermiston High School Battle of the Books team that competed at regionals. will be quizzed on the same 16 books they read for the previous competitions, but the questions will be much more difficult and specific. At Rocky Heights, the winning team will also face off against a team of teachers on April 7. At the high school level, students usually read about 12 titles per team — often splitting the work- load. Most are contemporary titles, but usually one or two classics are included. Seven teams competed within the high schools. A team of sophomores who called themselves The Book Tumors won the school- wide competition. That team, com- prised of Ethan Atkinson, Jessica Ferguson, Chance Frederickson and Quincy Nordyke, went to the regional tournament and competed against several other high schools: Adrian, Baker City, Imbler Charter, Ione Community and Jordan Valley. Frederickson said his team went over some of the questions together, focusing on books they were quizzed on most during the first few rounds, but said the main preparation was just reading the books. He said most of the ques- tions tested the students’ knowl- edge of facts and chronology of events in each book. Frederickson said the books he read for the competition were “The Martian,” “The Girl With All the Gifts,” and “Raven Boys.” At Sandstone Middle School, a team of sixth graders took the top prize. The Eragonic Readers, featur- ing Karter Arrit, Elizabeth Doherty, Gavin Doherty and Everett Wicks, had to compete for their victory in two matches in front of the entire school. Armand Larive’s champions bested a field of thirty-plus teams to win. The Seventh Grade Won- ders of the World, featuring Hunter McDonald, Alyssa Miller, Bridget Sanders and Emma Williamson, were the school’s winners. Delia Wallis, the librarian for Hermiston secondary schools, said she and the students were both surprised and excited they did so well, and she looks forward to having many students partici- pate again. lar figures attached. City man- ager Byron Smith, who also chairs the EOTEC board, said after some early calculations he believes that budget can support a $60,000 to $75,000 salary for the general manager. The position will only over- see one or two employees, but mayor David Drotzmann and councilor John Kirwan ques- tioned whether the salary was competitive enough to draw someone with the experience needed to successfully market the event center. “In that kind of price range you’re going to get college kids,” Kirwan said, proposing the number be “possibly dou- ble.” Smith said that would be dif- ficult without additional contri- butions from the city and coun- ty. Marketing and booking are currently handled by business manager Heather Cannell, and Smith said some EOTEC board members had expressed interest in promoting Cannell to general manager when the time comes. The council also approved $10,000 leases with the Uma- tilla County Fair and Farm-City Pro Rodeo, with the caveat that no rodeo or competing event can be booked at the venue 60 days before the event or 30 days after without the respective board’s approval. Hermiston approves loan for festival street design By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN Staff Writer The Hermiston City Council had a busy meeting Monday, making changes to the supplemental budget, approving a loan to fund the festival street project and discussing the progress at EOTEC. • The council issued a proclamation declaring April as Distracted Driving Aware- ness Month, reviewing some photos presented by Police Chief Jason Edmiston. His niece, Alexxyss Therwanger, died last year in a crash be- lieved to have been affect- ed by texting distractions. Alexxyss’ car will be featured in a display about distracted driving, which will be at the Hermiston High School park- ing lot April 3 and 4. • The Hermiston City Council entered an inter- governmental agreement to loan the Urban Renewal Agency $100,000 for the festival street design. • Assistant City Manag- er Mark Morgan presented some photos of construc- tion going on at the EOTEC grounds, including stadium seats and a small animal barn for which roofing will start later this week. • The council unan- imously approved the changes requested by city finance director Amy Palm- er for the supplemental budget. The resolution for the hearing authorizes addi- tional expenditures in nine Our smallest hearing aid made with medical-grade titanium. funds, transfers between budget categories in two funds, a reduction of expen- ditures in one fund and in- ter-fund transfers between four funds. The non-de- partmental category will be increased by $35,000 for a sewer expansion feasibili- ty study. The reserve fund will be supplemented by $27,200 for repairs at the aquatic center, and person- nel services are being in- creased by $8,000. The total supple- ment to the city budget is $6,947,967. For reserves for future expenditures, $70,473 was requested. • Morgan discussed the ridership for the Hermis- ton public bus system this month, and said the city will eventually look at changing services to reach more people. The bus cur- rently makes four complete trips through town, each lasting about an hour and 15 minutes. Morgan said the city will also look at ways to make the service available to more people, potentially changing hours to serve those that work an 8 to 5 job. 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