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. Currently, the
free service runs from 9
a.m. to 3 p.m.
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