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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 2018)
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018 LOCAL HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3 Locals get primer on immigration rights members feel fear, which in part drives people to these events. He said simi- Do Dreamers have to lar communities exist from worry about deportation La Grande to the Tri-Cities from the United States? in Washington, and these Do undocumented immi- gatherings are about uni- grants have constitutional fying people and urging rights? them to action. Members of “We are a the Walla Walla community,” he Immigration told the crowd. Rights Coalition “Maybe it’s time answered those to start acting like and other tricky it.” questions Satur- K e n z i e day at a forum in Spooner with the Hermiston. Abi- Jesse Roa Walla Walla group gail Scholar said said the notion the Deferred Action for that people can’t do any- Childhood Arrivals only thing is the misconception “de-prioritizes people for she most wanted to dispel. deportation,” but does She said she started com- not free Dreamers from ing to meetings to learn more, and now she is a deportation. In simple terms, she member of the group and said, individuals partici- can contribute. pating in DACA are not “In fact, there is a lot at the top of the deporta- everyone can do,” she said. tion list, but they remain Kathleen Cathey helped on the list. Those individ- drive home that point. She uals, known as Dreamers, is the Eastern Oregon rep- are undocumented immi- resentative for Democratic grants who were brought U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden. into the United States as Cathey said Wyden was children. Many of them do in Hermiston in 2013 for not remember any other a town hall meeting, and home, but can’t apply for members of Hermiston’s citizenship or permanent Hispanic Advisory Com- residency due to the fact mittee and local Latinos that their parents did not packed the place. All those follow legal immigration bodies shifted the con- channels to bring them versation to immigration reform, which remains here. Scholar and fellow coa- one of the senator’s top lition member Eugenio priorities. Rojas said due process She encouraged partic- remains a constitutional ipants to likewise mobi- right for undocumented lize and have their friends immigrants. The U.S. and family speak up at Immigration and Customs Wyden’s open town halls Enforcement — ICE — in Oregon. She said that too often tramples on due kind of action moves the process when it rounds conversation forward. The Rev. Juli Reinholz up people for deportation, they said, and that’s a con- of Pioneer United Method- ist Church of Walla Walla stitutional violation. Scholar added being in was on hand. She said the U.S. illegally is a civil these forums are worth violation, not a criminal attending for the educa- tional benefit alone. one. Rojas at the end of the More than 30 locals — some white, most Latino Walla Walla coalition’s — gathered for the three- presentation said people hour forum at the St. from all walks of life make John’s Episcopal Church. up the United States, and Jesse Roa with the Tri-Cit- whether someone arrived ies Immigrant Coalition yesterday or has had fam- organized the event. He ily here for hundreds of said he grew up in Herm- years or more, the country iston, where the immi- is great already. grant community can feel People need to know isolated and plenty of its that, he said. By PHIL WRIGHT STAFF WRITER Mark Gomolski enters council race would push for more public involvement with city deci- sions. He said he also had Mark Gomolski has concerns about EOTEC he added his name to the list wanted to address. of candidates for Hermis- Currently the school ton City Council. board and city council Gomolski, a current both meet on the second school board member for and fourth Monday of the the Hermiston School Dis- month, forcing people to trict, is running for Ward I. choose between the two Councilor Lori Davis, who meetings. currently holds the seat, Gomolski said if elected has not announced and serving in yet whether she will both capacities he run again. thought it would Gomolski ran for be a good oppor- tunity for one an at-large seat on body or the other the council in 2015 to change their against a field of four meeting dates so incumbents but did Mark that citizens could not win. Gomolski He said he was attend both if they troubled by the wanted. “non-inclusion of resi- “I think a lot of people dents” he was seeing as the would like to go to both,” city council made major he said. decisions like taking sole Gomolski said he was ownership of the Eastern also troubled by youth sui- Oregon Trade and Event cides in the community and would like to see both Center. “I dislike decisions the school district and the being made without public city tackle that issue. input until after the deed is The deadline to file done,” he said. for city council is 5 p.m. He said if elected he March 6. By JADE MCDOWELL STAFF WRITER STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS A Life Flight helicopter takes off from the scene of a single-vehicle rollover on the westbound Interstate 82 off-ramp at the interchange with Interstate 84 on Thursday west of Hermiston. Two hospitalized after crash By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN STAFF WRITER Nine of the 11 people injured in a crash Thursday afternoon near Hermiston have been released from the hospital, according to Good Shepherd Medical Center and the church some of the victims attend. The van was carrying members of a Lewiston youth group and crashed while traveling toward Port- land on Interstate 82. The driver, Largent Reeb, 28, attempted to cross several lanes of traffic in order to merge onto Interstate 84 and lost control of the 2000 Ford Econoline, which slid off the north shoulder of the exit ramp and rolled. By JADE MCDOWELL STAFF WRITER The Oregon National Guard has its portion of the former Umatilla Chemical Depot, but nobody knows when the rest of the prop- erty will be transferred to local control for economic development. Frustration was palpa- ble on a meeting via confer- ence call between members of the Columbia Develop- ment Authority board (made up of representatives from Umatilla County, Morrow County, the Port of Umatilla, Port of Morrow and Confed- erated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation) as they discussed additional road- blocks that have come up. “It just continues to be one lost opportunity after another,” board member Kim Puzey said, referring to interested developers who have gone elsewhere due to the delays. The U.S. Army’s Base Realignment and Clo- sure office was at one point expected to transfer land to the CDA for industrial and agricultural development and a wildlife preserve in 2013, but that deadline has Physiciats Mutual Itsuratce Compaty A less expetsive way to help get the dettal care you deserve $1 a day* Keep your own dentist! NO netlorks to lorry about NO annual or lifetime cap o n the cash benefi ts were taken to Good Shep- herd Medical Center, Herm- iston, and two were flown to Kadlec Regional Medical Center, Richland. Other than Reeb, the pas- sengers ranged from ages 14 to 20. An employee of River City Church in Lewiston said in a Facebook mes- sage to the Herald on Friday that one of the victims was still in the ICU recovering from surgery, but said that in the interest of their mem- bers’ privacy, they could not comment further on the condition of those injured. Nick Bejarano of Good Shepherd said that sev- eral of the youth, as well as Reeb, were brought to the emergency room with varying degrees of inju- ries. While they were being treated, he said, Good Shep- herd staff set up a private space for families of the passengers, as well as pas- sengers who did not have major injuries. Reeb, who did not return a request for comment, posted on Facebook thank- ing Good Shepherd employ- ees for their care. “The staff and every- one here at Good Shep- herd not only were so amaz- ing at their jobs, they set up a whole conference room with food and drinks for all the families and other youth not injured and took such good care of our group med- ically but also beyond that,” Reeb wrote. Tensions rise as new delays expected on depot transfer DENTAL Itsuratce If you’re over 50, you can get coverage for about Reeb was cited by Ore- gon State Police for failure to drive within a lane. Oregon State Police Sgt. Seth Cooney said around 1 p.m., the van was travel- ing eastbound on I-82, and was approaching I-84. “They were in the fast lane, but they needed to go westbound, so the driver attempted to swerve from the fast lane to make the exit. He lost control of the van, slid off the north shoul- der of the exit ramp, and rolled one and a half revolu- tions,” Cooney said. 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Certificate C250A (ID: C250E; PA: C250Q); Insurance Policy P150(GA: P150GA; NY: P150NY; OK: P150OK; TN: P150TN) 6096C MB16-NM001Gc since moved several times, most recently to November 2018. During Tuesday’s meet- ing, however, CDA direc- tor Greg Smith reported that the Environmental Protec- tion Agency had changed its mind and decided to require a Class A permit for hazard- ous waste disposal under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Smith said he thought that process would likely create a four to seven month delay. Tom Lederle of the Army’s BRAC office was more optimistic, saying he thought they could work on the RCRA permit at the same time as other outstand- ing issues with the trans- fer and it would not create a long delay. “We were very surprised when the EPA made this demand at the 11th and a half hour,” he said. Michele Lanigan, also of BRAC, said they had made a plan for permits with the state three years ago and the EPA had been on board with it, but a recent personnel change in the EPA’s Region 10 had seemed to prompt the change in direction. Lederle said sometimes people look at something like the depot transfer and decide it’s so important it needs more public process. “There’s been a public process for 29 years. Don’t tell me it needs more,” Gary Neal replied. “How many more years does it need?” “Probably 100 years, at the rate we’re going,” some- one on the call remarked. Smith said he planned to take a trip to Washington, D.C. on March 11 to lobby on behalf of the CDA, and he would work to find the “highest person in the EPA I can get” to meet with and ask for help in speeding along the process. The CDA has also been facing delays over the pro- grammatic agreement, which deals with cultural and historical preservation. The former depot contains areas of historical signifi- cance, such as a piece of the Oregon Trail, as well as areas of religious and cultural sig- nificance to the tribes. Smith said he was trying to find a “fair and reasonable” way to balance those concerns with maintaining the CDA’s abil- ity to develop portions of the depot for industrial use as agreed upon years ago. “I think there is a com- promise that can be reached, but it really requires every- one to come to the middle,” he said. “If we dig in our heels I think we’re going to come to an impasse.” The Oregon Military Department’s 7,500 acre portion of the 19,728-acre depot was transferred to the department in Novem- ber for creation of an Ore- gon National Guard training facility, but the remainder of the land is still under the Army until the transfer to the CDA takes place. 5 Theater Cineplex Check wildhorseresort.com for showtimes $5 Matinee Classics Every Wednesday Credit & Debit Cards accepted Cineplex gift cards available 541-966-1850 Pendleton, OR I-84 - Exit 216 LIVING WELL WITH CHRONIC CONDITIONS Diagnosed with a chronic condition such as high blood pressure, heart disease, arthritis, depression, or another long-term health condition? Make a step- by-step plan to improve your health...and your life. Six FREE classes, for patients, caregivers/support person or both. Call for upcoming dates & times Must pre-register, call 541-667-3509 Information or to register call (541) 667-3509 or email healthinfo@gshealth.org www.gshealth.org Interested in a Medical career? Need funds to complete your training? Good Shepherd Com munity Health Foundation medical scholarship applications are now being accepted from qualified local students through February 28th. The Foundation is again pleased to partner with Tualatin Imaging to offer additional scholarships for students who have expressed interest in pursuing a diagnostic imaging career Please call 541-667-3419 for further information Applications can be accessed online at www.gshealth.org/foundation/scholarships
