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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (May 23, 2018)
A16 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2018 NEWS/FROM A1 Torres-Medrano named 2018 Citizen of the Year By JADE MCDOWELL STAFF WRITER Umatilla city councilor Selene Torres-Medrano was named 2018 Citizen of the Year at Umatilla’s Dis- tinguished Citizens Award Banquet. Torres-Medrano has been active in serving the community of Umatilla and recently organized a series of activities for May’s Mental Health Awareness Month. She works for Umatilla School District as an ELL Family Outreach Coordina- tor, and previously headed up the citizen commit- tee that helped the district pass a bond to make needed improvements to Umatilla schools. Those who nominated her described Torres-Me- drano as “driven to mak- ing changes in town” and someone who never quits. Business of the Year went to Banner Bank, which has a branch in Umatilla. Those who nom- inated the bank noted its staff go “the extra mile” in customer service and are always willing to help at community events around town. The George Alan Curtis Award is given each year to a Umatilla resident who contributes to remembering Umatilla’s past and enhanc- ing its future. This year two awards were given, to Salud Campos and Nanci Sandoval. Campos is the treasurer of the chamber of com- merce and was recognized during Friday’s banquet for her “ready smile and laugh, her welcoming personality and the manner in which she shares her love for her community.” Sandoval is Umatilla’s city recorder and has been instrumental in Landing Days, the 3 on 3 basketball tournament and the city’s bilingual newsletter. The Umatilla Police Department and Uma- tilla School District also presented awards at the banquet. From Umatilla School District, Sarah Blake, Josy Torres, Lizette Ames and Kyle Sipe were recog- nized as this year’s Bridge Builders. Blake is a teacher in the district’s bilingual kinder- garten classroom and helps with the after school pro- gram, parent classes, youth track and transportation. continued from Page A1 County commissioners Not all incumbents in Umatilla County retained their seat. County commis- sioner Larry Givens was unseated by John Shafer, Athena mayor and sheriff’s dispatch supervisor, while Rick Pullen forced a run- off with incumbent George Murdock. Shafer received 52.3 per- cent of the vote. Shafer, several members of his family and close sup- porters gathered for election night in the meeting room at the Pendleton Oxford Suites. Chatter and the clat- ter of dinnerware died down while Shafer and the crowd awaited the election results on the county’s website. About a quarter past 8 p.m., the cheers erupted. Beating an incum- bent with years of experi- ence is not easy, Shafer said as he thanked family and supporters. He also dabbed away tears, joking, “My eyes are sweating a little bit.” Of 45 voting precincts in Umatilla County, Sha- fer won 28 and Givens took 17. Support for Givens was heavier in Hermiston and Stanfield, while Shafer won much of the east side of the county. Both candidates are from northeastern part of the CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY NANCI SANDOVAL Umatilla Chamber of Commerce president Jeff Wheeler poses with Selene Torres-Medrano after she won the 2018 Citizen of the Year at the Umatilla Distiguished Citizens Award Banquet. BY THE WAY ELECTION November, when incumbent Lori Davis will face chal- lenger Mark Gomolski in a run-off. Gomolski gained the most votes of that race, at 36.2 percent, with Davis gaining 32.7 percent. Can- didate Jackie Linton came in third at 30.9 percent and will therefore be excluded from the run-off between the top two candidates in the gen- eral election. Gomolski, who is retired and moved to Hermiston in 2015 from Chicago, is currently a member of the Hermiston School District board, which meets on the second and fourth Monday of each month at the same time as the city council. He said if he wins it would be a good opportunity to ask the school board to vote to change its meeting nights, since he knows people in the community who would like to attend both. Gomolski said the fact that he and Linton com- bined got more votes than Davis showed that Hermis- ton residents were ready for a change at city hall. “It shows people are fed up with the current adminis- tration and who is in there,” he said. Incumbents Jackie Myers and Doug Smith retained their seats, however, despite having challengers. Myers received 55.6 percent of the vote running against Kyran Miller, while Smith received 61.7 percent of the vote. His challenger Michael Engel- brecht never did any cam- paigning and had pub- licly announced in April that he was dropping out of the race due to a change in employment. Torres works in the dis- trict office and is known for building bridges with the district’s Latino community and for sharing her artistic talent to brighten up district property. Ames works in the office of Umatilla High School and is a “familiar pres- ence at all things Uma- tilla,” cheering on students and taking photos that they can use to remember their extracurricular activities. Sipe has worked for Umatilla School district for 18 years, serving as a math and science teacher, basket- ball coach, football coach and robotics coach. Umatilla Police Depart- ment honored Thalia Leon as Reserve Officer of the Year and office admin- istrator Kylie Baker as Employee of the Year. BTW continued from Page A1 Jackie Myers Roy Barron county. Shafer said he plans to work for the sheriff’s office right up until he takes office in January 2019. And before dealing with mental health services and other issues he brought up on the cam- paign, Shafer said he plans to get the pulse of county government. “First I want to meet with all the county department heads,” he said. “I want to make sure we’re on the same page. ... I definitely want to hear from the department heads right out of the gate. He also said he wants to meet with incumbent com- missioners Bill Elfering and George Murdock, who is on his way to a November run- off against challenger Rick Pullen. Murdock was the top vote-getter with 45.4 per- cent in the race for county commissioner position 1, while Rick Pullen pulled 30.5 percent and Tom Bailor received 23.8 percent. That sends Murdock and Pullen, both of Pendleton, down the road to a runoff. Murdock said he is happy to be the front-runner with a sizable lead and look- ing forward to time off the campaign. Seeking political office, he said, tends to get in the way of work. Doug Smith research and 4-H programs. Mary Corp, director of the Columbia Basin Agricul- tural Research Center and OSU crop and soil science professor, said she was sur- prised by the results, espe- cially in Umatilla County. “Of course I’m disap- pointed it didn’t pass,” she said. “We talked to a lot of people, and had a lot of pos- itive responses from folks about how Extension has impacted their lives.” She said she understood that it’s always challeng- ing to pass a new tax, and that the sticking point here may have been convinc- ing people about the impor- tance of funding agricultural research. Circuit Court Rob Collins was elected to the open Circuit Court judge seat in the 6th Judicial District, beating Michael Breiling 60.6 percent to 39 percent. Both Pendleton attor- neys trekked to their respec- tive law offices Tuesday and attempted to focus on work rather than whether they would win. Collins spent the early evening in another role as Round-Up Director, host- ing Portland Rose Festival princesses in town to spend time with the Round-Up Court. After dinner at the Let ‘er Buck Room, Col- lins drove home to find a houseful of ecstatic people ready to celebrate with their candidate. “There was a lot of peo- ple cheering me, greeting me,” Collins said. “It was pretty cool. Everyone was quite jubilant.” The attorney quieted for a moment. “I feel excited that people have expressed that kind of confidence in me,” he said. “It’s really gratifying.” Collins will take the bench in January. He said he will spend the next seven months easing out of the law practice he shares with his brother, Michael Collins. Extension District The voters spoke clearly on election night: there will be no OSU Extension Ser- vice District for taxpay- ers in Umatilla and Morrow counties. Umatilla County voters declined to approve the new district by 63 percent to 37. The measures proposed a property tax increase of 33 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. The tax would have raised about $1.7 million per year in Umatilla County, and $700,000 in Morrow County, and the money was slated toward operations for the Extension Service like staffing and equipment costs, as well as agricultural EARTHLINK INTERNET Pendleton as soon as regu- latory hurdles are cleared. The Pendleton Treatment Center will offer metha- done and Suboxone — two medications used to com- bat addiction to prescrip- tion painkillers and heroin. The clinic won’t start receiving clients until the complicated regula- tory process wraps up and staff members are hired, an undertaking that could take a couple of months or more. Methadone clients will arrive at the clinic at 118 S.W. 20th in Pendleton each morning for their daily doses. As they prove their commitment and reliabil- ity, they earn the right to take doses home instead of having to return each day. Dispensing will take place between 5:30 and 9:30 a.m. • • • A number of students came up W-I-N-N-E-R-S during the InterMountain Education Service Dis- trict’s Spelling Contest. The Tuesday, May 8 event was held at Blue Mountain Community Col- lege in Pendleton. Partici- pants had already won divi- sion spelling contests at their schools. The local stu- dent winners include: MORROW COUNTY: Division 1 (first-fifth grades) third place: Dakota Seufert, Irrigon Elemen- tary School. Division 2 (sixth-eighth grades) sec- ond place: Jozen Byers, Irrigon Elementary School; third: Axel Paredes-Ro- sales, Windy River Ele- mentary School U M A T I L L A COUNTY: Division 1 (first-fifth grades) second place: Adriel Ibarra, Stan- field Elementary School; third: Eden Enkey, McNary Heights Elemen- tary School. Division 2 (sixth-eighth grades) sec- ond place: Luis Tejeda, Clara Brownell Middle School. “IMESD is pleased to congratulate all of our spelling contest winners and would like to thank all the students who devoted time to compete this year,” said Lizette Berryessa, IMESD spelling contest coordinator. • • • Echo recently announced winners of its “If I were Mayor Contest.” The top students entries included illustrations by Logan Kellan Smith, post- ers by Emma Pollick and Jacee James, and an essay by Lillian Wallis. Winners received cash OREGON CAPITAL INSIDER prizes, which was donated for the contest and promo- tional items from the city of Echo. • • • The Bonneville Power Administration presented former Umatilla resident James Burns with the Administrator’s Unsung Heroes award, one of its highest honors. The award was pre- sented at BPA’s 2018 Administrator’s Excellence Awards, an annual program that honors those who have made “exceptional” contri- butions to BPA or the utility industry. Over the course of his career Burns worked as an electrical engineer for BPA for 41 years, supporting safe and reliable operation of the power grid through- out the Pacific Northwest. “He spent countless hours deciphering massive amounts of data, recon- structing events and formu- lating corrective actions, all while mentoring others to perform this critical work,” according to a news release from BPA. ——— You can submit items for our weekly By The Way column by emailing your tips to editor@hermiston- herald.com or share them on social media using the hashtag #HHBTW. We’re investing in Salem coverage when other news organizations are cutting back. Get the inside scoop on state government and politics! CEU credits available! 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