WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2018
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
LOCAL
Hermiston will
hold forum for
superintendent
months.
Mooney was selected as
interim superintendent after
the board interviewed three
The Hermiston School candidates. She previously
District has not yet final- served as the district’s
ized a decision about how human resources director.
During the meeting,
they will fill the superin-
tendent role vacated last each board member stated
month.
how they’d like to
proceed with filling
At a meeting
the position. Five
on Sept. 10, board
of the six members
members said they
present said they
were leaning toward
were leaning toward
appointing acting
appointing Mooney,
superintendent Tri-
cia Mooney in the
and the absent board
role, but that they Tricia Mooney member,
Dave
would first hold
Smith, submitted
a community forum so a written statement saying
that Mooney could speak the same thing.
Board
member
to members of the pub-
lic about her vision for the Jason Middleton said
district and the work she’s he would like to see the
done so far.
search expanded to other
The board will host candidates.
“You’ve done a great
a meet-and-greet with
Mooney, at its upcom- job,” he said to Mooney.
ing work session on Sept. “While we get to see the
24 from 6 to 6:30 p.m. at great things (Mooney) has
Desert View Elementary done, a search is a way for
School, 1225 SW Ninth the community to see what
St., Hermiston. Mooney she has done and can do.
will discuss her background I think going through that
in education and with the process is a good thing for
Hermiston School District. the district.”
Board chair Karen Sher-
Students, staff, parents and
community members are man said a search would
invited to ask questions and cost the district about
$10,000.
provide feedback.
Most board members
Fred Maiocco, superin-
tendent of the Hermiston said they see the value in
School District for the past a broader search, but felt
10 years, submitted a letter appointing Mooney would
of resignation the last week maintain a sense of stability
of August, after informing in the district.
“I’ve been contacted by
the board that his military
duty had been extended several people, and the con-
until January 2020. When cern has been stability and
he left for military duty in accountability,” Sherman
July 2017, he told the board said. “They feel they can
he would return by January be stable with the current
administration.”
2019.
Fred Maiocco, a brig-
adier general with the
U.S. Army Reserves, is
currently serving as the
commander, 7th Mission
Support Command, a for-
ward-deployed, conse-
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By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE MCDOWELL
Sheriff Terry Rowan, left, explains his stance on Measure 105 during a Hispanic Advisory Committee meeting at Hermiston
City Hall Monday.
Rowan explains support of Measure 105
Sheriff tells Hispanic Advisory
Committee he wants to work more
closely with federal officials
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
After signing a letter of
support for repealing Ore-
gon’s sanctuary status, Uma-
tilla County Sheriff Terry
Rowan explained his views
on Measure 105 to Herm-
iston’s Hispanic Advisory
Committee on Monday.
Measure 105, which will
appear on November’s bal-
lot statewide, would repeal
an Oregon law on the books
since 1987 that forbids city,
county and state law enforce-
ment agencies from using
their resources for “detect-
ing or apprehending” people
whose only violation of the
law is being in the country
without documentation.
Rowan said he is not
interested in using the Uma-
tilla County Sheriff’s Office
to detain people based solely
on their immigration sta-
tus. But he told the audience
of about 30 people that he
believes repeal of Oregon’s
sanctuary law would allow
law enforcement to commu-
nicate and coordinate with
federal immigration officials
about dangerous criminals
who commit crimes such as
murder or rape.
“I’m not talking about
someone here without the
right papers,” he said. “If
folks are coming here to
make a better life for them-
selves I welcome them with
open arms. It’s those people
who are coming here with
criminal intentions, that I’m
focused on.”
Rowan said over the years
lawsuits and court rulings
relating to the 1987 sanctu-
ary law have restricted law
enforcement beyond what
the original law intended.
For example, he said, when
an undocumented immi-
grant committed a violent
crime, the jail or prison used
to let immigration officials
know when the inmate was
being released so that they
could pick the person up
and start deportation pro-
ceedings immediately. That
doesn’t happen anymore, he
said, because law enforce-
ment agencies live in fear
of large civil penalties that
some agencies have experi-
enced in the past when coop-
erating with Immigration
and Customs Enforcement.
He said he had no inten-
tion of sending deputies to
help with ICE raids, or ask-
ing victims about their immi-
gration status or reporting
hard working people who
are obeying the law other
than their documentation.
But audience members at
the Hispanic Advisory Com-
mittee meeting told Rowan
that even if he felt that way,
he couldn’t guarantee other
sheriffs and police chiefs
wouldn’t try to find other-
wise law-abiding undocu-
mented immigrants and get
them deported.
“How are you sure oth-
ers won’t do that if passed,
even if you do not?” Brenda
Flores asked.
She said the measure is
backed by Oregonians for
Immigration Reform, which
was labeled a hate group by
the Southern Poverty Law
Center for efforts to demon-
ize immigrants and stoke
fear of immigration.
She and other Latino
audience members said they
worried that Measure 105
would lead to racial pro-
filing — that they could
be stopped or detained by
police on suspicion of being
in the country illegally
based on what they looked
like. They pointed out that
the catalyst for the law in
the first place was an inci-
dent in which police officers
approached U.S. citizens of
Latino descent in a restau-
rant and began interrogating
them about their legal status.
Rowan said there are
“very robust” laws against
profiling on the books that
would still exist if Mea-
sure 105 passed. The state is
requiring large law enforce-
ment agencies to start sub-
mitting their “stop data”
this year and smaller agen-
cies next year for indepen-
dent analysis by a third party
looking for patterns of racial
profiling. He said his door is
always open if anyone has a
complaint.
Virginia Rome Garcia
said Rowan spoke of not
going after people whose
only crime was being in the
country illegally, but the
same people who support
Measure 105 already got a
referendum passed to not
allow undocumented immi-
grants to receive driver’s
licenses or car insurance.
She asked what Rowan
planned to do about undoc-
umented immigrants who
drove to work without a
license.
Rowan said that was con-
sidered an infraction, not a
crime, in Oregon. He said
he would support something
that said local law enforce-
ment shouldn’t contact ICE
unless an incident rose to
a certain level of misde-
meanor. When asked how
many times in a year he was
seeing undocumented immi-
grants committing serious
crimes that he wanted to
work with ICE on, he said in
the past year he had proba-
bly seen four cases.
Roy Barron, Hermiston’s
newest city councilor, said
he respected Rowan’s opin-
ion but personally believed
that if Measure 105 passes it
will create more fear of law
enforcement in the Latino
community and that there
could be unintended con-
sequences beyond Row-
an’s desire to communicate
with ICE about dangerous
criminals.
“It just leaves way too
much gray area that I’m not
comfortable with,” he said.
Kit Morgan and Rev.
Charlotte Wells of Pendle-
ton’s Episcopal Church of
the Redeemer both spoke
out against Measure 105 at
Monday’s meeting. Mor-
gan said he agrees with crit-
ics of the measure who say it
will aid criminals by making
undocumented victims and
witnesses of crime afraid to
go to law enforcement.
Measure 105 is sponsored
by three Republican mem-
bers of Oregon’s legislature
— Greg Barreto, who rep-
resents Pendleton’s District
58; Sal Esquivel of Medford
and Mike Nearman of Inde-
pendence. Sixteen of Ore-
gon’s 36 sheriffs, including
Rowan and Morrow County
Sheriff Ken Matlack, signed
a letter of support.
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