WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2018
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
LOCAL
Hermiston School
Board selects a
new member
Brent Pitney has
two children at
Hermiston High
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE MCDOWELL
Hermiston Senior Center volunteers Gary Riesland, left, Virginia Beebe, center, and Darlene Riesland, right, helped a Meals
on Wheels patron get help after she spent three days on the floor unable to move after a fall.
Senior center volunteers
save woman after fall
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
A Hermiston woman might owe
her life to Meals on Wheels.
When volunteer Gary Riesland
knocked on Glenda Wilcox’s door
a couple of weeks ago to deliver a
meal, he heard her shouting for some-
one to call her daughter.
He did, and Pam Lincoln arrived
to find that her mother had fallen and
been lying on her living room floor,
unable to move, for more than 72
hours.
“He truly did save Mom, because
she couldn’t have held out much lon-
ger,” Lincoln said, adding that her
mom looked “like a zombie” when
she found her.
Wilcox was severely dehydrated
and spent three days in the inten-
sive care unit before being moved to
another unit at Good Shepherd Medi-
cal Center for additional care.
Lincoln said she had visited her
mom that Friday and Wilcox fell on
Saturday night.
Lincoln hadn’t been planning
on stopping by again until the next
Thursday, but Reisland was there
Tuesday afternoon.
Riesland said he and his wife Dar-
lene have been delivering meals for
the Hermiston Senior Center for more
than 30 years.
They started when his mother,
who took her meals at the senior cen-
ter at the time, asked them to consider
helping out with delivering meals to
homebound seniors who can’t make it
to the center.
He said they enjoy chatting with
people who don’t get many visitors
as they drop off meals, and in some
cases even return on their own time
to visit with people or help them out
with small things around the house.
During his time delivering meals,
Riesland said he has found people
who have fallen, and in some cases
after he has alerted family or the
police that someone didn’t answer
the door, the person has been found
deceased. He has also reported cases
of elder abuse that have led to law
enforcement getting a senior out of a
bad situation.
In the most recent case, Wilcox
didn’t come to the door as usual but
he could hear her yelling from the
living room. She didn’t answer his
questions but repeated over and over
again, “Call Pam!”
“I knew something was wrong,” he
said.
The Rieslands returned to the
senior center and told vice president
Virginia Beebe, who happens to be
Wilcox’s cousin. She got in touch
with Lincoln, who rushed over to find
her mother on the floor, weak and dis-
oriented, and called an ambulance.
Beebe said volunteers will always
follow up with emergency con-
tacts if someone doesn’t answer the
door when they were supposed to be
home. It’s a service that can be just
as important as the food provided on
Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Lincoln said she is grateful that
someone besides her is helping keep
an eye on her mom after Lincoln’s
father died about two months ago.
“It’s more than just delivering
meals, they deliver friendship and
safety,” she said.
She said their family will be com-
ing up with better protocols to make
sure her mother stays safe while main-
taining her independence, and urged
other families with elderly members
living alone to discuss medical alert
bracelets, daily phone check-ins or
other safety precautions in case of a
medical emergency.
The Hermiston School
Board selected a new board
member at its Monday night
meeting.
Brent Pitney was sworn
in, and immediately joined
the rest of the board for an
executive session to dis-
cuss Superintendent Tricia
Mooney’s contract.
Pitney was selected from
a pool of five candidates, all
of whom applied for the spot
vacated last month by long-
time board member Jason
Middleton. Pitney, a lifelong
Hermiston resident, works
for Knerr Construction and
has two children at Hermis-
ton High School.
He said he was excited
to be selected, and decided
to apply for the position
because he wanted to give
back.
“I’ve been in Hermiston
41 years, and I have kids in
the system,” he said. “I want
to be part of the school and
help out.”
He said he would fill
whatever role the board
needed him to, but said he
hopes especially to be an
asset when it comes to pass-
ing the next school bond.
At his interview last
month, Pitney answered
several questions from the
board, stating that he did
not know the exact role and
responsibilities of a school
board member in the com-
munity, but would learn if
he was appointed.
Each board member is
“adopted” by one of the dis-
trict’s schools, and attends
events there throughout the
year. Pitney said he will
likely be taking over that
role for Highland Hills Ele-
mentary School.
“I already do that with
work,” he said. “I’ll try to be
positive, be a voice.”
Board members voted
5-1 to appoint Pitney to the
seat, with only board mem-
ber Mark Gomolski vot-
ing against. Gomolski nom-
inated Mike Todryk for
the spot. Three others also
applied for the position: Kris
Lerten, Mark Millard and
Trish Rossell.
The board also voted
unanimously against an
amendment to a state school
board bylaw, which would
preserve one voting posi-
tion on the OSBA board of
directors and legislative pol-
icy committee for a mem-
ber of the OSBA Members
of Color Caucus. The reso-
lution, which will be voted
on by school boards that are
members of OSBA, and uses
a weighted system based on
student enrollment, stated
that the Members of Color
Caucus has been supported
by the OSBA board of direc-
tors since 2016, and has
elected officers, regional and
at-large representatives, and
bylaws.
Board
vice-chairman
Josh Goller made a state-
ment about the proposed
amendment.
“I don’t believe this is
appropriate,” he said. “I
believe it is divisive.”
He said he felt it set an
unteneble precendent for
OSBA, and that it may
encourage other groups to
distinguish themselves and
ask for specialized treat-
ment. He said that anyone
has the opportunity to run
for a position on the school
board, regardless of race.
The motion failed 6-0.
New traffic signals go live
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE MCDOWELL
Hermiston man dies in motorcycle crash
HERMISTON HERALD
A Hermiston man died in a motor-
cycle crash early Thursday morning.
Oregon State Police Sgt. Seth
Cooney said the driver was Michael
James Wilson, 62, of Hermiston.
Although there were no witnesses,
Cooney said officers think around
1:55 a.m., Wilson drifted off the road-
way and drove into a ditch where he
struck a culvert and was ejected from
the motorcycle.
Wilson was traveling southbound
on Highway 207 when the wreck hap-
pened at Milepost 19, near Butter-
creek Road.
Cooney said that area is known
for being a high-traffic area for deer
crossing, and there have been other
crashes there due to deer.
Cooney said about 10 minutes after
the crash another driver came by and
saw a headlight on in a nearby field
from the motorcycle, but it took a bit
longer to locate Wilson.
Wilson died at the scene. Oregon
State Police received help from Mor-
row County Sheriff’s Office, Uma-
tilla County Sheriff’s Office, Ione and
Boardman fire departments, Uma-
tilla County Fire District and Oregon
Department of Transportation.
MCKAY CREEK ESTATES
Are you
worried
about
falling?
McKay Creek Estates
1601 Southgate Pl. • Pendleton, OR 97801
www.PrestigeCare.com
Hermiston drivers are
getting used to two new sets
of traffic signals that went
live last week.
The Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation has
installed new sets of lights
at the intersection of Elm
Avenue and 11th Street, and
Orchard Avenue and 11th
Street. As part of the project,
the department also added
a new left turn lane on 11th
Street into Good Shepherd
Medical Center’s parking lot
and made improvements to
pedestrian crossings.
The
approximately
$1.6 million project was
completed in partnership
with ODOT, Good Shepherd
Health Care System and the
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If you knew that there are several simple steps you can take to reduce your
risk of falling, would you do it? You can make a difference. Stay independent
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A car moves through the intersection of Elm Avenue and 11th
Street in Hermiston.
Pendleton, OR I-84 - Exit 216
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Free Signs Available
When the copy was submitted for today’s ad there was no way of knowing the election
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