MCNARY HEIGHTS MUSTANGS ENJOY BRAND NEW GYM » PAGE A15
WedneSdAy, JAnuAry 16, 2019
HermistonHerald.com
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INSIDE
DETOUR
Construction will close part
of South First Street during
February and March.
PAGE A3
BRING HOME THE BACON
MLK DAY
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
The Hermiston Cultural
Awareness Club is adding
new elements to this year’s
celebration of the work of
Martin Luther King Jr.
PAGE A4
WRESTLING
Hermiston picks up three
titles at the Farm City
Invite.
PAGE A10
BY THE WAY
Walden cancels
town halls
Rep. Greg Walden
won’t be holding town
halls in Umatilla and Mor-
row counties this month
after all.
Walden announced a
town hall schedule last
week that included stops
in Pendleton and Board-
man on Jan. 23. But Tues-
day afternoon his office
released an updated sched-
ule ending on Jan. 21.
According to the release,
changes to the schedule for
the House of Represen-
tatives, announced today
by Democratic leadership,
mean Walden will need
to be back in Washington,
D.C. by Jan. 22.
Canceled town halls
will be rescheduled at a
later date.
• • •
Blue Mountain Com-
munity College‘s search
for a new president is one
step closer to fruition. The
search committee com-
posed of employees, stu-
dents, Board of Education
members and community
residents winnowed a pool
of 44 applicants to nine
semifinalists.
The search committee
will interview applicants
by videoconference Jan.
17 and 18. The field will be
trimmed to several final-
ists to come to BMCC for
additional in-person inter-
views and to meet with
faculty, staff and students.
Community members will
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Kara Frazier performs with her partner Trevor, of the Utah Ballroom Dance Company, during Dancing with the
Hermiston Stars on Saturday at Hermiston High School.
Staff photo by
Kathy Aney
Jake Bacon and his
partner Katya, of
the Utah Ballroom
Dance Company,
reacts after he was
announced as the
winner of Dancing
with the Hermiston
Stars on Saturday
at Hermiston High
School.
See BTW, Page A2
There was an extra sparkle
to Highland Hills Elementary
School on Monday.
It came from the coveted mir-
ror-ball trophy Principal Jake
Bacon won over the weekend,
dancing his way to the top at the
annual Dancing With the Herm-
iston Stars event.
“There were several things
that were really cool about it,
but the best part was watching
the kids get excited about it,” he
said. “That was really fun.”
Saturday night featured seven
local “stars” paired with profes-
sional dancers from the Utah
Ballroom Dance Company.
Each local dancer was dancing
for a nonprofit of their choice
(Bacon’s was the Kiwanis
Club), and audience members
could supplement the judges’
scores by dropping money in
the jar of their favorite danc-
er’s charity during the intermis-
sion. The event, which raised
close to $10,000, was sponsored
by the Hermiston Education
Foundation.
Bacon took on the persona
of hip hop recording artist MC
Hammer — iconic pants and all
— and danced a ballroom hip
hop routine to Hammer’s hit
song “U Can’t Touch This.”
There was a panel of judges,
but since audience votes counted
for most of the score, Bacon
credits his students’ cheerlead-
ing with the win.
“They were there in force,
yelling and screaming,” he said.
“We took a lot of selfies.”
The competition was fierce
— Bacon beat out Hermiston
High School drama teacher Beth
Anderson by only four votes.
Anderson, in keeping with the
night’s theme of “music leg-
ends,” hit the stage in a blonde
wig (and some other recogniz-
able features) to channel Dolly
Parton, dancing the quickstep to
“9 to 5.”
She was dancing for the
Hermiston Education Foun-
dation, which gives classroom
grants to enhance student learn-
ing through extra field trips,
technology or projects. Ander-
son also used the platform to put
in a plug for her students’ perfor-
mance of Wizard of Oz, planned
for Feb. 1,2,8 and 9.
She said she hadn’t expected
to be one of the finalists.
“I’m shocked because there
were much better dancers out
there,” she said.
The highest judges’ score of
See DANCE, Page A16
Hermiston School District concussion case moved to federal court
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
A
8
08805 93294
2
lawsuit against the Hermiston School
District seeking $38.9 million alleging
failure to protect a student from concus-
sion harm has been moved to federal
court, and documents from the school district’s
side are denying major portions of the family’s
claims.
A suit filed by a Hermiston family on behalf
of their son in September will now be heard by
the U.S. District Court, moved up from the state
level. Dawna and Todd Martin allege that their
son, Connor, was allowed to play football after
he had already had a concussion while on the
field, and claim that district and athletic staff did
not take proper measures to inform them, or to
make sure their son was physically and medically
sound before returning to the field. The family
has sued the district for medical costs and emo-
tional distress.
The district’s response lists eight defenses,
including contributory negligence — stating that
the “plaintiff’s damages were caused in whole or
in part by his own intentional acts, or the negli-
gence (sic) of intentional acts of other parties, or
non-parties.”
Roy Blaine, the trial court administrator for
the Umatilla County Courthouse, said there are
usually only a few reasons that a case will be
removed from state court to federal court. In this
case, he said, one party decided that the issue at
hand was related to a constitutional right, and as
such should be dealt with in federal court.
“The very simple answer is that they (the fam-
ily) argue that the individual has a right to be free
from bodily harm, under the 14th Amendment,”
Blaine said. “So the school district moved to
have the case in federal court rather than state
court.”
The Hermiston School District referred ques-
tions about the suit to its lawyers, who did not
respond to request for comment, and neither the
Martin family nor their lawyers responded to
requests. But a federal court document respond-
ing to the original lawsuit details the district’s
admissions or denials of the family’s specific
claims.
In their response to the suit, the district admit-
ted to basic facts, such as the titles of involved
staff and administrators, Martin’s age and sta-
tus as a student and football player at Hermiston
High School during the time the alleged incidents
took place.
But they denied the bulk of the claims sur-
rounding the first football game that the family
says led to Martin’s injury. They admit that he
participated in a football game between Hermis-
ton High School and Mountain View High School
on Sept. 15, 2016, but deny that he collided hel-
met-to-helmet with another player and claims
about Martin’s encounters with school trainers
the following day.
See CONCUSSION, Page A16