HERMISTON
CELEBRATES
HOMECOMING
» PAGES A10, A15
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2019
HermistonHerald.com
$1.50
Staff photo by
Ben Lonergan
INSIDE
A GROWING PROBLEM
GUN CONTROL
Eastern Oregon politicians
and law enforcement
react to a proposed ballot
measure requiring secure
storage of all guns in
homes.
PAGE A14
BY THE WAY
City asking for
feedback on
parks projects
Hermiston
residents
have an opportunity to pro-
vide input for the parks and
recreation
department’s
master plan.
The plan currently
being drafted will guide
the department’s work for
years to come, prioritizing
spending and construction
on new parks and other
facilities.
The city has posted an
online survey, accessible
until Nov. 1. The survey,
which takes about 10 min-
utes, can be found at bit.
ly/hermistonparks_survey.
It asks residents for feed-
back on how happy they
are with each of Hermis-
ton’s current parks and rec-
reation facilities, then asks
them to prioritize other
potential projects such as
an indoor aquatic center,
new playground, ice skat-
ing rink or boat ramp.
The survey is anony-
mous, but people can sub-
mit their contact infor-
mation if they want a
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Harry Ramos, left, of Richland, Wash., serves lunch at The Salvation Army on Emigrant Avenue in Pendleton on Friday.
Umatilla County organizations are
taking aim at homelessness
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
f an earthquake toppled the homes
of 20,000 people tomorrow, Oregon
Community Foundation CEO Max
Williams suspects those people wouldn’t
be left to sleep under a bridge.
Schools and churches would be turned
into emergency shelters. FEMA would
show up with tents and RVs. Nonprofi ts
would send teams of workers to build new
homes.
I
See BTW, Page A2
When thousands of people are made
homeless through other circumstances —
job loss, addiction, no-cause eviction —
it’s a different story.
“People make choices, but that doesn’t
negate the fact that they’re people and
deserve to be treated humanely,” Williams
said.
OCF, a public charity with more than
$2 billion in assets, commissioned a study
by ECONorthwest earlier this year on the
root causes of homelessness in Oregon
and recommendations for reducing it.
A housing problem
Casual observers tend to think addic-
tion and mental illness cause most home-
lessness, because those populations tend to
be the most visible. But the EcoNorthwest
report cites a national study by economists
John Quigley and Steven Raphael that also
ties homelessness to housing costs. A 10%
increase in rent costs correlates to a 13.6%
increase in homelessness, they found.
The report also points to relatively low
homeless populations in states with high
addiction rates but low housing costs, such
as West Virginia.
“There’s a pretty clear relationship with
the cost of housing,” Williams said.
While the chronic, “unsheltered” home-
less are the most visible, more common
See Homeless, Page A16
Burke announces retirement from Good Shepherd
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
8
08805 93294
2
Dennis Burke announced Friday he
is retiring as CEO of Good Shepherd
Health Care System in 2020.
Burke said he doesn’t
know exactly what he will be
doing after, but he thinks he
“still has a few years of rele-
vancy left.”
“I don’t want to just sit on
the porch and rock,” he said.
Burke
Burke spent 31 years at the
helm of the Hermiston hospi-
tal, transforming it from a 250-employee
hospital to a 700-employee health care
system with services ranging from chi-
ropractors to urgent care. GSHCS chair
Steve Eldridge said Burke’s leadership
enabled Good Shepherd to “thrive.”
“We have experienced very signif-
icant growth under his direction and
improved quality of care,” he said in a
statement.
Eldridge said he helped put Good
Shepherd on the “political map” through
efforts with the state legislature and
testifying before Congressional
committees about rural healthcare.
Burke has served on many
boards and committees, including
the Oregon Association of Hos-
pitals and Health Systems board,
OAHHS Small and Rural Hospital
Committee, OAHHS Governance
Committee and the Political Action
Committee and the Critical Access
Hospital Leadership Committee of the
National Rural Health Association.
“His experience, expertise and pas-
sion for providing healthcare services
See Burke, Page A16
HH fi le photo
Good Shepherd Health Care System CEO Dennis Burke shares updates
during a community meeting at the Hermiston Community Center in
2018.