NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2020
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Raices offers grants for DACA applicants
HERMISTON HERALD
A local organization is
offering grants for people
who would otherwise strug-
gle to pay the fee to renew
their Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
status.
Raices, a grassroots orga-
nization in Hermiston that
advocates for the needs of
the Latino community, held
a fundraiser at the Union
Club on Saturday with 220
participants. Raices member
Roy Barron said the event
was the organization’s larg-
est yet, raising more than
$2,000.
DACA does not provide
a path to citizenship, but it
does protect undocumented
immigrants who meet cer-
tain criteria from deporta-
tion. DACA recipients must
have been born after 1981,
been brought to the coun-
try before their 16th birth-
day, have lived in the United
States continuously since
June 15, 2007, be a current
high school student or high
school graduate and not
have any felonies or seri-
ous misdemeanors on their
record.
“I feel like this is one of
the few things most Ameri-
cans can get behind, because
these are people who were
brought here through no
fault of their own, and there
are very stringent require-
ments,” Barron said of
DACA.
Recipients must apply
for a renewal every two
years. Currently, the total
fee for renewal is $495, but
the Trump administration
announced last fall that they
intend to raise it to $765 in
2020.
Barron said that much
money can be a signifi cant
fi nancial hardship. A “schol-
arship,” or grant, from
Raices can help cover the
cost.
The application is posted
on the Raices Facebook
page at www.facebook.com/
roots541.
Applicants must be a
DACA recipient living in
Umatilla or Morrow coun-
ties. The deadline to apply
is Jan. 15 and recipients
will be announced on Jan.
31.
Anyone who wishes
to donate to the cause can
send money to @raices541
via the Venmo app or
$raices541 via Cash App.
For more information, email
raices541@gmail.com.
Hermiston teen killed in car crash
remembered fondly by family, friends
ist, according to his family.
He kept his clothes immacu-
lately clean, and got his hair
cut every two weeks. He had
strong moral convictions,
and they came to light at a
young age.
“If people were going to
do something he felt wasn’t
right, he just would not do
it,” Shannon said. “It’s hard
to be that way, and he stuck
to it.”
One time in school, his
classmates teased their sub-
stitute teacher, according
to Shannon. Brett would
have none of it. Of his own
accord, he wrote an apology
to the teacher on behalf of
the whole class.
“He struggled to fi nd
friends with as much con-
viction as him,” Maddie
said. “His moral compass
was dead-on.”
His grandmother, Jeanne
Jewett, an account executive
at the Hermiston Herald,
said he often seemed beyond
his years.
“He wanted the best for
his mother and sister,” she
said. “He was very much the
man of the family.”
And — being as compet-
itive as he was — his fam-
ily was impressed when he
at long last accepted defeat
during the fi nal Monop-
oly game he shared with his
mother and sister.
On Monday, his father,
Brian Jewett, a trooper with
the Oregon State Police, said
his son had a way of winning
over people’s hearts easily.
“He was happy-go-lucky
but set on his ways, too,” he
said.
Brian added he was
thankful he got to see Brett
right before his passing.
Maddie and her brother
were returning from a visit
with their father in Ione
before the crash.
“Apparently, God needed
him now. He was taken at
such a young age,” he said.
“I was looking forward to
his future.”
A celebration of life ser-
vice will be held at 7 p.m.
Thursday at New Hope Com-
munity Church in Hermiston.
By JESSICA POLLARD
STAFF WRITER
A Hermiston teenager
who died in a car crash last
week was a star student, a
lover of debates and one of
Lana Del Rey’s biggest fans.
Brett Jewett, 16, lost his
life on Jan. 1 in a fatal crash
on Highway 207. But the
stories that people who knew
him have to share about
their beloved son, brother
and friend are so vivid, his
authentic demeanor lives on.
According to his sister,
Maddie, 18, he just couldn’t
wait to get a job after his
16th birthday in November.
He wasn’t the type to wait
around for life to happen,
she said.
“He was mad at him-
self that he hadn’t gotten
one yet,” she said. “He was
excited about customer ser-
vice because he can charm
the pants off people.”
It’s a quality that Brett
always seemed to have, his
mother, Shannon Jewett,
remembers.
When a teenaged fam-
ily friend came to visit from
Chicago, Brett was just an
elementary schooler when
he offered her a keepsake
— one of his mother’s nic-
est amethyst rings, plucked
from her jewelry box.
“He wanted to set up a
little dinner for her, even
though she was like 10 years
older,” Maddie said.
Friends, family and
Hermiston High School
Principal Tom Spoo remem-
ber Brett as someone who
tried hard in school.
“He was one of our top
students,” Spoo said.
Brett’s family said he
had many interests, but he
was drawn to video produc-
tion and digital art. His sis-
ter described him as a vid-
eo-game expert.
“We were wondering
if he’d do something with
that,” Shannon said. “But he
also loved to argue.”
He loved to debate poli-
tics with Maddie.
At Hermiston High
School, where Brett was a
Contributed photo
Brett Jewett sips an iced
mocha, a drink that family
members say he particularly
enjoyed, at the Union Club in
Hermiston recently. Jewett,
a sophomore at Hermiston
High School, was killed in a
two-vehicle car crash on Jan.
1 along Highway 207 outside
of Echo.
sophomore, a team of psy-
chologists and other men-
tal health professionals pro-
vided student support on
Monday. It was the fi rst day
back from winter break,
and fi ve days after Brett’s
untimely death.
Administrators said that
substitute teachers were on
call all day, in case any edu-
cators needed to step out
of their classrooms to pro-
cess tragedy. Kaitlyn Cur-
tis, a 16-year-old junior at
the high school, befriended
Brett when he fi rst moved to
Hermiston from Heppner in
elementary school. The pair
loved participating in local
community theater together.
And although that was years
ago, the friendship stuck.
“We were, in a way, each
other’s rock,” she said.
Harley Pennington, 18,
is friends with Maddie, and
said she considered Brett her
best friend.
“Many nights, we would
stay up until 4 a.m. just play-
ing games and talking about
life for hours,” she said. “I
could tell him anything and
he would accept me no mat-
ter what.”
Brett was a perfection-
Contributed photo by Raices
Board members of Raices pose for a photo at the organization’s DACA fundraiser at the Union
Club on Dec. 28.
Umatilla County adds
sheriff’s patrol deputy
By ALEX CASTLE
STAFF WRITER
The Umatilla County
Board of Commissioners
authorized adding another
deputy position to the sher-
iff’s offi ce Thursday morn-
ing, giving the county its
18th patrol deputy on staff.
The
authorization
moves a deputy who had
previously been contracted
from the Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Offi ce to serve
in the county’s community
corrections division back
to the UCSO.
While the deputy had
also requested a transfer
back to the sheriff’s offi ce,
Commissioner
George
Murdock said, the commu-
nity corrections division
lacks the state funding to
continue its contract.
The move also con-
tinues the county’s com-
mitment to expanding its
patrol force, which has
remained a priority since
a public safety levy was
voted down in 2013.
Murdock
said
the
county only had seven
deputies on staff at the
time and public comments
and polling indicated it
was the highest priority
for taxpayers. The levy
would have added 18 dep-
uties to the county in one
fell swoop and was a sur-
prise when voters rejected
it resoundingly.
Entering 2020, Mur-
dock highlighted the need
to continue the county’s
criminal division expan-
sion as something he hoped
to accomplish.
“We’ve made a lot of
headway over the years,”
he said in an interview on
Monday. “Our polling data
and conversations with
the public show that pub-
lic safety remains a high
priority.”
Later during Thursday’s
meeting, the commis-
sioners reappointed Rob-
ert Wolfe to the Umatilla
County Fair Board and
fi lled the board’s upcom-
ing vacancy by appoint-
ing Michael Engelbrecht
as the board-elect.
“He was primarily
selected because of his
experience,” said Com-
missioner Bill Elfering,
who was a part of the inter-
view process for candi-
dates. “He was very famil-
iar with the board duties
and has interacted with the
board in the past.”
Engelbrecht works at
Barrett Business Services
Inc. (BBSI) in Hermiston
and has volunteered and
contributed to the fair in
previous years, according
to Elfering.
Engelbrecht will fi ll the
seat vacated by Stephen
Anderson, who’s not eli-
gible for reappointment
when his term concludes
at the end of 2020.
As the fi rst board meet-
ing of the new year, Thurs-
day also marked the offi -
cial
appointment
of
Commissioner John Sha-
fer as the new county
chairman, while Mur-
dock’s role reverts to vice
chairman.
The change mostly
means Shafer becomes the
board of commissioners’
spokesman, or the “voice
of the county” as he’s
put it, and he’ll lead the
board’s meetings. Mur-
dock, who has held the
role for several years, said
the chairman takes the lead
on overseeing much of
the day-to-day operations
because the county doesn’t
have a manager.
IMAC ANNUAL MEETING and
SPAGHETTI DINNER
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Saturday, January 11, 2020
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and senior meal site on Mondays.
Bank of Eastern Oregon
new
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JANUARY 9TH • 5:30-7:00 PM
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Sat: 8-12
Emergency Service
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Hermiston
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