NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2020
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Hermiston board eyes enrollment drop
School board announces
vacancy on district’s
budget committee
By JESSICA POLLARD
STAFF WRITER
The Hermiston School
Board hit the ground run-
ning Monday evening in
commemorating 10 educa-
tors of the year, announc-
ing a budget committee
vacancy and taking a closer
look at a December’s drop
in enrollment this month.
The board recognized 10
educators of the 2019-2020
school year, one from each
school at the board meet-
ing. The educators will be
recognized— and one will
be awarded Educator of the
Year— during the Hermis-
ton Chamber of Commerce
Distinguished
Citizens
Banquet in February.
district to have seven board
members who are involved
in
our
community,”
Mooney said. “I can’t say
that enough, especially this
year.”
School board members
appointed former school
board member David Smith
to the Hermiston School
District Community Bud-
get Committee, which two
members recently resigned
from.
“His experience on the
board will be useful to us
on the budget committee,”
Mooney said.
Smith resigned from the
school board in August,
and at the time told the
Hermiston Herald that the
expansion of his business,
O So Kleen, left him with
little time to serve on the
board.
Smith will now serve
on the budget committee
“I’M FORTUNATE
TO HAVE AN
AMAZING TEAM.
I’M HUMBLED AND
HONORED.”
Tricia Mooney, Hermiston School District superintendent,
on being named Administrator of the Year for the district.
Technology
man-
ager Jeff Kelso and ath-
letic director Larry Usher
caught superintendent Tri-
cia Mooney by surprise
when they announced her
as Administrator of the
Year for the district.
Kelso said Mooney was
a “dynamic visionary”. The
pair applauded her for her
recent accomplishments,
including the successful
completion of her PhD and
her “nearly superhuman
work ethic.”
“I’m usually not at a loss
for words,” Mooney said.
“This isn’t what I thought
the outcome would be. I’m
fortunate to have an amaz-
ing team, I’m humbled and
honored.”
Mooney turned the
attention back to the meet-
ing, and issued a proclama-
tion declaring January to
be School Board Apprecia-
tion Month.
“We’re fortunate in our
through June 2022. A sin-
gle vacancy on the citi-
zen committee remains to
be fi lled. The term for the
position runs through June
2020.
According to an enroll-
ment report presented at
Monday’s board meet-
ing, district-wide enroll-
ment dropped 90 students
from November to Decem-
ber, leaving enrollment
at 70 students fewer than
December of last year.
Mooney said that 58 of
those 90 students’ families
informed the district prior
to winter break that they’d
be on extended vacations.
Oregon’s 10-day rule
requires schools to with-
draw students who are
gone for more than 10 con-
secutive days.
Mooney said that 38 of
those students are back,
and that the remainder of
the withdrawn students
included in and out-of-
state moves, as well as one
student enrolled in online
classes.
Mooney also presented
the board with a compli-
ance report, which showed
Hermiston School District
to be in total compliance
with Oregon standards for
primary and secondary
public schools.
The District 22 Stan-
dards encompass every-
thing from how sexual-
ity is taught in schools to
how the district reports P.E
data.
“It’s been pretty quiet,”
said Board Chairwoman
Karen Sherman on Mon-
day night. “But now we’re
up and running.”
The district ended the
meeting with an executive
session to discuss property
transactions.
Davis Amusement closes
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
A longtime provider of
carnival rides, concessions
and midway games for the
Umatilla County Fair closed
its doors at the beginning of
January.
Michael J. Davis, CEO of
Davis Amusement Cascadia,
confi rmed to the Hermiston
Herald in an email that the
company would not be run-
ning any carnivals in 2020.
“After 80 years and fi ve
generations of family busi-
ness, our company has
reached a point where we
are no longer able to over-
come the high costs of doing
business in today’s world,”
he said. “Like many other
family-owned
businesses
we have struggled in recent
years with the increases in
trucking, insurance, mini-
mum wage and labor.”
He said like many busi-
nesses, there was a ceiling
on how much they could
charge the public before
it became “counter-pro-
ductive” in driving busi-
ness away, and they had
reached a point where the
company’s revenues could
“no longer go as far as they
needed to.”
Angie McNalley, Uma-
tilla County Fair coordi-
nator, said in an email that
the fair had recently been
made aware of the news.
She said fortunately she and
fair board members were
in Roseburg for the Oregon
Fairs Association Conven-
tion last weekend, allow-
ing them to start prelimi-
Photo contributed by OSP
Police responded to a fatal crash in Morrow County on
Friday night.
Hermiston man
killed in fatal crash
on Highway 207
HH fi le photo
Workers unload parts of a carnival ride from a Davis Amusement Cascadia trailer during setup
for the Umatilla County Fair in August 2019.
nary discussions with other
carnival vendors who serve
Oregon.
“Davis Amusement Cas-
cadia holds the Umatilla
County Fair in high regard
and has offered to assist in
our recruitment efforts in
any way that they can,” she
said. “We value their input
given their extensive knowl-
edge of the carnival and fair
industries and are lucky to
have the ability to consult
with them during this pro-
cess. We foresee a smooth
carnival transition for the
2020 fair.”
Davis Amusement Cas-
cadia is sometimes confused
with Davis Shows North-
west, which provides the
rides in downtown Pend-
leton during the Pendleton
HH fi le photo
Miguel Rojas pushes a roller coaster car off of the starting
platform to allow for further construction of the Davis
Amusement Cascadia roller coaster during a setup day for the
Umatilla County Fair in August 2019.
Round-Up. Davis said that
Davis Shows Northwest is
run by other members of the
Davis family but is a com-
pletely separate company
and is “still running strong
and aggressively with no
changes in sight.”
Hermiston man gets four years
in prison in kidnapping case
kidnapped her in Pendle-
ton and kept her against her
A
Hermiston
man will in a Ford Windstar on
indicted in November after back roads between Herm-
police arrested him for kid- iston and Pendleton, threat-
napping will spend more ening her life when she
than four years in prison, attempted to escape.
according to court
After she did
documents.
escape, the Pendle-
Jeremy Jeppe-
ton Police Depart-
son, 42, whose last
ment located the
listed address is
vehicle in Pendle-
in Hermiston, was
ton on Nov. 18 and
arrested by Pendle-
arrested Jeppeson
ton police on Nov.
on a detention war-
Jeppeson
18, 2019, after a
rant issued by his
32-year-old Wash-
probation offi cer in
ington woman called for Hood River County.
help at the Short Stop gas
Jeppson
was
later
station, 32553 East Punkin indicted on eight crim-
Center Road, Hermiston.
inal charges, including
The woman reported that strangulation, menacing,
Jeppeson, her ex-boyfriend, fourth-degree assault, and
HERMISTON HERALD
Oregon Water Coalition (OWC) &
Northeast Oregon Water Association (NOWA)
ANNUAL MEETING
Tuesday, January 21 • 8:15am
Hermiston Agricultural Research
and Extension Center
2121 S. First St., Hermiston
For more information, contact Ray Kopacz or Tiffany Harrell
at stanfieldid@stanid.com or call 541-449-3272
three counts of coercion.
But Jeppeson forewent a
12-person jury trial sched-
uled for mid-January, and
took a plea deal in late
December.
He pleaded guilty to two
charges — second-degree
attempted kidnapping and
coercion.
Both carry a maximum
sentence of fi ve years, but
in the case presided over
by Circuit Court Judge
Christopher R. Brauer,
he’s facing 25 months for
each count, with possi-
ble credit for time already
served in jail. Each charge
comes with three months
of mandatory post-prison
supervision.
According to the Depart-
ment of Corrections, and
the Hood River County
District Attorney’s Offi ce,
Jeppeson is currently on
supervised probation in
Hood River County related
to another conviction.
It is unknown when
Jeppeson will begin his
prison sentence or where he
will serve his time.
HERMISTON HERALD
A Hermiston man died
in a single-vehicle crash
on Highway 207 in Mor-
row County on Friday
night, according to a press
release from Oregon State
Police.
Philip Sharkey, 56, was
traveling north on High-
way 207 in a freightliner
truck pulling a loaded
trailer when it struck the
guardrail, traveled off
the road and down an
embankment near mile-
post 19B.
It’s believed that Shar-
key wasn’t wearing his
seat belt at the time of the
crash, according to Capt.
Tim Fox, the state police’s
public information offi cer.
Police and emergency
personnel responded at
approximately 6:24 p.m.
but Sharkey sustained
fatal injuries and was pro-
nounced dead at the scene.
Fox wrote in an email
that he’s unsure what com-
pany Sharkey was driving
for but that his truck was
carrying mint.
The only damage on the
highway was sustained to
the guardrail, though it’s
unknown to what extent,
according to Fox.
State
police
were
assisted by Boardman
Fire, Echo Fire, Uma-
tilla County Fire District
No. 1, Morrow County
Sheriff’s Offi ce and the
Oregon Department of
Transportation.
Sharkey was a local
business owner who grew
up in Eastern Oregon.
A celebration of life ser-
vice will be held at 1 p.m.
on Jan, 25, 2020, at New
Hope Community Church,
1350 S. Highway 395.
Happy 9 th Birthday , Brody!
We hope it's bright like you, fun like you,
& downright awesome like you!
You are always in our thoughts!
Love, Grandpa & Grandma Powell
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