HermistonHerald.com
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2020
$1.50
INSIDE
ELECTION
Hermiston Mayor David
Drotzmann is running for a
fourth term.
Page » A3
PETITION
Activists ask EPA to declare a
groundwater emergency in
western Umatilla County.
Page » A7
HE’S BACK
Chase Elliott dons a Bulldogs
jersey again after a sea-
son-ending injury.
Page » A9
BY THE WAY
Tax season
starts this
month
The Internal Revenue
Service has confi rmed
Jan. 27 as the fi rst day the
tax agency will accept and
begin processing 2019 tax
returns.
The deadline to fi le tax
returns for 2019 and pay
any owed taxes is April
15, which this year falls
on a Wednesday.
Taxpayers may pre-
pare returns through the
IRS’ Free File program
or tax software compa-
nies and tax professionals
before the start date, but
processing returns will
begin after IRS systems
open later in January.
• • •
Offi cer Sterling Hall
of the Pendleton Police
Department is among
the recent graduates of
Basic Police Class 394.
Hall, who graduated from
Hermiston High School
in 2014 and previously
served on the reserve offi -
cer corps with the Herm-
iston Police Department,
attended the 16-week
course through the Ore-
gon Department of Pub-
lic Safety Standards and
Training. The class con-
cluded with a graduation
ceremony Jan. 17 at the
Oregon Public Safety
Academy in Salem. For
more about the training,
visit www.oregon.gov/
dpsst.
• • •
An upcoming Museum
After Hours program
at Fort Walla Walla
Museum will feature
Mike Denny, an author,
conservationist and past
president of the Blue
Mountain
Audubon
Society.
The program is Thurs-
day, Jan. 30 at 4 p.m. in
the museum’s Grand Hall,
755 Myra Road, Walla
Walla. There is no admis-
sion charge.
Denny has also been
involved with the “Secret
See BTW, Page A14
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
John Carbage, president of the Hermiston Cultural Awareness Coalition, welcomes speakers to the podium at the Hermiston First United Methodist
Church Monday morning as a part of the Annual Martin Luther King Jr. March.
PREJUDICE
& PROGRESS
Hermiston residents share stories to honor Martin Luther King Jr.
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
s participants of this
year’s Martin Luther
King March in Herm-
iston gathered at First
United
Methodist
Church afterward to share their thoughts
on the civil rights leader’s work, the sto-
ries were as varied as the skin tones of
the people that fi lled the pews.
Karen Duffee, who grew up in a small
Nevada town with “one single black per-
son,” had to travel to California to get
married because her husband was black
and she was white.
“We weren’t allowed to get married
in Vegas,” she said. “It was illegal.”
They experienced arrest, harassment
and violence in retaliation for their inter-
racial marriage, she said.
“We went through a lot of terrible
things,” she said. “They painted KKK
on our lawn in gasoline, they raided our
house, they tried to kill our dogs.”
Jada Rome, Duffee’s granddaughter
and a student at Hermiston High School,
said no one should think racism is not
still present today. She said she was
called the N-word by a fellow student
just a few weeks ago.
“I’ve been called so many things,
I’ve been bullied, I’ve been picked on
because I’m black,” she said.
Bernie Sanderson shared an experi-
ence from the other side of the coin: She
apologetically related to the group that
A
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Dozens of marchers parade down Main Street in Hermiston Monday morning for the
annual Martin Luther King Jr. March.
eight years ago she fi nally met a mem-
ber of her father’s estranged family and
found out that many of her relatives had
been active members of the Klu Klux
Klan in Ohio.
“I experienced a deep love and respect
for my father,” she said. “He ran away
when he was 15 years old. From run-
ning away from that life, I didn’t have to
experience that kind of hate. My mother
taught me to love everyone, no matter
their race.”
The annual march, now in its 20th
year, was hosted by the Hermiston Cul-
tural Awareness Coalition. It started
with a “peace walk” through down-
town, stopped briefl y at city hall for the
pledge of allegiance and remarks by a
city offi cial, and ended up at the church,
where people were invited to share their
thoughts.
One commenter shared that when he
See MLK, Page A14
City police and school district will add new offi cer
By JESSICA POLLARD
STAFF WRITER
8
08805 93294
2
A new face will be roaming the
halls of Hermiston’s two middle
schools next year.
The Hermiston Police Depart-
ment will soon hire a third school
resource offi cer to work at Sand-
stone and Armand Larive middle
schools. Police chief Jason Edmis-
ton said that the existing offi cers
are overloaded due to the district’s
population, and adding another will
allow them to focus more closely on
students who are at a “pivotal age.”
“Our goal is to make sure schools
remain a safe environment for kids
to learn,” he said. “We’re extremely
happy to be in the schools. The fund-
ing component of it makes it com-
pelling for us.”
Offi cer Betty Nava has worked
in Hermiston’s elementary schools
since 2016, and Offi cer Chris
McMahon has worked in Hermis-
ton’s secondary schools since 2017.
He will narrow his focus to just
Hermiston High School next year.
The district contracts with the
city, and pays 75% of the total cost
to employ school resource offi cers,
a fi gure that totals between about
$198,300 and $204,100 for both
offi cers this budget year.
“We’ve known we’ve needed
another resource offi cer for a long
time. I’m looking forward to bud-
geting a new offi cer in,” said city of
Hermiston Finance Director Mark
Krawczyk.
Edmiston said that the offi cers
work full time in the schools, and
take more time off during the sum-
mer months, but will still take calls
and assist with cases.
“We try to manage best as possi-
ble the work they do during the sum-
mertime,” Edmiston said. “If they
do patrol, we really consider what
they are sent out to.”
Hermiston School District has
had at least one school resource offi -
cer since the mid-1990s, Edmiston
said, but having three resource offi -
cers is a new concept.
According to the police depart-
ment’s annual report, Nava interacts
with parents and teachers, handles
traffi c complaints, works with the
principals and assists with truancy
issues. Edmiston said she frequently
makes herself present in the cafete-
ria during lunch time.
“When we start at the elemen-
tary, it’s a good way for our young
kids to interact with a police offi cer
and understand what they do,” said
Hermiston School District Superin-
tendent Tricia Mooney.
McMahon is assigned to all sec-
ondary schools, but Edmiston said
he spends most of his time at the
high school.
“The roles really are different in
the sense that the ages of the kids are
different,” Edmiston said. “We try to
be proactive at the high school, but a
lot of times his role is reactive.”
At a high school level, McMahon
also enforces truancy laws, teaches
on safety topics and handles the
criminal side of juvenile activity.
“Ultimately, the building admin-
istrator can handle school district
See Police, Page A14