NEWS
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
HerMIsTOnHeraLd.COM • A7
From Hermiston High to Capitol Hill
Vasquez, Hermiston High school Class of 1968, was
honored Feb. 12 as distinguished alumnus of the year
By JESSICA POLLARD
sTaFF WrITer
Victor Vasquez was born
in Texas. He’s been around
the world: to Guam, to Tur-
key and plenty of places in
between for work. But as
the 2020 Hermiston High
School Distinguished Alum-
nus, he’ll always consider
Eastern Oregon his home.
“I do believe that Herm-
iston has produced a lot of
really good leaders. Even
now, Hermiston behaves
like a village,” he said. “I
always tell people I’m from
Hermiston.”
Vasquez was born in
1949. His father, a World
War II veteran from Mex-
ico and for some time a sin-
gle parent, took up migrant
farm work to keep their fam-
ily afloat. It took Vasquez
and his siblings all over the
Pacific Northwest.
And when their father
landed a job at the Uma-
tilla Chemical Depot, they
enrolled in the Hermiston
School District. Vasquez
was a first grader.
“They called us monolin-
guals. I didn’t know a single
word of English,” he said.
He may have started his
education speaking only
Spanish, but credits the
school district with teach-
ing him to speak and read
English at an early age.
“I had absolutely no
accent. That really comes
from some of the early edu-
cation I got,” he said.
Vasquez was far from
a star student back in high
school.
“We were relatively
low-income. I worked when
I was in school,” he said. “I
didn’t excel.”
But he said that’s one rea-
son why he was so honored
to received this year’s Dis-
tinguished Alumni award at
the Distinguished Citizens
Awards early February.
“You can’t judge yourself
by how you’re doing in high
school,” he said.
Vasquez didn’t, and it
brought him a long way.
Nearing graduation in the
late 1960s, his school coun-
selor urged him to head to
trade school instead of a
university.
But Vasquez wanted to
go to college, like his art
teacher had encouraged him
to do. He just wasn’t sure
how to afford it. So he joined
the military in the midst of
the Vietnam War.
“It was quite a risk for
anyone to volunteer then,”
he said. “But when you
don’t have money it’s the
only option.”
He served for two years,
and was honorably dis-
charged after the then-pres-
ident of Blue Mountain
Community College wrote
a letter requesting it, which
allowed Vasquez to gain
his associates degree. He
focused in on getting good
grades.
After he got his bache-
lor’s degree at University
of Oregon, Vasquez eventu-
ally attended the Kennedy
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Victor Vasquez, left, is awarded the Distinguished Alumnus of the Year award by Hermiston
School District Superintendent Tricia Mooney at the 50th Annual Distinguished Citizens
Awards in Hermiston Wednesday night.
School of Harvard to study
organizational development.
He said initially, the
school sent him an invita-
tion to apply but he didn’t
take the opportunity because
he thought finances would
be an issue. Eventually, an
administrator
convinced
him.
“It wasn’t something I
planned on. It was in front
of me, and I ended up taking
it,” he said.
From there Vasquez’s
professional
success
bloomed. For six years, he
worked for the State of Ore-
gon, including under Gover-
nor Barbara Roberts doing
work with rural counties.
Later, he was appointed by
President Bill Clinton as a
deputy administrator for the
USDA and again to serve
as a deputy assistant secre-
tary under the Department
of Defense.
Vasquez takes the word
“servant” in public servant
quite seriously.
“How much can I
do while I’m here?” he
asks.“We’re only there tem-
porarily. This is something
that’s been granted to us,
we’re here to serve.”
During his time with
the USDA in the 1990s,
he spearheaded economic
development programs for
rural areas.
His proudest accom-
plishment from the job was
launching the Rural Empow-
erment Zone and Enterprise
Communities program.
“I worked in some of the
poorest communities of the
country. It was grassroots
economic development,” he
said. “ In a lot of areas we
reduced the poverty level, it
was very impactful.”
After some time outside
of Washington D.C, he was
appointed as deputy under-
secretary for USDA Rural
Development in 2009, by
President Barack Obama.
He remained in the posi-
tion until he fell in love and
got married to a woman in
south Texas in 2011.
“When you’re in love
you’ll do anything. She
didn’t want to go to D.C,” he
said. “So I went to Texas.”
Vasquez started a con-
sulting firm there. And while
he still lives in Texas today,
he’s currently taking on a
role as interim director of a
Salem-based organization
called MERIT, which aids
people in small business
development. He lives with
family in Keizer.
Vasquez has plenty of
positive Hermiston mem-
ories. He has only missed
two high school reunions,
and can still remember
when Main Street got its
first street light. But he said
that growing up, he faced
his own challenges and for
that he has advice for young
Hermistonians.
First and foremost, stay
in touch with family.
“Whether you believe it
or not you’ll get a lot from
your family,” he said.
“People aren’t always
welcoming,” he added.
“Don’t let it affect who you
are. When you need help,
ask for help. Pay attention
to the lessons you’re learn-
ing now.”
Vasquez, from the Class
of 1968, will give a key-
note speech at the Hermis-
ton High School Graduation
on June 4 this year.
Suspended driver’s licenses create hardships
By JADE MCDOWELL
neWs edITOr
When Sheena Tarvin got
a ticket for not wearing her
seat belt in 1998, she had
no idea the profound con-
sequences it would have on
her life.
“I was only 18 years old,
and no one ever told me
that if I didn’t pay the ticket
right away, they could sus-
pend my license,” Tarvin
said.
That’s what happened
after her fine got sent to col-
lections, however.
At age 42, the Hermiston
resident has yet to get her
driving privileges back.
Oregonians can get
their license suspended
or revoked for dozens of
reasons.
Most of them are driv-
ing-related crimes, such
as driving while under the
influence of intoxicants, hit-
and-run, eluding police or
assault with a motor vehi-
cle. People can also get
their license suspended for
driving unsafely — drivers
will have their license sus-
pended for 30 to 90 days if
convicted of driving more
than 100 miles per hour, for
example, or can get their
license restricted for hav-
ing too many crashes and/or
tickets within a certain time
period.
Some reasons for sus-
pending a driver’s license
HH file photo
The Department of Motor Vehicles office in Hermiston.
are based more on finances
than
driving
record,
however.
Currently, the state can
suspend a license indef-
initely for failure to pay
child support, or for up to
20 years for not paying traf-
fic tickets.
In Tarvin’s case, after the
bill got sent to a collections
agency, her daughter was
born prematurely, and she
couldn’t pay the steep hos-
pital bills.
Those became the prior-
ity for collections, and the
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to the bill she hasn’t been
able to finish paying off yet.
“I’m not trying to make
excuses,” she said. “I know
I messed up over the years.
But this is the timeline.”
After she separated from
her husband three years
ago, she could no longer
depend on him for rides.
She has a club foot that
doesn’t allow her to walk
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prevent situations like
Tarvin’s in the future by
removing the state’s ability
to suspend licenses solely
on the basis of unpaid traffic
tickets. As currently writ-
ten, it would not undo cur-
rent suspensions, however.
“It’s definitely been a
hinderance in my life not
to have it,” Tarvin said. “I
can’t catch up. I’ve felt like
a failure my whole adult
life because of it.”
Jason Estle, who works
with Hermiston’s down-
and-out at Desert Rose
Ministries, said he has seen
many cases like Tarvin’s
over the years.
“It makes it very diffi-
cult to keep a job, because
they’re always trying to
find a ride,” he said. “...
It’s something we see com-
monly in our ministry, guys
struggling to keep a job
when they’re on foot. It’s
not very convenient.”
He said when people are
getting their life back on
track, moving beyond a for-
mer “lifestyle of irresponsi-
bility,” there’s a fine line
between being too soft or
too hard on them. However,
he said taking someone’s
driver’s license can be a
real hinderance to taking on
other responsibilities.
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months stretched into years
without progress paying off
her traffic ticket.
As many in her situation
do, Tarvin eventually found
herself in a position where
she felt like she had to
drive to work even though
she didn’t have a license.
And when she did, she got
a ticket for driving with a
suspended license, adding
long distances, and a bus
ride to the grocery store and
back is a two-hour round
trip.
Her story includes home-
lessness, a drug addiction
and jail time. She said her
life is back on track now —
she’s living in a trailer, done
with probation and is com-
ing up on a year sober in
March. But all of that was
made far more difficult by
the fact that she couldn’t
drive herself to court dates,
drug tests, classes, counsel-
ing and other parts of her
recovery process.
“All of these things, I
have to get there,” she said.
“I try every day. I went
through treatment, but had
it not been for people in the
community, there is no way
I could have done it.”
The state does allow for
hardship permits in some
cases, giving people with
suspended licenses permis-
sion to drive to work, doc-
tors appointments and other
essential trips.
However, applying for a
hardship permit costs $125,
and the permits aren’t
available for all types of
suspensions.
House Bill 4065, intro-
duced during the current
legislative session, would
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