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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 2022)
WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2022 HermistonHerald.com EasternOregonMarketplace.com ‘A big, old teddy bear’ Community mourns the passing of ‘Buzz’ Brazeau, former high school principal, NFL player By ERICK PETERSON Hermiston Herald When the word went out about the death of a for- mer Hermiston High School administrator, many people expressed their sorrow. Philip “Buzz” Brazeau Jr. died Jan. 12 at the age of 72. Locals are talking about the man they describe as both a “giant personal- ity” and an “intellec- tual.” “Buzz was more Brazeau than just a great administrator,” Tricia Mooney, Hermiston School District superintendent, said. “He was a great human. The Hermiston School Dis- trict and our community are fortunate that we had the opportunity to have Buzz on our team. His legacy is in the lives he touched and the people he impacted. We are all better because of him.” According to the Hermis- ton School District, Brazeau was employed as a Herm- iston High School assis- tant principal 2004-07 and principal 2007-12, and he was the 2011-12 Hermiston School District Administra- tor of the Year. Outside of Hermiston, he was known as a football player for Washington State University, the Los Angeles Rams, the Green Bay Pack- ers and the Portland Storm. After his football days, he worked as a teacher, a coach and a school administrator at diff erent school districts. His obituary praises him as a family man, a loving husband to wife Kathy, and a beloved father, uncle and grandfather. Umatilla County Com- missioner Dan Dorran is among those who said they grieve over Brazeau’s death. Dorran was at Brazeau’s See Brazeau, Page A8 Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald Hermiston High School senior Marcos Preciado, left, age 17, practices drawing blood from instructor Janci Sivey during an internship class Friday, Jan. 28, 2022, at the high school. Preciado and three other members of the class recently passed the national phlebotomy certifi cation exam. Drawing blood Hermiston High students pass phlebotomy exam, plan futures in health care By ERICK PETERSON Hermiston Herald M arcos Preciado said he was feeling a little nervous on Friday, Jan. 28, as he was drawing blood from one of his teachers, Janci Sivey. This was not the fi rst time he had done this, though. He and other students are taking a class from Sivey, and they draw her blood at least once a week, Sivey said, for practice. Preciado, along with Grace Vertrees, Lilly Chase and Karsen Graham on Jan. 21 took the National Health Career Association exam for accreditation as certifi ed phlebotomy techni- cians. All four students in Sivey’s internship class passed the test. Graham, 18, is a senior who said she wants to work for either the American Red Cross or a phlebotomy lab. She said she sees this as a career path because she likes to help people. She said she can be a helper by becoming a phlebotomist. In the internship class, she and her class- mates visit workplaces. They also perform classwork and prepare for phlebotomy and medical assistance exams. It was in this class, Graham said, that she discovered phlebotomy. On June 4, she will take a test to be a med- ical assistant. Though excited about the exam, she said she already is looking beyond it. Her plans include going into the medical fi eld after graduation, she said. Sivey said she is proud of her students, despite the occasional bruises she gets from Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald Hermiston High School seniors Karsen Graham, left, Marcos Preciado, Lilly Chase and Grace Vertrees (not pictured) on Jan. 21, 2022, took the national certifi cation exam to practice phlebotomy as a portion of their in school curriculum at the high school. Each student passed. them and their needle practice. This group of four phlebotomists comprised the fi rst four students to take and pass the exam in her class. She has other students who are plan- ning to take the phlebotomy test in the spring. Sivey said these students will be qualifi ed to obtain phlebotomy jobs — but only after graduating from high school. For now, they will gain additional practice in class and through internships at Interpath Laboratory See Exam, Page A8 Group seeks to invalidate green energy credits for dairy digester By GEORGE PLAVEN EO Media Group An environmental group is asking California regula- tors to nullify green energy credits for biogas produced from dairy manure at Ore- gon’s Threemile Canyon Farms. Food & Water Watch fi led a complaint to the Cal- ifornia Air Resources Board on Jan. 19, arguing that Threemile Canyon was gen- erating lucrative credits pos- sibly worth millions of dol- lars under the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard while at the same time commit- ting air quality violations in INSIDE Oregon. Threemile Canyon is Oregon’s largest dairy with nearly 70,000 cattle — including 33,000 milking cows — along the Colum- bia River near Boardman. It is run by R.D. Off utt Co., a farming corporation head- quartered in Fargo, N.D. The farm built an anaer- obic digester in 2012 to capture methane emissions from manure, which was ini- tially used to generate elec- tricity that was sold to the interstate utility Pacifi Corp. In 2019, Threemile Can- yon installed $30 million of new equipment at the digester plant to convert methane into “pipeline qual- ity” natural gas, tapping into California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, or LCFS. Iogen Corp., a Cana- dian fi rm, markets the gas as a cleaner-burning fuel for trucks and buses on Los Angeles freeways. Created in 2011 by the California Air Resources Board, the LCFS is a mar- ket-based incentive pro- gram specifi cally for the state’s transportation sec- tor. Companies that produce lower-carbon fuels gener- ate credits that can be sold to off set emissions from more carbon-intensive fos- sil fuels. A2 ‘Hermiston History’ looks into the past The LCFS is one of sev- eral measures under a 2006 California climate package that aims to reduce green- house gas emissions 20% by 2030 and 80% by 2050. The board certi- fi ed Threemile Canyon’s bio-methane production on Sept. 9, 2020, making it eli- gible to bank and sell LCFS credits. However, Food & Water Watch — part of an envi- ronmental coalition called Stand Up to Factory Farms — is calling for a revocation of Threemile Canyon’s cred- its after the farm was fi ned by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality A3 Echo School District denies lawsuit’s discrimination allegations Threemile Canyon Farms/Submitted Photo The diversifi ed farm has 93,000 acres of cropland and open space. for violating conditions of its air quality permit. According to DEQ, Threemile Canyon used A4 ‘Inside My Shoes’ column addresses pronouns and respect excess natural gas at the digester to dry leftover solid See Digester, Page A8 A6 McNary Heights teacher nominated for national award