WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2022
HermistonHerald.com
Stanfi eld
council
appoints
new
mayor
Whelan credits McCann for
having been a positive force
in the community, says she
has big shoes to fi ll
EasternOregonMarketplace.com
‘IT WILL EVENTUALLY
TAKE A TOLL’
ONE LOCAL STUDENT’S EXAMPLE
HIGHLIGHTS THE DETRIMENTAL
EFFECTS OF BULLYING
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
Susan Whelan will be sworn
in as Stanfi eld’s mayor at a
city council meeting on Tues-
day, May 3. Whelan, a Stan-
fi eld city councilor since 2017,
was selected April 18, from
the council to replace Mayor
Thomas McCann. McCann
died April 16 of a heart attack.
“I will do my best,” she said.
Whelan said she admires
McCann a great deal. They
knew
each
other for sev-
eral years, she
said, and their
families were
close. Accord-
ing to Whelan,
Whelan
their
chil-
dren
played
together, and she misses him.
But then, she said, many people
in town have the same feelings.
“He was an icon in the com-
munity, well-loved and well-re-
spected,” she said. “It will be
hard to fi ll his shoes.”
McCann, she said, “really
knew how to run a meeting.”
She attributed his authorita-
tive presence to his history as
a police offi cer; he knew how
to command respect. She said
it will be diffi cult for her to be
like him in the same way.
At the city council meet-
ing in which she was selected,
she recalled that Councilor
Jason Sperr nominated her to
the vacated mayoral position.
She said, no one else was nom-
inated. Before the other coun-
cilors voted, she asked them if
they thought she could do it.
They said that she could, and
then they unanimously voted in
her favor — 5-0, with Whelan
abstaining.
Asked why she was selected,
Whelan joked that it was “the
only way they were going to
get her off the council.”
The incoming mayor is light-
hearted by nature, she said, and
she likes to laugh. She said she
feels that “humor makes things
go easier” and “life is short.”
Also, life can be “hard for peo-
ple,” she said. A sour attitude
makes things worse.
A wife, mother to three,
grandmother to fi ve and
great-grandmother to two,
Whelan said she has recently
been the subject of teas-
ing within her family. Family
members are asking her if they
should call her “mayor” rather
than “grandma.”
She said, she is happier with
her grandchildren calling her
grandma, just like she prefers to
be called “Susan” around town.
She is not doing this job to
satisfy her ego, she said. Nor
does she have great plans to
“make her mark” on the town,
she added. Instead, she said she
is focusing on the job itself.
“God doesn’t care if I’m
mayor, and I’m not trying to
impress anyone,” she said.
That said, she did say that
there are things she wants to do
in town.
One of her goals is mak-
ing city business more acces-
sible to the public. According
to Whelan, evening city coun-
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
Marc Martinez and Melissa Strong, Hermiston residents, pose for a photo Monday, April 18, 2022, after playing basketball together at
Martinez’s school, Sunset Elementary. Martinez said he is having trouble with bullying.
By ERICK PETERSON • Hermiston Herald
W
hen 11-year-old
Marc Martinez
goes to school, he is
not always able to concentrate
on education.
Martinez said he goes to school with a diff erent worry.
Like some of his classmates at Sunset Elementary in Herm-
iston, and other students everywhere else, he said he is
greatly concerned with being bullied.
This is an issue of interest at schools, including the Herm-
iston School District, at which Martinez attends.
Services to address bullying
Dan Greenough is the Hermiston School District’s direc-
tor of student services. He said he is not certain of how much
bullying there is within the district, but there is enough to
warrant concern. And the district has “a number of preven-
tion pieces” to address bullying.
For instance, he said, counselors deliver lessons about
bullying to students on a monthly basis, and students take
surveys so the schools can better understand their experience
See, Bullying/Page A9
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
The Hermiston School District building, photographed Tuesday, April 26, 2022, is located at 305 S.W. 11th St. The district has policies
regarding bullying, which include investigating reports.
See, Whelan/Page A9
INSIDE
A3 Morrow County commissioner
candidates speak at forum
A4 A closer look at the cost
behind city projects
A6 Cinco de Mayo to be
celebrated locally
A6 Upcoming event to bring
awareness to domestic violence