Hermiston
Herald
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2016
HermistonHerald.com
BULLDOGS
HITTING
STRIDE
Travel to Redmond next
SPORTS Page 8
$1.00
ABOUT TOWN
Depot land
handoff stalled
Water is still a sticking
point in the transfer of the
Umatilla Chemical Depot
land to local control, which
the Army now estimates
won’t happen until Decem-
ber 2017.
At a Columbia Devel-
opment Authority meeting
last week, executive di-
rector Greg Smith told the
board that after the CDA
and Oregon National Guard
worked out an agreement to
give the National Guard 23
percent of the depot’s wa-
ter, he received a “string of
emails” from the National
Guard bureau in Washing-
ton, D.C., saying that less
than 44 percent was unac-
ceptable.
“That 23 percent rep-
resents almost double the
amount needed, based on
their own study,” Smith
said. “44 percent seems ex-
cessive.”
He said it appeared they
thought that since the Na-
tional Guard was getting
44 percent of the acreage
in the depot for its training
facility, they should get 44
percent of the water.
“This is coming from
folks who do not under-
stand Oregon water law
or how it is distributed,”
Smith said.
The Columbia Develop-
ment Authority board has
said in the past it doesn’t
make sense to accept the
land unless it had enough
water rights to make it via-
ble for a range of industrial
uses.
The CDA originally
planned to receive the land
in 2015. That year, the
Army told them to instead
plan on fi nal conveyance
by Nov. 2016. This spring
they were told it wouldn’t
happen until May 2017.
FOOD, FUN AND
FRIGHTS, OH MY!
By TAMMY MALGESINI
Community Editor
steady stream of peo-
ple laughed, jumped and
screamed while catching a
glimpse of the spooky fun
planned during this week-
end’s Echo Oktoberfest.
With
a
sweatshirt
cinched up around his face,
Mario Saldana missed
some of the scariest parts
during Saturday’s opening
night of the Haunted Ware-
house at Echo Ridge Cel-
lars. Peering through his
hoodie, the 12-year-old provided
entertainment for Jose and Desi-
rae Zamudio.
The
Hermiston
couple
brought fi ve youths — who
ranged in age from 7-12 — to the
attraction’s opening night. Desi-
rae, who wore a Jack-o’-lantern
sized smile, often lagged behind
to watch the group’s reactions to
the frightening fun.
Gary Marcum, aka Chainsaw
Charlie, quickly got on board
to help with the event. Echo’s
Doherty named
ag teacher of
the year
See BOO, A14
STAFF PHOTOS BY TAMMY MALGESINI
Top: A creature confronts
Desirae Zamudio in the Haunted
Warehouse Saturday at Echo
Ridge Cellars. The attraction
is part of this weekend’s Echo
Oktoberfest. It also will be open
Saturday, Oct. 29 and Halloween.
Middle: Mario Saldana, 12, hides
his face while going through the
haunted forest in the Haunted
Warehouse Saturday at Echo
Ridge Cellars.
Bottom: A scary fi gure greets
Desirae Zamudio, Justus Zamudio,
10, Kingo Villarreal, 8, Mario
Saldana, 12, Linkin Zamudio, 7,
and Jose Zamudio in the Haunted
Warehouse Saturday at Echo
Ridge Cellars.
FUN, CREATIVITY A POTENT MIX FOR BETTER SCIENCE CLASS
Science teachers say
fun is a key element
in high test scores
By JADE MCDOWELL
Hermiston Herald
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Seventh-grader Jocilyn Tusten constructs a Stellar’s jay nest in a science class
Monday at Sandstone Middle School in Hermiston.
Hermiston School District has
a lot of budding scientists in its
classrooms, if state test scores are
any indication.
For years, the district’s middle
school students have consistently
beaten the state average on sci-
ence tests by wide margins, and
a similar trend has begun at the
high school. Last year 79 percent
of Hermiston eighth graders met
See TESTS, A14
Hermiston teacher Melis-
sa Doherty has been named
the 2016 Oregon Agriculture
in the Classroom Teacher of
the Year.
Doherty, who teach-
es second grade at Rocky
Heights Elementary School,
was chosen to honor her
“exemplary incorporation of
agriculture across curricula.”
According to a news re-
lease from the
Oregon Agri-
culture in the
Classroom
Foundation,
Doherty real-
ized that many
of her students
Melissa
did not know
Doherty
any more about
where
their
food came from than their
peers in big cities. As a re-
sult, she worked to integrate
information about agricul-
ture across subjects.
“I saw how valuable the
experience was to the stu-
dents and how they remem-
bered their experiences even
years afterward,” Doherty
said. “I was sold on the value
of using agriculture to bring
subjects to life.”
Students in Doherty’s
classroom have used egg
incubators to hatch chickens
and care for the hatchlings.
They have also gone through
the process of germinating,
planting and harvesting po-
tatoes to make their own
potato chips. Other learn-
ing activities have included
fi eld trips, cooking classes,
gardening and measuring
weather data.