WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2017
EOTEC passes
$2.2 million budget
By JADE McDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
The Eastern Oregon
Trade and Event Center
board adopted a 2017-
2018 budget on June 21.
The $2.2 million bud-
get is a decrease of $6.9
million from 2016-2017,
refl ecting a shift from
construction to operation.
Construction is expected
to wrap up just in time for
the Umatilla County Fair
that begins on Aug. 8.
Umatilla County and
the city of Hermiston
have both agreed to raise
their yearly contributions
to the general fund from
$45,000 to $75,000 to help
cover staffi ng expenses
for a general manager,
administrative assistant
and maintenance manag-
er. The EOTEC board is
currently advertising for
the general manager po-
sition at a salary between
$70,000 and $80,000.
Marketing
expendi-
tures for 2017-2018 are
budgeted at $194,285, up
from $64,610 in antic-
ipation of having a ful-
ly-completed project to
market to conventions,
trade shows and other
events the EOTEC board
hopes to draw in. The fa-
cility’s marketing dollars
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
LOCAL NEWS
come from the tourism
promotion assessment of
one dollar per room per
night that hoteliers and
RV park owners agreed to.
Events other than the
Umatilla County Fair and
Farm-City Pro Rodeo
are estimated to bring in
$132,000 in additional
revenue over the fi scal
year.
The rest of Wednes-
day’s meeting included a
construction update from
Knerr Construction and
Hendon
Construction.
Carl Hendon of Hendon
Construction reported that
the concrete work for the
rodeo arena is fi nished,
the announcer’s stand
has been framed and the
contractors are currently
working on phase two of
the bleachers.
On the rest of the site,
work continues on the
barns, restrooms, land-
scaping, security build-
ing, fencing and other
elements. Work parties of
volunteers to prepare the
fairgrounds and rodeo are-
na for the fair and rodeo
are scheduled for multiple
Saturdays in July.
———
Contact Jade McDow-
ell at jmcdowell@eastore-
gonian.com or 541-564-
4536.
Two families displaced by fi re
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
Two families are trying to
get back on their feet after a
fi re Monday destroyed the
duplex where they were liv-
ing.
No one was injured in the
blaze, which started in a fi eld
near the Oxbow Trail, but a
young couple with a child
and a baby on the way, as
well as an older couple, were
displaced from their duplex
at Northwest 13th Street and
West Ridgeway Avenue on
Monday afternoon.
Firefi ghters from the
Umatilla County Fire Dis-
trict 1 as well as Pendleton,
Boardman, Umatilla and
Echo fi re departments spent
several hours battling the
fl ames and thick smoke,
which billowed over the en-
tire neighborhood. Police had
35 residents evacuate their
homes as a precaution. The
fi re started a little after 1 p.m.
and spread across more than
seven acres before reaching
the duplex.
There are collections in
progress for both families.
The Hermiston Church of the
Nazarene is collecting and
storing items for Miguel and
Rebecca Godoy.
People can also make
monetary donations at https://
pushpay.com/pay/hermis-
tonnazarene/8B_k4dhxQdg-
GRBKbbmFOPQ.
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Firefi ghters put out a fi re that destroyed a duplex at NW 13th
Street and Hartley Avenue in Hermiston on Monday.
A Go Fund Me page has
been started for Ashlynn
Beenblossom and her fi an-
cée, Diego Lopez, at https://
www.gofundme.com/fire-
loss-fund-for-ashlynn-diego.
The couple, who are ex-
pecting a baby this summer,
are being put up in a hotel
until mid-July by Red Cross.
There are also Facebook
campaigns started to help
both families.
Lopez, who lived in one of
the units with his girlfriend,
said he was inside and his
girlfriend was asleep on the
couch when the fi re started.
“I was still up, thank
goodness,” he said. “I looked
out and thought the sky was
turning orange. I saw the fi re,
and rushed to get her out.”
The two left in separate
cars, and couldn’t fi nd each
other until a while later when
Lopez used a phone at a near-
by gas station to call her.
His girlfriend is several
months pregnant and went to
her mother’s house. Both she
and Lopez were unharmed
by the fi re.
“She’s worried about her
guinea pig,” Lopez said with
a laugh. “It’s unfortunate, but
our families and other fami-
lies got out safely. That’s the
main thing.”
Fireworks are suspected
as the cause of the fi re. Fire
marshal Tom Bohm said the
department is still investigat-
ing who could be responsi-
ble. But he said the person
could be held liable for the
damage. If it’s a minor, he
said, their parents could be
held liable for the damages,
as well as for the depart-
ment’s response.
On their Facebook page,
UCFD 1 said they were able
to save fi ve homes and 12
apartments from damage.
They said 40 to 50 fi refi ght-
ers were involved in fi ghting
the fl ames in already high
temperatures, and there were
no injuries reported. Early in-
dications are that the cause of
the blaze was fi reworks.
Chris Wrathall, a fi refi ght-
er and paramedic with UCFD
1, said a common theme with
fi res this year is the tall grass,
which has grown rapidly due
to the wet winter, and is now
causing more fi res.
“We were seeing four to
eight-foot fl ames,” he said.
“Then the wind picked up
and blew it into the duplex. It
turned into a bigger incident
than we initially thought.”
Heleo Sanchez, the land-
lord of the duplex, said he
thought part of the issue
might have been that the
grass in the fi eld was too
high. The property around
the Oxbow Trail is managed
by the Bureau of Reclama-
tion.
Sanchez said the building
was a total loss.
Several other agencies,
including Hermiston Police,
a hazmat team and Morrow
County Health District were
on hand, as well.
Wrathall urged people to
be careful when using fi re-
works.
“With the Fourth of July
coming up, we’d hate to see
anybody else lose their home
as a result of fi reworks,” he
said. “We want people to use
extreme caution.”
One dies, several injured in string of crashes June 21
HERMISTON HERALD
One man died and others
were injured in multiple, un-
related crashes June 21 in the
Hermiston area.
The driver of a semi truck
died after colliding with a
train across the river in Plym-
outh, Washington.
The Benton County Sher-
iff’s Offi ce reported the driver,
a male in his 60s, was making
a delivery and had turned off
Christy Road into a driveway.
Around 2:28 p.m., the driver
was headed northbound and
was slowly crossing railroad
tracks when a train, headed
westbound, came toward it.
The driver failed to clear the
tracks before the train hit.
“It’s a private track, so
there were some stop signs
but no bars,” said Sgt. Jason
Erickson of Benton County
Sheriff’s Offi ce.
He said the train conduc-
tor and engineer seemed to
be uninjured, and the BNSF
train did not appear to have
any signifi cant damage.
A small fi re that started in
nearby brush was put out by
fi refi ghters. Authorities are
investigating.
Spilled lumber
A little before 5 p.m.
Wednesday, a lumber truck
overturned near the inter-
section of Interstate 84 and
Interstate 82, spilling lumber
planks across the side of the
road. The cab of the truck
landed on its side, and the
trailer was fl ipped upside
down. The driver sustained
minor injuries to his ankle
and initially declined atten-
tion, but later requested medi-
cal transport. Umatilla Coun-
ty Fire District 1 and Oregon
State Police were on the scene
a few minutes after the acci-
dent.
The driver, a Utah man
named Mike who declined
to give his last name, said the
load on his truck was stacked
a little high, which probably
caused the accident.
“The load shifted as I was
coming around the bend and
once it shifted, I tried to ac-
count for it, but there’s not
much you can do once the
truck decides to go one way,”
he said.
Mike said it was a tough
way to end his 12-year career
as a truck driver, after previ-
ously having decided to re-
tire. He said he was in his last
two weeks on the job.
He attributed his ability to
walk away from the wreck to
wearing a seatbelt.
“I would have really been
damaged otherwise,” he said.
He said he was relieved that
his accident didn’t affect any-
one else.
Minivan vs. Semi
In Umatilla, a semi col-
lided with a minivan at 4:08
p.m., sending one person to
the hospital for evaluation.
Sgt. Bill Wright of Umatil-
la Police Department said they
were still unclear on how the
Printed on
recycled
newsprint
VOLUME 111 ● NUMBER 21
Gary L. West | Editor • gwest@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4532
accident happened because of
confl icting reports.Wright said
the driver, a woman in her ear-
ly 50s, was sent to the hospital
as a safety precaution, but had
no evident injuries. The driver
of the semi truck appeared to
be unhurt.
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Tammy Malgesini | Community Editor • tmalgesini@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4539
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