REGION
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
HERMISTON
Song, dance help pay swim team’s bus costs
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Raising
transportation
funds used to be a dread-
ed chore for the Hermiston
High School swim team, but
on Saturday night they man-
aged to put the “fun” in fund-
raising.
The third annual HHS
swim team variety show —
featuring three hours of song
and dance — helped raise the
money to cover most of the
team’s $5,000-a-year trans-
portation costs to and from
practice at Blue Mountain
Community College’s indoor
pool in Pendleton.
Lynn Hamblin, wife of
swim coach Kevin Hamblin
and organizer of the talent
show, said six years ago the
school district told the team
it couldn’t continue to cover
the cost of their daily com-
mute. Early fundraisers were
“miserable,” she said.
“This has evolved from
collecting cans in the cold
month of January to some-
thing to give back to the
community,” she said.
On Saturday night a few
swimmers performed on
stage, but most of them pro-
vided technical support and
backstage help for the per-
formers who donated their
time to the show.
Nattalie Gray, a sixth
grader from Armand Larive
Middle School, was one of
those performers. She said
before the show that she
wasn’t nervous because she
had plenty of performing
experience at church and
elsewhere. Earlier this year
she sang the national anthem
at a Heppner football game
at Kennison Field, she said,
and Representative Greg
Smith (R-Heppner) was so
impressed that he asked her
to come sing at the Capitol
during this year’s legislative
session.
Gray chose to sing
“Brave” by Sara Bareilles.
“I like it because I think
it encourages people some-
times to be brave,” she said.
“When I sing it I think of
someone who is hiding, and
I sing it to them.”
Misha Meyer, a fourth
grader from Highland Hills
Elementary, also stepped
up to the plate, opening the
show with the national an-
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
The Hermiston High School swim team boys perform a synchronized “swimming”
number to wrap up the Swim Team Variety Show.
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
them and later performing
“Try” by Colbie Caillat.
“I like performing,” she
said before the show. “It
makes me happy.”
Shortly before her, the
crowd heard from Marti
Plum, another Armand Lar-
ive sixth grader, who sang
“Human” by Christina Per-
ry. She shared her secret for
keeping the nerves to a min-
imum during a performance:
“When I’m up there sing-
ing I always stare someone
down in the audience,” she
said. “I just pick someone.”
Most of the perform-
ers were returning acts, but
Kodie Arnold, a Hermiston
blind, said after last year’s
show turned out to be such
a fun event she was disap-
pointed she wasn’t a part of
it.
This year she played
“Maybe” by Allison Krauss
-
panied singer Claire Wilson
on the piano.
In the end, though, it was
singer Corrina Tiboni, per-
forming Whitney Houston’s
“I Have Nothing” accompa-
nied by Josh Rist, who stole
for the second year in a row
after the audience placed
$186 worth of votes in her
jar.
Second place went to the
Filipino Dancers, who used
bamboo poles to perform a
Infrastructure, airport remain high on priority list
After years of neglect,
municipal infrastructure will
be front and center in 2015.
“2015 could be the big-
gest year on record for public
works,” Public Works Direc-
tor Bob Patterson said.
Besides a capital im-
provement bond that the city
aims to put on the November
getting the public involved
in discussion on Pendleton’s
aging infrastructure and oth-
er issues will be key.
Communication between
the city and public wasn’t al-
ways strong in 2014.
Special public meetings
to discuss a $10 million bond
proposal and the future of
the Blue Mountain Recovery
Center were sparsely attend-
ed.
Public
dissatisfaction
boiled over in November,
when residents from South-
west Perkins Avenue pre-
sented a petition at a meeting
requesting the city address
the crumbling portions of
the residential street. Multi-
ple Perkins residents said the
-
ter years of complaints made
to staff members.
Mayor Phillip Houk said
he wants Pendleton to be
known as a transparent city
that works with its residents,
and councilwoman Jane Hill
said the council may need to
consider new ways of com-
municating to achieve those
goals.
Hill said that despite inter-
est in their community, many
Pendletonians can’t take
time out of their busy lives to
attend meetings or seriously
study the city’s budget.
On a personal level, Hill
The girlfriend of a Ken-
newick shooting suspect is
accused of driving him to
a relative’s home in Herm-
iston, and later tipping him
off that police knew where
he was hiding.
Aquarius S. Gibbs, 24,
denied seeing her boyfriend
allegedly shoot her child’s
father on Thanksgiving
eve, but told investigators
she assumed it was him,
court documents said.
The Pasco woman has
pleaded not guilty in Ben-
ton County Superior Court
to one felony count of
-
inal assistance. Her trial is
scheduled March 2.
Her boyfriend, Tyree Q.
Houfmuse, has a Jan. 20
assault and second-degree
unlawful possession of a
HHS Swim Team Variety Show winner Corrina Tiboni,
accompanied by Josh Rist, belts out Whitney Hous-
ton’s “I Have Nothing.”
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Andrea Chapman tap
dances to “Mr. Pinstripe
Suit” during the HHS
Swim Team Variety Show.
traditional Tinikling dance.
The $3,700 raised by tick-
treats sold at intermission
will help fund the team’s
journey to Pendleton for an-
other year, but coach Kev-
in Hamblin said the team
would rather not make the
commute, which means they
often don’t get home until 12
or 13 hours after leaving for
school in the morning.
“One of these days we’re
going to be up here asking
for donations for a new in-
door pool,” he said.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
said she would spend more
time in 2015 soliciting input
from constituents.
“There’s no silver bullet
for improving communica-
tion,” she said.
According to Patterson,
an ideal year would see lo-
cal government and public
approve designated funding
for the entirety of the city’s
crumbling infrastructure.
But for Patterson, simply
setting priorities over what
needs to be addressed would
be a step in the right direc-
tion.
Public input will be in-
creasingly important in 2015,
which will see a variety of is-
sues come before the council
outside of public works.
Councilwoman
Becky
Marks said she would like to
the Pendleton UAS Range
and progress on making the
venture self-sustaining.
The city has invested
more than a half million dol-
lars into the project, which
has already conducted tests
but hasn’t been able to col-
lect revenue while airport
Federal Aviation Administra-
tion regulations.
Pendleton’s mayor said
those issues should be solved
over the course of the year.
Coupling the range’s
progress with potential eco-
Page 3A
Suspect’s girlfriend
charged with helping
him avoid arrest
By KRISTIN M. KRAEMER
Tri-City Herald
PENDLETON
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
East Oregonian
-
ment, which means man-
datory prison time if con-
victed.
The Nov. 26 shooting
outside the Village Tavern
in Kennewick left Antho-
ny L. Asselin paralyzed
from the chest down. One
of the bullets that hit him is
lodged in his spine, accord-
ing to his family.
Gibbs is Asselin’s for-
mer girlfriend and mother
to one of his children.
Asselin, 29, is a father of
four and a local rapper who
goes by the name “Redd
100.”
A witness told Kenne-
wick police that Houfmuse
and Asselin had a “beef”
while inside the tavern and
eventually took their argu-
ment outside, court doc-
uments said. That’s when
Houfmuse shot Asselin
several times without any
physical provocation, doc-
uments said.
Houfmuse had been at
the bar with Gibbs.
Another witness said
the friction between the
men was because “Asselin
thinks that (Houfmuse) fur-
nishes drugs to Ms. Gibbs,
which affects her parent-
ing,” court documents said.
After the shooting,
Houfmuse got into Gibbs’
car and drove off, docu-
ments said.
Gibbs, who was inter-
viewed Nov. 29 by detec-
tives, admitted that the two
men were arguing before
she heard several loud
pops and saw Asselin on
the ground. She said Houf-
muse initially was behind
scene, but she took over
and drove him to a Hermis-
ton house, court documents
said.
Gibbs initially gave
an incorrect address for
Houfmuse’s relative, then
changed the information af-
ter Hermiston police looked
into the location. She said
Houfmuse was aware she
was talking to investiga-
tors, but he didn’t know she
would give up his where-
abouts, documents said.
Detectives
warned
Gibbs not to tip off Houf-
muse that she had revealed
his location. However,
authorities tried to arrest
Houfmuse at that address
on Dec. 1 and learned he
left beforehand “in an ap-
parent effort to avoid the
police,” court documents
said.
Gibbs was a passenger
in the vehicle that Houf-
said.
Houfmuse was arrested
later that day by federal
marshals at a Hermiston
apartment complex.
Gibbs reportedly told
investigators that her boy-
friend said he was “sorry
for the shooting.”
Gibbs is out of custody
on her personal recogni-
zance while awaiting trial.
Houfmuse remains in the
Benton County jail with
bail set at $250,000.
SUBMIT COMMUNITY NEWS
Submit information to: community@eastoregonian.
com or drop off to the attention of Tammy Malgesini at
333 E. Main St., Hermiston or Renee Struthers at 211
S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton. Call 541-564-4539 or 541-
966-0818 with questions.
“There’s no silver
bullet for improving
communication.”
— Jane Hill, Pendleton
councilwoman
nomic development, Houk
said the city’s investments in
UAS, Barnhart Road and the
airport area in general should
become more clear this year.
Regardless of the chal-
lenges that lay ahead, many
the city’s direction.
“I think its going to be a
great year of progress,” Hill
said.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
2012 NW Carden Ave.
541-276-1522
BEST STAND-UP
COMEDY ON IT'S WAY
TO HERMISTON!
Melonville Comedy Festival
January 24, 2015
Hermiston Community Center
The 22nd edition of the Melonville Comedy Festival
will feature three headlining stand up comedians. The
comics have been seen on Last Comic Standing, HBO,
Comedy Central, and on the Bob and Tom Radio Show.
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Tickets $35 per person
Doors open at 7:00, Show starts at 8:00
Tickets available at
Hermiston Chamber of Commerce
for more info: 541-561-7488
Special Olympics
No refunds