REGION
Saturday, July 18, 2015
East Oregonian
Page 3A
HERMISTON
Farmtastic event brings agriculture to children
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Entomology grad student Matt Klein, center, shows participants in
Farmtastic samples of spiders at the Hermiston Agricultural Research
and Extension Center.
When Lauren Smith pulled
out a collection of spiders at the
Hermiston Agricultural Research
and Extension Center Friday she
had an eager audience.
The children participating in
the station’s ¿rst-ever Farmtastic
event crowded closer to the
Oregon State University graduate
student, passing around the vials
of specimens preserved in alcohol
and commenting on the size of
what was inside.
³Why are spiders bene¿cial"´
she asked the group.
³Because they eat bugs´ a
student piped up.
The lesson was part of a free
day-long activity at HAREC for
children interested in science and
agriculture. Annette Teraberry,
administrative
assistant
for
the center, said the event was
conceived and designed by the
center’s graduate students as a way
to introduce science to local youth.
The program was advertised
through Hermiston’s Parks and
Recreation department, and 20
spots were available on a ¿rst-
come, ¿rst-served basis.
Sarah Light, a graduate student
working on a dual master’s degree
in soil science and plant pathology,
said the group tried to come up
with a curriculum that was a
mixture of hands-on activities,
games and informational lessons.
“The idea is to get kids excited
about science in the context of
agriculture,´ Light said.
She said each of the program’s
¿ve graduate students have a
different area of expertise, so the
children were getting exposure
to a wide range of elements of
farming.
BRIEFLY
PENDLETON
Man volunteers
to paint house,
asks for help
Splash pad opens in
Boardman
BOARDMAN — About 130
people gathered Friday in Boardman to
celebrate the grand opening of a new
splash pad on Northeast Front Street.
Mayor Sandy Toms cut the ribbon
and turned on sprinklers at the
3,500-square-foot pad, which features
multiple jets of streaming water and
more than three dozen water features.
It is free to use Boardman Splash
Pad, which is part of a larger park area
on Northeast Front Street near the
SAGE Center. The splash pad is open
from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. through Labor
Day, and may stay open through fall
depending on weather.
Toms thanked former Boardman
city councilors Mark Pratt and Neil
Livingston for bringing the idea of a
splash pad to the council in 2011, and
current city councilwoman Brenda
Pro¿tt for obtaining a grant from the
Wildhorse Foundation to bring the
project to life.
The park area will get new picnic
tables and benches later this summer.
More information and photos of the
splash pad are available online at
www.cityofboardman.com.
Umatilla County
announces new dispatch
advisory committee
Umatilla County released a list of
regional of¿cials who will comprise
an advisory board to oversee the
contentious county dispatch system.
Issues have cropped up in recent
months with the dispatch system. The
county’s new Sun Ridge Systems Inc.
computer-aided dispatch has not been
able to shake glitches, and of¿cials
from smaller towns in Umatilla
County have expressed worry about
the fairness of billing for use of the
county’s main communications center.
The advisory board is meant to
examine these and other concerns.
The list of representatives includes:
Umatilla County Sheriff Terry
Rowan, Undersheriff -im Little¿eld,
Dispatch Commander Kathy Lieuallen
and Commissioner Bill Elfering;
Pendleton Police Chief Stuart Roberts;
Before Smith’s lesson on bene-
¿cial bugs — which also included
a demonstration on pollination
using an armful of Àowers and a
collection of preserved bees —
Light had been teaching the group
about plant pathology.
“Plants can get sick, too,´ she
told the group, noting that plant
diseases cost the United States
about $8 billion annually.
Later in the day the group
would learn about soil and creek
ecosystems, take a tour of the
experiment station and visit the
pathology lab. The center’s staff
hopes to make Farmtastic an
annual event.
“It’s been going great,´ Light
said. “The kids seem really into it
and we’re having a lot of fun.´
———
Contact Jade McDowell at
jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com
or 541-564-4536.
By JONATHAN BACH
East Oregonian
Photo contributed by Kristina Black
The city of Boardman celebrated the grand opening of a new splash pad
Friday.
Hermiston City Manager Byron Smith
and Police Captain Travis Eynon; Pilot
Rock Mayor 9irginia Carnes; Stan¿eld
City Manager Blair Larsen; and
Umatilla Police Chief Darla Huxel.
access while making decisions about
their future.
Portland State introduces
new population
forecast program
HERMISTON — The 15-year-old
suspect accused of holding up Herm-
iston’s 7-Eleven convenience store is
being tried as an adult.
Moises Flores was arrested early
Tuesday by Hermiston police on
suspicion of an armed robbery that
had occurred about 12:30 a.m. He was
arraigned Wednesday in Hermiston on
charges of felony ¿rst-degree robbery,
unlawful use of a weapon, ¿rst-degree
theft, menacing and second-degree
theft.
Hermiston Police Department
initially did not release Flores’s name
because he was a juvenile. Chief Jason
Edmiston reported on Tuesday that
after 7-Eleven employees reported the
armed robbery, Capt. Darryl Johnson
spotted a teenage boy matching the
description given by witnesses in
the area of East Jennie Avenue and
Northeast Third Street. He Àed on
foot but was captured and found in
possession of a loaded handgun and a
bag of money believed to be from the
crime.
———
Briefs are compiled from staff and
wire reports, and press releases. Email
press releases to news@eastoregonian.
com
PORTLAND — Cities and counties
will have better access to population
forecasts after the state implemented
the Oregon Population Forecast
Program.
The university is touring the state
to explain the new program. Umatilla
County residents can ¿nd out about it
Oct. 1 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at
the Eastern Oregon Higher Education
Center, 975 S.E. Columbia Drive in
Hermiston.
Municipal governments use popula-
tion forecasts to plan everything from
new schools to urban renewal districts,
and the state uses those forecasts to
determine urban growth boundary
expansions. In the past, various cities
have used different consulting ¿rms
and different methods to create their
forecasts on different schedules,
making it dif¿cult to compare numbers
across the state.
As a result the state legislature
tasked Portland State University’s
population research center with
creating a single coordinated effort
that cities and counties will be able to
7-Eleven robbery suspect
to be tried as an adult
Josh Cyganik was just cleaning his truck when he
heard two kids across the street say someone should
“burn down´ an old man’s house.
“This is the crappiest house I’ve ever seen. Someone
should tear it down and burn it,´ he recalled them
saying as the house’s owner, an older gentleman, sat
on the porch. He admitted censoring some of the fouler
language the kids used.
The house at 214
S.W. Goodwin Avenue
is in ill repair. The
look of shame on the
owner’s face after he
heard the comments
resonated
with
Cyganik. He decided
not to let the insults
stand as the last word.
“Nobody
should
have to feel that way as
far as respect goes,´ he
said Friday afternoon.
After he heard
Staff photo by Jonathan Bach
the conversation, he On Friday, Josh Cyganik, 35,
got the idea to paint prepares the house at 214
the man’s house. He S.W. Goodwin Ave to paint
went to Tum-A-Lum the next day. Cyganik put
Lumber and asked if out a call on Facebook for
the company would be volunteers to join him at the
interested in donating house on Saturday starting
supplies to help him at 8 a.m.
paint
the
house.
They donated paint for the job, he said. Once that was
con¿rmed, he said he asked the owner if the project
would be okay. He said the owner agreed it would.
Cyganik has volunteered to paint the house and has
invited community members to join him to help on
Saturday starting at 8 a.m. The house is across Southwest
Goodwin Avenue from the Union Paci¿c Railroad yard
of¿ce.
———
Contact Jonathan Bach at jbach@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0809.
When Caring, Quality and Commitment
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