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East Oregonian
Friday, October 30, 2015
YOUNG: Good Shepherd CRASHES: Safety corridor designation lifted several years ago
corridor, which is based in volume actually decreased to the south, however, and
Continued from 1A
part on the total number of in the northern section, DERXWWZLFHDVPXFKWUDI¿F
has four fulltime and one
northbound turning lane, crashes. During the period from 16,000 per day at Joy Cooney said these factors
and the vehicles collided, it was a safety corridor, that Lane in 1995 to 14,100 in make the northern stretch
half-time pediatrician
Cooney said. Fortunately, number of crashes dropped, 2005 and to 13,100 in 2014, more dangerous.
Continued from 1A
Fetter said the city’s unusu-
ally large youth population
does put a burden on the
department. Three months
of
outdoor
swimming
weather doesn’t leave time
to schedule enough swim
lessons to accommodate
everyone, he said, and the
city needs to get out ahead
of the demand for more
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“From the parks side, it’s
scrounging for grass in a
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Fetter said non-city
leagues like youth football
and AYSO are crucial for
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ation side.
“The city could not
accommodate, nor are we
interested in accommo-
dating, everyone’s needs in
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Recreation
director
Dan Earp said the depart-
ment does offer a “fairly
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for a city of Hermiston’s
size, because of its young
population. Those offerings
stretch beyond sports into
educational
programs,
enrichment classes and
drama productions like the
performance of “The Little
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currently in the works.
“We do offer a lot of
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At the Hermiston Public
Library,
programming
is also affected. Library
director Marie Baldo said
the library gets 400-500
children and teens signed
up for the summer reading
program each year, and
activities during the school
year can have as many
as 100 children or teens
attending. Even the Baby
Boogie sessions can attract
more than 50 children
and their parents every
Wednesday morning.
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said.
Baldo said for teenagers,
the library tries to host activ-
ities — like scavenger hunts
— that can be done over the
course of a day instead of
having everyone show up at
once.
“Those type of static
events allow us to serve
more and more people even
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she said.
As for circulation, Baldo
said the staff buys new
books for children and teens
monthly. Baldo said she
likes to take the library’s
Teen Advisory Council on
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head to Barns and Noble
in the Tri-Cities to browse
the aisles and pick out new
young adult literature for the
library.
“Quite frankly they’re
better equipped to pick out
books they want to read
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said.
The most obvious and
well-documented
effects
of Hermiston’s “youth
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system.
Enrollment in Hermiston
School District rose by
more than 200 students this
year, causing the district
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two-classroom modulars to
the 24 portable classrooms it
already has.
Deputy superintendent
Wade Smith described the
lack of permanent class-
room space for the district’s
growing population as
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Monday. The district has
been looking at possible
bond measures to address
the growth but is limited by
how much debt it can take
on until the community pays
off the district’s previous
capital construction bonds.
Preschool
is
also
expanding in Hermiston.
In March Umatilla Morrow
County Head Start received
a $780,000 grant from the
federal government to train
and certify private preschool
providers as Head Start
teachers, allowing them to
take on some of the students
that have been relegated
to a waiting list for regular
Head Start classrooms due
to the area’s high number of
preschool-aged children.
In the private sector, the
needs of a younger-than-av-
erage population also come
into play.
Nick Bejarano, director
of marketing and communi-
cations for Good Shepherd
Health Care System, said the
hospital is aware of Hermis-
ton’s young population and
is committed to doing what
is necessary to meet the
needs of local families.
Good Shepherd currently
has four fulltime and one
half-time
pediatrician,
in addition to the family
doctors who also provide
general wellness visits for
children. Bejarano said
pediatricians are hired based
on population ratios recom-
mended by organizations
like the American Medical
Association. The hospital
wants to make sure its
pediatricians are able to take
their time to get to know
each patient, he said.
“If we know our pedi-
atricians are kind of being
overwhelmed we look and
say ‘Maybe we need to hire
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———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
Mota-Sotelo and Brooks
were the only vehicle
occupants, and neither was
transported to a hospital.
Cooney said Brooks was
cited for driving while her
license was suspended.
But Jerrad Little, the OSP
trooper investigating both
wrecks, said he did not
believe impairment or
speed contributed to either
of the collisions.
Cooney said this is not
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concerns have been voiced
about the highway north of
Hermiston.
“For as many businesses
that are in there with a 55
mile per hour speed limit,
there is a higher potential for
crashes because you’ve got
a lot more people coming
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said. “It used to be a safety
so it lost its safety corridor
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The roughly four-mile
stretch from Hermiston’s
northern city limit near
Theater Lane to Highway
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as a safety corridor in
February 1997, according
to Oregon Department of
Transportation documents.
Cooney said the designated
was lifted several years
ago, but he was not sure
exactly when.
ODOT data from 1995-
2004 show seven people
were killed in crashes on
Highway 395 north of
Hermiston. From 2005-
2014, two people died in
the four-mile stretch north
of the city and two people
died in the eight-mile
section to its south.
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the city increased. Despite
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the total number of crashes
for the northern section
remained at about 215 for
both decades, but crashes
on the southern section
decreased from 736 to 609.
Tom Strandberg, an
ODOT
public
affairs
employee in La Grande,
said he believed the median
barrier installed between
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decreased the number of
wrecks on the southern
stretch.
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he said. “People were using
the middle lane for passing
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There are far more
business access points
along the highway to the
north of Hermiston than
“This is the world we
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drivers we have on the
road, the more opportunity
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Cooney said he was not
sure whether OSP has been
responding to more wrecks
lately, but Hermiston Fire
& Emergency Services
Chief Scott Stanton said the
department responded to 18
wrecks between Aug. 1 and
Oct. 27 last year and 38 in
the same period this year.
Although the actions
will not prevent all wrecks,
Cooney said drivers can
and should take precautions
to reduce the risk.
“The number one thing
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a farther distance ahead of
yourself, increase following
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