REGION
Friday, May 20, 2016
Crossroads
bookstore to close
PENDLETON —
Crossroads Books & More
will close June 18, leaving
only one bookstore in
Pendleton.
Mark and Colleen Yeske
have owned the Christian
book and gift store at
604 S.W. Dorion Ave. for
roughly half of its 16-year
life, employing three
part-time workers and two
on-call employees.
While customers and
churches continued to
support Crossroads, Mark
Yeske said the overhead
and changes in shopping
habits were simply too
much.
Comparing Crossroads’
situation to that of the
recently closed Armchair
Books, Mark Yeske said
developments like the
minimum wage increase
and the migration of
customers to big box stores
and the internet, meant
their small brick-and-
mortar store was becoming
increasingly unprofi table.
In addition to selling
Christian-themed literature
and merchandise, the
Yeskes said they’ll miss
the spiritual guidance they
were able to offer some of
their patrons.
“We’ve always kept it as
a ministry to the people,”
Mark Yeske said.
Colleen Yeske said
some people came in just
to ask for someone to pray
with them.
Following the closure of
Armchair and impending
end of Crossroads, Pend-
leton Book Co. will be the
only bookstore in town.
Second student-
built home for
sale
HERMISTON —
Hermiston’s second
student-built home is up
for sale.
The home was built
by Hermiston, Umatilla
and Stanfi eld high school
students — mentored
by local industry profes-
sionals — as part of the
Columbia Basin Student
Homebuilders Program.
It is being shown
by Natallee Turner of
Universal Realty. Appoint-
ments for viewing can be
scheduled by contacting
Turner at 541-922-8861.
The 2,295-square-foot
house is known as Field-
stone #2 and is located
on the West Angus Court
cul-de-sac behind Armand
Larive Middle School. It
includes three bedrooms
and two bathrooms, plus
an offi ce/den that could
be converted into a fourth
bedroom. It exceeds
Energy Trust of Oregon
standards for energy
effi ciency.
Westland
Irrigation District
meets Monday
HERMISTON — The
Westland Irrigation District
Board of Directors will
meet Monday, May 23 at 1
p.m. at the Stafford Hansell
Government Center in
Hermiston.
On the agenda is an
update on projected water
allocations for users from
McKay Reservoir. The
board will also discuss the
ongoing Central Project,
part of a multi-phase
effort to pump additional
irrigation water from the
Columbia River. Items
include water rights
permits, state funding and a
timeline for 2017.
For more information,
contact the district offi ce at
541-667-2030.
Fiddle students
present concert
PENDLETON —
Students in fi ddle classes
at Pendleton Center for the
Arts will present a fi nal
concert of the year.
The free event is
Monday at 6 p.m. at 214
N. Main St., Pendleton.
The performance will
feature students from age
5 through high school. In
addition, students from the
rhythm class will join the
fi ddlers on a Virginia reel.
Parents are encouraged
to bring children who may
be interested in joining a
class in the fall.
“Young beginners will
progress much faster if
they are already aware
of and excited about the
fact that kids can play real
music on real instruments,”
said Peg Willis, violin
instructor.
For more information,
contact Willis at
fi ddlepeg@gmail.com
or call the arts center at
541-278-9201.
Community
conversations
seek input
MILTON-
FREEWATER —
Residents of the Walla
Walla Valley, including
Milton-Freewater, are
invited to participate in
upcoming community
conversations to create a
vision for the future and
share ideas.
Community values,
regional assets and a
vision for the future will
be discussed Tuesday
from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at
the Milton-Freewater
Community Building,
109 N.E. Fifth St.
Refreshments will be
served at 5 p.m. Child care
and Spanish translation
will be provided.
A follow-up workshop
is planned Tuesday,
June 21 to review the
fi rst session and further
defi ne priorities. A third
workshop, designed
to bring everyone in
the region together —
including Columbia and
Walla Walla counties and
Milton-Freewater — will
be held in the fall.
For more information,
contact director@
wwcommunitycouncil.org
or 509-540-6720.
Gas leak reported near Hermiston
East Oregonian
Hermiston Fire & Emer-
gency Services and Cascade
Natural Gas responded to
a natural gas leak on Ott
Road northeast of Hermiston
Thursday morning.
Lt. Dennis McClure said
a homeowner had been
attempting to move a gas
pipe near their house when
the supply line to the meter
broke, allowing gas to seep
into the ground and the base-
ment of the house.
Fire department personnel
blocked traffi c on the road
as a Cascade crew worked
to fi x the problem, and the
crew had managed to dig a
hole and crimp the line shut
within about 20 minutes of
responding. McClure said
the house was being secured
for the next six hours to keep
anyone from going in or out
while the gas dissipated, but
the road is no longer blocked
off.
He encouraged people
to be cautious when dealing
Staff photo Jade McDowell
A fi refi ghter turns traffi c around at the site of a possible gas leak on Ott Road north
of Highway 207 Thursday morning.
with natural gas, staying
away from disturbing meters
and lines where possible and
making sure the gas is shut
off before attempting any
projects.
Grants boost BMCC programs for fringe students
East Oregonian
Blue Mountain Commu-
nity College recently received
two major grants to help the
college better serve under-rep-
resented, low-income and
fi rst-generation students — the
Community College Student
Success grant in the amount
of $98,889 and a grant from
Oregon Campus Compact
to fund an AmeriCorp Vista
member at the college.
The Community College
Student Success grant is
funded through the Support
for Oregon’s Community
Colleges and Community
College Foundation. BMCC
was one of nine community
colleges selected. BMCC’s
project “Enter Early to
Learn, Earn, Succeed and
Serve” supports historically
under-served,
low-income
and fi rst-generation students
still in high school who are
enrolled in early college credit
through to college matricula-
tion and fi rst-year-experience
programming.
A BMCC support team
will provide outreach to these
students to assist with course
selection, college funding
options, matriculation to
BMCC after graduating from
high school, and ongoing
support once fully matricu-
lated. As part of this grant, the
BMCC Foundation contrib-
Contributed photo by Leah Smith
Hermiston High School FFA’s ag communications team
is Emily Vandehey, Dylan Westfall, Claire Wilson and
Shasta Jundt.
uted need-based scholarship
funds to assist students with
the cost of tuition, books, fees,
and other education-related
expenses.
A second grant from
Oregon Campus Compact will
fund a full-time AmeriCorps
Vista member who will work
40 hours a week for a year
starting in August. Campus
Compact provides $11,676
directly to the AmeriCorp
Vista member as a stipend for
the project. Vista members
receive training, support,
and mentoring from Campus
Compact. BMCC will provide
the project, guidance and a
site supervisor for the VISTA
member. BMCC’s goal is to
recruit a Vista member from
the local region.
The person chosen will
create a service learning
program for students, with
the goal of promoting a
campus culture of community
engagement that encourages
students from under-served,
minority, and lower socioeco-
nomic communities to access
opportunities for early fi eld
experiences through commu-
nity partners in Northeast
Oregon. These experiences
will increase students’ capital
in the labor market.
Applications to become
the Vista member at BMCC
are open now: www.oregon-
campuscompact.org.
Contributed photo by Leah Smith
Hermiston High School FFA’s food sciences team is
Wyatt Paschal, Sydnee Miller, Jessica Smelser and
Lainey Anderson.
Two Hermiston FFA teams take fi rst at state
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Two Hermiston High
School FFA teams are headed
to national competition this
fall, after taking fi rst place at
the state level.
The
agricultural
communications team and
food sciences team won
their categories at the state
competition at Oregon State
University May 2-3. They
will compete against other
state champions in Indianap-
olis this fall.
The agricultural commu-
nications team includes
sophomore Dylan Westfall,
junior Shasta Jundt, senior
Emily Vandehey and senior
Claire Wilson. The food
sciences team is made up
of senior Lainey Anderson,
junior Wyatt Paschal, senior
Sydnee Miller and senior
Jessica Smelser.
The
communications
team competed individually
through a multiple choice
test, an editing quiz, practi-
cums (such as writing a press
release or creating a video)
and then completed a group
presentation. The Hermiston
team chose to do their
presentation on Boardman’s
SAGE Center.
Westfall said he enjoyed
the chance to learn commu-
nications skills that were
coming in handy in his
classes.
Wilson said that coming
back to win this year was
especially
meaningful,
because last year her team
was named fi rst place on
stage but was later notifi ed
that there had been a scoring
error and they had actually
come in second.
“When we won I cried
onstage,” she said. “It was a
good moment.”
The food sciences team
went through fi ve individual
competitions,
including
taste tests, tests to identify
fl avors by smell, and tests
about food handling prac-
tices. They also had a team
competition where they were
given a challenge to invent a
product using a list of ingre-
dients they were given, then
create plans for marketing,
packaging and production.
The team prepared for
competition
under
the
coaching of Melissa Ney,
Umatilla County Public
Health environmental health
supervisor. She took the team
on a couple of restaurant
inspections so that they could
see how the process works.
“It gave us new knowl-
edge and consideration of
what goes into the food
industry,” Smelser said.
Anderson said the team
was excited to compete
against an even higher
caliber of students at the
national competition in the
fall.
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HERMISTON — A
Hermiston shooting victim
is out of the hospital, but
landed in jail instead on an
unrelated charge.
Adalberto Garcia Flores,
20, of Hermiston was
taken into custody Tuesday
by Hermiston Police
Department on a circuit
court warrant for failure to
appear. He was previously
charged with unlawful
possession of a fi rearm.
Flores was one of two
people shot at an apartment
complex in the 600 block
of Southeast Fourth Street
on May 8 after two parties
exchanged gunfi re in
the early morning hours.
The other victim was a
17-year-old male, also of
Hermiston, who has not
been identifi ed. Both were
taken to Good Shepherd
Medical Center and later
another hospital, police
reported.
If the warrant had been
served on Flores while he
was still in the hospital,
law enforcement would
have been responsible for
medical bills accrued while
Flores was in their custody.
Hermiston Police Chief
Jason Edmiston said he
requested a rush on all
of the forensic evidence
connected to the shooting,
but did not have anything
further to report on the case
yet.
For a full list of the
house’s amenities, visit
hermiston.k12.or.us.
Members of the public
who are curious about the
home but not necessarily
interested in purchasing
it are invited to an open
house June 3 from 1-6
p.m. where the student
builders will be available
for questions.
ndRo
Shooting victim
arrested on
unrelated warrant
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