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SUE GIBSON
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2016
141st Year, No. 28
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Daniel
Wattenburger
Comment
Gratitude
isn’t
meant to
be easy
Y
ou say “please”
when you want
something and
“thank you” when you
get it.
For children of polite
police parents, if the
password isn’t spoken
the reward is withheld.
It’s a simple verbal
transaction taught to
toddlers and expected to
lead to a lifetime of good
manners.
But we know manners
aren’t the same as
graciousness. Saying
thank you is part of,
but not the entirety of,
being thankful — just
like apologizing isn’t
the same as asking
forgiveness and talking
the talk isn’t the same as
walking the walk.
In other words, being
thankful is hard work,
and often runs counter
to our nature. It can’t
be forced upon us or
required of us, but can be
practiced.
So on Thanksgiving,
a uniquely American
holiday dedicated to
gratitude and humility,
let’s practice. I’ll start
here.
I’m thankful for my
job, my family and this
country.
Too easy. I’ll try
again.
I’m thankful that
local newspapers still
exist, and that the one
covering my hometown
of Hermiston had an
opening when I needed
a job more than a decade
ago. I’m thankful that
the people I’ve worked
with along the way
have believed in me
and supported me. I’m
thankful that we have a
community interested
enough in their neighbors
and community to
support our publication.
I’m also thankful for
See GRATITUDE/8A
Four Japanese restaurants
open in Umatilla County
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The Round-Up Roll at Momiji Sushi and Hibachi in Pendleton.
By PHIL WRIGHT
and JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Chef Reno Lin recog-
nized sushi would swim in
Pendleton, so in the spring
he helped open Momiji
Sushi & Hibachi.
Momiji was the fi rst
restaurant to offer Japanese
cuisine in Umatilla County.
That has paved the way for
Mitori Teriyaki in Pendleton
and two other sushi estab-
lishments to Hermiston. All
four will occupy sites that
last housed Mexican restau-
rants.
Lin, 28, said he fell head
over fi n for sushi years ago.
“It’s so simple, yet tasty,”
he said, and without mono-
sodium glutamate (MSG) or
other additives or spices.
Lin is from China and
was living in Tokyo when
his study and preparation
of sushi began six-and-
half years ago under a
master sushi chef he called
Kobayashi.
While
his
English is fair, he asked his
friend, Angie Zhang, to help
translate during an interview
Tuesday. Zhang said her
father, Steven Zhang, and
Lin were the master’s only
students.
(Zhang said Reno is not
Lin’s original name but an
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Sushi chef Reno Lin plates a dragonfl y roll while working at Momiji Sushi and Hibachi recently in Pendleton.
homage to his fi rst sushi
master who had an affi nity
for the Nevada city.)
Lin smiled when he
recalled the Tsukiji Market
in central Tokyo, the world’s
largest
wholesale
fi sh
market, and the sheer variety
of fi sh there. Yet Tokyo, he
said, was a constant din he
did not enjoy.
Two years later, he landed
in New York City and
continued to refi ne his skills.
Life there also was “every
day busy, busy, busy,” he
said.
He then trekked to Wash-
ington, where he worked as
a sushi chef in Walla Walla
and the Tri-Cities. Plenty of
diners, he said, made the trip
from Pendleton.
Zhang said Lin talked to
her father about the possi-
bility of opening a Japanese
See SUSHI/8A
One family’s journey of grief
How
to help
children
grieve
Cason’s Place will
provide haven for
grieving children
and their families
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Cason Terjeson loved the
crooning of Frank Sinatra.
If his life had a theme song,
Cason once said, it would be
Ol’ Blue Eyes’ “My Way.”
“He reveled in his nerdi-
ness,” said Cason’s father,
Matt.
The teenager sported a
fedora hat and had ency-
clopedic recall of show
tunes, Weird Al Yankovic
lyrics and Greek mythology.
He competed in Pokémon
tournaments at the world
level, but lacked the killer
instinct — he often took
inexperienced competitors
under his wing. He attracted
friends with ease, earned top
grades and had aspirations
of being an engineer. His
family moved from Pend-
leton to Hawaii and then
to Beaverton, but Cason
returned to his family’s
Helix wheat farm each
summer to work alongside
his grandparents, uncles and
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
the accident became the
dividing line between before
and after. In the aftermath,
Matt, Jan and Lydia fell
into the disorienting funk of
grief.
Children don’t experi-
ence grief quite the same
way as adults.
“Children pop in and
out of pain and sadness,”
said children’s coun-
selor and author Donna
Schuurman. “Adults tend
to be more steeped in
their grief — they don’t
bounce in and out as
much and often sleepwalk
through their grief.”
This is Children’s
Grief Awareness Month,
a time to consider the
needs of these sometimes
forgotten mourners.
Schuurman,
author
of the book “Never the
Same: Coming to Terms
with the Death of a
Parent,” knows a little
See CASON/8A
See GRIEF/8A
Photo by Jerry Baker
Matt, Jan and Lydia Terjeson pose with a photo of Cason, who died in a farm
accident at age 16.
cousins.
On July 14, 2007, Cason
maneuvered a truck loaded
with wheat down a steep
dirt road at the farm. When
the engine died, along with
the brakes and steering, the
16-year-old fought to control
the heavy vehicle as it hit a
curve. The truck tipped and
slammed into a dirt bank.
Cason died.
For Cason’s 12-year-old
sister Lydia Terjeson, and
parents Matt Terjeson and
Jan
Peterson-Terjeson,