REGION
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
PENDLETON
Letters to Santa in the mail
Family Day follows
Festival of Trees
Hessel promoted
to district forester
and Malheur counties.
“I am very excited about
A new leader is in charge my new role,” Hessel said.
of the Oregon Department “I am honored to have the
of Forestry’s Northeast opportunity to work with a
great group of professional
Oregon District.
and very dedi-
Joe
Hessel,
cated employees.”
who has worked
Hessel
also
in the district
acts as operations
for more than
chief for one of
30 years, was
ODF’s incident
promoted
to
management
district forester
teams, responding
Dec. 1 following
to wildfires and
the retirement of
other emergencies
John Buckman.
in the woods. Part
Most recently,
of his new posi-
Hessel
had Joe Hessel
tion, he said, will
served as the unit
forester for the La Grande be continuing to address
and Baker units. Now he the challenges in fire and
will oversee management forestry across northeast
of the entire district, which Oregon.
“Continuing the strong
spans approximately 2
million acres of private tradition of providing a high
forest lands in Umatilla, level of service to private
Union, Baker and Wallowa landowners and the Oregon
counties, as well as small public is at the top of my
portions of Morrow, Grant list,” Hessel said.
PENDLETON
Staff photo by George Plaven
Roger Ward, 6, writes a letter to Santa Claus while his sister, 8-year-old Laura, peeks
over his shoulder during the Pendleton Festival of Trees Family Day Saturday.
Staff photo by George Plaven
Five-year-old Ilana Pitt mails her letter to Santa Claus
during the Pendleton Festival of Trees Family Day.
Robin Ward’s husband,
J.D., works as a doctor in
obstetrics and gynecology
at the St. Anthony Hospital
Women’s Clinic. Their
family moved to Pendleton
just a few months ago, and
Ward said they have been
impressed by the town’s
strong sense of community.
“It’s cool that they do all
this stuff for the kids. They
love it,” she said. “I think
it helps them to appreciate
where they live.”
Across
the
table,
6-year-old Jocelyn Arizaga
was asking Santa for
American Girl dolls, and
5-year-old Ilana Pitt wanted
gummy bears and a type of
toy called “hatchers.”
“They’re little eggs that
crack open with a dragon that
does fun things, or a pretty
bird,” Pitt said.
Pitt’s mother, Jill, said
they are already excited for
Christmas.
“We listened to Christmas
music this morning, and she
wants to decorate Christmas
ornaments,” she said.
Santa Claus could not
be reached for comment
Saturday, as he was busy
in his workshop. However,
a North Pole spokesman
confirmed Eastern Oregon
children are, once again, on
the nice list this year.
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
HERMISTON
Stardust takes home hip-hop championship
“They just know how to make
you believe them. They know
how to sell it.”
The first-place prize was
an improvement over 2015,
when the team took third
place at the same competi-
tion. Now that the fall dance
season is over the team will
start working on a jazz routine
to perform at the OSAA
championships in the spring.
———
Contact Jade McDowell at
jmcdowell@eastoregonian.
com or 541-564-4536.
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Hermiston High School’s
dance team Stardust came out
on top in the hip-hop category
during a statewide competi-
tion this weekend.
Ashley
Seibel,
who
coaches the team along with
Laura Sanchez and Jake
Royer, said the team had 16
girls and two boys competing
in hip-hop, with another four
students who only perform in
the team’s jazz numbers.
“I’ve been coaching eight
years and this is the largest
team I’ve coached to date,”
she said.
The category champion-
ships hosted by the Dance and
Drill Coaches Association at
Greshman High School on
Saturday were invite-only
based on scores at prequali-
fying competitions.
On Saturday the team
danced to a medley of hip-hop
songs by Beyonce, Drake,
Missy Elliot and Lil Jon.
“It’s slow and sultry at the
beginning and in-your-face
crazy at the end,” Seibel said
of the routine.
The routine was choreo-
graphed by senior Alex
Anteau, who had impressed
Seibel with her choreography
work as an intern at the dance
studio Dance Unlimited.
“She did really well so I
said to her, ‘You’re really good
at this, let’s give it a try and see
what you can do,’” Seibel said.
She said Anteau proved
her talent is “immeasurable”
and she will “continue to have
a home with our coaching
staff, long after she graduates
this year.”
Anteau said she loves
choreography and dance, and
hopes to someday have a job
that allows her to do both. She
practiced that as both a dancer
in Saturday’s routine and its
choreographer.
“At practice I would be
dancing with them, and then
step out and see how it was
going,” she said. “It gets kind
Page 3A
East Oregonian
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Roger Ward had a pecu-
liar request while writing
his letter to Santa Claus on
Saturday.
This year for Christmas,
the 6-year-old kindergartener
said he wants a remote-con-
trolled airplane and Xbox,
but Ward was even more
excited to ask the big guy for
a Venus flytrap.
“Because there’s, like,
tons of flies all over the
house!” he said, which got a
laugh from his mom, Robin.
Filling out letters to Santa
was just one of the activities
for kids during Family Day
at the annual Pendleton
Festival of Trees. There were
also photos with Santa, deco-
rating cookies, making orna-
ments and live entertainment
on stage at the Pendleton
Convention Center.
The Festival of Trees,
presented by St. Anthony
Hospital, held its gala and
fundraiser
Friday
with
proceeds going to the Pioneer
Relief Nursery. Trees that
went up for auction featured
themes such as “Merry
Mason Jar Christmas,”
“Camo Christmas” and “A
Wild Fireside Campout.”
Hospital spokesman Larry
Blanc said attendance was
similar to the 2015 event,
which raised $34,000. He
said they hoped to bring in a
similar figure this year.
Family Day continued
Saturday, with free activities
designed to get the commu-
nity into the holiday spirit.
“It’s to start out the winter
season and celebrations,”
said event coordinator Kate
Peck. “We just encourage
families to come out and
have some fun.”
Letters to Santa was
sponsored by the Children’s
Museum of Eastern Oregon.
Robin Ward sat at the table
next to Roger to help him
with spelling before he
scurried to drop his sheet into
the large green “North Pole
Express” mailbox.
East Oregonian
Photo contributed by Ashley Seibel
The Hermiston High School dance team Stardust
poses with their hip-hop championship trophy at
Gresham High School.
of complicated.”
Anteau said she wishes
more people understood how
much hard work dancing
takes and how dedicated the
members of Stardust are.
In addition to singing
Anteau’s praises, Seibel also
said she was proud of the rest
of the team.
“They are projection
powerhouses,” she said.
“They are projec-
tion powerhouses.
They just know how
to make you believe
them. They know
how to sell it.”
— Ashley Seibel,
HHS dance team coach
We will be closed on
Mondays starting
January 2nd 2017.
125 S. Main, Pendleton, OR 97801
(541) 276-9292 • penbkco@eotnet.net
Fire erupts at Rocky
Mountain Colby Pipe
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Pendleton firefighters
endured chilly weather to
combat a blaze overnight in
an industrial dumpster.
Pendleton Fire Chief
Mike Ciraulo said the
department received the
emergency call-out Monday
at 2:27 a.m. for the fire at
Rocky Mountain Colby
Pipe Co., 4650 McKennon
Road, Pendleton.
“It took a considerable
amount of resources to get
it under control,” he said.
Crews dumped around
2,000 gallons of water
and foam on the fire, he
said, and personnel had
to make a trip back to the
fire station to deliver more
foam. Getting that much
water and foam on the
flames took every on-duty
worker to haul hoses and
coordinate the effort.
Ciraulo also said the
26-degree weather compli-
cated matters, causing water
to freeze on the ground. The
department wrapped up the
work around 4 a.m.
Ciraulo said Colby Pipe
employees reported fires
in the dumpster during
the past three days, and
material may have been
continuously
burning.
Workers then dumped hot
material in the dumpster,
which ignited the fire.
Pendleton fire also noti-
fied the Oregon Department
of Environmental Quality
due to the burning plastic
and runoff from extin-
guishing the fire. Colby
Pipe is near the Umatilla
River, but Ciraulo said the
water ran into a ditch and
froze.
The city can fine busi-
nesses that have a history
of fires, the chief explained,
but that isn’t the case with
Colby Pipe, at least in the
year since he took on the
job. The city prefers to
educate first, he said, and
the lesson here is not to add
hot materials to waste.
The company declined
to comment for the story.
PENDLETON
Fire chief to discuss bond proposal
East Oregonian
Chief Mike Ciraulo of
the Pendleton Fire Depart-
ment will share information
about the spring bond
proposal for a new building
during the Round-Up
Republican
Women’s
meeting.
The public is invited to
the no-host luncheon gath-
ering, which is Thursday
at 11:45 a.m. at the Red
Lion, 304 S.E. Nye Ave.,
Pendleton. The meal is
$11 per person. Also,
donations will be accepted
for the Pendleton Warming
Station — people can give
cash, checks, individually
wrapped snacks, coffee
or hot chocolate packets
or warm weather clothing
items.
For more information
or to RSVP for he meeting,
contact rounduprepublican-
women@hushmail.com or
541-276-1206.