REGION
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 3A
Four fires since Friday, but no injuries
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Pendleton
firefighters
took down a garage fire
Monday in about an hour,
marking the fourth domestic
fire local agencies handled
in as many days. Fire chiefs
reported no one was injured
in any of the blazes.
Pendleton fire received
the call-out at 10:55 a.m.
for a fire at 1106 N.W. Ellis
Ave., Pendleton. Fire Chief
Mike Ciraulo said he and
the crew arrived about three
minutes later and saw flames
coming out of the east side
of a stand-alone garage and
smoke billowing from the
building.
The
above-freezing
temperatures,
he
said,
helped keep water flowing,
and firefighters entered,
extinguished the blaze and
were back in the fire depart-
ment a little after noon. No
one was injured, he said,
and the work also saved a
leaf blower, a miter saw and
other equipment.
A furnace that was on
appears to be the cause of
the fire, he said, but whether
Staff photo by Tammy Malgesini
Chief Scott Stanton of Umatilla County Fire District
No. 1 is briefed regarding an attic fire Saturday morn-
ing at 335 S.E. Fourth St., Hermiston. No injuries were
reported from the incident. Crews with the fire dis-
trict were kept busy with numerous calls during the
weekend.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Smoke billows out of the garage of a residence as Pendleton firefighters prepare to
fight the fire at 1106 N.W. Ellis on Monday in Pendleton.
it ignited items nearby or
went up on its own was
impossible to tell.
Umatilla County Fire
District 1 handled an attic
fire Saturday around 10
a.m. at 334 S.E. Fourth
St., Hermiston. Fire Chief
Scott Stanton said medical
calls for service left two
firefighters on an engine
and one commander for the
initial attack, though two
more engines and more crew
soon arrived.
“We confined the fire
just to the attic,” he said,
and smoke damaged was
minimal and no one was
injured. The work also took
about an hour. Stanton added
fire marshal Tom Bohm
determined the cause of the
fire was electrical.
And the Echo Rural
Fire Protection District
responded Saturday after-
noon to a house fire on West
Halstead Street, Echo. Chief
Delbert Gehrke credited the
homeowner with calling for
help right away.
“We were able to confine
the fire to just one room,” he
said.
Again, no one was
injured, and the cause
appeared to a candle, an
all-too-common fire starter
HERMISTON
this time of year.
Gehrke also said an
electrical problem seemed
the likely cause of the attic
fire the agency responded to
Friday morning. The all-vol-
unteer department, he said,
has been a little busy.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0833.
UMATILLA
Miller, Putnam win Christmas Spirit awards Stop leads to
drug arrest
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Two volunteers exempli-
fying the Christmas spirit were
surprised with awards Monday
by the Good Shepherd Commu-
nity Health Foundation.
Cathy Putnam and Virginia
Miller are the 2016 recipients
for the foundation’s 21st annual
Christmas Spirit award.
To keep the awards a surprise,
board members came up with the
perfect ruse to attract a communi-
ty-minded, busy volunteer: a fake
meeting of a new committee at
the Chamber of Commerce that
the awardees were invited to join.
Instead, when Miller showed
up on Monday morning she was
presented with a plaque and
poinsettias.
“You are a beacon of gener-
osity and bless our community
with your example of service
and long term dedication to the
growth and prosperity of Herm-
iston and surrounding areas,”
GSCHF board chair Liz Marvin
told Miller during the presenta-
tion.
Miller has been a volunteer
with Altrusa International of
Hermiston, the Board of Realtors,
the Umatilla County Department
of Land Use Planning and the
Ford Leadership Program. She
was an active participant in the
remodel and re-purposing of the
Umatilla Community Center.
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Virginia Miller was presented with the Good
Shepherd Community Health Foundation’s
Spirit of Christmas award on Monday.
Cathy Putnam was presented with the Good
Shepherd Community Health Foundation’s
Spirit of Christmas award on Monday.
She is also a meal preparer at
the Open Table at First United
Methodist
Church,
which
involves planning, shopping for
and serving hot meals three times
a month for Hermiston residents
in need.
According to the plaque
Miller received, she is “always
the first to volunteer and assist
in any way to improve the lives
of those around her” and her
benevolence and enthusiasm for
life is infectious.
Marvin and GSCHF director
Bob Green caught up with
Putnam, the second honoree,
at work at Carlson Drug in
Umatilla, which she owns.
Marvin presented her with a
plaque recognizing her “consid-
erable talents and abilities” that
she uses to support the commu-
nity.
“Her caring attitude is
evidenced by the many times she
has delivered medication to resi-
dents after a long day’s work,”
Marvin read from the award.
“She has been known to open
the pharmacy on many occasions
after hours just to provide medi-
cation and expertise to many who
are in need.”
Putnam mentors young people
in her community, is on the board
of directors for Eastern Oregon
Mission (which runs Agape
House and Martha’s House)
and visits Sun Terrace residents
regularly before work to chat and
lend a listening ear.
The Good Shepherd Commu-
nity Health Foundation takes
nominations for the awards,
which are voted on each winter
by the foundation’s board.
———
Contact Jade McDowell at
jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com
or 541-564-4536.
HERMISTON
Made to Thrive gets holiday equipment donation
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
More of Hermiston’s underpriv-
eleged students will get a chance
to play sports next year after three
local businesses donated gear to
the nonprofit Made to Thrive.
The organization, which started
in Hermiston three years ago,
provides the fees, equipment,
transportation and other support
for students from needy families
to be able to participate in extra-
curricular activities.
U.S. Cellular, Wal-Mart and
Obie’s Coffee donated boxes of
sports equipment and athletic
wear as well as money to Made to
Thrive on Friday, just in time for
Christmas.
U.S. Cellular representatives
said the aim of the donation was
to help students in the community,
but also to help bring more visi-
bility to the charity and encourage
others to contribute their own
donations or volunteer power.
“At U.S. Cellular, we aim to
give back to our local community
and what better way than helping
Contributed Photo by U.S. Cellular
Made to Thrive volunteers help unload donations made by U.S.
Cellular, Wal-Mart and Obie’s Coffee.
children find productive and
fun outlets after school,” Erryn
Andersen, director of sales in the
northwest region, said in a news
release.
Kriss Dammeyer, founder
and director of Made to Thrive,
said the boxes donated filled two
tables.
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Some of the items will be used
for holiday gifts for participating
children, while basics like socks,
granola bars and water bottles
will be given to volunteers to send
with their students when they
drop them off at practices and
classes. Dammeyer said students
participating in Made to Thrive
often show up to sports practices
in worn-out shoes with no socks
underneath.
“We don’t like to send them out
to an activity hungry and unpre-
pared,” she said.
Two laptops that were donated
will go to high school students
served by Made to Thrive who are
working hard to better themselves.
Currently Dammeyer has about
35 regular volunteers and serves
300 students. The community
support means a lot, she said.
“It was really neat to see
multiple
businesses
come
together,” she said. “When
people come together great things
happen.”
She said the organization’s
volunteers are what make Made
to Thrive possible, and they could
always use more with “a heart for
kids.”
For
more
information
visit madetothrive.org or call
Dammeyer at 541-571-6169.
———
Contact Jade McDowell at
jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com
or 541-564-4536.
The Umatilla County Sheriff’s
Office from Dec. 9 to Jan. 1 is running
extra patrols to catch intoxicated
drivers. That work seems to be paying
off.
Deputy Nathan Rankin at about
7:30 p.m. Friday stopped a driver
going the wrong way on a one-way
street near Umatilla, the sheriff’s office
reported in a written statement. That
led to Rankin arresting Oscar Garcia,
21, of Paterson, Washington, for
driving under the influence of intox-
icants, reckless driving and driving
while suspended.
The state suspended his license,
according to the sheriff’s office, for a
previous DUII arrest.
Rankin brought in a second intoxi-
cated driver after a stop Sunday around
1 a.m. on Highway 395 near Joy Lane,
Hermiston.
Rankin pulled over a vehicle on
suspicion of impaired driving. The
driver, Whitney Diane Sanders, 19, of
Hermiston, refused to identify herself,
said she smoked “pot,” the sheriff’s
office reported, and would not get out
of the vehicle.
Rankin found a glass pipe in her
jacket, along with stereo equipment,
a full container of gas, multiple sets
of tools, and a wallet with a Colorado
identification, which did not belong to
Sanders or her passenger.
The sheriff’s office also stated
Sanders received text messages during
the stop, including one requesting
drugs.
Rankin took Sanders to the
Umatilla County Jail, Pendleton, along
with passenger Giovanni Sanchez, 23,
of Hermiston, who had a warrant for
his arrest. Deputies at the jail found
two packages of possible methamphet-
amine in Sanders’ possession.
She faces charges of DUII, failure
to display a driver’s license, contempt
of court, possession and delivery of
methamphetamine, and supplying
contraband.
Spaghetti feed planned
for Echo fire victims
East Oregonian
In place of its regular school board
meeting today, the Echo School
District will host a spaghetti dinner
fundraiser to help the Echo residents
affected in a structure fire last Friday
morning.
No one was injured in the fire, which
burned through an attic in a home on
Dale Street, but the home sustained
heavy smoke and water damage.
The fundraiser is open to the public
and will be from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Echo
School Commons. The school board
meeting has been rescheduled for 6
p.m. Monday, January 2, 2017.
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