REGION
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
East Oregonian
HERMISTON
Page 3A
HERMISTON
City spreads the love with cleanup day Council postpones
discussion about
Conference Center
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
There was less garbage
and more love in Hermiston
Saturday after volunteers
came out in force to support
the biggest I Love My City
event yet.
Community
members
washed cars, picked up litter,
collected old tires and helped
wherever else they were
needed Saturday to spruce
up the city and show their
neighbors they cared.
“I volunteered and said
‘put me anywhere,’” said
Nikki Griffin.
Saturday morning she
was manning the plastics
trailer at the city’s free recy-
cling event, helping unload
broken slides and other large
items people were trying to
get rid of.
Over at miscellaneous
trailer, which held an old
Jacuzzi and several pieces of
broken furniture, high school
students Justin Shasteen and
Anani Medina said they were
having fun tossing items up
into the trailer.
“It makes you feel good
you’re helping someone who
would normally do this by
themselves,” Shasteen said.
The I Love My City
campaign began last fall,
when members of Hermiston
Assembly of God felt they
needed to do more to help
heal the community from
tragedies that had recently
struck. The congregations
of New Hope Community
Church and the Templo of Fe
Esparanza Y Amor joined in
for Saturday’s event, which
also drew other members of
the community who simply
wanted to serve.
The churches hope to do
some sort of I Love My City
event in Hermiston every
90 days. The goal of each
event is, as one organizer
told volunteers at the start
of the morning, to “bless
your community” and show
people they are loved.
Alberta Wilkerson of
New Hope Community
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Volunteers for the I Love My City event unload scrap metal in the UEC parking lot
as part of the city’s free recycling event. More photos online at eastoregonian.com.
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Volunteers for the I Love My City event clean up
downtown Hermiston on Saturday.
Church said she volunteered
because she has lived in
Hermiston for 42 years and
wants to give back.
“I just like our city and
want to take care of it,” she
said.
Wilkerson was bent over
in the blowing dust along
the railroad tracks that run
through town on Saturday,
pulling pieces of garbage out
of the dirt and adding them
to her plastic bag. She said
there was broken glass and
wire everywhere along the
tracks.
“I even found an old
license plate,” she said.
Farther downtown, just
off of Main Street, Gail
Sargent was one of the swarm
of volunteers pulling weeds
from cracks in the side-
walks. Others nearby were
sweeping bark dust back into
planters and collecting piles
of dead leaves from along
the curbs.
Sargent said she believed
everyone living in a commu-
nity has a responsibility to
get out and help improve it.
“What we’re hoping
is that we’ll get everyone
involved, to get out and do
something to make their city
great,” she said.
Many parents brought
their children along to the
event, particularly at the
free car washes is several
locations around town. At
Les Schwab Tires, Jennifer
Sword was scrubbing dirt off
vehicles with her children
Emmylou, 4, and Tucker, 9.
“I hope they learn to help
others, and to show that Jesus
loves everyone,” she said.
After Saturday’s event,
volunteers attended a joint
worship service at 10 a.m.
Sunday at the Eastern
Oregon Trade and Event
Center.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
PENDLETON
School board chair claims dancing title
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Courtesy photo by Tori Bowman
Debbie McBee, center left in the blue dress, is
presented with the grand prize for winning Danc-
ing With Your Pendleton Stars at the Vert Auditorium
Saturday. In her hands is an earlier prize she won for
raising the most money for charity.
performance raised money
for Pioneer Relief Nursery.
Donning an even more
elaborate costume, Pend-
leton fire chief Mike Ciraulo
twirled his way through his
SUBMIT COMMUNITY NEWS
Submit information to: community@eastoregonian.
com or drop off to the attention of Tammy Malgesini at
333 E. Main St., Hermiston or Renee Struthers at 211
S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton. Call 541-564-4539 or 541-
966-0818 with questions.
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Facing
competition
with faster-paced routines,
Debbie McBee waltzed
away with a clean sweep
at the Dancing With Your
Pendleton Stars.
At the charity event
at the Vert Auditorium
Saturday, McBee, the chair
of the Pendleton School
Board, was recognized for
raising the most money,
receiving the highest score
from the panel of judges and
garnering the most votes
from the audience.
In its third year, Dancing
with
your
Pendleton
Stars aims to recreate the
experience of the televised
celebrity dance competition
“Dancing With the Stars” at
a local level.
Like its Hollywood
counterpart, Dancing With
Your Pendleton Stars pairs
local community members
with professional dancers,
in this case, members of
the Utah Ballroom Dance
Company.
Each competitor raises
money for the local charity
of their choice in the weeks
leading up to the event
and all ticket proceeds go
to the Community Action
Program of East Central
Oregon.
McBee danced for the
nonprofit she founded,
the Children’s Museum of
Eastern Oregon, performing
a waltz to “Moon River”
from the 1961 film “Break-
fast at Tiffany’s.”
Danny Bane, the founder
of Lost & Found Youth
Outreach, danced for United
Way of Umatilla County,
swaying his hips during a
swing performance set to
Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse
Rock.”
Bedecked in a fedora
and suit, Scott Fairley, a
Pendleton city councilor
and Eastern Oregon coor-
dinator for the governor’s
office of regional solutions,
played the role of Inspector
Clouseau in a foxtrot
performance set to the
“Pink Panther” theme. His
Viennese waltz performance
as Captain Jack Sparrow in
the name of Pendleton Preg-
nancy Care Services, with a
“Pirates of the Caribbean”
theme.
For the benefit of Young
Life of Eastern Oregon,
Donna Biggerstaff, an
executive assistant for the
city of Pendleton, under-
went multiple lifts during a
mambo set to “I’ve Had the
Time of My Life.”
Rounding out the field
was Pendleton High School
culinary arts teacher Kristin
Swaggart, who tangoed to
the James Bond theme for
the Pendleton Warming
Station.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.
Hermiston
residents
will have to wait to find
out the city’s plans for the
Hermiston
Conference
Center, as the decision
for what to do with the
building in 2018 was post-
poned at Monday night’s
city council meeting.
Although the meeting
originally called for a
discussion about whether
to allow the Parks and
Recreation
Department
to operate the conference
center, no debate was had
because three council
members and Mayor
David Drotzmann were
absent.
Nevertheless
some
citizens spoke about the
future of the building.
Liz Marvin, a counselor
at Hermiston High School,
said she hopes people will
realize the city has use for
the conference center and
the newly-built Eastern
Oregon Trade and Event
Center.
“I hope it’s not
construed as an ‘either/
or,’” Marvin said. “I think
we have use for both.
I don’t want it to be a
divided camp.”
The
Hermiston
Conference Center has
been located downtown
at 415 S. Hwy. 395 since
1994, when community
members began looking
for a building to hold
events, meetings and other
activities. The Hermiston
Chamber of Commerce
helped raise more than
$600,000 in donations
to remodel the building,
which they currently
operate. Last month,
chamber staff were notified
that the city did not plan to
renew their contract for
running the conference
center in 2018.
Last week, assistant city
manager Mark Morgan
said plans to have the
city’s parks and recreation
department take over oper-
ations for the center would
be discussed at a future
council meeting. The plan,
he said, was to continue
using the building as a
conference center, but have
it run by city staff instead
of through a contract with
the chamber of commerce.
Morgan also said the
city was renovating the
basement of the Carnegie
Library at 215 East Gladys
Avenue, and that starting
Jan. 1, 2018, that space
would be available to the
chamber.
Earlier this month,
the chamber released
a prepared statement
reminding people that
there would still be
a Greater Hermiston
Chamber of Commerce,
and it is separate from
city government and the
conference center.
“Many folks associate
the chamber and confer-
ence center as one and
the same, and we have
enjoyed working with
all the groups who have
utilized the conference
center over the years,”
the statement said. “Our
chamber members will
continue to be our main
focus. In the meantime
the chamber will continue
to manage the conference
center with assistance
from the city.”
Other news:
• At Monday’s meeting,
the council discussed
the success of the I Love
My City and recycling
events this weekend, and
reminded people that there
will be a Hazardous Waste
Materials recycling event
April 22 at EOTEC.
• The city also approved
a request from Morgan to
apply for grant funding
for the Federal Avia-
tion Administration to
complete some projects in
Hermiston Airport’s long-
range development plan.
Projects include resur-
facing the runway, reha-
bilitating the taxiway and
adding water and sewer
abilities to serve EOTEC,
which borders the airport.
The grant application will
cost $3,300, Morgan said.
• Council President
Doug Primmer encour-
aged people to attend the
memorial of Staff Sgt.
Austin Bieren, a Umatilla
resident who died March
28 in Syria. The service
will be Saturday, April 15
at Umatilla High School at
1 p.m.
———
Contact
Jayati
Ramakrishnan at 541-564-
4534 or jramakrishnan@
eastoregonian.com
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