BULLDOGS
FINISH
STRONG
89/48
SPORTS/1B
TUESDAY, MAY 23, 2017
141st Year, No. 156
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Steelhead face
tough summer
after drought,
Pacifi c ‘blob’
Returns down signifi cantly on Umatilla
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston freshman Anthony Jimenez, second from left, seals bags of protein fortifi ed macaroni and cheese
during the Meals of Hope food drive Saturday in Hermiston. More than 100 local FFA members and volunteers
gathered to package 40,000 packets of macaroni and cheese for food banks in Umatilla and Morrow counties.
Macaroni and hope
The Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife is fore-
casting dramatically low returns of summer steelhead to
the Columbia and Snake rivers, which will likely result in
fi shing restrictions for Northwest anglers.
Tucker Jones, Columbia River program manager for
ODFW, said the agency is predicting a total run of just
131,000 steelhead based on a number of factors, including
the suffocating 2015 drought and warm water “blob” over
the Pacifi c Ocean.
The agency met May 11 in The Dalles, and will meet
again Wednesday in Clackamas to hear public input on
recreational summer steelhead fi sheries. However, Jones
said some restrictions will be necessary to meet federal
guidelines under the Endangered Species Act.
“Things don’t look great for steelhead this year,” Jones
said. “The forecast is very low, and we have to operate
under ESA constraints.”
Fisheries managers are considering a plan that would
close steelhead retention downstream of The Dalles Dam
See STEELHEAD/2A
FFA students donate 40,000 meals to food banks in ‘Meals of Hope’ effort
HERMISTON
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Four months of fundraising and a
morning’s worth of elbow grease from
students of local FFA chapters added
40,000 meals to local food banks
Saturday.
“It really pumps you up to know
you made an impact,” said Hannah
Walker, a junior at Hermiston High
School. She was one of the blue-shirted
leaders at the school directing teams of
students measuring out and packaging
meals of fortifi ed macaroni and cheese,
paid for by $10,000 the students raised
themselves from local businesses and
organizations.
Walker and classmate Reed
Middleton brought the idea to Herm-
iston from a national FFA leadership
conference in Washington, D.C.
“Going to that kind of thing lights a
fi re under you,” Middleton said. “You
say, ‘This world needs help. What
can I do?’ And now here we are with
$10,000 and 40,000 meals.”
The service project was part of a
national program called Meals of Hope,
which helps organizations around the
country host food-packaging events
like the one on Saturday. Middleton
and Walker said they helped package
food for Meals of Hope in D.C. as part
Senior center, trail,
water meters top
city’s $57M budget
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
“I really just like helping out in the community. I don’t mind volunteering.”
If a city budget is a road map to projects planned for
the upcoming year, Hermiston’s proposed 2017-2018
budget leads to a new senior center, utility upgrades and
parks projects.
Construction is already underway for the Harkenrider
Center, located on North-
east Second Street, but
most of the work for the More inside
new senior center will take City will allow food
place in the next fi scal year. trucks downtown for
The center is expected to First Thursday in July.
open in spring of 2018.
Page 8A.
The parks and recreation
department will also have
another busy year, according to the $57.3 million budget
approved by Hermiston’s budget committee Thursday
and set to go before the Hermiston City Council in June.
The department will be moving into the Hermiston
Conference Center in January and taking over operation
of that building, contributing to an increase in the recre-
ation budget from $565,808 to $679,995.
The West Highland Trail project should also begin
construction in early 2018, creating a bicycle and pedes-
trian path parallel to the south side of West Highland
— Austin Mota, sophomore at Pendleton High School
See HERMISTON/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Each packet of macaroni and cheese is fortifi ed with soy protein to add
nutritional value.
of the conference, and decided then
that they wanted to do a similar event
back home.
They emailed back and forth with
Meals of Hope and convinced their
own FFA chapter and six more in the
area (Pendleton, Echo, Heppner, Ione,
Weston-McEwen and Milton-Free-
water) to join in their fundraising
efforts. They ended up with enough
cash for 40,000 meals, and the Herm-
iston FFA kicked in some extra money
for T-shirts with names of sponsors
who donated.
The project culminated in Satur-
day’s two-hour event, where about 85
See MEALS/8A
Travel Pendleton switches target
from tripsters to baby boomers
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Travel Pendleton last year went after
hipsters to boost local tourism. Now it seeks
to entice an older crowd.
Like the last campaign, the tourism arm of
the Pendleton Chamber of Commerce wants
Umatilla County to help with some economic
development money.
Pat Beard, Travel Pendleton director,
made the pitch to county commissioners
Monday morning in Pendleton. Beard said
the “tripster” campaign in 2016 was “wildly
successful,” and the new effort is “One More
Day,” targeting another generation — baby
boomers.
The set of folks in their mid-50s to
mid-70s, he said, are “mature, inquisitive
travelers” with the income for extended
stays, and getting visitors to stay an extra
day brings signifi cant benefi ts to the local
economy.
Tourists in 2016 brought $137 million
into Umatilla County, Beard said, and 170
overnight visitors create one job. Likewise,
each $58,000 in direct tourism spending
creates one job.
See PENDLETON/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Ken Jacobs, dressed as a sheriff, interacts with Deb-
bie Hiergesell of Richland during the Pendleton Under-
ground Tours Comes to Life on Saturday in Pendleton.
For more on Saturday’s tours pick up the weekend edi-
tion of the East Oregonian.
Hermiston Offi ce:
Pendleton Offi ce:
GLENN SCOTT
JENNIFER OLSON
Veteran's Service Offi cer • 435 E Newport Ave.
Veteran’s Service Offi cer • 17 SW Frazer
Ph: 541.667.3125 • Cell: 541.848.8120
Ph.541.278.5482
glenn.scott@umatillacounty.net
jennifer.olson@umatillacounty.net
VETERANS SERVING VETERANS
NS
LET US ASSIST YOU WITH YOUR BENEFITS
LE