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East Oregonian
BRIDGE:
Should cost
about $10M
Continued from 1A
Both bridges together
handle more than 8,000
vehicles daily. Derrey said
the department does expect
some traffic impacts but
not very lengthy delays.
“Just plan on an extra
few minutes if you’re
traveling over,” she said.
Speed
over
the
remaining bridge will be
reduced to 55 miles per
hour to encourage vehi-
cles to be cautious while
passing traffic coming
across the bridge from the
opposite direction.
Washington
and
Oregon split the cost of
maintenance to bridges that
run between the two states.
The deck replacement
project is expected to cost
about $10 million and will
be managed by WSDOT.
After the deck is fixed,
the next order of business
will be painting the steel
trusses. According to the
Tri-City Herald, the paint
job will cost as much as
$40 million and is expected
to be funded in the 2021-23
biennium.
The eastbound bridge
opened in 1955 and carried
traffic in both directions,
replacing a ferry previously
used to transport vehicles
across. In 1988 a second
bridge — the one that will
be used to carry all traffic
until fall 2018 — was built
to handle increased traffic
flow across the river.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
HANGAR:
A 3 the type of
client test range
was looking for
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
HERMISTON: ‘This class has extreme potential’
Continued from 1A
Mountain Community College.
Some were ready to go and never
look back.
“I’m excited to be done,” said
Mallory Mulcare. “But I’ll miss my
friends”.
Her friend, Jerica Reddick, agreed
that she was excited to move on, but
would miss the people she’d met.
“I’m going to miss Ms. Robinson,”
she said. “She gave me the confidence
and the motivation to graduate.”
Many students agreed that while
the promise of new experiences is
exciting, they were nervous about the
unknowns ahead.
“I know everyone here,” said
Anders Lind, who will attend Central
Washington University for engi-
neering. “Just being comfortable and
knowing everyone, I’m going to miss
that.”
Once the massive audience was
seated, the largest class in HHS
history filed into the gym. They heard
from several of their classmates, who
encouraged them to take advantage of
opportunities, and never forget their
parents and teachers.
“You were our first fans,” said
valedictorian Audrey Lincoln as she
addressed the crowd. “We have not
made it here on our own.”
Kellie Zepeda, who welcomed the
crowd in Spanish, told her classmates
to remember one important thing:
“Our lives don’t end here,” she
said. “This is just the beginning.”
Principal Tom Spoo marveled at
this year’s graduating class, whom
he called the most accomplished in
the school’s history, listing off the
various honors and awards the class
had collectively received.
Karen Sherman, chair of the school
board, urged students to remember
the power one person can have to do
good.
“It’s time to reflect on those in
your life who have impacted you,”
she said. “Now is the time to realize
that you may be becoming that person
who may have an impact on others.
Never underestimate the power of
one. Each of you is important and can
contribute a great deal.”
The presentation of diplomas were
broken up by some short speeches.
Distinguished alumnus Bob Barton
encouraged students to find their
passion, wherever that leads them.
Ismael Arenas presented the class
history, recalling some of the funny
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Members of the 2017 Hermiston High School graduating class celebrate at the end of Saturday’s
graduation ceremony.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Paola Carmona takes a selfie before she and her class
proceeded into the Hermiston High School gym for the
school’s 107th annual commencement.
moments the group has shared, as well
as the sad ones. He asked the crowd
for a moment of silence to remember
Brok Palmer, a senior who died this
school year.
“For me high school was memo-
rable,” he concluded. “You all made
my day, every day.”
Myra Lopez waves at someone in the
bleachers as she waits in line to get her
diploma Saturday during graduation at
Hermiston High School.
Finally, the students got the
moment they’d been waiting for.
“This class has extreme potential,”
said Isabel Bartley, before leading the
group in the turning of their tassels. “I
can’t wait to see where we all end up.”
The students marked their entry
into adulthood the best way they
knew how — tossing beach balls and
spraying silly string at each other as
they filed out of the gym for the last
time.
–——
Contact Jayati Ramakrishnan at
541-564-4534 or jramakrishnan@
eastoregonian.com
Continued from 1A
EQUALITY: Speaker John Thomas said Pendleton has a ‘vibe of acceptance’
Continued from 1A
Read said one pair of
marchers from Bakersfield,
California were on their
way to Washington state
when they stopped in Pend-
leton and decided to join
the demonstration. They
reported that Bakersfield’s
march was only slightly
larger than Pendleton’s
despite being home to more
than 300,000 people.
“I think we’ve captured
this point and time in
history,” she said.
After beginning the
march at Brownfield Park,
participants walked their
way to the Umatilla County
Courthouse where they heard
personal stories from some
of the marchers.
One of the speakers
was John Thomas, 47, of
Pendleton. In an interview
after the march, Thomas said
he told the crowd about his
journey to coming out as gay.
As a boy growing up
in Ontario in the 1980s,
Thomas said he struggled to
reconcile his sexuality with
the views of his evangelical
Christian family. As the
AIDS epidemic was hitting
its peak, Thomas said it was
common to think that God
was using the disease to
punish gay men for their sins.
Thomas tried to suppress
his sexuality, throwing
himself deeper into his
church, even going to far as
to join an ex-gay ministry.
He eventually got married
and raised four children,
moving to Pendleton in 2002
to take a job at the KUMA
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Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Liz Cahill, right, comforts her wife, Diane Groff, as Groff
retells their story of getting married in 2004 only to
have the Oregon Supreme Court nullify their marriage
along with 3,000 others during an the Equality March
for Pride and Unity in front of the Umatilla County
Courthouse on Sunday in Pendleton.
Vickie Hendricks of Pendleton holds a sign with a Rev.
Martin Luther King quote on in during an The Equality
March for Pride and Unity on Sunday in Pendleton.
radio station.
Still, Thomas found
himself miserable.
“I hated myself,” he said.
“I was angry all the time.”
Things began to shift
when he got into a near-fatal
car accident in 2005. He
moved away from Christian
counseling and started a
process of personal discovery
through a professional
therapist. He came out of the
closet in 2008, and although
it led to some painful expe-
riences including a divorce
from his wife, it has since
inspired him to pursue a
career in therapy.
Although he still has his
concerns about sharing his
story publicly and how it
might affect his standing
in the community and his
family, Thomas said Pend-
leton has a “vibe of accep-
tance” that makes it easier to
go through the process.
Echoing
Thomas’
comments,
Read
said
Pendleton’s reputation as a
conservative town belies a
broad community of people
willing to support the LGBT
movement.
Pendleton has been an
unlikely hub of left-leaning
activism in 2017.
Four hundred people
participated in the Women’s
March on Pendleton in
January, 225 gathered for the
Pendleton March for Science
in April, and a smaller series
of protests against the Dakota
Access Pipeline throughout
the year.
Outside of Pendleton,
numerous businesses and
people took part in the Day
Without Immigrants in
February in heavily Hispanic
communities like Hermiston
and Milton-Freewater.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
powered by USTA PNW
operations in Pendleton
by the end of the year and
have a product demonstra-
tion ready by 2020.
Everybody who took
the stage expressed their
excitement for the project,
including U.S. Sen. Ron
Wyden.
Although he considers
himself a “privacy hawk,”
Wyden said jobs, security
and liberty didn’t need
to be mutually exclusive
when it came to commer-
cial drone use.
With Project Vahana,
Wyden said the Pendleton
UAS Range was “cleared
for takeoff at new heights.”
After the speeches
were over the ribbon was
cut, the crowd mingled
and explored the mobile
command center, a travel
trailer outfitted with UAS
technology.
Steve
Chrisman,
Pendleton’s
airport
manager and economic
development director, said
A 3 was exactly the type
of customer the test range
was looking for as it aims
to become the destination
for “type certification,”
the process to certify the
airworthiness of an aircraft
design.
The hangar was funded
through a $1.7 million
financial package from the
state to develop the airport
and UAS range. Wayne
Green, associate city engi-
neer, said the hangar cost
approximately $850,000
to build.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.
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