INSIDE:
97/65
2017
FOOTBALL
& BRAIN
DAMAGE
HELD AT EOTEC
SPORTS/1B
AUG. 8-12
YOUR GUIDE TO
THE UMATILLA
COUNTY FAIR
WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 2017
141st Year, No. 202
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Goodbye ‘Mr. Hermiston’
Frank Harkenrider, former councilor and mayor, dies at 90
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Hermiston has lost its biggest cheer-
leader.
Frank Harkenrider, 90, died in
Hermiston Monday night. He served in
Hermiston’s city chambers as a coun-
cilor or mayor for close to 50 years,
before taking his last vote in December
2014.
Harkenrider was known for his
intense loyalty to Hermiston, which
grew from 800 residents to more than
17,000 in his lifetime. He faithfully
lost bet after bet with Pendleton city
offi cials on Hermiston High School’s
football team during their growing
years and his last few months on the city
council were peppered with frequent
references to the fact that the team had
fi nally won a state championship.
“I’m still Hermiston fan number
one,” he said during an interview
the afternoon of his last city council
meeting.
His tenure on the city council was
not always without controversy. He
survived a recall election in 2012 and
kept his seat by just two votes in 1998.
And there was spirited resistance by
See HARKENRIDER/10A
EO fi le photo
Frank Harkenrider waves a fl ag from the back of the
Desert Shriner’s fl oat in the Irrigon Watermelon Festival
parade in July, 2004.
PENDLETON
HEPPNER
Sorte resigns
as top county
administrator
Was fi rst to fi ll position
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Liam Campbell, 10, and his brother, Rowan, 8, read to cats in the cat room at PAWS during the reading with animals summer
reading program Tuesday in Pendleton.
PAWS HOOKED ON PHONICS
Young volunteers practice their
reading with shelter animals
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Despite the kids’ best efforts, the
dogs just weren’t getting it.
Accompanied by volunteers from
the Foster Grandparent program, a
trio of elementary school students
read books to Pongo and Aurora
at the Pendleton Animal Welfare
Shelter Tuesday. The children read
aloud to the dogs and delivered
detailed summaries of the books
they just read — but Pongo and
Aurora were far more interested in
gnawing on bones or wagging their
kennels than in literacy.
Of course, the goal of reading to
animals was to improve the literacy
of the children rather than the dogs,
and nine-year-olds Kayle Smith and
Maryn Broker gave it their endorse-
ment.
The Foster Grandparent program
has long provided its senior volun-
teers to assist local students with
reading, but when Pendleton Public
Library Assistant Director Jennifer
See READ/10A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Joy Rana, right, a volunteer with Foster Grandparents,
compliments Kayle Smith, 9, of Pendleton on her read-
ing during the reading with animals summer program
on Tuesday at PAWS in Pendleton.
Morrow County is looking for a new
top administrator.
Jerry Sorte, who was hired as the coun-
ty’s fi rst full-time administrative offi cer in
2015, submitted his resignation Monday
after accepting a new job as community
and economic development director with
the city of Sweet Home.
Sorte’s last day
in Eastern Oregon
will be Aug. 25. In
the meantime, the
Morrow
County
Board of Commis-
sioners has called a
special work session
for 9 a.m. Friday at
the
Bartholomew
Building in Heppner Sorte
to discuss fi nding a
replacement.
“For me, this was a really tough
decision because there is so much going
on in Morrow County,” Sorte said. “I am
especially happy with the steps our team
has taken to make the county organization
more effi cient and transparent.”
Sorte arrived during a time of historic
change in Morrow County government.
Prior to his hiring, administrative duties
fell to the county judge, who also presided
over juvenile court. However, when
longtime Judge Terry Tallman retired, the
county abolished the judge position and
shifted to having three part-time commis-
sioners, while hiring an administrator to
supervise department heads and serve as a
liaison with elected offi cials.
Since coming on board, Sorte said he
has tried to modernize the way the county
does business — such as updating the
county website, where the public can now
fi nd meeting notices, minutes and audio
recordings.
The county is also on solid fi nancial
footing, Sorte said, thanks to money from
Strategic Investment Program agreements
See SORTE/10A
HERMISTON
Dack named Realtor of the Year
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Contributed photo from Melinda Newman
Charlotte Dack poses with her award after being
honored with Realtor of the Year.
The government may consider retirement
age to be 67, but at 94 Charlotte Dack is still
showing up to work.
“I guess I just don’t know what else to do
with myself,” she said.
Dack, the principal broker at Universal
Realty in Hermiston, is the oldest licensed
Realtor in Oregon. Last week she was named
Realtor of the Year by the Columbia Basin
Board of Realtors.
When Dack got her license in 1961, she
was only the second woman in Umatilla
County to do so. Today women make up
almost two-thirds of the real estate agents in
the country.
Dack was working at US Bank at the
time, but had decided she could make more
money selling real estate and liked the idea
“It’s interesting to get to know
their background, and very
satisfying when you help
them fi nd what they want.”
— Charlotte Dack, Realtor of the Year
of being her own boss. She worked by day
and studied by night; after getting her license
she spent three more years at US Bank while
selling houses in the evenings and weekends.
She sold her fi rst house on East Highland
Avenue to a doctor and his wife.
“It’s still in use today,” she said. “It was a
well-built house.”
Each piece of real estate has its own
character and interesting things about it,
See DACK/10A