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OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
TRAFFIC: Two exits onto Airport Road during peak hours
Continued from 1A
The second will be the
livestock exit on Ott Road,
which has primarily been
used for exhibitors and
contestants.
The main change for
exiting the fairgrounds,
Miller said, is that there will
now be a direct exit from the
rodeo parking lot onto Ott
Road.
He added that during
peak hours, there would be
two exits onto Airport Road:
Those parked on asphalt
could exit on the paved road,
and those parked in the dirt
parking lot could use the dirt
road at the west end of the
property.
Entry
Miller said fair orga-
nizers have completely
restructured entry into the
fairgrounds.
When patrons drive up
on Airport Road, they will
be met with several signs
that direct them into one of
four lanes. The fi rst lane,
farthest right on the paved
driveway, will be reserved
for rodeo traffi c, buses and
people picking up their
children. Those cars will
be forced to turn right on
the asphalt parking lot and
either go to the main fair
gate or continue right to the
rodeo grounds. The second
lane — the left lane on the
paved driveway — will be
for season ticket holders and
handicapped visitors. Those
people will be directed into
the main asphalt parking lot.
The fi nal two lanes of
traffi c will be directed to the
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A water truck sprays down one of the dirt parking lots in an effort to control dust
Thursday at the Umatilla County Fair in Hermiston.
“Whether you’re talking about park-
ing, RVs, traffi c entry, the livestock
gate — this has been a brand new
experience with new challenges.”
— Don Miller, fair and EOTEC board member
left of the paved driveway,
onto the dirt. They will be
sent to the far end of the
parking lot, where they will
turn left and be directed to
park
“It should keep the fl ow
good, and resolve the high
degree of delays we experi-
enced on the fi rst big night
of the fair,” Miller said.
He added that he wasn’t
worried about those paying
for parking slowing down
the process, and that signs
should be clear enough that
people will know where they
are supposed to be.
“We’ll have a minimum
of one person in each lane
doing ticketing,” he said.
“We don’t think that will be
any problem.”
Miller said while orga-
nizers knew there would be
issues, they’ve been happy
with the way different
groups have worked together
to solve problems.
“Whether you’re talking
about parking, RVs, traffi c
entry, the livestock gate
— this has been a brand
new experience with new
challenges,” he said. “The
city of Hermiston, sheriff’s
department,
Hermiston
Police Department, fi re
and safety, we’re all
meeting every morning and
reviewing the diffi culties
we’ve experienced on the
previous day and addressing
effective solutions.”
———
Contact
Jayati
Ramakrishnan
at
jramakrishnan@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4534
Continued from 1A
who died of cancer three
years later.
After hitting 100 years,
the centenarian stayed sharp,
talking politics and playing
pinochle. She walked a mile
each day using her wheeled
walker and stayed active in
the Pendleton Friends of
Lesbians and Gays to honor
a grandson who is gay.
Education was important to
Anderson. Shortly before
she died, she cast her vote
in favor of a school bond
measure from her hospital
bed.
She read voraciously.
It was that latter quality
that sparked the idea of
how to honor Anderson.
A recently installed tiny
library now sits under two
towering linden trees in the
North Hill front yard of her
grandson, Pendleton City
Councilman Scott Fairley,
and his wife, Kimbra Cook.
permanent resident but
was not born here,” Davis
his wife, Maria Villegas, and said after the hearing. Yet
their children on May 26, federal case law allows
2016, in their Milton-Free- for deportation of such
water home. Maria Villegas residents who are guilty of
died from her injuries. serious felonies, even in
Davis argued Villegas the case of guilty except for
could not understand the insanity.
consequences of his actions
Davis also said most
in the moment nor could offenders who are guilty
he control his behavior. but insane end up serving
He also tried
as much time or
to kill himself,
more in a mental
she said, and his
hospital than if
mental state has
they were going
improved
with
to prison.
treatment
and
Hampton also
confi nement.
forbid Villegas
Jaclyn Jenkins,
from having any
Umatilla County
contact with his
chief deputy pros-
children.
The
ecutor, said the Villegas
judge noted the
state had a third
children are in the
expert review the
care of his side of
two evaluations, but those the family and stressed they
fi ndings were inconclusive must report any attempt he
to whether Villegas was makes to contact them.
in the midst of a mental
“They’ve been moni-
episode when he committed toring that, yes,” Davis
the crimes.
responded.
“This is not how we
Several
family
wanted the case to play out,” members and friends of
Jenkins said. “I believed this Maria Villegas attended
is the only course available the hearing. Two of them
to us at this time.”
addressed the judge before
Hampton asked Villegas the sentencing.
if he was now “in the full
Maria Villegas’s mother
state of his mind,” and he spoke through tears and
replied he was.
said this was not justice for
Villegas pleaded guilty her daughter, who came to
except for insanity to the United States to have a
murder for the death of better life.
Maria Villegas and to two
“My daughter, my baby,”
counts of attempted aggra- she cried. “I’m never going
vated murder, one for each to hold her again because of
child. Per the plea agree- what happened.”
ment, Hampton sentenced
A woman who said
Villegas to a maximum Maria Villegas was like her
term of life for the murder little sister told the court
and to maximums of 20 their lives will never be the
years each for the attempted same.
murders. The charges all
“We carry this hole in
run consecutive.
our hearts because she’s not
Rather than prison, there,” she said.
Villegas will serve his time
After
sentencing
in a state mental hospital Villegas and ordering him
under the eye of the Psychi- to the care of the psychiatric
atric Security Review board, Hampton said “that
Board. If the state fi nds brings these proceedings,
Villegas no longer would be these sad proceedings, to a
a threat to himself or others, close.”
he would not return home.
———
Rather, Davis explained, he
Contact Phil Wright at
would be deported.
pwright@eastoregonian.
“My client is a legal, com or 541-966-0833.
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Administrative Support / Inside Sales
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Ruty’s restaurant is in its fourth year serving food at the Umatilla County Fair in
Hermiston.
“The best reason
to be here is it’s
an advertisement.
You get to meet
more people.”
— Natalie Hernandez,
Ruty’s Restaurant
Christian School.
Not everyone working at
food booths at the fair was
a volunteer for a nonprofi t.
Lined up along the grassy
commons area were several
local restaurants with the
means to go mobile for the
week. Elijah and Natalie
Hernandez were busy serving
up tacos, burritos and other
Mexican food for Ruty’s
Restaurant.
Natalie said it was the
Hermiston business’s fourth
year at the fair.
“The best reason to be
here is it’s an advertisement,”
she said. “You get to meet
more people.”
Elijah said business had
been steady at their booth,
especially after the rodeo got
out on Wednesday night.
Junior
Ortega
was
working a booth for 395
Quickstop, also of Hermiston,
which featured everything
from nachos to snow cones.
If anyone at the fair felt in
need of a little refreshment,
he said, “we can help them
out.” His only complaint
about the fi rst year in the new
location was the hot weather,
which he acknowledged was
not something anyone could
control.
Having employees come
out and work the fair all
week is busy, Ortega said, but
worth it.
“It involves us with the
community,” he said. “We
see our local customers and
gain new customers.”
Mixed in with the local
restaurants are the usual
out-of-town vendors like
Piggly’s BBQ that make
their money traveling from
event to event in the summer
selling favorite fair foods like
curly fries, Navajo Tacos,
kettle corn, fresh-squeezed
lemonade and corn dogs.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at
jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
ANDERSON: Enjoyed talking politics and playing pinochle
Continued from 1A
VILLEGAS: ‘This is not how
we wanted the case to play out’
Continued from 1A
FOOD: Nonprofi t locations a little off the beaten path
Hamm said they were a
“great replacement” for the
old buildings and the Lions
Club was grateful for the
accommodations.
Ruth Carollo, who was
taking orders for ice cream
at the Vange John Memorial
Hospice food truck next door,
said the nonprofi t had no
problem switching to their
new digs.
“The old fairgrounds
booth was bigger, but the
nice thing about this is it’s air
conditioned,” she said.
The one problem she did
see was that the nonprofi ts,
which were located along
the wrought iron fence on
the southern edge of the
fairgrounds, were a little
off the beaten path. Fewer
people were stopping by,
drawn in by the out-of-town
food vendors they could see
from the entrance. Carollo
said she understood, though,
that when the fair board was
deciding where to put vendors
they didn’t know for sure
how the foot traffi c would
fl ow in the new location.
“It’s so hard to know,” she
said. “I’m sure they’ll make
adjustments.”
She said she enjoyed
getting to see the new
fairgrounds and thought the
rodeo grounds in particular
were “beautiful.”
“I think over time this
will be a nice addition to
Hermiston and the county,”
she said.
The only nonprofi t that
decided they didn’t want to
continue using the fair as a
fundraiser was Hermiston
Friday, August 11, 2017
The constantly fl uctuating
collection of 25-or-so books
is available to anyone who
stops by the yard at 115
N.W. Eighth St. No library
card is required. If you see a
book you’d like to read, take
it. Replace it with another.
Or not.
“There are no rules at this
library,” said Fairley, who
misses talking politics with
his grandmother and getting
soundly beaten by her in
pinochle.
Two local authors who
live on the block, Sarah
Woodbury and Toni Devine,
placed some of their own
books inside the wooden
compartment with front-
facing doors.
Built by son-in-law
John Mitchell in his Seattle
woodshop, the library is
a replica of the Fairview
schoolhouse, which was
built on land donated by
Anderson’s father near
where the family lived in
Clyde, Washington. Robert
Cline only attended school
through eighth grade, but
championed education, said
Frasier.
“He donated farmland to
erect the Fairview School
in 1902,” Frasier said.
“Throughout their lives, my
grandparents made whatever
sacrifi ces were necessary to
see that their fi ve children
had the advantages of an
education.”
The hilltop school fi nally
sagged and fell down,
succumbing to the weather.
In 1994, Anderson and her
four siblings had a replica
of the school built at the
site honoring their parents’
dedication to education.
The idea of modeling
the little library after the
school and placing it in
Fairley and Cook’s front
yard seemed like a natural.
Cook, formerly children’s
librarian at the Pendleton
Public Library, was recently
hired to run the library at
Washington
Elementary
School.
Cook said the little library
is already getting use. One
day, she was thrilled to see
her middle school librarian
Lorna Waltz checking it out
and adding a few books.
“People stop all the time
to look,” Cook said. “But
that was the biggest thrill.”
She thinks the library is
a perfect tribute to Roberta
Anderson.
“She was such a big
proponent of community,”
Cook said. “A neighborhood
library — it doesn’t get any
more basic than that.”
Anderson’s little library,
with a plaque denoting it
as part of LittleFreeLibrary.
org, is one of about 50,000
Little Free Libraries world-
wide.
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or call 541-966-0810.
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