OFF PAGE ONE
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 9A
HERMISTON
Both Korean leaders,
U.S. signal turn to
diplomacy amid crisis
Voters will have say on OSU Extension district
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Tuesday
presented leader Kim Jong Un with plans to launch
missiles into waters near Guam and “wring the windpipes
of the Yankees,” even as both Koreas and the United States
signaled their willingness to avert a deepening crisis, with
each suggesting a path toward negotiations.
The tentative interest in diplomacy follows unusually
combative threats between President Donald Trump and
North Korea amid worries that Pyongyang is nearing
its long-sought goal of accurately being able to send a
nuclear missile to the U.S. mainland. Next week’s start
of U.S.-South Korean military exercises that enrage the
North each year make it unclear, however, if diplomacy
will prevail.
During an inspection of the North Korean army’s
Strategic Forces, which handles the missile program, Kim
praised the military for drawing up a “close and careful
plan” and said he would watch the “foolish and stupid
conduct of the Yankees” a little more before deciding
whether to order the missile test, the North’s state-run
Korean Central News Agency said. Kim appeared in
photos sitting at a table with a large map marked by a
straight line between what appeared to be northeastern
North Korea and Guam, and passing over Japan — appar-
ently showing the missiles’ flight route.
The missile plans were previously announced. Kim
said North Korea would conduct the launches if the
“Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless
actions on the Korean Peninsula and its vicinity,” and
that the United States should “think reasonably and judge
properly” to avoid shaming itself, the news agency said.
Lobbing missiles toward Guam, a major U.S. military
hub in the Pacific, would be a deeply provocative act from
the U.S. perspective, and a miscalculation on either side
could lead to a military clash. U.S. Defense Secretary
James Mattis said the United States would take out any
such missile seen to be heading for American soil and
declared any such North Korean attack could mean war.
Hermiston voters will see
an Oregon State University
Extension taxing district on
their ballot in May.
The city council voted
Monday to allow OSU to
include Hermiston in the
district being proposed to
voters.
“I’m all for letting the
citizens decide what they want
to do with their tax dollars,”
Councilor John Kirwan said.
City Manager Byron
Smith said that agriculture
is an important driver of
Hermiston’s economy, and
the 33 cents per $1,000 of
assessed value would provide
a steady funding stream for
the research and other support
for local growers. However,
he also noted that the new
district would pull away about
$87,600 from the city’s general
fund due to compression.
Since 1991 Oregon has
capped property taxes at $5
per assessed value for schools
and $10 per assessed value for
other services. When voters
pass more taxes than the $10
rate, through a new taxing
district or a rate increase for
a current district, each piece
of the existing pie shrinks
a little to fit in the new tax.
Hermiston’s general fund is
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
now losing about $291,000
per year to compression.
Supporters of the district
testified the benefits to
Hermiston’s economy would
outweigh the loss.
“Continued growth in agri-
culture will support continued
growth in our economy,”
Steve Williams said.
Compression also came up
during the 6 p.m. work session,
where assistant city manager
Mark Morgan presented the
public infrastructure commit-
tee’s proposal to raise fran-
chise fees on electricity, cable,
internet and other utilities to
help pay for $11.75 million in
major street projects around
town. Morgan said under the
city’s current general fund
trends, it would take about 59
years to earn the money for
the projects if the city stopped
other road maintenance alto-
gether.
Projects the committee
has prioritized in the capital
improvement plan include
paving Gettman Road, paving
East Theater Lane, re-aligning
the intersection of Harper,
Geer and First Place, widening
and improving NE 10th Street
near Sandstone Middle School
and revamping North First
Place, including better traffic
control at its intersections with
Orchard Avenue and Highland
Avenue.
PERRY: Will visit Hanford on Tuesday
Continued from 1A
will harm individuals and
businesses, divert capital
needed for further infra-
structure investment in the
Northwest, and undermine
regional utility coordination,”
the letter reads in part. “BPA
has helped to develop and
administer the complex elec-
trical system that powers the
Northwest, now providing
affordable and reliable power
to over 12 million people and
the businesses that help the
region thrive.”
Still, Perry was mum
when asked where he stood
on the issue, saying only that
they should not be afraid to
have that conversation before
moving on to another topic.
Walden, on the other hand,
was more direct in his defense
of the agency. He expressed
confidence that the BPA will
remain public, adding that
the notion of privatization
has united just about every
member of the Northwest
delegation.
“(BPA) does its job. And
it has a darn important job in
our region,” Walden said.
On the subject of hydro-
electricity and renewable
energy as a whole, Perry said
he is an “all-of-the-above
guy,” pointing to the devel-
opment of wind power and
fracked natural gas during his
time as governor of Texas.
Hydroelectricity will play
If the city raised all
franchise fees on utilities
(currently 3 to 5 percent) up
to 7 percent, that would raise
about $413,000 per year.
Added to the legislature’s
transportation
package,
which will give Hermiston
the money for the North First
Place project in 2022, Morgan
said the city could finish all
projects on the list in roughly
11 years, not counting routine
maintenance.
He said the committee felt
a gas tax would just drive
more people to buy their gas
outside city limits, and a flat
$5 fee on water and sewer
bills would not catch the more
than two thirds of Hermiston
workers who live outside the
city limits but still drive on
Hermiston roads on their way
to work in town.
The city council said they
were willing to formally
discuss and vote on the
proposed
franchise
fee
increase at their Aug. 28
meeting.
During the regular session,
residents on Gettman Road
testified to the need to pave the
road as the southwest portion
of town grows and more
people use it. The discussion
came as the council voted to
annex 13 acres along Gettman
Road into the city and zone it
for low-density housing. The
GRADUATION: HSD
spent about $10,000 on
this year’s ceremony
Continued from 1A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Secretary of Energy Rick Perry speaks at a press conference with Rep. Greg Walden,
R-Ore., and Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., at McNary Dam on Monday in Umatilla.
an important role moving
forward Perry said, and he
commended the work done at
McNary Dam.
“My hat’s off to every
different part of this oper-
ation to make sure it runs
smoothly,” he said.
McNary Dam is just
the first stop for Perry as he
arrived in northeast Oregon
and southeast Washington.
On Tuesday, he will travel to
the Tri-Cities for a visit to the
Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory,
HAMMER
Federal Training Center and
Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
Perry said security at
Hanford is “as good as there
is in the world,” despite a
partial tunnel collapse in May
that contained highly radioac-
tive waste.
“We never like to have
surprises, but we have them
from time to time to time,”
he said. “The long-term
cleanup of that site is what’s
important. That’s what I
wanted to see.”
While at Hanford, Perry
will visit the site’s Plutonium
Finishing Plant, the 2268
Building, the WTP facility
and the PUREX tunnels. He
described both Hanford and
McNary Dam as examples
of American strength and
ingenuity.
“This is a fascinating part
of America’s story,” Perry
said. “There’s extraordinary
history.”
———
Contact George Plaven at
gplaven@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0825.
vote was based on an appli-
cation by developer Frank
Gehrig, who said he plans to
build 46 large homes worth
$275,000 to $325,000 in a
new subdivision there over the
next four years.
Three neighbors said they
appreciated the need for more
housing in Hermiston but
they worried about traffic and
dust caused by the increase in
people using the road. They
said since Armand Larive
Middle School was built
nearby there have been prob-
lems ranging from frequent
wrecks to constant clouds of
dust.
“I think the traffic will be
unsustainable,” Gary Stolz
said.
When they noted school
buses traversing the dirt
road, city planning director
Clint Spencer said part of the
school district’s conditional
use permit for Armand Larive
was a stipulation that no buses
use that route, so if that were
the case he would send a
warning about the violation.
Councilors said they were
aware Gettman needed paved,
and hoped to get it done in the
next few years using the plan
Morgan presented.
———
Contact Jade McDowell at
jmcdowell@eastoregonian.
com or 541-564-4536.
are required for family
members, and it has hand-
icap accessibility.
Hermiston
School
District
spent
about
$10,000 on its graduation
ceremony this year. Spoo
said renting the Toyota
Center would cost between
$3,500 and $4,000 per
year. That cost doesn’t
include the sound system,
or the cost of transportation
for students and staff up
to the center — for both
a practice and the actual
ceremony. Spoo said the
district would need about
seven buses to transport
students, and one for staff
— at $185 per bus.
Board members were
interested in the idea,
acknowledging some of
the recent problems the
current venue has had. But
some wondered about the
feasibility of getting family
members to travel out of
Hermiston for a graduation
ceremony.
“We need to provide that
option (of transportation)
for people,” said Board
Chair Karen Sherman.
“Not just parents.”
Spoo noted that many
districts of comparable size
in the Portland area hold
their graduations at larger
venues like the Memorial
Coliseum, where they may
have to travel 45 minutes to
an hour.
Usher and Spoo showed
the board a few photos
from this June, when they
attended Richland High
School’s graduation at the
Toyota Center to check
out the venue. They were
impressed, they said, by
the efficiency of the cere-
monies there.
“They graduated 550
kids in one hour and 15
minutes,” Usher said.
Board members said
while the move made sense
from a logistical stand-
point, it might be difficult
to convince Hermiston
residents to hold their grad-
uation somewhere else.
“It will come down to a
lot of emotion,” said board
member Bonnie Luisi.
The board will discuss
the issue again at their
work session on Aug. 28.
They plan to vote on the
issue at their Sept. 11 board
meeting.
–——
Contact
Jayati
Ramakrishnan at 541-564-
4534 or jramakrishnan@
eastoregonian.com.
HASH: Randy never once saw his father lose his temper, even when provoked
Continued from 1A
“He only gave them
his name, rank and serial
number,” Randy said.
Hash was imprisoned for
561 days. Randy said many
of the prisoners died from
dysentery, and his father had
lingering digestive problems
for the rest of his life from
going more than a year and
a half with a barely adequate
amount of food.
“They were both starving
to death and freezing to
death,” he said.
At one point George was
being held in a building where
some of the floorboards
had been torn up to burn for
warmth. As the Germans
began to load men into cattle
cars to move them to a new
camp, George and another
man hid under the floor and
got some of their fellow
prisoners to help cover them
back up.
“The other guys didn’t
want to do anything (to try
and escape), because they
knew they would get shot if
they were caught,” Randy
said.
He said his father told him
that he and the other prisoner
waited until they didn’t hear
any more movement in the
camp and then split up and
left on foot. George crossed
on foot into Poland, where
the Polish army helped hide
Photo contributed by Randy Hash
George Hash, right, and his wife Alice Weaver Hash on
their wedding day.
him from the Germans, until
he was able to stow away on
a Merchant Marine vessel and
eventually make his way back
to the United States, where
he was sent to California to
recover and train.
“They were preparing
to ship out to Japan, but the
atomic bomb put an end to
that,” Randy said.
He said when he was a kid
he had no idea that his father
had led such an adventurous
life before he settled down
with a family. There were
flashes of the tough POW,
though, such as the day that
Randy and his friends were
lazing around the gym at
Hermiston High School and
his dad came in and started
doing one-handed pull-ups.
“He said something like
‘You guys should use this
equipment’ and walked out,”
Randy said. “Boy, my friends
were sure impressed with
how strong my dad was.”
Randy said his dad was
also known as a talented
boxer who sometimes stepped
into the ring to compete, but
despite his dad’s strength and
fighting skills he never once
saw his father lose his temper
and use physical force on
anyone, even when provoked.
Some of George’s children
and grandchildren followed
his footsteps into military
service, including Randy,
who served in the Coast
Guard.
Photo contributed by Randy Hash
George Hash, left, with brothers Billand John Hash at the opening of Hash Park in
McNary, named in his honor.
The Hash family moved
to Umatilla County in the
1950s, when George got a
job as a teacher at Umatilla
High School. He then taught
shop and business classes —
“career technical education”
in today’s terms — at Herm-
iston High School.
“He was a fine furniture
builder and just a very fine
craftsman,” Randy said. “He
taught a lot of people to love
woodworking.”
He served as a Umatilla
city councilor from 1989-
1990 and mayor from 1991
to 2004, and Hash Park in
McNary is named after him.
Randy said his father was
always traveling on Salem,
unpaid, to lobby on behalf of
the area, and he worked hand
in hand with politicians like
Congressman Greg Walden
to bring federal grants and
economic development to
Umatilla, particularly the
port.
After suffering a stroke
he is in Regency Hermiston
Nursing and Rehabilitation
Center. His family celebrated
his birthday with him over the
weekend.
———
Contact Jade McDowell at
jmcdowell@eastoregonian.
com or 541-564-4536.