REGION
Friday, October 27, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 3A
HERMISTON
Woman cleans up community one bag at a time
“I found part of a
TV. I found a
vacuum cleaner.
It was tossed
along the roadside
and had a lot of
dirt on it.”
Miranda Ainsworth
filled 49 bags last month
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Every morning after she
drops her son off at kinder-
garten, Miranda Ainsworth
laces up her waterproof
walking shoes and gets to
work, cleaning up after
Hermiston’s litterbugs.
On Wednesday she was
wading through waist-deep
grass alongside Highway
207 on the south edge
of town, using a plastic
trash-grabbing claw to pull
empty beer cans and plastic
bags from the weeds. So far
this month, Ainsworth said
she has picked up 23 kitch-
en-sized garbage bags full
trash. Last month she filled
49 bags.
Ainsworth isn’t paid for
her work, and her commu-
nity service isn’t court-or-
dered. She’s just an average
citizen who decided that she
could be putting her morning
walks to better use.
“I try and do my part to
help around the community,”
she said.
Ainsworth
said
she
started a few years ago in
Kent, Washington, before
continuing the practice when
she moved to Hermiston in
February. She said she has
always noticed litter in parks
and along roadways, and it
bothers her.
— Miranda Ainsworth
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Miranda Ainsworth picks up trash along Highway 207.
“It speaks a lot about the
community,” she said.
First she started bringing
along the plastic grocery bags
so she could grab a few things
along the way, but after she
ran out of grocery bags she
switched to larger garbage
bags and started getting
more serious about planning
her walks around areas of
town that have litter prob-
lems. Beverage containers,
cigarette packs and paper are
the most common items, but
sometimes she makes more
interesting finds, particularly
along the railroad tracks.
“I found part of a TV. I
found a vacuum cleaner,”
she said. “It was tossed along
the roadside and had a lot of
dirt on it.”
Once she found a collec-
tion of used needles and
let the police department
know so that they could be
disposed of safely.
She said there are areas
with high-speed traffic that
she feels more comfortable
cleaning up now that her son
is in school and not accom-
panying her on walks. She
tries to be careful by walking
toward traffic along road-
ways with larger shoulders,
which reduces the chance of
being hit by a car. Sometimes
she gets dirty looks, she said,
from people who see her
in grubby clothes carrying
garbage bags and don’t seem
to realize what she is doing.
But other times people take
the time to ask her what she’s
doing, and respond with
enthusiastic thanks when she
explains.
Ainsworth said some-
times she gets busy and only
goes out two or three times
in a week, but for the most
part she is out there five
mornings a week picking
up trash for at least an hour.
She is looking for a part-time
job, which may cut into her
walking time, but for now
she hopes her habit inspires
others to take better care of
their community.
“When people see some-
thing clean, they generally
try and keep it clean, but if
it’s already dirty they think,
‘Oh, it doesn’t matter,’” she
said.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
MILTON-FREEWATER
Old PGG building up for auction
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Jayati Ramakrishnan
Brynley and Jackson Allen search for the perfect pumpkin at Bellinger Farms Pump-
kin Patch on Thursday.
Corn maze, pumpkin patch
put locals in Halloween spirit
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Kids of all ages enjoyed
the various fall activities
around Hermiston and Echo
on a crisp Thursday after-
noon.
“The turnout has been
awesome,” said Gina Tyhuis
who, along with her husband
Bob and son Brent, own
and operate the Echo Corn
Maze, on 100 N. Dupont St.
in Echo.
Tyhuis said visitors have
enjoyed the maze, which is
haunted on some evenings,
as well as some of the educa-
tional activities they offer.
“We have some agri-
cultural science discovery
field trips,” she said. There
are four stations for those
visits, including a “mini-
maze,” where kids can learn
about how corn grows, and
a pumpkin patch. There is
also a corn pit, where kids
can hunt for treasure, and a
straw bale maze, which kids
can complete in teams. One
team member gets blind-
folded, and the other gives
them verbal clues to help
complete the maze.
Tyhuis said the full corn
maze should take people
about 20 minutes to complete
if they follow the map, which
is available at the start of the
maze. If not, she said, it can
take anywhere from half an
hour to two hours.
Cort Coelho, 5, finished
the maze in record time.
“It wasn’t hard,” he said.
“My mom helped me.”
Further north at Bellinger
Farms and pumpkin patch,
several families hunted for
the perfect pumpkin. The
store offers tractor rides, and
has an area set up with hay
The former Pendleton
Grain
Growers
retail
building in Milton-Freewater
has hit the auction block.
Bids
are
due
Wednesday, Nov. 15 for the
29,500-square-foot facility
on East Broadway Avenue
and North Russell Street.
Realty Marketing/Northwest
of Portland is handling the
sale.
Two other PGG sites
on Northeast First Avenue
in Milton-Freewater are
also up for auction, located
near Blue Mountain Cider
Company and Watermill
Winery. The properties can
be purchased together or
separately, said John Rosen-
thal, president and principal
Oregon broker for Realty
Marketing/Northwest.
“We’ve had pretty good
interest,” Rosenthal said.
“There’s a lot of options for
it.”
PGG closed its retail
stores across Umatilla
County in 2014 as part of an
effort to save the financially
struggling co-op. Members
ultimately voted to dissolve
PGG two years later, in
Photo contributed by Realty Marketing/Northwest
Bids are due Nov. 15 for the former Pendleton Grain
Growers retail building in Milton-Freewater.
order to recoup as much of
their earnings as possible.
The price for the
Milton-Freewater
store,
which includes a card lock
fueling facility, is falling.
PGG reduced the price from
$628,800 to $400,000, or
about $10 per square foot,
and the co-op is also offering
short-term financing as an
additional incentive.
The other two industrial
sites are $60,000 for 21,206
square feet, and $40,000 for
18,295 square feet. Both
are zoned for industrial and
commercial use.
About a half-dozen
people
have
already
inspected the sites, Rosen-
thal said. Bid packages are
available by calling 1-800-
845-3524.
Another PGG store —
this one in Athena — was
recently purchased by the
nonprofit Mainstreet Athena
Association, which will hold
a series of public meetings
to determine its future use.
The former Hermiston store
on South First Street is now
a Napa Auto Parts location.
A spokesman for PGG
did not return a request for
information regarding the
status of the former Pend-
leton store and offices and
Southwest Dorion Avenue.
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
BRIEFLY
Good Shepherd offers
preview sale, free flu shots
Staff photo by Jayati Ramakrishnan
Jeff, Cort and Amy Coelho of Echo smile as they reach
the end of the Echo Corn Maze on Thursday afternoon.
bales and pumpkins where
people can take photos.
Brynley Allen, 6, and
her brother Jackson, 3, were
pleased with their finds.
“I’m going to carve a
scary face on mine,” she
said.
Addie Pena, a Bellinger
Farms employee, said the
season had been fairly busy,
between the general public
and visits from schools.
They have had students from
Hermiston and surrounding
schools, and from as far
away as Arlington and
Condon.
Bellinger
Farms’
pumpkin patch, at 1823 S.
Hwy 395, is open from 3 to 5
on weekdays, and all day on
weekends, until Halloween.
The Echo Corn Maze
is open Friday from 3 to 9
p.m., from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
on Saturday, from 10 a.m. to
9 p.m. on Sunday and from
3 to 10 p.m. on Tuesday for
Halloween. On Monday,
the maze will have a “bring
your pet” event, with hours
posted on Facebook in the
coming days.
———
Contact
Jayati
Ramakrishnan
at
jramakrishnan@eastore-
gonian.com or 541-564-
4534
HERMISTON — The annual Christmas
Preview Sale of the Good Shepherd
Medical Center Gift Shop offers a chance
to receive a 10 percent discount on gift
items.
The event is Friday, Oct. 27 from 9 a.m.
to 4 p.m. in Conference Room 1-2 at the
hospital, 610 N.W. 11th St. Hermiston.
Money raised form the event helps the
Good Shepherd Hospital Auxiliary provide
scholarships for area students pursuing a
medical career and equipment needed by
the hospital.
And with flu season just around the
corner, people can protect themselves by
getting a vaccination.
A free flu shot clinic is planned Saturday
from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Good Shepherd
Medical Center, 610 N.W. 11th St.,
Hermiston. It will be held in Conference
Rooms 1-2, which is located near the
hospital pharmacy.
For more information about the hospital
auxiliary, contact juner1942@gmail.com or
call 541-667-3509.
FREE ADULT
FLU SHOTS
C o lum b ia Ba n k
2101 SW C o ur t Pla ce
D rive Thro ug h C lin ic
Sa turd a y, O cto b er 28th
2p m - 5 p m
2801 St. Anthony Way
Pendleton, OR 97801
www.sahpendleton.org
541-278-3262