REGION
Friday, April 13, 2018
PENDLETON
East Oregonian
Page 3A
HERMISTON
Candidates discuss housing
and economic development
Contributed photo
Old Dominion is the headliner for the Pendleton
Round-Up and Happy Canyon kickoff concert. Tick-
ets go on sale Friday, April 20 for the Sept. 8 event.
Round-Up wrangles
in Old Dominion
for kickoff concert
Tickets go
on sale April 20
East Oregonian
Breakout country band
Old Dominion will kick
off the 2018 Pendleton
Round-Up and Happy
Canyon week.
Blending old-fashioned
country charm, lyrical wit
and rock ‘n roll grit, the
Nashville-based band is the
headliner for the Saturday,
Sept. 8 concert at the Happy
Canyon Arena. Tickets go
on sale Friday, April 20 at
8:30 a.m.
The group has emerged
as one of country music’s
hottest bands with two
American Country Music
Award nominations for
New Artist of the Year and
Vocal Group of the Year.
Their debut album, “Meat
and Candy,” was certified
Gold and hailed for hits
like “Break Up With Him”
(platinum),
“Snapback”
(gold) and “Song For
Another Time,” which
hit No. 1 on the Billboard
Country Airplay and Medi-
aBase charts.
The band’s popularity
has exploded since opening
for Big & Rich during the
2014 Round-Up and Happy
Canyon concert.
“We can’t wait to
welcome Old Dominion
back to the Happy Canyon
Arena, but this time as
our main act,” said Corey
Neistadt, Happy Canyon
president. “They’re such a
crowd-pleasing band that
will do a great job of kicking
off an exciting week.”
Pendleton
Round-Up
president Dave O’Neill
agreed, saying the band’s
sound appeals to a wide
variety of people.
Old Dominion’s highly
anticipated August 2017
release, “Happy Endings,”
debuted at No. 1 on the
Billboard Top Country
Albums Chart and No. 7
on the Top 200. The band’s
latest single, “Written In
The Sand,” follows the
success of the album’s
debut single, “No Such
Thing As A Broken Heart,”
which hit No. 1 on the Bill-
board Country Airplay and
MediaBase charts.
In 2016, Old Dominion
was named the ACM New
Group of the Year, ACCA
Breakthrough Group of
the Year, AIMP Songwriter
Artist of the Year and Music
Row Breakthrough Artist of
the Year. The band includes
lead
singer
Matthew
Ramsey, lead guitarist Brad
Tursi, multi-instrumentalist
Trevor Rosen, bassist Geoff
Sprung and drummer Whit
Sellers.
Tickets range in price
from $46 to $150. To
purchase tickets, call 1-800-
457-6336 (select option 1)
or visit www.pendleton-
roundup.com.
Pendleton attorney wins ‘Dancing
with your Pendleton Stars’
East Oregonian
In a field of six at
“Dancing with your Pend-
leton Stars,” Jennifer Currin
successfully argued her case
with her feet.
Currin, an attorney at the
Pendleton law firm Corey,
Byler & Rew, took home
first place for her perfor-
mance at the charity dancing
competition Saturday.
Dancing a waltz to the
“Game of Thrones” theme,
Currin raised more than
$14,000 for Cason’s Place
and $1,300 for the Children’s
Museum of Eastern Oregon.
Tim McFetridge, a branch
manager at Banner Bank,
was the runner-up, raising
$5,500 for the Pendleton
Animal Welfare Shelter.
In its fourth year,
“Dancing with your Pend-
leton Stars” pairs prominent
community members with
dancers from Utah Ballroom
Dance Company in the name
of charity.
As the locals learn the
finer points of the cha
cha or the salsa for their
prepared routine, they also
raise money for local char-
ities while the Community
Action Program of East
Central Oregon uses ticket
revenue from the event to
help fund its food program.
CAPECO is still tallying
ticket revenue and donation
amounts, but Vicki Muller,
CAPECO’s director of food
services, said the total ticket
revenue is “in the vicinity
of $12,000 to $13,000” —
about double what CAPECO
took in last year.
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Housing,
economic
development and the Eastern
Oregon Trade and Event
Center were all topics of
concern during a forum for
Hermiston City Council
candidates Wednesday night.
The seven candidates
took questions presented by
the Greater Hermiston Area
Chamber of Commerce.
Michael Engelbrecht (Ward
1) was not at the forum after
announcing to the East Orego-
nian that he is in the process
of submitting paperwork
to formally withdraw from
the race due to a changing
employment situation that
means he may not be living in
Hermiston next year. Incum-
bent Jackie Myers (Ward 3)
was also absent.
Questions covered a variety
of problems facing Hermiston,
giving candidates one minute
each to present a solution.
EOTEC
A hot topic for the city
recently has been how to make
the new $17 million Eastern
Oregon Trade and Event
Center financially self-sustain-
able.
Several
candidates
mentioned keeping Venu-
Works, which was recently
contracted to run the center’s
day to day operations,
accountable and making
sure the professional venue
management company is
yielding good results.
“We need to keep their feet
to the flame,” Mark Gomolski
(Ward 1) said.
Roy Barron (Ward 2) said
he believed that EOTEC’s
current rental fee structure
is unaffordable for most
prospective clients, and that
hurts the center’s ability
to attract events. He cited
EOTEC being passed up by
the Hermiston School District
as a graduation venue as an
example. He also said the
facility needs to expand the
services it provides to people
renting the event center.
Shean Fitzgerald (Ward 2)
said he thought the city should
also seek private donations
and volunteer work to help
supplement the city’s support
for EOTEC.
Housing
One of the council’s current
goals is tackling a shortage
of affordable housing for
families moving to Hermiston.
Jackie Linton (Ward 1) said
she believes the council is on
the right track there. Linton,
who is not currently on the
council but has been attending
meetings regularly for about
two years, described recent
changes the council made to
zoning, lot coverage rules and
other steps to encourage infill
development of empty lots
scattered around town.
“I think this will help as
far as housing is concerned,
bringing in more homes
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2018
April 14th at the Roy Raley Room at 6pm.
Holden’s Heroes took home
the trophy in 2017.
Who will it be this year?
Come test your Umatilla County and
Oregon trivia knowledge at Trivia
Games 2018. Tickets are $25 each or
$120/team of six ($30 savings!).
Register your team at Heritage Station Museum
or call us at 541-276-0012 today!
MAY THE SCORES BE EVER
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108 SW Frazer Avenue
Pendleton, Oregon 97801
541-276-0012
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston City Council candidate Jackie Linton answers a question during a candi-
date forum at Armand Larive Middle School in Hermiston.
with the zoning laws being
changed, and making it more
accessible for families to buy
and purchase and own their
own home,” she said.
Incumbent Doug Smith
(Ward 4) said a next step
needed to be addressing the
shortage of contractors that
makes the housing shortage
worse. He referenced Ranch
& Home, which hasn’t been
able to complete its store on
the south end of Hermiston
yet due to problems finding
electricians.
“In order to actually get
those houses built we have to
have contractors to be able to
come and do it,” he said.
Economic Development
The topic of economic
development was woven
throughout the evening, as
candidates discussed the need
to bring in new homes, busi-
nesses and tourism to the area.
Kyran Miller (Ward 3)
said new businesses and
homes won’t appear until
the city has things that make
people want to visit and live
in Hermiston. He criticized
the school district’s graduation
rate as a drawback to people
researching whether they
wanted to move to Hermiston.
He also said he wants to see
the city complete projects that
make Hermiston a “city of
destination,” and praised the
creation of the urban renewal
district downtown.
“Again, it has taken forever
to get anything done, but we’re
showing results,” he said.
Incumbent Lori Davis
said Hermiston growth “is
a positive thing but can also
be a challenge.” She said
she would like to see more
retail, restaurants and housing
available to help attract larger
industries. She said that she
thinks that projects the city has
in the works, from the festival
street to a planned new skate
park, will help.
Linton said small busi-
nesses are the backbone of
any city’s economy and she
wanted to see the city be as
supportive as it can to small
businesses and residents
trying to start a new business,
in addition to trying to bring in
new business.
“Help them to be able to
start a business here in Herm-
iston,” she said. “That will
bring in more tax dollars. That
will also help to bring in more
people, who will buy property,
buy homes.”
Fitzgerald said the city
should work to recruit large
businesses like Lamb Weston
to help Hermiston’s economy
grow. He also said the
community needed to stop
putting new taxes like school
bonds on the residents before
old debts were paid off.
Other thoughts
Economic issues weren’t
the only ones discussed
Wednesday — candidates
also shared their goals to help
Hermiston’s people.
Barron worked as an
alcohol and drug councilor
for Umatilla County before
the drug court closed and now
works for the county’s mental
health program in schools
called RISE. He said he is
passionate about tackling the
city’s addiction and mental
health problems.
Davis discussed the need
for Hermiston to keep up its
infrastructure so that residents
have good roads to drive on
and the community doesn’t
start losing assets because they
are too far gone to fix.
Smith said Hermiston is
his home, and he cares deeply
about making it a better place.
He recited his personal cell
phone number to the audience
and said he is open any time,
any place to hearing feedback
on city issues. Miller said he
wanted the city council to start
holding monthly forums, but
if other councilors weren’t
willing to participate he would
“put up a tent in my front
yard” if that’s what it took.
Gomolski also touted his
commitment to transparency,
stating that the city council
doesn’t do enough to inform
residents and hold public hear-
ings on issues before voting
on them. He also said that the
city needed to “re-invest” in its
relationship with the chamber
of commerce and do more to
support that organization.
For a full video of the
council forum, visit altv.us.
4/13-15
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