OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Page 8A
SAFETY: Lifeguard work is preventative
Continued from 1A
guards go through,” rec-
reation supervisor Bran-
don Artz said. “They get
to shadow some too. It’s a
good opportunity to learn.”
On Monday morning
the junior lifeguard class
was treading water in the
lap swim pool, passing a
10-pound brick between
them
with
encourage-
ment from instructor Brit-
tin Braithwaite as some stu-
dents struggled not to sink.
Afterward, she said it
was important for lifeguards
to build endurance and men-
tal toughness so she tried to
push her students to keep
going even when they said
they were too tired. The
HFAC’s real lifeguards have
to swim nonstop for one
hour each week during their
inservice days.
Braithwaite said much
of the work the staff at the
aquatic center does is pre-
ventative, from teaching
water skills to asking kids
not to run next to the pool.
“People think lifeguards
save people from drowning,
but really we’re preventing
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Mekena Royer talks to her level 1 swim class before
taking to the pool Monday at the Hermiston Family
Aquatic Center.
drownings,” she said.
Alysia Garcia, 19, teaches
all levels of swim lessons at
the HFAC. This is her third
year.
“I like working with kids
because it gives me prac-
tice,” she said. “I want to be
a teacher.”
She said most of her les-
sons are focused on helping
kids be safe in the water, so
that if they get caught in a
current at the beach or ven-
ture too far out and get tired
they can get to safety or at
least stay afloat until they
are rescued.
Pendleton
Family
Aquatic Center also offers
a variety of swim lessons to
several hundred students of
varying levels, and adults
can sign up for private les-
sons. Swim instruction coor-
dinator Mary Wells said
there are still open spots and
encouraged people to sign
their children up if they hav-
en’t already.
“It’s a safety issue,” she
said. “You want your kids to
be safe.”
Wells said when peo-
ple reach adulthood with-
out knowing how to swim it
can negatively impact their
lives, especially in the sum-
mer when they are getting
invited to go boating, fish-
ing, rafting, or to spend time
on the beach.
“Not only can it cause
you to be unsafe, and the
people around you to be less
safe, it also limits your activ-
ities,” she said.
She said the aquatic cen-
ter and all it offers — includ-
ing multiple levels of swim
instruction — is an “amaz-
ing” resource for the com-
munity that people should
not take for granted.
For more information
about Pendleton Family
Aquatic Center call 541-
276-0104 or visit http://
www.pendletonparksandrec.
com/aquatic-center.
For
more information about the
Hermiston Family Aquatic
Center call 541-289-7665 or
visit hermistonpool.com.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
RETAIL: Albertsons building too big for rodeo’s needs
Continued from 1A
their smart phones as tickets,
consolidating administrative
offices and ticketing under
one roof is meant to stream-
line the operation.
Thomas
said
the
Round-Up is one of the few
rodeos with a year-round
retail operation that exceeds
larger rodeos in Denver and
San Antonio.
With sales up 5 per-
cent from last year, the new
building’s storage space is
meant to accommodate the
Round-Up’s growing online
retail sector.
The planned location of
the building is in the north-
east corner of the parking lot,
directly across from the Hall
of Fame to the east and the
bucking horse statue to the
north.
The new building’s loca-
tion means the vacant Alb-
ertsons will be demolished
over the summer.
O’Neill anticipates the
Round-Up will field com-
plaints that it didn’t repur-
pose the building instead
of demolishing it. While
the Round-Up explored
using Albertsons for its
own ends, O’Neill said the
size of the building meant
the Round-Up would have
to lease part of it to another
entity to make that feasible,
a move that wouldn’t play to
the Round-Up’s strengths.
Thomas added that ren-
ovating the building would
have been a long-term, mul-
tiphase project while a new
building accomplished the
Round-Up’s goals more
quickly and efficiently.
The demolition is also
expected to create addition
by subtraction — more park-
ing spots.
“In our reality, (park-
ing) is our biggest nemesis,”
O’Neill said.
Round-Up
officials
expect to have the Albert-
sons building cleared away
by Round-Up week so they
can open up the parking lot
to rodeo fans.
Construction on the proj-
ect will cease for the rodeo
and resume afterwards,
although the Round-Up
didn’t provide an exact time-
line for the new facility.
As for its other expansion
projects — an indoor arena
and classroom space for
Blue Mountain Community
College and several proper-
ties bought west of South-
west 18th Street — O’Neill
said there weren’t many
updates to provide.
A long-range facility
planning committee contin-
ues to look at what to do with
the western properties and
the Round-Up remains sup-
portive of BMCC’s efforts.
The Round-Up is also
making its own efforts to
keep stockholders abreast of
their plans, after receiving
previous complaints that the
Round-Up Board of Direc-
tors wasn’t being transpar-
ent with them. O’Neill said
all stockholders were sent
letters Monday and Tues-
day informing them of the
project.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
WATER: Ratepayers
won’t have to cover cost
Continued from 1A
solve utility problems on
their own.
A subsequent public
meeting with the repre-
sentative from the Greater
Eastern Oregon Regional
Solutions Team to address
council concerns devolved
into bickering as the coun-
cil criticized the park for its
code enforcement issues.
In a much more mild
environment, the council
didn’t spend much time
debating the Business Ore-
gon grant at Monday’s
meeting and none of the
audience members spoke
out against it.
Hall stressed the grant
meant ratepayers and citi-
zens wouldn’t have to pay
for the cost of extending
water to the trailer park.
Although the council
unanimously authorized
the grant, Councilor Brad
Humbert had some parting
words on the issue.
“I just want to thank
Linda and staff for not fold-
ing or buckling to the county
commissioners when they
didn’t stand up for the city,”
he said. “And not buckling
to the state (for) the disas-
ter that no one will enforce
their code over. It’s not in
the city limits. It’s not nec-
essarily our problem, but
we seem to have to clean up
others’ messes.”
The
council
also
approved a $34 mil-
lion budget for the 2018-
2019 fiscal year. Balanc-
ing the budget required a
few corresponding moves,
including:
• The council agreed
to raise golf course rates
3 percent, but exempted
student daily greens fees,
student punch cards, golf
cart barn rentals and sea-
son passes from the
increase. The council also
had the option of institut-
ing an across-the-board
rate increase, but the Mil-
“It’s not necessar-
ily our problem,
but we seem to
have to clean up
others’ messes.”
— Brad Humbert,
City Councilor
ton-Freewater Golf Board
recommended the more
targeted raise.
The council voted 4-1 to
raise the rates, with Hum-
bert voting against.
Humbert said the golf
course does a lot of good
for the community through
charity golf tournaments,
but continual rate increases
could eventually decrease
patronage from out-of-
town golfers.
• The council unani-
mously voted to increase
electrical rates 3 percent
and raise the service avail-
ability fee for commercial
and industrial customers.
Electric superintendent
Rick Rambo reported the
3 percent rate increase was
necessitated by the city’s
power supplier, Bonne-
ville Power Administra-
tion, raising its rates 5 per-
cent in October.
Hall said the 3 percent
rate increase was a require-
ment of balancing the bud-
get, but the council had
more “wiggle room” in the
availability fees.
Currently $15 for both
commercial and industrial,
staff recommended rais-
ing the commercial fee to
$25 and the industrial fee
to $50.
Concerned by the large
jumps in price, Councilor
Verl Pressnall suggested
raising commercial to $20
and industrial to $30.
The council incorpo-
rated Pressnall’s recom-
mendation into the motion
and unanimously passed
the fee increases.
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