OFF PAGE ONE
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Awards: Distinguished citizens help community
East Oregonian
Chamber: City shares goals
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Continued from Page A1
Lockwood, like most
award winners throughout
the night, insisted that they
were only able to do their
good work because of the
help of their community.
Dennis Barnett described
Hermiston’s Man of the
Year in glowing terms, para-
phrasing a quote by Mother
Teresa about doing good
things anyway, even when
others might be selfish or
jealous.
“Mother Teresa might
be a stretch,” Ford Bon-
ney remarked drily as he
accepted the award.
Bonney is a longtime
business owner in the com-
munity and owns Hale’s
Restaurant, a fixture in
downtown Hermiston. He
is famous for his auction-
eering skills and frequently
puts those skills to use for
charity.
Barnett said Bonney has
worked quietly behind the
scenes, giving tirelessly to
the community personally
and through his businesses.
Bonney, he said, is humble,
unassuming and knowledg-
able about everything going
on in the community.
“This individual has been
involved with almost every
organization in the commu-
nity in one form or another,”
Barnett said.
When Bonney got up
to receive the award he
deflected attention from
himself by having his fam-
ily stand up and thanking
them, along with the entire
community and Barnett,
without whom “I probably
wouldn’t be in business.”
The Bob Severson Rotary
Business of the Year went to
Purswell Pump.
Presenter Tony Gar-
berg said the business
was a multi-generational,
decades-old business that
offered “honest, fair ser-
vice” and was known for its
many acts of kindness and
generosity in the commu-
nity. He said as a customer
himself, he could speak to
their exceptional customer
service.
“Both times I called the
business at 6:30 in the morn-
ing and Scott (Purswell)
answered,” Garberg said.
“He not only answered, but
within 15 minutes Scott
was at my house fixing the
problem.”
Purswell said he had
been looking at the list of
past winners of the award
and it was “truly an honor to
be on the list with them.”
The Merit of Honor
Award went to Michelle
Hankinson, who started
Hermiston’s
community
garden, Lovin’ Spadefuls,
in 2011.
Presenter Nora Pratton
described how Hankinson
didn’t have any gardening
experience but raised her
hand and took on the proj-
ect anyway, getting the land,
irrigation, soil and other
necessities donated.
Today
the
garden
includes 80 plots that fam-
ilies, senior citizens and
others use for only $10 per
season, and Hankinson has
become an accomplished
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Umatilla County Chief Deputy District Attorney Jaclyn Jenkins, left, smiles at the audience
after receiving the Hermiston School District Distinguished Alumnus of the Year award
Wednesday at the Hermiston Distinguished Citizens Awards.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Former Hermiston Chamber of Commerce director Debbie
Pedro, center, was recognized for her 18 years of service by
the chamber board of directors Wednesday at the Hermiston
Distinguished Citizens Awards.
gardener who teaches free
community classes each
March.
“She’s always thinking
about the next step, what
else might be possible,”
Pratton said.
After reading the names
of the educators of the year
for the entire district, Herm-
iston School District Super-
intendent Tricia Mooney
presented three awards:
the Distinguished Alum-
nus award, Educator of the
Year, and Administrator of
the Year.
The
Distinguished
Alumna, Umatilla County
Chief Deputy District Attor-
ney Jaclyn Jenkins, thanked
the community where she
grew up.
“When I was in high
school, many of my friends
were dying to leave,” she
said. “I was dying to stay.
I love this community, and
I’m thankful to have the
opportunity to come back
and serve here.”
Jenkins graduated from
Hermiston High School in
2001. She is the lead pros-
ecutor for all sexual abuse
cases, and works on most
major crime cases that the
county handles.
The Educator of the Year,
Amber Utter, was not at the
event, because she was out
of town receiving work-re-
lated training. Utter is an
instructional coach at the
district. She provides group
and one-on-one training for
classroom teachers, focus-
ing on mentoring first-year
teachers and working with
teachers and administrators
on using iReady data. Utter
has worked for the district
for 11 years, and was previ-
ously a sixth grade teacher
at Sandstone Middle School.
Jeff Kelso, the district’s
technology manager, was
named Hermiston’s Admin-
istrator of the Year. Kelso
came to the district a lit-
tle over a year ago. Mooney
described Kelso’s quirki-
ness and sense of humor,
and said he has “won the
hearts and admiration of
the entire staff.” She said he
has improved the efficiency
of district networks, and
enthusiastically solves prob-
lems all around the district.
Kelso said he was grate-
ful for the support of the
staff and the school board.
“I’ve been in K-12 edu-
cation for 17 years,” Kelso
said. “My year and a half
in Hermiston have been the
best experience of my pro-
fessional life.”
The Altrusa Outstanding
Young Citizen Award went
to Madison Wilson. Pre-
senter Dawn Long described
Wilson as having a heart for
service and “integrity sec-
ond to none.”
She said Wilson volun-
teers for Desert Rose Min-
istries and is taking Spanish
classes so that she can better
include Spanish-speaking
members of the community.
“Her intent is always for
people to feel seen, valued
and appreciated,” Long said.
There was one per-
son recognized Wednes-
day night who wasn’t on the
program.
Debbie Pedro, who
started a new job in January
after 18 years as director of
the Greater Hermiston Area
Chamber of Commerce, was
given a bracelet and many
kudos from the chamber’s
board for her years of ser-
vice to the chamber.
Fiesta: Loan from city aids renovation project
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Meda received permis-
sion from the city to change
the project and repaint the
exterior instead, which will
do away with the 322 S.
Main St. restaurant’s uncon-
ventional color scheme.
When the project is com-
pleted, the building will no
longer have the same yellow,
red, green, and pink hues
to it. And the centerpiece
mural — an Aztec warrior
standing on a mountain top
— will also disappear.
Meda said that when he
first started his business 18
years ago, he wanted to do
anything he could to make
Joe’s Fiesta stand out. He
even thought about a paint-
ing of an indigenous Mexi-
can that would complement
the depictions of cowboys
on the Hamley SteakHouse
building down the street.
But the paint scheme
and mural drew consterna-
tion from some residents,
and now Meda is focused
on making the building
look closer to its historical
heritage.
Meda has photos of the
building from the early 20th
century, when it appeared to
be painted white, but he said
he plans to paint the build-
ing in colors that match the
façades belonging to the
building’s neighbors — Sis-
ter’s Cafe and the Pendleton
Music Co.
The outside isn’t the only
place changes are being
made to Joe’s Fiesta.
The $70,000 loan will be
used to expand Joe’s Fiesta
into the space next door,
where Ooh La La Salon is
now.
Meda said he expects the
salon to move out in mid-
March, and then he’ll begin
work on turning the space
into a cantina.
Although Joe’s Fiesta
already serves alcoholic
beverages, Meda said adults
looking to unwind with a
few drinks currently share
space with families with
young children.
The cantina will be a 21
and older area where cus-
tomers can still order Joe’s
Fiesta food and drinks in a
more adult atmosphere.
Meda said he bought
the bar from the recently
closed Frontier Tavern and
will also install televisions
for sporting events, such as
Monday Night Football and
March Madness. Meda said
he anticipates that the exte-
rior and interior renovations
will be done in May or June.
Other business
After meeting as the
development commission,
the Pendleton City Council
reviewed a less-than-perfect
audit.
The auditor identified
two material weaknesses:
expensing a water and
stormwater infrastructure
improvements project to the
water fund when it should
have been split between
funds and submitting an
essential financial assis-
tance document that needed
“significant corrections.”
The auditor also found
that the city was out of
compliance
with
the
requirements of a state
loan for water infrastruc-
ture improvements, having
started a project before per-
forming an environmental
review.
Lastly, auditing firm
Dickey & Tremper found
that the city was mainly fil-
ing reimbursement requests
for the loan after the proj-
ects were complete, causing
improperly filed invoices.
The council unanimously
voted to accept the audit.
A7
The city currently gives
the chamber half of its tran-
sient room tax funds (about
$20,000-$25,000 per year)
and has also given an addi-
tional $20,000 from the
general fund this year. The
city also provides in-kind
services, most notably leas-
ing the chamber’s building
to the organization for $1
per year.
Stockdale told the East
Oregonian that the relation-
ship between the city and
chamber has been great and
they both share the same
goals of promoting business
development and the city in
general. But the city’s rel-
atively new community
development department
does “a lot of similar work”
and he thought it was worth
having some discussions
to see if changes might
help both entities use their
resources more effectively.
Mark Ribich, president
of the chamber board and a
former city councilor, said
the chamber feels “fairly
secure” about the fact that
its contract runs through
2020, and they are always
open to discussion about
ways to better partner with
the city. He emphasized
that while the city makes
decisions about how much
money it gives the cham-
ber and whether it con-
tinues to lease the cham-
ber’s building to them, the
power to decide the cham-
ber’s organizational struc-
ture ultimately resides with
its board.
The Greater Herm-
iston Area Chamber of
Commerce
approached
the Umatilla Chamber of
Commerce last year, for
example, about creating a
regional chamber. Ribich
said the chamber board ulti-
mately decided to decline
the offer for Hermiston’s
chamber to essentially
absorb Umatilla’s.
“We were concerned
that the needs of the busi-
ness community here
would not be served,” he
said.
However, he said the
chamber would like to take
a more regional approach in
other ways.
The Umatilla Chamber
was paid by Travel Ore-
gon to run an official Ore-
gon “welcome center” at
its building, which draws
daily visitors coming into
Oregon. In 2017 Travel
Oregon decided to move
the welcome center to the
SAGE Center in Boardman
to also capture travelers on
Interstate 84 coming from
Idaho.
Ribich said while the
change has meant fewer
state-wide and west-side
brochures on-site, the
chamber has still been
using the visitor center to
promote Umatilla. They
would like to become more
of a Umatilla County wel-
come center, Ribich said,
and allow other cities such
as Hermiston and Stanfield
to provide information and
even hold events for visitors
crossing the bridge from
Washington.
The chamber’s building,
located above the Columbia
River in view of the bridge,
is well-situated for a visi-
tor center. Stockdale said
he recognizes this, but he
also called the city-owned
building a less-than-ideal
place for a chamber of com-
merce to be located.
“It’s odd to me to see
a chamber so far off the
beaten path from all the
other businesses,” he said.
Stockdale also said as a
newcomer to town he saw
tremendous potential in
the building and felt it was
being underutilized. He
suggested that the build-
ing could be used for small
weddings, business meet-
ings and other events at
a low rental cost of $150
to $250 for a day. He said
he thought that could be
achieved even if the cham-
ber of commerce stayed at
that location.
Ribich told the East Ore-
gonian he could see Stock-
dale’s point of view about
most chambers of com-
merce being located closer
to the city’s business cen-
ter, but he felt that it was
important the chamber also
be able to act as a visitor
center promoting Umatilla
County assets to travelers.
On Tuesday at the start
of the city council’s meet-
ing, before its executive
session, chamber direc-
tor Kacie Evans shared a
semi-annual report with the
council.
She said since she was
hired in January 2018 the
chamber’s membership has
grown from 31 to 51. She
said the chamber provides
a number of services for its
members, including advo-
cacy with the state, advertis-
ing in publications such as
the Eastern Oregon Travel
Guide, business trainings
on topics such as social
media use, ribbon cuttings,
sponsorship opportunities
and a quarterly newsletter.
The chamber also hosted
several events for the pub-
lic, ranging from Landing
Days and the Distinguished
Citizen Awards to candi-
date forums.
Conviction: Not his first offense
Continued from Page A1
newspaper, and the driv-
er’s side smashed into a
telephone pole. Murphy
died at the scene.
Vasquez-Vargas had a
blood-alcohol level of 0.28
percent. Washington, like
Oregon, set the legal limit
at 0.08 percent, meaning
the state presumed you
were driving intoxicated at
the level.
He pleaded guilty to
vehicular homicide, but in
the deal admitted to oper-
ating a vehicle in a reck-
less manner and caus-
ing a crash, not to driving
drunk. He received a sen-
tence of 27 months, which
the UB reported was the
top end of the sentencing
range.
Vasquez-Vargas
also received credit for the
153 days he spent in jail
before going to prison.
The
Washington
Department of Corrections
confirmed Vasquez-Var-
gas entered prison on the
charge of vehicular homi-
cide on Jan. 12, 2000, the
day after his sentencing,
and left on March 19, 2001.
The federal government
deported Vasquez-Vargas
after he did his time.
The United States Dis-
trict Court of Eastern
Washington in 2004 con-
victed him of felony reen-
try into the country after
deportation and sentenced
him to three years, three
months in prison, then
deported him.
Matthew Murphy in
his email stated hear-
ing the name of the man
who killed his grandfa-
ther “brought back a lot
of emotions and the feel-
ing of the system failing.”
Matthew Murphy did not
return requests for further
comment.
The Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Office lead the
investigation into the
shooting death of Luiz-An-
tonio. Sheriff Terry Rowan
said detectives found
Vasquez-Vargas had the
vehicular homicide con-
viction. Umatilla County
District Attorney Dan Pri-
mus said his office obtains
criminal histories of defen-
dants and he is aware of
Vasquez-Vargas’ convic-
tions, but he and his staff
keep their focus on the
case at hand.
Yet, like any defendant,
Primus said, Vasquez-Var-
gas’ criminal history can
have a bearing on sentenc-
ing. Prior crimes affect
where a defendant lands on
Oregon’s complex sentenc-
ing guidelines, he said,
and the judge makes those
determinations.
Va s q u e z -Va r g a s ’s
defense attorney, Kara
Davis of Pendleton, said
she has not looked into her
client’s criminal history
and is focused on his men-
tal health evaluations.
The next status check
on the case is March 6.