HOOPS: Huge wins keep Bucks alive | SPORTS, B1
E O
AST
143rd Year, No. 94
REGONIAN
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
HERMISTON
Winter is back for more
City to
sample
pod of
food
trucks
Storm drops another
layer of snow on
Eastern Oregon
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Snowstorm, thy name is
Ryan.
Winter Storm Ryan — the
sobriquet bestowed on the lat-
est Northwest snowstorm by
The Weather Channel — has
dropped serious precipitation
since snow started falling Sat-
urday night.
Pendleton already blew by
its previous snowfall records
by Valentine’s Day. The only
question remaining is how
much higher the new bar will
be set.
National Weather Service
meteorologist Jim Smith said
the service has measured 7.1
inches of cumulative snowfall
at the Pendleton airport and 3
inches in Hermiston.
From 4 a.m. Monday to
4 a.m. Tuesday, the service is
anticipating snowfalls ranging
from 4.9 inches in Boardman
to 7.6 inches in Tollgate, with
the rest of Umatilla and Mor-
row Counties falling some-
where in between.
As of midnight Mon-
day morning, Pendleton has
recorded 24.4 inches of snow-
fall so far for February while
Hermiston has gathered 12.1
inches. Their previous records
for February were 16.8 inches
and 9 inches, respectively.
The service forecasts the
precipitation to taper off once
its winter storm warning ends
early Wednesday morning.
But the snow and ice may
stick around for a while longer
even as the moisture dimin-
ishes. Smith said the service’s
8- to 14-day forecast antici-
pates below average tempera-
tures and above average precip-
itation into early March.
The service is also project-
ing that March as a whole will
feature average temperatures
and precipitation. That sug-
gests that much of the snow
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
See Winter, Page A8
McKay Elementary custodian Jesse Kantz uses a snowblower to clear a sidewalk near the school in southwest Pend-
leton.
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
New possibilities have
opened up for lunch breaks
in Hermiston.
On Monday the city
council approved an agree-
ment with Monica Todd to
run a food truck pod from
April to October.
The pod will include
four to eight food trucks
in the city-owned parking
lot across Orchard Avenue
from the Hermiston Post
Offi ce, as well as portable
restrooms, trash receptacles
and seating.
Todd has food industry
experience, including pre-
vious work as general man-
ager of Nookie’s Restau-
rant in Hermiston. She will
recruit vendors, manage the
site and cover expenses for
utilities, trash pickup and
portable restroom mainte-
nance. In return she will
be able to charge rent to
the vendors and keep any
profi ts.
“This is intended to be a
pilot program for this year,
and it’s pretty much, ‘What
you make you can keep,’”
city planner Clint Spencer
said.
He emphasized that at the
end of the year the city could
sign a new contract with
Todd for the same arrange-
ment or go in a different
direction.
See Food Trucks, Page A8
Food pod site plan
The city of Hermiston is planning
to create a gathering space for
food trucks starting this spring.
Play ball? Forecast says ‘not quite yet’ to high school athletes
Monday was the fi rst
day of practice for spring
sports in the Columbia
Basin, but instead of hear-
ing the crack of the bat or
does this. It is what it is.”
With no school Monday,
Haguewood couldn’t hold
practice, but when he can,
the Bucks are fortunate
to have an indoor facility
across from the school they
can use.
“In 2005, the parents got
together and put together
an indoor facility,” he said.
“We share it with softball
and a few other teams.”
Sunday and Monday’s
snowfall added to the
already deep layer cover-
ing ballfi elds and tracks,
more than teams can shovel
to make their fi elds usable.
“Larry (Usher, ath-
letic director) is amazing,”
Hermiston track coach
Emilee Strot said. “Last
week he worked with the
maintenance crew to clean
off the track and fi eld. Fri-
day, they were out there,
and then we got hit with
more snow last night and
today. If he hadn’t had that
done, we’d have over a foot
of snow out there. As it is,
we now have 5 or 6 inches.”
Strot said she will have
her team in the gym for
practice until the snow is
gone.
“We have worked out a
schedule to get every team
time in the gym,” she said.
“I’m thankful my sport
doesn’t have tryouts.”
While the sprinters and
Food pod
vendors
t
ocus
W . L
u e
Aven
BI-MART
lace
rst P
S. Fi
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
feet pounding on the track,
Mother Nature threw ath-
letes a curve ball in the
form of a few inches of
snow.
“It was just about to be
off the fi eld, and now it’s
back,” Pendleton base-
ball coach T.J. Haguewood
said of the snow. “Satur-
day was beautiful, and then
it turned to this. That fi rst
day, the kids are anxious
to get out there after a long
wait, then Mother Nature
.
d St
Thir
S.W.
Local teams are
taking practice
indoors until
weather improves
d Avenue
rchar
W. O
Parking
MCKENZIE PARK
Hermiston
Post Office
100 feet
Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group
See Sports, Page A8
Longtime DHS worker killed in Highway 11 crash
Driver of other
vehicle charged
with DUII
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
A woman who had
worked for the Department
of Human Services for 26
years was killed on Friday
night by an alleged drunken
driver.
While driving a state
vehicle on Highway 11
around 7 p.m., Adelaida
“Lolly” Solis Torres, 52, a
Self-Suffi ciency Programs
manager for DHS, was hit
by another vehicle, driven
by John Mattila, 24.
Solis Torres died at the
scene. Mattila had hit her
car nearly head-on, and
drove away from the scene,
according to police.
Mattila was located a few
hours later and arrested on
charges of driving under
the infl uence of intoxi-
cants, failure to perform
duties of a driver, third-de-
gree escape, resisting arrest
and manslaughter. He was
also arrested on two out-
standing warrants of fail-
ure to appear, second-de-
gree escape and fi rst-degree
theft. Mattila was also
charged with interfering
with a peace offi cer, by fail-
ing to put his hands behind
his back when ordered.
State and regional DHS
employees issued state-
ments about Solis Torres on
Monday.
“Lolly was compassion-
ate about people and will-
ing to do anything for any-
one. She did extraordinary
See Fatal Crash, Page A8
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