PURSUIT ENDS WITH
SELF-INFLICTED
GUNSHOT WOUND
DAY 2 OF
FARM-CITY
PRO RODEO
REGION, A3
SPORTS, A8
E O
AST
143rd year, No. 211
REGONIAN
Friday, august 9, 2019
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2019 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Your Weekend
UMATILLA COUNTY FAIR
• Pure Bathing Culture,
The Lodge, Pendleton
• Broadway Block Party,
Milton-Freewater
• Science Pub, Prodigal Son
Brewery & Pub, Pendleton
FOR DATES, TIMES AND VENUES, VISIT
WWW.EASTERNOREGONEVENTS.COM
Weekend Weather
FRI
SAT
SUN
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Delaney Daugherty seasons meat at the International Foods booths
at the Umatilla County Fair Wednesday afternoon.
87/58
79/58
79/56
Shooting
rattles Latino
community
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
HErMistON — When news
of another mass shooting begins to
spread, certain elements can bring
the tragedy home for the people
who weren’t there.
a shooting at a church might
make the religious take pause,
or country music
fans might scope
out the nearest
exit more carefully
after a shooting at
a concert.
after a gun-
man posted a rac-
Barron
ist screed against
Latinos
before
killing 22 peo-
ple in an El Paso,
texas, Walmart,
members of Herm-
iston’s
Latino
community
are
Roman
feeling that extra
measure of concern.
“this realized a lot of fears
people have that it is this bad, that
the hate can be on this level,” city
councilor roy Barron said.
Barron is a member of a
small local grassroots organiza-
tion called raices — spanish for
“roots” — that has helped put
together educational forums and
rallies on immigration-related
issues in Hermiston area. He said
See El Paso, Page A7
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Hanan Sbaih, 7, works the grill at the the International Foods booth at the Umatilla County Fair Wednesday afternoon. The Umatilla County Fair
continues daily through Saturday at the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center in Hermiston.
Food at the Umatilla County
Fair is often a family business
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
H
ErMistON — as umatilla
County Fair attendees roam the
booths and barns, it is often fam-
ilies who provide the fuel for
their adventure.
Children help their parents serve up
funnel cakes, or spouses work in tandem
to take orders and fry corndogs. at the
international Foods booth, which serves
up treats such as kebabs and gyros, Louie
sbaih’s 7-year-old daughter Hanan sbaih
was pushing meat and fresh vegetables
around the grill.
“yesterday she asked me, ‘Please
daddy, i’m bored, can i wait on custom-
ers?’” he said.
He said she did such a good job that
some customers returned the next day
to ask for her specifically to make their
food. He doesn’t want her taking over
his business someday, though — the sin-
gle father is determined to make sure his
daughter achieves her goal of becoming
a judge.
“My father’s a lawyer, my brother is
a lawyer, my cousins are lawyers,” he
said. “i went to college but didn’t finish.
i want my daughter to be not just a law-
yer but a judge, over all of them.”
See Food, Page A7
Ready for the storm
By ALEX CASTLE
East Oregonian
HErMistON — as the umatilla County
Fair opened its gates for business on thurs-
day, dark clouds rolled in overhead while a
damp warmth clung to the air.
Most vendors appeared unconcerned with
tents propped above them and their valuables,
while others without that luxury nervously
watched the darkness wash over the grounds
at Hermiston’s Eastern Oregon trade and
Event Center.
according to the National Weather ser-
vice, there’s plenty more where they came
from and the fair is ready for it.
“We have an entire emergency manage-
ment plan in place,” director of fair security
John Eckhardt said.
Early thursday morning, the NWs issued
a red flag warning, indicating the area’s warm
temperatures, low humidity and strong winds
have combined for critical fire conditions.
that risk is elevated by predicted thunder-
storms with abundant lightning that follows
a dry period in the region, according to the
warning.
storms were expected to begin thursday
afternoon and evening with more occurring
Friday and extending into saturday after-
noon. the NWs projects the storms will
gradually produce more and more rainfall
with them and the red flag warning is in effect
until 10 a.m. on saturday.
Emergency contingencies at the fair are
coordinated by umatilla County sheriff
Terry Rowan and his office.
While the emergency management plan
doesn’t explicitly outline the procedure for
thunder and lightning in the area, rowan
and Ekchardt echoed the same plan of get-
ting people to shelter, whether that be at the
ground’s event center, barns, or people’s per-
sonal vehicles.
Much of the plan, rowan said, is dedicated
to mitigating the risks of high winds that the
fair commonly faces each year. if the winds
exceed 20 mph, the carnival will stop operat-
ing the Ferris wheel and other elevated rides
until the gusts subside.
Eckhardt said that other rides would still
be operational during severe winds and that
See Storm, Page A7