REGION
Tuesday, June 29, 2021
East Oregonian
A3
LOCAL BRIEFING
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, File
Equipment “issues” is the reason CHI St. Anthony Hos-
pital, Pendleton, reported on Sunday, June 27, 2021, it is
diverting emergency room patients requiring inpatient
admission to other locations.
St. Anthony
diverts patients
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Fireworks sit on a table at the Black Cat fi reworks stand Monday, June 28, 2021, in Hermiston. Lesley Phillips, who runs the
stand, said she received roughly half her products due to shipping hangups.
Fireworks stands seeing shortages
Stands could run
out before the
Fourth of July
By JADE MCDOWELL
AND BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — Ship-
ping problems are causing
a fi reworks shortage at local
stands, according to suppli-
ers.
Lesley Phillips, who runs
the Black Cat fireworks
stand near Grocery Outlet in
Hermiston, said much of the
inventory she ordered is on
a ship at the Port of Tacoma
thanks to a shortage of long-
shoremen and truck drivers.
As a result, she said Friday,
June 25, she thinks she may
be sold out before the Fourth
of July.
“I advertised we would
be here until the Fourth, and
then two days later I found
out I’m only getting half my
shipment,” she said.
The problem seems to
be a national one — Phan-
tom Fireworks, one of the
nation’s largest retail fire-
works companies, put out a
statement urging consumers
to buy early this year.
“Like many other indus-
tries, the fi reworks industry
has also experienced delays
due to shipment challenges
facing the global market,”
said Alan L. Zoldan, Phan-
tom executive vice presi-
dent. “The good news is that
we prepared early in antici-
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Fireworks line tables at the Black Cat fi reworks stand Mon-
day, June 28, 2021, near Grocery Outlet in Hermiston.
pation of high demand again
this year, and are encourag-
ing Phantom customers to do
the same.”
Phillips said she has heard
from other people who sell
fi reworks in the area that they
are also having problems.
“We’re all kind of in the
same boat (no pun intended)
because it all comes from
China,” she said.
Cami Satterwhite, who
runs two fi reworks stands in
Pendleton, and has for the last
15 years, said her shipment of
fi reworks this year was about
$10,000 short. That’s about
half her typical supply.
Satter white and her
husband run the stand to
raise funds for the Pendle-
ton Lighthouse Church and
the Lighthouse Christian
Academy. She expects they
will lose about $2,000 worth
of profi t this year due to the
shortage. And they will be
sold out well before July 4.
“If people want them,
they better come get them,”
she said.
Satterwhite said her
brother, who owns a fire-
works booth in The Dalles,
and a friend who owns a
stand in Baker City, each
told her they only received
about half their usual supply
this year. None of them said
they have any clue why there
is a shortage, and they have
received no explanation from
their suppliers.
To Satterwhite, she said
it’s sad to see her tables not
be covered and surrounded
by tall stacks of fi reworks
this year. But part of her is
also glad she’ll be sold out
early so that she can get out
of the triple-digit heat wave
consuming Oregon.
Hermiston-area resi-
dents can support veterans
by purchasing their fire-
works from the stand hosted
by Hermiston’s American
Legion Post 37 outside of
Walmart.
Post Chaplain Aaron
Wetterling, a Vietnam
veteran, said in a news
release that veterans will
be staffi ng the stand and all
proceeds from the sales will
go to support veterans.
“We are Vets helping
Vets,” he said. “That’s what
the American Legion is all
about.”
Wetterling said all volun-
teers selling fi reworks at the
American Legion took two
“intense” training classes
on fi reworks and had to pass
a test, so they know what
they’re talking about if shop-
pers have questions. They
can direct people toward
something that won’t produce
loud noises that might scare
pets, if that’s what they’re
looking for, for example.
“Your average depart-
ment-store clerk doesn’t
know a ‘Revolution’ from
a ‘Pop-it,’” Wetterling said.
“We do.”
Like other fireworks
stands, Cathy Stolz of the
American Legion said their
stand received fewer fire-
works to sell than in previ-
ous years, particularly when
it comes to the big packages,
as fi reworks remain stranded
in ships off the West Coast.
The f ireworks stand
is guarded each night by
American Legion members,
she said, and during the day
features a large swamp cooler
and fans to help keep the
temperature down.
Enterprise transient suspect in setting Pendleton fi re
East Oregonian
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
M-F native to
run for county
commissioner
MILTON-FREEWA-
TER — A Milton-Freewa-
ter woman has announced
her candidacy for Umatilla
County commissioner.
Cindy Timmons, a
Milton-Freewater native
and a business owner in
the community for more
than 30 years, announced
Sunday, June 27, she plans
to run for the seat on the
board of commissioners
that Chairperson George
Murdock will vacate when
he retires in January 2023.
Timmons graduated
from McLoughlin High
School, went on to earn
an agriculture business
degree from Blue Moun-
Fire vehicles park atop a ridge Saturday, June 26, 2021, while
fi ghting a fi re along Airport Road outside of Pendleton. The
Umatilla County Sheriff ’s Offi ce later that day arrested an En-
terprise man for fi rst-degree arson in connection to the fi re.
down Airport Road during the
fi re, according to Ward.
Offi cials confi rmed crews
at around 4:30 p.m. were
starting to contain the fi re and
reopened I-84.
The fi re burned in stand-
ing wheat, and gusts of wind
contributed to its spread, Brost
said.
The fire nearly forced
people to evacuate from three
homes along Stage Gulch
Road, Ward said, but fire-
fi ghters hustled to protect the
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345 N. 1st Place, Hermiston, OR 97838
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H ER M ISTON —
Hermiston’s free summer
lunch program for students
is up and running.
According to Hermis-
ton Parks and Recreation,
free sack lunches are avail-
able for all children under
age 18, Monday through
Friday. Meals can be eaten
on site or taken home. Chil-
dren under age 5 must be
accompanied by an adult.
Locations are Sunset
Park, Northeast Fourth
Street, from 11:30 a.m.
to noon; Victory Square
Park, 150 S.W. 10th St.,
from 12:30-1 p.m.; and
Butte Park, 1245 N.W.
Seventh St., from 12:15-
12:45 p.m.
— EO Media Group
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IN GOLD MINING!
Facts
11th
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AMILY
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trespass. Summers has a plea
hearing in that case on Sept. 8.
The Pendleton Fire Depart-
ment responded to a report at
2:29 p.m. June 26 that a fi re
was burning north of Stage
Gulch and Barnhart roads,
according to Capt. Stephen
Brost of the Pendleton Fire
Department. The fire later
spread toward Interstate 84,
which prompted offi cials to
close the freeway.
The Umatilla County Sher-
iff ’s Offi ce also briefl y closed
Free lunch
program running
in Hermiston
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T-Shirt Dying
PENDLETON — The
Umatilla County Sheriff’s
Offi ce arrested an Enterprise
transient Saturday, June 26,
for setting a fi re that burned
hundreds of acres in the Stage
Gulch area of Airport Hill,
Pendleton.
The sheriff ’s offi ce booked
Michael Dean Summers, 36,
into the county jail on a lone
count of fi rst-degree arson.
Sheriff ’s Lt. Sterrin Ward
said Pendleton police were in
the area of the fi re. Summers
caught their attention when
they found out he made
comments suggesting he set
the fi re.
“He was saying he was
sending up smoke signals,”
Ward said, “and he made a
comment about ‘God made
me do it.’”
Summers also appeared
to be suffering from expo-
sure to the high heat, and an
ambulance took him to CHI
St. Anthony Hospital, Pend-
leton. Ward also said Pendle-
ton police wasted no time in
contacting the arson investi-
gator with the sheriff ’s offi ce.
As soon as the hospital
released Summers, the sher-
iff’s office arrested him for
fi rst-degree arson and booked
him into the county jail. His
preliminary bail is $250,000.
According to state court
records, Summers was on
a conditional release from
Wallowa County following his
arrest June 19 in Enterprise on
misdemeanors of second-de-
gree disorderly conduct and
homes and no evacuations
were necessary.
Mult iple agencies
responded to the fi re, Brost
said, including the Echo Rural
Fire Department, Umatilla
Tribal Fire Department and
Pilot Rock Rural Fire Protec-
tion District. The Umatilla
County Sheriff’s Office,
the Oregon State Police and
the Oregon Department of
Transportation also provided
assistance.
PE N DLETON —
CHI St. Anthony Hospi-
tal, Pendleton, reported
it diverted its emergency
room patients requiring
inpatient admission to other
locations due to equipment
“issues.”
“Due to issues with
laboratory equipment, we
have made the decision to
place the emergency room
on a short-term diversion-
ary status,” CEO Harry
Geller wrote in an email
Sunday, June 27, at about
10:30 a.m. “Out of an abun-
dance of caution for patient
safety, emergency patients
requiring inpatient admis-
sion will be diverted to the
nearest appropriate care
facility.”
He said St. Anthony
should be able to resume
standard emergency room
admissions within about 48
hours.
The hospital did not
clarify what equipment was
having issues or what those
issues were, other than they
were not related to the heat
wave.
Ambulances will be
diverted to “the nearest
appropriate hospital,” and
patients whose needs can
be addressed by an urgent
care facility are encour-
aged to go there instead.
tain Community College
and then her bachelor’s and
master’s degrees in busi-
ness administration from
Eastern Oregon University.
Along
with help-
ing run a
business
with her
hu sba nd ,
she is a
profes-
Timmons
sional
tutor at the
Blue Mountain Community
College Milton-Freewater
Center.
Timmons serves on the
Umatilla County Land Use
Planning Commission, is
a Blue Mountain Commu-
nity College Foundation
Board member and the vice
chair of Community Action
Program of East Central
Oregon.
She also is active in
the Walla Walla Valley
community. She is the
incoming president of the
Milton-Freewater Rotary
Club, serves as a member of
Friends of Mac-Hi FFA, a
Walla Walla Fair and Fron-
tier Days superintendent,
a Youth Athletics Board
member, a Milton-Freewa-
ter Junior Show past presi-
dent and board member and
a lifetime member of First
Christian Church.
Make Your Own
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July 10th or 11th @11:00 am
Price $40.00
Call for reservations
509-520-1570
214 N. Colville
www.kirkmanhousemuseum.org