INSIDE: Go inside to check our latest edition of GO! Magazine
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2021
146th Year, No. 11
$1.50
WINNER OF 16 ONPA AWARDS IN 2021
GETTING THEIR
CRAFT ON
Hundreds gather in
Pendleton for return
of leather show
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Herb Bork, a 100-year-old World War II veteran, fl ips
through a photo album of his years of service Nov. 2,
2021, in his Pendleton home.
Time for
a change
Herb Bork, 100, departs Pendleton
and refl ects on World War II service
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Leather craftsman Jim Linnell leads a workshop on inverted fi gure carving Friday, Nov. 5, 2021, at the Pendleton Leather Show
in the Pendleton Convention Center.
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
P
E N DLETON —
Hundreds of leather
enthusiasts and exhib-
itors traveled from
near and far last week
to attend the annual
Pendleton Leather Show at the
Pendleton Convention Center.
Pendleton’s culture was
on full display at the event,
as cowboys, tribal members,
artists and teachers mean-
dered through the exhibits,
shopping and talking shop
about the selection of goods.
“I love it out here,” Todd
Salzman, a sales manager for
Hermann Oak Leather Co.
from St. Louis, Missouri. “This
whole industry is a unique
culture. One of the friendliest
industries you’ll fi nd out there.”
Row after row of exhibits
fi lled the center with leather,
saddles, stirrups, conchos,
tools and dyes. Attendees
took leather work and knife
wielding classes in rooms
outside the main event. Many
people said they were glad
to be out with a sizable and
welcoming crowd of folks.
“It shows our heritage,” said
Rosa Hays, a Pendleton resi-
dent and enrolled member of
the Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation.
Her son, Tyson Hays,
added that the event is espe-
cially important for teaching
younger generations about
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
People wander the Pendleton Leather Show on Friday, Nov. 5, 2021, at the Pendleton Conven-
tion Center.
their heritage. They purchased
a bag full of string for braid-
ing. Each said they were glad
to have an event in their own
backyard after the pandemic
had them cooped up at home.
The event also featured
a new Northwest Leather
Masters Competition, where
competitors could show their
saddles, handbags, or chaps
for a chance to win more
than $3,000 worth of prizes,
according to Misty Shaw, the
owner and publisher of Shop-
talk! Magazine who orga-
nized the event.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
See Leather, Page A9
Leather chaps sit on display Friday, Nov. 8, 2021, at the Pendle-
ton Leather Show at the Pendleton Convention Center.
PENDLETON — Herb Bork had just arrived in
Guadalcanal when the bombs began to fall.
It was June 1943, more than 18 months after the
United States entered World War II. The U.S. armed
forces moved more than 100 tank-landing ships to the
island in the South Pacifi c. In all, less than two dozen
ships made it through the initial bombardment from
Japanese forces, Bork said.
Bork was aboard one of these ships when a group
of bombers attacked. He watched as gasoline contain-
ers burst into fl ames around him. He reached toward
one of the anchors and lowered himself into the water
below.
What he hadn’t noticed was the proximity of the
anchor to the propeller. It churned and nearly pulled
him under. He almost drowned when a man with a life
raft swam out and grabbed him. Don’t fi ght, the man
said. Just paddle.
“I was very fortunate to get out alive,” said Bork, a
100-year-old Pendleton resident and well-known metal
caster.
For the rest of his service during World War II, he
slept to the sounds of nightly raids.
His was not a service on the front lines of battle.
Drafted into the medical division, his focus was a silent
killer — mosquitoes.
At least 1,600 U.S. troops were killed during the
battle for Guadalcanal. But tropical diseases such as
malaria killed thousands more.
Bork’s goal was to control the spread of disease. By
jeep, he and other scientists traveled around the island
with what he called a “dipper,” surveying the area and
spraying mosquito breeding areas. He checked thou-
sands of men for disease and handed out mosquito nets
and medication. Many soldiers didn’t heed their warn-
ings and even mocked them while they moved through
camp. Some, he said, paid the price.
Regardless, Bork said he was fortunate the work
kept him off the front lines. Other troops around him
were caught, tortured, shot, killed or sent home legless,
armless or with post-traumatic stress disorder.
See Bork, Page A9
POSTAL
HOLIDAY
REMINDER
Due to the postal holiday, we will not publish a
paper on Thursday, Nov. 11, but have included comics
for Nov. 11 in today’s paper. We will publish our next
edition on Saturday, Nov. 13.
Student-led conferences a hit at Hermiston High School
“They’re doing great
things,” says principal
ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
HER MISTON — Caitlin
Anderholm was one of several
Hermiston High School students
who were showing off a wide range
of interests and skills at student-led
conferences last week. The event,
Monday and Wednesday, Nov.
1 and 3, was created to “provide
more community outreach,”
according to a Hermiston School
District press release.
The conferences included a
career and technical education
showcase, club booths and musi-
cal performances.
Anderholm, an 18-year-old
senior, gave visitors information to
the school’s computer-aided design
program. She stood next to engi-
neering equipment — the laser
engraver and the 3-D printer —
and demonstrated how they work.
She said she especially likes
making stickers and Christmas
ornaments with these machines,
but she has made larger proj-
ects, too. Through her work at the
school’s CAD and construction
programs, she is helping to build
a house.
This is offi cially her fourth year
in the CAD program, she said, but
her experience with it started a few
years prior to that. Her sister, who
is three years older and an HHS
graduate, used to allow Anderholm
into the school to see the equip-
ment, she said.
See Students, Page A9
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Caitlin Anderholm removes a keychain from a laser cutter Wednesday, Nov. 3,
2021, while demonstrating the machine at a career technical education night at
Hermiston High School.