A10
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Tuesday, December 14, 2021
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Pendleton Fire Station No. 3 sits in the dark on the evening of Thursday,
Dec. 9, 2021, at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport in Pendleton. Pend-
leton Fire Chief Jim Critchley is looking for ways to staff the station, which
houses firefighting vehicles but no firefighters.
Airport:
Continued from Page A1
John Honemann, the manager
of the airport, said he would be
supportive of Critchley staffing Fire
Station No. 3, a sentiment shared by
Darryl Abling, the city’s UAS range
manager,
Abling said the airport’s taxi-
ways and roads provide some natu-
ral breaks to any potential fires, but
as activity at the range continues to
grow — more than 5,800 operations
so far in 2021 — the demand for
Funland:
Continued from Page A1
Playground security
Each light pole around the
perimeter of the playground
has two video cameras
recording 24 hours a day.
And the light posts have
sensors that turn on at night
and set up a “geo-fence.”
The geo-fence, Artz
explained, is a set of lasers.
When someone breaks the
beams, an alert goes to the
Hermiston Police Depart-
ment.
“The first week, the
cameras were tripped and
alerts were sent to the PD,”
he said. “A person with eight
unrelated warrants was
arrested here.”
Artz said police arrested
the trespasser on the
warrants.
Playground dangers
More recently, Artz said,
a local noticed two dogs
loose and growling at chil-
dren. Artz heard the report,
checked the cameras and took
screenshots of a dog urinating
on a piece of equipment fash-
ioned to look like an onion.
Nothing escapes the watch-
ful eye of the cameras or the
department, the director said.
In addition to theft and
unleashed pets, he said there
are other concerns. Rough
usage, as when adults over-
extend the rocking horses, is
troublesome. The orbit spin-
ner is sometimes abused, too.
Also, he said he sees vandal-
ism as an issue.
Vandal strikes
Walking through the
playground, he pointed at
one piece of equipment with
damage he said he suspected
is the result of a strike from a
baseball bat. Artz expressed
frustration over such vandal-
ism.
“It’s unfortunate that there
are people who just want to
come out and destroy and
wreak havoc on our things
that are for children,” he said.
He added that children
5-12 years old are not going to
have such a destructive atti-
tude. It is the older people, he
said, who want to get a rise
out of people and brag about
what they can do.
Artz said this destructive
spirit was at work the previ-
ous times the playground
on-site fire prevention would grow.
Staffing the airport fire station
still is in the early stages, so Critch-
ley hasn’t determined how the
department will fill in the largest
blank: funding.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Critchley said he can’t spare A pair of aircraft fire engines Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021, fill a garage bay facing the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport
anyone from his staff to reassign at Pendleton Fire Station No. 3.
to the airport fire station. Nor does
he have money to spare from his searching for a grant that may fund with airport tenants and customers
While there might not be a defin-
department’s $5.4 million budget a new position or identifying a about how a fire protection service itive start date for a new firefighter
to hire someone new from existing funding mechanism that could be might be incorporated into the at Fire Station No. 3, Critchley
funds.
used with airport tenants.
airport’s services. Any new addi- said he already anticipates the new
Critchley said he’s ruling out
Honemann said he didn’t want tions to staff likely would have to employee engaging in new train-
raising money from taxpayers, so to commit to some sort of fee or go through the budget process and ing and data work when not fighting
fires at the airport.
he’s kicking around ideas such as tax quite yet, but he said it’s talking the city council.
was vandalized to the point
of immolation.
More protection
on the way
Waving his outstretched
arm to the outer edge of the
playground, he pointed to
where a fence is going in.
It will stand just outside of
the pathway surrounding
the playground, he said, and
stand 4 feet tall.
The director said he was
once “on the fence” about
building a fence for the play-
ground. He said he sees tall
fences topped with barb wire,
and he was uncomfortable
about such a fence for this
playground. Such a fence
would be unfriendly and
unwelcoming, he said, send-
ing “the wrong message” to
playground users.
He thought about this
more, he said, and he agreed
for the need of a smaller
fence, which would keep
casual trespassers out
and keep young children
contained.
“There are quite a few
parents like me,” he said.
As the father of a child who
he describes as “a runner,”
he said he would feel more
comfortable if a fence existed
to block children from
escape.
“I think a fence is defi-
nitely necessary,” he said, and
Farm City Fence is handling
that work in the spring.
People already have spon-
sored pickets to the park,
he said, and those pickets
will include the name of the
sponsors. People can donate
to build this fence. Informa-
tion on sponsorships is on the
Hermiston Parks and Recre-
ation website.
The parks department
also is adding a speaker to
Funland to notify people
when they trespass after
hours. The police also will
receive an alert, as will Artz,
through an email.
This automated email
service already is operat-
ing, Artz said. Recently,
when someone entered the
playground to jump on a
portable toilet, Artz said he
was notified of the action
and ramifications. In this
instance, police officers
responded within 10 minutes
of his action to confront the
intruder, Artz said.
A 10-minute police
response is pretty standard,
Artz said. Often, police can
be faster, he added, even in
the middle of the night.
Motivation for
protection
Every piece of equip-
ment tells a story, he said,
and it should be protected.
Discussing his feelings about
the playground, he patted the
drinking fountain, which
looks like a lion. The Herm-
iston Lions Club raised funds
for the fountain and worked
to have it installed.
“You look at this, and it’s
awesome,” Artz said. “You
come here and you get to stick
your head in a lion’s mouth to
drink some water. This has to
be protected.”
Hardworking people and
donors added other pieces,
he said, and Artz was among
those who tightened bolts and
put up panels.
“My blood, sweat and
tears, shivering out in the cold
Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
The rules at Funland Park in Hermiston on Friday, Dec. 10,
2021, encourage good behavior and provide the phone
number for police.
last winter, went into this, so
I have a huge sense of pride in
this,” he said.
Jason Barron, parks
supervisor, and Brian Fricke,
municipal service worker,
did most of the “heavy
work,” setting posts into the
ground and laying concrete,
Artz said, but many people
were involved in making the
playground a reality. The
director said he knows these
people, and he does not want
to let them, or the commu-
nity, down by not adequately
protecting their work.
He said he was present at
the playground’s opening.
When children started play-
ing on the equipment, Artz’s
initial feeling was to rush out
and tell them not to play on it.
After a moment of reconsid-
eration, he said, he remem-
bered children are supposed
to jump on it and get it dirty,
he said.
“That’s what it’s here for,”
the director said.
Though this playground
has received much attention,
damage, theft and vandal-
ism is not uncommon to such
facilities, Artz said. He said
he has researched and found
other parks around the state
face similar issues.
Picking up a lost shoe at
Funland, he noted this play-
ground is kept pretty clean
and maintained. He said he
wants to keep it this way.
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Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
Funland Playground in Hermiston is a source of communi-
ty pride and employs several measures, including lasers, to
protect the unique features at the park.
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