REGION
Thursday, July 7, 2022
East Oregonian
A3
MILTON-FREEWATER
Freewater Square opens in time for summer events
By MAX ERIKSON
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
M I LT ON - F R E E WA-
TER — Freewater Square
on Milton-Freewater’s North
Main Street has officially
opened to the public.
More than 100 people
joined the opening, with
live music and more Thurs-
day, June 30, celebrating
Milton-Freewater’s newest
community event space that
can be used for a variety of
gatherings and celebrations.
Awards were given to the
mural artists who painted
the wall for the square, and
local youth band S.A.W.
from Athena performed rock
songs for the crowd. Walla
Walla Cheese Co. provided
ice cream, and attendees
could have a slice of a cele-
bratory cake.
Freewater Square has
been in the works for three
years and now is ready to
host live events, food trucks
Max Erikson/Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
Milton-Freewater Downtown Alliance Executive Director
Julie Culjak addresses the crowd June 30, 2022, before the
ribbon cutting for the new Freewater Square.
and act as a public space.
The Milton-Freewa-
ter Downtown Alliance
has spearheaded the proj-
ect, renovating and restor-
ing what was once a vacant
gravel parking lot.
Dow ntow n Alliance
Executive Director Julie
Culjak said having the
opening is amazing, and she
joked that now she’s going
to sleep for the next two
months.
“It was an incremental
process as we put every-
thing together,” Culjak said.
“We continued to get grants
through 2020 and 2021, and
that kept pushing us forward.”
The vision is for the
square to be used by local
businesses or organizations
for events or even a movie
night during the summer,
Cuiljak said.
The square also will be
used to develop small busi-
nesses in what Culjak calls
an incubator program.
Small, converted storage
buildings on the site can be
rented and used for a start-up
business to establish a work-
ing site.
The square was wired to
provide power to food trucks
and the entertainment stage
that is a converted flatbed
trailer.
Mi ke Waliser f rom
Milton-Freewater was there
with his wife and son and
said it was the first time he
had seen the square and
thinks it’s a great place for
the community to get out and
do stuff.
“Once the word gets
around, people will come out
STANFIELD
and socialize,” Waliser said.
“It’s great for Milton-Freewa-
ter to have an option like this.”
Waliser’s 10-year-old son
Henry also was excited and
having a good time.
“I really like having the
music,” Henry said. “And I
hope I get to have some cake
too.”
Dr. Norm Saager has been
the Milton-Freewater Down-
town Alliance president off
and on for the past 12 years
and played an integral part
in bringing Freewater Square
to the community. He said
he was very happy with the
number of people who came
out to support the opening.
“This will be a very posi-
tive thing for this end of
town, and we are working on
a regular schedule of events,”
Saager said. “We want to
have a family night, games
night or even a wine-tasting
night.”
He said the community
is reviving an event that
ran before the pandemic
hit called Thursdays Rock,
and Freewater Square is the
perfect place to do it.
Thursdays Rock is a
community event that will
offer food vendors, live music
and other entertainment. It
will run on the third Thurs-
day starting in July until the
end of September.
Local businesses will
stay open late, and a differ-
ent theme will be highlighted
each month.
Saager said he sees Free-
water Square as part of a
larger offering in the Walla
Walla Valley and hopes
people don’t restrict their
view to just the city of Walla
Walla when finding fun
things to do.
“There is a lot going
on here and everywhere,”
Saager said. “People should
check everything out that’s
happening in all our commu-
nities and not solely focus on
just one place.”
COVID-19
Growth continues, rebounding from pandemic CDC recommends
By JOHN TILLMAN
East Oregonian
STANFIELD — Stan-
field and its businesses are
growing and upgrading
as they rebound from the
pandemic years.
M a s s e u s e Sh a r r o n
Newton, 78, moved her busi-
ness, Royal Health Thera-
pies, from a Hermiston office
into her remodeled Stanfield
home during the pandemic.
“It was a good move,” she
said. “It’s interesting how
Stanfield is growing, with
the new housing district on
the other side of the high
school. A lot of houses have
gone up in just six months.”
The $12 million, 41-unit
Patriot Heights low-income
housing project at 155 Valor
Ave. was unveiled May 16.
Newton also cites recent
developments such as the
general store, excavation for
another housing complex on
Stanfield’s south side and
new street lights downtown.
“When the lights are lit
up, it’s striking,” she said.
“The beautification is very
nice. There’s a lot of growth.”
Newton moved because
of the pandemic.
“There was fear,” she
recalled. “I lost a lot of regu-
lar clientele. Some have
returned, but not all. The
remodeled home office is
working out.”
Newton’s health has
declined and COVID-19
hit her home, so she cut
back on work.
“It’s what I consider part
time,” she added, “at four
days a week, with three or
four clients per day.”
Newton remodeled her
house to separate an office
from the private area. She
has a large lot for conve-
nient parking and easy
access right off Highway
395.
“It’s convenient working
from home,” she said. “If a
client is half an hour late
now, I’m a lot more patient
than I would have been in
my office in Hermiston.”
She also said some of her
regular clients prefer the
atmosphere at home.
Housing projects,
businesses expand
The Panoramic Ridge
housing development, west
of Highway 395, contin-
ued to expand, the city’s
fiscal year 2022-23 budget
reported. Homes and lots
sold out in phase four and
39 sites soon will be ready
for construction in phases
five and six.
The Umatilla County
Housing Authority finished
its Patriot Heights devel-
opment this past year. This
brought in revenue through
additional utility services
and about 150 new residents
for local businesses and
activities. It also provided
a local Head Start program
and created access to addi-
tional land prime for private
housing development. This
project increased system
development charges fund-
ing by more than $200,000.
The 99-unit Bumblebee
Estate housing develop-
ment is under construction.
It should bring in property
taxes, utilities and roughly
300 new residents, the
budget reported.
Dollar General and Java
Junkies are both in the
construction phases, aiming
to open this summer. These
will bring additional jobs
and revenue to the city,
according to the budget
report.
In addition, more than 10
residential and two or three
commercial lots are going
through the development
process.
a small website, started
selling on Facebook and
Venmo with free deliv-
ery and showed her cloth-
ing lines and sizes over the
internet.
“I was scared to death,”
she said. “I didn’t want to
sound stupid or uneducated,
but I did it, and it worked. It
saved my business.”
Baker said growth in
Stanfield has been “amaz-
ing.” She also raised her
family in town. She cred-
ited public works director
Scott Morris and his crew
for keeping city parks clean
and watered and the city
council and city manager
Bergener lifting up the
Videos saved women’s Ben
town.
wear business
“The city has come a
Live online videos saved long way,” she said. “We
Stanfield native Kathy have a great Fourth of July
Baker’s business, Fun Fash- event. They’ve done such a
ions Boutique, 165 Coe good job.”
Ave., during the pandemic.
Baker also noted the
“W hen (Gov.) Kate schools are packed with
Brown shut us down
great teachers and
staff.
on March 15, 2020, I
didn’t know what to
“Stanfield has
do,” Baker recalled.
changed a lot,”
“I’m not a big online
she assessed. “I’m
very proud of it. I
store, just bricks and
love my commu-
mortar.”
The shutdown
nity. They work so
Baker
hard. There was a
came just as Fun
Fashions was getting
little street sweeper
products in from market. on Coe and 395 this morn-
Columbia Bank came to ing. I’d only ever seen
Baker’s rescue. So women those machines in big cities
still could shop in her store, before. It’s wonderful. They
the bank backed her in need recognition.”
picking five customers to
Summer is Baker’s slow
receive $250 each in free season. She said she expects
merchandise.
business to pick up when
Baker also has built school starts again.
Umatilla County receives grant for digital map
By JOHN TILLMAN
East Oregonian
PEN DLETON —
Umatilla County is under-
taking a pilot project to
create a digitized, real-time
map of its roads, bridges
and culverts.
T he cou nt y b oa rd
of commissioners at its
June 29 meeting accepted
a $250,000 grant from the
Oregon Department of
Administrative Services
for the project. The county
intends to match this state
funding.
“I’m excited about this
initiative,” said Dan Dorran,
the county commissioner
overseeing the project.
“Whether you’re hauling
potatoes, wheat or you’re
FedEx, the data will be
available to all.”
The pilot project is one
of the first in the nation,
Dorran reported. When
completed, it should allow
county road users to iden-
tify in real time all the
information they might
need to plan their best
route. The digitized map
is to appear initially on a
website, but later on an app,
he said.
“Users will be able to
look at county roads like
they can now for state and
federal highways,” Dorran
explained. “It’s not just
GPS, but will include load
limits, traffic data, weights,
number of axles and trip
counts. That’s done at the
federal level. We want to
transfer that capability to
counties.”
Dor ran cited Smith
Frozen Foods’ need to haul
waste from its Weston plant
to a Hermiston area feed-
lot. The map app with digi-
tized data would permit the
company to optimize routes
for its trucks.
“It could save them
two-and-a-half hours and
keep 1½ tons of carbon
from going into the air,” he
said.
A farmer harvesting
wheat could look at the app
and find the best route to
follow.
Local agriculture indus-
FEEL THE SPEED,
EVEN AT PEAK TIMES.
try has expanded over the
past 30 years, Dorran noted.
Public and private invest-
ment in irrigation systems
and value-added develop-
ment in fresh packed and
frozen foods have totaled
$400 million.
“Our roads date from
the late 1800s,” he pointed
out, “but we’re hauling 40
to 60 tons of wheat on some
of them. Having real-time
data would let us prioritize
maintenance money.”
The county isn’t in the
same flood and emergency
system as the state and
federal government, Dorran
said. The digitized mapping
is to include those levels,
but 99.9% will be devoted
to Umatilla County roads.
The pilot project for
transportation planning
will serve as a platform
upon which other coun-
ties around the country can
build, Dorran observed.
T he com missioners
selected DKS Associates
as consultant on the project,
thanks to their expertise in
transportation and connec-
tions with software engi-
neers. The firm specializes
in “smart mobility”, with
eight offices in California,
Oregon, Washington and
Texas.
The board received a
single bid for replacing the
bridge on Mac Hoke Road
near Nolin. Costs will be
shared between the county
and state, using an Oregon
opportunity grant, reported
Com missioner George
Murdock.
The county’s timeline
called for “soon,” so far just
one bidder responded to its
request for proposals: Ariz
Co. LLC bid $934,850.
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Idaho man dies in
single vehicle crash
PENDLETON — An
Idaho man died Monday,
July 4, in a single vehi-
cle crash on Highway 244
in rural Eastern Oregon,
according to a press release
from the Oregon State Police.
Christopher Kendrick, 26,
of Mountain Home, Idaho,
was killed shortly after
7:30 p.m. when the west-
bound silver Subaru Cross-
trek he was a passenger in
left the highway and rolled.
Kendrick suffered fatal inju-
ries and died at the scene.
A helicopter ambulance
flew the vehicle’s driver,
Jacob Moser, 30, of Yakima,
for his injuries.
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site, approximately 13 miles
east of Ukiah. The crash
closed Highway 244 for
approximately six hours.
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Hospitalizations for
COVID-19 in Region 9 still
are below their peaks in Octo-
ber 2021 and February 2022.
Baker, Malheur, Morrow,
Umatilla, Union and Wallowa
counties compose Region 9.
Patients hospitalized with
positive COVID-19 peaked
at 45 in Region 9 on Feb. 4.
On June 25, 12 were hospital-
ized in the region, up from 0
on April 30 and some other
days that month.
Umatilla County Public
Health continues to offer
COVID-19 vaccines at
Pendleton, Hermiston and
other locations, said Alisha
Southwick, the department’s
deputy director. It resumed
automatically mailing test
kits to people exposed to
COVID-19-infected individ-
uals in response to the surge.
The kits also are available for
businesses.
“We provide support to
outbreaks in vulnerable sites,
such as long-term care facili-
ties,” she added.
The county continues to
monitor case reports and the
wastewater sample data from
Hermiston and Pendleton,
Southwick said, and the public
health department’s message
is the same as before the latest
surge.
“Stay home if you’re sick,”
she admonished. ”Wear a
mask indoors in public. Get
vaccinated and boosted.
The message gets stale, so
it’s difficult to drive it home.
We share it with the media at
every opportunity.”
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Oregon counties with “high”
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The warning applied to East-
ern Oregon counties, includ-
ing Umatilla and Morrow.
The CDC recommends
wearing a mask indoors in
public, staying up to date
with COVID-19 vaccines
and getting tested if you have
symptoms, at the high alert
level. Additional precautions
may be needed for people at
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Umatilla County Board of
Commissioners met July 6.
There was no agenda item
dealing with masking up.
Board Chair John Shafer said
speaking for himself, he has
no appetite to see the return
of any restrictions.
The county updates
its COVID-19 dashboard
Monday through Thursday
during the recent surge rather
than weekly on Wednesday,
county public health depart-
ment epidemiologist Mike
Stensrud said.
Umatilla County reported
88 new COVID-19 cases
July 5, which included the
holiday weekend. The recent
high was 34 new cases
June 25. No new deaths were
reported. The county has
recorded 229 total deaths
related to COVID-19 to date.
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