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THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2022
146th Year, No. 88
JUL Y 13-2
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WINNER OF 16 ONPA AWARDS IN 2021
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INSIDE BIKERS RETURN FOR THE PENDLETON RUN IN GO!
BOARDMAN
Water fi lters
coming for
350 homes
Providing clean water
a ‘stopgap’ while
county works toward
fi lter installations
colorful
Smoke fi lls the
air Wednesday,
July 13, 2022, after
a fi re the evening
before burned
this warehouse in
Hermiston at the
intersection of
Northeast Eighth
Place and East
Catherine Avenue.
Days
PA GE 4
PA GE 6
PA GE 14
Yasser Marte/
East Oregonian
BY ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
BOARDMAN — Morrow
County stated in addition to provid-
ing clean water for Boardman area
residents with contaminated wells it
plans to provide fi lters for up to 350
homes in the area.
Morrow County Commissioner
Jim Doherty said the county was
receiving its fi rst shipments of fi lters
Thursday, July 14. It will make them
available next week. People may, he
said, pick them up or schedule a
county employee to install them.
He added there will be no cost to
people who need the fi lters, and he
will have more details about avail-
ability next week.
This is the latest move to deal
with the crisis of nitrogen-tainted
wells in the Boardman area after the
Oregon Department of Environmen-
tal Quality fi ned the Port of Morrow
for applying excessive nitrogen from
its wastewater to farmland in the last
decade on top of the area’s contami-
nated aquifer.
“This isn’t really an emergency
of our own making, but once we
recognized the public health emer-
gency and information emergency,
we’ve got to do something, at least
in the interim,” Doherty said.
Fire erupts in Hermiston
One person suff ers
burns, cause remains
under investigation
By ERICK PETERSON AND PHIL
WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Springs of generosity fl ow
H
Morrow County commissioners
on June 9 declared a local state of
emergency due to the water crisis.
Help has come to Boardman resi-
dents from different directions,
Doherty said, and more is expected.
In response to the water troubles,
nearby entities gave assistance or at
least off ered help. The city of Herm-
iston promised fresh drinking water
to Boardman residents.
The city of Boardman stated it
would make city water available
to people in need. It opened a fi re
hydrant at Sam Boardman Elemen-
tary in Boardman. Sitting in front
of the school, Oregon Rural Action
community organizers have been
distributing clean city water.
ORA also has received additional
water samples from people for test-
ing, work that will continue into the
foreseeable future.
Additional sample collec-
tion sites, at the Morrow County
Government Center in Irrigon and
Boardman Foods in Boardman, also
have given away water.
ERMISTON — Kaylee Aughinbaugh
saw the fi re 30 feet from her bedroom
window in Hermiston.
“I got out and started calling every-
body,” she said.
The blaze was burning through a
warehouse at Wilde Electric Motor
Supply, 610 N.E. Eighth Place. Aughinbaugh
said she went door to door, alerting her neigh-
bors of the fi re.
“It was bad last night,” she said.
After she got everyone together, her neigh-
bors stated they were worried about her. Augh-
inbaugh is 36 weeks pregnant, and they thought
the stress of the fi re and its danger may have
pushed her into labor.
But Aughinbaugh said she was most worried
about the people who lived in the warehouse.
There was a family of seven people living inside
it, she said. They escaped the fi re, but not all of
their pets were as fortunate, she stated.
Reanna Jarvis-Potter/Contributed Photo
The warehouse caught fi re on the hottest
day of the year so far, according to the National
Weather Service, which reported a high tempera-
ture in Hermiston of 100 degrees. Umatilla
See Water, Page A7
Another angle of the fi re Tuesday, July 12, 2022, at Wilde Electric Motor Supply, 610
N.E. Eighth Place, Hermiston.
See Fire, Page A7
Call for RV fi re turns
into much more
Remembering Fred Bradbury
Pendleton community
members pay tribute
to civic volunteer
and businessman
By JOHN TILLMAN
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Pendleton resi-
dent, business owner and longtime
community volunteer Fred Bradbury
has died. He was 80.
He died Friday, July 8, shortly after
1 p.m., at Kadlec Regional Medical
Center, Richland, Washington, accord-
ing to his son, Jeff .
“Dad had no health issues, except
for his heart,” Jeff Bradbury said. “At
his checkup, they said everything was
like in a young man, but the little arter-
ies in his heart. It was unexpected.”
Bradbury was born May 13, 1942,
in Portland. He is survived by his son
Jeff , wife Donna, grandsons Preston,
of Black Diamond, Washington, and
Jerry and half brother Jay in California.
The family is making funeral
arrangements through Pendleton
Pioneer Chapel, Folsom-Bishop, Pend-
leton, but the time and place of a memo-
rial service are yet to be decided.
Bradbury’s business interests
included Elite Guns & Tactical, 1400
S.W. Court Ave., and Bradbury Rental,
with 50 apartments and houses.
Bradbury recently completed
follow-up work on the Veterans of
Foreign Wars’ annual Fourth of July
parade. Among his other civic associa-
tion activities were memberships in the
Eagles Lodge, Pendleton Downtown
Association and Main Street Cowboys.
See Fred, Page A7
Contributed Photo, File
Gary Ward, far left, Veterans of Foreign Wars commander in Pendle-
ton, and Fred Bradbury, far right, VFW Fourth of July parade chairman,
accept a donation from Pendleton Walmart representatives in August
2019. Bradbury died Friday, July 8, 2022, at the age of 80.
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