NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, August 18, 2022
Baker City Girl Scout hoping to make a splash
By SAMANTHA
O’CONNER
Baker City Herald
BA K E R C I T Y —
Penelope Simmons is going
for the gold as she raises
money with a goal of helping
bring a splash pad to Baker
City’s Central Park.
Penelope, 17, is working
toward her Girl Scout Gold
Award, the highest award a
Girl Scout can earn.
“It’s like the Eagle Scout
for Boy Scouts and it has
to be sustainable, it has to
involve the community, and
it has to cost nothing (for the
community),” Penelope said.
She’s been a Girl Scout for
10 years, but this is her last
year to participate.
To use the splash pad proj-
ect for her Gold Award, she
has to fi nish it by September
2023, said her mom, Charline
Simmons.
In deciding what type of
project to raise money for,
Penelope settled on a splash
pad, an area with sprinklers
and other water features
that are popular attractions
during the summer in many
cities.
Baker City doesn’t have a
splash pad — the closest are
in La Grande and Ontario.
“I just think Baker really
needed one,” Penelope said
“We go to other places to go
use a splash pad. And why
Samantha O’Conner/Baker City Herald
Penelope Simmons, 17, is raising money for a Girl Scout Gold Award project with a goal of
helping to build a splash pad at Baker City’s Central Park. To use the splash pad project to
achieve the award, she has to fi nish it by September 2023.
not have one here? I think
Baker just really needs some-
thing besides the river to play
in.”
The Powder River, which
runs just east of Central Park
— between Washington and
Valley avenues — is a favor-
ite spot for kids to take a dip,
but Penelope said a splash
pad, unlike the river, would
be accessible to all kids,
including those in wheel-
chairs.
Charline Simmons, said
they are raffl ing off a shot-
gun donated by Trader Ray’s,
a rooster weather beam
donated by Oregon Trail
Landscapes and Nursery and
Forecast for Pendleton Area
| Go to AccuWeather.com
TODAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Partly sunny and
very hot
Hot with abundant
sunshine
Sunny to partly
cloudy and hot
Mostly sunny and
hot
Clearing
102° 71°
99° 65°
91° 63°
98° 65°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
104° 69°
100° 67°
96° 65°
93° 62°
98° 67°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. Wed.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
82/62
98/62
103/71
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
100/75 Lewiston
94/65
105/70
Astoria
75/62
Pullman
Yakima 104/69
94/61
103/72
Portland
Hermiston
96/68
The Dalles 104/69
Salem
Corvallis
92/61
Wednesday
Normals
Records
La Grande
98/63
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
93/62
93/59
97/63
Ontario
98/70
Caldwell
Burns
102°
56°
91°
57°
107° (2008) 42° (1969)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
95/61
0.00"
0.02"
0.09"
7.50"
2.46"
5.23"
WINDS (in mph)
98/67
92/57
0.00"
0.04"
0.17"
11.17"
4.35"
8.48"
through 3 p.m. Wed.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 95/59
95/63
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
102/71
103/75
101°
62°
89°
58°
108° (2008) 37° (1915)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
93/63
Aberdeen
99/69
102/76
Tacoma
Wednesday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
90/64
Today
Medford
98/67
Fri.
NNE 4-8
NW 6-12
Boardman
Pendleton
SW 7-14
WSW 8-16
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
86/52
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
Last
New
First
Aug 18
Aug 27
Sep 3
Sep 10
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
“domestic violence relation-
ship.” He said Asman and
Burns had been married,
even though they did not
share a surname.
According to Law and
Crime online, when offi-
cers responded to a domes-
tic violence call, they found
Burns in her home apparently
dead of a gunshot wound to
the head.
The couple’s children
were in the house at the
time, Law and Crime said,
and were sent upstairs while
Asman and Burns argued.
One child said Asman had
a gun and they heard what
they believed to be a gunshot.
Asman led the children out
and told them not to look at
their dead mother.
A search warrant was
issued by Circuit Court Judge
Wes Williams on Asman’s
pickup, which was then
searched and towed. Fish said
nothing signifi cant was found
during the search.
IN BRIEF
Full
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 109° in Palm Springs, Calif. Low 34° in Gould, Colo.
warrant charged Asman with
homicide, stating his where-
JOSEPH — The body abouts were unknown.
OSP Sgt. Grant Jack-
of a Utah fugitive who
was wanted for murder is son and Wallowa County
believed to have been found Deputy Sheriff Paul Pagano
along Hurricane Creek Road determined the vehicle had
west of Joseph, the Wallowa not been moved for some
County Sheriff’s Office time. They searched through
reported in a press release a wooded area to the creek
Tuesday, Aug. 16.
and found a decom-
Michael Grant
posing corpse with
A s m a n , 35, of
a gunshot wound to
the head and a Glock
Heber City, Utah,
model 27, 40-caliber
was wanted for the
murder of Julie Ann
Smith and Wesson
Burns on July 14 in
pistol by the left
shoulder of the road.
Wasatch County,
Utah.
Asman
Wallowa County
At about 1 p.m.
medical examiner
Aug. 15, a sheriff ’s deputy Gary Zeigler responded to
and Oregon State Police the scene.
responded to a report of an
Law enforcement offi-
abandoned 2005 Chevrolet cers from Wasatch County
Silverado pickup parked on fl ew into the Joseph Airport
the shoulder of Hurricane and joined the investigation.
Creek Road near the trail- They believed the corpse to
head. The license plate on be that of Asman.
the vehicle was registered to
Wallowa County Sher-
Asman. A Wasatch County iff Joel Fish said it was a
5:59 a.m.
7:58 p.m.
11:14 p.m.
1:46 p.m.
NATIONAL EXTREMES
splash pad items from North-
west Playground Equipment
of Washington. The water
features will cost $103,208,
and Charline said they would
need half that amount by
Nov. 1 to place an order to
allow installation in 2023.
“We didn’t want to start
raising money for it until we
had a plan because then what
are you going to do with the
money if it never comes to
anything?” Charline said.
The daughter-mother duo
are working with the Baker
Lions Club which is help-
ing them apply for grants,
and holding the money they
raise. The Lions Club is a
tax-exempt nonprofit, so
donations can be claimed on
tax returns.
Anyone who wants to
volunteer is welcome to
contact the Simmonses
through Facebook.com/
bakercitysplashpad where
Penelope’s phone number
is available. They can also
email her at Bakercitysplash-
pad2023@gmail.com.
People can also go to
Community Bank to put in
a money donation by saying
they want to donate for the
Lions Splash Pad.
“We’re just trying to get
the community behind it,”
Charline said. “It’ll be a nice
thing for our community and
everybody, we haven’t had
anything negative about it.”
Utah murder suspect
found dead near Joseph
Wallowa County Chieftain
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
96° 65°
a full vehicle detail donated
by RM Detail & Car Wash.
“We set up at the farmers
market every Thursday, then
we did Community Night
Out on August 2, we did the
parade for Shriners, and then
we’re doing the car show,”
Charline said. “We’ll have a
table set up there with raffl e
items at the car show.”
The latter reference was
to the Baker City Memory
Cruise, set for this Saturday,
Aug. 20, at Geiser-Pollman
Park.
They have also discussed
having fundraisers at the
Christmas bazaars.
So far, the duo have raised
$800 out of the approxi-
mately $300,000 they need.
“We’ve got a ways to go,”
Charline said.
Joyce Bornstedt, the
city’s technical adminis-
tration supervisor, said the
city is not involved in the
Simmonses’ fundraising
project, but adding a splash
pad to Central Park is a city
goal.
“I think it’s a good idea —
there has been a lot of inter-
est in having a splash pad for
a long time,” Bornstedt said.
“I think it kind of fi ts well
within the scope of the plan-
ning for that park.”
The master conceptual
plan for the park includes a
water feature, she said.
Penelope said she had
her Gold Award project
approved by the Girl Scouts
in late 2019, but then the
pandemic hit, pausing the
project.
She said a committee
supporting the splash pad
project started planning in
October 2021.
The idea is to buy the
La Grande police arrest
suspect in deadly hit-and-run
LA GRANDE — Law enforcement
arrested a La Grande man Tuesday, Aug. 16,
in connection with the hit-and-run death of
Maison Andrew, according to a press release
from the La Grande Police Department.
Elijah Ward, 26, was arrested after offi cers
located the car parked outside his residence at
609 Y Ave., according to Police Chief Gary
Bell. During the course of the investigation,
police connected the hit-and-run with a white
2009 Mitsubishi Galant.
The investigation began after La Grande
police responded to a report at 5:30 a.m. Aug. 13,
of a dead male on the side of 16th Street. La
Grande police offi cers responded and immedi-
ately confi rmed the individual had died.
The investigation revealed that a vehicle
traveling south on 16th Street struck Andrew
as he was walking on the street sometime
during the night, according to La Grande
police Lt. Jason Hays. The driver fl ed with-
out contacting emergency services.
Ward was taken into custody without inci-
dent and booked in the Union County Jail,
according to Bell. He has been charged with
second-degree manslaughter and failure to
perform the duties of a driver to an injured
person. So far, Ward has cooperated with the
investigation, Bell said.
The investigation is ongoing and addi-
tional charges may be filed. La Grande
police also urged anyone with pertinent
information to contact Sgt. Ryan Miller
at 541-963-1017.
— EO Media Group
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