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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 2015)
A2 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2015 LOCAL WEATHER Driver charged with manslaughter in wreck that killed Hermiston man baum, 26, of Eagle Point. Gray was arrested with- A Klamath County out incident and is lodged grand jury Monday indict- in the Klamath County Jail. ed the driver in the Dec. 28 Zimmer and crash that killed 22-year- Young-Wellbaum died in old Hermiston man Garrett the early morning wreck Zimmer and another pas- on Highway 140 near senger. Klamath Falls. They were Gauge Lee Gray, 22, of traveling west when the Klamath Falls was charged Ford Ranger pickup driven ZLWK WZR FRXQWV RI ¿UVW by Gray left the roadway. and second-degree man- The vehicle collided with slaughter and driving under a lamp post and highway WKHLQÀXHQFHRILQWR[LFDQWV sign before rolling several for the single-vehicle roll- times and coming to rest in over that killed Zimmer a pasture. and Marri D. Young-Well- The two passengers EO MEDIA GROUP died at the scene after being ejected from the vehicle and emergen- cy workers took Gray to Sky Lakes Hospital with non-life-threatening inju- ries. None were wearing seat belts, according to Or- egon State Police. Zimmer had recently stepped into the shoes of longtime insurance agent and his grandfather, Dell Ray Zimmer, who was set WR RI¿FLDOO\ UHWLUH -DQ He was also the youngest member of Hermiston Ro- tary. Today's Weather Local 5-Day Forecast Wed Thu 1/28 Fri 1/29 54/37 Sat 1/30 48/37 49/35 Sun 1/31 2/1 47/35 48/39 Partly to mostly cloudy. High 54F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Times of sun and clouds. Highs in the upper 40s and lows in the upper 30s. Mix of sun and clouds. Highs in the upper 40s and lows in the mid 30s. Mostly cloudy. Highs Chance of showers. in the upper 40s and Highs in the upper lows in the mid 30s. 40s and lows in the upper 30s. Sunrise Sunset 7:23 AM 4:56 PM Sunrise Sunset 7:22 AM 4:58 PM Sunrise Sunset 7:21 AM 4:59 PM Sunrise Sunset 7:20 AM 5:01 PM Sunrise Sunset 7:19 AM 5:02 PM Oregon At A Glance Portland 57/42 Salem 58/41 Realtors present donation to Agape House Eugene 59/40 Medford 58/36 Pendleton 51/36 Hermiston 54/37 La Grande 49/34 Bend 48/27 Ontario 48/31 Burns 50/30 Klamath Falls 51/28 Area Cities City Albany Ashland Astoria Baker City Bend Brookings Burns Coos Bay Corvallis Eugene Hi 58 58 54 45 48 58 50 60 57 59 Lo 42 37 42 30 27 44 30 43 43 40 Cond. cloudy pt sunny rain pt sunny cloudy cloudy pt sunny cloudy cloudy pt sunny City Florence Grants Pass Hermiston John Day Klamath Falls La Grande Lakeview Lincoln City Mcminnville Medford Hi 59 56 54 51 51 49 52 59 57 58 Lo 45 37 37 32 28 34 28 45 42 36 Cond. cloudy pt sunny pt sunny pt sunny pt sunny cloudy pt sunny rain rain pt sunny City Newport Pendleton Portland Redmond Roseburg Salem Springfield The Dalles Tillamook Vale Hi 59 51 57 55 59 58 57 56 59 48 Lo 46 36 42 32 42 41 38 41 42 31 Cond. cloudy pt sunny rain pt sunny pt sunny cloudy pt sunny cloudy rain pt sunny Cond. sunny pt sunny pt sunny sunny pt sunny City Houston Los Angeles Miami Minneapolis New York Hi 74 75 69 40 30 Lo 55 58 56 31 12 Cond. sunny cloudy sunny cloudy sunny City Phoenix San Francisco Seattle St. Louis Washington, DC Hi 74 65 53 52 37 Lo 54 49 42 44 24 Cond. pt sunny mst sunny pt sunny mst sunny sunny National Cities City Atlanta Boston Chicago Dallas Denver CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Columbia Basin Board of Realtors presented a $1,500 check to Dave Hughes of Agape House in December. Funds were raised at an auction at the Columbia Basin Board of Realtor’s annual Christmas party. This yearly donation helps to restock the Agape House shelves in the spring when supplies get low following the holidays. Pictured are, from left: Shirley Parsons, Nancy Walchli, Dave Hughes, Heidi Carver, Lezlee Gunsolley, Melinda Newman and Patsy Keimig. Hi 52 25 36 77 60 Lo 30 2 31 54 33 Moon Phases UV Index Wed First Full Last New Jan 27 Feb 3 Feb 12 Feb 18 ©2010 American Profile Hometown Content Service Thu Fri Sat Sun 1/28 1/29 1/30 1/31 2/1 1 Low 2 Low 1 Low 1 Low 1 Low The UV Index is measured on a 0 - 11 number scale, with a higher UV Index showing the need for greater skin protection. 0 11 Parks director describes possible future improvements Eastern Hermiston under-served by current system BY SEAN HART HERMISTON HERALD Although Hermiston has fewer park acres than the national standard, and far fewer on the eastern side of the city, Parks and Recreation Director Lar- ry Fetter said he hopes to add more. At a City Council work session Monday about parks and trails, Fetter described the cur- rent park system and his priorities for future im- provements. He said the national standard for park land is 10 acres per thousand residents, so, with a pop- ulation of about 18,000, Hermiston should have DSSUR[LPDWHO\ DFUHV of recreational land. Cur- rently, he said, Hermiston has 101 acres: 65 acres in five larger community parks with more ameni- ties and 36 acres in sev- en smaller neighborhood parks. Fetter said the distri- bution between the com- munity and neighborhood parks is well balanced, but the distribution of park land between the eastern and western parts of the city is not. Currently, 94 acres of park land is sit- uated on the west side of Highway 395, with only seven acres for city parks on the east. He said, while the city is “under-served” for parks in general, the eastern side of the Herm- iston is “off the chart” in terms of inadequate park land. Fetter said the primary reason for the park dis- MAEGAN MURRAY PHOTO The majority of the parks in Hermiston are on the west side of Highway 395, such as the Funland Playground at Butte Park. Of the 101 acres of park land in the city, only seven are on the east side of Highway 395. tribution is that the parks were built on land that had been donated to the city. He said, however, there are opportunities for future growth to remedy the lack of eastern park land. He said seven acres of property near Theater Lane and Eighth Avenue in the Cimmaron Terrace development has been promised to the city as park land. Fetter said city offi- cials could also look into creating a Northeast Park on more than 10 acres of land near Fourth and Elm avenues, north of an irri- gation ditch. The land, he said, is flat and could ac- commodate three soccer fields. One east-side park H[SDQVLRQ LV DOUHDG\ planned, Fetter said, after the city purchased a par- MAEGAN MURRAY PHOTO The Hermiston Parks and Recreation Department has a plan in place to expand Sunset Park in Hermiston. cel of land adjacent to the current Sunset Park on Northeast Fourth Street. Fetter said another potential large improve- ment, the Northwest Park, could be built on the western side of the city on Elm Avenue near the river. Fetter said the city’s park system is also lack- ing several amenities for residents to enjoy, includ- ing a dog park, a skate park and more picnic shelters. He said a dog park where people could let their dogs run without being on a leash could al- leviate current problems where people break the city’s leash requirement because no dog parks are available. He said peo- ple prefer grass areas for these parks, and dogs generally get along in similar parks. Fetter said the city’s skate park could be vastly improved and be a source of pride for people who use the parks. He said it could be designed for bi- cycles and skateboards, and he recommended a location near the railroad tracks across the street from the Hermiston Po- lice Department. The city’s current pic- nic shelters are often booked, Fetter said, and he recommended build- ing a larger shelter to accommodate more peo- ple. He said a concrete base could be poured and a temporary tent shelter could be used at River- front Park until a perma- nent structure could be built. Fetter said improve- ments are still being PDGHRQWKH2[ERZ7UDLO site, and the city has the opportunity to improve its entire trail system into what he described as the Hermiston Loop through future upgrades. He said the loop could pass through both the western and eastern parts of the city. Fetter said his prior- ities are to develop the trail system and east-side parks, to acquire the land for the Northwest Park, to provide more soccer fields and picnic shel- ters, to add dog and skate parks and to update the Park Plan, which was cre- ated in 2007. Mayor Dave Drotz- mann thanked Fetter for his work and said the FLW\KDVH[SHULHQFHG³ELJ gains” in park develop- ment under Fetter. Drotz- mann said the city’s park system is a “critical com- ponent” for Hermiston’s current and future suc- cess. “We’ve always got to keep that on the fore- front of our minds as far as prioritizing budgets because it’s important,” he said. “It’s important to the members we repre- sent and those people that want to come to a com- munity.”