PREP HOOPS
BUSINESS SKILLS
GIRL SCOUTS LEARN
WITH COOKIE SALES
BULLDOG GIRLS PREP TO
PLAY BUCKS AT STATE
PAGE A4
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015
Council OKs
energy rate
increase
New meeting
format to make
public comment
more ‘user friendly’
Hermiston Energy Ser-
vices customers will see an
increase in their electricity
bills in June.
At the Hermiston City
Council meeting Monday,
council members unani-
mously approved higher
rates for HES customers,
but HES Superintendent
Nate Rivera said the city
utility will still offer low-
er rates than the other two
service providers in Herm-
iston.
The new rates, which
take effect on bills cal-
culated after May 1, will
cost an average residential
customer who uses 1,500
kilowatt hours of electric-
ity about an additional $11
each month. The monthly
fee will increase from $6.50
to $10.50, and the rate per
kilowatt hour will increase
from $.0633 to $.068. For
YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER
HERMISTONHERALD.COM
my.
After several years of
work, the Port of Umatilla
Board of Commissioners
signed an agreement to
lease the port’s unused wa-
ter rights from the Colum-
bia River to the Umatilla
BY SEAN HART
Basin Water Users Group.
HERMISTON HERALD
Craig Reeder, a repre-
$VLJQL¿FDQWDJUHHPHQW sentative of the water users
was reached Tuesday that group, said the agreement
could provide more water was an important step to-
to the area and millions of ward securing infrastruc-
dollars to the local econo- ture funding for the Uma-
Up to 100 cfs
could be used for
agriculture
tilla Basin water project
included in the governor’s
proposed budget that will
provide more water to area
agriculture. He said, how-
ever, the water rights will
not be secured until after
public comment periods
on documents that must be
approved have taken place.
The next step, he said, will
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the water management
conservation plan and se-
cure agreements with Wa-
<
terWatch, a water protec-
tion agency.
“What the signing of
this document does is ac-
tivate a very long, further
distinguished to-do list,”
he said. “... Our biggest
hurdle will be clearing the
public comment periods
on the water management
conservation plan and the
water right. ... It’s not over
until it’s signed, and the
public comment periods
are the open wound for any
IMPROVING CARDIAC HEALTH
prepared for the battle he
faced afterwards.
Following his proce-
dure, Berrey could bare-
SEE HEALTH/A7
SEE FUNDING/A7
MAEGAN MURRAY PHOTO
• THURSDAY
Sunny
High: 69º Low: 37º
• FRIDAY
Mostly cloudy
High: 70º Low: 46º
BY MAEGAN MURRAY
HERMISTON HERALD
A complete weather forecast is
featured on page A2.
Less than a year ago,
Hermiston resident Gene
Berrey said he couldn’t
climb a set of stairs with-
out having to pause to
catch his breath after
reaching the top.
He and his wife went to
the doctor at Walla Walla
Veteran’s Medical Center
where, at the time, he said
he presumed the progno-
sis would be lung cancer.
The news he received,
however, was much more
surprising than he origi-
nally anticipated.
Find the Hermiston Herald on
Facebook and Twitter
and join the conversation.
FOR LOCAL
BREAKING NEWS
www.HermistonHerald.com
Berrey’s
doctor
checked his blood and
lab work and told him
those looked great, but
after checking his heart
rhythm, the doctor’s facial
expression immediately
changed.
“I could see it in his
eyes that something was
really wrong,” Berrey
said.
Berrey’s doctor im-
mediately sent him to a
specialist at the Kadlec
Regional Medical Center
in Tri-Cities, Washington.
Doctors found that Ber-
rey’s heart was pumping
at a rate of 10 to 15 per-
cent, which is much lower
than the normal range of
55 to 70 percent. At any
point, he could have died.
Following his appoint-
ment, Berrey’s doctors
MAEGAN MURRAY PHOTO
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booked him for a quadru-
ple bypass surgery that in-
cluded valve replacements
only a couple of days later.
His surgery was success-
ful, but he said he wasn’t
HSD
prepares for
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state funding
The only thing prevent-
ing the Hermiston School
District from making bud-
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next year is the projection
that the district will grow
by at least 50 students.
The state’s most recent
education budget propos-
al is $7.235 billion, which
Deputy
Superintendent
Wade Smith said is still
far less than what districts
across the state need to
maintain current program
and staff levels. He said if
the Hermiston School Dis-
trict grows by at least 50
students next year as ex-
pected, under the current
proposed state education
budget, it will have enough
revenue coming in to cover
its total projected opera-
tions costs.
That, however, may not
be the case for districts
with stagnant or declining
enrollment.
“This number, right here,
is truly catastrophic for a
lot of schools,” Smith said.
“If you are a district that is
not seeing any increase in
enrollment, you are going
to have less money next
year than you are this year
… This is clearly an inade-
quate budget to even main-
tain status quo.”
Smith told Hermiston
School Board members
Monday night during their
regular meeting that even
though the proposed $7.235
billion budget is higher
than what was allocated in
the current biennium, with
addition of full-day kin-
dergarten, that number will
amount to less dollars per
student.
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rehabilitation center.
GSMC rehabilitation
program helpful
to many residents
SEE WATER/A7
HERMISTON HERALD
TODAY’S WEATHER
OUTLOOK
of that process.”
The approval process
usually takes about six
months, he said.
After meeting with leg-
islators, including Oregon
Senate president Peter
Courtney and Gov. Kate
Brown, Reeder said the
water project, including
the infrastructure portion,
has momentum, and he ex-
pects to know whether it
BY MAEGAN MURRAY
SEE RATES/A10
A few showers
High: 66º Low: 45º
300
worth of
savings.
SEE INS
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BY SEAN HART
HERMISTON HERALD
SPORTS PAGE A6
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Over
Local student raises money for children with heart problems
BY MAEGAN MURRAY
HERMISTON HERALD
Hermiston Herald $1.00
MAEGAN MURRAY PHOTO
© 2014 EO Media Group
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When McNary Heights El-
ementary School fifth-grader
Blake Withers was in the second
grade, his physical education
teacher, Lee Cody, showed stu-
dents a video that moved With-
ers so much that he broke down
in tears.
The video depicted how many
children across the nation are
born with heart problems in-
cluding those that cause severe
illness and even death. After
watching the video, Withers
wanted to make a difference so
much that he was impacted emo-
tionally, his mother, Gail, said.
“I remember him getting into
the car and telling me about
these kids with holes in their
hearts, and he just started cry-
ing,” she said.
Beginning that year, Withers
said he dedicated everything he
had to help the children he felt
needed it the most. He partici-
pated in a fundraising campaign
McNary Heights did through
Cody’s physical education class.
The effort was part of a program
called Jump Rope for Heart,
which allowed Withers and his
classmates from all different
grade levels to raise money for
the American Heart Association
by jumping rope, which encour-
aged them to keep their own
hearts healthy. The students
didn’t have a set amount of time
they needed to jump rope. They
were just encouraged to practice
at home and then also jump rope
during their PE classes. That
SEE WITHERS/A10
