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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 2015)
SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2015 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3 COMMUNITY Downtown Umatilla gravel lot converted to park space area for the city.” Pelleberg said, except for a curb installed by contrac- tors, city crews completed all of the work at the park to reduce costs. He said he designed the underground irrigation system, and shrub- BY SEAN HART bery and landscaping around HERMISTON HERALD the reader board will be in- The gravel lot housing the stalled. city of Umatilla reader board “Once we get the grass es- got a makeover this week as tablished and the rest of the city crews placed sod and es- landscaping in here, we’ll sentially created a small park have some picnic tables out across from the library on here, and it’s totally usable,” Sixth Street. he said. Public Works Director Prior to coming to Uma- Russ Pelleberg said many tilla, Pelleberg designed people stopped and offered parks and civil projects in the positive comments Thursday Tri-Cities for more than 20 as the grass was installed at years. the site called Village Square Since he began working 3DUN ZKLFK FLW\ RI¿FLDOV for the city about two years have been planning to im- ago, he has made several park prove for some time. improvements, including an “It was just bare gravel,” expansion of Hash Park. he said. “It looked like a “We’re starting to take parking lot. They had ideas some of the areas that really to have some walking paths don’t look that great, and, to in here and some benches do something like this, it’s and stuff, but it’s such a small pretty inexpensive, and it’s area with these little pocket eye-appealing,” Pelleberg parks like this that it’s just said. “It’s a change. It looks kind of nice to turn it green. clean. It looks nice, and that We took something that was goes a long ways in people’s just a gravel, ugly parking perception of how the city lot and, in about a week and looks.” a half, turned it into a green Pelleberg said future More small projects planned to improve city’s look SEAN HART PHOTO 8PDWLOOD3XEOLF:RUNV'LUHFWRU5XVV3HOOHEHUJOHIWDQGVXSHUYLVRU-DVRQ%DUURQOD\VRGLQWKHIRUPHUJUDYHOORWDFURVVIURPWKHOLEUDU\ DQG&LW\+DOOLQGRZQWRZQ8PDWLOOD3HOOHEHUJVDLGKHSODQVWRFRQWLQXHDGGLQJPRUHJUHHQVSDFHVWRPDNHWKHWRZQPRUHDWWUDFWLYH plans include working with the state to add more green areas along Highway 730 and Lewis Street in the Mc- Nary area. “This is stuff that citizens want to see, the (City) Coun- cil wants to see, the parks commission wants to see,” he said. “It’s perceived well. You’ll be seeing more little projects like this here and there, I’m sure. It’s a start. We’ve got a ways to go, but you’ve got to start some- where, and this is a good place to start, very visual, good impact, right next to City Hall and right through downtown.” 6WDQ¿HOGRI¿FLDOVGLVFXVVPDULMXDQDUHJXODWLRQ won’t occur until July 1, with retail regulations taking effect Jan. 16. He said the city does not have the 7KH6WDQ¿HOG&LW\&RXQFLOEHJDQ option of enacting another moratori- discussing possible ways to regulate um on medical marijuana after the medical and recreational marijua- current one expires in mid-May. na operations in the city, although “So we need to determine many members would prefer not whether you want to limit such having any facilities in town at all. sites to certain areas of the city or City Manager Blair Larsen said if you want to go the way of other Tuesday at the regular council meet- cities and try to do an outright ban,” ing he wants members’ perspectives Larsen said. “That is all up for dis- on regulating medical pot dispen- cussion.” saries or whether they want to ban Many city council members them in the city. He said discussions spoke out about how they hoped to on medical marijuana regulations either limit it in certain sections of VKRXOG WDNH SODFH ¿UVW EHFDXVH the city where there weren’t a lot of recreational marijuana legalization people, or banning it altogether. BY MAEGAN MURRAY HERMISTON HERALD Council members Lynn Weath- ermon and Pam McSpadden said they would prefer to keep medical marijuana dispensaries out of town. Weathermon said, however, if the city can’t ban them altogether, he would like them to be limited to certain areas of the city. Councilman Jack Huxoll agreed. “I would like to see what areas we really don’t want it in and then come up with areas they can be in,” Huxoll said. Larsen said he would produce some maps identifying the various zoning areas in the city to begin dis- cussions about where dispensaries can be placed. Councilman Jason Sperr said, EHFDXVHFLW\RI¿FLDOVZDQWWRUHYL- talize the town, he would also like updated city building codes in place before any recreational businesses are allowed to open. “If they come into a building, they have to abide by those regula- tions, but that doesn’t matter what business is coming in — it doesn’t matter if it is recreational or medi- cal,” he said. “I would like to have all those regulations set for what we want to see as far as the buildings (are concerned).” Mayor Thomas McCann said he, too, would like facilities banned LQ 6WDQ¿HOG EXW KH ZRXOG OLNH WR know how county commissioners intend to regulate marijuana oper- ations before taking any action, if possible. “I think if we wait until some- time around the middle of April to see what’s transpired, then we can have a better idea of what we can do,” he said. Larsen said he thinks the council should not wait, however, because, at this point, people who want to RSHQDVKRSLQ6WDQ¿HOGDUHSURED- bly making arrangements now. He said articles about how cities can and can’t regulate dispensaries are available at City Hall or online at www.orcities.org. Hermiston teen jailed for stabbing stepmother BY PHIL WRIGHT EO MEDIA GROUP A Hermiston teen faces a felony assault charge for stabbing her stepmother earlier this week. Umatilla County Sheriff Terry Rowan said the case remains an active investigation. “It was kind of a family deal,” Rowan said, when Danyell Dove Sowell “ended up going off and stabbing her stepmother with a pair of scissors.” The attack happened Tuesday evening on Bridge Road west of Hermiston, and Rowan said Charley Sowell suffered a few stab wounds. An ambulance took her to Good Shepherd Medical Center, Hermiston, and an HPHUJHQF\DLUFUDIWÀHZKHU to a Portland hospital. Rowan said the last he heard she was recovering well. Rowan said investigators continue to try and piece together what led to the attack. Hermiston police had an encounter with Danyell Sowell earlier that day, he said, and she may have had “some sort of mental episode.” The Umatilla County 'LVWULFW$WWRUQH\¶V2I¿FH charged Danyell Sowell with second-degree assault. That could change after a grand jury hears evidence from the state. Circuit Court Judge Dan Hill of Hermiston set bail at $50,000. Sowell has her next court appearance Wednesday. STK# 14T293 EO MEDIA GROUP PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS 2IÀFHUVIURP8PDWLOOD3ROLFHDQG2UHJRQ6WDWH3ROLFHUHVSRQGWRD UHSRUWHGVWDEELQJ7XHVGD\DW%ULGJH5RDGZHVWRI+HUPLVWRQ STK# 14T431 Interested in a Medical career? Need funds to complete your training? STK# 14T404 Medical scholarship applications are now being accepted from local qualified applicants through March 31st. 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