SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2015
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
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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
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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.”
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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.
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EO MEDIA GROUP PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
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