SILVER ANNIVERSARY
PREP SOFTBALL
HERMISTON FOODS CELEBRATES 25
YEARS
BULLDOGS CLAIM FIRST
CRC WIN IN OVER A SEASON
PAGE A4
SPORTS PAGE A6
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015
District to
sell first
student-
built home
BY JESSICA KELLER
HERMISTON HERALD
The Hermiston School
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student-built home current-
ly under construction this
summer after the School
Board unanimously ap-
proved the action plan at its
special meeting Monday.
Students in the Colum-
bia Basin Student Home-
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11 homes planned for con-
struction on West Angus
Avenue.
Deputy Superintendent
Wade Smith said Tuesday,
the 2,050-square-foot cus-
tom home will be about 90
percent complete in time
for an open house June 1 to
give community members
opportunity to see it before
it is put up for sale. On June
2, the school district will
open up the process for in-
terested buyers to submit
sealed bids to buy the house
through 4 p.m. June 19. On
June 22, the district will an-
nounce the highest bidder,
who will have the opportu-
YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER
HERMISTONHERALD.COM
City selects new senior center site
Facility to be named the Harkenrider Center
BY SEAN HART
HERMISTON HERALD
Although the location of the
new senior center was contested,
Hermiston City Council members
unanimously agreed Monday night
the building should be named after
long-time city leader Frank Harken-
rider.
After more than an hour of public
testimony at the regular City Coun-
cil meeting, the council voted 6-2
to locate the new senior center on
a 3.3-acre vacant site behind Wal-
Mart on Northeast Aspen Drive and
Northeast Fourth Street.
Hermiston Parks and Recreation
Director Larry Fetter said the city
received a $2 million Community
Development Block Grant to ac-
quire property and build the new
8,000-square-foot facility, and,
while the city will own the build-
ing, the grant only permits uses for
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After that, the facility could be used
for other activities when the seniors
were not using it, he said.
Fetter said an advisory group
comprised of senior center and com-
munity members narrowed the list
of possible locations to two prima-
ry sites: the Aspen site and another
behind the Hermiston Municipal Li-
brary on East Ridgeway Avenue and
Northeast Second Street. The Aspen
site is a private, vacant lot, whereas
the Ridgeway location is comprised
of about an acre of city-owned prop-
erty and potentially about another
acre of land the Hermiston School
District offered to the senior center
after the district acquired the proper-
ty housing the current facility.
In March, eight of the 11 group
members voted for the Aspen site,
while two voted for the Ridgeway
SEE CENTER/A10
A SMUGGLER
FOR GOD
SEE HOME/A3
TODAY’S WEATHER
SEAN HART PHOTO
Hermiston’s Living Faith Church pastor Dr. F. Dean Hackett stands in front of the cross in the worship room of the church. Hackett and his wife once snuck
into the Kremlin to pray.
Hackett describes
sneaking medical
supplies into
war-torn country
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Hackett steps down
from city Faith-Based
Advisory Committee
Pastor continues
his ministry
BY SEAN HART
HERMISTON HERALD
A complete weather forecast is
featured on page A2.
Dr. F. Dean Hackett
fought back tears as he
recalled smuggling med-
ical supplies into Croatia
during its war for indepen-
dence.
“Excuse me,” the Herm-
iston pastor said, more than
20 years after the experi-
ence. “This is not easy to
talk about.”
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Faith Church, Hackett
explained how he got in-
volved. Back in 1991-92,
he was planning on con-
ducting leadership training
for a group of churches
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BREAKING NEWS
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SEAN HART PHOTO
Dr. F. Dean Hackett and his wife, Wanda, pose at Living Faith
Church in Hermiston. Working in full-time Christian ministry
for more than 45 years, the couple had many adventurous
experiences, including smuggling Bibles into eastern Europe
behind the Iron Curtain.
in the former Yugoslavia
during the “middle of the
war,” when the mission
changed.
“When Croatia had de-
clared her independence
from the former Yugosla-
via, and Serbia laid siege,
I got a phone call (asking)
if I would be able to help
them get some medical
supplies,” he said. “Under
siege, they were taking
care of their war victims
with no sutures, no gloves,
no anesthesia. It was just
SEE SMUGGLER/A3
BY SEAN HART
HERMISTON HERALD
Dr. F. Dean Hack-
ett recently resigned
from
Hermiston’s
Faith-Based Advisory
Committee for health
reasons, but he plans to
continue his Christian
ministry in other ways.
Hackett served as
chairman of the com-
mittee since its incep-
tion three years ago.
The 66-year-old from
Spokane, Washington,
traveled a long road
before returning to the
Northwest and settling
in Hermiston as pastor
of Living Faith Church
almost nine years ago.
“I didn’t have the
privilege of growing up
in a Christian home,” he
said. “It was a very bro-
ken home. By the time I
was 13, I was very angry
and bitter and violent. I
had failed every grade
up to that time. All my
family and teachers that
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be in prison, and I proba-
SEE HACKETT/A2
Loving what she does
School secretary enjoys
being on front lines
BY JESSICA KELLER
HERMISTON HERALD
Hermiston Herald $1.00
© 2015 EO Media Group
When she was offered a secretary
position at Desert View Elementary
School seven years ago, DiAna Al-
lison said she was a little hesitant to
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She enjoyed working with the
children as an English language
learner teaching assistant and thought
she was going to miss helping her
students learn and playing with the
children.
“I thought I would miss the inter-
action of being in the class with the
kids,” Allison said.
Allison liked Desert View Ele-
mentary School, however, and knew
by taking the position she would
be less likely to get transferred to
another school. She also had done
secretarial work before becoming a
stay-at-home mom while her son was
young, so she was familiar with what
some of her responsibilities would be
and was excited to take on the other
challenges.
“It’s a different way of being with
the kids,” she said.
Allison said being a school secre-
tary is a job like no other. One of the
best parts of it, she said, is the variety.
“Every day is different,” Allison
said. “You never know what you’re
going to be experiencing, what
you’re going to see.”
One of the most important aspects
to the secretaries’ jobs, Allison said,
SEE ALLISON/A10
JESSICA KELLER PHOTO
Desert View Elementary School secretary DiAna Allison shares a message
with a teacher about a student’s after-school routine last week. Allison said
she has never regretted moving from the classroom as an ELL assistant to
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