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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 19, 2015)
Hermiston Herald WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2015 $1.00 Hermiston woman SPORTS out of hospital PAGE 11 after crash HERALD STAFF REPORT www.HermistonHerald.com Oregon Dairy PRINCESS VISITS MORROW COUNTY Fair and rodeo photos PAGES 6-7 Page 2 ABOUT TOWN COMPLETE FARM-CITY RESULTS ANOTHER FAIR WEEK IN THE BOOKS A Hermiston woman is recov- ering after she was in a three-ve- hicle crash Friday near Prosser, Washington. High winds caused a dust storm that contributed to the pileup at about 3:40 p.m. on State Route 221 about nine miles south of Prosser, according to the Washing- ton State Patrol. Ambulances took Sergio Mendez, 51, of Mabton, Washington, and Cydney Riddle, 21, of Hermiston, to Kadlec Re- gional Medical Center, Richland. A hospital spokeswoman said Riddle was treated and released the day of the crash. WSP reported the wreck totaled the silver 1999 Dodge four-door she was driving. The blowing dust that day also prompted the closure of the road from Prosser to State Route 14 near the Columbia River. Truck rollover sends one to hospital HERALD STAFF REPORT STAFF PHOTO BY GARY L. WEST <oung SeoSle ride the roller coaster at the Umatilla County Fair carniYal on Saturday, $ug. . Livestock sales, overall attendance shaping up to be largest yet By JADE McDOWELL Staff Writer One of Umatilla County’s biggest fair weeks ever has come and gone. Manager Peggy Anderson VDLG WKH ¿QDO QXPEHUV DUHQ¶W LQ yet, but this year’s livestock sale was the biggest ever and it looks like overall attendance was ei- ther the largest or second largest the Umatilla County Fair has ever seen. “I thought it was great,” said Anderson, who is mov- FAIR ing back to her native Jo- sephine County next month. “It went really, really well. It was a great last year for me.” If all goes as planned, the fair will move to the new East- ern Oregon Trade and Event Center south of town next year, which will help accommodate the growing fair. Anderson said every outdoor and indoor ven- GRU ERRWK ZDV ¿OOHG WKLV \HDU She was also excited about some new features, including a display on century farms inside the cul- tural hall. “That was hugely success- ful,” she said. “I saw farmer af- ter farmer going in there.” She said she believes one of the reasons the livestock sale brought in so much more money A woman was transported to the hospital Monday afternoon following a water truck rollover at the Portland General Electric plant in Boardman. PGE spokesperson Steve Cor- son said at about 3 p.m. a female employed by a contractor, Boral Industries, was driving on the ac- cess road between the plant and an ash disposal area when the truck rolled. “The driver sustained some injuries, so they called the ambu- lance and the driver was transport- ed,” he said. “My understanding is the injuries were not life threaten- ing of any sort.” Corson said the driver was on her way to spray down the ash dis- posal area to hold down the dust. He said he was unaware of any similar incidents at the plant but that PGE would review the crash to try to prevent future occurrenc- es. “Whenever we have any in- cident like this, we will do an internal review to determine ex- actly what led to this and what, if anything, we can do to reduce the chance of this happening in the fu- ture,” he said. “We want everyone working at the plant to go home safely at the end of their shift.” Council passes dispensary ban in Umatilla STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Hermiston Cinco de Mayo Queen Sara Lomas, left, and Princess Hillary Fernandez, second from left, react to the heat after eatinJ their À rst MalaSeños during an eating contest Thursday at the Umatilla County Fair in Hermiston. Third from left is the contest winner, Maria Carmen Flores of Irrigon. than usual was that the Umatilla County Commissioners decided to make sure one of them was in the ring at all times. “What a difference that made,” she said. “They believe in agriculture and they believe in the kids in our communities. Not every county has that, believe me.” Fair board chair Lucas Wag- ner said he was also pleased with how this year’s event came to- gether, including the auction, the vendors, the entertainment and the experience had by the 4-H students. He said the day camp for kids had record attendance, the fair parade had more entries than ever before, the new vendors were a success, several shows were sold out before the fair be- gan and new events like the ja- lepeño eating contest were a hit. “When you get a bunch of volunteers together to put their lives and jobs on hold for a week to put on such a big event, you will have some challenges, but they were minor challenges this See FAIR, A18 Coaches unite to help coaching IaPil\ that lost hoPe to ZilG¿ Ue By ERIC SINGER Staff Writer 7KH&DQ\RQ&UHHN&RPSOH[¿UH near John Day, has engulfed over 40,000 acres and destroyed at least 26 homes in just under a week. One of those homes belonged to Steve and Shae Speth, whose house and all their belongings inside FIRE were destroyed in WKH¿UH The Speths’ are both coaches at Grant Union High School, with Steve coaching boys basketball and Shae coaching volleyball. Other area coaches are tossing aside rivalries to help out their fel- low coaches. PHOTO BY MARISSA WILLIAMS/EO MEDIA GROUP Area basketball coaches Bri- an Pickard (Weston-McEwen), The Canyon CreeN ComSle[ À re, a comEination of the Mason SSring and Mitch Thompson (Irrigon), Jere- %erry CreeN À res Eurning east of Highway Eetween Canyon City and Seneca Á ared uS Thursday afternoon and Friday, $ug. and , forcing road See FIRE, A18 closures and eYacuations throughout the area. Leaders say the ban could be reversed later By JADE McDOWELL Staff Writer Umatilla joined the ranks of East- ern Oregon cities banning marijuana dispensaries Tuesday night. Council members were careful to point out, however, that the ban is not irreversible and could be rescinded eventually if the council feels differ- HQWO\ DIWHU ¿QLVKLQJ D PRQWKVORQJ project to rewrite its commercial zone regulations. Councilor Roak TenEyck said af- ter the unanimous vote to approve a ban that the decision was one that had tormented the council for months. “It wasn’t anything taken lightly,” he said. He responded to earlier comments by citizens that voters had spoken in favor of marijuana legalization, re- minding them that Umatilla voters did not join the statewide majority in passing Measure 91. “The voters spoke and they’re the ones who drove this decision,” he said. “The west side wanted it, but folks out here, they’re a little more conservative and they’re not there yet.” Councilor Mel Ray said he had been “up in the air” about whether to pass the ordinance banning dispensa- ries until the council’s Aug. 3 meet- ing, when planning commissioner Boyd Sharp pointed out that a new ordinance could always replace the ban later if the council felt new cir- cumstances warranted it. The city’s moratorium, which was already extended once, runs out Thursday and the city has no regula- tions in place for commercial marijua- na operations after sending the Plan- ning Commission back to the drawing board on a proposed set of commer- cial zone regulations the council had planned to pass earlier in the summer.
