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
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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-
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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
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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
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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-
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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.