Hermiston
Herald
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2015
HermistonHerald.com
REAL LIFE
TEACHING
EARLY
HURDLE
UMATILLA
SQUARES OFF
WITH IRRIGON
IN TOUGH
EARLY TEST
$1.00
ABOUT TOWN
REMEMBERING
9-11
GATHERING HONORS FALLEN
WITH PRAYER, MUSIC PAGE 16
LIFE EXPERIENCE LEADS TO
TEACHING JOBS PAGE A3
DANCES WITH BULLS
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
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By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
ost people would see
2,000 pounds of angry,
horned bull charging
them as a moment gone
horribly wrong, but for
Donnie Griggs it’s just
another day at the of-
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“It’s a job that you
enjoy,” the Hermiston
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one hand, but you’ve got to be calm and
mellow and cool.”
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ton Round-Up for eight years and the Farm-
City Pro Rodeo for nine. Keeping rodeo
bulls from trampling cowboys may not be
for everyone, but for Griggs professional
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riding steers as a kid and bulls as a teenager.
Not just anybody can become a bull-
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approval process by the Professional Rodeo
Cowboys Association and be scouted out at
conventions.
Griggs studied under Loyd Ketchum,
generally considered one of the best bull-
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Cowboy lifesavers
Bullfi ghters Donnie Griggs and Dusty Tuckness and
Round-Up barrelman Justin Rumsford will be meeting
with fans and signing autographs from 10 to 11 a.m.
Saturday, Sept. 19, at the Pendleton Walmart, 2203
S.W. Court Ave., Pendleton.
break” when he was invited to team up with
Ketchum during the 2002 rodeo season.
The job keeps him on his toes, even
more than a decade later.
“There’s never two wrecks the same,” he
said.
That’s what happens when you’re work-
ing with animals as unpredictable as rodeo
bulls. Certain animals get a reputation for
being a handful, but Griggs said any bull
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“You try to treat all bulls the same,” he
said. “There’s that one bull that you’ve seen
50 times, and it’s never hooked anyone and
then one day it has a cranky day.”
Most of the time everyone gets out of
the way, but sometimes bull and man col-
lide in painful ways. Griggs broke his tib-
See GRIGGS, A18
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE McDOWELL
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EOTEC event center
construction in motion
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
Construction at the Eastern
Oregon Trade and Event Center
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The metal skeleton of the pre-
fabricated event center and exhi-
bition hall can now be seen from
Southeast Airport Road, provid-
ing a visible marker of things to
come.
John Frew, president and CEO
of project manager Frew Devel-
opment Group, was on site for
a visit Tuesday. He called the
beginning of vertical construc-
tion an important milestone, but
said there was a huge amount of
ground-level work done already
to prepare the site.
“There is so much under-
See EOTEC, A18
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE McDOWELL
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Hermiston
enrollment
up more than
200 students
Hermiston School District
enrollment numbers continue to
rise at a fast pace.
After students who did not
show up for the year were re-
moved from the rolls, the dis-
trict still grew by 213 students
to a total of 5,531, Deputy Su-
perintendent Wade Smith told
the school board Monday, ac-
cording to a district press re-
lease.
The district expected an in-
crease of about 100 students
based on the mid-range growth
forecast from a recent Portland
State University Population
Research Study, but this year’s
increase was higher than the
study’s high-range growth fore-
cast.
Because of the record enroll-
ment, the district has capped
multiple classrooms in its
five elementary schools and
has shuttled students to other
schools that can accommodate
the new students, according to
the release.
“The district currently uses
24 modular classrooms to ac-
commodate
recent
student
growth; this is four more than
were being utilized prior to our
last bond measure,” Smith said
in the release. “If we continue
at this pace, we will need a to-
tal of 81 portable classrooms in
the next eight years, where over
1,600 students will be housed.
Although portables are appro-
priate for short-term enrollment
surges, they are not efficient nor
cost effective to address long-
term community needs.”
Desert View Elementary
School, which was designed for
427 students, now has a popu-
lation of more than 600, the re-
lease states. The PSU population
study predicts in eight years the
high school will grow to 2,000
students — nearly double the at-
tendance when the last addition
was completed 13 years ago —
and the total district population
will grow to almost 7,000, ac-
cording to the release.
Smith urged the board to
evaluate the recommendations
from the Facility Master Plan-
ning Committee and to quickly
address the multiple campus ca-
pacity concerns.
¡Viva Mexico!
Event celebrates
Mexican
Independence Day
Live music, bouncy
houses, a beer garden and
food are all part of a Mexican
Independence Day celebration
at Yo Country Frozen Yogurt.
Although people sometimes
confuse Cinco de Mayo as
Mexico’s Independence Day,
the actual date is Sept. 16,
1810, which is a national
holiday in Mexico that
commemorates the country’s
independence from Spain.
The event is Wednesday
from 3-10 p.m. at 1725 N.
First St., Hermiston. There is
no admission charge.
In addition, those who
attend are encouraged to make
donations of non-perishable
food items, such as canned
foods, peanut butter and
macaroni and cheese. The food
will be distributed through
Agape House for the backpack
program that provides
weekend food items for needy
students.
For more information, call
541-289-9611.