Hermiston
Herald
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2015
HermistonHerald.com
Two killed
in weekend
crashes
BULLDOG
GIRLS HOLD
OFF BRAVES
Juul takes the lead in
64-61 win Page 9
$1.00
ABOUT TOWN
New pastor
in town
Page 3
EOTEC board will
meet with
public next week
Steward looks to foster church growth Page 4
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STAFF PHOTO BY JADE McDOWELL
This house on Autumn Avenue gets lit up every year for Christmas.
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
I
t’s beginning to look a lot like
Christmas.
Snow and rain on the heels
of Thanksgiving weekend seem
to have delayed some regu-
lars from putting together their
Christmas light displays, but in other
neighborhoods houses blink and shine,
sporting colorful strands of lights and
glowing snowÀ akes that never melt.
The Reasor family made sure they
got their extensive collection of multi-
colored lights and inÀ atable decorations
in place before the bad weather hit.
“It’s something everyone in our
house looks forward to,” Aimee Reasor
said.
She said she has always loved
Christmas lights, and her husband
Steve has been putting them up for her
since they were engaged. Since they
built their current house near Highland
Park in 2009, their collection grows a
little bigger every year.
“It started out with me just wanting a
string across the house, and every year
my husband has just taken up the torch
and had fun with it,” she said.
Reasor said it’s easiest to build up
the collection by looking for half-priced
lights after Christmas is over each year,
then putting them away with the rest of
the collection for next year.
She said the couple’s six children
help out too. The oldest, age 14, even
got to climb on the roof with Dad this
year.
See LIGHTS, A16
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE McDOWELL
Some Christmas displays aren’t much to look at when the lights are off, but this
house on Newport Avenue looks festive even during the day.
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE McDOWELL
Houses on NE Madrona Drive across from Highland Park are lit up for Christmas.
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Local coaches react to
classifi cation changes
By SAM BARBEE
Staff Writer
The Hermiston Bulldogs will
return to the Intermountain Confer-
ence, at least for two seasons.
In an announcement made by
the OSAA on Monday, The Dalles
was granted independent status in
football for the next two seasons,
causing a serious shakeup in east-
ern Oregon prep athletics. With The
Dalles leaving the four-team Co-
lumbia River Conference, it would
leave just three teams in the CRC,
and the OSAA decided to combine
the IMC and CRC into a special
district for the next two seasons.
In other OSAA news, the 3A
Eastern Oregon League gained
two teams when Irrigon and Burns
moved up from 2A. The EOL will
now be comprised of Vale, Nyssa,
Umatilla, Riverside, Irrigon and
Burns. That leaves the 2A Colum-
bia Basin Conference with Stan-
¿ eld, Heppner, Pilot Rock, Culver
and Weston-McEwen.
Irrigon Athletic Director Steve
Sheller said that Irrigon was two
students over the cut mark last sea-
son, and its petition to stay down
was granted. This year, however,
Irrigon was 17 students over the cut
mark. He said that Irrigon’s fresh-
man, sophomore and junior classes
are larger than usual, and the 7th-
and 8th-grade classes are “2A num-
bers.” So it’s likely, he said, that
Irrigon will move back down to 2A
in coming years.
That said, Sheller expects his
athletic programs to remain com-
petitive despite the move up. He
pointed to football stalwart Hep-
pner, which won the 2A football
championship 48-0 this season, as a
comparison to 3A football stalwart
Vale, which won the 3A state title
this season as well.
“The key, I think, is we are not
viewing it as a negative at all,”
Sheller said. “We want our kids to
feel that they can compete at that
level. We feel like we can make that
step and compete at that level.”
Irrigon’s football team, which
Sheller coaches, comes from a
dif¿ cult Columbia Basin Confer-
ence in which the Knights were
See OSAA, A16
Members of the public
interested in hearing an up-
date on the Eastern Oregon
Trade and Event Center
¿ rsthand are invited to a
public meeting on Wednes-
day, Dec. 16.
The meeting will be
held at 6 p.m. at the Herm-
iston Conference Center.
Members of the authority
board and Frew Develop-
ment will be on hand to
give updates and answer
questions.
The EOTEC project is
expected to house the 2017
Umatilla County Fair and
Farm-City Pro Rodeo. In
addition to fairgrounds and
a rodeo arena, the project
will feature and event cen-
ter/exhibitor hall available
year-round for conferences,
trade shows and other
events.
The city of Hermiston
recently pledged an addi-
tional $600,000 to the proj-
ect, and Umatilla county
has agreed to give another
$0,000 to help ¿ ll a fund-
ing shortfall of approxi-
mately $2.2 million. (see
related story, Page A7).
Echo off ering
free Christmas
tree lights
The Echo Boosters are
offering incentives for
residents to deck the halls
this year.
The group is host-
ing a Christmas lighting
contest in the hopes of
making Echo “the area’s
Christmas destination.”
The top prize for the
contest is $50. In addi-
tion, the top 10 displays
will receive a $15 credit
on their next utility bill.
The Echo Boosters
are also giving away
free strands of Christmas
lights to any new home-
owner or business owner.
In addition, the boosters
are reserving free lights
for the ¿ rst 10 longtime
residents who request
them.
Residents can stop by
City Hall to ask for the
free lights or check out a
book of Christmas light-
ing ideas.
Boardman
bans medical
marijuana
dispensaries
Boardman City Coun-
cil has voted to ban med-
ical marijuana dispensa-
ries and businesses within
city limits, one month af-
ter banning the sale and
distribution of recreation-
al marijuana.
No one at the council’s
hearing spoke in oppo-
sition of the ban, which
passed by a unanimous
vote.
In November, the
council approved an ordi-
nance to keep recreation-
al marijuana shops out of
the city. The ordinance
at the time did not spe-
ci¿ cally address medical
marijuana. Now, both
recreational and medi-
cal marijuana businesses
and processors will not
be allowed in Boardman
— same as nearby Irrigon
and throughout Morrow
County.