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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 23, 2015)
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3 LOCAL NEWS Stanfield market robbery suspect arrested 15 at about 3 p.m. at a Hermis- Court records show Rodriguez ton restaurant where he worked. is serving two years of court Police arrested a Hermiston Rodriguez cooperated with po- probation after pleading guilty in August to second-de- man for the Dec. 6 robbery of lice and went without in- gree theft from Wal-Mart. &HQWHU0DUNHWLQ6WDQ¿HOG$O- cident, Edmiston said. Rodriguez was the Umatilla County Cir- fredo Lopez Rodriguez, 22, is in only suspect in a robbery the Umatilla County Jail, Pend- cuit Court records show that happened Dec. 6 at OHWRQ RQ FKDUJHV RI ¿UVWGH- Rodriguez pleaded not 2 a.m. at Center Market, gree robbery, unlawful use of a guilty to charges Dec. 16, 6WDQ¿HOG 0DUNHW RZQHUV weapon, coercion and failure to and Circuit Judge Dan Gurbal Singh and Jas- Hill set his bail at $75,000. appear. winder Kaur reported a 6WDQ¿HOGFLW\PDQDJHU Alfredo Hermiston police Chief Ja- VRQ (GPLVWRQ VDLG 6WDQ¿HOG¶V Blair Larsen previous- Rodriguez man came in, pointed a gun at Kaur and demand- ORQH RQGXW\ RI¿FHU SOXV SR- ly said the suspect was lice from Hermiston and the “clearly visible” on surveillance ed she take all of the money out local drug enforcement team, footage and police knew who he of the cash register and put it in caught up to the suspect Dec. was. Umatilla County Circuit a bag. According to Kaur’s ac- By PHIL WRIGHT Staff Writer count he hit her on the arm, then ÀHGZLWKWKHFDVK Edmiston said Hermiston stepped up patrols through 6WDQ¿HOG LQ WKH ZDNH RI WKH robbery. The small city near Hermiston is down to just one RI¿FHUZKLOHWKHSROLFHGHSDUW- ment’s chief and lieutenant are on paid leave and under inves- tigation. Edmiston also said he knew the robbery was a traumatic ex- perience for the victims and his department would assist anoth- er any time it could to help re- solve crimes. 8PDWLOOD&RXQW\UHWXUQV¿UHGLVWULFWPHUJHUWRYRWHUV This time out the tax rate is Staff Writer $1.75 per $1,000 of assessed Voters in Hermiston and value, lower than the previous 6WDQ¿HOG ZLOO YRWH DJDLQ RQ proposal. Scott Stanton, chief ZKHWKHU WR D PHUJH WKHLU ¿UH IRUWKH+HUPLVWRQDQG6WDQ¿HOG ¿UH GLVWULFWV WROG FRPPLVVLRQ- districts. 6WDQ¿HOG YRWHUV LQ 1RYHP- ers that public safety on the ber 2014 approved the plan for west side of Umatilla County is a new district, but Hermiston at risk in the current formation. “We don’t have enough peo- voters did not. Umatilla County Board of ple,” he said. “We don’t have Commissioners last Wednesday enough funding to replace our voted 3-0 to start the formation FDSLWDO QHHGV VXFK DV ¿UH HQ- of Umatilla County Fire District gines, cardiac monitors and am- No. 1 to replace the Hermiston bulances.” Hermiston provides ambu- DQG6WDQ¿HOGGLVWULFWV7KHSUR- cess includes a public hearing lance service to four cities and on the new district Jan. 20 at operates the regional hazardous 9 a.m. at the Umatilla County materials team for six counties. The district will not run out of Courthouse, Pendleton. By PHIL WRIGHT money, Stanton said, but cuts to services could come as soon as 2017. Stanton also told commis- sioners the new permanent tax rate would mean the larger dis- trict would not have to go out for bonds for capital or equip- ment improvements. Just like in 2014, voters would need to pass measures to dissolve both districts and then approve a measure to form and fund the new district. Residents of the Hermiston Fire District currently pay a tax rate of $1.20 per $1,000. Stanton explained in an email that residents in the city limits would not see any tax increase, because of com- pression. The city of Hermis- ton, though, would lose money ZKLOHWKH¿UHGLVWULFWZRXOGUH- ceive about $900,000 in addi- tional funds. Citizens outside both cities would see an increase of 55 cents, which amounts to $55 per $100,000 in assessed value or approximately $4.58 per month. &LWL]HQV LQ 6WDQ¿HOG SD\ $2.06 per $1,000, so they would see a small decrease. “When all is said and done,” Stanton said, “All citizens will pay $1.75 per $1,000 towards WKH QHZ ¿UH GLVWULFW 7KLV ZLOO VWLOOEHWKHFKHDSHVWUDWHIRU¿UH departments our size through- out the state.” IN BRIEF Tax program needs volunteers With tax season right around the corner, volunteers are needed for the AARP Tax-aide program. People will assist in providing free tax preparation in Umatilla and Mor- row counties. All necessary training and equipment will be provided to volunteers. Not all positions require computer or tax knowledge. The training is planned in January and assistance is provided February through April 14. For more information or to regis- ter for training materials, call Vivian at 541-567-8054 or Joan at 541-567- 8034. Morrow County Fair seeks board members The Morrow County Fair has two vacant openings. The board meets once a month, ro- tating the meetings between Heppner and Boardman. For more information, call Ann Jones at 541-676-9474. Hospice offers grief materials A library featuring grief-related materials for adults, children, medical professionals and pastors is available at Vange John Memorial Hospice. People can check-out books and other publications for up to one month. 7KH KRVSLFH RI¿FH LV RSHQ 0RQGD\ though Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 645 W. Orchard Ave., Hermiston. For more information, call 541- 667-3543. EOTEC board seeks $2 million in community donations $250,000 or more. The $2 million the com- The fundraising commit- mittee is seeking is in ad- tee for the Eastern Oregon dition to $11.8 million the Trade and Event Center board already had in its needs to raise $2 million coffers, $600,000 recent- in private donations in the ly pledged by the city of QH[W IRXU PRQWKV WR ¿QLVK Hermiston, $600,000 from the $16 million project on Umatilla County, $450,000 from the fair’s “mov- schedule. That goal — and a plan ing fund” and $1 million for reaching it by April pledged by hoteliers via an 1 — was approved by the increase to the bed tax. In order to allow donors EOTEC board at the end of a public meeting Dec. 16. to spread out their dona- tions across as Falling short PDQ\ DV ¿YH of the goal will years while mean cutting More inside still allowing planned fea- the EOTEC tures from the See more on EOTEC on board to meet EOTEC proj- Page A6, including a guest commentary from Hermiston its planned July ect. mayor and EOTEC fundraising 2017 comple- “I’ll just committee member David tion date, the be frank with Drotzmann. committee had you, we need planned to take your resourc- out a loan equal es,” Hermiston Mayor David Drotzmann to the amount of promised told community members contributions, using the EOTEC property as collat- in attendance. Drotzmann sits on the eral. The loan would have fundraising committee with been paid back using the Hermiston Energy Services promised donations as they director Nate Rivera, ac- came in. But that plan hit a snag countant Dennis Barnett and Threemile Canyon last week during the Uma- Farms manager Greg Har- tilla County Commission- ers meeting. The inter- ris. If the committee rais- governmental agreement es $625,000, the third of forming EOTEC requires three planned livestock the board to get permission barns will be built. If an- from the county and the other $600,000 is brought city of Hermiston before in, it will pay for 2,000 per- HQWHULQJ LQWR DQ\ ¿QDQFH manent seats in the rodeo agreements. The city ap- arena. The next $700,000 proved the plan Dec. 14, brought in will build per- but on Dec. 16 county attor- manent pens, panels and ney Doug Olsen informed VWDOOV 7KH ¿QDO the commissioners that Or- will go to extending water egon’s constitution makes and electricity to the “ex- it illegal for a county to use tended stay” area where ex- hibitors can park RVs. Drotzmann said if the money isn’t raised, the Umatilla County Fair and Farm-City Pro Rodeo will have to rent temporary pens, seats and other items each year. “What it does is it hurts operation and maintenance costs,” he said. He said the committee is happy to take any dona- tion, no matter how small. Drotzmann even said there are volunteer opportunities available, such as laying out sod or unloading chairs, for those who want to help but cannot give monetarily. For those planning larger donations, the committee unveiled a sponsorship plan. The plan includes eight levels of fundraising, start- ing with recognition in the 2017 fair and rodeo programs for a $100 do- nation and ending with a custom-engraved bronze plaque on a sponsor recog- nition wall for a donation of By JADE McDOWELL Staff Writer land as collateral for a loan of that size. “EOTEC only has the authority that both the county and the city have,” he said in response to a comment by EOTEC board chair Ed Brookshier that the land was in EOTEC’s name and not the county’s. “So if the county does not have the authority, then EOTEC doesn’t have the authority.” After the meeting Olsen said the county could sign off on using something other than land as collater- al, and that more research would be done to look at other options. After the EOTEC meet- ing in Hermiston, Rivera said Olsen’s news was a surprise, but the commit- WHHZDVFRQ¿GHQWWKDWWKH\ FRXOG¿QGDZD\WR¿QDQFH donors’ long-term contri- butions. During last week’s eve- ning meeting, board mem- bers also took questions from the audience. In response to a ques- tion about what would hap- pen to a program that had allowed people to purchase engraved bricks to support the project, Dan Dorran said the bricks that had already been purchased would be displayed, but the program was being pushed to the back burner to focus on the new fund- raising effort. In answer to a question about the opportunity for concerts, Dorran said EO- TEC could host them in several spots. The Umatil- la County Fair’s outdoor stage would be moved over to the new fairgrounds, the indoor event center would feature a stage and room for 800 seats, the ro- deo arena could seat up to 10,000 people if enough bleachers were brought in and the acres of green space that will be used for parking during the fair could accommodate out- door concerts as well. In answer to a question about irrigation, Brookshi- er said EOTEC currently has one well completed DQG KDV LGHQWL¿HG WKH OR- cation of a second well. Those two wells won’t be enough to support the en- tire project, he said, but the board is in talks with the 6WDQ¿HOG DQG +HUPLVWRQ irrigation districts about the possibility of leasing additional water rights. Questions offered up by the community on Wednesday night will be added to an already-com- piled list of Frequently Asked Questions found on www.eotechermiston.com. Rivera said as community members continue to sub- mit questions during the fundraising process they will be added to the web- site, which also includes the full list of sponsorship information and a PayPal link where people can do- nate directly. STK# 16T038. MSRP $24,130. SALE PRICE $21,249. $1,250 CUSTOMER CASH PROVIDED BY TOYOTA FINANCIAL SERVICES. STK# 16T071. MSRP $19,804. 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