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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 30, 2015)
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2015 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3 LOCAL NEWS Hermiston senior center to move downtown 7UDLOHU¿UH Hermiston’s new senior center will be located down- town after the city coun- cil voted Monday night to change its preferred location. The council had original- ly voted to locate the planned $2 million Harkenrider Cen- ter on Northeast Fourth Street behind Wal-Mart. But when the owners of the property declined a $200,000 offer for the land. City staff asked the council to approve Plan B to build the center behind the Hermiston Public Library. The site would span the parking lot behind the library, the current stretch of Ridge- way Avenue that loops around behind the library, as well as a one-acre parcel of Hermis- ton School District property where Armand Larive Middle School once stood. Perry Hawkins, a senior center volunteer who serves on the advisory board for the project, took the city to task during the public testimony portion of Monday’s meet- ing. Hawkins accused the city of taking over the project and forcing the seniors to accept the building layout, loca- tion and Harkenrider name. He said the Ridgeway site wouldn’t allow for expan- sion and that the process had been hijacked by downtown businesses. He also accused Mayor David Drotzmann of ignoring input from the se- niors during a meeting about the move. Drotzmann denied the ac- cusation, saying the message he received from the seniors was that the Harkenrider name was acceptable. The move, he said, was neces- sary because the land the senior center is on was sold to the school district as part of a deal to build a new fair and rodeo grounds. When a private fundraising effort by the seniors to build a new center came up short, the city stepped in to help obtain the money needed for a new fa- cility After his turn at the mi- crophone, Hawkins took his seat in the back row of the council chambers, but as public testimony continued he repeated to those around him that Drotzmann was a liar. The mayor insisted that Hawkins stop calling him that, and Hawkins insisted it was true. Drotzmann tried to bring the meeting back to order but Hawkins continued his rant and Drotzmann told him to quiet down or leave. Hawkins said he was done listening to the “bom- bastic” talk from Drotzmann and stood up, continuing to exchange words with the mayor as he left the building. ,W ZDVQ¶W WKH ¿UVW WLPH residents involved with the senior center have expressed concerns with the city’s in- volvement in the project or its plans for future use. The $2 million Commu- nity Development Block Grant the city obtained on behalf of the senior center board requires the building be used solely for activities IRUVHQLRUFLWL]HQVIRUWKH¿UVW ¿YH\HDUV%XWDIWHUWKDWWKH city plans to use parts of the building for classes and other events. In February during a public forum at the senior center, attendees expressed concerns that seniors’ needs were being pushed aside in favor of the city’s vision for a multi-use community center. On Monday Virginia Bee- be reiterated some of those points, stating that seniors ar- en’t interested in a multi-pur- pose building but just need a comfortable place to so- cialize and share a meal. She GLGQ¶WOLVWDQ\VSHFL¿FLVVXHV with the Ridgeway site. Willard Fordice, a mem- ber of the senior center who drives the bus for oth- er members, did take issue with the Ridgeway site, say- ing there was no room for expansion and that parking DQGDFFHVVZRXOGEHGLI¿FXOW downtown. Those concerns are what led the advisory board and council to originally choose the Aspen site on Fourth Street, where the 3.23 acres would have allowed for more expansion and parking than the two acres behind the library. The third choice would be to renovate the for- mer Goodwill building on Hermiston Avenue. Two members of the se- nior center advisory com- mittee with ties to downtown spoke in favor of the new site on Ridgeway Avenue. Mary Corp, who owns Kay & Cs Art and Collectibles on Main Street, and Sally An- derson-Hansell, a Hermiston lawyer, agreed that it was the best available option now that the Aspen site had fallen through. They had previously ad- vocated for the Ridgeway site when the council made its initial decision in April, arguing that placing the building downtown, visible from Highway 395, would help revitalize Main Street. At that time they presented the council with a petition from downtown business owners but failed to con- vince a majority of the coun- cil to name the Ridgeway VLWHDVWKHLU¿UVWFKRLFH On Monday the council voted 5-0 in favor of pursu- ing the Ridgeway site, with Jackie Myers, Lori Davis and Clara Beas Fitzgerald absent. 2015: asphalt of Northeast Second Street near City Hall and “planting” a tree in the mid- dle of the street. The novelty of the city’s temporary tree stand amused readers and drew nearly 9,000 people to the story online. 4). A police pursuit that be- gan in Morrow County ended on the outskirts of Hermiston, but not before the driver, who was wanted on outstanding warrants, posted a video to Facebook that she shot while deputies were trying to get her to pull over and stop. The edited version of the video (to remove the profanity) was viewed more than 4,300 times and the story was read on HermistonHerald.com more than 8,600 times. 5). One of the tragic stories of the sweltering-hot early summer was about 2015 Riv- erside High School graduate Gavin Roberts, who was the second drowning victim of the summer on the Columbia River in Morrow County. The initial story had more than 6,220 views. 6). A Hermiston High School student’s senior pic- tures propelled him to In- ternet fame after he posted them to the social media sharing site Twitter with a simple note: “So I took my senior pictures at 7-Eleven”. To date, that post has been reposted more than 38,000 times and liked more than 63,600 times. Not bad for a guy who goes to school in a town with 17,000 people. His story got featured on various websites, including the Hermiston Herald’s, of course. Our story was not quite as popular as Stefano Peiris’ photos though. It was read about 4,500 times. 7). A homicide that still re- mains unsolved from March comes in at No. 7. Alonso Madrigal, 23, of Umatilla was shot and killed near the 11th Street Market, not far from Good Shepherd Medical Center in Hermiston. It was WKH¿UVWKRPLFLGHLQ+HUPLV- ton since January of 2012, but the third shooting in the area of the year. In January anoth- er young man from Umatilla ZDVVKRWGXULQJD¿JKWDWWKH Foxwood Apartments, also on 11th Street. In February another young man in his ear- ly 20s was shot in Umatilla. The story about the March shooting received more than 4,200 views. 8). The follow up to a crime just this month, this one the arrest of a suspect in the continued from Page A1 viewed most often online. So, here are the stories that were the most read on our website in 2015. 1 and 2). The top 2 most read stories this year were both related to a Hermiston School District teacher and coach who was placed on administrative leave while he was being investigated by the Teachers Standards and Prac- tices Board. Jake McElligott, a middle school teacher, lost his job as coach of the Herm- iston boys basketball team in August. The most-read story of the year on Hermis- tonHerald.com was the story announcing that he was on leave and would no longer be the basketball coach. The second-most read followed a couple of days later, with background from a police report the Morrow Coun- ty Sheriff’s Department did when McElligott was teach- ing and coaching in Irrigon, which appear to have been the trigger for the state inves- tigation. Both stories have been viewed about 9,000 times each online. 3). On a lighter note, the next story on our list was about the city of Hermiston’s holiday festivities, which in- cluded cutting a hole in the displaces couple By JADE McDOWELL Staff Writer $ ¿UH DW WKH 6WDJH Gulch RV Park in Stan- ¿HOG GHVWUR\HG RQH 59 and damaged two others Monday evening. Dean Marcum of the 6WDQ¿HOG )LUH 'LVWULFW said personnel on duty received a report of an ex- plosion at the park at 8:10 p.m. and arrived shortly WKHUHDIWHU WR ¿QG D IXOO\ engulfed RV. The trailers on either VLGH VXVWDLQHG VLJQL¿FDQW damage, he said, but were probably still “livable.” Marcum said the man and woman who lived in the fully engulfed trailer es- caped, but the woman had second degree burns on her arm that were treated on scene. The occupants from all three trailers were put up in a hotel for the night and Marcum said they were put in touch with the Red Cross. Marcum didn’t iden- tify any of the residents. 7KH FDXVH RI WKH ¿UH is under investigation by +HUPLVWRQ6WDQ¿HOG ¿UH marshal Tom Bohm, but Marcum said the suspect- ed cause was a gas leak. Darlene Mosque- armed robbery of the Center 0DUNHW LQ 6WDQ¿HOG KDV DO- ready been read more than 3,900 times, to earn the eighth spot on our list. 9). In April, the death of a ¿UVWJUDGHWHDFKHUDW0F1DU\ Heights Elementary School in a car crash shook the com- munities of Umatilla, where she worked, and Hermiston, where she lived. Elisabet Flores died in a weekend car crash when her car ran off the Westland Road and hit a chain-link fence. The top rail of the fence struck Flores, who later died at Good Shep- herd Medical Center. Her husband and 13-year-old da, who lives across the street, said she was home Monday night when she heard a loud explosion and looked out to see her neighbor standing in the doorway of her burning RV before turning back inside, presumably to get her husband. “I called 9-1-1,” Mosqueda said. “I kept telling them that they were still in the house. I couldn’t see either one of them.” After they exited the RV, Mosqueda told them the dispatcher said to move everyone away. She said she was afraid WKH¿UHZRXOGVSUHDGEH- cause it was bringing up memories of two years ago when her own fami- ly’s trailer burned down at Vista Court in Hermiston a week before Christmas. “I was yelling at every- one to move their cars be- cause I was afraid the gas WDQNV ZRXOG FDWFK RQ ¿UH and the whole trailer park would go up,” she said. Mosqueda said she didn’t know the couple’s name, or of any efforts be- ing made to set up an ac- count or donation drop-off for the couple. son were also in the car, but weren’t injured in the crash. The story was read 3,627 times. 10). In July, the ear- ly morning execution of a search warrant on East Hurl- burt Avenue in Hermiston by the Oregon State Police SWAT team drew a lot of at- tention and questions in the neighborhood, but didn’t net the felon police were looking for in the drug raid. Howev- er, Jose Edgar Salvador Cer- vantes was contacted during D WUDI¿F VWRS VHYHUDO KRXUV later and arrested. 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