A4 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2016
LOCAL NEWS
Restaurant inspection scores improve Colton returns to
“It’s a snapshot,” he said.
“Good restaurants can have a
Restaurants in Umatilla bad day when we’re there, and
County and Morrow Coun- bad restaurants can have a good
ty are safer and more sanitary day, so you have to take it with a
than they were three years ago, grain of salt.”
according to the latest round
Fuimara has only been with
of restaurant inspection scores Umatilla County Public Health
published by the health depart- for a month, but he spent eight
ment.
years before that performing in-
Of all 213 establishments, spections in Walla Walla Coun-
47 percent achieved a perfect ty.
score when subjected to an un-
Probably the biggest issue
announced inspection between most restaurants have, he said,
June and December 2015. comes with the guidelines for
During the same time period holding food at certain tempera-
three years earlier, only 26 per- tures.
cent of the 185 restaurants had a
Another common issue is
perfect score.
separating different types of
During the second half of foods. He said sometimes in
2015 three local restaurants — their bid to conserve space, em-
Ruty’s, Panda Inn and Ye Olde ployees will pack cooling and
Pizza Shoppe in Hermiston freezing areas so tightly that raw
— failed their initial inspec- meat or eggs end up sitting on
tions. Ruty’s and Ye Olde Pizza top of vegetables or fruit, which
6KRSSH SDVVHG E\ D VLJQL¿FDQW could cause cross-contamina-
margin when re-inspected about tion.
a week later. There is not a score
“Just because we write a
RQ ¿OH IRU 3DQGD ,QQ¶V UHLQ violation doesn’t mean that
spection.
(cross-contamination)
has
Umatilla County Public happened, it just means that
Health inspector Joseph Fui- the conditions are there that it
mara said it’s important to keep could,” he said.
in mind that the scores come
Fuimara said another issue is
from what an inspector ob- ¿QGLQJ IRRG RQ QRQIRRG KDQ
served during a single visit in a dling surfaces, such as crumbs
six-month time period.
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By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
splashed on the wall.
“That isn’t a huge issue by it-
self, but it can become one,” he
said, noting that not cleaning up
spills promptly can attract pests.
During its initial inspection,
Ye Olde Pizza Shoppe received
a score of 46 after an inspector
spotted violations that included
food stored past its expiration
date, no paper towels near the
handwashing sink, improper-
ly labeled or mixed cleaning
chemicals, burn cream stored
above food, a broken thermom-
eter, surfaces not being cleaned
as often as required and an
employee failing to wash their
hands after taking a customer’s
dirty plate back to the kitchen.
However, the restaurant
¿[HG HQRXJK RI WKH LVVXHV WR
score an 83 when re-inspected
a few days later and was in the
SURFHVVRI¿[LQJRWKHUVLQFOXG
ing ordering a new thermometer
and proper light covers.
During its initial inspection
Ruty’s received a score of 55
after violations including miss-
ing paper towels and soap at a
handwashing sink, vegetables
stored at 44 degrees instead of
41, uncooked meat stored next
to other foods and employees
not washing their hands as often
as required by law.
On its second inspection less
than a week later, Ruty’s passed
with a score of 95.
Panda Inn received a 62 on
LWV¿UVWLQVSHFWLRQIRUYLRODWLRQV
including employees not wash-
ing hands as often as required,
chicken sitting out at room tem-
perature, items in the salad bar
being kept at 44 degrees instead
of 41 degrees and mouse drop-
pings in the back storage room.
A second inspection was
scheduled to be completed by
another county during the gap
between the former health in-
spector’s departure and Fui-
mara’s start date, but Fuimara
said he merely has a note mark-
ing the inspection completed
without giving a score.
Several restaurants that had
VFRUHVEHORZGXULQJWKH¿UVW
half of 2015 improved in the
second to a 95 or better during
their most recent inspection,
including Sub Zero Restaurant
and Lounge in Irrigon, Hale’s
in Hermiston and El Erradero in
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Establishments must score at
least a 70 to pass. If they don’t,
they are given up to two weeks
to correct the problems before a
re-inspection. If they fail again,
the health department will shut
them down.
cover education,
public safety
Jennifer Colton returns to the news-
room this week as a reporter for the
Hermiston Herald and East Oregonian.
An experienced journalist and free-
lance writer, Colton has been a staff
reporter for the Argus Observer in
Ontario, Ore., the Index-Journal in
Greenwood, S.C., and for the Herm-
iston Herald, from January 2010 to
March 2013.
For the past three years, she has
worked at Cayuse Technologies in
Pendleton and has written for local,
regional, and national publications.
She will cover education, public
safety and general assignment report-
ing out of the Hermiston office.
&ROWRQ¿OOVWKHSRVLWLRQYDFDWHGE\
Sean Hart, who was promoted to edi-
tor of the Blue Mountain Eagle in John
Day. The Eagle, Herald and East Or-
egonian are part of EO Media Group.
Colton has a bachelor’s degree in
English with a journalism concentra-
tion from Eastern Oregon University
in La Grande and is currently working
on a master’s degree in communica-
tion and leadership studies through
Gonzaga University in Spokane.
She can be reached at 541-564-
4534 or at jcolton@hermistonherald.
com.
IN BRIEF
Spray Rodeo to hold
queen tryouts
Queen tryouts for the May
28-29 Spray Rodeo will be
held Saturday, March 26 at
12 noon at the Spray Rodeo
grounds.
Contestants do not have to
be local or Wheeler County
residents, but they must be
at least 15 years old and nev-
er have been married or had
children.
For more information or
an application, call 541-468-
2442.
Class highlights
communication with
Alzheimer’s patients
Explore how communica-
tion takes place with some-
one with Alzheimer’s disease
during an upcoming class
offered by the Alzheimer’s
Association Oregon Chapter.
Effective Communication
Strategies is Thursday from
6-7:30 p.m. at Good Shep-
herd Medical Center, 610
N.W. 11th St., Hermiston.
The session is free, but regis-
tration is required.
Learning about communi-
cation, including sending and
receiving messages through
attitude, tone of voice, facial
expressions and body lan-
guage. As people with Alz-
heimer’s disease and other
dementias progress in their
journey and the ability to use
words is lost, families need
new ways to connect. Learn
how sending and receiving
messages is connected to tone
of voice, attitude, facial ex-
pressions and body language.
For more information or to
register, call 800-272-3900.
Also, information about other
upcoming classes is available
at www.alz.org/oregon.
Writer gives voice
to daughters of pop
culture
The poetry editor for the
online journal, Hyperlexia:
poetry and prose about the au-
tism spectrum., is the featured
writer for February’s First
Draft Writers’ Series.
Brittney Corrigan’s work
has been described as “richly
narrative, deeply engaging,
and warm. She will read from
her new work Thursday at 7
p.m. at Pendleton Center for
the Arts, 214 N. Main St. The
event also includes a short
open mic for audience mem-
bers. First Draft is free and
open to the public.
Corrigan, who was raised
in Colorado, received a de-
gree from Reed College in
Portland. Her poems have ap-
peared in numerous journals
and anthologies.
Corrigan describes her
new manuscript, “Daugh-
ters,” as a series of perso-
na poems that re-imagine
characters from mythology,
folklore, fairy tales and pop
culture from the perspective
of their daughters. Featuring
such characters such as Big-
foot, the Mad Hatter, Medusa
and Dorothy from the “Wiz-
ard of Oz,” it tackles such
topics as aging, rebellion,
loss, abuse and judgment.
For more about the author,
visit www.brittneycorrigan.
com. For additional infor-
mation about the First Draft
Writers’ Series, call 541-278-
9201 or visit www.pendlet-
onarts.org.
relax, Standard is thrust into
an investigation of the disap-
pearance of a Portland mil-
lionaire’s granddaughter. It
is suspected that the young
woman has become one of
the Paradise Girls — young
American girls who are kid-
napped and forced into pros-
titution in Mexico.
Towslee, who grew up
in Tillamook and graduated
IURP /LQ¿HOG &ROOHJH LV D
former journalist and com-
munications director for Sen.
Ron Wyden. He’ll share
about the novel and sign cop-
ies of the book Saturday from
1-3 p.m. at Armchair Books,
39 S.W. Dorion Ave., Pend-
leton.
For more information, call
541-276-7323.
3ULQWHGRQ
recycled
newsprint
VOLUME 110 ɿ NUMBER 7
Gary L. West | Editor • gwest@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4532
Tammy Malgesini | Community Editor • tmalgesini@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4539
Sam Barbee | Sports Reporter • sbarbee@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4542
Jennifer Colton | Reporter • jcolton@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4534
Jade McDowell | Reporter • jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4536
Jeanne Jewett | Multi-Media consultant • jjewett@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4531
Shannon Paxton _2I¿FHFRRUGLQDWRUVSD[WRQ#KHUPLVWRQKHUDOGFRP
Audra Workman | Multi-Media consultantDZRUNPDQ#HDVWRUHJRQLDQFRP
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Portland author to sign
new book
Portland author Tom Tow-
slee will be on hand as he
signs and discusses his new
book, “Paradise Girls.”
A detective mystery that
follows the story of freelance
writer John Standard — this
time he’s in Zihuatanejo, Mex-
ico. Although he went there to
Up to
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on Select Models
Interested in a Medical career?
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Medical scholarship applications are
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