Hermiston
Herald
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SPORTS Page 9
Growing for a profi t
Inmate dies
at TRCI
HermistonHerald.com
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2016
Emmerson wins
professional of
the year award
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ABOUT TOWN
Page 7
BALLOT MEASURE
CONSOLIDATED
FIRE DISTRICTS
STAFF PHOTO BY JENNIFER COLTON
Josh Smith, fi refi ghter and paramedic, fi lming a new web series for Hermiston Fire and Emergency Services using a GoPro camera.
Hermiston and Stanfi eld
reformation on ballot
By JENNIFER COLTON
Staff Writer
T
wo yes votes could mean two fi re
departments become one in the
Hermiston and Stanfi eld area.
Most registered votes will re-
ceive ballots this week, and for
voters in Hermiston and Stan-
fi eld, those ballots will include two
measures on the fi re department refor-
mation that would combine the Herm-
iston Fire District and the Stanfi eld Fire
District into the “Umatilla County Fire
District 1.”
“Right now, we’re two districts and
there’s an imaginary line that runs be-
tween. We’re just going to dissolve that
line,” Hermiston Fire Chief Scott Stan-
ton said Monday. “The new district will
have the same stations, the trucks, the
same people. It’s just going to have a
different name on the door. It’s going
to make us more effi cient and provide
See VOTE, A14
STAFF PHOTO BY JENNIFER COLTON
Josh Smith, fi refi ght and paramedic, fi lms a tour of Fire Station 1 for Hermiston Fire and
Emergency Services’ web series, launched earlier this year.
Fourth
inmate death
in 3 months
An inmate at Two
Rivers Correctional In-
stitution died unexpect-
edly Monday morning.
Avis Woodrum, 60,
was being medically
treated in TRCI’s Health
Services Unit when he
was pronounced dead at
8:53 a.m. Monday.
Wo o d -
rum entered
Oregon De-
partment of
Corrections
custody on
Aug.
30,
2011
on
Woodrum
one count
of kidnap-
ping in the
second degree out of
Marion County. His
earliest release date was
March 25, 2017.
The Oregon State
Police Criminal In-
vestigation Division is
conducting an investi-
gation, as with all unan-
ticipated deaths in state
prisons.
Next of kin has been
notified, and no other
details are available at
this time.
Woodrum is the
fourth TRCI inmate to
die in three months.
On April 3, inmate
Shawn McMillian, 44,
incarcerated out of
Lane County, was trans-
ported to a local hospi-
tal for medical care and
died early on April 4.
On March 20, inmate
Ronald Marcus, 60, out
of Multnomah County,
was found unrespon-
sive in his cell and lat-
er died, and on Feb. 27,
inmate Joel Abbot, 60,
was found unrespon-
sive in his cell and life-
flighted to a Portland
hospital, where he later
died.
TRCI is a multi-cus-
tody prison in Umatilla
that houses approx-
imately 1,800 male
inmates. TRCI par-
ticipates in prison in-
dustries with Oregon
Corrections Enterpris-
es including institution
and industrial laundry,
mattress manufacturing
and sewing.
The facility provides
a range of correctional
programs and services
including
education,
religious services and
behavioral health ser-
vices. TRCI opened in
2000.
Cinco de Mayo organizers eye new venue as event grows
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
HERALD FILE PHOTO
Walla Walla Ballet Folklorico dancers perform a traditional dance at the Hermiston
Cinco de Mayo festival in 2015.
Hermiston’s annual Cinco
de Mayo bash could be on its
last year in downtown Herm-
iston.
Hispanic Advisory Com-
mittee chair Eddie de la Cruz
said organizers are hoping
to move the event — which
has swelled to approximately
5,000 attendees since moving
from McKenzie Park to down-
town four years ago — to the
Eastern Oregon Trade and
Event Center next year.
“There’s plenty of space out
there,” he said.
The full EOTEC project
isn’t scheduled to be com-
pleted until July 2017, but
the event center building and
paved parking area are open-
ing next month. De la Cruz
said after a recent tour of the
site he believes there will be
suffi cient accommodations to
host an expanded Cinco de
Mayo celebration out there in
2017 even if certain elements
like the rodeo arena aren’t
completed yet.
The 2016 event, however,
will take place on NE Second
Street across from City Hall,
with a carnival in the street and
parking lot behind the Hermis-
ton Public Library. The carni-
val will run Thursday evening
through Sunday, while the rest
of the festivities will kick off
with a parade through down-
See VENUE, A7