Hermiston
Herald
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 2016
HermistonHerald.com
GROGAN
DRAFTED
BY TWINS
SPORTS Page 8
$1.00
ABOUT TOWN
Columbia
Bank names
Hermiston
manager
RATTLING
THE CHAINS
STAFF PHOTOS BY TAMMY MALGESINI
Anthony Fernald of Kennewick follows through while putting on the second hole during a recent doubles tournament at the McNary Golf Disc
Golf Course.
DISCS FLY AT THE
MCNARY DAM COURSE
City clarifi es
Service Line
Warranties letter
By TAMMY MALGESINI
Community Editor
Ginger Wilkinson credits disc golf with motivating her to
get off the couch after becoming somewhat sedentary follow-
ing foot and knee surgeries.
Introduced to the sport several years ago by friends, the
Hermiston woman was instantly enthusiastic about exercising
and having fun at the same time.
“I love being outside,” she said. “I wasn’t getting much ex-
ercise and I thought walking would be a good thing for me.”
In addition to rattling chains at area courses, Wilkinson
serves as secretary-treasurer of the Umatilla Disc Golf Club.
She regularly plays
at the McNary Dam
Disc Golf Course,
which was developed
in 2013 by the U.S.
Army Corps of En-
gineers. Earlier this
year, the course was
expanded to 18 holes.
David McDermott,
natural resources man-
ager at the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers,
said they were look-
ing at additional ways
to bring people to the
dam’s facilities and
parks. After tossing
around several ideas,
someone suggested a
disc golf course.
Starting with just nine holes, McDermott said it provided
an opportunity to gauge the public’s reaction before sinking
too much money and resources into the project.
“With the popularity of the sport, we didn’t know what
the response would be,” he said.
Above: Jorge Cuevas of Boardman watches as his disc
skips off the top of the À fth basket while doubles partner
Ginger Wilkinson of Umatilla looks on at the McNary Golf
Disc Golf Course.
Left: Donny Ballew of Spokane follows through while
putting on the 11th hole during a recent doubles
tournament at the McNary Dam Disc Golf Course.
Left: Ginger
Wilkinson of
Hermiston leans
in while putting
on the third
hole during a
recent doubles
tournament at
the McNary Golf
Disc Golf Course.
See GOLF, A12
Love’s Travel location now open near Boardman
Hermiston Herald
Road warriors crossing Eastern
Oregon on Interstate 84 have a new
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opened its newest location Thurs-
day morning on Tower Road west
of Boardman. The center includes
a 24-hour convenience store, fuel
pumps, tire repair shop and Carl’s
Jr. restaurant.
“We are very excited to expand
our presence in Oregon and espe-
cially thrilled to become a member
of the Boardman community,” said
company founder and executive
chairman Tom Love. “This location
gives us a great opportunity to serve
members of the community, travel-
ers and professional drivers.”
Based in Oklahoma, Love’s
Travel Stops has more than 380
stores in 40 states nationwide. The
Chris Bettencourt has been
named a vice president and
branch manager for Colum-
bia Bank’s Hermiston loca-
tion.
Bettencourt
has more than
30 years of
banking experi-
ence, including
18 with Colum-
bia Bank. In her
new position
she will “focus
Betten-
court
on garnering
new connec-
tions and busi-
ness for the branch while
overseeing daily operations of
the branch and team manage-
ment,” according to a news
release from the bank.
The release states that Bet-
tencourt is also involved in
the community as a member
of the Hermiston High School
Advisory Council, a volun-
teer for Hermiston Relay for
Life and a previous United
Way volunteer. She attended
Blue Mountain Communi-
ty College and the Oregon
Bankers Operations School.
Columbia Bank is head-
quartered in Tacoma, Wash-
ington, and has 145 locations
throughout the Northwest.
STAFF PHOTO BY GARY WEST
/ove·s 7ravel Stops ofÀ cially opened its Boardman location on 7hursday.
chain has two other locations along
I-84 in Oregon, in Ontario and
Troutdale.
The 11,000-square-foot Board-
man center has 16 fuel pumps, 95
truck parking spaces and seven
showers available for profession-
al drivers. Spokeswoman Kealey
Dorian said the facility cost roughly
$11 million, and has hired a staff of
approximately 40 employees.
A ribbon cutting ceremony will
be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, June
15. Love’s will also donate $2,000
to the Boardman Community De-
velopment Association.
A letter being sent to
Hermiston residents by
Service Line Warranties of
America is causing some
confusion.
The letter bears the city of
Hermiston logo on the enve-
lope and the top of the letter
but is not being sent by the
city. The company does have
permission to use the city’s
logo, however, after the city
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dorse the company last year.
Service Line Warranties
offers insurance against the
cost of replacing water lines
between a home and a pub-
lic utility connection, which
is the homeowner’s respon-
sibility if the line leaks or
bursts. Customers can pay
$5.75 per month or $64 per
year for repair coverage of
up to $4,000 with no deduct-
ibles.
The letter is signed “City
of Hermiston” but also in-
cludes a disclaimer which
notes that the city is “not re-
sponsible for administration
of the program and no public
funds are used in the market-
ing or administration of the
program.”
After a concerned citi-
zen brought the letter up at
Monday’s city council meet-
ing, noting that some people
thought the letter was com-
ing directly from the city,
city manager Byron Smith
said that the city had mere-
ly endorsed the company at
the recommendation of the
League of Oregon Cities to
offer residents protection
against what can be a very
expensive bill if the water
line to their house breaks.
“The city is just saying
this is a good program if you
want to use it,” he said.
Smith said adjustments
had been made to an earlier
version of the letter to make
it more clear that it was not a
city program, and the council
was welcome to withdraw
its endorsement if it was not
happy with the letter’s cur-
rent form. The council did
not take any action.
—Jade McDowell