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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (July 27, 2016)
Hermiston HERMISTON NATIVE Herald erald HermistonHerald.com WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016 DANIEL BUCK RETURNS HOME AS NEWEST ER DOCTOR Page 4 $1.00 ABOUT TOWN City to create two new committees 33 ANNUAL IRRIGON RD WATERMELON FESTIVAL STAFF PHOTOS BY TAMMY MALGESINI Clara Funk attacks a piece of watermelon as her brother, Tony Sexton, looks on during a past Irrigon Watermelon Festival. This year’s event is Saturday at Irrigon Marina Park. ACTIVITY FEATURES WATERMELON, FAMILY FUN By TAMMY MALGESINI Community Editor M elons and family fun are featured during the annual Irrigon Watermelon Festival. In its 33rd year, the festivities kick off Saturday with a breakfast from 6:30- 9:30 a.m. at Irrigon Marina Park. The parade, which starts at 10 a.m. in down- town Irrigon, winds back to the marina park for the rest of the day’s activities. The event’s opening ceremonies start at 11 a.m. Derrick Kestler is gearing up for a great car show during the event. He invites people to join the parade and then display their vehicle for the show. For more about the car show, call Kestler at 541-571-0421. Renee Couchman of the festival committee said people See FESTIVAL, A14 Lily, a golden retriever owned by Mike Starling, watches the crowd in the entertainment area during a past Irrigon Watermelon Festival. This year’s event is Saturday at Irrigon Marina Park. Umatilla council wants to attract new business, develop Old Town By JADE McDOWELL Staff Writer The city of Umatilla is looking to take a greater role in economic devel- opment as city councilors and staff meet together in a series of goal-setting ses- sions. City Manager Russ Pel- leberg said he has been working with the county, the Port of Umatilla, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reserva- tion and Business Oregon on some projects in “very, very preliminary stages” that could bring more busi- nesses in to the area. “There are many pieces of the puzzle in motion,” he said. Pelleberg said one of those efforts has been to start actively marketing available land to com- panies that might be a good fi t, offering up de- tailed information packets about everything from the amount of traffi c passing by each day to the infra- structure in place. On July 19, during a workshop to discuss coun- cilors’ goals for the city, one type of business ev- eryone wanted to set their sights on was an outlet mall. Councilors and staff pointed out that a collec- tion of brand-name stores not found in the Tri-Cities had the potential to draw people from there who were looking for nearby deals with no sales tax at- tached. Mayor Dave Trott said at the meeting that the city needed to foster local entrepreneurship but also look afi eld for opportuni- ties. “It’s not necessarily people in our back yard who have got the interest,” he said. Pelleberg told council- ors that it would take “a lot more than a phone call” to bring an outlet mall to Umatilla but it didn’t mean they shouldn’t work on it. He told the East Orego- nian that he has been look- ing with engineers at what will be needed to bring water to some of the prop- erties in the urban growth boundary along Highway 395 that aren’t currently feasible for businesses to See UMATILLA, A14 The city of Hermis- ton is creating two new committees to address upcoming projects. The fi rst is a design committee for the festival street that the city plans to build along Second Street in front of City Hall using money from the Urban Renewal District. City Manager Byron Smith told city councilors on Monday night that the committee would work for about a year with architects to design the project and gather public input. The committee will be made up of one city council member, one city staff member and three members of the public. The other commit- tee is a transit advisory committee, which will help the city look at “po- tential improvements” to the city’s transportation system. The city has al- ready budgeted to begin a Dial-a-Ride system in the next year to supplement the taxi ticket program for senior and disabled residents. That committee will include two councilors, someone from the plan- ning department, some- one who uses the taxi ticket program, someone in the senior care indus- try, someone from the Chamber of Commerce and a citizen. The rest of Monday’s meeting was uneventful, with committee reports, the June fi nancial report and a proclamation rec- ognizing National Night Out. Herald off ers bonus clue for treasure hunt Each year, the Herm- iston Herald, East Ore- gonian and city of Herm- iston treats the winner of the National Night Out treasure hunt to an ice cream social block party. Erica Sandoval, Herm- iston Police Department crime prevention/youth services offi cer, hid a golden medallion, which is about 3 inches in di- ameter and is attached to a red, white and blue ribbon, somewhere with- in Hermiston. For full rules, grab a copy of the Wednesday, July 27, East Oregonian. Daily clues will be published in the EO until the medallion is found. A bonus clue, What are you going to do? Read the tips and put on your thinking caps. It may not look like it, but it could be under wraps. STAFF PHOTO BY TAMMY MALGESINI The person who fi nds this golden medallion, which is hidden somewhere in Hermiston, wins a National Night Out ice cream social block party Tuesday, Aug. 2 in Hermiston.
