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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 10, 2016)
Hermiston Herald F IR WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2016 HermistonHerald.com $1.00 LEAD FOUND IN WATER AT 4 AREA SCHOOLS Page 3 ABOUT TOWN THE Echo celebrates National Night Out In its 10th year of cel- ebrating National Night Out, Echo will hold an event Tuesday, Aug. 16 at 6:30 p.m. A portion of Dupont Street will be closed off and the event will take place in and around George Park and the Echo Masonic Lodge, 200 S. Dupont St. Free hot dogs, chips, cookies and cake will be served. Also, there will be giveaways and door priz- es. People can play bingo, get their face painted and visit with fi rst responders and other public offi cials. “Also, we will honor local police and show our support,” said Diane Ber- ry, city administrator. Additional volunteers and donations are being accepted for the event. For more information, call 541-376-8411. IS HERE TICKETS General Admission Tickets/Gate Passes: Children (6-12) $6 Adults $10 Seniors $8 Children under 6 are free STAFF PHOTOS BY JADE MCDOWELL AND ALEXA LOUGEE Above: Umatilla High School cheerleaders ride a fi re truck during the Umatilla County Fair Kick-Off Parade on Saturday. Round photos starting clockwise from top left: A hog waits in its pen at the fair. • Food vendors are set up and serving food and drinks at the Umatilla County Fair. • Umatilla County Fair Princess Raylee Lenhert throws candy during the Umatilla County Fair Kick-Off Parade on Saturday. • Kids in the small animal barn at the fair. Come taste a bit of the sweet life Season Passes: Children (6-12) $24 Adults $40 Seniors $30 Children under 6 are free Carnival rides and rodeo tickets must be purchased separately. By ALEXA LOUGEE Staff Writer I f the calendar hasn’t reminded you that fair is here, then the wafting scents of various fried foods should. The Umatilla County Fair is offi cially open and in full swing. Kids are swarming the vari- ous animal barns caring for their animals and prepping for show. Outside of the barns, food vendors have lined up along the sidewalks, opening their doors and luring in people by the dozens. Davis Amusement Cascadia has fi nished setting up the carni- val and rides are ready to twist stomachs and amuse the masses. Concerts are happen- ing each night on the Wildhorse stage. The rodeo kicks off it’s four days of events Wednesday night. STAFF PHOTO BY JADE MCDOWELL STAFF PHOTO BY ALEXA LOUGEE A girl sits with her chicken at the county fair. An American Indian rides in the Umatilla County Fair Kick-Off parade Saturday. THE FUN IS IN FULL SWING HERMISTON HERALD The Umatilla County Fairgrounds were abuzz with activity Monday as workers and volunteers prepared the grounds for the 101st annual event. People were busy throughout the fair- grounds — from con- struction workers creat- ing the Main Stage area and vendors setting up booths to 4-H and FFA members getting their animals settled in to vol- unteers arranging dis- plays in Price Hall. The fair opened Tuesday and continues through Saturday. The gates open daily at 9 a.m. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, $6 for ages 6-12 and free for those 5 and un- der. The fairgrounds are located at 515 W. Or- chard Ave., Hermiston. Festival seating is free for Main Stage entertainment, which includes The Bellamy Brothers (Wednes- day), Brothers Osborne (Thursday), Montez De Durango, Tormenta De Durango, Domador De La Sierra (Friday), and Creedence Clearwater Revisited (Saturday). The concerts start at 9 p.m., except Friday’s show, which begins at 8 p.m. Reserved seats are $12, which doesn’t include fair admission. For more informa- tion, visit www.co.uma- tilla.or.us/fair or call 541-567-6121. See FAIR, A11 City gives away watermelons in Portland again Hermiston Herald Hermiston offi cials showed Portlanders that life is sweet in Eastern Oregon on Friday with a giveaway of more than 6,000 pounds of Hermiston watermelons. Mayor David Drotzmann, City Manager Byron Smith, mem- bers of the Hermiston Chamber of Commerce and a delegation of city councilors and staff arrived at Pioneer Courthouse Square in Port- land on Friday and handed out free melons to eager Portland residents as part of a yearly tradition to pro- mote Hermiston agriculture. The tradition was started in the 1980s by then-mayor Frank Har- kenrider, who took a pickup truck full of Hermiston watermelons to Portland and challenged then-may- or Bud Clark to a seed-spitting contest. The tradition petered out in 2007 but was revived in 2015. Produce was donated by lo- cal growers. Last year Hermiston also gave away potatoes, but Mark Morgan, assistant city manager, said that the other options weren’t nearly as popular as the watermel- on so this year they just stuck with the city’s famous fruit. Hermiston won the seed-spitting contest last year and again this year, with city councilor Doug Prim- mer’s winning effort of 29 feet. The event is designed to foster better relations between the city of Hermiston and the city of Portland, according to a news release from the city. “We’re really happy we can con- tinue this great event, and continue to build on our relationship with our partners in Portland,” Drotz- mann said. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY CITY OF HERMISTON Mayor David Drotzmann, left, and Portland Commissioner Dan Saltzman squared off Friday in a watermelon seed-spitting contest in Portland before Hermiston gave away 6,000 pounds of watermelons. Three boys hit by car in Hermiston released from hospitalized By ALEXA LOUGEE Staff Writer All three boys have been released from the hospital after being hit by a car while standing in a fenced-in yard last week. Three 11-year-old boys were standing in the yard of the house at 430 Northeast Fourth Street in Hermiston, planning a sleepover Wednesday evening when a 2014 Chevrolet driven by Jesse J. Focht, 23, left the road and hit them. One of the boys’ dad, Ryan Whitman, lives two blocks down and ran to- ward the location after hearing sirens. When he got there, he said, “My heart sank in my chest.” Two of the boys were lying on the ground un- conscious. Soon he saw his son was conscious and being comforted by a neighbor. The two other boys regained conscious- ness and paramedics treated the boys on scene. Whitman took his son to Good Shepherd Medi- cal Center, while the oth- er two boys were taken by ambulance. As of Tuesday all three e boys had been released from the hospital. One of the victims, the last to be released from the hospital has broken ribs, spleen injuries and lacerations that required several stitches. The two others suffered injuries including a sprained an- kle, bruising and swelling and lacerations. Focht was driving southbound on Northeast Fourth Street around 6:46 p.m. when his car crashed into the front yard fence. Hermiston Police Chief Jason Edmiston said in a press release that “alcohol consumption does not appear to be the main contributing factor in the crash, but we are waiting on chemical anal- ysis of evidence collected before making the fi nal determination.” Edmiston also said they have not ruled out distracted driving, though Focht did not have a cell- phone on him.
