WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2016
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
LOCAL NEWS
Growing pains at fairgrounds OREGON OFFERS SHORT-TERM
FIX FOR DECREASING RURAL
could be eased by EOTEC
HEALTH CARE COVERAGE
By JADE MCDOWELL
Staff writer
By ALEXA LOUGEE
The popularity of the
Umatilla County Fair has
the fairgrounds bursting
at the seams each August,
but some see a light at the
end of the tunnel with the
construction of the Eastern
Oregon Trade and Event
Center.
The project on Airport
Road promises 55 acres of
new buildings and infra-
structure, parking galore
and 39 acres to grow on.
For this year, however, the
fair is still experiencing
growing pains at its loca-
tion in the center of Herm-
iston.
“All the plumbing and
sewer and electrical is so
old, it’s been band-aided to-
gether,” fair manager Don
Slone said.
He said he is looking for-
ward to infrastructure that
doesn’t require constant
intervention and creative
solutions. Another piece
he said everyone is look-
ing forward to is on-site
parking. Currently most
fairgoers and volunteers
have to ¿ght for parking on
Orchard Avenue, Highland
Avenue and side streets for
blocks in every direction.
“It’s a little awkward for
a lot of the homeowners,”
he said.
Jillian
and
Corbet
Weimer know about that.
They live on Orchard across
from the fairgrounds. They
said while they support the
fair and wouldn’t presume
to have it shut down be-
cause of the inconvenience
to neighbors, there is no
denying the impact on the
neighborhood. Traf¿c in-
creases dramatically, late-
night noise and Àoodlights
interrupt their children’s’
sleeping patterns and peo-
ple sometimes decide to
park in front of their drive-
way or take smoke breaks
on their lawn.
“We don’t look forward
to fair week,” Jillian said.
Other neighbors echoed
those sentiments and said
they will be happy to see
the fair and rodeo move to
a much less densely popu-
lated area.
Volunteers are anoth-
er group looking forward
to the move out of town.
Wanda Alanis, who was
keeping an eye on the ex-
hibits in Price Hall on
Thursday, said she is excit-
ed at the idea of an air-con-
ditioned, enclosed space
for exhibits.
“We try to keep things as
clean as possible, but some
years when it’s windy it
gets nasty,” she said.
She and Kris Dorran,
superintendent for the
canned foods exhibits,
said they’re lucky if dust
is all that blows in on the
quilts and food. Some
years rainstorms have
Àooded the hall as well.
And Dorran said the lack
of air conditioning means
the award-winning baked
goods on display are often
covered in mold by the end
of the week.
They already know the
new event center, which
will house all exhibits
during the fair, will take
care of those problems. Af-
ter spending years climb-
ing ladders to hang quilts
from the ceiling, they are
hoping the new arrange-
ment also includes a safer,
more convenient way to
display them.
Dorran said it will also
be nice just to have a new
space that isn’t falling
apart.
“There is a shelf we are
not using for canned food
this year because we are
Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
The Umatilla County Fair Court maneuvers through one of the overnight camping areas on
their golf cart Thursday at the Umatilla County Fairgrounds in Hermiston.
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Patrons ride the Yoyo at
the Umatilla County Fair on
Thursday in Hermiston.
questioning the integrity of
it,” she said.
For kids showing an-
imals through 4-H and
FFA, the new fairgrounds
will include new barns
with more room. Kenny
Nichols, whose daughter
is showing a hog at the fair
this year, said he hopes that
the camping situation will
be better as well.
His family lives out-
side of Hermiston and he
and his wife have jobs to
get to, so it’s a huge help
for them to be able to be
able to camp on the fair-
grounds. That allows his
daughter to wake up and
walk over to her 5 a.m.
feeding and pen-cleaning
duties. However, this year
the family was original-
ly told that even though
they had applied for a spot
and paid the fee before
deadline, there were not
enough spots for everyone
and they would not be able
to camp there. A couple of
days before the fair, he
said, they were contacted
and told that a spot had
been found for them after
all.
Nichols said it would be
nice to have more room,
since RVs and tents are
currently spaced about ¿ve
feet apart from each other.
And while water and sewer
hookups are not essential,
they would come in handy.
“The main thing would
be more camping spots,”
he said.
Those attending the fair
just for fun have a few up-
grades they’re looking for
EOTEC to provide as well.
Tasha Bleyenberg said she
is looking forward to more
handicapped-accessible
restrooms, particularly a
family restroom in the ex-
hibitor hall.
She had a bad experi-
ence in a previous year at
the fair with restrooms.
She said her autistic son,
who was the same size as
her at the time, was having
stomach problems when
they were confronted with
a massive line at the reg-
ular restrooms. They were
forced to use a portable
toilet, and Bleyenberg said
trying to cram both of them
into the space for several
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Patrons look at photos on display in Price Hall on Thursday
at the Umatilla County Fairgrounds in Hermiston.
minutes as she tried to help
him clean up in 100 degree
heat was a miserable expe-
rience.
“It kind of deterred me
from trying to take my son
to the fair,” she said, not-
ing that she knew of oth-
er families who were also
hesitant to take disabled
or special-needs family
members because of the
restroom issue.
Slone said the new fair
and rodeo grounds at EO-
TEC will be up to code
when it comes to accessi-
bility, including ADA re-
3*QPQTGF
V 3 Q3DG3C3RCTV3QH3VJG3
E
3 QOOWPKVKGU3YG3UGTXG
3s33)GPGTCN3'ZEGNNGPEG3
H 3 QT3VJG3'CUV31TGIQPKCP3
H 3 QT3VJG3UGEQPF3
E
3 QPUGEWVKXG3[GCT
3s33$GUV3+PETGCUG3KP3
%
3 KTEWNCVKQP3D[36JG3
&
3 CKN[3#UVQTKCP
3s335YGGRUVCMGU3#YCTF3
D
3 [3VJG3%CRKVCN32TGUU
3 13/GFKC3)TQWR3PGYURCRGTU3YGTG3JQPQTGF3YKVJ33CYCTFU3CV3VJG31TGIQP3
'
30GYURCRGT32WDNKUJGTU3#UUQEKCVKQP35WOOGT3%QPXGPVKQP31WT3HCOKN[QYPGF3
3RWDNKECVKQPU3 CTG3 RTQWF3 VQ3 EQPVKPWG3 C3 VTCFKVKQP3 QH3 LQWTPCNKUVKE3 GZEGNNGPEG
eo
o
It’s not like her.
Mom has always been so patient, but now
when I ask her questions she gets angry.
We can help.
1-855-ORE-ADRC
HelpForAlz.org
OREGON DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES PROGRAM
strooms and a large number
of hanidcapped-accessi-
ble parking spots near the
event center and at the ro-
deo grounds.
He said the extra space
at the new fairgrounds will
mean more room and the
opportunity to ¿nd the best
layout for vendors, food
stalls, carnival rides and
other components.
“If we don’t like the
layout the ¿rst year we can
change the layout for the
second year,” he said. “We
don’t have to put it back
the same way.”
The state of Oregon has
sought to suture rural Ore-
gon’s growing health care
coverage wound.
The Oregon Department
of Consumer and Business
Services announced an
agreement between the state
and several health insur-
ance companies last week.
As part of the agreement,
some companies will con-
tinue providing coverage in
counties they had originally
planned to leave in 2017.
In exchange, the state
will allow the carriers to
increase health care premi-
ums even more than initially
planned.
Umatilla County current-
ly has access to coverage
from seven companies. Four
companies, Lifewise, Pacif-
icSource, Providence and
Regence, had all planned to
withdraw coverage from the
county and several neigh-
boring counties next year.
The agreement with the
state will see two of those
companies, Providence and
Regence, remain in Uma-
tilla County along with
Bridgespan, HealthNet and
Moda.
The county will now
have ¿ve options, instead of
three, for individual health
care coverage in 2017.
“We are concerned about
the shrinking number of op-
tions in certain areas of the
state, and we asked insur-
ance companies to recon-
sider their decisions to with-
draw,” said Patrick Allen,
director of the Oregon De-
partment of Consumer and
Business Services. “This is
a short-term solution to pro-
vide more options in 2017,
but we need to focus on
long-term solutions to stabi-
lize the individual market.”
This agreement is only
for one year and does not
address the underlying is-
sues causing companies to
decrease coverage, such as
insuf¿cient payments by the
federal government to cover
losses from high-risk cus-
tomers.
The U.S. Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid
paid out only 12.6 cents on
the dollar to insurers under
the “risk corridors” pro-
gram, one of three programs
designed to reduce risk and
prevent loss for insurers and
act as incentive for compa-
nies to insure more people.
According to insurers this
resulted in steep losses for
several companies, causing
them to raise premiums and
narrow network coverage.
Bridgespan,
Regence
and Providence’s rates will
rise from three to six percent
more than indicated back in
July.
“While bringing back
these plans throughout the
state is in the best interest of
consumers, we know con-
tinued rate increases are not
sustainable,” Allen said. “In
the coming months, we will
work with the Governor’s
of¿ce, legislators, and stake-
holders to develop proposals
for the 2017 legislative ses-
sion that address the under-
lying costs of health care so
that Oregonians throughout
the state continue to have
coverage options.”
Josh Goller of Simmons
Insurance in Hermiston
in an email called the an-
nouncement a “positive de-
velopment for our region,”
but cautioned, “it will still be
important to evaluate how
the pricing and networks for
these carriers compare for
these plans for next year.”
The state of Oregon is
hosting a town hall today in
Hermiston from 6 to 8 p.m.
at Good Shepherd Hospital
in room CC2. Called Health
Insurance 101, these meet-
ings will discuss the basics
of health insurance, as well
as options that exist for all
Oregonians.
There will also be time
for audience questions.
eomediagroup.com
group
3'CUV31TGIQPKCP
*
3 GTOKUVQP3*GTCNF
%
3 JKPQQM31DUGTXGT
'
3 CUV1TGIQPKCPEQO
3*GTOKUVQP*GTCNFEQO
3%JKPQQM1DUGTXGTEQO
%
3 CPPQP3$GCEJ3)C\GVVG
3%CPPQP$GCEJ)C\GVVGEQO
36JG3&CKN[3#UVQTKCP
3$NWG3/QWPVCKP3'CING
1
3 TGIQP3%QCUV361&#;
%
3 QCUV34KXGT3$WUKPGUU3,QWTPCN
&
3 CKN[#UVQTKCPEQO
3/['CING0GYUEQO
31TGIQP%QCUV6QFC[EQO
3ETDK\LQWTPCNEQO
3%CRKVCN32TGUU
39CNNQYC3%QWPV[3%JKGHVCKP
5 3 GCUKFG35KIPCN
1
3 WT3%QCUV3/CIC\KPG
%
3 CRKVCN2TGUUEQO
39CNNQYCEQO
35GCUKFG5KIPCNEQO
3&KUEQXGT1WT%QCUVEQO