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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 2016)
L � � � �PE ��N SEC� E ����D Hermiston Herald ld WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2016 HermistonHerald.com $1.00 FALL SPORTS 2016 INSIDE: CRASE trains civilians to respond to active shooters Page 4 BACK TO SCHOOL WITH A FAMILIAR THEME GROWTH ABOUT TOWN C LO S E D Herald/EO offi ces closed Sept. 5 for Labor Day The Hermiston offi ces of the Hermiston Herald and East Oregonian at 333 E. Main St., Hermis- ton, will be closed Mon- day, Sept. 5, in obser- vance of the Labor Day holiday. We also have early deadlines this week for advertising to appear in the Wednesday, Sept. 7, edition. The deadline to reserve space for display ads is 3 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1. Have a happy and safe holiday weekend. FILE PHOTO STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Fifth-grade teacher Daylee Lathim helps a student navigate a tablet while teaching in one of the modular classroom units on the fi rst day of school Monday at Rocky Heights Elementary School in Hermiston. Rocky Heights facilities stretch to keep up with enrollment By ANTONIO SIERRA Staff Writer J erad Farley, the second year prin- cipal of Rocky Heights Elementa- ry School, and teachers and staff at all Hermiston School District locations, welcomed students back to classrooms this week in one of the fastest growing districts in Orgon. Rocky Heights is trying to keep up with an enrollment that seems to grow exponen- tially. At 5,500 students at the start of the 2015-2016, a Portland State University study released in February states that Herm- iston was the second fastest growing district in Oregon, growing at twice the rate the uni- versity originally anticipated. Farley said 513 were enrolled on the fi rst day, but expects the number to settle in around 520. That’s right around where Rocky Heights ended at the close of the last school year, but Farley said adding one more class would present a challenge without a ready solution. As it is, teachers are trying to work around Rocky Heights’ present facilities with their current enrollment. See SCHOOL, A16 STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Rocky Heights Elementary School principal Jarad Farley, left, helps students fi nd their buses at the end of the fi rst day of school Monday in Hermiston. Five candidates vying for limited city council seats By JADE McDOWELL Staff Writer Hermiston has a legiti- mate City Council race on its hands after fi ve people fi led for four at-large posi- tions. For the council’s zoned positions candidates run for a specifi c seat, but for the four at-large positions — the ones up for election in November — candidates merely turn in the paper- work to get on the ballot and the top four vote-get- ters each get a seat. New candidate Mark Gomolski has fi led for a seat in addition to incum- bents Rod Hardin, Doug Primmer, Manuel Gutier- rez and John Kirwan. Primmer is fi nishing his fi rst four-year term as a city councilor. He is a Hermis- ton native and works for the Department of Corrections. Kirwan is also on his fi rst term of offi ce. He is a systems engineer for Union Pacifi c Railroad. Gutierrez returned to the City Council in 2012 after a past term and also serves on the city’s Hispan- ic Advisory Committee. He works for Domestic Vi- olence Services. Hardin has served as a city councilor since 1992 and is the council’s lon- gest-serving member. He has lived in Hermiston since 1980 and is the prin- cipal of Hermiston Chris- tian School. Gomolski moved to Hermiston from Chica- go in 2015 and has been a frequent audience member at Hermiston City Council meetings. All fi ve candidates will be on the Nov. 8 ballot and the four winners will start their four-year term in January. In May, Mayor David Drotzmann and Municipal Judge Thomas Creasing both ran for re-election unopposed, which secured their seats without having to appear again on the No- vember ballot. In November Hermiston residents will also be voting on a city-sponsored initia- tive to determine whether the city will allow marijua- na dispensaries to operate within in its city limits. Marie Baldo retired earlier this year as director of the Hermiston Public Library. The city has hired her successor, Mark Rose, formerly of Nampa, Idaho. City adds new library director Hermiston Public Li- brary has a new director. The library welcomed Mark Rose to its staff last week after former direc- tor Marie Baldo retired. Rose moved to Herm- iston from Nampa, Idaho, and has been working in libraries since 1991. Be- fore that he served in the U.S. Army and was sta- tioned in Germany as a platoon leader. Baldo also came to the library with a military background, but Rose said head librarians with military experience are relatively rare. For Rose, he said he realized that Army life was not some- thing he wanted to make a career out of, and when he thought back on his college experience he remembered time spent studying in the library. So he returned to Brigham Young University for a master’s degree in library science. “I always enjoyed being in the library, sur- rounded by books,” he said. Rose said he and his wife have family in Idaho and Portland, so Hermis- ton seemed ideally situat- ed to visit both. “We’re a great bath- room stop for family now,” he said. The couple have six children, two of which still live at home. Rose said their family looks forward to getting to know the community and he looks forward to help- ing the library continue to grow. “Every community de- serves a good library,” he said. — Jade McDowell