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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