A4 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016 Our Community Hermiston woman wins homemaker award HERMISTON HERALD The Umatilla County Fair recently announced that Teresa Veach of Hermiston was named the 2016 Homemaker of the Year. It’s not every year that the fair announces a win- ner of the award due to the very speciic require- ments that must be met for the title. It includes a minimum of ive entries per department in Textiles & Needlecraft, Clothing, Baked Foods and Food Preservation. In addition, the winner must receive at least three blue ribbons in each department. Veach, who grew up in southern Oregon, has lived in Hermiston for 28 years. She teaches middle school and high school business and math. She learned to bake at an early age. In addition, her mother encouraged Veach to take a semester of sewing as a high school freshman. Since then, Veach has continued to make clothing for her par- ents, nieces and herself. Her grandmother taught her how to crochet, beginning with a pair of Grannie Square slippers. In addition, she has been canning for the last dozen years or so. However, it was just a few years ago that Veach realized “Open Class” meant she could enter items in the fair, win rib- bons and earn premiums. When she picked up the exhibitors guide, the words “Homemaker of the Year” caught her eye. She decided it would be a fun challenge. This was the irst year Veach qual- iied with enough entries to be in the running for the title. For more information, contact 541-567-6121, fair@umatillacounty.net or visit www.umatilla- county.net/fair. IN BRIEF Good Shepherd foundation awards grants Concert blends Irish and Scottish roots In September, the Good Shepherd Community Health Foundation award- ed 33,154 in health-related grants to nonproit organi- zations to beneit their work in local communities. The recipients were: Irrigon Jr/Sr. High School, $2,659; Made to Thrive, $5,200; CAPECO, $1,500; America Youth Soccer, $750; Umatilla Po- lice Department, $2,100; Hermiston Fire & Emergen- cy, $15,000; and the Umatil- la County Sheriff’s Ofice, $5,945. As a community foun- dation, it strives to help im- prove the quality of life and health of the local commu- nity. Grants for worthwhile projects are reviewed and awarded twice a year, in March and September. The deadline for spring grants is Jan. 31, and fall grants is July 31. For more informa- tion, contact Bob Green at 541-667-3419, rgreen@ gshealth.org. A grant appli- cation is available at www. gshealth.org/foundation. Inland Northwest Orchestra opens season The Inland Northwest Musicians opens its season with an orchestra perfor- mance featuring Geoffrey McKay, Jason Zhuang and Lindsay Armstrong, win- ners of the Young Artist Competition. The free concert is Sun- day at 4 p.m. in the audi- torium at Hermiston High School, 600 S. First St. A reception will follow. Under the direction of R. Lee Friese, selections will include “The Barber of Seville” by G. Rossi- ni, “Midsommarvaka” by Hugo Alfven (Also known as The Swedish Rhapsody) and “Concerto in Eb” by Jo- seph Hayden, arranged by Michel Rondeau. For more information, contact 541-289-4696, inwm@machmedia.net or visit www.inlandnorthwest- musicians.com. Irish and Scottish folk music is featured during an upcoming show at Pendle- ton Center for the Arts. With a simple approach to their presentation, and in keeping with tradition, Men of Worth offers a unique combination of humor, ex- citing tunes and soulful, heartfelt ballads. The concert is Friday, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. at 214 N. Main St., Pendleton. Tickets are $12. In 1986, Scotsman Don- nie Macdonald and Irish- man James Keigher began performing together. Fea- turing both traditional and contemporary styles, the duo blends their voices with harmony and support their collection of songs with a varied selection of instru- ments — including mando- lin, tenor banjo, concertina, guitar, mando-cello and bodhran. For more information or to reserve a seat, call 541- 278-9201. Tickets also will be sold at the door. VA clinics ofer free lu shots Veterans can receive free lu shots at clinics sponsored by the Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial VA Medical Center. The local clinics are in Board- man and at the VA Medi- cal Center, located at 77 Wainwright Drive, Walla Walla : •Tuesday/Wednesdays in October from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Building 143 lobby, Walla Walla (walk-in). •Friday, Oct. 14 from 8:30-11:30 a.m. and 1-3 p.m. at the Port of Morrow, 2 Marine Drive, Boardman (walk-in). •Wednesday, Oct. 26 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Building 74 Circle, Walla Walla (drive-thru). In addition, for veterans unable to attend these clin- ics, the VA has partnered with Walgreens for lu shots — some restrictions may apply. For more information, contact your VA provider team or visit www.walla- walla.va.gov. Flowers • Candles Jewelry • Plants e! Balloons & More! Put a smile on the heart with the power of flowers. wers. HWY 395, 395 HERMI HERMISTON IST S ON 541-567-4305 Mon-Sat 8am-6pm • Sun 12pm-5am www.cottagefl owersonline.com E-mail your community news items to: community@hermistonherald.com AUTHOR DETAILS REAL-LIFE ADVENTURES BEHIND HIS NOVELS Author details real-life adventures behind his novels By JADE McDOWELL Staff Writer When author Roland Smith was in fourth grade, he decided he was going to catch Bigfoot. It felt like there were sto- ries in the newspaper about Sasquatch sightings every day, he said, so it seemed perfectly logical to his little boy mind that if he just dug a hole in the back yard of his parents’ Portland home and covered it with newspapers, Bigfoot would fall in. Instead one morning as he ate his cereal he watched his mother abruptly disappear from view. “I said, ‘It works!’” he told an audience at Armand Larive Middle School on Wednesday, Oct. 5. “When she got out of the hospital — it was just a broken femur, but apparently that hurts — I was grounded forever.” It’s only itting that one of the Oregon author’s young adult novels is titled Sas- quatch. Most of Smith’s books relay fantastical adventures, but each of them have some roots in his life. Smith started working at the Oregon Zoo at age 18 and later became a wildlife biologist, so scenes in his books featuring ele- phants, wild cats or wolves are often taken from his de- tailed, irst-hand knowledge of their behavior. Smith’s irst book, for ex- ample, published in 1990, is a noniction story called Sea Otter Rescue. It is based on STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Oregon author Roland Smith answers questions from the audience while speaking at Armand Larive Middle School on Wednesday in Hermiston. his months-long experiences rescuing hundreds of sea ot- ters from the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Smith said sea otters, unlike many other marine creatures, cannot get away from oil spills because they can’t leave the shoreline. To survive, an adult sea otter must eat 25 pounds of shell- ish per day, but can only dive up to 50 feet to reach them. Oil on their fur breaks its water-proof protection and results in hypothermia, which is why a team of scientists led by Smith had to quickly capture as many sea otters as they could, wash them, and keep them protected from the oil until they could safely be released back into the wild. Smith said his main work as a biologist, however, was saving the red wolf from ex- tinction. At one point only 17 red wolves, or Florida wolves, existed in the world. Smith and other scientists captured all 17 and treated them for mange and heart- worm, eventually getting the population up over 200 and becoming the irst program to successfully reintroduce endangered carnivores into the wild after taking them all into captivity. Later he worked with el- ephants, his favorite animal. “I love elephants,” he said. “I’ve written a lot of books about elephants.” One of those books, “Thunder Cave,” details the adventures of a 14-year-old boy who travels to Kenya and ends up tangling with poachers. Smith said if the world doesn’t do more to stop poaching, elephants will go extinct in the wild within the audience’s lifetime. “I don’t know about you, but I think the ivory looks a lot better on the elephant’s face than on someone’s shelf,” he said. Smith’s Paciic North- west home often enters his writing, which have included such famous incidents as the Mount Saint Helens erup- tion, the D.B. Cooper hijack- ing and the journey of Lewis and Clark. Smith arrived in Herm- iston last Tuesday and con- tinued his week-long pre- sentations at schools, made possible thanks to grants from the Hermiston Educa- tion Foundation, Altrusa In- ternational and each school’s PTO. He told students and parents gathered at Armand Larive for parent night that he writes every day, so “when my new book comes out, you’ll know some of it was written right here in Hermiston.” Kristi Smalley, a media specialist for Hermiston School District, said students have been reading Smith’s books in preparation for his visit, and have been visiting the library to get more. “It’s not often they get to see the person behind the books,” she said. ——— Contact Jade McDowell at 541-564-4536. Arts center exhibit features Hermiston artist Portland2016 Biennial included Arlen Clark’s work Hermiston Herald Hermiston artist Arlen Clark was surprised last year when he received a call from Michelle Grabner, asking if she could come by and see his work. A nationally known art- ist, Grabner was co-curator for the Whitney Biennial in 2014, one of the most prestigious exhibits in the United States. She was traveling the state trying to identify the most interest- ing artists in Oregon for the Portland2016 Biennial, and Clark’s work was on her ra- dar. After a 1,800-mile trek to visit 400 artists, Grab- ner invited Clark to be one of 105 artists featured in Salon: Portland2016, The Studio Visits, which was featured at Disjecta Con- temporary Art Center. A springboard from that success, Clark created a new body of work which is on display in the East Ore- gonian Gallery at Pendleton Center for the Arts. The ex- hibit runs through Saturday, Oct. 29. The arts center is open Tuesday through Fri- days from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m. at 214 N. Main St., Pendleton. There is no ad- mission charge. Painting for the past 35 years, when Clark irst be- came interested, he took Fourth-graders learn about local agriculture Staff reports A total of 245 fourth-graders from ive Morrow County elemen- tary schools learned about local agriculture Wednes- day, Oct. 5, during an event presented by the nonproit Oregon Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation, and hosted by the SAGE Center in Boardman. Dozens of community members volunteered to lead students around each of 13 stations, featuring everything from fruits and vegetables to equipment safety. Students were able to grind wheat using a bi- cycle wheat grinder, and pressed apples into cider. Presenters included Oregon State University Extension Service, Echo FFA members and other local farmers. The event was sponsored by Madison Ranches, Umatilla Elec- tric Cooperative, Bank of Eastern Oregon, Boardman Foods, Jill and Tim Park- er, Sunrise Café and Milky Way. More information about Oregon Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation is available at oregonaitc.org. Want Year Around Outdoor Space? W e’ve Got A Solution! FREE Estimates! 541-720-0772 Visit our showroom: 102 E Columbia Dr. Kennewick, WA 99336 Patio Rooms Sunrooms · Pergolas Patio Covers · Drop Shades · Solar Screens & More! www.mybackyardbydesign.com License #188965 an art class with northwest painter Sandra Campbell. “She didn’t teach us how to paint, she just told us we could paint anything we wanted, any way we want- ed,” he said. Clark spent the next sev- eral years trying to igure out what and how he want- ed to paint. Like many suc- cessful artists, Clark’s ex- ploration included making copies of paintings by the old masters. Shortly after, he was in Hawaii and was struck by the vibrant colors and lush foliage. Clark also was in- terested in painting por- traits of his wife, Linda, from old photographs. An interest in art history and the works of the icons of modern art has given Clark’s work a rich collec- tion of associations. View- ers might recognize refer- ences to everything from Picasso and Gauguin to Australian aboriginal work. “One of the things I love about Arlen’s work is that while he’s depicting people and places that are very per- sonal to him, the paintings provide a dynamic backdrop that sparks the observer’s imagination,” said Roberta Lavadour, executive direc- tor at the arts center. For more information, call 541-278-9201 or visit www.pendletonarts.org. POWERFUL TOOLS FOR THE CAREGIVER Build a tool kit for taking better care of yourself while caring for a loved one. FREE, must pre-register, please call 541-667-3509. 3:00pm - 4:30pm Thursdays starting Oct. 13 through Nov. 17 PREVENT T2 INFO SESSION O ne out of every three American adults has prediabetes - and 90% don't know it! Learn how the Prevent T2 program can help prevent or delay the progression to type 2 diabetes. (Prevent T2 classes will be scheduled to meet participants needs.) FREE. Attend one of the dates/times listed below 4:00pm - 5:00pm OR 6:00pm - 7:00pm Wednesdays, Oct. 19 Nov. 16 or Jan. 11 Must pre-register, call 541-667-3509 HEALTHY FRIDAYS FREE health screenings & health coaching: Blood pressure checks, weigh-ins, body mass index, cholesterol and glucose. First & Third Friday of each month 9:30 - 11:30am GSMC Conference Center 7 (by Education Dept) BABYSITTING BASICS For babysitters ages 10-15. Learn childcare techniques, children's developmental stages and what to expect, basic first aid and infant and child CPR. $35, includes lunch & all class materials. 9:00am - 3:00pm Oct. 8 or Nov. 5 $35 - Must pre-register and pre-pay, call 541-667-3509 Information or to register call (541) 667-3509 or email healthinfo@gshealth.org www.gshealth.org