WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2016
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
LOCAL NEWS
EOTEC CONSTRUCTION CONTINUES AS CENTER PREPARES TO HOST FARM FAIR
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
Work on the Eastern Or-
egon Trade and Event Cen-
ter has been moving along
quickly in the last month.
Carl Hendon, CFO for
Hendon Construction, said
the company has been
working to accelerate the
schedule for the rodeo are-
na.
“As things stand right
now, I’d say we’re a week
to 10 days ahead of sched-
ule,” he told the EOTEC
board during their Friday
meeting.
He said with construc-
tion it’s always possible
that roadblocks will come
up in the future, but for now
the goal is to finish the are-
na in June.
The board also heard an
update from Knerr Con-
struction. John Eckhardt
told them that American
Fencing was the low bidder
for on-site fencing and the
landscaping bids will be in
this week. Creation of the
metal barn buildings is in
the works, as are the pens
and panels. The company
will hire subcontractors for
installation of the barns in
December.
Business
manager
Heather Cannell said she
had been working with G2
Construction and Frew De-
velopment Group to fix a
checklist of problems with
the event center that were
discussed at a board work-
shop in October.
Some issues, like the
water heater not making
the water hot enough, have
already been fixed. Others,
like an imperfection in the
glass front doors that makes
them look streaky, are
scheduled to be repaired.
And some, like a loud jet
engine sound in the confer-
ence room when the HVAC
system kicks on, still have
people working to locate
the problem.
Cannell said the event
center has been busy, with
events every day last week
Hermiston leads county in population growth
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
Hermiston is still grow-
ing.
According to prelimi-
nary estimates released by
Portland State University’s
Population Research Cen-
ter, Hermiston’s population
grew by 210 people be-
tween July 2015 and July
2016. The university esti-
mates Hermiston’s popula-
tion at 17,730 this year.
The growth should come
as no surprise to anyone in
the Hermiston School Dis-
trict, which saw an extra
141 students in September
enrollment counts.
Overall Umatilla Coun-
ty grew by 725 residents
for just under a 1 percent
increase in growth over 12
months.
Umatilla also had a sig-
nificant jump in growth, go-
ing from 7,060 residents to
7,220. Pendleton grew by
an estimated 35 residents,
from 16,845 to 16,880.
Echo and Milton-Free-
water’s populations held
steady, while Stanfield’s
dipped by five residents.
Neighboring Morrow
County grew by a full one
percent, jumping from
11,630 residents in July
2015 to 11,745 this July.
Half of the increase was
inside the city limits of
Boardman, which is now
at 3,555 people, and most
of the rest was in the un-
incorporated parts of the
county.
Irrigon’s
population
dipped by 30 residents,
down to 1,900.
Oregon as a whole grew
1.6 percent and is now up
to 4,076,350 people living
in the state.
FILE PHOTO
The Hermiston water tower got a fresh coat of paint and new
logo in October, replacing the former “You Can GROW Here”
slogan.
Fuzzball Animal Rescue looking for foster homes
Operation uses
volunteers’ homes
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
The animals of Fuzz-
ball Animal Rescue aren’t
always easy to find homes
for.
The small Hermiston
rescue operation, which
places injured and sick
stray animals into fos-
ter homes while they are
nursed back to health, has
rescued everything from a
playful kitten with a broken
leg to a geriatric Shi Tzu
with a skin condition.
The Shi Tzu’s name is
Sweetie Pie and she is still
looking for a forever home.
Her foster mom, Joellyn
Herriman, said Sweetie Pie
was found near Hat Rock in
August.
“She’s pretty much blind
and pretty much deaf, but
she’s a nice girl,” Herriman
said.
She hopes perhaps a re-
tired couple or someone
G O O D
else who doesn’t mind
keeping the little dog com-
pany during the day and
giving her medicated baths
will come forward to give
her a home.
Fuzzball Animal Res-
cue foots the bill for vet-
erinarian care and food for
foster animals like Sweetie
Pie, but the small nonprof-
it relies entirely on foster
homes instead of running a
shelter. The group is in des-
perate need of more fosters
who don’t mind temporari-
ly hosting a kitten with a re-
spiratory infection or a dog
with an injured paw.
“That is huge,” Herri-
man said. “We can’t take in
animals if they don’t have
somewhere to go.”
She said finances are
also a “challenge” and the
group could always use do-
nations or help fundraising.
Most of the money goes
toward veterinarian fees
for not only healing the
animals, but also getting
them vaccinated, spayed/
neutered and microchipped
before they are adopted out.
S H E P H E R D
Herriman said she and her
husband have two dogs of
their own, as well as a couple
of cats that they meant to just
foster but ended up keeping.
They also continue to take
in cats and dogs rescued by
Fuzzball off and on through-
out the year.
“I like my animals to
have little breaks, and us to
have little breaks,” she said.
Some of the foster ani-
mals need some extra love
and care, but Herriman said
it is always a good feeling
to save the life of an animal
that may have otherwise
been euthanized for some-
thing as fixable as a broken
bone.
Once an animal is in
good enough health, the
group takes them to adop-
tion events like the nation-
wide one recently hosted
by PetSmart. They also
adopt animals out directly
or do transfers with other
rescue groups. Pictures of
the animals currently avail-
able can be found on the
Fuzzball Animal Rescue
Facebook page or at www.
W O M E N ’ S
C E N T E R
fuzzballrescue.com/adopt-
able-pets.
To inquire about adopt-
ing a pet, donating, becom-
ing a foster or reporting an
injured stray, email fuzz-
ballrescue@gmail.com or
send a message through
the group’s Facebook page,
which is monitored daily.
Donations can also be giv-
en directly to Oregon Trail
Veterinary Clinic, which
provides the care for Fuzz-
ball animals.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at 541-564-4536.
and the Hermiston Farm
Fair coming up at the be-
ginning of December.
After speaking with the
nonprofits that have tradi-
tionally had a permanent
food building at the Uma-
tilla County Fairgrounds,
board member Dan Dorran
asked for and received per-
mission to begin searching
for mobile food trucks to
use instead.
The trucks, instead
of buildings, will al-
low for more flexibili-
ty in arranging the fair
and could be rented out
during the year for use at
other events.
Dorran said Hermiston
Christian School has said
it does not want to continue
selling hot food, meaning
the board only has to find
two trucks. He said he be-
lieved he could procure two
used food trucks for less
than $75,000.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at 541-564-4536.
Simmons Insurance holds
grand opening at former
RoeMarks building
Simmons
Insurance
Group will unveil the new-
ly-renovated
RoeMarks
building at an open house
on Nov. 29.
The insurance company
purchased the former west-
ern wear store in downtown
Hermiston, which had sat
empty for nearly four years,
in May. They will maintain
offices on the eastern side
of the building and have
leased portions of the west
side (on the corner of Main
Street and Northeast Sec-
ond Street) to Scrubs and
Bloomz Coffee Bar.
The 6,000 square foot
space on the eastern side
will hold administrative of-
fice and commercial insur-
ance for Simmons Insurance
while the company’s home,
auto and health offices will
remain at 702 E. Main St.
Renovations to the new
space included hundreds
of thousands of dollars’
worth of new HVAC, light-
ing, windows, flooring and
walls. A facade grant from
the Hermiston Urban Re-
newal Agency provided the
money for windows to be
restored to the upper floors.
To see the new office,
visit the grand opening and
ribbon cutting at noon Tues-
day, Nov. 29.
Alcohol suspected in death
of student over the weekend
A Hermiston High
staff and students
during this difficult
School student died
time on Monday
Sunday
afternoon
at Hermiston High
from a possible alco-
hol overdose.
School and Ar-
Hermiston School
mand Larive Middle
District reported Ce-
School.
sar Roque, 15, was Roque
Hermiston Police
Chief Jason Edmis-
a sophomore soccer
player for the school. A writ- ton said there is an ongoing
ten statement from the dis- investigation into who pro-
trict called the death “tragic” vided the alcohol to Roque,
and stated “our thoughts and who was a minor.
prayers go out to all affected
He said there was not
by this tragedy.”
yet an official cause of
The district also stated death, but alcohol appeared
it will provide support for to be a prime factor.
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