A16 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
TRAINING:
continued from Page A1
20 German troops were
present, from Germany’s
decontamination platoon.
They had several pieces
of equipment they used to
demonstrate safety precau-
tions that troops should take
after being around chemical
agents.
Maj. Ryan Donald of the
20th CBRNE command in
Aberdeen, Maryland, said
training and cooperating
with other nations’ armies
has become crucial.
“If you’ve seen anything
since Kosovo in the 1990s
— we just don’t fight wars
alone anymore. If we need
to decontaminate, we’re
going to call the Germans.
That’s how good they are.”
WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 2017
FROM PAGE A1
As the troops worked,
about 20 scientists followed
and observed them.
“We bring scientists
from national laboratories
out to training events. They
see what types of stuff we
work on, and modify it
for real world usage,” said
Donald.
The program, called
“Scientists in the Foxhole,”
allows scientists that devel-
op products or medicines
used on the battlefield to
refine their own skills and
knowledge.
“Most people in labs
have never been in the mil-
itary and have never seen
what our mission is,” said
Lt. Col. Mary Miller, who
has run the Scientists in the
Foxhole program for the
last few years. “How do you
develop technology for a
mission you’ve never seen?
We’ll get weird technology
where you can understand
why they thought it would
work, but in application, it
doesn’t make sense.”
With discussions about
nuclear and chemical war-
fare frequently in national
news, Donald said these
types of preparation will
likely increase.
“The threat of CBRN
(chemical, biological, ra-
diological and nuclear
weapons) and EOD (explo-
sive ordnance disposal) is
increasing,” he said. “There
is a lot more attention to it.
We probably will see more
trainings.”
A longer version of this
story is scheduled to ap-
pear in the East Oregonian
later this week.
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
A group of scientists tour Army chemical contamination simulation exercises at the Umatilla
Army Depot, occasionally entering ammunition igloos such as this one, where chemical
weapons were once stored. The program is called “Scientists in the Foxhole.”
FIESTA:
continued from Page A1
Hermiston Hispanic Ad-
visory Committee mem-
ber Mark Gomolski sent
an invitation a few months
ago asking Peña to come.
Peña, gracious and diplo-
matic, said accepting pro-
vided him the opportunity
to build more bridges with
the local community.
The consul general
handles vital services for
around 400,000 Mexicans,
from providing official
documents, including pass-
ports, birth certificates and
identification, to offering
legal advice. The consul-
ate’s headquarters are in
Portland, but the service
area spans most of Oregon
and three counties in south-
west Washington (Oregon’s
most eastern counties fall
under the Consulate of
Mexico in Boise).
“As you can imagine,
there’s a lot of work,” Peña
said.
He talked up the office’s
“mobile consulate,” which
he said takes services right
to migrant labor camps and
rural parts of the state. And
he said he is working to-
ward increasing tourism be-
tween Oregon and Mexico.
Peña took the main stage
at Butte Park and delivered
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
STAFF PHOTO BY TAMMY MALGESINI
Cousins Luciano Silva, 4, Nadine Ortego, 5, and Alexis Silva,
6, pose for a photo before riding in the Kid Car Combo at the
carnival during the Hermiston Cinco de Mayo celebration
Sunday at Butte Park.
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Francisco Maass Pe ñ a, Mexico’s consul general for Oregon,
speaks to a crowd gathered Saturday for the Hermiston Cinco
de Mayo celebration at Butte Park.
a short dedication in Span-
ish. After the events, he
addressed the effects of the
anti-immigrant climate in
the U.S. on the consulate’s
work. He said there may
be a culture of preparation
emerging.
“I think this is an excel-
lent moment for people to
have their Mexican papers
in order,” he said, and to
seek the consulate for help
with “immigration diagnos-
tics.”
“I’m sure there are a lot
of people with real possi-
bilities for immigration, but
they don’t know it,” Peña
said, and the consulate can
help them explore those op-
tions.
Garcia of the advisory
committee said the consul-
ate’s services are invaluable
to the area’s Hispanic pop-
ulation. The office really
serves as a “consultant” to
the Mexican community,
he said, even working with
MORE WINNERS. MORE OFTEN.
M AY 2017
families in distress when
loved ones face deporta-
tion.
The rest of the weekend
celebration was more in-
formal, with carnival rides,
bands, dancers and food
vendors ongoing in the
park.
Saturday night included
fireworks, which caused
some confusion when they
went off before 9 p.m. de-
spite a notice on the city’s
website that they would
begin at 9:30 p.m. Beas
Fitzgerald said that the
fireworks were started as
soon as the sun was setting
to out of respect for neigh-
bors with homes around the
butte who might have been
affected by the noise.
Cinco de Mayo prin-
cesses Natali Armenta,
Daisy Cardenas and Jales-
lie Torres helped represent
Hermiston’s Latino youth
at the celebration after win-
ning a Facebook contest for
the title. The three Herm-
iston High School students
posted videos about them-
selves online and gathered
the most likes out of all the
contestants.
Armenta is a junior and
said being a member of the
high school’s Key Club has
helped her “grow tremen-
Cinco de Mayo queen Natali
Armenta gives the traditional
salute during the singing of
the Mexican national anthem
during the Hermiston Cinco
de Mayo event of Butte Park.
The United States national
anthem was played earlier.
dously” as a person. She
hopes to be able to cre-
ate her own line of beauty
products and start a busi-
ness to market them some-
day, and also plans to create
her own YouTube channel
this summer.
Cardenas is a senior in-
volved in FCCLA (short for
Family, Career and Com-
munity Leaders of Amer-
ica). She said she plans to
become a dentist or an en-
trepreneur.
Torres is 17 and plans
to pursue a career in either
modeling or nursing after
she finishes school.
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