INSIDE SPORTS
BULLDOGS BLANK BENGALS, BOOST RECORD TO 1-1
PAGE A9
Hermiston
Herald
ld
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2017
HermistonHerald.com
Dayshawn Neal of
Hermiston exults after
recovering a fumble during
Friday’s non-conference
game against Lewiston at
Kennison Field.
$1.00
ALMOST READY TO LET FLY
INSIDE
3 MINUTES WITH
MEET DEPUTY DISTRICT
ATTORNEY JACLYN JENKINS
PAGE A3
BIKING
ADVENTURE
HERMISTON MEN RECALL
A CYCLING ADVENTURE
50 YEARS AGO
PAGE A4
INSIDE HER
SHOES
EXCUSE ME, CAN’T YOU SEE I’M
HOLDING A VIAL OF URINE?
PAGE A4
NEW DISTRICT
HIRE
HERMISTON SCHOOL DISTRICT
HIRES A NEW GRADUATION
COORDINATOR
PAGE A11
STAFF PHOTO BY TAMMY MALGESINI
(Left) Several discs sit on the tee pad of the fi rst hole at Hermiston Desert Disc Golf. The course will be dedicated Sept. 20. (Right)
The Oxbow Trail is the home of Hermiston Desert Disc Golf. (Background) The fi rst tee pad for the Hermiston Desert Disc Golf course
is near the gazebo at the Oxbow Trail.
BY THE WAY
La Palma reopening
coming ‘soon’
Disc golfers to rattle chains
at Hermiston course
By TAMMY MALGESINI
COMMUNITY EDITOR
Area disc golf enthusiasts will soon have
another course where they can get out and rat-
tle some chains.
A number of players have had a hand in
developing the Hermiston Desert Disc Golf
course, said Larry Fetter, director of Herm-
iston Parks & Recreation. In addition to the
city of Hermiston, the project is the result of
cooperative efforts between the Hermiston
Irrigation District, the Good Shepherd Com-
munity Health Foundation and the board and
administration of Good Shepherd Health Care
System.
A dedication ceremony for Hermiston Des-
ert Disc Golf is set for Wednesday, Sept. 20, at
5:30 p.m. at the Oxbow Trail, located at 1100
N.W. Elm Ave. The fi rst phase of the course,
which includes nine holes, will be available to
the public free of charge.
“The nice part of it is the Oxbow Trail me-
anders through the area,” Fetter said.
Scott Zielke, who works in the maintenance
department at Good Shepherd, said the course
correlates with the walking trail, but doesn’t
require players to toss discs over the path.
The hospital foundation, Fetter said, pro-
vided a $15,000 grant for the fi rst phase of the
project. In addition to the health benefi ts, the
foundation found the project appealing be-
cause it’s available for participants at no cost.
“They tend to favor things that are wellness
related,” Fetter said. “They like the idea that it
gets people out walking and exercising.”
The project, Fetter said, started out as a
grassroots effort with a small group of disc
golfers approaching the city to brainstorm
about possible locations for a course. Zielke
and hospital co-workers Jake Flemmer and
Kathy Williams were aware of some hospi-
tal-owned acreage. Although the plot of land
wasn’t large enough for a course, coupled
with irrigation district property it makes for
a more than viable location for an eventual
sprawling 18-hole course.
A chance encounter between Zielke, a nov-
ice disc golfer, and Matt Richmond and Gin-
ger Wilkinson, both offi cers with the Umatilla
Disc Golf Club, provided further enthusiasm
for the possibility of a course in Hermiston.
While returning a boomerang Richmond
accidentally tossed on Zielke’s daughter’s
house, Zielke noticed a disc golf sticker on
Richmond’s truck. Wilkinson, Richmond
and Zielke started talking about how great it
would be to have a course in Hermiston. Ziel-
ke told the couple about an upcoming commu-
nity planning meeting.
“I told him, ‘I’m on board, where do I need
to be and what meeting do I need to attend?’”
See DISC GOLF, Page A8
We’re as anxious as
everyone else to see our
downtown neighbors La
Palma re-open, but when
we checked in with George
Avila recently he told us that
while the restaurant will be
ready to start serving food
again “soon,” they hit a cou-
ple of snags in the re-model
process and were delayed
from their plan to open the
end of August.
• • •
Joseph Franell, CEO of
Eastern Oregon Telecom,
shared that the Umatilla
County Fair was well-con-
nected. As guests, vendors,
contestants and volunteers
spent the second week of
August at the Eastern Or-
egon Trade and Event
Center, the new venue for
the fair and Farm-City Pro
Rodeo, there was a lot going
on in cyberspace. With more
than 25 miles of fi ber op-
tics and dozens of commer-
cial wireless access points
on site, Franell said people
could connect online like
never before. In fact, while
at the fair and rodeo, he said
people initiated 7.75 million
web sessions, downloading
See REOPENING, Page
A8
Board delays decision on graduation venue
Members say they
want to vet issue
more thoroughly with
community
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
Hermiston High seniors will
have to wait at least another
month to fi nd out where their
2018 graduation will be, after
a surprise motion at Monday
night’s school board meeting led
the board to postpone the deci-
sion until October.
The board voted 5-2 to revisit
discussion of a new graduation
venue at their October meeting,
using the next few weeks to gath-
er more input and look at oth-
er options. Mark Gomolski and
Karen Sherman voted against
postponing the decision.
The board released an agen-
da last week, stating that Interim
Superintendent Tricia Mooney
would recommend the board ap-
prove a motion to hold Hermiston
High School’s June 2018 gradua-
tion at the Toyota Center in Ken-
newick, then revisit local venues
for graduation in 2019. Board
members had discussed the pos-
sibility at two previous meetings
and issued a community survey.
Several local options had also
been discussed, including using
the high school’s Kennison Field
or the new EOTEC rodeo arena.
But as the motion was intro-
duced at Monday night’s meet-
ing, board member Jason Middle-
ton introduced another.
“I’d like to allow the district
more time to look at different op-
tions in regard to keeping it local
and revisit this in October,” he
said.
The motion was seconded by
Dave Smith. Middleton said he
was interested in seeing if they
could get some in-kind donations
from the community to help make
the local options more cost effec-
tive.
Other board members ap-
peared to be against postponing
the decision.
Ginny Holthus said the big-
gest deterrent for people against
the Toyota Center was emotion-
al, but that line of thinking could
obscure a decision that might be
best for students.
“I think we need to embrace
the fact that this is a big deal,
and take the recommendation of
the people who have done the re-
search,” she said.
Mark Gomolski asked board
members to consider the fi nancial
benefi ts of holding the event at
the Toyota Center. At a previous
meeting, Hermiston High School
principal Tom Spoo reported that
the Toyota Center would be the
least expensive option. Renting
the venue would cost between
$3,500 and $4,000 per year,
not including costs to transport
students and staff. The district
See VENUE, Page A8