WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2017
LOCAL NEWS
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
EOTEC discusses management
Health survey comes
to Umatilla County
By JADE McDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
The Eastern Oregon
Trade and Event Center in
Hermiston was not built
for the birds.
Yet interim manager
Nate Rivera told the EO-
TEC board Friday that
birds are pulling apart the
insulation on the ceilings
of the barns and nesting
in it. A bid for netting to
protect the insulation came
in at $196,000 and John
Eckhardt of Knerr Con-
struction said that even
lower cost options would
be “well into the $160,000
range.”
Board vice chair Dan
Dorran questioned wheth-
er the insulation’s benefits
are worth the maintenance
expense to save it.
“We don’t have $10, let
alone $200,000,” he said.
Eckhardt said the insu-
lation serves to eliminate
condensation
dripping
down, reduce the sound of
the wind rattling the roof
and keep a cooler tem-
perature inside the barns
during the summer. Rive-
ra said it is easy to defer
maintenance projects due
to initial cost, but that of-
ten means more expensive
fixes down the road.
The board wanted to see
what other options were
out there for deterring the
birds.
Phil Hamm and Tim
Weinke of the Hermis-
ton Agricultural Research
and Extension Center
discussed dust and weed
control with the board,
offering up the center’s
expertise on what types of
vegetation could be used
on the unpaved, un-irrigat-
ed parking areas to hold
down the sandy soil but
not become a significant
fire hazard for vehicles to
park on during the fair and
rodeo. They said if EO-
TEC could come up with
seed, the center could lend
some free labor and equip-
ment. The board autho-
rized Dorran to work out
the details with HAREC
and also voted to have a
Department of Corrections
work crew pull puncture
The four long, white
trailers on the former Uma-
tilla County Fairgrounds
might look out of place
amid the rubble, but nurs-
es and doctors are hard at
work inside. A team from
the National Health and
Nutrition Survey is in
Umatilla County for the
next month, conducting in-
terviews and examinations
on selected participants
from around the county.
The survey team trav-
els to 15 different counties
around the United States
each year and collects
health data. The data are
then used to create statistics
that the Centers for Disease
Control publish about the
health of people in the U.S.
In each county the sur-
vey team visits, they iden-
tify about 450 people to be
surveyed. Of those, they
hope about 350 will partic-
ipate.
“With the 15 counties,
we’re trying to match the
U.S. population,” said study
manager Janis Eklund.
That means the people they
select are picked based on
age, race, gender and so-
cioeconomic status — with
the hopes that they can find
a collection of participants
that mirrors the population
of the country. However,
Eklund said, they select
random home address-
es and visit those homes,
to see if the person living
there fits a demographic
they need.
Eklund said last week
they had identified about
300 people, and they
will started examinations
Thursday. They will be in
Umatilla County until Oct.
31.
The examinations this
year include dental, di-
etary, hearing and body
mass scans. They also draw
blood, and test participants’
blood pressures using both
an old and a new machine.
The data they collect
is used to study a variety
of health trends across the
U.S., including anemia, di-
abetes, cardiovascular dis-
eases, obesity and sexually
transmitted diseases.
All the information par-
ticipants give is confiden-
tial, Eklund said.
Eklund said every few
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Contestants wait to compete with their livestock in the beef barn during the Umatilla
County Fair in August 2017 in Hermiston.
vine by hand.
Logistics for EOTEC’s
biggest event since the
Umatilla County Fair and
Farm-City Pro Rodeo were
discussed at length Friday
as the Hermiston Horse
Sale Extravaganza looms
Oct. 14-15. Rivera said
in EOTEC’s current situ-
ation — with just a part-
time, interim manager as
EOTEC’s only staff — the
facility isn’t really ready to
handle that type of event in
2017. But Rivera said he
made an exception for the
horse sale because it is an
event with a good track re-
cord in Hermiston that the
community doesn’t want
to lose. The sale is ex-
pected to bring in 2,000 to
2,500 people and generate
about 500 hotel stays.
“This is exactly what
this facility was designed
for,” Rivera said.
The facility’s condi-
tional use permit has dif-
ferent requirements for
different sizes of events,
and the board discussed
whether those attendance
thresholds applied to over-
all attendance during the
entire weekend or merely
the number of people on
the grounds at any given
time, which is expected to
be 500 or less. They also
discussed the need to have
people directing parking
and enforcing the restric-
tions that are in place for
access off Ott Road, and
someone from EOTEC to
be on site managing those
people and taking respon-
sibility for issues that arise.
Rivera will be tied up
with his other job as super-
intendent of Hermiston En-
ergy Services over the next
couple of weeks, but Dor-
ran said he would work out
logistical problems with
horse sale manager Randy
Hull and make sure some-
one from EOTEC was on
site during the event.
The board also ap-
proved a $2,500 grant from
EOTEC’s tourism pro-
motion assessment funds
to market the horse sale.
Board members said the
grant amount was coinci-
dental to the fact that Hull
was paying $2,500 to rent
the rodeo arena, barns and
pens. That fee was based
on the price Hull had paid
at the old fairgrounds, and
board members noted it
would likely change for fu-
ture events after a perma-
nent manager is brought in
and a fee structure is creat-
ed for the barns and arena.
A middle school lead-
ership convention had
requested free use of the
event center in exchange
for doing all set-up and
tear-down, but Rivera sug-
gested a $400 fee due to
the fact that the facility is
operating at a loss when
comparing expenses such
as contract labor for janito-
rial to rental revenue.
“It costs us over $1,000
per day just to open our
doors,” he said, calculating
the cost since July 1.
The board also ap-
proved some sugges-
tions by Rivera for policy
changes to address prob-
lems caused by evening
events involving alcohol.
He suggested an earlier last
call for alcohol in order to
make sure events wrapped
up on time. He said the
center should stop offer-
ing a discount for doing
their own tear-down, since
“drinking and exhaustion”
was causing additional
wear and tear on chairs
and tables, and that renters
should be charged a $250
fee for leaving their dec-
orations in the building to
be picked up later. He also
said that someone needed
to be supervising securi-
ty staff hired for events,
since “without supervision
we’ve identified that very
little work is actually be-
ing done,” including one
incident in which security
showed up two hours late
to a wedding.
———
Contact Jade McDow-
ell at jmcdowell@eastore-
gonian.com or 541-564-
4536.
Buses switched to new route on Monday
By JADE McDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
Hermiston’s free pub-
lic bus system changed its
route this week.
The system, known as
HART, will now make six
circuits through town each
day instead of four, and the
route has been rearranged
with the goal of riders
spending less time on the
bus during a round trip.
During a Public Transit
Advisory Committee meet-
ing Sept. 25, assistant city
manager Mark Morgan said
ridership has not increased
as was expected, and Kay-
ak Public Transit and the
city have received feedback
that the system isn’t well
suited for round-trip travel.
The new route designed by
Kayak reduces the num-
ber of stops the bus makes
and creates a system that
rotates directions each trip
instead of making a contin-
uous loop in one direction
around town. It also runs
from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
instead of 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Starting Monday, the num-
ber of stops went from 30
to 20, eliminating several
stops with low ridership, in-
cluding Riverfront Park, the
Aspens, Sunland Avenue
and Moore Avenue. The
trade-off is that the bus will
now run six loops through
town during the day, and
loops will be under an hour
instead of the previous hour
and 15 minutes. Fewer rid-
ers will have their ride in-
terrupted by the bus driver
stopping for their regularly
scheduled breaks as well.
The bus will also change
directions during the day,
providing longer and short-
er options for riders to
choose from.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
STAFF PHOTO BY JAYATI RA-
MAKRISHNAN
Cristal Alatorre Perez, a
dietary interviewer, talks
with Chris Woltman during
the NHANES survey.
years, some of the tests will
change based on medical
research.
The staff that work for
the survey spend much of
the year on the road, con-
ducting examinations in
different counties.
Rita Washko, a doc-
tor with the survey team,
has been traveling with
NHANES for about 12
years.
She said it’s been inter-
esting seeing how differ-
ent the various parts of the
United States are, health-
wise.
“The biggest difference
I’ve seen is the difference
in blood pressure control
throughout the country,”
she said. “There are some
regions where it’s much
higher.”
Washko would not say
specifically where, but she
said she has also noticed
that in rural areas she tends
to see older people that are
more physically robust.
Washko said one of the
challenges with the survey
job is the lack of follow-up.
“Say you have an abnor-
mal CBC (complete blood
count). I speak to the per-
son so they understand, and
send them off, but I nev-
er find out what happens.
That’s a big disconnect,
and I had to get used to
that.”
But she noted that the
primary goal of those
working for NHANES is to
collect data.
“We’re collecting data
that affects the entire pop-
ulation.”
Those who participate in
the study are compensated
$125, plus a transportation
fee.
–——
Contact Jayati Ra-
makrishnan at 541-564-
4534 or jramakrishnan@
hermistonherald.com.
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MEDICARE BIRTHDAY PARTY!
Third student-built home sold
The Hermiston School
District has sold its newest
student-built home.
Taylor and Brittany
Smith will receive the key
to their new home on Oct.
4 at 4 p.m., in a ceremoni-
al event at the home in the
Fieldstone Crossing neigh-
borhood on Southwest An-
gus Court.
The house was listed
at $379,000 and is 2,466
square feet, with sever-
al special amenities. The
home has a full outdoor
kitchen, a gas fireplace,
a three-car garage and a
central vacuum system.
The house is also equipped
3 0
with energy-efficient heat-
ing, cooling and ventila-
tion systems, and lights
and appliances.
The new owners are
both graduates of the
Hermiston School District.
Brittany Smith is a teach-
er at Sunset Elementary
School, and Taylor Smith
is the son of school board
member Dave Smith.
The home is the third in
a series of 11 homes that
will be built by students
from Hermiston, Umatilla
and Stanfield high schools
as part of the Columbia
Basin Student Homebuild-
ing Program. Students
work on most aspects of
the home, from putting up
rock to laying down floors.
Several students have gone
on to pursue careers in
construction.
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