INSIDE
FOR MORE ABOUT HERMISTON’S HOMECOMING GAME, SEE SPORTS, A9
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017
HermistonHerald.com
$1.00
INSIDE
3 MINUTES WITH
MEET CHRISTY HERMAN,
MANAGER OF DESERT LANES
FAMILY FUN CENTER.
PAGE A2
ARC TURNS 50
THE ARC UMATILLA COUNTY
CELEBRATES FIVE DECADES
OF SERVICE.
PAGE A4
PAINT THE TOWN
VOLUNTEERS TURN OUT
TO SPRUCE UP EXTERIOR OF
BUILDINGS IN STANFIELD.
PAGE A6
BY THE WAY
Big River celebrates
Big One Zero!
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Courtney Wheeler, 2017
Hermiston High homecoming
queen, smiles as she has her
crown adjusted by senior
princess Madelyn Juul.
Students celebrate fall
tradition with pageantry and
spirit events
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Fireworks light the sky as Antonio Campos and
Courtney Wheeler pose shortly after being named
as homecoming king and queen during halftime
of Hermiston High School’s homecoming football
game at Kennison Field.
H
ermiston’s Homecoming week ended
on a high note, with several days of ac-
tivities and dress-up themes capped by
a win for the Bulldogs and a dance Satur-
day night.
The Homecoming King and Queen,
crowned at halftime, were Antonio Campos
and Courtney Wheeler. The rest of the court
was as follows:
Sam Schwirse and Courtnee West (fresh-
men), Tysen Salinas and Jazmin Macias
(sophomores), Canden Gutierrez and Tay-
lor Greene (juniors), and Joey Gutierrez,
Maddy Juul, Luke Walchli and Mackenzie
Hill (seniors).
Throughout the week, students came to
school dressed for various themes such as
“Disney Day,” “Flannel Day,” and “Purple
and Gold Spirit Day.” Each evening also
featured an activity, including a bonfi re and
a mud tug-of-war, and fl oat decorating be-
fore Friday’s noise parade.
The dance theme was “Fiesta,” and stu-
dents enjoyed fi reworks at halftime of the
football game after the Homecoming court
was announced and the king and queen
were crowned.
Big River Golf Course
in Umatilla is swinging
into celebration mode as
it announces a 10-year
anniversary event. General
manager Megan Olsen
invites people to pack
the clubhouse Monday,
Oct. 30, from 5-7 p.m.
at 709 Willamette St.,
Umatilla. Also, golfers
who register for their 2018
memberships prior to the
event will be entered into
a drawing for a chance to
receive a $300 refund. The
drawing will be held at the
anniversary event. For more
information, contact Olsen
at 541-922-306 or megan@
golfbigriver.com.
• • •
Good Samaritans de-
serve thanks recently for
responding to a woman in
need at the post offi ce in
Hermiston. On Sept. 16,
several people heard Dixie
Jessen’s cries for help. After
dislocating and breaking her
hip, the Hermiston woman
is now on the mend after
having her hip socket rebuilt
and her hip joint replaced.
She expressed extreme grat-
itude to the strangers who
came to her aid.
• • •
SafeWise recently an-
nounced its third annual 20
Safest Cities in Oregon
report, which included sev-
eral Eastern Oregon towns.
Using the most recent FBI
crime data from 2015, cit-
ies with a population of
3,000 or more were eval-
See BTW, Page A14
Housing projects could ease rental crunch
Boardman, Hermiston,
Umatilla all seeing new
housing projects start.
By JADE McDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
Finding housing can be hard-
er than fi nding a job locally, but
there are people working to tackle
the problem.
On Tuesday, BC Contract-
ing and PROffutt Limited Part-
nership broke ground on a new
240-unit apartment complex in
Boardman. City manager Kar-
en Pettigrew said Boardman and
the companies located there have
been working hard to fi nd ways to
bring more “market-rate” housing
to the community, allowing more
workers to live in the town where
they are employed.
In 2015 it was estimated that
68 percent of workers at the Port
of Morrow did not live in Board-
man.
“I just wanted to say how excit-
ed we are to have this adventure
starting in Boardman,” Pettigrew
said during the groundbreaking
ceremony.
Port of Morrow manager Gary
Neal thanked PROffutt, the real
estate division of the R.D. Offutt
company that owns RDO Equip-
ment and Threemile Canyon
Farms, for stepping up to help
employees in the area fi nd hous-
ing.
“When I moved here in 1989
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
A model home stands on property that is part of the Virginia’s Place
development in Umatilla.
I couldn’t fi nd a place to live. ...
We’ve had that problem here con-
tinuously ever since,” he said.
It’s a region-wide problem.
Stan Stradley, Umatilla Coun-
ty Housing Authority director,
said vacancy rates for apartments
in Umatilla County are at about
1.4 percent, and waiting lists for
subsidized housing grow longer
See HOUSING, Page A14