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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 2017)
HermistonHerald.com WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2017 $1.00 DAWGS HEADED FOR SEMI-FINALS >> PAGE A9 INSIDE REQUEST DENIED HERMISTON COUNCIL DECLINES $10,000 EOTEC REQUEST PAGE A3 DISTRICT ON DINNER TIME GET THE SCOOP ON THE COMMUNITY FELLOWSHIP DINNER PAGE A4 VET RESPECT SEE PHOTOS OF VETERANS DAY EVENTS PAGE A13 BY THE WAY Water lines coming at Amazon’s expense The Hermiston City Council approved a $746,798 construction bid by C&E Construc- tion of Pasco to extend the regional water system to new data centers planned by VaData (a subsidiary of Amazon) on Westland Road and near Lind Road. VaData will cover the cost of the improvements to the system. City Man- ager Byron Smith said the bid — the only one the city received — is more than $200,000 higher than engineers had estimated, but VaData was willing to pay the higher price not to delay construction, and C&E had done good work on the system before. The See BTW, Page A14 STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS New decals adorn the door of a Umatilla County Fire District 1 engine at the main station in Hermiston. UCFD celebrates success, plans for future after fi rst year By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN STAFF WRITER In the year and six months since voters accepted a bond to merge the Hermiston and Stanfi eld fi re districts, the resulting Umatilla County Fire District 1 has seen swift changes. But with the exception of minor growing pains, Fire Chief Scott Stanton said the transition has been smooth. “There have been very few bumps in the road,” Stanton said. “There were no surprises on my radar. We put in a lot of groundwork and labor, and mitigated any possible pitfalls that could happen from this.” So successful has the new district been that they were awarded the “Oregon Fire District of the Year” award last week at the Oregon Fire District Association conference. Stanton attributed the award to several changes they implemented shortly after form- ing the new district. “The biggest deal was getting the second station staffed, fi nally,” he said. “We’ve already seen lives saved and fi res put out that wouldn’t have otherwise.” The second station, at East Punkin Center and Diagonal roads, has been around for 31 years, but had never been staffed full-time until March of this year. The district has hired six people to staff the station. Stanton said he was also proud of the com- munity paramedic program, which the district began in June in conjunction with Good Shep- herd Medical Center’s ConneXions program, which connects people with community health resources. The program allows paramedics to See UCFD, Page A14 Toddler in critical condition with gunshot wound HERMISTON HERALD A Hermiston toddler is in criti- cal condition after being acciden- tally shot in the head by a seven- year-old sibling, according to the Hermiston Police Department. Longterm prognosis for the boy, age 2, “cannot yet be deter- mined,” the news release stated, and his name and other details are not being released in order to pro- tect the identities of the minors involved. The police department was con- tacted by Good Shepherd Medi- cal Center shortly before 5 p.m. on Friday about a child with a gun- shot wound to the head. After offi - cers responded to the hospital and learned the location of the shoot- ing, HPD offi cers and deputies from the Umatilla County Sher- iff’s Offi ce secured the scene. Pendleton Police Department also assisted by providing a child foren- sic interviewer. According to the department, based on physical evidence and statements of family members it appears the toddler was acciden- tally shot by a sibling, age 7 with a .25 caliber Beretta handgun in a vehicle. Chief Jason Edmiston said the gun was reportedly owned by the childrens’ mother, although the department has not yet offi cially confi rmed that through a trace of ownership. The victim has since been STAFF PHOTO BY JADE MCDOWELL. These gun locks are available for free at Hermiston Police Department to protect children from accidentally discharging a gun. transferred to an out-of-area hos- pital. Child Protective Services is involved and the case will be reviewed by the Umatilla County District Attorney’s Offi ce to deter- mine if any charges will be fi led See TODDLER, Page A14