NEWS
A6 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2017
Holiday events spread cheer Saturday
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
E
cho celebrated an early Thanks-
giving while Hermiston celebrated
Christmas even earlier on Saturday.
At Hermiston Public Library on
Saturday morning, children sat at
tables with small “Christmas bell” tree
ornaments made from plastic cups, stu-
diously sticking Santa, snowman and
penguin stickers to their crafts.
Guadalupe Thomas said she brings
her children Aviana Thomas, 6, Ana
Ramirez, 10, and Jerasiah Thomas,
3, to the library “a lot” to participate
in crafts, reading activities or just to
browse the books.
“It’s really nice the library puts on
so many fun things for kids,” she said.
The children said they were excited
for Christmas and they were having a
good time making ornaments.
“It’s fun and then we get to keep
them and put them on our tree,” Ana
said.
Dena Hill said she brought her
daughters Genelle and Jacenda to
make ornaments because they loved to
do crafts. She has been trying to bring
them to the library more often lately.
“It’s family-friendly,” she said.
Some places may have been jump-
ing straight into Christmas events, but
at Echo Community Methodist Church
at noon it was all about Thanksgiving.
Young families, elderly couples and
single people all mingled in the base-
ment of the church for Echo’s annual
community Thanksgiving meal.
Women and children were allowed
to go first after a volunteer said an
opening prayer, but Daniel “Buster”
McClinton, who has lived in Echo for
13 years, was in line shortly behind
them with a cookie sheet, ready to use
it as a make-shift tray to deliver plates
of turkey and stuffing to those who
were in a wheelchair and would have
difficultly navigating the line.
McClinton said as “the only black
Isaiah Hindman, 4, of Irrigon, places a
sticker on a bell made from a plastic cup
on Saturday at the Hermiston Public
Library. Isaiah’s bell and others made
at the hourlong workshop will go on
Hermiston’s community Christmas tree.
STAFF PHOTOS BY KATHY ANEY
Santa greets a little boy Saturday during the Altrusa Annual Holiday Bazaar at the
Pendleton Convention Center.
Wade Waterland, 7, chats with Santa
about his Christmas wish list Saturday
during the Altrusa Annual Holiday Bazaar
at the Pendleton Convention Center.
person in Echo” he felt he should get to
know everyone in the community, so
he volunteers around town and helps
Sierra Hermsen, 5, laughs Saturday at
the annual Thanksgiving dinner at the
Echo Community Church as her father,
Rudy Hermsen, concentrates on eating.
elderly residents with things like get-
ting wood for their wood stoves. He
said he enjoys the community meal
each year.
“Even people who don’t go to this
church seem to show up,” he said.
“This is the gathering.”
Patsy Gehrke, who was keeping an
eye on the pie table to make sure the
children running around didn’t sneak
too many slices, said they expected
about 70 people on Saturday. She
attends the “close-knit” Echo Commu-
nity Church and said she likes helping
out with their events.
John Marcum, the church’s pastor,
said as Echo’s only active church, they
try to serve the community as much as
possible. It helps that the mayor and
several city councilors are congregants
and were serving food in the hot line
Saturday.
“We’re trying to do good things,”
he said.
Linda Nelson enjoyed the meal,
particularly the sweet potatoes and
mashed potatoes with turkey gravy.
“They always have such good
Thanksgiving dinners,” she said.
Councilor’s mother killed by impaired driver
Police reported that Austin
Haynes, 22, of Chiloquin was
southbound in a Dodge Ram
pickup when he crossed into
The fight against drunk the northbound lane and into
driving has new meaning a blue 1996 Ford Aerostar
to Hermiston city councilor van driven by Melquiades
John Kirwan after his mother Ibarra, 57, whom the family
was killed by an impaired described in Paulette’s obit-
uary as her “soulmate” and
driver just over a week ago.
The call came
“longtime partner in
shortly before 6 p.m.
life.”
on Nov. 10. Kirwan’s
Haynes was not
sister told him their
injured and Ibarra
mother, Paulette Kir-
sustained some inju-
ries, but Paulette,
wan, 66, had been
riding in the front
involved in a serious
Paulette
seat of the van, was
crash on Highway
Kirwan
killed.
97 outside Klam-
ath Falls, where she
According
to
lives. Less than half an hour the news station, Haynes
later the Oregon State Police showed “signs of impair-
notified the family that Pau- ment” and was lodged in
lette had died at the scene.
the Klamath County Jail on
“You just don’t think charges of manslaughter,
you’re going to get that call,” reckless endangering, assault
John said.
III and driving while under
According to news sta- the influence of intoxicants.
tion KDRV, the Oregon State
John said his fam-
By JADE MCDOWELL
and PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITERS
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ily, including two broth-
ers, two sisters, Paulette’s
grandchildren, her twin sis-
ter and other members of a
large family were all “tak-
ing it pretty rough,” as were
his mother’s co-workers and
friends.
“All of these people were
affected permanently by
someone’s decision to get
behind the wheel and drive,”
he said.
Paulette worked for
Klamath and Lake Commu-
nity Action Services, help-
ing the area’s struggling resi-
dents with things like getting
their heating bill paid. John
said she was a loving, gen-
erous person who “would
bend over backwards to help
anybody.”
The family can’t have a
funeral until Dec. 2 because
they have to wait for an
autopsy that will aid in the
criminal investigation into
her death. John said it was
difficult on the family to not
have closure right away.
They’ve also spent time
thinking about the conse-
quences of impaired driving.
“People think, I have no
way home, I can’t leave my
car here, I can’t call some-
one,” John said, “but I would
urge anyone who has had too
much to drink to find another
way home.”
Hermiston Police Depart-
ment has seen a big drop in
DUII arrests, with 50 so far
this year compared to 90 for
2016, but Chief Jason Edmis-
ton said that doesn’t neces-
sarily mean a drop in drunk
driving so much as a hectic
year for the department.
“We have had two retire-
ments, one new officer at
the academy, one new lat-
eral officer (an officer
from another agency), two
extended medical leaves of
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officers, and two officers
attending the month-long
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Texas,” he said.
All the change, Edmis-
ton said, helps account for
the decline in arrests. But
Hermiston police catching
impaired drivers could take a
quick tick up.
“Even though we had a
lot of change, we will be out
there in an overtime capacity
working on grants specific to
impaired driving this holiday
season,” Edmiston said. “It’s
still important for us to be
proactive.”
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ing to the “State Of Oregon
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Crashes involving drunk
drivers increases this time
of year. According to the
National Highway Traf-
fic Safety Administration,
37,461 people died in traffic
crashes in 2016, and 28 per-
cent (10,497) of those fatal-
ities were in crashes with a
driver who had a blood alco-
hol level over the legal limit
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That same year, 781 peo-
ple died in drunk-driving-re-
lated crashes in December
alone. During Decembers
from 2012-2016, the NHTSA
reports 28 percent of crash
fatalities — 3,995 people —
involved a drunk driver.
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