INSIDE
NEW FINANCE DIRECTOR FINDS COMMUNITY IN HERMISTON | PAGE A8
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2017
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HermistonHerald.com
INSIDE
ALL THE FIXIN’S
A LITTLE SNOW
DIDN’T KEEP PEOPLE AWAY
FROM THE HERMISTON
COMMUNITY DINNER
PAGE A3
Th e year that was
BALL DROP
AGAPE HOUSE STAGES
NEW YEAR’S EVE MURDER
MYSTERY AT MAXWELL
SIDING EVENT CENTER
PAGE A4
WHEN TO GIVE
NEEDS DON’T DISAPPEAR
WHEN THE HOLIDAYS
ARE OVER
PAGE A6
BY THE WAY
Help for opioid
abuse is coming
Umatilla
County,
labeled a “high-inten-
sity drug traffi cking area”
because of its location at
the intersection of inter-
states 82 and 84, is get-
ting some help combat-
ing opioid addiction. It’s
one of four Eastern Ore-
gon counties receiving
federal funds to fi ght opi-
oid abuse, in a partnership
with the Oregon Health
Authority.
Umatilla, Union, Baker
and Malheur counties will
receive $200,000 over
two years, which health
departments in those
counties will use to target
prescription drug abuse
in the area. We’ll have
more on the program and
it’s goals in next week’s
edition of the Hermiston
Herald.
Umatilla
County
Health Director Jim
Setzer and Mike Sten-
srud, the new prescrip-
tion drug overdose pre-
vention coordinator for
the four counties, will
focus their attention on
prevention, treatment and
risk reduction.
Stensrud noted that
around the holidays, peo-
ple can be at an even
greater risk of opioid
overdose.
“It’s a time of high
relapse risk that can arise
from not having family to
spend the holidays with,
or experiencing a ‘trig-
See BTW, Page A11
HH FILE PHOTO
Mark Davis helps shovel snow off the roof of Columbia Outdoors Sports and Surplus on Main Street, Hermiston, on January 11.
HH FILE PHOTO
BMCC student Melanie Sederburg carries alfalfa over a fence
to give to cattle that were confi scated by the Umatilla County
Sheriff’s department on January 25 outside of Hermiston.
HH FILE PHOTO
Hermiston Mayor David Drotzman speaks to a crowd gathered at the site of the future
Harkenrider Center on April 26 at the offi cial groundbreaking. Frank Harkenrider, for
whom the center is named, listens on.
A look back on the biggest stories from the Hermiston area
HERMISTON HERALD
There’s no such thing as a slow year in Hermiston.
Though it comes in as Oregon’s 31st largest city — this
year leap-frogging Central Point in the estimates by Portland
State University — steady growth and the continual impact of
nearby agriculture mean there’s always something happening.
We’ve compiled a list of some of the highlights from the
year that was, a mix of accomplishments and tragedy, develop-
ments and disagreements. They are published below in approx-
imate chronological order.
PUNISHING WINTER: As travelers battled icy streets
and highways closed intermittently from January to March,
students trudged through the winter months, with snow days
pushing the end of the school year out by at least a week for
most local schools.
The state waived 14 hours of the missed instructional time,
but schools still had to add days to the end of the year.
Drivers faced bad road conditions throughout Umatilla and
Morrow counties, with several wrecks on I-84, the highway
closed in the Columbia Gorge several times, and with I-82 shut
down in January due to ice and a wreck.
NEW BUS SERVICE: Living in Hermiston without a
vehicle got a little easier in 2017 after the city of Hermiston
unveiled its new free public bus service around town, operated
by Kayak Public Transit.
The Hermiston HART operates in a continuous loop around
town on weekdays, and got a good initial reception from those
who were able to use it to visit stops like the library, hospi-
tal and grocery stores. In October some little-used stops were
removed and the route was adjusted to address feedback from
riders that the wait between pickups was too long.
CATTLE IN CRISIS: Early in the frigid winter of 2017,
14 dead cattle were found at the Cedar Creek Cattle Com-
pany ranch near Hermiston and another 15 were severely
malnourished.
See 2017, Page A15
Lamb Weston fry factory to grow
$250 million project expected
to add 170 full-time jobs
By GEORGE PLAVEN
EO MEDIA GROUP
To feed the world’s growing appetite for
french fries, Lamb Weston announced Thurs-
day it will build a new, state-of-the-art process-
ing line at its Hermiston facility on Westland
Road.
The $250 million expansion will add capac-
ity for another 300 million pounds of fries per
year, while also creating approximately 170
full-time jobs, according to the company.
Tom Werner, president and CEO of Lamb
Weston, said demand for french fries around
the world has challenged the industry’s capac-
ity to keep up in recent years.
grow their businesses in North
America and abroad,” Werner said.
Elsewhere around the basin,
Lamb Weston fi nished a simi-
lar $200 million expansion at its
french fry factory in Richland,
Washington, which opened in
October.
The company also spent $200
million to expand its Boardman
facilities at the Port of Morrow
COURTESY OF LAMB WESTON in 2014. All potatoes are sourced
Lamb Weston recently made a $200 million investment in
from local farms.
Shelby Stoolman, spokes-
this potato processing plant in Richland, Wash. A similar
investment is planned for a Lamb Weston potato plant in
woman for Lamb Weston, said
Hermiston.
the Hermiston facility was estab-
lished in 1972 and currently has
450 employees. The new line is
“This investment in a new french fry pro-
cessing line in the Columbia Basin refl ects expected to be up and running by January
Lamb Weston’s continued commitment to sup-
See FACTORY, Page A11
port our strategic partners as they continue to