WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2017
FROM A1 / FEATURES
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A15
2017
Continued from Page A1
The Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Department inves-
tigated the case on Jan. 7 and
soon after took over care of
the herd, which included
about nearly 200 animals
that had been neglected for
some time. With help from
Blue Mountain Community
College students and local
veterinarians, the county
cared for the animals and
then auctioned off a few
months later.
The owner of the cat-
tle, Michael Hockensmith,
pleaded guilty to fi ve counts
of animal neglect and was
placed on fi ve years of
probation.
DEPOT DELAY: In
what has become a recurring
“story of the year” for the
Hermiston area, transfer of
the former Umatilla Chem-
ical Depot to local control
was once again delayed into
the coming year.
Once the Army trans-
fers the land to the Colum-
bia Development Author-
ity thousands of acres are
expected to become home
to major industrial develop-
ments representing hundreds
of jobs, but the Army’s Base
Realignment and Closure
offi ce keeps moving its esti-
mate for when that transfer
will occur.
In September, the CDA
anticipated a December
2017 transfer but by Octo-
ber had announced the
Army was estimating it will
be May 2018. By the end
of November CDA direc-
tor Greg Smith said during
a Port of Morrow tour that
the transfer wouldn’t happen
until even later in 2018.
BIG AG: After pur-
chasing the majority of
the Boardman tree farm in
2016, AgriNorthwest added
to its Umatilla and Morrow
County holdings by buying
Hale Farms and River Point
Farms.
The deal was announced
in early 2017 and transferred
about 30,000 acres of crop-
land to the Tri-Cities com-
pany. The Hermiston-based
farms employed about 700
people before the deal, and
grow a variety of high-value
crops including onions,
potatoes, carrots and peas.
A DAY WITHOUT
IMMIGRANTS: As a
recently-inaugurated Pres-
ident Donald Trump began
implementing his proposed
ban on immigrants, depor-
tations and a wall between
Mexico and the U.S., people
at the national and local lev-
HH FILE PHOTO
Former Hermiston mayor and city councilor Frank Harkenrider, one of the city’s most outspoken advocates, died July 24.
els fought back. In Umatilla
and Morrow County, immi-
grants stayed home from
school and work on Febru-
ary 16 to show what they
add to their communities.
Children from immigrant
families stayed out of school,
and businesses owned or
heavily staffed with immi-
grants stayed closed that
day, to send a message that
immigrants are an essential
part of the community and
the services many people
rely on.
U M A T I L L A
SHAKEUP: Three mem-
bers of the Umatilla City
Council — Mayor Dave
Trott, Council President
Mary Dedrick and Coun-
cilor David Lougee —
resigned their seats in the
span of two months in early
2017, another chapter in a
turbulent city government.
Trott stepped down after
trying to rally support from
the council to examine City
Manager Russ Pelleberg’s
employment with the city,
including what he consid-
ered questionable claims
made on his original job
application. He also ques-
tioned Pelleberg’s handling
of city business, but the
council declined to make
any public motion on the
mayor’s claims.
At a meeting May 2,
the council selected Daren
Dufl oth to replace Trott as
mayor, while Dedrick and
Lougee resigned their seats,
citing personal and ongo-
CRYPTOQUIP
HH FILE PHOTO
Volunteers for the I Love My City event clean up downtown Hermiston on April 8 as part of a
city-wide goodwill effort.
ing health reasons. Selene
Torres-Medrano and Mark
Keith were later selected by
the council from a fi eld of
eight candidates to fi ll the
council seats.
The city also added Tamra
Mabbott, a 26-year veteran
of Umatilla County, to fi ll
a newly created community
development director.
I LOVE MY CITY:
A goodwill campaign that
began in 2016 at the Assem-
bly of God church grew in
2017 as churches and com-
munity groups donned
bright red “I Love My
City” shirts and took on
clean-up and recycling proj-
ects, car washes and holi-
day gift wrapping. Some of
the churches involved also
joined together for a com-
munity service at the East-
ern Oregon Trade and Event
Center.
NEW
HOTEL IN
TOWN: Though it had
served guests since Decem-
ber, the Hermiston Holiday
Inn held its grand opening
SUPER SUPER
CROSSWORD:
CROSSWORD:
ONE-OFF
XXXXXXXXXXXX
SONGS OF THE SEASON
on February 24. The build-
ing, now the tallest in Herm-
iston, is in the city’s urban
renewal district, and is a part
of the growing downtown
on the west side of High-
way 395. With 93 rooms and
18 suites, as well as ame-
nities like a pool and meet-
ing rooms, manager Steven
Arrasmith said he expected
the hotel would be utilized
by the growing number of
visitors to Hermiston.
DATA BOOST: Ama-
zon revealed big plans in the
spring to expand its footprint
in Umatilla County with a
new data center complex off
Westland Road southwest of
Hermiston and another one
just south of Umatilla.
The Umatilla County
Board of Commissioners
approved a request to rezone
the property purchased by
Amazon subsidiary Vadata
from exclusive farm use to
industrial in April, and con-
struction work began later
in the year on the Westland
Road property.
That campus, which will
include four new data cen-
ters, is expected to provide
160 new jobs once complete.
CHAMBER CONTRO-
VERSY: In April, rising ten-
sions between the Greater
Hermiston Area Chamber
of Commerce and city of
Hermiston came to a head
when the city council voted
to take over management of
the Hermiston Conference
Center from the chamber.
The city said it made
more sense to have the
parks and recreation depart-
ment run the center, using
it more for smaller commu-
nity events like recreation
classes, in light of the cen-
ter losing money to compe-
tition from the Eastern Ore-
gon Trade and Event Center.
But chamber supporters
accused the city of handling
the announcement badly and
questioned the city’s true
motives. They called the
city’s offer to remodel the
basement of the former Car-
negie Library for free use by
the chamber an insult, and
the chamber formally turned
down the offer soon after.
After months of searching
for a visible, affordable loca-
tion the chamber announced
in December it was moving
into offi ce space in Corner-
stone Plaza on North High-
way 395, but called the
move “temporary” and con-
tinues to search for a perma-
nent home.
SERVICEMAN
REMEMBERED:
Staff
Sgt. Austin Bieren of Uma-
tilla died of natural causes
on March 28 while serv-
ing as an Air Force secu-
rity forces airman in north-
ern Syria.
The airman, 25, grad-
uated from Umatilla High
School in 2010 and was on
his third deployment.
Bieren’s ashes were
returned to his wife Rachel
Bieren in Umatilla on April
14, escorted by the Patriot
Guard riders and members
of law enforcement and the
fi re department. He was
See 2017, Page A16
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