A16 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
FROM A15
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2017
HH FILE PHOTO
Rachel Bieren, wife of Staff Sgt. Austin Bieren, 25, who died in March in Syria receives her husband’s ashes April 14 after they were flown home and transported by hearse to Umatilla.
HH FILE PHOTO
HH FILE PHOTO
Hermiston head coach David Faaeteete hugs AJ Fernandez after the Bulldogs’ 38-35 win
against Churchill in the 5A state championship game on Nov. 25 in Hillsboro.
Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, McNary Dam operations manager Dave Coleman and Rep.
Greg Walden, R-Ore., tour the McNary Dam on August 14 in Umatilla.
2017
Maiocco returns.
DEATH OF AN ICON:
Frank Harkenrider, known
as Hermiston’s number one
fan, died July 24 before see-
ing the completion of the
Harkenrider Center named
after him.
Harkenrider was a Herm-
iston city councilor or mayor
for five decades in Herm-
iston before retiring from
the council in 2014, and
was known for his passion-
ate dedication to Hermis-
ton football. He helped hire
Hermiston’s first city man-
ager, and started the tradi-
tion of bringing Hermiston
watermelons to give away
in Portland each summer.
Family wore pins, his
Hermiston Bulldogs jacket
with his name on it and
other items in his memory
as they cheered the Bull-
dogs on to a state champi-
onship in November.
NEW
DIGS
FOR
COUNTY FAIR: The
Umatilla County Fair and
Farm-City Pro Rodeo had
their much-anticipated first
year at the Eastern Oregon
Trade and Event Center in
August.
Finishing touches on the
multi-million dollar project
literally came down to the
last minute, but dedicated
volunteers and paid contrac-
tors working nearly around
the clock managed to pull it
off.
The new location gave
the
previously-cramped
fair room to grow, and fea-
tured perks like an air-con-
ditioned building for booths
and 4H displays, while the
new rodeo arena offered
expanded seating and extra
box seats.
After the fair and rodeo
wrapped up Hermiston
Energy Services superin-
tendent Nate Rivera stepped
up to manage the center on
an interim basis and helped
the EOTEC board choose
venue management com-
pany VenuWorks to run the
Continued from Page A15
remembered as fun-loving,
a good leader and dedicated
to family during a memo-
rial service in Umatilla later
that week, and a moment of
silence was observed in his
honor during the Oregon
Legislature and several local
government meetings.
SENIOR
CENTER
RISING: Ground was bro-
ken on the Harkenrider Cen-
ter on April 26, starting a
transition that will move
Hermiston’s senior cen-
ter from the former Uma-
tilla County fairgrounds to
downtown.
The building on the fair-
grounds was torn down in
September, as part of the
Hermiston School District’s
acquisition of the property,
and the senior meal program
will operate out of Our Lady
of Angels Catholic Church
until the Harkenrider Center
is complete.
The new center is
expected to open March
2018, and so far the city says
it is on time and on budget.
It will be 7,000 square feet
with a 4,000 square foot
unfinished basement, com-
pared to 5,000 square feet
of space in the old building.
Much of the building was
paid for by a $2 million fed-
eral grant and money from
the city of Hermiston’s gen-
eral fund.
SCHOOL
BOND
FAILS: A school board
campaign to pass a $104
million capital improve-
ment bond failed on May
16, with 59 percent of vot-
ers saying ‘no.’ The bond
proposed construction of a
new elementary school, new
buildings for Rocky Heights
and Highland Hills elemen-
tary schools, and significant
upgrades and expansions to
the high school.
Board members said they
would reassess, and even-
tually come back with a
new proposal. The district
last passed a bond in 2008,
which rebuilt Sunset and
West Park elementaries,
and Armand Larive Middle
School.
WESTLAND WATER
PROJECT
DRAINED:
The Westland Irrigation
District announced it would
abandon years of work to
secure additional water
from the Columbia River
in order to defend a law-
suit filed by patrons alleging
“massive misappropriation”
of senior water rights.
The Northeast Ore-
gon Water Association’s
“Central Project,” as it
was called, would have
cost about $14.4 million,
financed by patrons who
agreed to buy the water, and
added production power to
farms in the district.
NOWA is now looking
for other groups to pick up
the cost of the project. The
lawsuit, filed by a group of
senior water rights holders,
was dismissed from fed-
eral court earlier in 2017 but
continues in circuit court.
The plaintiffs are seeking
$2.9 million in damages for
what they claim is a misap-
propriation scheme favoring
L&L Farms, Eagle Ranch
and Amstad Farms — three
operations with junior rights
and more than 5,000 acres
of farmland.
MEMORIAL
DAY
WEEKEND
HOMI-
CIDE: A Hermiston man
died as the result of a gun-
shot wound at a Hermiston
apartment complex on May
27, but the suspect in the
case was not arrested until
two weeks later.
Tyree Houfmuse, of
Hermiston, was initially
listed as a “person of inter-
est” in the death of James
Cragun, but when offi-
cers arrested him on June
12, Hermiston Police Chief
Jason Edmiston identified
Houfmuse as the suspect
in Cragun’s death. Houf-
muse had a settlement con-
ference in December, but no
settlement was reached. He
is still waiting to go to trial.
Houfmuse had previously
been arrested for shoot-
ings in both Kennewick and
Hermiston.
STATE
DOLLARS
FOR
HERMISTON
ROADS: The Oregon legis-
lature passed a $5.3 billion
transportation bill on July 6,
setting the state up for bil-
lions of dollars in upgrades
to infrastructure from high-
ways to railroads.
Hermiston walked away
with a piece of the pie
thanks to negotiations by
Rep. Greg Smith. While
each city and county will
see a general increase in gas
tax money for streets, some
projects were also specifi-
cally earmarked to receive
extra funds.
Projects that will receive
grants include paving Ott
Road and widening Air-
port Road around the East-
ern Oregon Trade and Event
Center, a road project at the
Port of Umatilla, a rail proj-
ect at the Port of Morrow
and an overhaul of North
First Place in Hermiston,
including widening the road
and re-designing its inter-
sections with Orchard Ave-
nue and Highland Avenue.
MOONEY STEPS IN
FOR MAIOCCO: Herm-
iston School District Super-
intendent and Brigadier
General Fred Maiocco
was called to active duty,
leaving to serve 15 to 18
months with the U.S. Army
Reserves. Maiocco was
deployed to Kaiserslaut-
ern, Germany, and is coor-
dinating logistical support
to U.S. forces in Europe,
Africa and the Middle East.
In his absence, the school
board selected the dis-
trict’s assistant superinten-
dent and HR director, Tri-
cia Mooney, to serve as the
interim superintendent until
entire project starting next
year.
S O M E T H I N G
SMELLS: A Stanfield
potato dehydration plant
sent a stench into the air,
sending residents rushing
inside all summer. The 3D
Idapro facility had been
having issues since a fire
burned its air purification
system. Complaints to the
city and DEQ were so per-
sistent, representatives from
the factory’s Midwest office
came to Stanfield, imple-
menting a 3-step plan to
mitigate the smell.
A few months later in
Hermiston, citizens off
Highway 207 in Hermiston
raised a stink about a vege-
table waste recycling facil-
ity. Owner Luke Dynes was
fined $435 for violating the
city’s nuisance code, and
ordered to abate the smell.
GRADUATION OUT
OF TOWN: After months
of discussion and a delayed
vote, Hermiston School
Board members decided on
Oct. 2 that Hermiston High
School’s Class of 2018 will
graduate at the Toyota Cen-
ter in Kennewick. The deci-
sion was born of a concern
that the burgeoning student
population had outgrown
the high school gym where
Hermiston had long held
graduation. The decision
was contentious, with many
worried about moving a
quintessentially local event
across the river. The board
said they would revisit local
graduation options next
school year.
VISIT
FROM
ENERGY SECRETARY:
Rick Perry, the U.S. Sec-
retary of Energy, visited
McNary Dam on Aug.
14 as part of his duties
as an appointee to Presi-
dent Donald Trump’s cabi-
net. It was Perry’s first trip
to the hydroelectric dam,
which he toured with Rep.
Greg Walden (R-Oregon)
and Rep. Dan Newhouse
(R-Washington).
After the tour, Perry
asserted he was in favor of
hydroelectricity and renew-
able energy, and contin-
ued his tour at the Hanford
Nuclear Reservation and
Pacific Northwest National
Laboratories in Richland.
HERMISTON FOODS
CLOSES: The ninth-larg-
est employer in Hermis-
ton closed its doors on Nov.
13, laying off nearly 200
employees. Operations for
Hermiston Foods, a vegeta-
ble-processing plant, were
consolidated with the oper-
ations of a plant in Quincy
Washington.
NORPAC,
Hermiston Foods’ parent
company, opened the facil-
ity in Hermiston in April
1990.
The facility processed
peas, sugar snap peas, eda-
mame, lima beans, carrots
and asparagus. Future use
for the facility has not yet
been announced.
BULLDOG
CHAM-
PIONS: In their last sea-
son playing in the Oregon
School Activities Associ-
ation, the Hermiston Bull-
dogs left with a little part-
ing gift: a football state title.
The Bulldogs beat the unde-
feated Churchill Lancers
38-35 in a thriller on Nov.
25 at Hillsboro Stadium.
It was the second title
in program history, the first
coming in 2014, and it was
the first for head coach
David Faaeteete.
Hermiston will join the
Washington Interscholas-
tic Activities Association in
the fall of 2018 for all sports
and play in a league with
Tri-Cities and Walla Walla
teams. The move, which
had to be approved by both
states’ athletic associations
and member schools, was
deemed necessary because
of Hermiston’s enrollment
growth and travel distance
to like-sized schools in cen-
tral Oregon and the Portland
area.