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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 2018)
A16 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018 FROM PAGE A1 WHO continued from Page A1 Anderson said “Seussi- cal” is the most produced show across America for good reason. She referred to the music as “fantasti- cally fun.” “It’s just fun and upbeat,” said Alyssa Perkins, who plays the part of the Sour Kangaroo. “There are a lot of bright colors. It’s going to be appealing to all ages.” The HHS junior cred- its Bemrose-Rust with encouraging her to step out of her comfort zone and onto the stage. While Perkins has been involved in choir during her high school years, this is her first involvement with musical theater. Junior Kyle Ketchersid, too, is stretching his talents. During last year’s “Fiddler on the Roof” production, he played bassoon in the orchestra pit. Although he says he’s not necessarily an obsessed fan of Dr. Seuss, Ketcher- sid has taken on the persona of The Cat in the Hat and The Grinch for the musical. He said he’s enjoying the peppy and upbeat nature of the performance. Community collaborates in staging production The costuming, Ander- son said, adds to the whole experience. She’s especially thrilled with the creative talents of a pair of crochet artists. “It’s such a fanciful show and it’s awfully expensive to come up with animal cos- tumes,” Anderson said. After admiring a hat worn by advanced theater student Kalliyan Rohrman, the director knew just what she needed for the show. The girl’s mother, Shanan Rohr- man, had made the creation, which Anderson described STAFF PHOTOS BY KATHY ANEY Hanna Kelley and Paul Ernst, who play Mr. and Mrs. Mayor, sing during a rehearsal of “Seussical” at Hermiston High School. as a unicorn headdress. During a parent-teacher conference, Anderson said the talented mom offered her services. Rohrman and Sandy Stoneburner, Ander- son said, crocheted the cre- ative hats without patterns — working on them since November. Also, Anderson said other parents have been working on additional hats and the school’s art club is putting together some of the props. “People will enjoy the bright costumes and positiv- ity of the show,” Ketchersid said. And then there’s the stage. Anderson said Vore, along with her husband, Sam, have spent count- less hours building the set, which includes platforms that divides the two worlds. After helping with the last play, Vore said the district hired her to serve as tech- nical director for drama productions. “I consider that my audi- tion,” she said with a laugh. “It’s just so much fun to be a part of a big collaborative effort.” In addition to 14 stu- dents, there are four adults in the orchestra pit. Hav- ing the seasoned perform- ers, McClanahan said, offers students an opportunity to glean additional insight. And, they contribute to the fullness of the sound. “Also, with more parts it adds more energy to the performance,” McClana- Kyle Ketchersid, who plays the Cat in the Hat, emotes during a rehearsal of “Seussical” at Hermiston High School. han said. “The music is very entertaining. It’s pretty whimsical.” Bemrose-Rust also sings praises for Margaret Wetter- ling. The pianist, she said, has played an integral role as an accompanist — not only for “Seussical,” but also choir concerts and past musicals. Brittany Sloan, a four- year veteran of the HHS stage, said the energy has been amazing and everyone has been working incredi- bly hard. Sloan, who plays the role of Mayzie LaBird, along the rest of the cast and crew are excited about stag- ing the production. They are hopeful it will draw a packed house. “It’s geared towards youngsters but it’s still pretty fun for everyone,” Ketcher- sid said. Anderson agreed. “I do not like green eggs and ham,” she said quoting from the script. “How could you go wrong?” BY THE WAY CAMP continued from Page A1 ings that have been “moth- balled” for years. It has been a careful process figur- ing out what can be re-used without any health, safety or environmental concerns. “Some of the buildings we’re looking at preserving, they’re just too far gone,” McReynolds said. “Some buildings were not meant to be here after 50 years. They just weren’t built to that standard.” Not all the buildings are that way. There are also functional offices, housing facilities, kitchens and other buildings being used by the Oregon National Guard right now. Some historical buildings, such as an old fire station, are currently in use while others, like the former depot headquarters, will be re-opened after a remodel. Preservation and conservation The Oregon Military Department plans to create a representative “historical district” inside Camp Uma- tilla with about 12 buildings preserved with as much his- torical authenticity as possi- ble. The area also includes touches such as a chunk of concrete from the concrete igloo destroyed in a massive explosion in 1944. “Those buildings we plan to preserve as is, with some modifications to bring them up to code, and use for Ore- gon National Guard uses,” said Kris Mitchell, cultural resources specialist for the OMD. Mitchell said they are working in consultation with the Oregon State His- toric Preservation Office, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and other groups to come up with guidelines for preserva- tion of as much of the prop- erty’s history as possible. There will be opportunities for input from the public as the process moves forward. There is also an environ- mental component. Jeff Mach, natural BTW continued from Page A1 STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Some of the old housing units will be remodeled and reused for housing in the future. resources specialist for the OMD, said the depart- ment has been working with Umatilla County and Mor- row County on invasive weed abatement, and has worked with the tribes to gather seeds they were inter- ested in planting elsewhere. The OMD also plans to con- tinue the work started by the Army to bring more burrow- ing owls to the property. New projects Since November the Ore- gon Military Department has already spent $2 million in infrastructure upgrades, mostly for the sewer sys- tem. Over the next three years another $25 million is expected to go toward more utility upgrades, dem- olition, remodels, new class- rooms and office space. There will also be new roads and fence lines to separate out the department’s prop- erty from the portions of the depot slated to be transferred to Umatilla County, Morrow County and the Confeder- ated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The fencing will be used to keep civilians from wan- dering onto areas where sol- diers are training, but it will also be to keep soldiers from encroaching on what will soon be private property during their training exer- cises, which sometimes take place at night over large areas. Overall, however, the property’s change from a federal military installa- tion to state control should increase the amount of pub- lic access to an area that for many years required a background check to visit. Local law enforcement have already been given a tour of the property — some- thing they hadn’t previously been given the opportunity to do — and the National Guard plans to allow some use of shooting ranges by law enforcement in the future. They also plan to sign mutual aid agreements allowing their firefighters to work closely with other area firefighters to prevent and fight fires in the area. McReynolds said they are trying to use local con- tractors and suppliers as much as possible. There will still be armed patrols of the property, but overall less of the “tight security experi- ence” associated with fed- eral control of the property, said OMD chief of plan- ning and programming Stan Hutchison. “We anticipate the public will have an ability to have much more interaction with this facility than they had under the Army before,” he said. Roy Swafford, director of installations for the OMD, said Camp Umatilla has potential for a significant impact on the local econ- omy, from hiring more full- time employees and local contractors to purchasing food for hundreds of soldiers coming in for training. He said he couldn’t put a num- ber yet as to how many jobs might be added but there have already been some new hires for maintenance of the property. Oregon National Guard units and units from other branches of the military will use Camp Umatilla for their weekend and annual training requirements. “For local units like Mil- ton-Freewater, La Grande, it gives them access to firing ranges that they would oth- erwise have to go to another facility over on the coast, or in another state,” Swafford said. The new training cen- ter will also be home to the 249th Regional Train- ing Institute, which a news release called “the Oregon National Guard’s premier training institute for forg- ing exceptional leaders, and ... a leader in the nation for conducting infantry transi- tion and advanced infantry leader training.” There will be new bar- racks for more than 320 sol- diers, new classrooms and training grounds such as an obstacle course and mock city. The QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) course takes between an hour and an hour and a half and teaches participants how to identify and intervene when people are at risk for suicide. The classes are appro- priate for ages 14 and up and no experience is required. This class is free to attend and sessions begin at 8 a.m., 10 a.m., noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Register at Good Shepherd Medical Center. • • • A pair of agencies are looking for relatives of Pvt. Howard A. Binder, who was from Umatilla and enlisted in the U.S. Army in Portland during World War II. He is among a group of 13 soldiers who died Oct. 10, 1944, in Ajon- court, France. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and the Army’s Past Conflict Repatri- ation Branch is seeking family members of Binder and others killed. Rela- tives are requested to sub- mit a DNA sample to com- pare with remains recently recovered in the area where the men went missing. Information about the incident indicate Company B (60th Engineer Com- bat Battalion) suffered the loss of 47 men during an explosion of anti-tank mines. Due to intermittent enemy artillery and mortar fire in the area, it has never been definitely established whether this or a defective fuse caused the explosion. For more information, visit www.dpaa.mil. To make arrangements to sub- mit a DNA sample, call 1-800-892-2490. • • • Patty Burres and Sky- ler Stokoe are the most recent Umatilla High School students fea- tured in “The Promise of Oregon.” The statewide public education support cam- paign was established in November 2014 by the Oregon School Boards Association. This year’s focus includes increasing graduation rates. Photos of the students are featured, along with completion of the sen- tence, “I am the Prom- ise of Oregon and stay- ing on track to graduate because …” Stokoe shared about her interest in study- ing forensic chemistry to increase her knowledge. And, Burres touted the overall benefits of addi- tional education. “I want to be the best person I can be,” she said. For more information, visit www.promiseoregon. org. • • • It’s National School Counseling Week, and a good chance to thank a school counselor for all they do. According to a press release from the Hermis- ton School District, at the elementary level a single counselor works with 400- 600 students, at the middle school up to 800 students and at the high school four counselors work with over 1,600 students. Counselors teach stu- dents how to resolve con- flicts, manage anger and build self-esteem while providing academic sup- port. They’re also the first to respond in crisis, setting up safe rooms and lending emotional support. They’re an ear to listen and a shoul- der to cry on, helping stu- dents through a variety of problems and issues. We thank these counsel- ors, and hope you will, too. ——— You can submit items for our weekly By The Way column by emailing your tips to editor@hermiston- herald.com or share them on social media using the hashtag #HHBTW.
