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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 2018)
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7 OPINION LETTERS TO THE EDITOR GOOD OL’ DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN Hermiston’s water is the best In our travels throughout many countries, we have found the City of Hermiston’s drink- ing water to be the very best. We all should appreciate this very important need. Thank you. So “bottoms up.” LAURA AND MIEL CASPER HERMISTON Habitats are being destroyed STAFF PHOTO BY JADE MCDOWELL A car passes through the cones re-routing traffic near city hall. D owntown Hermiston is a mess right now — there’s no deny- ing it. The maze of traffic cones that has spilled over onto Main Street and Gladys Avenue is enough to turn a less daring driver away. Combined with the unrelated senior center construction site on Ridgeway Avenue marked by a foreboding “Closed to Thru Traffic” sign and it might seem you’re not welcome downtown. It’s nothing personal. And if you’re willing to brave the labyrinth Daniel you’ll find city Watten- services and burger CONTRIBUTING businesses are more EDITOR or less running as usual. But that’s the cost of change. The city has undertaken two major projects in the immediate area around city hall that have the potential to transform the area. It’s the correct priority for the city. For all the added jobs and residents and new homes, the town’s core hasn’t seen the kind of attention it deserves. There are some great cornerstone businesses downtown, but other storefronts have been revolving doors, unable to attract enough foot traffic to stay viable. Any town can expect some Harkenrider Center and library. Highway 395 is an unfortunate barrier in the long term, creating a disconnect between assets like McKenzie Park and Hermiston High School and Main Street, but that’s a problem for another day. It takes a town like Hermiston to make a 35-year-old feel like an old-timer. Out with my 6-year- old daughter at Lawan’s Thai Garden, I was reminiscing about the old Armand Larive Middle School, the site of many of the athletic activities of my youth, now marked only by an archway. Out the other window of the restaurant is the new Holiday Inn Express, new enough that she vaguely remembers watching its construction. We talked about the old pool at the high school and the new one by the Butte. I also told her that when I was growing up here, there was no Thai food in town (at least that I was aware of). She was as shocked by that as anything, as living in a city with no Thai food is unthinkable to her palate. Of course she thinks I’m an old-timer. But I’m glad she’s getting a front row seat to a growing town in the same way I did. ——— Daniel Wattenburger is a contributing editor to the Hermiston Herald. For all the added jobs and residents and new homes, the town’s core hasn’t seen the kind of attention it deserves ... a walkable, shop-able, diverse Main Street would be a huge asset to Hermiston.” churn, but a walkable, shop-able, diverse Main Street would be a huge asset to Hermiston. A festival street and a senior center — which will be opened for broader public use in five years — are good ways to increase that foot traffic. A healthy revival of the Union Club on the corner of Main and Second Street is another way. The city’s long-term decisions in regards to city hall and the recently rebranded community center just a few blocks to the north will also factor in, as will development along the nearby train tracks. As city leaders plot and entrepreneurs plan, it’s not hard to imagine a corridor stretching along Second Street from Highway 395 to the How much is enough? Regarding the newly-cleared area upstream from Riverfront Park and under the West High- land bridge: there was plenty of room, near the bridge, for enter- ing the small area that used to belong to Oregon Fish & Wild- life, for parking, and for a new path to extend under the bridge west into the downstream park areas; even already in place, a put-in/take-out area for rafters. Who decided to slash and burn the entire area upstream to the boundary? Such a small area that could have been left wild! Public parks need the wild areas too. Clearing and burning that small upstream area changed it forever. You destroyed a red fox den with kits due soon. You cleared out and burned a num- ber of California quail shel- ters, burned and cleared graz- ing areas for herds of mule deer and white-tails. You destroyed nesting sites along the banks that dozens of mergansers and wood ducks used for longer than any of us can remember. I know, because the neighbors along Quick Road have watched all that activity and protected it from human encroachment for at least 80 years! Just how much is enough? JANET BOYD HERMISTON tilla County Fair Board came to an end, the ability to say thank you to the whole of Umatilla County is lost in the magnitude of emotions. Development of unmatched success recognized throughout the state and region, the Umatilla County Fair and Farm-City Pro Rodeo are liv- ing and evolving monuments to the generosity of community and heart. Sponsors in every corner of the county have stepped up and delivered not only finances, but time and material with pride. Donors have come through annually and never hesitate to find a way to fulfill last minute requests. Volunteers. Volunteers from throughout Umatilla County contribute and produce the Uma- tilla County Fair from January 1 through December 31, from setting up pens to picking up trash, from mowing lawns to set- ting up the stage, from organiz- ing RVs, from hauling straw/ chips to cleaning tables, from arranging entertainment to coor- dinating with the Farm-City Pro Rodeo. UCF is one of the larg- est five-day fairs in the Pacific NW. It is not a professionally produced event, it is managed by the Umatilla County Fair Board with administrative support of the Umatilla County Com- missioners (liaison, Larry Giv- ens) and staff. This is a unique and extremely successful rela- tionship that allows the Uma- tilla County Fair Board to offer a product to our community above the expectations of communi- ties of much larger populations and financially stronger. It is the volunteers. What a humbling experience. Thank you to the Umatilla County community, Umatilla County Fair Board and the Uma- tilla County Commissioners for letting my family and myself participate. DAN DORRAN HERMISTON Thank you Umatilla County LETTERS POLICY: Letters to the Editor is a forum for the Hermiston Herald readers to express themselves on local, state, national or world issues. Brevity is good, but longer letters should be kept to 300 words. What a humbling experience the past two decades have been for my family and myself. 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