INSIDE
!
S
R
E OU S DAY
B PPY VALENTINE
HA
RIVALRY
Hermiston boys snap
five-game losing streak
to Pendleton.
HermistonHerald.com
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2018
PAGE A10
FUNNY STORY
HERMISTON COUPLES
See what Umatilla School
District superintendent said
was one of the funniest
moments of her career.
PAGE A2
LOVE
ASSAULT INCREASE
Crime is down overall in
Hermiston, but aggravated
assaults continue to rise.
PAGE A3
STORIES
CHESS SUCCESS
Hermiston and Heppner
students learn patience, skill
and strategy through chess.
PAGE A9
By JADE MCDOWELL
and JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITERS
Jim and
Michelle
McAllister
as a young couple.
E
very good romantic movie has
a meet-cute moment where the
two main characters see each
other for the first time. Some-
times there’s a stolen identity or
crazy mix-up involved, other times it’s love
— or hate — at first sight.
Real life isn’t always so picture perfect,
but there are plenty of good stories to be
found. We asked three sets of Hermiston res-
idents to tell us theirs.
BY THE WAY
Three Bulldogs sign
letters of intent
Three Hermiston Bull-
dogs signed letters of
intent Tuesday after-
noon to further their ath-
letic careers. Football
players Jonathan Hin-
kle and Joey Gutierrez
will join the Eastern Ore-
gon University Mountain-
eers, while Antonio Cam-
pos, of the boys soccer
team, will go on to play at
Walla Walla Community
College.
Hinkle and Gutierrez
are coming off a cham-
pionship season where
they both received all-
state honors for their work
on defense. Hinkle was
named to the first-team as
a linebacker after record-
ing 122 tackles and four
interceptions on the sea-
son. Gutierrez joins him on
the first-team as a defen-
sive back with 70 tackles
and six interceptions.
Campos, Hermiston’s
starting goalkeeper before
going down with an injury,
will join a number of Ore-
gon soccer players that
will make the trip north to
play with the Warriors.
$1.00
Jim and Michelle McAllister
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY
MICHELLE McALLISTER,
LILLIAN SMITH, WANDA HUNT
Lillian and
Jack Smith
sit on Lillian’s dresser.
Wanda Hunt
and Richard
Scarlett’s
school photos.
When Jim and Michelle McAllister met,
she wasn’t having a great day.
She had cut her finger badly at work, slic-
ing through a small artery. Jim picked her up
in an ambulance.
The pair were both in the Navy, stationed
in Key West, Florida. Jim was a corpsman,
Michelle was a weather observer. She turned
19 at midnight while getting her finger
stitched up; he was in his early 20s.
“I picked her up and thought, ‘She’s kind
of cute,’” Jim said.
He did some due diligence and suddenly
found himself with a frequent craving for
McDonald’s, where she worked the drive-
through. Eventually he worked up the cour-
age to ask a friend to tell her Jim wanted to
go on a date, and they made a plan to go.
But Jim accidentally stood her up after going
sailing with friends earlier that day and los-
ing the wind while they were out to sea.
“I called her up from a pay-phone,” Jim
said.
“At 9 p.m.!” Michelle interjected.
She forgave him, and they started going
steady not long after, sticking together even
though Jim got transferred out to California.
When he came back to Florida for a visit
a few months later, he wanted to go to the
beach, where he planned to surprise her
with flowers and an engagement ring. But
Michelle had a softball game to play, and she
refused to miss it.
See LOVERS, A16
See BTW, A16
District aligns 2019 spring break with Washington
Interim superintendent Tricia
Mooney said she was making the
recommendation to the board at the
Hermiston School District stu- suggestion of the Educational Coun-
dents will align even more closely cil, a group of staff representing each
school, two administra-
with their Washington
tors and two school board
peers next year, as the
school board on Mon-
Spring Break members that makes rec-
ommendations
about
day voted 4-1 to adopt
scheduling.
the same spring break as
At two previous school
Washington next year.
board meetings, some ele-
The decision means
mentary school teach-
spring break will be from
ers had spoken against
April 1 to 5 in 2019, the
the proposed change.
same as Washington state
schools and Hermiston’s new athletic At Monday’s meeting, Josh Linn, a
league rivals, instead of the last week Rocky Heights Elementary School
in March along with Oregon schools. teacher who has been a vocal oppo-
Board members Jason Middleton nent of the schedule change, again
and Dave Smith were absent for the voiced his concern about the change.
vote, and Mark Gomolski was the
See BREAK, A9
lone dissenter.
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
2019
April 1 - 5
HH FILE PHOTO
A school bus leaves the Hermiston High School parking lot.