WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 2018
$1.00
HermistonHerald.com
INSIDE
WARM-UP
Find tips for readying
your home and garden
for spring in a special
section
INSIDE
NICE BEARD
Find out how Doug
Primmer’s wife Karen
made a memorable first
impression on him.
PAGE A2
WALMART DISTRIBUTION CENTER
20 YEARS IN
HERMISTON
BULLSEYE
A former Navy captain
sets his sights on
governor’s mansion.
PAGE A3
BY THE WAY
School safety
drill this week
Morrow County
School District staff will
get to prepare for every
worst-case scenario
during the all-day emer-
gency drill at all three
Boardman schools Friday.
All district staff will
congregate at Sam
Boardman and Windy
River elementaries, and
Riverside Junior/Senior
High School, to partici-
pate in an emergency drill
that will go over how the
district would respond in
a situation like a natural
disaster, a gas leak, or a
violent incident.
The day of the drill
is a no-school day for
students, but some stu-
dents will still assist with
the practice, said Mor-
row County School Dis-
trict superintendent Dirk
Dirksen. A press release
from the district said
locals should be aware
that during the drill, it will
seem like a real emer-
gency is happening, and
that law enforcement will
be traveling to and from
the schools and perform-
ing work they’d do in a
real emergency.
• • •
Eighth graders from
both Hermiston middle
schools got some advice
about what to expect
when they join high
school at Friday’s annual
Girls Night In event. Girls
from Armand Larive and
STAFF PHOTOS BY E.J. HARRIS
Divisional vice president Chad Ducote talks about the accomplishments achieved by the Walmart Distribution Center during a
ceremony celebrating 20 years in operation. More Hermiston Walmart Distribution Center photos from over the years, Page A15.
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
I
Manager Josh Burns welcomes guests to a 20-year celebration for the Walmart
Distribution Center on Tuesday in Hermiston.
“You are one of our most productive
distribution centers.”
Greg Smith | Walmart executive vice president of supply chain
f all of the more than 1.3 billion
cases shipped from the Hermiston
Walmart Distribution Center since
its opening in April 1998 were laid
end to end, they would circle the
earth 13 times.
Those goods passing through Hermis-
ton over the last 20 years represent about
$54 billion in revenue, according to general
manager Josh Burns.
“That’s a pretty good chunk of change,”
he told the crowd at the distribution center’s
20th anniversary celebration on Tuesday.
The economic engine represented by the
center — which has 26 acres under its roof
and could fit 10 Walmart stores inside —
can be hard to comprehend. But distribu-
tion centers like Hermiston’s are vital to
Walmart’s efforts to stay competitive in
a digital age. Greg Smith, executive vice
president of Walmart’s supply chain com-
pany-wide based in Bentonville, Arkansas,
told the group that the Hermiston DC has
“distinguished itself across our distribution
centers.”
“You are one of our most productive dis-
tribution centers,” he said.
See WALMART, A16
See BTW, A16
Nurse on mission to help hurricane-stricken children
By PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER
Tamie Cline of Hermiston took
off Saturday to the United States Vir-
gin Islands. Not for any vacation, but
a medical relief mission.
Cline is a surgical nurse at Good
Shepherd Medical Center, Herm-
iston, and one of 22 nurses nation-
wide going to help school children
as the United States territory recov-
ers from the devastation that back-to-
back category 5 hurricanes Irma and
Maria delivered in September.
The massive storms, she said,
wiped out classrooms, school gyms
and cafeterias. The government
consolidated thousands of students
onto the most viable campuses, she
said, and school nurses there are
overwhelmed.
“Those kids are not having any
screenings at all,” Cline said.
The Clinton Global Initiative
identified the U.S. Virgin Islands,
home to almost 103,000 citizens, as a
priority for recovery from the rage of
the two storms. The American Feder-
ation of Teachers put together a plan
to address the student health screen-
ings, which former President Bill
Clinton announced Tuesday.
The federation is the second larg-
est nurses union in the nation and an
affiliate of the Oregon Nurses Asso-
ciation. Federation spokesperson
Andrew Feldman said the U.S. Vir-
gin Islands are “still a mess” with
widespread ruin in once-vibrant
communities. Some areas, he stated,
resemble the aftermath Hurricane
See NURSE, A16
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Hermiston nurse Tamie Cline will be headed to United States Virgin Islands
to help in the ongoing relief efforts to rebuild the islands after being struck
by category 5 hurricanes Irma and Maria last September.