Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (June 13, 2018)
INSIDE 50 YEARS OF SPECIAL OLYMPICS | PAGE A10 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2018 $1.00 HermistonHerald.com INSIDE CHURCH LOST A fire at the Hermiston Adventist Church caused an estimated $3 million in damage early Sunday morning PAGE A3 FIGHT CANCER Relay for Life runs Saturday in Pendleton. PAGE A4 OLD SCHOOL Community editor Tammy Malgesini muses about proper attire and snacks for a high school graduation. PAGE A9 BY THE WAY Festival street will open with celebration July 14 Hermiston’s new festi- val street will have its offi- cial grand opening on July 14 as part of Funfest, an annual downtown celebra- tion that includes vendors and family activities. City manager Byron Smith said at Monday’s city council meeting the street in front of city hall should be open to traffic sooner than that. The city is just waiting for grates to go around the new- ly-planted trees to protect them from cars, and he said those should come by the end of next week. The grand opening cel- ebration will take place 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 14 in front of city hall, 180 NE Second Street. That block of Second Street has been re-designed to include more landscaping, design work and a more pedestrian-friendly shape that does not include curbs. The city hopes to use it for community events to draw more foot traffic downtown. • • • Construction behind the Metro Mart on the cor- ner of West Highland Ave- nue and Southwest 11th Street is leading toward a new car wash, accord- ing to building permits issued by the city’s build- ing department. A call STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Instructor McKinsay Naillon coaches Delilah Boyd, 4, on how to float on her back duing a level 1 swim class Monday at the Hermiston Family Aquatic Center. Hermiston Family Aquatic Center teaches 1,700 students to swim By JADE MCDOWELL STAFF WRITER A day at the pool or the beach can be relaxing, but for someone who doesn’t know how to swim, it can quickly turn deadly. That’s something the staff of the Hermiston Family Aquatic Center is hoping to avoid. They’re teaching swim lessons to more than 1,700 people this summer, from toddlers to adults. The adult class is new this year, spurred by a recent drowning death of a Umatilla man who jumped into the Columbia River to save his son despite not knowing how to swim. “It was heartbreaking,” aquatic center manager Kasia Robbins said. “We want to try to prevent it from happening ever again.” The new class, held Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 8:05 p.m., has attracted participants from ages 17 to 57 (the class is open to ages 16 and up). The HFAC is also offering more chil- dren’s lessons than usual this year and as a result still has slots available. Usually the aquatic center has difficulty finding enough summer staff to meet the demand for lessons, but Robbins said this year they have more staff than ever before, at STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Instructor Savanah Sharp, 15, watches as a swimmer emerges from the water while teaching a level 6 class swim class Monday at the Hermiston Family Aquatic Center. over 100. There are two levels of parent and tot classes for infants and toddlers to get used to the water, followed by six differ- ent levels of 25-minute classes. On Mon- day morning a mix of skill levels were practicing in different parts of the pool. Two very young girls were practicing bouncing up and down in the shallow end to keep their heads above water, while in the lap pool a handful of elementary school-aged children used kickboards and practiced swimming freestyle. “The young kids are learning the water safety aspect, when is it safe to get in the water and how to exit and enter,” Rob- bins said. “Other kids learn how to stay afloat, how a stroke affects their endur- ance. It really ranges with age.” On the more advanced end of the spectrum is the hour-long junior life- guard class, which gives teens a taste of the exercises they would practice to be a lifeguard — potentially lifesaving See SAFETY, Page A16 See BTW, Page A11 Turning the tassel By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN STAFF WRITER As they graduated, Hermiston High School’s class of 2018 cele- brated everything that brought them to that point — as well as the changes ahead. “I thank you for the love, the hap- piness and the tears, but most of all, our history,” said valedictorian and class speaker Dylan Westfall. “Let’s go see what’s out there.” The largest class to graduate from Hermiston in the history of the school, 342 seniors walked across the stage at the Toyota Center in Kennewick on Thursday. The class boasted 10 valedictorians and sev- eral successes in academic, athletic and musical endeavors, noted Princi- pal Tom Spoo. “The class of 2018 qualifies as one of the finest in Hermiston High School history,” Spoo said. Students chose to remember not just the high points, but the chal- lenges that had shaped them. West- fall noted several dates in the last few years that had been milestones for their class. He recalled Nov. 25, 2017, the day Hermiston High School won the OSAA 5A football championship. He recalled one of the toughest days, when a classmate passed away. “Moments like those test us as a family,” he said. “That day, our fam- ily got a little closer.” The audience heard from Salma See GRADUATION, Page A16 STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY Hermiston High School seniors listen to a class speaker Thursday night during commencement exercises at the Toyota Center in Kennewick. For more photos, see A15.
