INSIDE
50 YEARS OF SPECIAL OLYMPICS | PAGE A10
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2018
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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.