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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (June 27, 2018)
UMATILLA LANDING DAYS BRINGS 3 ON 3 BASKETBALL ACTION >> SEE PAGE A13 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 2018 HermistonHerald.com $1.00 INSIDE CAUGHT Naythan Olney, accused of multiple car thefts and eluding police in Eastern Oregon, was arrested in Clackamas County. PAGE A3 BIG TIME Brewer’s Grade, fronted by Hermiston’s Zac Grooms, wins a major music award. PAGE A4 NORTH FIR ST PL ACE PROJ EC T COU L D RELIE V E HIGH WAY 395 CONGESTION SUMMER SPORTS Ariel Gummer is hosting rides for women who want to get into cycling. PAGE A9 BY THE WAY By the way: Herald to come a day early next week Due to the Fourth of July holiday, next week’s Hermiston Herald will be delivered Tuesday, July 3. Be sure to read it for information about area Fourth of July activities (information will also be available at www.herm- istonherald.com later this week). The Herald office will also be closed on July 4 so our staff may enjoy the holiday with family and friends. • • • Hermiston’s festival street is now open. Drive by city hall on Northeast Second Street to check it out, or attend a ribbon-cut- ting for the new street at 1 p.m. on July 14 during Funfest. • • • Get ready to party before Stanfield’s Inde- pendence Day celebra- tion. Tickets are on sale for the annual Stanfield Fourth of July Steak Feed fundraiser. The event, which fea- tures music by Hired Guns, is Tuesday, July 3 from 6-9 p.m. at Bard Park. The cost is $20 for adults or $10 for a child’s hamburger meal. Tick- ets are available at Main Street Market, 225 S. Main St., Stanfield. In addition, beverages will See BTW, A6 The City of Hermiston would like to move more in town traffic on Highway 395 to streets like North First Place. By JADE MCDOWELL STAFF WRITER As traffic congestion increases on Highway 395, Hermiston city officials are hop- ing to drive more local traffic to alternate routes. On Monday the city council signed an agreement with the Oregon Department of Trans- portation for a $4.5 million proj- ect to improve North First Place, which runs parallel to the high- way. The project will be paid for by state funds after it was included as an earmark in the 2017 transportation package. “We as a community need to find alternative routes to 395, and I think this will help,” said Mayor David Drotzmann. According to the agree- ment approved by the coun- cil Monday, the city can spend the $4.5 million to widen North First Place and put in center turn lanes, plus add a sidewalk, curbs, gutters, street lights and a bike-ped trail running paral- lel to the road on the east side. It can also include upgrades to the intersection of North First Place and Elm Avenue, allowing signalized left turns onto First Place from Elm. “People recognize that’s a lot of the reason people don’t use First,” assistant city manager Mark Morgan said. “I know I’ve sat through a couple of cycles (of the traffic signal) while someone was waiting to turn left.” The sidewalk will also help See PROJECT, Page A14 STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Late afternoon traffic begins to get heavy on Highway 395 on Monday in Hermiston. The Oregon Department of Transportation and the City of Hermiston have agreed to work together to help alleviate traffic on the busy highway. Brazilian farmers learn U.S. irrigation practices By JADE MCDOWELL STAFF WRITER Fred Ziari of IRZ Consulting and most of the 30 Brazilian farmers he hosted in Hermiston last week don’t speak the same language — but they do share a common goal. “We are blessed because we have food,” Ziari said, gesturing to nearby trays of fruit and pastries laid out for the guests from Brazil. “But I travel to Africa and other places every year where people are extremely hungry. As well, our state of Oregon looks beautiful but we have hunger here, too. All of us, Brazilian and Ameri- can, need to play a vital role in feed- ing the world.” IRZ Consulting, one of multiple businesses that Ziari has founded, helps farmers around the world increase their efficiency and yield through high-tech irrigation. Ziari said the Hermiston-based busi- ness hosts visiting farmers from other countries for an “international exchange of ideas.” Leonel Olivira, a soybean farmer from the Brazilian state of Bahia, said he was most impressed by “how you can remote control your farms.” “You can rule your farm with your cell phone,” he said. “It’s quite different here.” He said he was also interested to see how integrated farms and suppli- ers are in the United States. Marcos Pooter, who grows soy- beans, corn, wheat and sorghum, said he admired the “amazing” infra- structure in the country. See FARMERS, Page A14 PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY FRED ZIARI Fred Ziari and Preston Winn give a group of Brazilian farmers a tour of the Precision Irrigated Agriculture Facility in Hermiston.
