WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2018
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
NEWS
Odor citations
coming ‘almost daily’
at Stanfield plant
HH FILE PHOTO
The 3D Idapro Solutions plant in Stanfield is receiving
nearly a citation a day for odor complaints from residents
of the town.
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE MCDOWELL
Members of the U.S. Air Force team compete against Amo ser Latina during the Spash and Dash at Funfest in downtown
Hermiston on Saturday.
Splash and Dash helped Funfest stay cool
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
A frenzy of splashing
and dashing officially broke
in Hermiston’s new festi-
val street during Funfest on
Saturday.
The annual summer cele-
bration in downtown Herm-
iston included a ribbon-cut-
ting for the new street
followed by Splash and
Dash 2018, a race between
teams of three pushing one
team member around cones
in a wheeled tub full of
water.
“We hope this becomes
an annual tradition,” city
parks and recreation direc-
tor Larry Fetter said. “The
winners will have their
name engraved on this very
nice trophy and we hope to
add names every year.”
The first spot on the tro-
phy belongs to Hermiston’s
Rotary Club, which won the
championship heat against
the U.S. Air Force team.
Rotary president Tony
Garberg and team members
Haylee Harper and Brad
Wayland said they hoped
the city continued the tra-
dition every year so that
Rotary could defend its
title.
“It was a blast,” Harper
said.
Garberg said they didn’t
practice ahead of time, and
Wayland gave credit to “old
age wiles” for their win.
Eight teams total com-
peted, and Umatilla County
Fire District 1 was on hand
with a truck to refill tubs
with a fire hose and shower
contestants with extra water
as they pulled the tubs
around a series of orange
traffic cones. There was a
Seattle Seahawks-themed
team and the “Hawaiian
bobsled team.” The His-
panic Advisory Commit-
tee was represented by the
Three Amigos — city coun-
cilor Clara Beas Fitzgerald,
city council candidate Mark
Gomolski and HAC chair
Jose Garcia.
Patty Ortiz, Rosie Del-
gado and Ana Pimeyro
named their team “Amo
ser Latina,” a Spanish play
on words that meant both
“I love to be Latina” and
“I love to be the bathtub.”
They said they didn’t do
much to prepare, other than
having enthusiasm and pos-
itive thinking and matching
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STAFF PHOTO BY JADE MCDOWELL
The Bram Brata Steel Drum Band performs on the new festival street at Funfest in downtown
Hermiston on Saturday.
A pet food plant in
Stanfield has received a
string of complaints from
citizens who say the odor
from the facility is once
again permeating the air.
The 3D Idapro Solu-
tions pet food processing
facility, on Hoosier Lane,
has been the subject of
daily complaints from res-
idents. Since last summer,
the facility has had prob-
lems with an odor control
device, called a scrubber,
that burned in the first of
several fires at the plant.
Though company execu-
tives came to Stanfield in
October and presented a
three-part plan to mitigate
odors, citizens have been
complaining that odors
have gotten worse again.
Stanfield City Man-
ager Blair Larsen said in
an email to the Hermis-
ton Herald that the plant
is now getting a citation
nearly every day. He said
he has been in communi-
cation with the plant every
week for most of the year.
“For a 10-day period in
early June, they had turned
things around, and our
complaints had dropped to
only one or two per day,”
Larsen wrote.
But since then he said
complaints have spiked
again. The city continues
to rely on their odor nui-
sance ordinance, which
states that if the city
receives complaints about
an offensive odor from
a property in city limits
from at least four separate
households in a 12-hour
period, they can issue a
citation. The ordinance
states that the municipal
judge can set the fine any-
where from $0 to $2,000
per occurrence.
Larsen said the judge
had been escalating the
fine, and he heard the most
recent ones have been set
at close to $500 each.
Larsen said the com-
pany’s vice president said
they are hiring a new gen-
eral manager for the site.
He said they are also
again replacing equip-
ment that had previously
been fixed, and installing
additional equipment that
will decrease the amount
of time the material sits
before going into the dryer.
“They are saying that
this will result in fresher
material going in, and
fresher material means
less odor,” Larsen wrote.
He said despite the
increase in complaints, the
city has not changed its
process.
“Our discussions with
our city attorney have indi-
cated that we don’t have
any other options unless
we decide to file a lawsuit
against the company. The
city council has chosen
not to go that route at this
time,” Larsen wrote.
Some Stanfield resi-
dents also started a Face-
book group last week,
which states that its pur-
pose is for residents to
share ideas and stories,
and hopes to end the smell
in Stanfield. So far the
group, titled “What’s That
Smell!?!” has gathered
more than 80 members.
Juvenile injured in accidental shooting
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE MCDOWELL
Splash and Dash competitors pose for a photo after Rotary Club was crowned this year’s
winner at Funfest in downtown Hermiston on Saturday.
T-shirts.
“We did our shirts, that’s
a start, right?” Pimeyro
said.
Before the Splash and
Dash, city manager Byron
Smith and city planner
Clint Spencer cut the rib-
bon on the new festival
street. Smith said the street
had been talked about for
at least 10 years before it
became a reality, and cred-
ited Spencer with put-
ting it into motion. He also
thanked a long list of other
contributors, including the
contractors and engineers,
the city committee that
worked on the design and
the downtown merchants
who were supportive of the
project despite the impact
of construction the last few
months.
“I know it wasn’t pleas-
ant all the time, but thank
you for your patience,” he
said.
While the festival sec-
tion of Northeast Second
Street hosted the tub races
and live entertainment,
Funfest stretched down sev-
eral blocks of Main Street.
Crowds downtown listened
to bands, bought food and
snow cones, watched lawn-
mower races, got free pop-
sicles handed out by Santa
Claus and participated in
activities like the bouncy
house and dunk tank while
trying to stay cool.
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HERMISTON HERALD
Umatilla police are
looking into a shooting in
a McNary neighborhood on
July 11.
Around 5 p.m., police
were called to Chenow-
ith Street for reports of a
male who had a gunshot
wound. Police Chief Darla
Huxel said the 16-year-old
victim was taken to Good
Shepherd Medical Center,
Hermiston.
Huxel said the boy suf-
fered an accidental, self-in-
flicted wound to his left
hand while handling a
handgun.
She said the victim and
some of the witnesses were
not being cooperative, and
that the police had not yet
found the gun. The parents
were not home at the time
of the incident, and are
cooperating with the police.
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