WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2018
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7
NEWS
Fines under Oregon’s self-serve law are rare
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
T
he rules used to be
simple: Don’t pump
your own gas in
Oregon.
Then in 2016, fueling
stations in low-population
rural counties were allowed
to offer self-service at night.
The rules changed again in
January, when counties with
populations of less than
40,000 were allowed to go
to 24-hour self-service.
In Umatilla County —
population 76,985 — it is
still illegal to pump your
own gas any time of day.
But the county is an island
in a sea of counties where
pumping your own gas is
allowed, including the four
counties it touches in Ore-
gon and everything north of
the Washington border.
Observation at local gas
stations suggests some driv-
ers and stations are taking a
more lax attitude toward the
law as a result.
Enforcement of the self-
serve law falls not to law
enforcement, but to the Ore-
gon State Fire Marshal’s
office. The fire marshal can
impose a $500 civil penalty
on gas stations found in vio-
lation of the law.
“The OSFM receives,
responds to, and investi-
gates any violations of the
statues and rules regulating
the dispensing of class one
flammable liquids,” Rich-
ard Hoover, public informa-
tion officer for the Oregon
State Fire Marshal, wrote in
an email. “These are gener-
ally complaint driven.”
He said he did not
know of any law enforce-
ment agencies that cited for
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE MCDOWELL
Josh Brown serves a customer at Heller & Sons Distributing Inc. in Hermiston on Thursday.
those violations, and he was
unsure if they even had the
authority to do so.
He said citations from
the fire marshal’s office are
“not common.”
“OSFM receives very
few complaints of self-
serve violations,” Hoover
said.
While gas stations can be
fined for allowing people to
pump their own gas, there is
nothing in the Oregon State
Statutes or recent bills that
specifies a fine or other pen-
alty for someone caught
pumping their own gas.
Hoover confirmed that
state statute only authorizes
the OSFM to regulate sta-
tions and their owners, not
customers.
“OSFM receives very
few complaints of
self-serve violations.”
Richard Hoover,
public information
officer for the Oregon
State Fire Marshal
Mike Heller, owner of
Heller & Sons Distributing
Inc. in Hermiston, said when
people (mostly out-of-town-
ers) try to pump their own
gas at Heller & Sons they
are always asked to return to
Umatilla history buffs
record memories of town
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
Long after memories
fade, there will be a record
of Umatilla’s formative
years — thanks to efforts of
a group of history buffs.
The Umatilla Museum
is in the process of inter-
viewing longtime residents
of the town, focusing on
people who grew up there
during the 1940s and 1950s.
They are filming interviews
and plan to compile them
onto a disc that people can
reference to learn about the
town’s history.
The city was established
in 1864, but museum mem-
bers are trying to collect
memories of those who
were growing up around the
time the McNary Dam was
built and the town began to
take the shape it is today.
Sam Nobles, president
of the museum and a long-
time resident, graduated
from Umatilla High School
in 1954.
“There’s a lot of history
in Umatilla,” he said, recall-
ing the town’s origins as a
trade center and the impor-
tance of the railroad. Many
of the residents being inter-
viewed worked on McNary
Dam as it was being con-
structed from 1947 to
1954, or remember a flood
that devastated the town in
1948.
Previously, most of the
town was built closer to the
river, which is now referred
to as “old town.” It was
moved to higher ground in
1968 due to projected flood-
ing from the building of the
John Day Dam.
Museum
members
hope to collect the memo-
ries of older residents, but
don’t have a specific set of
questions.
“We get them started,
and then just let them talk,”
said Leslie Smith, vice
president of the Umatilla
Museum. “It’s not really an
interview so much as recall-
ing and documenting those
memories.”
The project has become
something of a bridge
between older and younger
their vehicle and let an atten-
dant take care of it so that
the station can comply with
the law.
“We have people try and
do that, but they can’t, so we
have to stop them,” he said.
Heller said many cus-
tomers — particularly the
elderly — actually prefer to
stay in their car while some-
one pumps their gas for
them, especially when the
weather is bad.
But others would prefer
to handle it themselves.
Heller said motorcycle
owners tend to be particu-
lar about making sure no gas
is dripped on their bikes, for
example, and some riders
from out of state will com-
plain when told they aren’t
allowed to pump their own.
Heller said he believes
the steps the legislature
has taken to roll back the
self-service requirement in
some counties are a “step-
ping stone” toward eventu-
ally letting everyone in Ore-
gon pump their own gas.
All joking aside (the rest
of the country had a field
day on social media ear-
lier this year making fun
of Oregonians who don’t
know how to pump their
own gas), Heller said the
48 other states that allow
self-service have shown
that everyday drivers are,
in fact, capable of refueling
their own vehicles.
However, he also appre-
ciates that it is easier on
some people to let an atten-
dant pump it for them and
he likes the opportunity to
provide more jobs in the
community.
Being a fuel station atten-
dant is a good first job for
teens, he said, because it
teaches them how to interact
with the public while on the
job. He said he would keep
attendants on hand even if
the law changed to include
Umatilla County.
“I’ll offer full-serve until
it’s not economically feasi-
ble,” he said.
The Legislature imple-
mented Oregon’s ban on
self-service in 1951. Rea-
sons listed within the bill
include:
• Dispensing Class A
flammable liquids without
proper safety training can be
dangerous.
• If customers leave their
vehicles it puts them at risk
of crime or injury such as
slipping on wet pavement.
• Gas stations would have
to pay higher liability insur-
ance rates if customers are
exposed to such dangers.
• Disabled and elderly
customers will not be sin-
gled out in paying for the
higher cost of full service.
• Exposure to toxic fumes
from the gas is a health haz-
ard, particularly to pregnant
customers.
• Self-service in other
states “does not pro-
vide a sustained reduction
in fuel prices charged to
customers.”
• Self-service decreases
employment opportunities
for young people.
• Small children are put
in danger when they are left
in a vehicle while the driver
goes inside to pay.
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GoodHealth LIVE
WITH JENNIFER POSTE, M.D.,
ENDOCRINOLOGIST
STAFF PHOTO BY JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
Rita Creamer, left, talks to Nikolas Schuening about her
memories of growing up in Umatilla. Creamer was one of
several people being interviewed for a project by the Umatilla
Museum.
generations.
Nikolas
Schuening, who graduated
from Umatilla High School
a few years ago, is filming
and editing the interviews
for the museum. He vol-
unteered to film interviews
after coming to the museum
to help a few friends film a
school project, and museum
staff asked him if he’d help
with their project.
Schuening said he has
enjoyed listening to the sto-
ries of people he films.
“I’ve wanted to do some-
thing for Umatilla — the
town I was raised in,” he
said. “I’m glad I can give
back to the community
that’s given so much to me,
in the way I’m able to.”
He added that even
though he’s a native son,
there’s much about the town
that he’d never heard.
“You don’t always know
about your own history,” he
said.
So far, museum mem-
bers have interviewed about
10 people..
Rita Creamer, a life-
long Umatilla resident, sat
in front of a camera in the
museum’s back room last
week, and reminisced about
her youth. In high school,
she worked at the local
theater.
“It was run by all kids,”
she said. “There were no
grown-ups.”
Some subjects came
from out of town. Alan
Hiatt, 88, hasn’t lived in
Umatilla since 1951, but
still fondly remembers
growing up there. His sons,
Terrence and Don, drove
him out from Vancouver,
Washington, so he could
record his memories.
“My dad’s been want-
ing to come back,” Terrence
said.
Alan Hiatt remembered
the barbershop his father
owned, and the hotel his
mother ran, both in old
town Umatilla.
“I was the fire chief for
many years,” he said.
He also worked on the
dam, building concrete
forms. Two of his broth-
ers ran the ferry across the
river and one worked as a
toll collector when a bridge
was built.
The project will be ongo-
ing, Smith said, while they
collect more memories
from people.
Nobles said he also
hopes younger people, such
as high school students,
will take an interest in the
museum. He said he’d like
to feature aspects of the cur-
rent high school, such as the
robotics team, in one room.
“We want to note the
way the school has pro-
gressed, the way the culture
has changed,” he said.
Ecdocricology
& You
Join Dr. Jennifer Poste as she shares common
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Wednesday, July 25
6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Good Shepherd Health Care System
Conference Center 1 and 2
610 NW 11th Street | Hermiston, OR 97838
A healthy dessert with light refreshmects will be provided
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