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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2018
COWBOY
PARADISE
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HermistonHerald.com
AUG. 8-11
2018
STAFF PHOTO BY
E.J. HARRIS
INSIDE
BIG SHOES
Finalists for Port of Morrow
general manager position
look to fill Gary Neal’s shoes
after retirement.
PAGE A3
RAISE THE
BONUS CLUE
The hunt for the National
Night Out medallion is
on, and the Herald has
an exclusive clue to its
whereabouts.
PAGE A4
SPEED DEMONS
A second generation of
racers takes the wheel at the
Hermiston Raceway.
PAGE A10
BY THE WAY
City looking for
time capsule items
The City of Hermis-
ton is asking for items to
be placed in a time cap-
sule that is scheduled to be
opened in 50 years.
The city plans to seal
the capsule underground
to celebrate the dedication
of the new Harkenrider
Center on Sept. 8.
Items for consider-
ation can be dropped off
at the Hermiston Pub-
lic Library until Sept.
5. City staff will choose
photographs, documents
and some small three-di-
mensional items to go in
a small capsule for future
Hermiston residents to
unearth on Sept. 8, 2068.
Items not chosen for inclu-
sion will be returned to
their owners, but items
chosen for the time cap-
sule will become property
of the city.
The city asks that peo-
ple donating items for con-
sideration keep in mind
that food, plants and other
similar items could dam-
age the capsule’s content.
“Also consider that
digital or electronic items
may be unusable 50 years
from now,” the city news
release reads. “For exam-
ple, if a floppy disk were
included in a capsule 20
years ago, the likelihood
of the future residents
being able to read its con-
tent is very low.”
“Any skill you have, you can use to serve.”
Patrick Temple
Church members sacrifice
to help with capital
improvements
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
W
hen a church needs a new
roof or more rooms, the mem-
bers often sacrifice to make it
happen.
Sometimes that sacrifice comes in
the form of donations, like those that are
helping pay for a new fellowship hall at
Hermiston’s Faith Presbyterian Church.
Other times it is a sacrifice of time and
talents — even talents as unusual as
unicycling.
“Any skill you have, you can use to
serve,” Patrick Temple said.
On Thursday morning Patrick and his
son Harrison, 17, put that idea to the test
by unicycling their way from Pendleton
to Hermiston to raise money for Hermis-
ton Church of the Nazarene’s parking lot
repaving project. At one point they had to
stop because the chase vehicle warning
drivers of their presence on the interstate
broke down, and Harrison had to hitch a
ride in the truck outside of Stanfield after
a crucial washer on his unicycle came
loose. But at about 11:30 a.m. — and 91
degrees — Patrick rolled into the parking
lot, drenched in sweat.
“I was starting to cramp up,” he said,
panting, as he hopped off the unicycle and
turned off the bluetooth speaker attached
to the handlebar blaring his favorite tunes.
The ambitious ride came about
because Hermiston Church of the Naza-
rene has been needing a new roof and its
parking lot was badly in need of repav-
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE MCDOWELL.
Faith Presbyterian Church sits under construction as the church adds a fellowship hall,
left.
ing. The total between the two projects is
about $45,000 — a steep ask for a con-
gregation of about 180 members.
Pastor Eric Fritz said members have
been sacrificing and scraping money
together for their meetinghouse since
January, and at about $3,000 short they
were “pretty much tapped out.” That’s
when Patrick came up with the unicy-
cle idea, and Harrison volunteered to join
in on the 30-mile ride from the Eastern
Oregon Regional Airport in Pendleton to
Hermiston Church of the Nazarene, put-
ting in plugs on Facebook Live for people
to donate to a GoFundMe account.
“Patrick has a very creative mind,”
Fritz said.
Faith Presbyterian
Hermiston Church of the Nazarene
isn’t the only church in Hermiston work-
ing on capital improvement projects.
Faith Presbyterian Church is in the midst
of a 4,120 square foot addition that will
add a fellowship hall to the building.
Pastor Bruce Sexton said church mem-
bers donated about $140,000 in one-time
donations and then have pledged enough
in monthly donations to help pay off the
loan just under $300,000 that the church
took out for the rest.
“Last build (when the original build-
ing was erected) we had a 20-year mort-
See SACRIFICE, Page A16
See BTW, Page A9
Hermiston conducting feasibility study for indoor pool
‘Health and wellness
center’ high on
residents’ wish list
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
The city of Hermiston is getting
serious about an indoor pool.
A 2016 survey showed an indoor
aquatic center was the top “livabil-
ity” priority for Hermiston residents,
and the city is in the midst of a fea-
sibility study to determine what it
would take to get there.
City Manager Byron Smith said
he expected staff would have some-
thing to present to the city council
in October. He and parks and rec-
reation director Larry Fetter have
been working with consultants from
ALSC Architects of Spokane to
put together a report about prelimi-
nary designs, and what the Hermis-
ton-area market would support.
“They’ve helped us work through
a lot of analysis,” Smith said.
He said the city was looking at the
indoor pool in the context of a “health
and wellness center” that would pro-
vide other recreational opportuni-
ties beyond year-round swimming.
He said the city would need to deter-
mine what the project would include
before looking at possible locations.
After the consultants’ part of the
study is put together, city staff plan to
See POOL, Page A16
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Pierce Strong, 10, porpoises out of the water while doing the breast stroke
during the junior swim team class earlier this summer at the Hermiston
Family Aquatic Center.