A2 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2018
COMMUNITY
THREE MINUTES WITH ...
HERMISTON HISTORY
25 YEARS AGO
GINNY HOLTHUS
Hermiston School Board member,
contract accountant
When and why did you move to Hermiston?
In 1981. My husband Jay was hired by Lamb Weston.
What is your favorite place to eat in Hermiston?
La Palma, almost always take-out.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
Family visits, travel, gardening.
What surprises you about Hermiston?
How almost everyone is from somewhere else, and
yet we have a phenomenal sense of community.
What was the last book you read?
One of the books in the “Outlander” series, have
many more to read.
What app or website do you use most often?
Tiny Beans. It’s a family app for keeping up with my
grandson Will’s antics, probably the highlight of my
day, everyday.
If you could travel anywhere, where would you
go?
I love to travel, and I grew up traveling ... top of my
list, though, is exploring more of the U.S.A.
AUGUST 17, 1993
A 900-acre fire at Hat
Rock State Park sent one
fireman to Good Shepherd
Hospital with smoke inha-
lation and put two Umatilla
Fire Department rigs out of
service.
Ron Honey, a Uma-
tilla Fire District firefighter
caught in a windshift
during the blaze, spent 24
hours in the hospital under
observation.
“Fortunately, it wasn’t
flames causing his problem,
just smoke,” said Fire Chief
Don Drayton.
A Umatilla ambulance
standing by rushed Honey
into the hospital. Umatilla
lost a brush truck when the
heat from the fire burned
the wiring out of its engine
and another when over-
heating caused the motor to
blow up.
Umatilla,
Hermis-
ton and Irrigon firefight-
ers responded to the blaze.
During the siege, firemen
responded to seven flare-
ups of the difficult fire
according to Drayton. Shift-
ing winds and deep sand
hampered the men fighting
the four-cornered fire.
“We’d set up to fight
the fire one way, then the
wind would change,” Dray-
ton said. “Also, there is a
lot of blow-sand out there
that we had trouble getting
through.”
The fire, burning 700
acres of Hat Rock State Park
and 200 acres of United
States Corps of Engineers
grassland, threatened to
cross Highway 730 and the
Hat Rock State Park access
road, but quick action by
the various crews prevented
the fire from jumping the
roads.
50 YEARS AGO
What is the funniest thing that’s happened to
you?
Funny usually means embarrassing... so no, no sto-
ries... but I am pretty sure my sister was involved.
What is one of your goals for the next 12
months?
My husband is retiring in October, so one goal is to
start playing golf. We’ll see how that goes.
What is your proudest accomplishment?
Easily, it’s my family. And making my mom and dad
proud.
Printed on
recycled
newsprint
VOLUME 112 ● NUMBER 32
Jade McDowell | Reporter • jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4536
AUGUST 15, 1968
The Port of Umatilla
Commission had a busy
time wading through many
items of local interest at its
recent meeting held Mon-
day, August 12.
Walt Peters, Port of
Umatilla Manager, says the
following items were dis-
cussed: Considered instal-
lation of a marine gas refu-
eling facility at the Port of
Umatilla Marina.
Marina construction by
Grant construction com-
pany began Aug. 1 is pro-
gressing on schedule, and is
predicted to be completed
late this fall, earlier than the
Jan. 15, 1969 deadline.
Progress on the railroad
spur line serving the Port
industrial site is 80 percent
complete.
Progress on Fleetwood
HERALD FILE PHOTO
In August 1993, two men watched as a fire burned through Hat Rock State Park in the
direction of their campsite. The fire lasted three days and burned over 900 acres.
Geoff Newman, a Hermiston High School FFA student in
1993, showed a pig at the Umatilla County Fair.
Enterprises construction of
plant facilities at the Pend-
leton site recently pur-
chased by the trailer man-
ufacturing firm for that
purpose.
Discussed the possibility
of having the county land-
scape and improve the land
just south of the Marina,
between Main and Third
Street in Umatilla.
Offered Tidewater Oil
Co. a lease on land adjacent
to their facility, for the pur-
pose of development of a
spur track.
75 YEARS AGO
AUGUST 19, 1943
A freak electrical storm
hit this area Sunday after-
noon, causing consider-
able damage to power lines,
transformers and other elec-
trical equipment. Mrs. Julia
Penney and son Bill of
Stanfield can give firsthand
information concerning the
storm as a bolt of lightning
struck just a few feet from
where they were stand-
ing watching the fireworks.
Although they escaped with
nothing more than quite a
scare, some damage was
done to their wiring and
a radio in the house was
also damaged. The storm
approached from the south
and circled Hermiston to
the east. A strong wind
came up from the north-
east direction and citizens
were reminded of the storm
which struck here about six
years ago, blowing over
large trees, buildings and
otherwise wreaking havoc.
The expected “blow” failed
to materialize, however,
and continued north.
Lightning struck in sev-
eral places, destroying
three transformers for the
Umatilla Electric Coopera-
tive and one for the Pacific
Power and Light Co. The
former concern lost two
transformers on the Mead-
ows and one on the Fred
Andrews Sr. Ranch The P.P.
and L. Co. automatic switch
east of town was blown
open by the lightning and
the city was blacked out for
about five minutes.
A bolt struck a pole east
of the Henry Lindner place
and at the Duff Knight farm
an electric fence trans-
former was torn from the
building and tossed as far
as the line would allow. A
small twister struck near
the Fred Hensel place north
of town uprooting several
large trees. They fell on
power lines and consider-
able work was necessary to
put them back in condition.
A span of secondary wire
was broken by the trees.
For the public in general
the storm provided quite
a show. Some were wish-
ing that the storm had been
scheduled for the evening
as it would have been much
more spectacular.
100 YEARS AGO
AUGUST 17, 1918
The annual Dairy and
Hog Show will be held
again this year. This was
decided at a representative
meeting of ranchers and
business men held at the
library Monday evening,
and from the way plans
were worked out at that
time it would seem that it is
the aim to surpass in gran-
deur and ponderance the
magnificent displays at for-
mer fall festivals that made
the events so popular and
brought people from far and
near to witness them.
The county court has
already set aside $500 for
use of the Dairy and Hog
show, and with the usual
donations from the busi-
ness interest of Hermiston
and other local people that
have been in the habit of
making small contributions,
the financing of the fair is
already assured. Then the
industrial School Exhibit
will be held in conjunction,
which has always proved a
great drawing card.
Jayati Ramakrishnan | Reporter • jramakrishnan@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4534
Tammy Malgesini | Community Editor • tmalgesini@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4539
Brett Kane | News Intern • bkane@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4542
COMMUNITY
Jeanne Jewett | Multi-Media consultant • jjewett@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4531
N
Audra Workman | Multi-Media consultant • aworkman@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4538
Dawn Hendricks | Office Manager • dhendricks@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4530
To contact the Hermiston Herald for news,
advertising or subscription information:
• call 541-567-6457
• e-mail info@hermistonherald.com
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8750-4782) is published weekly at Hermiston
Herald, 333 E. Main St., Hermiston, OR
97838, (541) 567-6457.
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CORRECTIONS
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are discovered. Incorrect information will be corrected on Page 2A. Errors
commited on the Opinion page will be corrected on that page. Corrections
also are noted in the online versions of our stories.
Please contact the editor at editor@hermistonherald.com or call (541) 564-
4533 with issues about this policy or to report errors.
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veterans, a flag symbol at no charge. Expanded death notices will be published at no charge. These
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STAFF PHOTO BY TAMMY MALGESINI
Katie Anderson, center, visits with people Tuesday during National Night Out in her
Southeast Crestline Drive neighborhood. The Anderson family won an ice cream social
block party for finding the hidden medallion during a treasure hunt leading up to
Hermiston’s festivities.
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541-567-4305
eighbors
on
Southeast Crest-
line Drive got to
know each other
over some ice cream
Tuesday, Aug. 7 as
part of National Night
Out.
The
tradition
encourages
people
in cities all over the
country to get to know
their neighbors and
their local police to
encourage safety and
prevent crime.
The
Hermiston
Police
Department
offers a neighborhood
ice cream party each
year to the winner of
the annual medallion
hunt. This year’s win-
ners were the Ander-
son family, which
makes their fourth win
since the communi-
ty-wide treasure hunt
started.
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