WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2018
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
NEWS
Hermiston School Board hires Mooney
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
Superintendent Tricia Mooney
can now drop the word “interim”
from her title. The Hermiston
School Board unanimously voted
to appoint Mooney as the Herm-
iston School District’s leader at a
meeting last week.
“I am honored and humbled to
be selected to serve this amazing
community as the superintendent
of the Hermiston School District,”
Mooney said in a statement.
Mooney had previously served
for more than a year in the interim
role, after then-superintendent
Fred Maiocco left for active duty
as a brigadier general with the
U.S. Army Reserves. He submit-
ted a letter of resignation in August
2018, after he informed the board
that his term of service had been
“I am honored and
humbled to be selected
to serve this amazing
community as the
superintendent of the
Hermiston School District.”
Tricia Mooney
extended for another year, and he
would only return to the district in
January 2020.
The board appointed Mooney
one month after Maiocco offered
his resignation. At a meeting in
early September, board members
discussed how to fill the role. Many
said they considered expanding
the search to other applicants, but
felt Mooney had demonstrated her
capability in the role, and hiring
her would maintain stability in the
district.
The district held a meet-and-
greet Sept. 24 where the commu-
nity was invited to hear Mooney
talk about her work and history in
Hermiston, and asked participants
to fill out a survey. About 30 peo-
ple attended the meeting, half of
them district staff and administra-
tors, and the rest parents and com-
munity members.
Mooney spoke about the strains
of a growing school district and
strategies to improve the high
school’s graduation rate.
At a special meeting Sept. 26,
board chairwoman Karen Sherman
reviewed the survey results, and
said they were “overwhelmingly
positive.”
Before the vote, board mem-
ber Dave Smith said he was con-
vinced the job should be offered to
Fire on Navy property
near Boardman burns
10,000 acres
Free flu shots available in October
By JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
Opportunities for free
flu vaccines are plentiful in
Umatilla County after the flu
killed an estimated 80,000
people in the United States
last year.
Good Shepherd Health
Care System is doing a free
clinic on Oct. 20 from 9 a.m.
to 2 p.m. in the hospital’s
conference rooms, 610 N.W.
11th St., Hermiston. Mar-
keting and communications
director Nick Bejarano said
the clinic is open to all ages
— no insurance required —
and will have the special-
ized doses for infants and the
elderly on hand.
Vaccines are also avail-
able through primary care
providers and are often cov-
ered 100 percent by insur-
ance.
Good
Shepherd
administers the vaccine to
emergency room patients
during flu season. Businesses
can also arrange for the hos-
pital to come and host a flu
shot clinic for employees.
“Statistically speaking,
(the vaccine) is very helpful
to prevent the flu,” Bejarano
said.
Local pharmacists around
HERMISTON HERALD
An influenza vaccine is prepared in this 2015 file photo.
the county also offer flu vac-
cines, including the pharma-
cies at Walmart, Safeway,
Rite Aid and Bi-Mart.
Alisha Southwick, school
health and community well-
ness supervisor for Umatilla
County Public Health, said
people can get the flu shot
wherever is most conve-
nient for them — the import-
ant thing is that they get the
shot.
The public health depart-
ment encourages people to
get the vaccine through their
pharmacist or primary care
provider but the department
does have regular flu vac-
cines for adults and children
on hand. People should call
ahead and make an appoint-
ment, but the Hermiston
office at 435 E Newport St.
is taking walk-ins Oct. 26.
Southwick said children
and the elderly are most at
risk of serious complications
from the flu, and she highly
encourages they get a vac-
cine before flu season gets
into full swing.
“We don’t know what this
season will bring,” she said.
According to the Associ-
ated Press, last year’s sea-
son was particularly deadly.
About 80,000 Americans
died, compared with 12,000
to 56,000 in a normal year.
Crews contained a wild-
fire near Boardman on
Sept. 26 that had started
about 24 hours earlier and
burned 10,000 acres.
The fire started at
Bombing Range Road, at
the Naval Weapons System
Training Facility, around 1
p.m. Sept. 25, and was con-
tained around 1:20 p.m. the
next day.
Mike Welding, a pub-
lic information officer for
Naval Air Station Whid-
bey Island, said the bomb-
ing range is about 48,000
acres, and the fire was
about 10 miles away from
Interstate 84. He said the
fire moved southwest,
away from the freeway.
It got within about a mile
of the coal-fired plant in
Boardman.
Welding said the cause
HH FILE PHOTO
The flu can increase the risk
of heart attacks, strokes and
other deadly complications.
The flu vaccine is more
effective some years than
others, because scientists
developing each year’s vac-
cine have to guess which
strains will take off. But
even in less effective years,
people who get the vaccine
are statistically less likely
to get the flu and usually
have more mild symptoms.
The vaccine takes about two
weeks to become effective,
so doctors recommend not
waiting until friends, family
and co-workers are already
sick.
8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Board-
man Telehealth Clinic at the
Port of Morrow, 2 Marine
Drive, Suite 103.
•Monday-Fridays from
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at
the Walla Walla VA Clinic,
77 Wainwright Drive, and
the Richland VA Clinic, 825
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In addition, for those
unable to visit the clinics,
the VA has partnered with
Walgreens for enrolled vet-
erans to receive a flu shot —
some restrictions may apply.
For more information,
contact Linda Wondra at
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of the fire is still under
investigation.
A press release from
the Naval Air Station said
most of the fire was on
Navy property, and no
structures or people were
threatened by the blaze.
Wind made the fire diffi-
cult to contain, and the fire
spread onto Nature Con-
servancy property.
The press release stated
that the Navy requested
local mutual aid when
the fire started, and crews
from Boardman Rural Fire
Department, Kitsap Naval
base, and Yakima Train-
ing Center and Fairchild
Air Force Base also came
to help fight the fire. Herm-
iston crews arrived on
Tuesday afternoon, but left
shortly after.
Welding said between
all the agencies, 32 people
helped control the fire.
IT'S TIME TO
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Walla Walla VA announces flu shot clinics
Veterans can receive free
flu shots at several walk-in
clinics sponsored by Jona-
than M. Wainwright Memo-
rial VA Medical Center.
No appointments are nec-
essary. The local flu clinics
are available in Boardman,
Richland and Walla Walla:
•Friday, Oct. 12 from
Mooney, but said that he had ini-
tially struggled with the shortened
timeline, worrying that the district
did not go through a full vetting
process.
Sherman said she and other
board members felt that though the
timeline was short, Mooney had
been vetted through the past year
as the interim superintendent.
Board member Josh Goller said
the board and Mooney will now
begin to negotiate a contract, which
could include a salary increase.
Mooney’s base salary as interim
superintendent is $141,221.
Goller said the contract will be
disclosed to the public before the
board takes action, and the vote to
approve it will take place in a pub-
lic session.
The board has not announced
when they will begin contract
negotiations with Mooney.
Put a smile on the heart with
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509-525-5200, linda.won-
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