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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 28, 2018)
INSIDE 45TH ANNUAL HERMISTON FARM FAIR ISSUE INSIDE POSTPONED The Hermiston City Council delayed their vote on raising electric rates for Hermiston Energy Services customers. PAGE A3 TREE SALE COMMITTED TO ADVOCACY Umatilla firefighters aren’t selling Christmas trees this year, but Encore Wellness 4 Life has stepped up to fill the need. PAGE A4 TALL ORDER At 6-4, Hermiston girls basketball player Jordan Thomas towers over the competition. PAGE A10 BY THE WAY Journey to Bethlehem canceled Hermiston will be missing a holiday tradition this year after the Hermis- ton Seventh-Day Adven- tist Church announced it will not be holding its live nativity Journey to Beth- lehem this year. The church at 855 W Highland Avenue was gut- ted by a fire in June, and an announcement on the church’s Facebook page stated that the event would be canceled this year as a result. • • • The annual holiday concert of the Inland Northwest Musicians is Saturday, Dec. 8 at the Echo Community Cen- ter. “The Carols of Christ- mas” features the orches- tra and chorale performing holiday music, including traditional and contempo- rary songs. Although there is no admission charge, due to the popularity of past hol- iday concerts, it is highly recommended that peo- ple make reservations. Contact 541-289-4696 or inwm@machmedia.net. See next week’s Herm- iston Herald for a story about the event. • • • Representatives from the Harkenrider Senior See BTW, Page A6 STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS New CASA volunteers holds their right hands in the air while being sworn in Monday in the courtroom of Umatilla County Circuit Court Judge Eva Temple in Hermiston. New CASAs prepare to advocate for local foster children By JADE MCDOWELL STAFF WRITER When the situation at home gets so bad a child is removed from their par- ents, having someone in their corner can make a big difference. More children will have that oppor- tunity after 10 new court-appointed special advocates were sworn in Monday. Known as CASAs, the special- ly-trained volunteers are assigned to be a child’s advocate as they move through the court system. They visit with the child at least once a month, attend supervised visits and court hear- ings, meet the foster parents and bio- logical parents, study the details of the case and submit reports to the judge about what they believe is in the child’s best interest. In October, 73 foster chil- dren in Umatilla and Morrow counties had a court-appointed special advocate, but 106 did not. “Since we got these ones sworn in, STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Umatilla County Circuit Court Judge Eva Temple signs a certificate of completion for a new CASA volunteer after a swearing in ceremony Monday in Hermiston. we can probably get another 15 to 20 kids CASAs,” said Jesus Rome, the CASA manager. At age 23, Meagan Duncan-Osborn is younger than most CASAs, but she didn’t want to wait to give back. Dun- can-Osborn was adopted out of foster care when she was young, and wants to be an example and a source of hope for future generations of foster children. Duncan-Osborn said she was removed from her mother’s care when she was “very young” and placed with strangers for a while before her father’s See CASA, Page A16 A Meal for All Volunteers work overtime to make Fellowship Dinner By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN STAFF WRITER The first volunteers for the Com- munity Fellowship Dinner got to the kitchen at 6 a.m. Thursday and got to work sterilizing pans, carving turkey and putting food in the ovens for the hundreds of people that would soon gather at Hermiston High School for a Thanksgiving meal. Not 24 hours earlier, they’d been staring at a problem: clogged drains, which stopped them from washing dishes and prepping turkeys. With 40 birds to prepare for the next day’s Community Fellow- ship Dinner, they didn’t miss a beat, instead working ahead on other parts of the meal until plumbers arrived. Despite the hiccup, things were running smoothly again the next morning, with volunteers bustling in the kitchen and finding things to do. “We are so far ahead it’s scary,” said co-kitchen manager Jan Cassens. Cassens and co-kitchen manager Heather Smart have worked to make sure the event is a well-oiled machine for volunteers. They start meeting in September to figure out what they already have and what they’ll need for the year’s event. See MEAL, Page A16 STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Geri McMullen and Connie Jorgensen, both of Hermiston, plate food during the Community Fellowship Dinner Thanksgiving meal on Thursday in Hermiston. For more Thanksgiving images, see A15