MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL
HermistonHerald.com
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2018
$1.00
INSIDE
Families wrap up
holiday traditions
HOPEFUL
A Hermiston man looks
toward an experimental
treatment to slow his
scleroderma.
PAGE A3
DINNER TIME
The Community Fellow-
ship Dinner is looking for
volunteers to help serve
meals on Christmas day.
PAGE A4
PERFECT
The Hermiston boys bas-
ketball team keeps their
winning streak alive.
PAGE A10
BY THE WAY
Sign advertises
new athletic club
The Hermiston Her-
ald offi ces will be closed
at noon on Christmas
Eve and New Year’s Eve
and closed completely on
Christmas Day and New
Year’s Day to allow our
staff to enjoy time with
their families during the
holidays.
• • •
A banner outside the
former Columbia Court
Club at 80903 N High-
way 395 is advertising the
Hermiston Athletic Club
“opening soon.”
The building has been
closed since a fi re in 2016,
but former owner Steve
Watkinds announced in
October he had sold it to
a new owner who planned
to re-open it.
We reached out to the
email address listed on the
website, www.hermiston-
athleticclub.com, and hav-
en’t heard back yet, but
look for more information
in a future edition of the
Hermiston Herald.
• • •
A current display at
the Hermiston Public
Library features the art-
work of Kim La Plant.
The Hermiston woman,
who grew up in the
Ozarks, goes by the moni-
ker Ozark Hippie.
Also, due to upcoming
holidays, the library will
See BTW, Page A16
Staff photo by Tammy Malgesini
Chet and Deana Hall with their blended family on their wedding day this summer at Rockaway Beach. The couple has incorporated the four gift
Christmas challenge as part of their family holiday tradition.
Staff photo by Tammy Malgesini
Contributed photo
Presents wrapped in the same paper don’t have tags on them at
the home of Chet and Deana Hall. As part of the four gift Christmas
challenge, the Hermiston couple’s family fi nds out which gifts are
theirs when they get to the bottom of their Christmas stocking.
Shawn Logue plans a family trip to Leavenworth, Washington, each
December. Rather than spending a lot on presents, the Hermiston
woman said they focus on family time together during the holiday
season.
By TAMMY MALGESINI
COMMUNITY EDITOR
anta Claus doesn’t have anything
on a Hermiston woman when it
comes to making a list and check-
ing it twice.
Deana Hall learned about the four gift
Christmas challenge several years ago on
the internet. The idea is to get four presents
for each person with a focus on the catego-
ries of something they want, need, wear and
S
read. She’s utilized the method for a hand-
ful of years — even modifying it to include a
“mom’s choice” for a fi fth gift.
After marrying Chet Hall this past sum-
mer, their blended family increased to seven
kids between the ages of 10 and 26. Deana
said the organized plan makes holiday shop-
ping more manageable.
“Before it was a free-for-all,” she said.
“Also, it’s much easier on the budget.”
Adding to the fun and surprise, gifts for
the Christmas challenge don’t have name
tags on them. Each of the seven kids will fi nd
out which presents are theirs when they fi nd
the piece of corresponding wrapping paper
at the bottom of their stocking.
James and Jolene Pooley were looking
for a different way to approach the holiday
season this year when they became aware of
the four gift Christmas challenge.
“It makes sense,” James said. “Last year
we kind of went overboard for everyone. It’s
See TRADITION, Page A16
Christmas Express delivers hundreds of meals, presents
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
8
08805 93294
2
After one box brimming with
canned foods and a whole turkey,
an armful of wrapped presents and
a pair of warm socks, everyone who
walked out the doors of the Agape
House on Monday felt the effects
of Christmas Express as it rolled
through Hermiston.
The annual effort by the Hermis-
ton Police Department yielded 500
boxes of food, turkeys, bags of pota-
toes and onions, and hundreds of gifts
for children ages 0 to 11. On Sunday,
the police department delivered the
haul to the Agape House, which is
distributing the donations to families
Monday through Wednesday.
Volunteer Ginger Haley checked
in families as they came to collect
donations. She checked off a list of
350 families and individuals in need,
who were recommended by the
schools, Department of Human Ser-
vices, Head Start and local churches.
As families fi led in, the children
gravitated toward the pile of stuffed
animals in the corner, while the par-
ents perused the tables of hats, gloves
and stocking stuffers. Each family
also got to take home a jar of oat-
meal cookie mix, and wrapped pres-
ents for each of their children. After
collecting toys and gift boxes inside,
visitors drove to the back of the
Agape House building, where vol-
unteers Doug Alvarez and John Car-
raher loaded boxes of food into cars.
Jan Maitland, an Agape House
employee, said if someone was not
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
See MEALS, Page A16
Volunteer Doug Alvarez loads a box of food into the back of a vehicle during
the Christmas Express on Monday at Agape House in Hermiston.