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HermistonHerald.com
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
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INSIDE
THREE MINUTES
Jennifer Hook of Umatilla
Morrow Head Start discuss-
es her children, her goals
and her dream vacation.
PAGE A2
LOOKING AHEAD
DANCE-OFF
Find out which local “stars”
will be dancing for their fa-
vorite charity on Saturday.
PAGE A4
POWERFUL
Power House Treatment
Center residents tell
personal stories of drug
battles they are fighting.
PAGE A8
BY THE WAY
New Year’s Eve
starts off with a
bang
By HERMISTON HERALD
New Year’s Eve started
with a bang in Hermiston
this year, but not as much
of a bang as the city had
hoped.
The city’s first New
Year’s Eve celebration on
the new festival street in
front of city hall drew an
estimated 300 people by
midnight, and live music by
The Shades was followed
by a fireworks show.
While the fireworks
were successfully launched
over a six-foot-long papi-
er-mâché watermelon sus-
pended by a Umatilla
County Fire District ladder
truck, the watermelon did
not explode into a shower
of confetti as planned.
Parks and recreation
director Larry Fetter said
the cold weather caused
some unexpected techni-
cally difficulties, but prom-
ised next year the water-
melon will explode.
• • •
Rep. Greg Walden
(R-Oregon) will be holding
town halls in Umatilla and
Morrow counties on Jan.
23.
He will stop at the Pend-
leton Convention Center,
1601 Westgate in Pendle-
ton, at 8:30 a.m. and the
SAGE Center, 101 Olsen
Road. in Boardman, at
noon.
See BTW, Page A16
HH file photo
Erica Sandoval of the Hermiston Police Department talks with an attendee during an ice cream social block during a past National Night Out in
Hermiston.
Local organizations
outline plans, goals for
2019
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN AND JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITERS
Hermiston’s growth won’t be slowing
down in 2019.
Businesses and other organizations around
town have plans for everything from new
buildings to new programs they would like to
implement over the next year. We caught up
with a few about what they envision for 2019:
Umatilla County Fire District
Fire Chief Scott Stanton said the district
has one main goal for 2019 — build a fifth
fire station. The proposed location for the
new building is a plot of land on East Walls
Road and Highway 37, at the east edge of the
district. Stanton said the district already has
the equipment to supply another station. He
said they don’t know the cost yet, but they
will not go out for a bond to help pay for the
station. He said they hope to have it built by
summer or fall.
Stanton said the district may also see some
minor changes or expansion in coverage if
the transfer of the Umatilla Army Depot is
completed.
He said the district is always recruiting
HH file photo
Umatilla County Fire District 1 added full-time staffing at its Fire Station 22 at the intersection of
East Punkin Center and Diagonal Road east of Hermiston in 2017.
volunteer firefighters, and as they build their
new station, they will look for volunteer cov-
erage specific to that area.
electric cooperative has a few projects in the
works for this year. One, he said, is a sec-
ond transmission line from the McNary Sub-
station to the Hermiston Butte Substation.
Umatilla Electric Cooperative
UEC spokesman Steve Meyers said the
See AHEAD, Page A16
Debbie Pedro hired by Columbia Development Authority
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
8
08805 93294
2
Debbie Pedro, former execu-
tive director of the Greater Herm-
iston Area Chamber of Commerce,
will continue her work in economic
development in a new position
with the Columbia Development
Authority.
Pedro will serve as director
of economic coordination as the
agency prepares to take control of
most of the former Umatilla Chem-
ical Depot outside of Hermiston.
She started Jan. 3, working under
the CDA’s executive director Greg
Smith.
“People will still be seeing me
in Hermiston,” she said, noting
that her previous job at the cham-
ber helped her get to know a wide
variety of people in Umatilla and
Morrow counties. “I think it’s great
I already have those connections
with folks. I still have the opportu-
nity to support our businesses and
the growth of our region.”
Pedro worked for the chamber
of commerce for 18 years, includ-
ing 10 as director. She said in a
news release that the chamber’s
membership grew from 240 to 440
during her time as director and had
reached new levels of financial
stability.
“I have enjoyed my time with the
chamber and it was tough deciding
to leave,” she said in a statement
released Jan. 2. “I saw some things
I could do on a regional basis with
the new position and with the cham-
ber being in good hands, I decided
it was time to make a change.”
See PEDRO, Page A16
Pedro