HERMISTON BASKETBALL’S SENIORS FORM STRONG BONDS » PAGE A8
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2019
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YOU’VE GOT MAIL
Cupid shoots virtual arrows online
NET NEUTRALITY
Hermiston’s Joseph
Franell, president of
Eastern Oregon Telecom,
testifi ed on a hot button
issue in front of Congress
last week.
PAGE A3
SNOW DAY
Hermiston students took
advantage of a snow day
Tuesday to get in some
sledding at Butte Park.
PAGE A13
BY THE WAY
Iowa State’s Sam Col-
bray and Oregon State’s
Bob Coleman were team-
mates when Hermiston
won the 2016 Oregon 5A
state team title in wrestling.
They both won individ-
ual state titles — Colbray
at 195 pounds, and Cole-
man at 182.
Monday night, the for-
mer teammates were back
on the mat together, this
time as competitors in a
dual in Corvallis.
Colbray beat his for-
mer teammate 13-4 in the
184-pound match at Gill
Coliseum, helping the
17th-ranked Cyclones to
a 23-14 victory over the
Beavers.
Colbray, a redshirt
sophomore, had the ini-
tial takedown in the fi rst
round, and led throughout.
He led 6-2 after the fi rst
round, and 10-4 at the end
of the second.
Colbray improved to
20-5 on the season, while
Coleman, a junior, dropped
to 13-13.
• • •
It’s time to imbibe in
delectable cheeses and
chocolates, as well as pal-
ate-pleasing beer and wine.
See BTW, Page A14
Contributed photos from Tashina Rushlow and Jazmin Avalos
ABOVE: Tashina Rushlow and Chris Benson met online three-and-a-half years ago and are still dating. BELOW: Jazmin Avalos, 25, has been
using dating apps for about fi ve years.
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
AND JADE MCDOWELL
STAFF WRITERS
Online dating has come a long way since Tom
Hanks and Meg Ryan traded anonymous emails
in “You’ve Got Mail.”
While the virtual venues aren’t a magic cure-
all for the ills of pursuing a relationship, many of
those who met their signifi cant other online say
dating websites have helped them overcome barri-
ers such as shyness or an odd work schedule.
When Tashina Rushlow and Chris Benson of
Hermiston met on OkCupid three-and-a-half years ago,
they were both working evenings. Graveyard shift made it
diffi cult to attend social gatherings with other single people.
“I’m not a person who goes out a lot or been very social,
and I was working a lot,” Benson said.
At the time, Rushlow was living in Irrigon and Benson was liv-
ing in Stanfi eld. Both joined OkCupid about the same time, and
after two days on the site Rushlow sent a message to Benson.
“I loved his picture,” she said. “It was all bug-eyed and funny.”
The two started messaging on the site, then graduated to video
chats over Skype. They tried to meet up three different times, but
each time Benson had something come up and ended up cancel-
ing. Finally, they both committed to meeting at the bowling alley
in Hermiston.
“It was nerve-wracking,” Rushlow said.
Benson said he remembers walking in the door and seeing Rush-
low walking toward him for the fi rst time and thinking, “Yep, that’s
her.”
The date went well and the pair started dating seriously after
that, eventually buying a
house together. Benson
said he thinks one of
the secrets to success-
ful online dating is
talking to the person
for a while online
and building trust
instead of jumping
straight to meeting in
person.
Joshua and Tammy
Nycz of Hermiston also
found each other online.
They have been together for
about fi ve years and were mar-
ried in August.
Joshua said he doesn’t even remem-
ber the name of the dating site where they
met (he thinks it might have been Plenty of Fish),
but he does remember how attracted he was to Tam-
my’s smile in her profi le picture. He messaged her some-
thing innocuous, and she asked if he was related to someone she
knew with the same last name. Soon they were checking in regu-
larly, asking how the other person’s day went.
Tammy’s older sister had signed her up for the site and created
her profi le, and she had been talking to a few of the men who had
sent her messages. Joshua said he signed up because he’s not into
drinking, and it’s hard to fi nd social gatherings for single people not
centered around alcohol.
See CUPID, Page A14
Snow strands Hermiston drivers on I-82
By JADE MCDOWELL AND PHIL
WRIGHT
STAFF WRITERS
8
08805 93294
2
Hermiston residents try-
ing to get home from the
Tri-Cities had a harrow-
ing experience Saturday
after white-out conditions
and a multi-vehicle pile-up
stranded hundreds of drivers
on Interstate 82.
Mackenzie Colgan left
work at about 2:45 p.m.
and didn’t get home until
11:30 p.m.
“Longest trip home from
the Tri-Cities ever,” she said.
“It was terrifying.”
Washington State Depart-
ment of Transportation
declared Interstate 82 closed
about 2:30 p.m. but Colgan
said there were no signs up
to warn her when she got
on the Interstate in Kenne-
wick and started follow-
ing a semitrailer crawling ts
way through the snow storm.
About 15 minutes, later the
semi hit its brakes and she
swerved into the shoulder to
avoid it.
“Once we stopped we
didn’t move again until
10 p.m.,” she said.
Colgan said one of her
best friends, Destiny George,
turned out to also be stranded
less than half a mile ahead,
so they stayed on the phone
most of the time to keep each
other company. Luckily, both
of them had enough gas in
their tanks to keep their cars
idling and the heat on through
the whole ordeal, but Colgan
said she did get hungry.
“I was thinking, my dad
is going to be mad at me
because I didn’t have any
food or water with me,” she
said. “But I did have blan-
kets and my snow boots and
a heavy coat.”
She also said she learned
her lesson about keeping
snacks and water in the car,
and about always checking
to see if the roads are closed
before setting out.
See SNOW, Page A14
Contributed photo by Mackenzie Colgan
Mackenzie Colgan snapped this photo through her windshield
while sitting about seven hours on Interstate 82 while it was
closed Saturday.