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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (April 24, 2019)
TWO BULLDOGS POST WINS AT KIWANIS INVITE SEE PAGE A11 Staff photo by Kathy Aney WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2019 HermistonHerald.com $1.00 Hermiston’s Paige Palzinski gets ready to throw the shot put. INSIDE GROUND- BREAKING Tacos The tastiest Hermiston launched con- struction on a new water tower at the corner of Northeast 10th Street and Punkin Center last week. PAGE A3 NEW HOUSES A new 54-lot single family subdivision is planned for West Theater Lane across from Kopacz Nursery. PAGE A6 GOOD FRIDAY Hundreds of Hermiston Catholics celebrated Good Friday with the annual Way of the Cross pageant. PAGE A9, A15 BY THE WAY New food trucks in town Hermiston’s new food truck pod Third Street Eats wasn’t offi cially set to open until May, but a few trucks have already begun serving up food on the site. The pod is located in the public parking lot across Orchard Avenue from McKenzie Park, and includes picnic tables and food from vendors such as Southern Twain BBQ. Look for more informa- tion about the food pod’s upcoming summer season in next week’s Hermiston Herald. • • • Hermiston High School hired Drew Pre- uninger on Monday as as the boys basketball coach. Preuninger replaces Casey Arstein, who stepped down at the end of the sea- son for personal reasons. Preuninger, 29, grad- uated from Camas High School and played col- legiately for Concordia University. He is teach- ing math at Zionsville High School in Zionsville, Ind., and coaching basket- ball for a company called Shoot360. Staff photo by Tammy Malgesini Maria Castillo, Aaliyah Estrada, 2, and Elida Gutierrez wait to be served Monday night at Nookie’s Restaurant/ Hermiston Brewing Co. They are participating in the Tastiest Taco, a fundraiser for United Way of Umatilla & Morrow Counties. Local fundraiser serves Tastiest Tacos By TAMMY MALGESINI COMMUNITY EDITOR or a handful of co-workers at Hermiston’s Columbia Bank, it’s been “Taco Tuesday” almost every day of the week. Debra Wainwright, vice president/business bank- ing relationship manager, shared about the Tasti- est Taco fundraiser spearheaded by the United Way of Umatilla & Morrow Counties. Wain- wright, who also serves on the United Way board, was thrilled with the nearly universal positive response. “A taco is never a bad thing,” personal banker Elida Gutierrez said with a laugh. “Oh my god, tacos — let’s go,” added Aracely Urenda, a bank teller. Branch man- ager Chris Bet- tencourt said in F addition to a contest between co-workers, there’s a competition between the Hermiston and Pendle- ton branches to see who can sell the most Tastiest Taco stamp books. While the prize for the winner in the Hermiston branch is still a surprise, the incentive between the branches is pretty basic. “It’s bragging rights,” said Angela Stanley, branch supervisor. “It’s the Hermiston vs. Pendleton thing of bragging rights.” Beth Harrington, United Way’s resource devel- opment coordinator, encourages people to have fun with the contest. In addition to enjoying tacos at 10 different area restaurants and food trucks, she invites people to post about it on social media. The Tastiest Taco fundraiser began April 12 and continues through May 5. The stamp book, which cost $10, provides one free featured taco at each vendor. After going to each place, participants are encour- aged to vote for their favorite. Harrington said the winner gets to display the Tastiest Taco plaque for a year — until next year’s contest. In addition to enjoying a variety of tacos, Guti- errez said the fundraiser helps important causes through the United Way. Unless designated oth- erwise by the giver, a donation to the United Way See TACOS, Page A14 Staff photo by Tammy Malgesini See BTW, Page A2 A special prime rib taco is off ered at Nookie’s Restaurant/Hermiston Brewing Co. for Tastiest Taco, a United Way of Umatilla & Morrow Counties fundraiser. Ranch & Home opens in Hermiston BY JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR 8 08805 93294 2 It may be one of Hermiston’s most anticipated events of 2019: Ranch & Home opened Friday. The retailer announced plans for a Hermiston store in early 2016, planning to open by the end of 2017. But continued delays plaguing the project made guessing its timeline a running joke around town. The company even got in on the joke for April Fool’s Day this year, putting out a video stating that the building would be turned into a retirement home since that’s what current Hermiston residents will need by the time it opens. In reality, a surprise soft opening kicked off Friday. Marketing coordinator Morgan Hunsaker said the store would hold an offi - cial grand opening on May 31 when every- thing was fully in place, but Hermiston customers had been so patient they wanted to open as soon as possible. Ranch & Home also has locations in Kennewick, Pasco and Milton-Freewater. The Hermiston store, located at 2500 S. Highway 395, boasts more than 100,000 square feet of retail space. Sections of mer- chandise include a large selection of cloth- ing, tools, automotive items, gardening supplies, barbecue grills, fi shing gear, fi re- arms, animal feed and more. “It’s pretty similar to the Kennewick store, just a little different layout,” Hunsa- ker said. Most sections of the store were fully stocked on Friday — black and yellow DeWalt tools took up a long row of shelves in one area, while racks of Under Armour clothing, 30% off, stood in another. But there were also areas where staff were still busy unpacking boxes. Staff photo by Jade McDowell See OPENING, Page A14 Racks of clothing stretch down an aisle of Ranch & Home in Hermiston during the fi rst day of its soft opening on Friday.
