HERMISTON GEARS UP FOR CINCO DE MAYO, PAGE A3
HermistonHerald.com
WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2019
$1.00
INSIDE
FOOD POD
THE GIFT OF
PLANT SALE
LIFE
Hermiston’s new food
truck pod will have a
grand opening celebration
Wednesday.
PAGE A3
FFA plant sales in Herm-
iston, Echo and Irrigon
bloom this week
PAGE A6
FOLLOW-UP
New information shows
an informant was paid
$27,000 for drug buys that
led to the arrest of dozens
during Operation Wildfi re.
PAGE A7
BY THE WAY
Post Malone
to headline
Pendleton
Whisky Fest
Umatilla County will
play host to hip hop art-
ist Post Malone during
this summer’s Pendleton
Whisky Fest.
The concert will be held
on July 13 at the Pendle-
ton Round-Up Grounds,
preceded by other yet-
to-be-announced
artists
throughout the afternoon.
Born Austin Rich-
ard Post and known for
his distinctive facial tat-
toos, Post Malone rose
to fame when his debut
album, “Stoney,” was cer-
tifi ed platinum. His sec-
ond album, “Beerbongs
& Bentleys,” debuted at
No. 1 on the Billboard
top 200 chart. His success
continued when he charted
nine songs in the top 20
of the Billboard Hot 100,
breaking a record. He has
received four Grammy
nominations and 17 Bill-
board Music Award
nominations.
Tickets go on sale at
10 a.m. on May 3 and are
available through www.
pendletonwhiskymu-
sicfest.com. Organizers are
aiming to sell 20,000 tick-
ets for the show.
• • •
The Hermiston Her-
ald is spotlighting Herm-
iston schools this year, and
Hermiston High School
See BTW, Page A2
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Heart recipient Phil Weitz, of Umatilla, chats with Autumn Toelle-Jackson, the mother of a little girl who lives on in the three people who received
her organs. The pair stands by the Threads of Life quilt unveiled Saturday at the Pendleton Center for the Arts.
By KATHY ANEY
STAFF WRITER
E
ach square on the quilt tells a differ-
ent story.
On the top row, several squares
in from the right, 3-month-old Rylee
Jackson smiles out, surrounded by her favor-
ite color purple and eight butterfl ies. The
baby enchanted her parents and two older
brothers with her trademark smile until she
died on Nov. 4 after coming down with a cold
that progressed and fi nally ended in cardiac
arrest. She was revived and declared brain
dead a few days later.
“Our daughter, Rylee, was a gift from the
beginning,” said Autumn Toelle-Jackson, of
Burns. “When she was born, she was perfect.
Her brothers, Cody, 6, and Wade, 3, couldn’t
get enough of her. She would grab their fi n-
gers and they would light up. She was the fi rst
person to whom her oldest brother showed
off his newly won mutton-bustin’ buckle.”
Toelle-Jackson spoke Saturday at the
unveiling of the 2019 Threads of Life Quilt,
which contains squares honoring specifi c
organ donors and recipients. Hermiston-area
residents who have received a life-giv-
ing donation also spoke at the ceremony in
Pendleton.
In Rylee’s short life, she drank in the fam-
ily moments, her mom said. The little girl
watched her brothers fi sh and fl y kites. She
experienced camping in the Eagle Cap Wil-
derness and the waves and sand of the Ore-
gon coast. Her parents and brothers soaked
See LIFE, Page A14
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Three-month-old Rylee Marie Jackson
smiles from a quilt square on the Threads
of Life quilt unveiled Saturday at the
Pendleton Center for the Arts. .
Fiesta Foods closing in Hermiston
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
8
08805 93294
2
Fiesta Foods is closing in
Hermiston.
The closure process starts
Wednesday, with reduced
hours (10 a.m. to 7 p.m.) and
sales on all remaining mer-
chandise. Assistant store man-
ager Norma Mitchell said the
store will probably take about
three weeks to close its doors,
depending on how quickly its
remaining merchandise is sold.
“We are all bummed out,”
she said. “We’re going to miss
our customers.”
The store is Hermiston’s
third-largest grocery store,
behind Walmart and Safe-
way. It opened in 2009 and
frequently provides sponsor-
ship and donations to commu-
nity events such as Cinco de
Mayo. It is part of a small chain
of stores that also includes
Pasco, Yakima and Sunnyside,
Washington.
Mitchell said store employ-
ees were “heartbroken” at hav-
ing to close, but sales numbers
did not support continued oper-
ations in Hermiston.
She said Grocery Outlet is
planning to open in the build-
ing, located at 1875 N. First St.
Grocery Outlet confi rmed that
they are coming to Hermiston
sometime in 2020 but did not
have further information for
now.
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Fiesta Foods is going out of business in Hermiston.