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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (May 8, 2019)
COMMUNITY A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 2019 Families put down the screens for downtown event By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR Staff photo by E.J. Harris Airport Road resident Chris Waine is gathering signatures for a petition to hold a public hearing to discuss Umatilla County’s plan to redesign Airport Road . EOTEC neighbor disputes plans for East Airport Road By PHIL WRIGHT STAFF WRITER Chris Waine has run the measurements again and again and again with the same results each time. If Umatilla County rebuilds East Airport Road in Hermiston to a width of 66 feet at the intersection of Ott Road, he stands to lose at least 13 feet of what he has always been told is his 2-acre property along the Airport Road’s south edge. Perhaps as many as 10 more people with front- age property down the mile length of road would lose out as well. “I can’t see how it’s going to cost our neigh- borhood any less than $100,000,” Waine said. Airport Road is the pri- mary feeder to the Eastern Oregon Event and Trade Center, which is where the county held a public meet- ing at the end of March to tell the property owners about the $1.2 million proj- ect to add a third lane to the road that connects to High- way 395 on the west end and Ott Road on the east. The project also would continue improvements north on Ott, depending on costs. The county hired the engineering fi rm Ander- son Perry & Associates to design the road and over- see the construction. Anderson Perry showed its designs at the meet- ing. For those plans to become reality, fences, underground sprinkler sys- tems and fruit trees would have to go to make room for the wider road. Waine said he and one other resi- dent would have to relocate their septic drain fi elds. Even the Umatilla Elec- tric Cooperative would have to move numerous utility poles. The problem, he explained, is the property owners for more than 60 years built onto the coun- ty’s right-of-way. The locals matched their prop- erty lines to the “witness corner,” but a county sur- vey in late autumn found the true property lines were 13 feet farther south and 13 feet farther east. Gary Culp runs his machining business at the intersection of East Air- port Road and Highway 395. He said there is no doubt Airport Road needs improvements, and the county’s plan could mean it butts against his fence. But he said that’s not his real concern. “I’m for the neighbors,” he said. “I’m on the neigh- bors’ side here.” Tom Fellows, the county public works director, said Anderson Perry has yet to fi nalize the design. Until then, he said, the project is in a holding pattern. He could not even speculate on a timeline. “If we’re talking about if we get into the mid- June time, I think it’s pretty unlikely it would happen before the fair this year,” Fellows said. The county fair takes place the the fi rst full week of August. County counsel Doug Olsen was even less confi dent about the con- struction project launching this year. Once the county gets the design, he said, there’s the bidding pro- cess and the county board of commissioners has to OK the contractor. He said the construction project is almost certain to start next spring. Under state law, the county would have to hold a public hearing on the construction of a new road. Airport Road is not new, and Olsen said the county has no plans for another meeting. So Waine is gathering signatures of Airport Road property owners to petition the county to hold a public meeting to consider vacat- ing the road or least the portions that would affect him and others. He needs at least 60 percent of property owners to sign on, and he said he is just a few names away. Those are proving tough because they don’t live there. Your Family Deserves The BEST From cell phones to tele- visions, screens can feel like an inescapable part of life, but Hermiston families dodged the temptation for a few hours Thursday night. A coalition of organiza- tions hosted a celebration of National Screen-Free Week on the city’s festival street Thursday. Under a blue sky, parents and children wan- dered through stations where they could paint, arrange fl owers, do yoga, sample healthy foods and more. Gracie Littrell, 7, has learned the value of screen- free time well. She said she and her mom Jamie Littrell and brother Michael, 3, were downtown to “have some fun and also spend some time outside.” “We always need to play outside,” she said. “It keeps our bodies healthy because we get fresh air and sunlight.” Jamie said sometimes it’s hard to get the kids away from the family’s tablets or video games, but she has been working to teach them about the value of making time for other types of activ- ities as well. Limiting screen time to a healthy amount is one of the great struggles of modern parenting. “In the summertime it’s easier because they like to play outside, but in the win- tertime it’s harder,” said Misty Gutierrez, who was watching as her children put together a fl ower arrange- ment to take home. The booth was sponsored by the Kiwanis Club and run by Sassafras Flowers staff. Gutierrez said she appre- ciated that the community hosted a screen-free event each year. “I like that it’s fami- ly-friendly, that everyone can come,” she said. “I also like that they actually teach the kids things.” Elise Royer, 8, was look- ing through the free books available from Altrusa Inter- Staff photo by E.J. Harris Elise Royer, 8, of Hermiston, does yoga with OSU Extension Service staff er Erin Scionti at a celebration of National Screen-Free Week on Thursday in Hermiston. Even at the “screen-free” event, some people automat- ically pulled out phones to capture photos of the event or post to social media. The event is part of a larger movement of National Screen-Free Week, held the fi rst week in May. The move- ment focuses on “entertain- ment screens” like video games, television and scroll- ing through social media, not screens used for work or homework. “Even though it’s about turning off screens, Screen- Free Week isn’t about going without – it’s about what you can get!,” screenfree.org states. “An hour once dedi- cated to YouTube becomes an hour spent outside; ten minutes wiled away on social media turn into ten minutes spent doodling; a movie on a rainy afternoon is replaced by time spent reading, chatting, or playing pretend!” Many health organi- zations have warned that children’s still-developing brains can suffer ill effects from too much time in front of a screen, and that too much time on social media or watching television can also negatively affect adults’ physical and mental health. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Celeste Rodriguez, second from left, helps Rodrigo Mohedana, 4, of Umatilla, and his brother, Benito, 10, gets help from Nayeli Ibarra while making fl ower arrangements . national. Her mom Melissa Royer said Elise had per- suaded the family to come downtown after getting a fl yer for the event from school. Her kids Elise and Logan, she said, are “big readers.” “I have a lot of books,” Elise added. She ended up going with “Matilda” by Roald Dahl, on a recommendation from her dad Casey, who promised to read it to her. Brian and Jeannie Thomas brought their chil- dren — Aurora, 6, Phoenix, 4, and Alphonse, 2 — down- town for the free bicycle hel- mets from Good Shepherd Health Care System. Once they got the helmets, they said, they planned to stick around and participate in some of the other activities. Angie Treadwell, a founder of the Healthy Fam- ilies Coalition and chair of the Children’s Health Com- mittee, said she helped coor- dinate the event, but there was a long list of commu- nity organizations participat- ing. She said the goal was to remind people to put down the screens and spend some time interacting as a family or as a community. “We’re missing a lot of that,” she said. “These days, everyone is behind a screen.” THE Now has PRICES you can afford for the LOCAL NEWS YOU NEED UNLIMITED ACCESS TO THE HERMISTON HERALD NEWS — IN REAL TIME We’re your source for comprehensive coverage of community news, local trends and area events, from weekend fun to photo galleries featuring your neighbors and friends. Technology... Value... TV!... 24/7 ONLINE ACCESS ON YOUR PHONE, PC OR AT HOME. Add High Speed Internet /mo. Subject to availability. Restrictions apply. 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