HERMISTON TAKES HOME DISTRICT 8 TITLE, PAGE A9
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
HermistonHerald.com
$1.00
INSIDE
CITY LOVE
Hermiston residents invit-
ed to provide community
service on Saturday for I
Love My City event.
PAGE A4
ELECTIONS
Ballot returns stand at less
than 9% so far in the May
21 election.
PAGE A6
DANGER
A Umatilla County detec-
tive is teaching parents
about keeping their
children safe online.
PAGE A7
BY THE WAY
National
Police Week is
May 12-18
This week is National
Police Week, and Herm-
iston-area residents have
a chance to show their
appreciation.
They can pick up a
blue ribbon at city hall,
the police station or many
area businesses. The rib-
bons can be placed in
vehicles or rolled up in the
window to show support
for local law enforcement.
According to a proc-
lamation read Monday at
city hall, more than 21,000
members of law enforce-
ment have been killed
in the line of duty in the
United States. Hermiston
Police Department lost
an officer of its own, Ron-
ald G. Kilby, in 1959.
• • •
Swimming lesson reg-
istration is beginning for
the Hermiston Family
Aquatic Center.
Parents can register
their children online (or
adults can register them-
selves for the adult class)
beginning at 10 a.m. on
Wednesday. Visit bit.ly/
hermistonrecreation
to
register. For a list of les-
son schedules through-
out the summer, visit bit.
ly/2019hermistonsummer-
guide.
• • •
The taste buds have
all been tallied — Tri-
See BTW, Page A2
staff photo by Kathy aney/east Oregonian
Fire destroyed a play structure early Friday morning at Hermiston’s Funland Park.
Hermiston pledges to rebuild Funland
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
staff photo by Kathy aney/east Oregonian
Fire destroyed a play structure early Friday
morning at Hermiston’s Funland Park, melting
this slide.
It was heartbreak all over again for Herm-
iston on Friday.
Mayor David Drotzmann stood in front
of the blackened Funland playground at
Butte Park, hours after a fire tore through the
wooden structure that was rebuilt in 2001
after fire destroyed the original playground
built in 1996. It was the saddest day of his
career as mayor, Drotzmann said in a video
message he posted to Twitter.
“One thing’s for sure,” he said. “Hermis-
ton’s a great community. We’ve rebuilt this
before. We will rebuild it again. You can’t
slow down our spirit. You can’t squelch our
pride. We’re a great community, we care
about our kids. This park is important to us
and we will once again rebuild it from the
ashes.”
The mixture of grief and resilience
matched responses from the rest of the com-
munity. On Monday night, Hermiston resi-
dents showed up in full force to let the city
know in no uncertain terms that they were
willing to do whatever it takes to rebuild.
Sue Daggett volunteered the help of the
Altrusa Club. Tami Rebman of the Colum-
bia Basin Board of Realtors said they were
on board to help however they could. Phil-
lip Spicerkuhn, president of the Lions Club,
said the Lions were “passionate about helping
make sure this resource continues to be a part
of the community.” David McCarthy, pres-
ident of the Hermiston noon Kiwanis Club,
offered similar assurances.
“This is the kind of project both our money
and our work likes to go to,” McCarthy said.
He shared a story of when he first began
dating his wife, before he lived in Hermiston.
When he visited her, one of the first things she
showed him about the community was her
family’s name engraved on a wooden slat at
Funland in recognition of their contributions
toward the project.
Tony Garber of the Rotary Club said Rotar-
ians were ready to help as well. He shared
See FUNLAND, Page A14
Former Hermiston Foods plant to be used for hemp processing
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
8
08805 93294
2
The former Hermiston
Foods plant has a buyer.
Alan Cleaver, who owns
Columbia Basin Onion and
related companies in Herm-
iston, has a purchase agree-
ment for the facility on
South Highway 395. He
plans to use it to extract
CBD oil from industrial
hemp for pharmaceutical
purposes.
Cleaver said he has
already heard concerns
from people who associ-
ate hemp with recreational
drug use or think he is pro-
cessing marijuana. The
strain of hemp he is grow-
ing, however, has no THC
— the component that
causes the high associated
with marijuana use. Instead,
the CBD (short for canna-
bidiol) oil from the hemp is
used to treat epilepsy with-
out producing any sort of
intoxication.
Industrial hemp was
legalized across the United
States last year, and Cleaver
said his plant, which will
operate under the name of
Columbia Basin Extraction,
will help lead the way in
creating large-scale pro-
cessing infrastructure for
the hemp industry.
“We’re excited about the
potential,” he said. “There’s
a lot of hope and energy
staff photo by Kathy aney
See HEMP, Page A14
Hermiston Foods is changing hands. Cleaver Farms plans to use the facility to extract CBD oil
from industrial hemp for pharmaceutical purposes.