HERMISTON TRACK AND SOFTBALL TEAMS
HEADED TO STATE, PAGE A8
WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 2019
HermistonHerald.com
$1.00
INSIDE
FRESH FOOD
DERAILED
The Maxwell Farmers
Market returns to
Hermiston on Thursday.
PAGE A3
Union Pacifi c eliminates majority of
remaining jobs at Hinkle
MEMORIAL DAY
Local veterans groups plan
services for Memorial Day.
PAGE A4
NEW BLOOD
Blue Mountain Community
College’s new president
knows the value of a
community college
education.
PAGE A11
BY THE WAY
Election Day
results online
Tuesday was Election
Day in Oregon. While
the results did not come
in until after the Hermis-
ton Herald went to print,
they can be found online
at www.hermistonherald.
com and in next week’s
paper. Races included
board positions for Herm-
iston School District,
Umatilla County Fire
District 1 and other spe-
cial districts.
• • •
Teenagers from Mor-
row County are planning
a “climate strike” in Hep-
pner to raise awareness
about climate change.
The event, titled ”Fight
for our Future,” will take
place at Heppner City
Park on Main Street on
Friday, May 24 at noon.
Community members of
all ages are welcome to
participate, and are encour-
aged to bring signs “with
messages pertaining to the
global climate crisis.”
According to a news
release about the event, the
goal is to educate the pub-
lic about the effect climate
change has on individuals’
daily lives and the broader
environment. Educational
materials will be pro-
vided, and organizers will
be wearing T-shirts with
the “Fight for our Future”
slogan.
Organizers put together
a website and blog at bit.ly/
heppnerclimate to start rais-
ing awareness and created
See BTW, Page A2
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Union Pacifi c Railroad announced it would be laying off 500 additional employees for the Hinkle Rail Yard on Tuesday outside of Hermiston.
By JADE MCDOWELL AND PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITERS
T
he railroad looms large in Herm-
iston’s past, but it will likely play
a much smaller role in the city’s
future.
Union Pacifi c Railroad fi led notice
with the state on Tuesday that it will
lay off up to 195 employees at the Hin-
kle Rail Yard in Hermiston and close the
yard’s supply warehouse and mechanical
shop. It stated the 195 layoffs would be
completed by July 19 and are expected to
be permanent. The bulk layoff is an esca-
lation of the scores of layoffs that have
happened incrementally at the rail yard
since October 2018.
Hermiston Mayor David Drotzmann
said his conversation on Tuesday with
UP spokesman Aaron Hunt was a diffi -
cult one. The city of Hermiston’s June
2018 fi nancial report listed Union Pacifi c
as one of the city’s largest employ-
ers at the time, estimating the company
employed about 500 people at Hinkle.
Drotzmann said it was his understanding
the latest layoffs will leave between 40
and 45 employees.
“It was both a conversation of frus-
tration and sadness to realize an organi-
zation that has made such an impact on
the community over the last 25 years is
reducing to one eighth of what it was,”
he said.
He said the loss of so many jobs in
the community will have an economic
impact as families move away or cut back
their spending signifi cantly while facing
HH fi le photo
Rail cars roll down the hump and into the yard at the Union Pacifi c Railroad Hinkle
Locomotive Service and Repair Facility and Freight Classifi cation Yard near Stanfi eld in
May 2012.
“Those were
good-paying jobs with
great benefi ts.”
David Drotzmann, Hermiston Mayor
unemployment. But he said he was more
concerned about the effects on the indi-
viduals who lost their jobs.
“Those were good-paying jobs with
great benefi ts,” he said.
After Union Pacifi c laid off more than
80 employees during the fall of 2018 and
winter 2019, UP spokesman Tim McMa-
han declined to share how many employ-
ees Hinkle had, but said UP had 1,506
employees throughout Oregon. On Tues-
day, he again declined to answer most
questions submitted by the East Ore-
gonian about the number of employees
who will remain at Hinkle or what oper-
See DERAILED, Page A16
Hermiston volunteers show love for their city
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
8
08805 93294
2
Volunteers were out in
full force on Saturday to
show Hermiston a little love.
The annual I Love My
City cleanup event spread
community members out
across the city to pick up
trash, weed fl ower beds,
paint over graffi ti and more.
Across from the Herm-
iston Community Center,
a group of families in red
“I Love My City” T-shirts
were planting fl owers and
trimming bushes Saturday
morning.
Al Llanos was handing
fl owers out of the bed of
pickup truck to his daugh-
ters, who passed them
assembly line-style to his
wife Ana.
“We’re out here to sup-
port our community,” he
said.
The family moved to
Hermiston from Idaho
recently and decided to sign
up when their church asked
for volunteers.
“It’s a really nice way
to teach our kids how to
important it is to help,” he
said.
Other groups spread
out through downtown and
along the railroad tracks,
beautifying as they went, or
washed cars for free.
The I Love My City
movement began in 2016.
Hermiston had been rocked
by a murder-suicide and
several other tragedies, and
members of Hermiston
Assembly of God church
wanted to do something to
help raise the community’s
spirits. Their fi rst day of ser-
vice included creating a free
car wash, handing out snacks
at parks and going door to
door with offers of service
and prayers.
Since then the campaign
has grown, encompass-
ing several area churches
and bringing out hundreds
of volunteers each spring
for their largest event of the
year.
See CITY, Page A16
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Ana Llanos, left, takes a fl ower from Samantha Llanos as they
help plant new fl owers across from Hermiston Community
Center on Saturday during the I Love My City event.