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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (July 31, 2019)
WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2019 eo 2019 | y Pro Rod Farm-Cit HermistonHerald.com $1.00 INSIDE B on Herald ian/Hermist East Oregon READY TO REBUILD BONUS CLUE Find an exclusive bonus clue to the location of the National Night Out medallion, inside. PAGE A4 SCHOOL CLINIC Dr. Daniel Buck, a Hermiston native, will provide medical services for students at a clinic on Hermiston High School campus. PAGE A8 SPEED DEMON Hermiston resident Mitch Myers gets back in the racing game. PAGE A10 Staff photo by Ben Lonergan Dylan Duke (left) and Kayla Sandlyn search for a wooden fence board carved with the name of Dylan’s father, Scott Duke, who passed away several years ago. Funland committee begins answering questions about rebuilding the playground By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR A s the city of Hermiston and a citizen commit- tee prepare to launch a rebuild of Funland play- ground, they’re start- ing to piece together answers to the questions that have surrounded the project. The beloved, castle-like wooden structure in the shadow of the Hermiston Butte burned down in May in a suspected case of arson. This will be the third time the community builds a playground there — the orig- inal structure built in 1996 was burned down in 2001 and replaced in 2002. The committee leading the charge this time around held its fi rst meeting last week to discuss design, budget, and fundraising. Below are some of the details they discussed: Staff photo by Ben Lonergan The charred remains of the main Funland play structure are seen through a warped railing at the park. The structures at Funland burned this last spring in an apparent arson. When will the new play- ground open? Parks and recreation director Larry Fetter told the Funland cit- izens committee that under an aggressive design and fundrais- ing timeline, his goal is to have construction of the new Fun- land begin in February 2020 and wrap up in June. Will it be more fi re-resistant this time around? The Funland committee has issued a request for proposals BY THE WAY Highland Avenue lane closures planned for next week from playground designers, stat- ing that the materials used must be “durable, safe and noncom- bustible.” Many newer play- grounds are using a compressed plastic product that can mimic the look of old wooden play- grounds but is much more dura- ble and fi reproof. During last Wednesday’s meeting the committee also dis- cussed using a more fl ame-retar- dant rubberized surface under the play structure designed to break falls while also being more handicapped-accessible than bark chips or gravel. Will there be added security measures to prevent future vandalism and arson? Hermiston Police Chief Jason Edmiston said there were secu- rity upgrades that could be added to the new park, includ- ing a design that would reduce places for people to hide, and a good-quality camera feed beamed live to the police station (the quality of the old cameras was not effective in identifying Contractors will be shutting down one lane of traffi c at a time on Herm- iston Avenue between Southwest Third Street and Southwest 10th Street throughout next week as they overlay new pave- ment on the street. The lane closures will start Monday, and will not affect the Umatilla County Fair Parade scheduled for Saturday. The schedule was changed from the original plan to complete the work ahead of the fair parade. After paving between Third and 10th streets is complete, Highland Ave- nue will be closed between First and Third streets for a more extensive rebuild of that portion of road. Busi- nesses inside the closure See FUNLAND, Page A16 See BTW, Page A2 Downtown district wrangles in pre-parade fun By TAMMY MALGESINI COMMUNITY EDITOR T 8 08805 93294 2 he Hermiston Downtown Dis- trict invites people to the join the fun while waiting for the Umatilla County Fair Parade to get rolling The Umatilla County Fair Parade Kick-off event is Saturday from 4-6 p.m. on Hermiston’s festival street. It’s located in front of Herm- iston City Hall, 180 N.E. Second St. The pre-parade function features food vendors and live music by Dal- lin Puzey. Brandi Howard, Hermis- ton Downtown District vice presi- dent, called Puzey “a crowd favorite in our area.” A Hermiston native, Puzey writes and performs his own music. In addition, he plays a variety of famil- iar folk, country, rock and pop songs. Area residents, Howard said, often start staking out places to view the parade early in the day. The downtown area is always packed with people. “Main Street is a very popular place to watch the parade,” Howard said. “We thought it was a great idea to preoccupy people and provide a little entertainment.” The downtown district has been actively promoting the city’s festi- val street by sponsoring a number of events. This is the second year in a row that they have organized pre-pa- rade activities. The 2018 event, How- ard said, was very well-received. “People loved it,” she said. “You bring your kids down, they get some HH fi le photo See PARADE, Page A16 Dallin Puzey is the featured entertainer during the Umatilla County Fair Parade Kick-off event Saturday from 4-6 p.m. on Hermiston’s festival street.