WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2019
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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.