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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 14, 2019)
TOP COWBOYS AND STOCK GO HEAD-TO-HEAD AT FARM-CITY PRO RODEO WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2019 HermistonHerald.com PAGE A8 $1.50 INSIDE MELON FEST Hermiston will celebrate its most famous fruit with face painting, bath tub races, free watermelon and more on Saturday. PAGE A4 BUDDY BENCH T O FA I R W E E K Armand Larive Middle School’s Kindness Club comes up with a new way to combat bullying. PAGE A6 FAIR WEEK More coverage of the Umatilla County Fair inside. PAGES A9, A12, A13 BY THE WAY Committee selects Funland designer After a day of inter- viewing seven candidates to handling design of the new Funland playground, the committee in charge of the decision has selected Wildwood Playgrounds of Medford to complete the work. Parks and recreation director Larry Fetter told the city council he felt they got the “best of the best” when it came to appli- cants, but Wildwood rose to the top. He said the Funland committee will come back to the city council in Sep- tember with a preliminary design concept, before turning to the community for their feedback. On Sept. 20-22 indi- viduals, families and busi- nesses whose names were engraved on the fence pickets of the old Fun- land playground will be able to pick up their pick- ets between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the Hermiston Community Center. At that time Fetter said they will be given informa- tion about how to get their name on the next genera- tion of pickets, which will be made out of recycled plastic instead of wood. • • • Escape, a Califor- nia-based tribute band, urges people “Don’t Stop See BTW, Page A2 Staff photo by Ben Lonergan The Ferris Wheel spins in a long exposure image at the Umatilla County Fair on Tuesday. By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR A Staff photo by Kathy Aney Ayrin Davis, of the Farm City Wranglers, stands with her sheep as it is auctioned off Saturday morning at the Umatilla County Fair. nother Umatilla County Fair is in the books. Fair board chair Lucas Wagner said it will still be a few days before he knows for sure whether attendance was up or down, but overall he felt the weeklong event was a “great success.” “We had a ton of compliments,” he said. Of course, there are always things the fair can continue to improve upon, he said, especially as they look ahead to year for at the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center. There were lessons in particular to be learned from Friday night, when the fair and Farm-City Pro Rodeo were paused for an hour due to a thunderstorm. Some people were mistakenly told by law enforcement to evacuate instead of being allowed to shel- ter in place. “The weather sure presented some challenges this year,” Wag- ner said. “It was so hot the fi rst few days and so windy the last two.” Still, he said he felt that this year’s fair had the “best Thursday we’ve had in several years” and a better Latino Night than ever before. Al Davis, EOTEC’s year-round general manager, told the Hermis- ton city council on Monday night that it looked like there were a few more cars in the parking lot each day than in years past. He said use of the free shuttle to the fairgrounds was up, landing at 260 people on Saturday. “I think the fair’s happy and the rodeo’s happy,” he said. Livestock auction Those involved in the annual youth livestock auction on Sat- urday were certainly happy. The auction smashed the previous record, bringing in $610,000 in gross sales. The previous record was $494,000 in 2015. See FAIR, Page A14 New city program will provide inexpensive rides to work By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR he city of Hermiston continued to expand its public transportation offerings Monday by approving a new program sub- sidizing taxi rides to and from work. The West-End Workforce On-Demand Ride Cooperative — or WORC for short — will use state transit tax funds to pay for approximately two-thirds of the price of a ride for workers in the Hermiston, Umatilla and Stanfi eld area. “We’re always glad to take state dollars and put them to good use,” mayor David Drotz- mann said. Starting Sept. 2, area resi- T 8 08805 93294 2 dents can bring proof of employ- ment to Hermiston City Hall and buy a punch card stamped with the address of their employer. Megan Green, a college intern who helped put together the policy manual for the pro- gram, said rides must start or end at the work address stamped on the card, but the other end is up to the rider. “They could get picked up from work and go to the grocery store or go from a friend’s house to work,” she said. The cheapest punch cards — limited to rides within Hermis- ton city limits — are $2.50 per ride. The other 65% of the cost will be covered by money from the state’s 0.1% payroll tax, See RIDE, Page A14 EO File Photo/East Oregonian Dale Orem, of Hermiston, climbs inside a Umatilla Cab Company taxi in 2015. Taxi driver Mickey Trujillo stands by to close the door. The city of Hermiston approved a new program subsidizing taxi rides to and from work.