FROM A1
A14 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAy, AuguST 14, 2019
RIDE
sidy program for senior citizens and dis-
abled riders, and a free bus system known
as HART. City councilors voiced support
for WORC, which they said could benefit
low-income residents who don’t have a car
to get to work, but also people who might
not be driving due to anything from a DUII
conviction to fear of icy roads.
The city will hold two workshops for
employers to learn more about WORC on
Aug. 21 at noon at the Hermiston Com-
munity Center and Aug. 26 at 5:30 p.m. at
Hermiston City Hall.
Continued from Page A1
which raises money for counties to use for
public transportation.
The city has been approved to receive
$78,800 a year for the next three years
for the program, subsidizing about 17,500
rides. Assistant City Manager Mark Morgan
said the city doesn’t plan to add any of its
own money to the program.
WORC will be added to the city’s other
two public transit options — a similar sub-
PROPERTY OWNERS RAISE QUESTIONS ABOUT LOCAL
IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT
Assistant City Manager Mark
Morgan said the city was not
planning to pursue the proj-
ect if they did not receive
the EDA grant, but it looked
likely they will receive one.
HERMISTON — During a
public hearing at Monday’s
Hermiston City Council
meeting, property owners
in the South Hermiston
Industrial Park raised ques-
tions about a proposed local
improvement district.
If formed, the district would
charge the 20 neighbor-
ing property owners for
improvements to the area
behind the old Hermiston
Foods plant. Projects would
include creating a new road
leading to Highway 395,
paving the rest of Southeast
Campbell Drive, creating
a new road to a piece of
undeveloped industrial land
owned by the Port of umatil-
la and extending water and
sewer to new properties.
The city expects to get
a grant from the federal
Economic Development
Administration for between
50 and 80% of the $2.9
million project. The city and
umatilla County would kick
in $300,000 and property
owners would be assessed
for the rest. Construction
would take place summer of
2020.
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Rylie Hurst rides a robotic bull ride at the Umatilla County Fair Tuesday afternoon.
FAIR
Continued from Page A1
As Annikah Perez waited
to sell her 147-pound lamb
Saturday, her voice wavered
as she described the good
times she had with Tulip.
“I’m very sad,” the
13-year-old Hermiston 4-H
student said, sniffing. “I
love Tulip very much.”
The sheep is stubborn,
she said, “but that’s my
favorite part about her.”
It was Annikah’s sixth
year showing an animal at
the fair, so she knew how
hard it would be to say
goodbye to the lamb she
raised since birth. But she
said she comes back year
after year because she loves
how much confidence she
gains from the process.
Over the course of the
hourslong auction in the
largest barn at the fair-
grounds, hundreds of thou-
sands of dollars flowed
from local businesses and
individuals to area youths.
Many of them plan to use
the money for college, or
to reinvest it into more ani-
mals next year.
The check comes at a
price, however. Every kid
who raises an animal for
the fair knows their ani-
mal companion they fed
and watered and walked for
months is probably destined
for someone’s dinner table.
Wyatt Harris, 11, from
Echo, said the money he
got from selling his sheep
Smoke would go into his
savings fund for college and
a truck.
When asked whether he
was worried about parting
with Smoke, he shrugged.
“Not really,” he said. “I
live on a farm so I kind of
know what will happen.”
Macy Rosselle, 17, from
Pendleton, was also prag-
matic about what would
happen to her grand cham-
pion goat Maverick, who
sold for $12 a pound to
United Grain Corporation.
“His purpose is for meat,
and he will be fulfilling his
purpose,” she said.
Still, it tugged at her
heartstrings.
Although
Macy has 25 head of
goats, Maverick was her
award-winner she has trav-
eled with to multiple fairs.
“He’s definitely my
favorite goat by far,” she
said. “I’m sad to see him
go.”
Ayrin Davis 11, of Herm-
iston 4-H, had a harder time.
She cried in the pens behind
the auction arena after sell-
ing PJ, her backup lamb.
She had already unexpect-
edly lost her primary lamb
a week earlier when it got
spooked by something and
ran into a fence, breaking
its neck.
Rapidash, she said,
weighed much more than
PJ and might have won
grand champion.
“I cried for two and a
half days,” she said.
The experience was part
of the “circle of life” les-
sons that raising animals
teaches youth who partici-
pate in 4-H and FFA.
Daytona Tracy, 16, said
for some, that lesson is
harder than others.
“You have to understand
the process and know next
year you’re going to get
attached to another animal,”
she said. “I know some kids
are in it for the money, and
then there are ones like me
who get really attached.”
She said she tells her-
self each year that her ani-
mals are just going to a new
home and “the worst is not
going to happen.”
Her goat Rowdy went for
$10.25 a pound to Nutrien
Ag Solutions on Saturday.
She put on a brave smile as
she entered the ring with the
76-pound brown and white
goat Saturday, but earlier in
the week she got teary-eyed
as she talked about their
impending separation.
“He’s like my baby,”
the Hermiston FFA student
said. “When I first got him
he wasn’t really tame at all
so I had to hang out with
him as much as possible. I
would eat dinner with him.”
This year’s sale included
53 steers at an average of
$3.89 a pound, 120 hogs
averaging $7.88 a pound,
60 lambs averaging $8.79
a pound, 17 goats at $12.62
a pound, 13 turkeys at $475
each, 1 pen of rabbits at
$525 and one pen of chick-
ens at $400.
In addition to bidding
on animals, buyers can also
choose to “bump” the check
youths receive if their ani-
mal drew a price on the
lower side. About 30 busi-
nesses participating in the
UCF Bump program added
an extra $28,000 to sales for
more than 130 FFA and 4-H
exhibitors.
He said the city calculated
property owners’ amount
based on an assumption the
city will receive a 50% grant.
If they receive higher, he
suggested the extra money
first go to any cost overruns
on the project, second to
cover the city’s adminis-
trative expenses and third
to cover more of property
owners’ share.
Jon Patterson and Craig
Evans, both neighboring
property owners, questioned
why the additional money
should go to the city before
them, however. They pointed
out that a new road behind
their property wouldn’t have
any immediate financial
benefit to them, but opening
up the Port of umatilla prop-
erty for development would
result in increased property
tax revenues for the city.
“Who benefits the most from
this? Because it’s not me,”
Patterson said.
He said he wasn’t completely
opposed to the project, but
he also questioned the for-
mal process for opposing it.
Property owners can block a
local improvement district if
60% turn in a “remonstrance”
by 5 p.m. the business day
before the public hearing.
But Patterson said he missed
the deadline because he
thought he would be able to
“vote” after getting ques-
tions answered at the public
hearing.
According to Morgan, less
than 60% of property owners
turned in a remonstrance,
and most of those who did
were invalidated by past
agreements they had signed,
saying that they wouldn’t
oppose any future LID in
exchange for not having to
develop the road in front of
their property when they
first built there.
City councilors voted to
close the hearing and
reopen it in 90 days in order
to see whether the Econom-
ic Development Authority
grant comes through before
deciding whether to form
the district.
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