GET READY FOR THE NEW SEASON | PAGE 10 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2019 HermistonHerald.com $1.50 INSIDE BOILING POINT First day of school Hermiston residents showed up en masse to a city council meeting Monday to voice complaints about increased water rates. PAGE A3 Monday was a busy day for students, bus drivers and board members in Hermiston GET ACTIVE Schools are coming up with creative ways to meet new requirements for physical education. PAGE A7 FORE! Check out our special golf page. PAGE A9 BY THE WAY Umatilla to celebrate improvements to park The City of Umatilla is hosting a ribbon cutting at Kiwanis Park on Sept. 6, 2019 at 1 p.m. to celebrate improvements made to the park. The ceremony will include remarks from mayor Mary Dedrick, city manager David Stockdale and others, followed by refreshments. The improvements to Kiwanis Park were spurred by a survey that the Uma- tilla High School Youth Advisory Council under- took on behalf of the city’s parks and recreation com- mittee. The survey found residents most wanted to see improvements to Kiwanis Park. Good Shepherd Com- munity Health Foun- dation contributed an $18,000 grant for new playground equipment and Hermiston Kiwanis donated $7,000 for lights at the basketball court. The city of Umatilla paid for the addition of a second basketball court. • • • On page A11 of today’s Hermiston Herald you will notice a column by EO Media Group’s new regional sports editor, Ronald Bond. Staff photo by Ben Lonergan A school bus stops to pick up students on the fi rst day of school in Hermiston on Monday morning. By JESSICA POLLARD STAFF WRITER F Staff photo by Ben Lonergan Neely Foster, 8, right, follows her friend onto the school bus for her fi rst day of third grade in Hermiston on Monday morning. See BTW, Page A2 or thousands of Herm- iston students, Monday morning marked the end of summertime fun. For superintendent Tricia Mooney, it was the best day of the year. “It’s my favorite holiday,” Mooney said. Mooney, along with members of the Hermiston School Board, shared their fi rst day of school experiences at a board work ses- sion on Monday evening. Board chair Karen Sherman — a retired middle school teacher her- self — headed to Sandstone Mid- dle School on Monday morning to pass out schedules and take part in one of her favorite fi rst day tradi- tions: the opening of the lockers. She pointed out that for incom- ing sixth graders, nailing the three number locker combination can be quite trying, particularly on the fi rst day of school. “The teachers keep getting younger and younger as I get older and older,” Sherman joked. The district hired almost 50 new teachers this year, some of whom are Hermiston High School graduates returning from college. On the last weekend before school, while some students were catching up on sleep or relaxing pool-side, kids and staff from Des- ert View Elementary were out and about, participating in the Herm- iston Education Foundation “Fun Run”. The school took home the “Fleet of Feet” award Saturday See SCHOOL, Page A16 Boyhood friends reconnect in FOX Sports broadcast booth By KATHY ANEY STAFF WRITER F 8 08805 93294 2 OX Sports soccer broadcaster John Strong has a secret weapon and his name is Erick Olson. During the men’s FIFA World Cup fi nal last summer in Russia, Strong broadcast to millions of soccer fans as Olson fed him stats and other research using a white board, hand signals and quick exchanges with Strong’s micro- phone muted. The boyhood buddies have mind-reading capability that developed over years of friendship. Strong draws comfort from Olson’s presence in the booth. “It’s having a second brain, a second set of eyes, a second ver- sion of me sitting there next to me,” Strong said. Olson parachutes into the weird world of international soc- cer broadcasting for a few weeks every summer. The rest of the year, he teaches language arts and communication at Umatilla High School, coaches UHS softball and does news and sports commentary for KOHU KQFM radio and the Oregon Student Athletic Associa- tion. Olson, the Voice of the Bull- dogs, has his nickname — “Wind- bag” — inscribed on a special chair at Hermiston High School’s Kenni- son Field. This summer, Olson again joined Strong’s team to cover the CON- CACAF Gold Cup, which deter- mines the men’s champion of North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Contributed photo See FRIENDS, Page A16 Erick Olson takes a moment for a selfi e in the booth as he assists FOX Sports broadcaster John Strong during a MLS game with statistics and research.