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.