DAWGS FALL TO PASCO IN SEASON OPENER
HermistonHerald.com
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2019
| A8
$1.50
INSIDE
FESTIVAL
A new Farm to Junk
festival downtown will
focus on vintage and
repurposed items.
PAGE A4
WATER?
PLEA DEAL
One of the two men
charged in the killing of
Eric Navarrete pleaded
guilty to fi rst-degree
robbery.
PAGE A6
COOL DOWN
Police recently de-
escalated two standoff s
with armed, suicidal
subjects without the use
of force.
PAGE A10
BY THE WAY
Terror attacks
remembered
HH fi le photo
An inground sprinkler system waters the lawn at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Hermiston in July.
“I’m going to have to look at
raising rates for customers,” he
said.
As Greene and others continue
to question rates, here are answers
to some of the most frequently
asked questions:
Hermiston residents
question water rates
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
M
onths after Herm-
iston’s water rates
increased, customers
are still upset with the
increase.
Dozens of people showed up to
the city council’s Aug. 26 meeting
to voice their complaints, and on
Monday Russ Greene added his
two cents.
Greene, who owns Five Star
Car Wash and Five Star Auto
Wash in Hermiston, said his busi-
ness, which uses large amounts
of water, had been hit especially
hard by the rate restructure that
charges higher rates for larger
users.
He said his water bill had gone
up from $1,409 last August to
$4,105 this August.
How much did water rates go up?
Previously, the city had
charged a $19.82 base rate for
3,000 gallons, $1.50 per thousand
gallons for 3,001-13,000 gallons
and $1.25 per thousand for more
than 13,000 gallons. Sewer was a
fl at $27.25 fee.
As of March 1, the rate changed
to a $30 base rate, 50 cents per
1,000 gallons up to 15,000 gal-
lons and $3.50 per 1,000 gallons
above 15,000. Sewer is a $35 base
rate plus $3.00 per 1,000 gallons
of use, calculated using the cus-
tomer’s average water use per
month during winter months.
A family using 20,000 gal-
See WATER, Page A14
HH fi le photo
A man speaks to the Hermiston city council Aug. 26 about frustrations with a
March water rate increase. The audience for the meeting took up seats in the
council chambers and spilled over into the lobby.
Today marks the 18th
anniversary of the Sept.
11, 2001 terror attacks that
killed 2,977 people in New
York, Washington D.C.
and Pennsylvania.
We haven’t been made
aware of any memorial
events taking place in the
area this year, but there
are other ways to mark
the day. Visitors to www.
newseum.org/todaysfront-
pages can look up Sept.
12, 2001 to see how news-
papers in all 50 states and
around the world covered
the attacks on the next
day’s front page.
The Hermiston Her-
ald reported on the attacks
extensively in its next edi-
tion, quoting residents
about where they were
that day and reporting on
the Hermiston Munici-
pal Airport’s closure and
heightened security at
the Umatilla Chemical
Depot. The paper also had
stories about a Hermiston
woman’s brother missing
and presumed dead at the
Pentagon, a former Herm-
iston resident surviving the
attack, how schools han-
dled the news and memori-
als held locally at Walmart
and a Hermiston High
See BTW, Page A2
Critics push back on
Walmart’s new gun policy
By ALEX CASTLE
STAFF WRITER
L
ast week, Walmart CEO Doug
McMillon announced the
retailer is discontinuing the sale
of ammunition that can be used in
assault weapons and discouraging its
customers from openly carrying fi re-
arms in its stores moving forward.
Written in a memo addressed
to the corporation’s associates, the
announcement came exactly one
month after 22 people were killed and
26 were injured in a racist shooting at
its store in El Paso, Texas.
“It’s clear to us that the status quo
is unacceptable,” McMillon wrote in
bold, continuing later in the memo
to call for legislation from Congress
requiring background checks on fi re-
arms sales.
With Oregon as an open carry state,
the announcement has drawn criti-
cism from local gun rights advocates
and members of the Republican Party
in Umatilla County while Walmart
locations in Pendleton and Hermiston
SEPTEMBER 9-14, 2019
8
08805 93294
2
See WALMART, Page A14
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Shoppers come and go from the Walmart in Pendleton on Wednesday
afternoon. Walmart recently announced changes to its store policy
regarding fi rearms and ammunition sales.
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