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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 9, 2019)
DAWGS GET FIRST WIN WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2019 HermistonHerald.com SPORTS » PAGE A8 $1.50 INSIDE CORN MAZE A HISTORY OF SERVICE Echo Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch kicks off season with new attractions. • PAGE A4 NEW STORE The former Payless Shoe Store building didn’t stay empty for long. • PAGE A6 BY THE WAY Echo Oktoberfest coming Oct. 19 Beer & brauts, burg- ers & dogs, as well as live music by Standard Devi- ation is featured during this year’s Echo Okto- berFest. While organizers are gearing up for the Oct. 19 event, they are offer- ing pre-sale tickets that include a $5 bonus token. They are available at H&P Cafe, Columbia Bank, Community Bank and Echo Ridge Cellars. For more information, visit https://echo.kiwani- sone.org. Also, a full story about the event will appear in the Oct. 16 Hermiston Herald. • • • ‘Tis the season for the fl u, and that means the Centers for Disease Con- trol is urging everyone to get vaccinated for the fl u. The body takes about two weeks to build up immu- nity after the shot, so if you wait until everyone in your family or your workplace is already sick it might be too late. Most insurances will pay 100% of the cost, and shots are available from your doctor and a wide variety of local pharma- cies, including Rite-Aid, Bi-Mart, Walmart and Safeway. VA-enrolled veter- ans are eligible for free fl u shots, and on Oct. 18 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Walla Walla VA Medi- cal Center, 77 Wainwright Drive in Walla Walla, is offering them a drive- through vaccine event where they can get vacci- nated from the comfort of their vehicle. • • • Mark Rose, direc- tor of the Hermiston Staff photo by Ben Lonergan Agape House Executive Director Dave Hughes poses for a portrait at his desk late last week. Hughes, who has been with the organization since 2002, is retiring to pursue other ventures. Change is in the air for the Agape House and its director Dave Hughes, who is retiring By JESSICA POLLARD STAFF WRITER A s executive director Dave Hughes, 73, prepares for his departure from Agape House, change is in the air. But the key question keeping the nonprofi t alive remains the same, and perhaps Dave puts it best: “Here’s a need. Can we do something?” The answer always tries to be yes. Whether it’s addressing local hunger, housing issues, or cold weather, the people behind Agape House (run with Martha’s House under the umbrella of Eastern Ore- gon Mission) respond with a community service. And if you ask anyone involved, Dave has been a large part of that for quite some time. “I’d say he is the most compassionate man I’ve ever met. He sees a need and he wants to fi x it,” said Doug Alvarez, who has volunteered with Agape House for the last decade. When Dave moved with his wife, Jodene, to Hermiston in 2000 to escape the HH fi le photo Dave Hughes, Agape House executive director, thanks participants during a past murder mystery fundraiser in 2017. wet climate of western Oregon, he wasn’t thinking of Agape House. Jodene quickly found work at Ban- ner Bank. Dave put his property appraisal business to rest and started working at Walmart in Pendleton. “I wanted to give back somehow, but I had no idea what I wanted to do,” he said. When the executive director position opened up at Agape House in 2002, he got the job and never looked back. Right off the bat, the board presented him with a challenge: relocate Agape House to a new facility on West Harper Road, where the organization still stands today. See Hughes, Page A14 See BTW, Page A14 Hermiston hosts multi-agency drill By JESSICA POLLARD STAFF WRITER Staff photo by Ben Lonergan 8 08805 93294 2 Firefi ghters carry a victim on a backboard during a training drill in Hermiston Wednesday night. When a bus with 12 people on board crashed into a train carrying gallons of toxic fumigant at dusk, dozens of emergency personnel swarmed the scene. Luckily, it was only a drill. The full-scale exercise on Oct. 2 was hosted at the Umatilla County Fire District 1 Station 23 on West- land Road, but the simulation rep- resented the intersection of Cooney Lane and Umatilla River Road. “Coordination is the biggest part of this,” said Dean Marcum of the Oregon Health Authority, who directed the exercise. “Everybody plays and activates their emergency operations plans to see how every- thing works and if everyone is coor- dinating together.” Multiple local health care and public safety agencies, including the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Offi ce, Umatilla Fire District 1, Lifeways and Good Shepherd Health Care System were involved. Marcum said larger drills like last Wednesday’s are important, because lots of different chemicals are transported through the Umatilla County area by truck and are often unlabeled. “It’s the same with trains. You never know what you’re going to run into,” he said. “That’s why you have to train for all hazards.” The National Weather Service was present as well, and simulated the incident on the computer. See Drill, Page A14
