RUNNERS COMPETE DAWGS WIN FINAL
AT WIAA STATE MEET GAME OF SEASON
SPORTS » PAGE A10
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2019
Garrett
Walchli
HermistonHerald.com
$1.50
INSIDE
WRONG WAY
A Utah man was arrested after
driving the wrong way down
Cabbage Hill.
A6
VETERANS DAY
Hermiston honored local veter-
ans at a community breakfast
Monday, while Echo children
saluted them with a patriotic
parade.
SCHOOL BOND
BREAKDOWN
A15
BY THE WAY
Wright leaves for
La Grande Observer
Senior reporter Phil
Wright has left the East
Oregonian and Hermis-
ton Herald newsrooms to
become the editor of the
La Grande Observer.
While Wright wasn’t
offi cially an employee of
the Herald, he covered
public safety and Uma-
tilla County government
for the EO, and his stories
with a Hermiston connec-
tion often appeared in the
Herald.
He will remain in the
EO Media Group family,
as the company recently
purchased the Observer
from Western Communi-
cations. The East Orego-
nian is currently searching
for an experienced reporter
to fi ll the position he leaves
behind in Pendleton.
• • •
Due to Veterans Day
on Monday, the Hermis-
ton city council met Tues-
day night, after the Her-
ald’s 7 p.m. printing time.
For updates on what took
place at the meeting, see
www.hermistonherald.
com or next week’s Herm-
iston Herald.
• • •
Ever had a legal ques-
tion, but didn’t want to
retain a lawyer to fi nd out
the answer?
Blaine Clooten of
Clooten Law, LLC has
offered to write an “Ask
an Attorney” column for
an upcoming edition of the
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Hermiston School District Superintendent Tricia Mooney speaks to supporters of the Hermiston School District Bond at The Gathering Place
in Hermiston on Election Day.
As district prepares to move forward with bond projects,
pockets of voter approval tell an interesting story
By JESSICA POLLARD
STAFF WRITER
It’s been a week since voters narrowly
approved the $82.7 million Hermiston
School District bond, and the school dis-
trict is already jumping into action.
Superintendent Tricia Mooney said she
wants to thank the voters and community
for supporting the schools.
“If anyone has any questions, I encour-
age them to call the district offi ce,” she
said.
The bond, which passed last week and
will also come with $6.6 million in match-
ing funds from a state grant, will replace
Rocky Heights Elementary School with a
600-student capacity building, and build
another new elementary school on Theater
Lane. It will also fund an annex to increase
capacity at the high school, elementary
school site improvements and purchase of
new property for future growth.
The national asset management and
investment banking fi rm, Piper Jaffray,
will begin evaluating bond fi nances and
overseeing bond sales.The district is put-
ting out a Request for Proposal for project
managers this week, according to Mooney.
The district will also make applications
for a community oversight committee
available on the district website this week.
“The committee will help ensure the
district is spending the bond exactly how
we said we would,” Mooney said.
The committee will be comprised of 10
to 15 board-appointed community mem-
bers who will oversee the building proj-
ects, evaluate project timelines (expected
to run about two years), and progress
updates.
When the Umatilla County Elections
offi ce posted the fi rst unoffi cial vote counts
after 8 p.m. on Nov. 5, administrators and
school board members at The Gathering
Place at Bellinger’s Farm Stand were hes-
itant to immediately celebrate the narrow
lead.
Hermiston School District board
See Bond, Page A16
See BTW, Page A2
Crash data helps inform road improvements
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
8
08805 93294
2
Cars drive at a high rate of speed on Highway 395 near Hermiston Friday
afternoon. The stretch of Highway 395 south of Hermiston has been a hotspot
for accidents in recent years, most notably a fatal accident earlier this week.
When someone dies or is seri-
ously injured in a crash, people nat-
urally wonder what more could
have been done to prevent it.
“That stretch of road is so dan-
gerous,” people comment on
Facebook.
“Why haven’t they put a stop
sign there?” they ask their friends.
They share a common goal with
government agencies: to reduce
crashes. But there aren’t always
simple answers.
“Every situation’s unique, so
there’s no generic, ‘Here’s what we
always do,’” said Tom Strandberg,
spokesman for the Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation’s Region 5.
“We want to be effective and not
just have a knee-jerk reaction.”
Highway 395 in west Umatilla
County is a good example. Two
people have died there in the past
two weeks.
Steven Gallegos, 30, was struck
by a vehicle in the middle of the
night on Oct. 26 while walking in
Stanfi eld near the intersection of
395 and Edwards Road. And on
Tuesday Dustin Scott, 48, was killed
in a rollover crash on 395 just south
of Hermiston after his truck struck
another vehicle turning left into a
business’ driveway.
As traffi c counts and crashes
grow on a stretch of road, ODOT
works with nearby cities and coun-
ties to come up with solutions, add
them to the area’s Transportation
See Roads, Page A16