NEWS/FEATURES
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Inmate actors tell Christmas story at TRCI
attending Daysprings Min-
istry services at Two Rivers,
where his faith took hold
and he met Hall and oth-
ers, including Michael Yann,
who played Zechariah, and
Jose Avila-Flores, a shep-
herd in the play. When Hall
asked them to be in the pro-
duction, none was comfort-
able, but all said yes.
Following a Christian
lifestyle inside a prison isn’t
so easy, the men say, so they
depend on each other.
“Different pasts and cir-
cumstances led us here,”
Avila-Flores said. “We have
found a community. We
have found hope behind
these walls.”
The play unspooled, with
Hall speaking between each
scene. The cast included one
non-inmate. Elena Ropalo,
a Tri-Cities real estate agent
who volunteers at the prison,
played Mary.
The play included almost
no props, just some scrolls,
a donkey head made from
cardboard and the swaddling
clothes for baby Jesus. The
makeshift theater lacked a
curtain, lights, a green room
or even a stage. Yet some-
how the message came
through.
For Hall, it was all about
those prophets who fore-
told Jesus’ birth, those guys
who made good despite their
rough beginnings.
“It doesn’t matter about
our sordid pasts,” Hall told
the audience. “It matters
what we do going forward.
You are so much better than
those doggone blue shirts.”
By KATHY ANEY
STAFF WRITER
This was no Sunday
school nativity play.
Yet, it wasn’t so far off.
The cast included Joseph,
Mary, shepherds and baby
Jesus wrapped in swaddling
clothes. There was a man-
ger, a star and a donkey.
If one squinted, the room
almost looked like a church
fellowship hall.
In reality, inmates per-
formed this nativity story
inside the multipurpose
room at Two Rivers Cor-
rectional Institution in
Umatilla. Underneath their
robes, the actors wore their
prison blues, stamped with
“INMATE,” in fl uorescent
orange.
Just before 6 p.m., audi-
ence members all clad in
similar prison garb arrived
for the play. A shepherd at
the door distributed pro-
grams and directed the men
to a table with maple bars
and apple fritters. As the
room fi lled, the hubbub of
conversation grew louder.
Shane Hall, the inmate
who wrote “Christ is Born
Prophecy Fulfi lled,” warmed
up the audience with Christ-
mas tunes. The former pas-
tor strummed an electric
guitar bought at the prison
commissary and launched
into “There’s a New Kid in
Town.” Other band mem-
bers played acoustic guitar,
bass guitar and drums. Off
to one side, Joseph Opyd
played electric piano. Doing
double duty as actor and pia-
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Joseph and Mary, played by Roberto Baney and Elena Ropalo,
sit with baby Jesus during a nativity play performed inside
the Two Rivers Correctional Institution.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
nist, Opyd wore his costume
for the role of Angel Gabriel,
a white tunic, shiny silver
belt and a halo set fi rmly on
his head.
As they performed, the
instrumentals entwined with
Hall’s Oklahoma-accented
baritone.
“How about a little ‘Silent
Night,’ boys?” he called out.
The band dialed down
their volume for the old
favorite, sang all the verses
and then segued into “O
Holy Night” and then
“Mary, Did You Know?”
By the latter, audience chat-
ter had stopped. The men
started singing along, not in
perfect tune, but it mattered
not. Eyes glistened. About
two-thirds of them stood.
It was time for the main
event. The idea for the play
had come to Hall as he lay
on his bunk. He got up, sat at
the metal desk in his cell and
started writing. Forty-fi ve
minutes later, he says, he
was fi nished.
The play stars some
prophets — Moses, David,
Jeremiah, Isaiah, Micah
and Zechariah — foretell-
ing the birth of Jesus. This
is important, Hall and sev-
eral of the actors said during
Inmate Shane Hall, who wrote and directed a nativity play that
was performed last week inside the Two Rivers Correctional
Institution, warms up the crowd with Christmas music.
a conversation before the
play, because some of these
prophets were a lot like
them. They had done things
they weren’t proud of in
their earlier lives.
“Moses was a murderer,
King David committed
adultery,” Hall said. “They
were just like us. They were
men who have done sorry
things.”
“A lot of people God
chose to tell his story were
the lowlifes,” said Michael
Fellowship aplenty at Hermiston’s
community Christmas dinner
TRCI hires Blewett
as superintendent
Blewett began his career
with Oregon DOC as a
correctional offi cer at the
Oregon
Department Snake River Correctional
of Corrections Director Institution in Malheur
Colette Peters announced County in 2007, eventu-
in an email to staff
ally becoming a
captain.
last week that Tyler
He moved on
Blewett is super-
from the security
intendent at Two
ranks at SRCI to
Rivers
Correc-
take a plant man-
tional Institution.
ager role at the
His appointment
Blewett
Umatilla
prison
to superintendent
before
being
follows a move
into the interim leader- named acting superinten-
ship role in June, after for- dent this summer.
Blewett helped imple-
mer superintendent Troy
Bowser went on admin- ment and continue mul-
istrative leave during an tiple programs at TRCI,
investigation and resigned including the Peer-to-
Peer Lead Mentorship
in September.
According to the DOC, Program.
By JESSICA POLLARD
STAFF WRITER
By JESSICA POLLARD
STAFF WRITER
It can be hard to measure
how the Community Fellow-
ship Christmas and Thanks-
giving meals impact Herm-
iston each holiday season.
“I still haven’t done the
numbers from Thanksgiv-
ing,” said Community Fel-
lowship Dinner secretary
Makayla Humphreys.
“It’s been very smooth
today,” she added during
the Christmas meal, which
takes place each year at the
high school. “Somehow,
everything always works
out.”
The dinner served at
least 250 people last Christ-
mas. Organizers at the Com-
munity Fellowship Din-
ner organization, which
has operated completely
on donations in Hermiston
since the 1980s, don’t know
just yet how many people
were served this holiday.
But what cannot be quan-
tifi ed can still be showcased
through the stories of guests
and volunteers that come
from everywhere each year
to enjoy and distribute the
spread: ham, veggies, gravy,
mashed potatoes— and of
course, the pie.
It was Judith Raysor’s
fi rst time at the Christmas
meal, but her fourth year
living in Hermiston.
“I like what I see here,”
she said. “And it shouldn’t
just be for Christmas. We
should celebrate just to
celebrate.”
Raysor was born in Flor-
ida, left for New York City
to go to college and raised
three children as a sin-
gle mother before a stint in
North Dakota. It may be sur-
prising that she found her-
Dodge, who played Moses
in Hall’s play.
Dodge said he never read
the Bible on the outside. He
considered himself a Chris-
tian, but didn’t really know
what that meant. Then, sit-
ting in county jail, he started
praying.
“Hitting rock bottom, you
have nobody else to turn to
but God,” Dodge said. “God
defi nitely revealed himself
to me.”
Dodge eventually started
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Santa and Mrs. Clause (aka Stanley and Linda Anderson, of Irrigon) visit with guests at the
Community Fellowship Dinner on Christmas Day at Hermiston High School.
self on the dry side of Ore-
gon, but her son asked her to
move to Hermiston to help
raise her grandchildren.
“God changed every-
thing after that,” she said.
Raysor got a job pro-
viding in-home care for an
elderly woman in Umatilla,
but the house was sold in
August of 2018.
From then, she had
nowhere to call home. It
would be six months before
Raysor could secure an
apartment in the area.
“Everything I got, people
gave me,” she said. “Any-
body can be homeless.”
Now, she spends most
days working at Desert
Rose Ministries. She said
Desert Rose served dinner
to 60 people on Dec. 19.
For her, the holiday isn’t
just about food or presents.
“It’s not about me getting
a gift,” she said. “It’s about
the love.”
Raysor said that come
Thursday, she’ll be back at
Desert Rose learning the
stories of people who come
by for direction, services or
just a warm cup of coffee.
Jeannette
and
Bob
O’Brion were enjoying the
Community
Fellowship
Dinner early Wednesday
afternoon.
The pair said after life
in the military, they settled
down in Hermiston 20 years
ago to retire as affordably as
possible.
“Wherever you hang
your hat is home,” Bob said.
Their closest family
members are 3,000 miles
away, so it’s only natural that
they come to enjoy dinner
and meet up with friends at
the annual holiday dinners.
“They are very generous
with the takeouts,” Jeannette
added.
Dave Hickox said he
didn’t have any plans
besides volunteering at the
dinner this year, rationing
out generous portions of pie
for the guests.
After living several years
in Madras, he’s home to
Hermiston in time for the
holidays.
“The
dinner
hasn’t
changed much from when
I was volunteering before,”
he said.
Meanwhile, Terry and
Lila Schlaht enjoyed their
Christmas dinner with a few
friends.
“We’re very thankful for
this,” Lila said.
The pair have lived in
Hermiston for 30 years.
“It grows on you,” Terry
said.
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