FEATURES/NEWS
A6 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020
Hermiston family ‘makes a village’ every year
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
If the miniature village that
springs up each winter at the
Meharry house in Hermiston
were a real city, it would function
quite well.
There are schools and
churches, stores and houses. An
ice skating rink and a fountain
with real running water sit near
the center of town.
Most of the businesses lining the
streets represent a hobby or a pro-
fession for Kelly Meharry’s fam-
ily — a dentist’s offi ce for her den-
tist husband, a book store for her
book-loving son, a veterinarian’s
offi ce for her daughter who is a vet.
“Most things are more per-
sonal to our family, and things
we enjoy ... that’s what drives the
choices of buildings,” she said.
The intricate setup spans the
top of two large grand pianos
pushed back to back, plus “hills”
made of boxes surrounding them.
An electric train runs on a track
around them.
Meharry said it takes her fam-
ily about a week to set up the
ceramic village, which has grown
to about 50 buildings plus many
more people, trees, vehicles and
other smaller pieces. They start
the week of Thanksgiving, and
leave up the display through the
end of January.
She started with a small col-
lection in the late 1990s when her
kids were small. One of the fi rst
pieces she got was a small, work-
ing carousel, which remains one
of her favorite pieces.
“It’s just kind of grown gradu-
ally over the years,” she said.
The layout of the village dif-
fers from year to year, as new fea-
tures are added. Just like a real
town, they must take into account
infrastructure as they carefully
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
A miniature candy shop is one of
the more than 50 buildings on
display in this year’s village.
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Kelly Meharry adjusts the volume of the carousel in the miniature winter village that she constructs in her living
room each year. Meharry has been adding to and perfecting the village each year for more than two decades, and
it has grown from a windowsill display to cover two grand pianos.
hide a maze of electric cords
under the fake snow so that each
building lights up.
Meharry said her children have
helped set up the growing village
since they were small.
“They used to drink out of the
fountain, but they don’t do that
any more,” she said.
Her son Brad Meharry helped
with a lot of the setup this year
after recently moving back to
the area. The train is one of his
favorite parts, but he said he
doesn’t necessarily have a favor-
ite building.
“I get the most joy out of just
building it,” he said.
He said he and his siblings
talked about improvements for
the wiring next year, and they
hope to switch out the electric
train for a steam locomotive that
would put out actual steam as it
chugged around the track.
Kelly Meharry said the fam-
ily is always “fi ne-tuning” the
display, and they loved to invite
friends over to see it. She is
always on the lookout for new
pieces, and collected seven new
ones this year.
One thing the town is still
missing is an offi cial name.
“We haven’t really come up
with that,” she said. “It’s just a
little village — city, I should say
now.”
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Kelly Meharry’s winter village includes dozens of trees, buildings and tiny
fi gurines.
New laws to know for 2020: It’s not just plastic bags
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
When a new year starts, it
can be easy to miss the memo on
changes to the law. Ignorance of
the law is not a defense for break-
ing it, however, so here are a few
handy guidelines for 2020:
Plastic bags
Starting Jan. 1, stores will no
longer be able to give out sin-
gle-use plastic bags at check-out,
although bags used for meat and
produce will be exempt. They will
also be required to charge at least
5 cents per bag for paper, reusable
bags or other alternatives.
Sales tax
In July, Washington stopped
granting Oregonians an exemp-
tion to sales tax at the register. But
as of Jan. 1, Oregon residents who
have been saving their receipts can
fi le a tax return for the amount of
sales tax they paid to Washington
in 2019.
To qualify, applicants must be
a resident of a state that does not
have sales tax, must have pur-
chased the items for use outside of
Washington, and must be request-
ing reimbursement for more than
$25 in taxes paid (at 6.5% state
sales tax, that means spending at
least $384.62 on qualifying items).
They will have to submit receipts
and information about the time and
place of each purchase, in addition
to proof of residency.
Each person is only allowed to
apply for reimbursement once per
calendar year, for taxes paid in the
previous year. According to the
Washington Department of Rev-
enue’s media relations offi ce, the
necessary forms will go online in
January under the “general public”
heading on their home page. For
now, what information is avail-
able can be found at dor.wa.gov/
find-taxes-rates/retail-sales-tax/
sales-nonresidents.
Real ID
As of Oct. 1, 2020, regular Ore-
gon driver’s licenses will no lon-
ger be valid to board a commercial
fl ight, enter a secure federal facil-
ity such as a military base or do
other activities where a federally
approved form of identifi cation is
required.
After Oct. 1, Oregonians who
want to take a fl ight will have to use
another form of approved identifi -
cation, such as a passport, or apply
for a new type of driver’s license
called a Real ID. The state hopes to
have the federally approved Real
IDs available through the Depart-
ment of Motor Vehicles starting
in July after fi nishing a “major IT
overhaul,” according to the depart-
ment’s website.
Real IDs will be optional,
and people getting them will be
required to pay the DMV’s fee for
replacement of a driver’s license,
plus a yet-to-be-determined addi-
tional Real ID fee. The newly
issued Real ID will have the same
expiration date as the person’s
current driver’s license, so peo-
ple whose licenses expire soon
after the Real IDs are available are
advised they may want to wait until
it is time to renew their license.
Should someone choose not to
upgrade to a Real ID, a standard
Oregon driver’s licenses will still
be good for activities such as driv-
ing, purchasing alcohol, register-
ing to vote or applying for benefi ts.
Voting
In 2020 Oregon will continue its
quest to make voting as convenient
as possible by not charging for
postage to mail in ballots. During
the next election Oregonians will
simply be able to drop their ballot
in the mail without a stamp.
Bicycling
Starting Jan. 1, bicyclists are
allowed to proceed through an
intersection with a stop sign or
traffi c signal without stopping,
providing they proceed at a safe
speed and yield to vehicles and
pedestrians.
Revenge porn
As of 2020 it will be a crime in
Oregon to distribute intimate pho-
tos or videos of a person without
their consent. The photos or videos
qualify as revenge porn under the
law if they show a person’s “inti-
mate parts” or show them engag-
ing in a sex act, the subject is
identifi able, they did not give per-
mission and could reasonably be
expected to be “harassed, humili-
ated or injured by the disclosure.”
Previously, the law only cov-
ered posting such content to a
website, but now adds any other
methods of dissemination such
as text message, email, private
messaging in apps or handing out
physical copies. It also allows
victims to sue for up to $5,000 in
damages. The crime is a Class A
misdemeanor for a fi rst offense
and Class C felony if the perpe-
trator has a prior record of such
offenses.
Calling 911
475B.301, the offense happened
before July 1, 2015, and the person
fully complied with the require-
ments of their sentence.
Using the police as a weapon
to harass someone will be a risky
move starting Jan. 1, as a law takes
effect allowing people to seek civil
damages from someone who sum-
moned police with the intent to
infringe on the person’s rights, dis-
criminate against them, cause them
to feel harassed or embarrassed,
expel them from a place where
they are legally allowed to be or
damage their reputation or fi nan-
cial standing.
The law was put in place to
address reports of incidents in
which white callers called 911 on
people of color for legal activities
such as holding a barbecue.
Employment
Employees in Oregon will
receive a variety of new protec-
tions in January.
Pregnant workers will be among
those who receive new protections
under the law. Employers will be
required to provide reasonable
accommodations, such as assis-
tance with manual labor or more
frequent bathroom breaks, to preg-
nant employees. They will also be
prohibited from denying some-
one employment, requiring them
to take a leave of absence or oth-
erwise retaliating or discriminating
against them for requesting accom-
modations for their pregnancy.
Employers will be required to
create anti-harassment policies for
their workplace, and will no lon-
ger be allowed to force employees
to sign nondisclosure agreements
restricting them from talking about
harassment or discrimination they
experienced at the company.
Marijuana convictions
Starting in January, the aptly
named Senate Bill 420 will allow
people with past marijuana con-
victions to petition to clear their
record.
The bill was passed in recogni-
tion that while Oregon legalized
possession of user amounts of rec-
reational marijuana in 2015, many
people have criminal records based
on possession pre-2015. Those
convictions, for something that
is now legal, can hold them back
from obtaining jobs and housing.
After Jan. 1 people who have
“qualifying marijuana convictions”
can petition the court to set aside
their conviction and seal the record,
making it as if it never happened.
As long as the conviction fi ts under
the defi nition laid out by the law,
the court must grant the motion.
A qualifying conviction means
the person was found to possess
less than one ounce of marijuana or
other behavior described in ORS
Minimum Wage
Minimum wage will increase
once again in July, as part of a
law passed by the legislature in
2016 that set up regular increases
through 2022. This year, minimum
wage in Oregon will increase to
$12 in “standard” counties (mostly
found on the west side of the state),
$13.25 in metro counties such as
Clackamas and Multnomah, and
$11.50 in rural counties. Umatilla
and Morrow counties fall into the
rural category, as do all counties
east of Sherman County.
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