HERMISTON RALLIES TO DEFEAT BOMBERS » PAGE A8
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
HermistonHerald.com
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INSIDE
Making computer
science green
SHERIFF
Sheriff Terry Rowan says he
plans to run for re-election.
Page » A3
CORONAVIRUS
Local health officials say it’s
unlikely the Wuhan corona-
virus will hit Umatilla Coun-
ty, but they are prepared.
Page » A7
TURNING 60
Columnist Tammy Malgesini
muses about an upcoming
birthday.
Page » A12
BY THE WAY
Whisky Music
Fest adds
performers
The music lineup for
the fifth annual Pendle-
ton Whisky Music Fest
is coming together.
Randy Houser, Brett
Kissel and Pendleton
Music Fest regular DJ
Sovern-T have been
added to this year’s list of
performers, event orga-
nizers announced. The
trio of artists will join
headliners Eric Church
and Macklemore, who
were announced in late
November, to round out
the list of performers for
this year’s concert.
Tickets for the July 11
concert go on sale Friday
at pendletonwhiskyfest.
com.
While this will be
Houser and Kissel’s
first Whisky Fest, DJ
Sovern-T has served as
the event’s disc jockey
since its inaugural year in
2016. In addition to enter-
taining crowds between
sets, DJ Sovern-T will
perform at the annual
Main Street kick-off party
on July 10.
• • •
Windermere Group
One recently added Les-
lie Pierson to its Realtors
in Eastern Oregon.
Pierson, a Boardman
resident, will provide pro-
fessional real estate ser-
vices throughout Morrow
and Umatilla counties,
according to a news
See BTW, Page A14
staff photo by Jessica Pollard
Senior Rogelio Lemus, 17, uses tweezers to guide the extruded plastic filament onto a new spool. This recycled filament was made with
many different colors of plastic, and came out coral pink.
Hermiston High School students can now recycle plastic waste from 3D printers
By JESSICA POLLARD
STAFF WRITER
ecent grant funding from the
Hermiston Education Foun-
dation is changing the way
that Hermiston High School’s
Computer-Aided Design classes handle
their excess plastic.
The plastic comes from 3D printers,
which build three-dimensional objects
from computer models, using layers of
material in a process known as “additive
manufacturing.”
This year, computer technology
teacher Robert Theriault applied for a
grant to “make computer science green,”
on behalf of CAD students using the
printers, particularly 17-year-old Roge-
lio Lemus.
“When we’re 3D printing, there’s a lot
of waste,” Lemus said. “In our testing so
far, we’re able to recycle some of it.”
Lemus, a senior, is planning on enter-
ing a science, technology, math or engi-
neering (STEM) field after graduation.
He has two 3D printers at home, and this
year he’s devoting an independent study
class to learning how to recycle the excess
materials they produce.
He said he’s already taken all of the
CAD classes that Hermiston High has to
offer.
Theriault said it took Lemus just one
R
staff photo by Jessica Pollard
Once shredded with the filament grinder,
students will sift the plastic and melt the
smallest pieces down. Using an extruder,
students will be able to re-spool the
filament and use it for future 3D printing
projects.
day of fiddling to learn how to properly
recycle the plastic materials called fila-
ment— which is purchased on a spool,
like thread— that students use in the 3D
printer to make models of their designs.
Lemus said that Hermiston High
School CAD classes typically utilize
polyactic acid filament, which is derived
from corn starch or sugar. It costs about
$15 to $30 a spool, and he said the classes
go through about 20 spools each year.
When a design goes awry, or has a sup-
port structure that becomes waste after the
print, the excess plastic is rendered unus-
able. But now Lemus and other students
can grind that plastic down by hand, melt
it, and restructure it onto a new spool with
the help of an extruder.
“It’s definitely time-consuming,”
Lemus said.
Both he and Theriault hope to purchase
a blender to make breaking down the plas-
tic pieces a little bit easier, because other-
wise the grinding is done completely by
hand.
The heating and spooling process is
time consuming. Lemus said the whole
process can take about four hours.
In the back of the CAD classroom, a
cardboard box of odd plastic shapes in all
colors and sizes waits to be reprocessed.
So far, Lemus and other students have
reproduced half a role of filament.
The extruder and grinder arrived last
week, and cost $1,700 total.
“We figure this will eventually pay for
itself, and divert waste from the landfill,”
Theriault said.
In 2019, the Hermiston Education
Foundation distributed $16,600 in fund-
ing to seven teachers district-wide. The
foundation also awards multiple scholar-
ships to students each year.
See Plastics, Page A14
Accountants share tips for tax season
By ALEX CASTLE
STAFF WRITER
8
08805 93294
2
Break out your records
and receipts; tax season is
here.
The Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) began accept-
ing federal tax returns on
Monday and most source of
income documents should
have been sent by employ-
ers by Friday, meaning it’s
time to start preparing to file
your 2019 return.
“My advice would be
just try to make a mental
note of all the income that
you received in 2019,” said
Corey Neistadt, a certified
public accountant at Pendle-
ton’s Newhouse & Neistadt.
“And be looking for the doc-
uments that back that up to
be emailed to you or sent to
you via regular mail. That’d
be first and foremost.”
While filing early in the
season has a number of ben-
efits, such as potentially
receiving your refund or
finding out what you owe
sooner, tax professionals in
Umatilla County agree that
at least gathering the nec-
essary information can be
helpful in guaranteeing your
return is done accurately and
on time.
“The further and further
away we get from Dec. 31,
the fewer things we remem-
ber right,” Neistadt said.
“While it’s fresh in your
mind, I think it’s great to
accumulate the data and
maybe start putting it into
an envelope or something to
give to your tax preparer.”
Individual tax returns are
due to the IRS by April 15
(unless issued a 6-month
extension waiver), so you’ll
eventually need to accumu-
late that data. But much of
the stress of tax season can
be eased by gathering it
throughout the year.
“It’s all about record
keeping,” said Dennis
See Taxes, Page A14
staff photo by ben Lonergan
Mitch Boylan, a C.P.A. with accounting firm Barnett & Moro in
Hermiston, prepares tax documentation for clients on Friday
afternoon.