COMMUNITY
A2 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
THREE MINUTES WITH ...
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020
HERMISTON HISTORY
MELISSA
PURSWELL
Armand Larive
Middle School Educator
of the Year
HH fi le photo
When and why did you move to Hermiston?
I met my husband at the University of Oregon and
we moved back to his “hometown” of Hermiston
in 1998.
Bryan Wolfe, left, and Bob Hawkins, right, share a laugh with Oregon State University president John Byrne in 1995 during
his visit to Hermiston.
What is your favorite place to eat in
Hermiston?
My kitchen table! My family LOVES to cook.
Vandals smash school windows
What do you like to do in your spare time?
Volunteer — whether with my students in the Kind-
ness Club or serving lunch at Open Table with
my boys, anywhere really! I think it’s so import-
ant to GIVE BACK to a community that GIVES SO
MUCH!
What surprises you about Hermiston?
It’s not a surprise, but it’s what I LOVE the most is
this community has the BIGGEST heartbeat when
it comes to kids and for that I am forever grateful.
What was the last book you read?
”Rising Strong” by Brene Brown
What website or app do you use most other
than Facebook?
Pinterest! There are all sorts of GREAT ideas for
recipes, art projects, anchor charts and inspira-
tional quotes.
If you could travel anywhere, where would
you go?
Italy
What is the funniest thing that’s ever hap-
pened to you?
Last year I was (hit by a pie) in the face by my
two boys at a school wide assembly. It was THE
BEST!
What is one of your goals for the next 12
months?
Listen more than I talk and write more handwrit-
ten notes to people I appreciate and love.
What is your proudest accomplishment?
My family and the life we’ve built together here in
Hermiston.
Printed on
recycled
newsprint
VOLUME 114 • NUMBER 10
Chris Rush | Publisher • crush@eomediagroup.com • 541-278-2669
Jade McDowell | News Editor • jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4536
Jessica Pollard | Reporter • jpollard@eastoregonian.com, 541-564-4534
Tammy Malgesini | Community Editor • tmalgesini@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4539
Annie Fowler | Sports Editor • afowler@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4542
Jeanne Jewett | Multi-Media consultant • jjewett@hermistonherald.com • 541-564-4531
Audra Workman | Multi-Media consultant • aworkman@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4538
Dawn Hendricks | Circulation assistant • dhendricks@eastoregonian.com • 541-564-4530
To contact the Hermiston Herald for news,
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The Hermiston Herald (USPS 242220, ISSN
8750-4782) is published weekly at Hermiston
Herald, 333 E. Main St., Hermiston, OR 97838,
(541) 567-6457.
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25 YEARS AGO
March 7, 1995
The city of Hermiston will inter-
view seven candidates this week,
one of which will become Hermis-
ton’s new police chief.
The seven fi nalists are from a fi eld
of 88 that applied for the position.
Three of the candidates come
from within the Hermiston Police
Department, and, as such, were auto-
matically included in the fi nal round.
The seven candidates are: Alan
Anderson, Ernst “Curt” Curtsinger,
Michael Marcum, Jack Maxwell,
William P. Reeves, Panfi lo Rios and
Jerry Roberts.
2) The Confederated Tribes of
the Umatilla Indian Reservation will
open its Wildhorse Gaming Resort
with a 10-day kick-off beginning
Friday.
The resort opens at 3 p.m. Friday
and will never close, said Debra Cros-
well, public affairs coordinator for the
Confederated Tribes.
Construction crews are working
double shifts seven days a week to
prepare the 35,000-plus square foot
building for the grand opening, Cros-
well said.
50 YEARS AGO
March 5, 1970
Vandals took rocks in hand last
Wednesday night and proceeded to
break a dozen windows in Hermiston
businesses and schools.
The hardest hit was Rocky Heights
Elementary where seven windows
were broken. Three of the windows
at that school were large picture type
windows.
West Park Elementary received
two broken windows of the smaller
variety and the Kiddie Korner, near
West Park, had one window broken.
Large plate glass windows were
broken at East Side Auto Parts and
Hermiston Cycle Shop.
2) A group of persons representing
the Youth Center attended the Uma-
tilla City Council meeting Monday
requesting protection from vandals at
the center.
The center has been the object of
extensive vandalism in the last few
weeks, including the most recent, a
broken plate glass window Sunday.
Several weeks ago the center was
broken into and money taken from the
amusement machines.
Periodical postage paid at Hermiston, OR.
Postmaster, send address changes to
Hermiston Herald, 333 E. Main St.,
Hermiston, OR 97838.
BTW
Member of EO Media Group Copyright ©2020
Continued from Page A1
CORRECTIONS
It is the policy of the Hermiston Herald to correct errors as soon as they are
discovered. Incorrect information will be corrected on Page 2A. Errors commited on
the Opinion page will be corrected on that page. Corrections also are noted in the
online versions of our stories.
Please contact the editor at editor@hermistonherald.com
or call (541) 564-4533 with issues about this policy or to report errors.
SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Letters Policy: Letters to the Editor is a forum for the Hermiston Herald readers
to express themselves on local, state, national or world issues. Brevity is good, but
longer letters should be kept to 250 words.
No personal attacks; challenge the opinion, not the person. The Hermiston Herald
reserves the right to edit letters for length and for content.
Letters must be original and signed by the writer or writers. Anonymous letters
will not be printed. Writers should include a telephone number so they can be
reached for questions. Only the letter writer’s name and city of residence will be
published.
• • •
Several
upcoming
vacations
offered through Collette Tours will
serve as a fundraiser for the Good
Shepherd Medical Center Auxil-
iary. In addition to a fun trip, peo-
ple will support the auxiliary’s fund-
raiser, which provides medical
scholarships for local people pur-
suing careers in the healthcare fi eld
and needed medical equipment at the
Hermiston hospital.
Destinations include: Bluegrass
Country & The Smoky Mountains,
with the tour (Sept. 17-25) beginning
in Louisville, Kentucky, and ending
at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville,
North Carolina; and Colors of New
England (Oct. 11-18) which begins
in Boston, Massachusetts, and cov-
HH fi le photo
Echo Cougars head girls basketball coach David Rohrman comforts Jessie Fisher
and Kelly Brown while cheerleader Tammy Rolfe looks into the distance after a
loss at the state basketball tournament against Powans High School in 1995.
75 YEARS AGO
March 8, 1945
A dream of many years’ stand-
ing was realized last Friday when
President Roosevelt signed the riv-
ers and harbors bill which includes
authorization for the Umatilla Rap-
ids (McNary) dam a short distance
up the river from Umatilla and the
Snake river dams, and open channel
improvement for purposes of provid-
ing slack water navigation and irriga-
tion. Old timers in this area in particu-
lar were cheered by the news as many
of them have been pulling for the dam
for many years.
2) State police literally hit the jack-
pot Tuesday when they apprehended
three youths from Grand Island, Neb.
with a stolen automobile near Board-
man. The boys brought about their
own downfall when they suddenly
stopped their machine near the inter-
section just east of Boardman and
were struck by an auto driven by Fay-
ette Stout of Boardman.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Stout, also an
occupant, were seriously injured and
brought to Hermiston General Hospi-
tal by ambulance. It is expected that
the injuries will require several weeks
of hospitalization.
Following the accident the three
ers Coastal Maine.
For more information, call Pat
Moncrief, chairperson for Collette
Tours, at 541-571-3770.
• • •
It’s time to put your teachers to
the test during a McFundraiser to
benefi t McNary Heights Elemen-
tary School. The special McTeach-
er’s Night is Tuesday, March 10
from 4:45-7:15 p.m. at McDonald’s
1320 N. First St., Hermiston. Per-
sonnel from the Umatilla school will
be manning the counter and a por-
tion of the sales will be donated to
the school.
• • •
Cleary Building Corp. branch
manager Randall George was
recently recognized for outstanding
sales performance in 2019 by the
company.
George, who won the Excellence
in Sales award, works in the com-
pany’s Hermiston branch offi ce.
boys attempted to escape by foot, lug-
ging two suitcases, into the sagebrush
country southeast of Boardman. Pur-
suing offi cers were forced to fi re at
them before they could be stopped
about one mile from the scene of the
accident. Following their arrest, their
loot revealed much stolen property,
including clothing, liquor, money, a
2-pound size cocoa can full of gas-
oline, rationing stamps and other
articles.
100 YEARS AGO
March 6, 1920
The acreage of prunes on the
Umatilla project will be materially
increased this year by the planting of
several new orchards. C.M. Jensen
is one who will put out fi ve acres to
Italian prunes this coming fall, while
Jack White is now having his land
prepared for fi ve acres of the same,
with strawberries between the tree
rows.
2) The Hermiston Auto Co. this
week received notifi cation of a gen-
eral advance in the prices of Ford cars,
effective from the date of receipt of
the telegram bearing the information.
Accordingly, the touring car has gone
up $80, the runabout $75, the coupe
$25, the sedan $25, the truck $85 and
the Fordson tractor $100.
According to a news release, the
award “is given to top Cleary sales
performers for exhibiting a highly
professional
sales
personality,
energy, drive and motivation leading
to dedication, leadership and excel-
lence in all aspects of sales.”
• • •
The menu for the Harkenrider
Senior Activity Center for Thurs-
day is pork chops, baked potato cas-
serole, veggies and dessert. Friday
is pizza, green salad, pudding and
cookie.
Monday is ham and cheese sand-
wich, potato salad and dessert. Tues-
day is porcupine balls, scalloped
potatoes, carrots and peas and des-
sert. Next Wednesday is BLT sand-
wich, macaroni salad and dessert.
— You can submit items for our
weekly By The Way column by email-
ing your tips to editor@hermiston-
herald.com.