COMMUNITY
A2 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
THREE MINUTES WITH …
WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2020
HERMISTON HISTORY
Prisoner of war returns home
25 YEARS AGO
May 23, 1995
THREE MINUTES
WITH BRYAN MAESS
Patrol Sergeant
Hermiston Police Department
When and why did you move to Hermiston?
I moved to Hermiston in 2010 because I wanted to
come back to Umatilla County, and felt Hermiston
was the most progressive city in the county.
Where is your favorite place to eat in
Hermiston?
Ixtapa
What do you like to do in your spare time?
Cook and spend time with my granddaughter.
What surprises you about Hermiston?
How much the community supports law enforce-
ment. Not all cities are as supportive as Hermiston
residents.
What was the last book you read?
“Lincoln on Leadership” by Donald T. Phillips.
What website or app do you use most other
than Facebook?
Masterclass
If you could travel anywhere, where would you
go?
Tuscany
What is the funniest thing that’s ever hap-
pened to you?
After a long day of fi shing on the Columbia River
in very rough water, I jumped off the boat onto the
dock. My legs were so exhausted from being in a
rocking boat all day that I could not control them. I
ran right off the end of the dock and into the river.
What is one of your goals for the next 12
months?
To fi nd a store that has Lysol or Clorox wipes in
stock
What is your proudest accomplishment?
Serving in the U.S. Marine Corps
We started the Three Minutes With feature
in 2017 to highlight everyday people in the
greater Hermiston area who wouldn’t normally
be in the newspaper. As everyone spends more
time at home, our “man on the street” approach
to fi nding people has gotten more diffi cult, so
we’re asking for your help. If you are will-
ing to be interviewed for Three Minutes With,
either by phone or by email, contact editor Jade
McDowell at editor@hermistonherald.com or
541-564-4536.
By next March, those spending
the night in Hermiston will have one
more hotel from which to choose.
Charles Richard, owner of the
Posada Inn, announced Monday that
Curt Baney Enterprises, a Bend-
based hospitality fi rm, will build
the 100-unit Oxford Inn on North
Highway 395 where the Northwood
Offi ce Building now stands.
Richard and his wife Marcella
will manage the hotel.
2) With 39 years in education —
17 of them in Umatilla — George
Fenton is ready to retire.
The Umatilla superintendent
decided last year that this would be
his last.
“It’s time,” he said. “I’ve worked
all my life. I’ve been working since
I was six. There hasn’t been a Mon-
day morning since where I didn’t
get up and go to work someplace.”
50 YEARS AGO
May 21, 1970
What Hermiston School Dis-
trict’s policy will be regarding
speakers in the schools will be
decided in the near future, the school
board decided Monday night.
A committee was appointed
to study the problem and fi nd out
what some other schools are doing
about the question that arose here
when Dr. Arthur Pearl, Democratic
candidate for governor, was fi rst
approved and then denied an oppor-
tunity to speak at the high school.
School superintendent A.O. Lar-
ive had asked the board to come
up with a policy regarding persons
who are running for political offi ce.
Should they be allowed to speak
to students in class or in a general
assembly?
Larive said, “We teach our stu-
dents about free speech and free
press and they then see a minor mil-
itant group of persons deny this
constitutional freedom to a speaker
whose views may differ from
theirs.”
When questioned by members
of the school board as to how the
change of mind had come about,
Larive said that he had on Wednes-
day night received four phone calls
objecting to Pearl’s speech. One
person, he said, claimed to represent
10 to 12 people. Principal Jack Jen-
kins told the board he had received
two phone calls on Wednesday prior
to the cancellation of the talk.
Larive said that “some who
called actually threatened bodily
harm.”
HH fi le photo
An emergency technician works on a fake explosion victim during a drill at the
Umatilla Chemical Depot in 1995.
75 YEARS AGO
May 24, 1945
Ranger Vern E. Daughtery, T/5,
who spent a number of months in a
German prison camp, arrived home
Thursday morning from Portland.
He called Wednesday and really
surprised local people and his par-
ents as well, who did not know he
had left Europe.
Vern served in a motor trans-
port outfi t when he entered service
in 1942 but found that work too
easy and asked for a transfer to the
rough and tough Rangers. He was
taken prisoner early in the Italian
campaign.
2) Col. Ralph Tudor of Port-
land, head of the U.S. Army engi-
neers, was in Hermiston last Friday
afternoon to hold a meeting with
local interested people in regard to
requirements of this section during
construction of the proposed Uma-
tilla Rapids dam.
Actual construction work is
planned to start about six months
after the war ends, which may come
HH fi le photo
Kristin Finley of the High Desert Modelers shows off her model 1911 fi re truck
in 1995.
in a year or 18 months, bringing the
start of the dam about two years
hence. Probably 3,600 men will
be employed during the construc-
tion and that fi gure would bring
about 10,000 people into this area
throughout the 4-year construction
period.
Increased housing facilities as
well as business and industrial
requirements were stressed in Col.
Tudor’s impromptu remarks, which
would indicate a boom in Hermis-
ton within the next fi ve years.
100 YEARS AGO
May 22, 1920
We are informed through C.
Brockman, district manager of the
Standard Oil Company in Stanfi eld,
that the company now has on hand
only four days’ supply of gasoline
under normal consumption. Mr.
Brockman has been assured by his
company offi cials that he will not be
able to get another car of gasoline
for two weeks at least. This means
we will be out of gasoline in very
few days, unless every means is
used to conserve the present supply.
Pendleton and Walla Walla are
entirely out of gasoline and Pend-
leton tried to get some from Mr.
Brockman but he refused to let
them have any. The local garages
have been requested to see that no
car drives away from their stations
with more than fi ve gallons.
We are asking your whole-
hearted cooperation to use every
means to preserve our present
supply.
BY THE WAY
Budget meeting will
stream online
The Hermiston Budget Committee
will review the city’s 2020-21 proposed
budget at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Eastern
Oregon Trade and Event Center.
The meeting will be accessible on the
city’s YouTube channel and through the
Amazon Chime phone platform.
The budget committee is responsible
for reviewing the proposed city budget and
making recommendations to the city coun-
cil, which will vote in June on whether to
adopt the budget for the upcoming fi scal
year beginning on July 1.
The proposed budget includes funding
for city departments and projects. Once
approved, it becomes the policy document
to implement the goals and objectives of
the elected city council. State and local
policy requires an annually balanced oper-
ating budget before funds can be spent.
The city council will review the pro-
posed budget at its regular meeting on June
8, and public comment will be accepted at
that time. To view the proposed budget, as
well as previous budgets, visit www.herm-
iston.or.us/fi nance/budget.
• • •
Election results will be
available online
The Hermiston Herald prints at
7 p.m. on Tuesdays, but results for Ore-
gon’s primary election this week were not
released until after the election’s 8 p.m.
ballot. Although it was too late to include
them in this week’s edition of the Herm-
iston Herald, you can fi nd results online
this week at www.hermistonherald.com,
at www.eastoregonian.com or in Thurs-
day’s East Oregonian.
• • •
Virtual memorial For
fallen offi cers
Last week was National Police Week.
In light of COVID-19, Umatilla County
canceled its in-person memorial ser-
vice held each year, but Hermiston
Police Department encouraged people
interested in paying respects to offi cers
killed in the line of duty to visit the vir-
tual memorial held by the National Law
Enforcement Offi cers Memorial Fund.
• • •
Thursday’s menu:
chicken salad
The Harkenrider Senior Activity
Center continues to be closed to the pub-
lic during the COVID-19 outbreak, but
the senior center is still providing meals
by delivery or takeout to senior citizens
every Tuesday and Thursday.
The menu for Thursday, May 21 is
chicken salad, pasta salad, fruit and des-
sert. The menu for Tuesday, May 26 is
beef pot pie, green salad, fruit and dessert.
For a Meals on Wheels delivery, call
541-567-3582 before 10 a.m. to place an
order. To pick up a meal from the cen-
ter at 255 Northeast Second St., call the
same number before 11 a.m. Meals are $4
and can be picked up between noon and
12:50 p.m.