OFF PAGE ONE
A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 2020
IN BRIEF
Bank of Eastern Oregon
awards scholarships
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Stylist Tricia Marquez chats with client Jennifer McDonough about the plan for her hair on May 23 at Trim’Ers salon in
Hermiston.
Salons:
Continued from Page A1
sion to reopen on May 15 in
counties, such as Umatilla,
that have declining cases of
COVID-19 and meet other
criteria. The Hermiston styl-
ist and co-owner of Trim’Ers
feels elated to be back at the
styling chair. There’s no way
for a stylist to self-distance
while coloring and cutting
hair, but Marquez said that
she respects the virus, but
doesn’t fear it. The long list
of state requirements — the
longer break between cli-
ents, having them wait in
their cars, the extra sanitiz-
ing — add complexity to her
day, but help mitigate the
risk.
“I’m thrilled to be up and
running,” said the Hermis-
ton stylist. “If I had to wear
a garbage bag, I’d do it just
to be able to come back and
work.”
Clients are clamoring for
appointments. The salon is
booked up for two-and-a-
Budgets:
Continued from Page A1
“Seventh Street bottleneck.”
He said some smaller lines
around Seventh Street would
present a capacity problem
if a new industrial project at
the South Hermiston Indus-
trial Park were to increase
the amount of wastewater
flowing from the south side
of town to the recycled water
treatment plant.
He said the city may
be able to get some fund-
ing from the Economic
Development Administra-
tion for the project through
the CARES Act stimulus
package recently passed by
Congress.
The parks and recreation
department is working to
rebuild Funland Playground
with about $700,000 from
the insurance money the city
received when the old play-
ground burned down, and
another $700,000 raised
half months out. Marquez
feels bad having to turn peo-
ple away.
“Eighty-five
percent
of people calling are from
Washington,” she said.
“They’re just desperate.”
A short way up Highway
395, stylist Heather Smith
has experienced much
the same at Elli’gance by
Cherice.
“I’m overbooked,” Smith
said. “The phone’s been
ringing off the hook. There
are people from Washing-
ton calling who we’ve had
to refuse except for the ones
who are already clients.”
Brenda Cooper sat in
Smith’s chair, masked up
and ready to say farewell to
her pandemic hair. This is
the highlight of the month,
Cooper said. However, not
everyone is ready to return.
“For clients scared of
coming in, we’ve urged
them to stay home until
they’re comfortable,” Smith
said. “Everyone’s got to do
it on their own time. We’ll
be happy to see them when
they come back.”
Washington hair salons
and barbershops could
resume as soon as June 1,
part of phase two in the
state’s four-phase gradual
opening. California, how-
ever, considers salons as
higher risk businesses, along
with movie theaters and
sporting events.
Not every Oregon county
has moved into phase one.
In Marion County, which
has the state’s highest rate of
coronavirus infections, one
salon owner defied the state
order and opened her salon
on May 5. According to the
Oregonian, Lindsey Gra-
ham, owner of the Glam-
our Salon in Salem, said she
made the decision to provide
for her family. The Oregon
Occupational Safety and
Health Administration hit
her with a $14,000 fine.
Neither Marquez nor
Smith love wearing a mask
while they work. The masks
slip and are itchy. But both
women say they are com-
mitted to wearing them for
the foreseeable future.
Marquez said she is torn
through private and cor-
porate donations. The city
department is also using
Federal Emergency Man-
agement Administration dol-
lars to repair Riverfront Park
after it flooded in February.
After approving the rec-
ommended budget, the bud-
get committee donned a
second hat as the Hermis-
ton Urban Renewal Agency
budget committee. The
urban renewal district col-
lects a portion of prop-
erty tax revenues generated
within the district, which
covers downtown.
They are starting the
year with approximately
$372,000 on hand, which
by law must be spent on
improvements to increase
property values within the
district.
City Planner Clint Spen-
cer told the group that the
urban renewal agency has
the money to resurface and
improve two of its municipal
parking lots downtown.
“We can do a com-
plete rebuild of at least one
where we completely exca-
vate it out and build it to
a street standard, beautify
it, relocate the curb cuts,
rebuild the sideways and
overall increase the effi-
ciency, which will result in
a net increase in 12 parking
spots,” he said.
The urban renewal agen-
cy’s other project for the
year will be adding way-
finding signage for destina-
tions, such as the library. It
will include signs to clearly
point the public to the city’s
six different municipal lots
downtown. Spencer said
people often don’t realize
they are allowed to park in
those lots, which downtown
businesses have identified as
an impediment to their sales.
“Everybody just sees
the street parking and says,
‘Oh that’s full,’ but there are
well over 200 spaces that
are available just behind the
buildings, so we’re trying to
help direct people to those,”
Spencer said.
about whether to pass on
some of the increased costs
to her customers. She sani-
tized a lot before, but now
she uses even more cleaning
solution and lets it sit on the
surfaces for at least 10 min-
utes. Appointments don’t
bump up against each other
anymore to give time for
sanitizing and to keep cli-
ents away from each other.
Masks for customers cost
money, too. Still, she hesi-
tates to bump prices.
“Everyone has been
really, really supportive,”
Marquez said.
Her phone rang and Mar-
quez fished out her cell-
phone. Her next customer,
Jennifer McDonough, said
she was swinging through
the drive-thru at Starbucks.
Could she bring her a cof-
fee? Marquez grinned, said
no thanks, she had water.
She hung up and looked
happily around her light-
drenched salon.
“I feel like I have a pas-
sion for this,” she said. “I
love what I do. I’m thrilled
to be back.”
BEO Bancorp and its
subsidiary, Bank of East-
ern Oregon, have selected
the 2020 high school senior
scholarship winners.
This scholarship is
awarded to students plan-
ning to enroll in agricul-
ture or business and judg-
ing is based on scholarship,
leadership and citizenship.
Applications are accepted
from graduating seniors
in all areas where Bank of
Eastern Oregon and Bank
of Eastern Washington
branches are located.
Scholarships for $500
were awarded to local
seniors Sierra Villegas
(Riverside High School),
Kimberly Renteria (Irri-
gon High School), Gar-
rett Walchli and Jazlyn
Romero (Hermiston High
School), Catherine Rhodes
(Sherman County High
School), Gage Tatum (Fos-
sil High School), Coo-
per Johnson (Condon High
School), Nicole Proph-
eter, Casey Fletcher, Kellen
Grant, Jason Rea and Mat-
thew Orem (Heppner High
School), Calvin Bennett
(Mitchell High School), and
Cloe Davis (Weston-McE-
wen High School).
“We know this has been
an unprecedented time for
our high school seniors. We
wish them the best of luck
as they move on to college
and look forward to hear-
ing of their continuing suc-
cess,” BEO President and
CEO Jeff Bailey said in a
press release.
Farm bureau awards
scholarships to local
students
The Umatilla-Morrow
County Farm Bureau Schol-
arship Committee recently
awarded scholarships total-
ing $2,750 to seven 2020
high school graduates. The
seven award winners were
selected from a field of 27
candidates.
The award winners are:
Matthew Orem ($500),
a graduate of Heppner High
School, is the son of Eric
and Brandi Orem of Hep-
pner. He will attend Blue
Mountain Community Col-
lege where he will study
crop production and animal
production.
Ashley Jones ($500),
a graduate of McLoughlin
High School, is the daugh-
ter of Ben and Lisa Jones of
Milton-Freewater. She will
attend Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity where she will major
in ag education.
Eric Rencken ($500),
a graduate of McLoughlin
High School, is the son of
Bruce and Theresa Rencken
of Milton-Freewater. He will
be attending the University
of Idaho where he will study
agribusiness.
Alexis Leake ($500), a
graduate of Griswold High
School, is the daughter of
Janell Scaplehorn of Helix
and Brett Leake of Pend-
leton. She will attend Blue
Mountain Community Col-
lege where she will pursue a
Master of Education degree
in mathematics.
Logan Weinke ($250), a
graduate of Pilot Rock High
School, is the son of Tim and
Joan Weinke of Pilot Rock.
He will be attending Eastern
Oregon University studying
agriculture science.
Maria
Alatorre
Ledezma ($250), a grad-
uate of Hermiston High
School, is the daughter of
Tomas Alatorre and Ade-
laida Ledezma of Hermis-
ton. She will be attending
either Columbia Basin Col-
lege or Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity pursuing a degree in
dental hygiene.
Kimberly
Renteria
($250), a graduate of Irrigon
Senior High School, is the
daughter of Jose and Hilda
Renteria of Irrigon. She will
be attending Blue Mountain
Community College where
she will major in accounting.
For more information
contact Julia Spratling, sec-
retary/treasurer of Umatil-
la-Morrow County Farm
Bureau, at 541-457-6045.
If you own a business & would like to help sponsor this page.
Please contact Jeanne Jewett 541-564-4531; jjewett@hermistonherald.com