WINNER OF THE 2020 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2021
HermistonHerald.com
EasternOregonMarketplace.com
County
commission
candidates
get early
start on
campaigns
By ANTONIO SIERRA
EO Media Group
Ben Armstrong, a junior at Hermiston High
School, may have just taken his biggest step yet as a
published author.
the 17-year-old celebrated Wednesday, Oct. 20 for his
birthday and the release of What Remains: An Inked in
Gray Anthology,” edited by Dakota Rayne and San G.
Crow. Armstrong wrote a short story, “Sleigh 54,” which
was published in the book.
Hermiston High School staged a signing party for
Armstrong, who said he was enjoying the attention his
fi rst major published story has brought. He had been
published on a few websites previously, but those sites
are small, Armstrong said.
Family members were in attendance — his mother,
his father, his stepfather, his stepmother and his sister.
Friends, his girlfriend, teachers and other well-wishers
also showed up to the gathering. Everyone took their
turn swarming around the young author in his moment
of triumph.
Armstrong’s story earned its place among 16 tales in
the book. Three hundred short stories had been consid-
ered for publication; all but the 16 were rejected, Arm-
strong said.
Delia Fields, Hermiston School District librarian,
organized the signing for Armstrong. She said he is one
of those students she often sees in the library, and she
likes his story.
“It’s very clever and very creative,” she said. “For me,
it’s a fun kind of scary story, because I’m not into some
of the super creepy dark ones. It’s just enough twisted.”
She said thinks Armstrong is “on his way” to an
impressive literary career. She said she likes his drive
and skill. As he gains confi dence, he will continue chart-
ing a path as an author, she said.
It’s more than four
months until the candi-
date fi ling deadline, seven
months until the primary
and more than a year until
the general election, but
the race for a seat on the
Umatilla County Board
of Commissioners is well
underway.
Susan Bower of Pend-
leton submitted her fi ling
forms for Position 1 on the
fi rst day of the fi ling period
and one of her opponents,
Cindy Timmons of Mil-
ton-Freewater, entered her
name a month later. Despite
the long runway until Elec-
tion Day, both candidates
already have spent thou-
sands of dollars in their eff ort
to succeed George Murdock
on the board.
Bower, the owner of the
Pendleton-based
Eastern
Oregon Business Source,
a
consulting
business,
announced her candidacy
in June and formed a polit-
ical action committee to
begin fundraising in August.
In an interview, Bower said
getting her campaign run-
ning early was a part of
her strategy.
“In order to (campaign)
what I consider strategically
and properly, it would take
not only time, but it would
take a variety of methods
to get out to people and to
get in front of people,” she
said. “Two major resources:
time, lots and lots of it, and
money. With that plan in
mind, I knew that. I better
get on it, because both of
those resources are limited
resources for all of us.”
Since opening her cam-
paign account, Bower has
raised nearly $2,900 and
spent more than $10,900.
Bower said she doesn’t have
a defi nitive spending goal
for the campaign, but she
and her family committed
to covering 50% of the cam-
paign costs, the rest covered
by fundraising. Early donors
include Jill and Mike Thorne
of Pendleton and Tom Winn
of Helix.
See Story, Page A8
See Candidates, Page A8
Kathy Aney/Hermiston Herald
Ben Armstrong signs a copy of an anthology that contains his story “Sleigh 54” on Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021, in the Hermiston High School commons.
SCARY STORY
by Hermiston
student hits the
shelves in time
for Halloween
Ben Armstrong has fi rst
major publication, “Sleigh 54”
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
Local libraries try to bounce back with regular schedules of events
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
As COVID-19 restric-
tions lessen, local libraries
have been steadily resuming
a regular schedule of events.
Library patrons, too, have
been returning, slowly but
surely, according to library
representatives.
Friday morning, Oct.
23, off ered a test of local’s
willingness to visit library
events, with the Traveling
Lantern Theatre Company
performing “The Merry
Tales of Robin Hood” at the
Hermiston Public Library.
Twenty-three
people
attended the performance,
which was a good turnout,
according to librarians.
Hermiston
Mary Dowdy, Hermiston
library assistant and chil-
dren’s programmer, said she
has seen a steady increase in
INSIDE
event attendance. For some
time, she has read to chil-
dren at the library. Her read-
ings are on Tuesday morn-
ing. She is doing these now,
but they were canceled for
much of the past couple of
years.
Starting the second week
of September, she resumed
her public reading sched-
ule. During the fi rst week,
however, no one showed up.
This was not a big surprise
for her, as she knew it would
take a while for families to
know she was reading for
children again. Her worries
began, however, the follow-
ing weeks.
For the second and third
weeks, only fi ve children
showed up to the story time,
she said.
As she likes reading to
children, the small number
of attendees troubled her.
She wondered if, perhaps,
the weekly event should be
A3  Possible bear sighting in
Hermiston
stopped, at least for the time
being.
Then, at week three, her
fortunes reversed course.
More than 20 children
came, and the numbers have
improved slightly since.
“It’s picking up, so I’m
happy,” Dowdy said.
Still, the library has
remained cautious about
events. The upcoming pump-
kin-decorating activity is an
example of this. In previous
years, the library hosted dec-
orating classes, with a guest
showing children how to
decorate, Dowdy said. This
year, the library intends to
set out decorating kits start-
ing Oct. 26, but its has not
planned any class or public
activity.
Mark Rose, library direc-
tor, said the road back from
COVID-19 has been dif-
fi cult. For much of 2019,
the library was closed. The
doors were locked starting
in March 2019, then opened
in the summer, closed again
and reopened.
For a time, everything
except the checkout of
books, was ceased. This
included regular events. At
least one item on the sched-
ule, Adult Storytime for peo-
ple with learning disabili-
ties, was ended at the library
but resumed elsewhere. That
activity will remain at The
Arc of Umatilla County in
Hermiston, even though the
Hermiston library is restart-
ing its schedule for other
activities.
“We’re always pleased to
have customers come in,”
Rose said. He reported hav-
ing “good numbers” of peo-
ple coming in the door. More
and more people are using
the library, he added. He
said he believes there will
be even more library users
A6  Local Halloween activities are
scheduled
See Libraries, Page A8
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
Mary Dowdy, Hermiston library assistant and children’s
programmer, poses Monday, Oct. 25, 2021, with a couple of
books she plans on reading for children’s story time. Local
libraries are working to bring back more of their programs as
the pandemic ebbs.
A7  CDC recommends COVID-19
booster shots
A9  Umatilla County passes 150
COVID-19 deaths