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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2021
HermistonHerald.com
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Local governments cautiously optimistic on infrastructure bill
By ANTONIO SIERRA
Hermiston Herald
With Congress passing a
$1 trillion infrastructure bill
the fi rst week of Novem-
ber, the Oregon Department
of Transportation already
is projecting to take home
$1.2 billion for transporta-
tion projects across the state.
But local offi cials are taking
a wait-and-see approach to
fi gure out how that money
may trickle down to cities in
Eastern Oregon.
“This is good news,”
Pendleton Public Works
Director Bob Patterson said.
But questions remain
over how and when rural
communities will see money
from the bill.
Patterson said the city
hoped the bill would include
money for a new road con-
necting Highway 11 and
Highway 30 on the South
Hill to open up new land for
housing. The appropriation
didn’t make the cut, but the
city is still exploring funding
options for the road.
Funding a realignment
of the Interstate 84 Exit 209
interchange has been some-
thing of a white whale for
Pendleton city offi cials. The
city has applied for a grant
from the U.S. Department of
Transportation three times
and come up short each time.
The city is making a
fourth attempt at securing
$24.4 million through the
grant, which was known as
BUILD under the Trump
administration and is known
as RAISE now. Patterson
said the city plans to stay the
course in obtaining money
for Exit 209 through the
grant rather than through the
infrastructure bill. Patterson
said the city should know
by Thanksgiving if it locked
down the award.
But like every other city
and county in Oregon, there
are plenty of other projects
Pendleton could fund with
extra money from the fed-
eral government. Patter-
son said the city is waiting
for word from the Oregon
Department of Transporta-
tion as to how it will divvy
up its $1.2 billion, but if
it’s similar to the state gas
tax, half would stay with
the department, 30% would
be split among the counties
and the fi nal 20% would be
shared between cities.
Mark Morgan, the assis-
tant city manager of Herm-
iston, said he was frustrated
that attention quickly turned
See Roads, Page A8
Kathy Aney/Hermiston Herald, File
The city of Pendleton is making a fourth attempt at securing
$24.4 million through a U.S. Department of Transportation
of transportation grant for a realignment of the Interstate 84
Exit 209 interchange.
Local
warming
stations
need help
Lack of volunteers may delay
opening of Hermiston station
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
A lack of volunteers may be
a setback for a Umatilla County
warming station, according to
one of the station’s volunteers and
board members.
Brodie Messenger of the Herm-
iston Warming Station, 1075 S.
Highway 395, Hermiston, said the
facility usually opens the Monday
before Thanksgiving, which this
year is Nov. 22, but only if the sta-
tion can attract enough volunteers.
Otherwise, he said, the station’s
opening will be postponed until
enough helpers sign on to serve.
Messenger, one of eight board
members, stated this year’s delay
in opening could be “a week or
two,” based on the current num-
bers. The warming stations board
plans to determine the schedule at
an upcoming meeting.
The station has 33 volunteers,
but it needs more than 100, Mes-
senger said. Having more than 100
volunteers will give the board a
suffi cient pool of help.
The Hermiston Warming Sta-
tion started in 2011, Messen-
ger said, and its start was in local
churches. Each week, during those
early days, a diff erent local church
would act as the town’s warming
station, he said. Then, as now, peo-
ple without a permanent place to
reside would come to the station
for shelter, food and opportunities
to clean themselves. The station
has operated at the Highway 395
location since 2017.
A common problem
Other programs like the Herm-
iston Warming Station are facing
shortages of volunteers, according
to Paula Hall, CEO of Commu-
nity Action Program of East Cen-
tral Oregon.
Her organization operates the
Promise Inn, a former motel con-
verted into a transitional hous-
ing facility. Unlike a warming sta-
tion, which is seasonal and open
only when temperatures drop,
the Promise Inn, 205 S.E. Dorion
Ave., Pendleton, is open through-
out the year.
The facility, which opened
April 1, does not rely on volun-
teers, Hall said. Thanks to grant
funding, the Promise Inn has paid
staff , which includes a case man-
ager, a street outreach worker and
an onsite worker.
“Everyone who relies on vol-
unteers, whether it is food bank-
ing or homeless services, are really
struggling,” she said. “Primarily
the volunteer pool are those who
have retired and have more time
to give to their community. Those
See Warming, Page A8
INSIDE
Photos by Kathy Aney/Hermiston Herald
Above, students from Echo School dress as military fi gures to honor local veterans during a Veterans Day parade on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021. Below,
Stanley Anderson, a member of the American Legion salutes during a Veterans Day breakfast at the Hermiston Community Center.
Honoring our veterans
A breakfast in Hermiston, a
parade in Echo were part of
Veterans Day activities
By ERICK PETERSON and BRYCE DOLE
Hermiston Herald
Special events in Umatilla
County were held Thursday, Nov.
11 to honor local veterans for Vet-
erans Day.
In Hermiston, Aaron Wetter-
ling and around 140 other veter-
ans shared food and camaraderie
during an annual breakfast at the
Hermiston Community Center.
“It’s always a great time,” Wet-
terling said about the event, and
he credited Hermiston Parks and
Recreation Department employ-
ees, including Diana Picard, rec-
reation coordinator, and Kelly
Schwirse, clerk, for a “fantastic
job helping us.”
Brandon Artz, the parks and
recreation department’s interim
director, explained that his
department took over the break-
fast to keep it from being a drive-
thru event. His department got
together with sponsors, includ-
ing Hale’s Restaurant, the Pheas-
ant Blue Collar Bar & Grill and
Vern’s Food Service, he said. He
added that volunteers, such as the
Hermiston Kiwanis Club, helped
make the breakfast possible.
Wetterling, who served in the
Marines from 1966 to 1970, told
stories of his service during the
Vietnam War. His service made
a lasting impact, he said, which
included 20 years of “jungle rot”
on his feet that mostly went away.
The larger eff ect was on his
personality, he said. Wetterling
described a “military bearing,”
which to this day even infl uences
how he dresses.
His service, he said, also links
him to other service members,
whom he interacts with as “old
friends,” even when he does not
know their names. Wetterling
said he talks with these friends
about family members and shared
acquaintances, reminiscing over
old times and discussing life
events.
One of these fellow vets at the
event was William Hill, 74, of
Hermiston, who served in the U.S.
Army during the Vietnam War. He
said he is proud to have served
and he is happy for opportunities
such as the breakfast, which allow
him to meet other veterans.
See Veterans, Page A8
Frontier grocery stores ready for Thanksgiving
By ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
Supply chain issues
gripping the nation have
led to shortages in every-
thing from semicon-
ductors to paper trays
at school cafeterias, but
Thanksgiving looks to be
running smoothly and on
time, according to gro-
cery stores in rural Oregon
cities.
Dave Meade, Colum-
A3 Hermiston hires Brandon Artz
as new Parks and Rec director
bia Harvest Foods store
manager, said that his
store is not having trouble
getting turkeys. Accord-
ing to Meade, he expects
to get all the turkeys he
needs, “several hundred,”
he said.
“The issues that we
deal with that cause the
most problems have to do
with are just getting trucks
to get product picked up
and delivered to distribu-
tion centers,” he said. His
store’s distribution center
is in Spokane, according
to Meade.
He said he believes the
reported shortages may be
regional, not relevant to
Umatilla County.
“Turkeys on the table,
we’ve got turkey already
in our freezer,” said Blaine
Huff man, owner of Huff -
man’s Market in Prairie
City. “ I’m sure there’s
going to be items we’re
going to be short on but on
A4 Columnist Tammy Malgesini
receives a special present in “Inside
My Shoes”
the whole we’re fi ne.”
Grocery stores have
had to adapt to a changing
supply landscape that has
seen shortages crop up in
unexpected places.
“We don’t know one
load from the next what
we’re going to get —
it changes every time,”
Huff man said. “The food
supply chain is vulnerable,
a lot of stuff is still sitting
out in the ocean.”
Huff man said he had
A7 AAA predicts big increase in
holiday travel
some issues ordering pre-
made pies for Thanks-
giving, and the store
was out of stock of those
items. Supplies for home-
made pies, however, were
available.
Considering
that
smaller markets lack the
same buying power as
larger chains such as Safe-
way or Walmart, there was
a cause for concern that
See Markets, Page A8
A9 Hermiston High School
student excels at chess