NEWS
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2021
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A9
Hermiston student hopes to resume chess competitions
Luke Gray, 16, started playing
in elementary school
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
At recent Hermiston High
School’s student-led conferences,
sophomore Luke Gray, 16, set up
a chess board with a puzzle. The
Hermiston resident then asked
passersby to solve the game. A
player had to sacrifi ce a valuable
piece for a lesser piece to secure a
win.
Gray said he likes such puzzles,
because they make him think and
he enjoys solving problems. This is
why, he said, chess is fun; a player
gets to reason themselves out of
binds.
The common perception of
chess players is they are brainiacs,
Gray said, also admitting he might
fi t the description.
“I’ve defi nitely been called that
before,” he said.
He gets good grades in school,
he said, and he considers him-
self a thinker. These days, he has
been pursuing business classes.
Accounting and marketing are so
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Luke Gray poses for a portrait Nov. 3, 2021, during student-led conferences
at Hermiston High School. Gray, 16, has won three regional chess titles.
much his favorite, he is now con-
sidering business as a career, he
said.
“I like to crunch numbers,” the
teen said.
Gray said his interest in chess
goes back several years. He said he
fi rst learned the game in elemen-
tary school but did not start playing
seriously until middle school. It
was then, he said, when he joined
the chess club at Armand Larive
Middle School, Hermiston.
Delia Fields, Hermiston sec-
ondary schools librarian, and until
recently the high school chess advi-
sor, said she became acquainted
with Gray in middle school. She
knew right away, she said, he was
special — a talented chess player
and an excellent young man.
Fields said she is one of a few
school district staff members who
have worked with chess players
over the years, and she credited
retired social studies teacher Dan
Jamison for his work with the club.
For them, she said, it is fun to see
students, like Gray, mature.
As he has grown as a player,
Gray has attended tournaments,
where he has won major accom-
plishments. Three regional titles
and one win at a state competition
are among his greatest achieve-
ments. He said he thinks he could
have won more under diff erent
circumstances.
Because of the coronavirus epi-
demic, many competitions last
year were canceled. This was dis-
appointing, he said, but necessary.
He expressed excitement, though,
over the contest season resuming
in 2022.
Until he can start major com-
petitions again, he said he has
chess-related activities to keep
him busy. He enjoys following the
play of famous chess masters, he
said, such as Hikaru Nakamura.
Gray also said he likes to play with
friends.
The Hermiston High School
chess club, under advisor Ernest
Kincaid, meets twice a week. Peo-
ple tend to pop in and out of club
gatherings, Gray said, especially
these days. Gray said the march-
ing band is capturing the interest
of students who might otherwise
be participating in the chess club.
Gray, too, has interests out-
side of chess, he said, as he has
made varsity in tennis. Chess is a
hobby, he said, he does not ever
see himself pursuing the game
professionally.
Gray said he has watched top
professional players, who spend
hours playing and then hours after
each game studying their every
move. He said he is not willing
to dedicate himself so fully to the
game. It might be maddening, he
expressed.
“It’s probably not going to drive
you insane,” he said, “but it could.”
Hermiston resident decorates big for Thanksgiving and more
Cindy Erevia has more
than 60 scarecrows
outside, more inside
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
While Christmas decora-
tions have been going up in
neighborhoods and stores,
Cindy Erevia has been dec-
orating for Thanksgiving
Day. According to Erevia,
she does not forget Thanks-
giving, and she does not
overlook many other holi-
days, either.
Located near the inter-
section of East Ridgeway
Avenue and Northeast Sev-
enth Street, Hermiston, Ere-
via’s front lawn is crowded
with decorations. Sixty-fi ve
scarecrows are on display,
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
Cindy Erevia, a lifelong Hermiston resident, poses with her
Thanksgiving Day decorations on Friday, Nov. 12, 2021.
and they share the lawn with
many turkeys and more.
Scarecrows hold a spe-
cial place in Erevia’s heart,
“because they’re cute,” she
said. She has nearly 200
more of them in her home.
Because of their association
with the harvest, and fall,
the scarecrows fi t in with
her Thanksgiving decora-
tions, she said.
She has names for some
of her scarecrows, she said.
They mean a lot to her, just
as all of her decorations
are important to her. One
5-foot, infl atable turkey, for
instance, makes her smile
as she talks about it and the
good deal she got on it. It
cost her $5 at Home Depot,
she said.
Getting a bargain is part
of the fun, she said, and she
goes to local stores after
a holiday to look for dis-
counted items.
Another fun part of her
collection-and-display
hobby is seeing the happi-
ness she creates for other
people, she said. According
to Erevia, people frequently
stop in front of her home,
marvel at her displays and
take photos.
“It makes me really
happy,” she said.
And she said she thinks
she has inspired other peo-
ple, including one neighbor,
to create their own displays,
and this makes her glad, too.
It takes her around a week
to make a display such as
the one she has now, but tak-
ing it down is a quicker pro-
cess. And once it is down,
she starts building the next
arrangement. Thanksgiv-
ing and Christmas are her
favorites, but she also does
Valentine’s Day, Easter, St.
Patrick’s Day, Mother’s Day
and more. She missed Vet-
erans Day this year, but she
said she usually does that
one, too.
One of her three chil-
dren helps her on occasion,
she said. Her son, who is
an “excellent painter,” she
said, will build snow sculp-
tures and then paint them.
On one recent Valentine’s
Day, he made a beautiful
snow swan, according to
Erevia.
She started this hobby
fi ve years ago, she said.
A lifelong Hermiston res-
ident, she used to live in a
remote location. Back then,
it did not make much sense
to decorate, she said, so
she did not place any dec-
orations on her home. Then
fi ve years ago, she moved
to the town’s center, where
she currently resides. Now,
as people can see her work,
decorating makes sense, and
she is constantly at work
doing it, she said.
Her next decoration, for
Christmas, will start after
Thanksgiving and it will
take a couple of weeks to
complete.
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