WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2022
3
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
LOCAL NEWS
New fire chief commits to improvements
IN BRIEF
State seeks public’s help
to find missing teen
The Oregon Department of
Human Services Child Welfare
Division is asking for the pub-
lic’s help finding Davin Moore,
14, a child in foster care who
went missing Friday, Aug. 5,
from Hermiston.
“He is believed to be in dan-
ger,” according to ODHS.
The announcement also asks
the public to contact 911 or lo-
cal law enforcement if someone
believes they see him.
Davin is
suspected to
be in the Or-
egon cities of
Pendleton,
La Grande
or Richland.
He is 5-feet,
Davin Moore
6 inches tall,
weights 229
pounds and has brown hair and
brown eyes.
Sometimes when a child is
missing they may be in significant
danger and Oregon Department
of Human Services may need to
locate them to assess and support
their safety. As ODHS works to
do everything it can to find these
missing children and assess their
safety, media alerts will be issued
in some circumstances when it
is determined necessary. Some-
times, in these situations, a child
may go missing repeatedly, result-
ing in more than one media alert
for the same child.
Hermiston man dies in
crash on Highway 730
A two-vehicle crash Wednes-
day, Aug. 3, killed a Hermiston
man.
Oregon State Police reported
troopers and emergency per-
sonnel responded to the crash
at about noon on Highway 730
near milepost 182.
Preliminary investigation
revealed Scott McBride, 59, of
Hermiston, was driving a Sat-
urn SUV westbound when
the vehicle crossed into the
on-coming lane and crashed
into an eastbound Peterbilt
semitrailer.
McBride died at the scene.
State police reported it did not
know why McBride’s vehicle en-
tered the other lane.
Luis Sandoval, 42, of Grand
View, Washington, was driving
the semi and was uninjured.
The crash led to the closure
of Highway 730 for about seven
hours. Personnel and equip-
ment from Oregon Department
of Transportation, Umatilla
County Fire District No. 1 and
Umatilla Police Department also
responded to the emergency.
— Hermiston Herald
BY JOHN TILLMAN
Hermiston Herald
Todd Dormaier said he looks
forward to making the Uma-
tilla Rural Fire Protection Dis-
trict the best it can be. As the
fire district’s new chief, he said
he feels his background pre-
pared him for the role.
“I’m a 17-year veteran of fire
service,” Dormaier said. “But
I’ve worked other jobs that re-
late to fire protection, like car-
pentry and (heating, ventilation
and air conditioning). I also
have a (commercial driver’s li-
cense), and have been in the
trucking industry previously,
starting as a farm kid.”
Experience with heavy
equipment served him well in
fire service, as did his knowl-
edge of different vehicles.
“We have a boat here (at
Yasser Marte/Hermiston Herald
Umatilla Rural Fire Protection District Chief Todd Dormaier poses for
a photo Wednesday, Aug, 3, 2022, at the district’s station in Umatilla.
Dormaier has worked as a firefighter for 17 years and still volunteers
with Benton County Fire District No. 2 in Benton City, Washington.
Umatilla),” Dormaier said,
“which we’re working on im-
proving and revamping.”
He was born in Portland,
raised in Vancouver and moved
Hermiston Herald
BY ANTONIO ARREDONDO
Hermiston Herald
The latest domino in the
Yorkshire Terrier puppy mill
saga has fallen.
Hermiston Police Chief Jason
Edmiston confirmed 17 more
dogs have been turned over to
the police. This makes 29 total
terriers that have been recov-
ered.
Robin Barker, vice president
of Fuzz Balls Animal Rescue,
said the dogs once again arrived
in their care in tough conditions.
“They’re all matted masses,
just disgusting,” Barker said.
“They’ve been living in hell.”
The 17 terriers appeared to be
living in three small crates, and
did not have a consistent source
of water. Patience McCoy, a
Hermiston resident that took the
dogs in for the first night, told
Barker the terriers drank 1 gal-
lon of water in the first hour.
Once again, the dogs were
sent off to Mikey’s Chance Ca-
nine Rescue for canine parvovi-
rus treatment. Despite some
dogs coming in rough shape —
including one recovered in the
first raid that weighed less than a
pound — all dogs have survived
so far.
The latest seizure of dogs took
place after Hermiston police re-
sponded to a call late Sunday,
Aug. 7, reporting a woman was
sitting in a chair in her moth-
er’s backyard on the 80 block of
West Cherry Avenue, Hermis-
ton, and there was a cage with
several dogs inside.
The caller questioned if this
would be related to the press re-
lease from the Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Office regarding a York-
shire Terrier breeder.
The case began July 30, when
area animal rescue operations
hustled to save several Yorkshire
terriers following a raid on the
2300 block of North First Place,
Hermiston, after receiving a re-
port of a possible puppy mill.
A deputy contacted a 70-year-
old woman living in a travel
trailer at the location, and she
stated she bred Yorkshire ter-
riers, according to the sheriff’s
office. There were several adult
dogs — possible Yorkshire terri-
ers — in cages inside the trailer
with puppies of various ages.
The woman initially volunteered
to surrender some of the dogs to
a local animal rescue facility.
She ended up giving over 12
dogs. When a deputy returned
to the location Aug. 4, however,
according to the sheriffs office,
the woman and her trailer were
gone.
The sheriff’s office on Aug. 5
reported it turned over its inves-
tigation to the Umatilla County
District Attorney’s Office for
possible prosecution in an ani-
mal neglect case.
The Umatilla County Sher-
iff’s Office also did not iden-
tify the woman. Sheriff’s Capt.
Sterrin Ward explained the in-
vestigation remains active, and
the district attorney’s office is
looking over the case for possi-
ble prosecution.
While the sheriff’s office
knows who she is, Ward said it’s
not prudent at this time to iden-
tify her to the public.
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The first of three major cap-
ital improvement plan projects
to upgrade underground util-
ities and the road surface on
North First Place, Hermiston,
resumed Monday, Aug. 8.
Work on North First Place
between West Hartley and
West Hermiston avenues could
last up to two months, accord-
ing to a press release from the
city, and traffic will reroute to
use Northwest Third Street.
Utility crews will remove
the 40-year-old Lift Station No.
6 and replace it with an up-
graded version with additional
capacity to prevent backups
and overflows. Right after that,
work resumes to bore under-
neath the railroad tracks to tie
a gravity sewer line into the ex-
isting main.
The boring project began
in April, but crews hit a metal
underground object presumed
to be a buried railcar near the
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He also started a business
from scratch.
“It grew to be a successful
company,” he said. “We have
state and federal fire-fighting
contracts. My proudest profes-
sional accomplishment is com-
ing here. Meeting people in and
out of the agency and getting to
know the community has been
rewarding.”
Dormaier said he likes Uma-
tilla because it’s still a friendly
small town but with big vision.
“The city knows it has to
grow,” he said. “It knows it’s
coming and is preparing for
growth. Yet it has preserved its
small town ways.”
People behind growth in
northern Morrow and western
Umatilla County don’t always
have what’s better for the com-
munity in mind, he has no-
Police seize more Major work underway to
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to Yakima in 2005. And build-
ing on my career, he came to
Umatilla in June. His work has
kept him busy.
“We have three daughters,
so I share their hobbies, which
vary since they’re different age
ranges,” he said. “When one
asked me what my hobbies
were, our middle daughter said,
‘Working.’”
Dormaier 36, is an out-
doorsy person and said he likes
fishing and working on ‘50s
Kenworth trucks.
“And yard work,” he added.
“I have a pilot’s license, but
don’t get to fly much since it
takes me away from my family.
It’s hard to run equipment as
much as I might like.”
Dormaier described himself
as family-driven and oriented.
He said he is passionate about
public service in general.
“Not just on the job, but
tending to anyone in need,” he
explained. “Being there as a hu-
man being and lending a hand.”
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using equipment available at
the time. The updated project
will require a high-force auger
and cannot be completed at
the same time as the lift station
replacement because it may
cause damage to the exposed
components.
“You’ll always run into some
surprises on an underground
project, and we certainly did
on this one. It made the most
sense to resume the project im-
mediately after the lift station
replacement to limit the im-
pact on traffic and local busi-
nesses,” Hermiston Assistant
City Manager Mark Morgan
said. “These projects replace an
outdated lift station and elim-
inate the expense of maintain-
ing another while setting us
up for the next phase of the 1st
Place upgrades.”
The city has slated two other
projects to break ground in the
next year on North First Place
to greatly improve the infra-
structure and impact traffic in
the area until late 2023.
The first is a water line re-
placement to completely
overhaul the nearly 100-year-
old water main running the
length of North First Place
from Hermiston Avenue to
Elm Avenue. The city antici-
pates the work to begin in the
fall and continue into late fall,
requiring significant closures
throughout.
The next is a $4.5 million
roadway reconstruction project
funded by state transportation
dollars approved in 2017. This
project will rebuild the existing
roadway and install sidewalk,
curbs, gutters and a recreational
trail to make the road a better
north/south arterial roadway
west of the railroad tracks. That
would could begin in early 2023
and conclude in fall 2023.
Hermiston Capital Improve-
ment Plan projects, timelines,
cost estimates and updates can
be found at www.hermiston-
projects.com.