100 Years Ago

Oct. 14, 1921

Lack of wind saved the little town of Umapine from total destruction from a blaze which started at 12:30 o’clock Wednesday morning in the building owned by the Hudson Bay Hall company and entirely destroyed the grocery store located in the building and the apartment in the rear in which the the store’s manager and his family lived. A moving picture show brought to Umapine Tuesday evening from Milton is reported to have been the cause of the fire as it was from the corner in which the moving picture machine was stationed that the blaze started. Faulty wiring connected with the projector is thought to be the real origin of the fire. The Williams & Olinger lumber office and shed, located next to the Hudson Bay building, was badly scorched from the fire, which was reported still burning at an early hour Wednesday afternoon.

50 Years Ago

Oct. 14, 1971

Interstate 80 North has soared above Pendleton for more than a year, and the city has grown accustomed to the fact that every vehicle traveling east and west doesn’t have to go through the business section. The disaster some business people feared when the freeway was built didn’t happen. “The motel business has never been better,” said Paul Linnebur, manager of the Tapadara in downtown Pendleton. “We’ve had the biggest year in our history.” “The complexion of our business changed for a while,” commented E. M. McClure of the Imperial 400. “But we’re back to where we were before the freeway.” “Pendleton is a good tourist town,” said Les Tinhof, manager of the chamber of commerce. “It is a natural stopping place.”

25 Years Ago

Oct. 14, 1996

As a domestic violence survivor, Maribel Moreno knows what the clients she helps at Domestic Violence Services are going through. Moreno is the sole staff member of the DVS office in Hermiston, which opened in May. Though she operates out of an office little bigger than a large closet at the state office building in Hermiston, she handles a volume of calls nearly equal to the Pendleton office. The Hermiston office was a way for DVS to test the waters to see if it needed to expand its services. Based on the number of assistance calls generated in the past six months, that question has been answered. In June alone, Moreno handled 136 calls from the crisis line, transported 72 women to the shelter in Pendleton and provided assistance in court 17 times.

Moreno, who is bilingual, has also been able to reach the Hispanic community with services and is facilitating support groups in Spanish. The expansion of DVS services in Hermiston may result in a shelter being established in the area, like the one in Pendleton.