1998 — Mike Stockman, a Hermiston firefighter, plays Santa Claus as he delivers candy to the Gonzalez family. The Christmas Express program visited nearly 450 families that year.

25 years ago this week — 1998Where one is so it the other.

Stacy Reese doesn’t follow her twin sister Shelley, and Shelley doesn’t follow Stacey. But where Stacey is, so is Shelley, and where Shelley is, so is Stacey.

If you want to locate the two Pendleton High School senior basketball players, all you have to do is look for one of them because the other will either be by her side or close by.

“When I was first teaching and coaching baseball at Gresham, I had a set of twins I coached,” said Pendleton girls basketball coach Jon Peterson. “They were close like all twins are but they have different friends and that made it a little easier telling who was who.”

“With Shelley and Stacey, they’re best friends. If you see Stacey, you see Shelley and vice versa. They even have a lot of classes together.”

The Reeses have five classes together this term.

“That started happening at the beginning of last year and since then we’ve always been together,” said Stacey, who is minutes older than Shelley.

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The cold snap blanketing the country settled on area towns with a vengeance over the weekend.

“It’s been cold – what else do you want me to say?” said Bob Tobin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pendleton. “It’s wintertime.”

Meacham took the frozen icicle award this morning with a low of 28 below zero. Hermiston dipped to minus 3; Pendleton was relatively warm at 2 above.

But the temperatures, while teeth-chattering, weren’t historic.

“It got pretty cold, but we are not even close to records,” Tobin said.

At the airport, the record low for today was minus 16 in 1990. Downtown, the record was minus 22 that same year. The all-time record low for Pendleton was minus 28 on Dec. 13, 1919, according to Tobin.

Area plumbers were busy this morning, but damages didn’t seem as severe as past cold snaps.

While it was “a little hectic Monday morning,” at Traners Plumbing and Heating in Hermiston, Connie Gray said it wasn’t too bad. A waiting list isn’t even necessary, she said, although it took almost an hour to get through the busy line to ask how business was.

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When the Christmas Express moved through the neighborhoods of Hermiston, it’s hard not to notice.

For those who have not seen it before, it’s a sight to behold– a cacophony of holiday cheer. The big, blue school bus driven by Bob Shannon, a former police chief, carries Santa Claus, young volunteers and gifts. It rumbles along with Christmas carols blaring over loudspeakers. Kids wearing Santa hats sit on the back of trucks laden with goods. The whole procession is escorted by a caravan of police cars.

And when they stop to deliver gifts to a house, Santa jogs up to the front door, gives a cheery greeting and poses long enough for a photo with the recipients of the donated treats and then runs back onto the bus, ready to hop off at the next house.

On Tuesday, this year’s Hermiston Police Christmas Express– the 30th annual – wrapped up three days of delivering holiday cheer and gifts to 441 local families in need of a boost.

50 years ago this week — 1973The student body of Blue Mountain Community College, Pendleton, is busy making last minute preparations for its third annual Christmas party Monday in Pioneer Hall.

This year’s party, slated to begin with dinner from 5 to 6:30 p.m., has been oped to anyone who wants to attend. In the two previous years of the party it was planned especially for those people who would spend Christmas alone.

The change was initiated to make the party an affair for the entire community, said BMCC student activities counselor Jean Ann McLean.

“We want everyone to join in with us and enjoy the true spirit of Christmas,” she said.

Brenda Tabor, a sophomore from Hermiston, is chairman of the party.

Several activities have been planned in addition to the dinner to make the Christmas Eve party a festive occasion.

At 6:30 p.m. Gary Green will lead singing of Christmas carols to the accompaniment of BMCC librarian Mary Bates. At this time cartoons will be shown in the theatre.

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Bing Crosby would be proud.

There’s a chance of snow for Christmas.

The National Weather Service added snow today to the zone forecast for East-Central Oregon, the regional outlook for the readership of the area of the East Oregonian. Snow is absent from the Pendleton forecast for today and Saturday, but a check of the calendar proves there’s still time for dreaming of a White Christmas by Tuesday.

Tollgate became the area’s most wintery candidate for Christmas Card honors Thursday when a foot of snow fell at the pass, upping the roadside total to a deep 82 inches. Snow was reported on other mountain passes as well.

December, 1973, is the second wettest December on the record after nearly an inch fell Thursday in Pendleton. The motley total is 3.21 inches, .02 inches from the 1962 record.

With a 70 per cent chance of rain today, weathermen are confidently predicting a record rainfall.

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Birthdays are special anytime. At the Robert Petrik household, 15 miles west of Pendleton, there’s a very special birthday being celebrated – daughter, Robin, is four years old today.

Last year at this time the Petriks didn’t know what the future would hold. Robin had lost the use of both kidneys. To keep alive she must be on an artificial kidney machine. The machine cost $15,000.

Pendleton residents started a drive to at least supplement the cost of purchasing such a machine for Robin so she could be at home with her family. Contributions poured in. Not only was the $15,000 raised, the drive netted a $4,000 extra.

Robin now has her own peritoneal machine — the third one of its type ever built.

She is on the machine every other night while she sleeps. There’s no discomfort, her mother says, and the new machine has such a quiet hum it lulls her to sleep.

During the day she plays like any other child her age.

100 years ago this week — 1923Pendleton Boy Scouts who aspire to do one good turn every day now have their hands full, for the boys have promised to fill all the candy sacks for the community Christmas tree, which local people will enjoy on Monday evening.

Filling 2,000 sacks with candy and nuts is no small task, according to S. Claus, prominent North Pole gift merchant, who is employing the Scouts as his special holiday employment force. Over a ton of assorted candy and 500 pounds of nuts must be placed in bags before Christmas Eve.

Strings of colored electric lights, gay in red, blue, green and gold, have been placed overhead on Main and Court streets and form the first part of the decorations for Yuletide.

The community tree, 35 feet tall, is to be placed at the intersection of Main and Alta streets. It will be gorgeously decorated and four floor lights will illuminate it. A smaller tree will stand on each of the four corners of the square and will be lighted with myriads of colored electric globes.

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Pendleton’s community Christmas tree — a tall, symmetrical evergreen with graceful branches — is in place in the square at the corner of Main and Alta streets.

Tomorrow night its green will be brightened by scores of lovely ornaments. There will be the glitter and gleam of sparking baubles in rainbow ues and in silver and gold. Four flood lights will place the tree in a blaze of brilliant light. On each corner of the square, a tree with myriads of tiny colored electric light globes will form a lovely setting for the large tree.

It is on Monday night at 7:30 o’clock that Santa Claus, with his far-famed reindeer, will dash down the streets to the tree. That he may be fittingly received there will be community singing, and for this a rehearsal will be held at tonight at the Elks lodge room. All members of church choirs are asked to be present as well as other Pendleton people who wish to join the singing on Christmas Eve.

Two thousand sacks of candy and nuts are being prepared by Pendleton Boy Scouts and will be distributed to local children at the tree.

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Even though the snow that has come to be associated with Christmas as a part of the happy season has not fallen, Santa Claus will come to Pendleton this evening. The Elks lodge, which is acting as an aid to Santa in Pendleton for the municipal Christmas tree received definite word this morning that a lack of snow will not prevent a visit from the jolly old fellow.

He is expecting to receive a rousing welcome from the boys and girls of Pendleton, and his invitation has been sent forth to fathers and mothers and big brothers and sisters, not to mention grandfathers and grandmothers and uncles and aunts. As a matter of fact, the more people out to welcome him the happier the little fat visitor will be, the committee declares.

The program is due to start at 6:30 o’clock with the signing of carols from the streets of Pendleton by school children, and the signing will be concluded at 7:30 when the program at the tree will be given. Here music by the united choirs of the city’s churches will sing, and Carl Franseen, in charge of this feature, has requested all signers to be in place at 7:15 to avoid any delay.