It’s been a busy nine-plus months here at Northeast Oregon Now. Since the launch of the website in mid-March, we’ve had nearly 900 posts on the site – some big, some small, some routine and some that were straight out of left field.
And after combing through them all, we’ve selected our favorites that found their way onto the website. They aren’t the biggest stories of the year or the most impacting, just ones we enjoyed the most and we wanted to share them with you one more time before he start anew in 2014.
So, in no particular order, here are links to Northeast Oregon Now’s favorite stories of 2013:
Former Players Recall Legendary Coach
A table for eight was set up at Walker’s Farm Kitchen in Hermiston Thursday and the lunch guests treated themselves to soup, salad and sandwiches – along with a generous portion of Jim Ward stories . . . Read the full story
UHS Robotics Team Heads to Championships
Tuesday evening, Umatilla High School students hammered the lid down onto a 4-foot-tall plywood box. On Wednesday, the bulky-shaped housing “Rambo” was loaded onto a FedEx truck headed for St. Louis, Missouri, and the FIRST Robotics Competition World Championship . . . Read the full story
Bike Program Gives Kids New-Found Independence
Most of us learn to ride a bike around age 5 or 6. It’s a rite of passage in early childhood that represents no small degree of independence and instills in us a sense of personal achievement. Yet for others, people with either physical or developmental disabilities, riding a bike can seem like an impossibility . . . Read the full story
Remembering the Men of Camp Stanfield
The year was 1933 and the country was in the deepest depths of the Great Depression. The unemployment rate was 25 percent and all but the very fortunate were struggling to put food on the table . . . Read the full story
Postcard Returns Home – After 60 Years
This is the story of a humble postcard’s journey from Hermiston to The Dalles to Coeur d’Alene to Florida – and likely many parts unknown – before arriving back in Hermiston 60 years later . . . Read the full story
Inside Hermiston’s Underground Music Scene
Tucked away on the outskirts of Hermiston sits an unassuming old building that most people don’t even know exists – at least people north of age 25 . . . Read the full story
Hermiston Has a Kennison Field Day!
On Feb. 11, a small crowd gathered in the grass next to the track at Hermiston High School to break ground on the Kennison Field Renovation Project. Six and a half months later, hundreds filled the sparkling new bleachers and hit the artificial turf field to celebrate the grand opening of the multi-million dollar sports complex . . . Read the full story
A Life of Hard Work Pays Off for Berger
Here’s a not-so-bold prediction: A few short years from now the Hermiston High School Robotics Club will have several championship banners hanging from the school walls. It’s a safe bet because the guy teaching robotics at HHS is none other than Curt Berger, the man with three state team tennis titles and six team wrestling titles to his name . . . Read the full story
An Epic Night at the McCartney Concert
Time to break out the running diary of the Kane family’s trip to Seattle to see Paul McCartney at Safeco Field on Friday (with a few video links thrown in near the end at no extra charge) . . . Read the full story
What Evil Lurks Behind These Walls?
A nightmarish Santa Claus stopped by Umatilla a little early this year to join skeletons, witches, ghosts and mummies at the fourth annual Umatilla Lions Club Haunted House . . . Read the full story
An Evening with the Hermiston Melon Smashers
I had a distinctly uneasy feeling Wednesday evening as I pulled into the parking lot of a Hermiston establishment. As I approached the entry, the feeling crystalized and I suddenly realized I was putting myself in great, perhaps even grave, danger . . . Read the full story
The Clock Doc
Dick Jackson has no excuse for ever being late to anything. After all, the Hermiston man has 100 or more clocks in his house. “It’s a sickness,” Jackson explains, without the slightest bit of embarrassment . . . Read the full story
A Haunting in Umatilla?
The e-mail landed in my inbox on July 22. It was short and to the point: “We have an investigation in Umatilla lined up for July 31. If you would like to join us, please let me know so I can give you the details.” I think I hit “Reply” before I even finished reading the last words . . . Read the full story
Need Greater Than Ever for Christmas Express
On Saturday, a little girl pressed her face to the glass door of the Altrusa Room at Agape House. With her arms wrapped tight around a fluffy, stuffed Teddy bear, she eyed the wrapped gifts stacked high on the tables inside while volunteers hurried through lunch in order to re-open the Christmas Express . . . Read the full story
A Labor of Love
As a little girl growing up in Stanfield, Linis Rozema resisted the efforts of her mother to teach her to sew. And while she did learn to cook, Rozema found any kind of needlework a bore . . . Read the full story
Zaniac Embraces His ‘Inner Dork’
he best compliment Alex Zerbe ever received came from none other than Sharon Osbourne, wife of heavy metal icon and rock and roll crazy man Ozzy Osbourne. It came following a performance Zerbe gave during the second season of America’s Got Talent. She said, “Alex, my dear, you are just too weird for this show.” Read the full story
Lots of Love for Locks of Love
One by one they sat down and inch by inch the hair came off – a total of more than 500 inches that will end up going to Locks of Love . . . Read the full story
The Definitive Guide on How Not to Catch a Mouse
If you type in the words “how to catch a mouse” in the Google search engine, you will find 48,400,000 results pop up. What!? Forty-eight million results? Must be a lot of people in the world trying to get rid of a lot of mice . . . Read the full story
And finally . . .
Resident Seeks to Silence Noisy Neighbor
When she first saw her new neighbor, Susan Jones thought he was cute. That all changed one morning around 3:21 a.m. when her new neighbor began crowing nonstop . . . Read the full story
