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Othello’s Bernie Garza suffers health issue

CALEB PEREZ | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 month AGO
by CALEB PEREZ
| April 3, 2026 3:00 AM

OTHELLO — Bernie Garza, Othello’s head soccer coach, spoke from the sidelines of the game Tuesday against East Valley. He said he was being careful due to a recent health concern.  

“First of all, men are stubborn ... I had a heart attack on Thursday,” said Garza. “The doctor said I shouldn’t be here; I’m lucky that I survived it.” 

Garza has remained on the sideline to support the Huskies despite the incident, and the players and staff have, in turn, supported him in his recovery. He was scheduled for surgery Thursday.  

The Columbia Basin Herald will reach out to Garza for an update after he’s had a chance to recuperate. We wish him a speedy recovery.


ARTICLES BY CALEB PEREZ

BBCC eyes budget and spring enrollment
May 5, 2026 3 a.m.

BBCC eyes budget and spring enrollment

MOSES LAKE — During Big Bend Community College’s April 30 board meeting the college President, Sarah Thompson Tweedy, shared the counts for spring enrollment and Full Time Enrollment numbers for Spring of 2026 along with updates on where the budget sits. “We still have some work to do in terms of systematically going through our expenses and seeing how much of the requests that we have before us, how many of those we can put off,” said Thompson Tweedy. “There’s the opportunity to close that gap by reducing our expenses, but the challenge is, we’ve also had some expenses go up.” As of April 15, 2026 the spring quarter head count was up nearly 18% from 2025, but total FTE’s and state-funded FTEs were down 6.9% and 11.6% respectively, according to the board agenda.

Huskies best Tigers in OT
May 4, 2026 3:52 p.m.

Huskies best Tigers in OT

Othello moves on to second round of districts

OTHELLO — The Othello Huskies (11-5) extended their postseason push after earning a close 2-1 victory in overtime against the Ephrata Tigers (7-10) in the first round of the 2A district tournament. The game winning goal came in second overtime when Othello sophomore Samuel Marroquin knocked the ball into the back of the net. “It was a tough game, Ephrata is definitely a tough opponent, but I feel like we had prepared well for the week,” said Marroquin. “We definitely had a good game plan and we just gave everything. We knew if this was our last game we were going to go out with a bang.” The game was a tight battle from the very beginning as the Tigers and Huskies battled under the hot sun. Othello scored in the first half and maintained their lead in throughout, going into halftime 1-0.

BASIN SPORTS SCHEDULE: May 4-11, 2026
May 4, 2026 3:39 p.m.

BASIN SPORTS SCHEDULE: May 4-11, 2026

COLUMBIA BASIN — The postseason has begun for high school athletes in our area with teams gearing up to compete against the best of the best. Check out where our local teams are heading this week.