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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 2015)
TWO DAWGS MAKE SEMIS AT RESER’S WRESTLING/1B WEEKEND EDITION Local band teams up with symphony ENTERTAINMENT 3C REGION: Small earthquake shakes near Mission 3A LIFESTYLE: Sufjan Stevens explains his Round-Up fi lm 1C JANUARY 24-25, 2015 139th Year, No. 72 WINNER OF THE 2013 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD $1.50 PENDLETON Supremacists charged in murder plot DA charges Aryan gang members with conspiracy and racketeering By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian Three members of a Pendleton white suprema- cist gang were involved in racketeering and conspiracy to murder, Umatilla County District Attorney Dan Primus said Friday. Primus and deputy prose- cutor Jackie Jenkins brought multiple charges against Jeremiah Mauer, 30, Greg- ory Tinnell, 43, and Warren Gerald Browning, 35, during an arraignment Friday at the Umatilla County Courthouse, Pendleton. The defendants appeared one at a time via video from the Umatilla County Jail, Pendleton. Tinnell Mauer Mauer is the founder of the United Aryan Empire, Jenkins said, while Tinnell and Browning are members. Browning Pendleton police Chief Stu- art Roberts has said the de- fendants told detectives they were gang members, and Browning admitted he was involved in multiple criminal conspiracies to commit vio- lence against others. Pend- leton police arrested the trio in the past two weeks as part of a sweep following a vehi- cle shooting Jan. 9 north of Pendleton. Police also linked the men to shootings in late 2014 in Pendleton. They initially faced felony weapons charges, but Jen- kins told Circuit Court Judge Lynn Hampton the state was dismissing those cases and ¿OLQJQHZRQHVEDVHGRQVH cret indictments a grand jury handed up Thursday night. The state charged Mauer, Browning and Tinnell with one count of racketeering each, going back to January 2012, and two counts of con- spiracy to commit murder for a shooting into a Pendleton home Nov. 23, 2014. The state also charged them with See CONSPIRACY/8A HERMISTON INTO THE WOODS for a variety of wildlife. <HWRI¿FLDOVDQGDGYRFDWHVOHIW the meeting on Jan. 8 with a new- found sense of optimism. Grant County Commissioner Boyd Brit- ton even issued a rare compliment to the Forest Service. “I think we really plowed through some new ground,” Brit- ton said following the meeting. “We have the opportunity to have a really, really big-time impact on our plan.” What comes next, Martin said, is still up in the air. It could mean See FOREST/8A See SHOOTING/8A EO fi le photo Botanist Mark Darrach walks through the Umatilla National Forest northeast of Pendleton in April 2013. Forest Service re-engages with public on Blue Mountains plan When the U.S. Forest Service unveiled its proposed, revised land management plan for the Blue Mountains National For- ests early last year, the agency received more than 1,100 com- ments from concerned groups and individuals. Most of the feedback was less than positive. Consider, for example, the sharp rebuke from Forest Access for All, which panned the propos- al as “a recipe for failure,” or the Eastern Oregon Counties Associ- ation, which rejected each of six plan alternatives as “unfounded.” “Folks weren’t really happy with where we were,” said Kevin Martin, supervisor on the Umatil- la National Forest. “The question is: ‘Where do we go, and how do we get there?’” With support from the Pacif- LF 1RUWKZHVW 5HJLRQ 2I¿FH WKH Forest Service is now taking a step back to re-engage with East- ern Oregonians before moving forward on a new plan that will guide land management on the Umatilla, Wallowa-Whitman and Malheur forests for the next 10-15 years. About 40 people attended a recent meeting at the Umatilla forest headquarters in Pendle- ton to discuss how they can rec- oncile the multitude of interests — everything from conservation to timber and recreation — and come up with a balanced solution that works for everyone. That’s no easy task. All togeth- er, the Blue Mountains National Forests make up 4.9 million acres RISULPHKXQWLQJ¿VKLQJDQGKLN ing trails, while also providing logs for the local mills and habitat East Oregonian A 21-year-old Umatilla man was shot and is in critical condition follow- LQJD¿JKW7KXUVGD\QLJKWLQ+HUPLVWRQ Giovanni A. Avila, 21, was shot at about 10 p.m. Thursday at Foxwood Apartments, 1072 W. Orchard Ave. Edmiston reported Avila was one of four Umatilla males, including Raul Frias, 22, Mitchael H. Thompson, 20, and Avila’s 17-year-old brother, who came to Hermiston and ended up in D¿JKWZLWKDWOHDVWWKUHHRWKHUPDOHV Police do not know who those three are, Edmiston said. 'XULQJWKH¿JKWVRPHRQHVKRW$YL la in the chest. An ambulance rushed him to Good Shepherd Medical Cen- ter, Hermiston, which later moved him to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, Portland. He underwent surgery there and was in critical condition Friday afternoon, though he has shown slight improvement since his internal bleed- ing has been controlled. Frias suffered head injuries in the ¿JKW (GPLVWRQ UHSRUWHG DQG *RRG Shepherd held that victim overnight for observation. Police have not made arrests and at this time do not have evidence that the ¿JKWZDVJDQJUHODWHG(GPLVWRQVDLG While investigators have an initial ac- count of what happened, they have not been getting straight answers. “Hopefully we can get some stories locked in today,” the Hermiston chief said Friday. That scenario is common in these Forest plan looks for balance RIHFRQRPLFHFRORJLFDQG recreational priorities By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian Man shot LQ¿JKW suspects at large PENDLETON Drone range negotiations FORVHWREHDULQJÀ\LQJIUXLW By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian A little more than a year after Pendleton was approved as a test site for unmanned aeri- al systems, the UDQJH¶V¿UVWSD\LQJ customers could be imminent. Economic De- velopment Director Steve Chrisman said contracts are close to being signed by two companies interested in testing drones at the Pendleton UAS Range. Despite announcements that suggest progress, details like the companies involved in con- tract negotiation and the stan- dard rate for UAS testing have not been released. Chrisman said the secretive pro- cess is in place for good reason — most UAS compa- nies make the city sign a nondisclo- sure agreement at the start of negotiations. “You don’t want your com- petitors to have any more infor- mation than they need,” he said. See AIRPORT/8A Like a boss Staff photo by E.J. Harris Intermountain Education Service District Superintendent Mark Mulvihill speaks after being named Boss of the Year at the Pendleton First Citizens Banquet on Friday in Mission. For the rest of the event’s awards see page 3A.