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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
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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.
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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-
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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-
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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
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Police do not know who those three
are, Edmiston said.
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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
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Shepherd held that victim overnight
for observation.
Police have not made arrests and at
this time do not have evidence that the
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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
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suspects
at large
PENDLETON
Drone range negotiations
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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
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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.