REGION
Saturday, June 13, 2015
East Oregonian
Page 3A
Would-be
cop-dodgers
cop
to
crimes
Woman
ECHO
jailed for
ID theft
East Oregonian
An Echo woman landed
in jail for 40 days after a jury
convicted her of more than
two dozen counts of identity
theft.
Cynthia Ann Jackson,
34, also will have to serve
40 days in jail and two years
probation for her crimes.
Umatilla County District
Attorney Dan Primus said
Jackson last summer tried to
use someone else’s checks
to
buy
items at the
Hermiston
Wal-Mart.
Hermiston
p o l i c e
caught her
moments
later,
he
said, and Jackson
found she
had mail and credit cards
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other places.
The case went to trial last
week. A victim from Prosser,
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her checks Jackson tried to
pass at Wal-Mart. The jury on
June 3 convicted Jackson on
27 counts of felony identity
theft. Primus said courthouse
security took her into custody
right after the verdict.
Jackson’s
sentencing
was Thursday in Hermiston.
Primus said Circuit Judge
Eva Temple gave her two
years probation on most
counts,
but
discharged
sentencing on some others,
though all the convictions
stand. The judge also sent
Jackson to 40 days jail on
two of the counts related to
the witness from Prosser.
Court records indicated
Jackson had 30 victims in all.
BRIEFLY
Troopers stop van
falsely suspected of
carrying fugitives
PENDLETON — Oregon
State Troopers in Eastern
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into the national search
for two escapees from an
upstate New York prison,
but it quickly became clear
the men they stopped on
Interstate 84 had nothing to
do with the fugitives.
According to OSP Sgt.
Sterling Hall, an anonymous
caller dialed a New York tip
line after spotting a white
rental van near La Grande
with New York plates
and passengers they said
resembled David Sweat and
Richard Matt. Sweat and
Matt have been on the run
for a week after tunneling
out of Clinton Correctional
Facility in upstate New York.
Troopers pulled the
suspected vehicle over in
the westbound lane west
of Pendleton and “very
quickly” realized they did
not match the description
after getting them out of
the vehicle at gunpoint,
according to Hall. He called
it a high risk stop because of
the nature of the call and said
the men were cooperative.
Six troopers from
Pendleton and Hermiston
responded to the call, and
Hall said if nothing else
it was good experience
locating and safely stopping
a vehicle in a short amount
of time.
Cello recital Monday
PENDLETON — Cello
students of Loree McKenna
will present a recital next
week.
The free event is Monday
at 7 p.m. at Pendleton Center
for the Arts, 214 N. Main St.
Those performing include
Caleb Greenhalgh, Ashtyn
Larsen, Caleb Picken,
Hayden Garton, Kieric
Speakman, Emily Long, Sam
Coleman and Jenna Harrison.
Also, the cello quartet
Turtle, featuring Coleman,
Harrison, Speakman and
Long, will play three pieces.
The Perfect Purple Penguins,
a duet with Picken and
Garton, also will perform.
Myrna Van Cleave will
accompany.
For more information, call
McKenna at 541-276-4237.
parked cars before bailing out at the
intersection of Northeast Seventh
Street and Catherine Avenue, where
Two locals who tried to run from he assaulted a woman and tried
police in recent weeks pleaded to steal her car before Hermiston
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guilty to multiple crimes.
Cody Stephen Stackhouse, 26, sheriff’s deputies caught him.
Stackhouse faced 19 counts in all
went on a crime spree the morning
of May 14 in his home of Herm- before the plea deal. Court records
iston, and Friday in circuit court VKRZ WKH GLVWULFW DWWRUQH\¶V RI¿FH
in Hermiston he pleaded guilty to dropped the rest of the charges,
third-degree robbery, two counts of including three counts of possession
unauthorized use of a motor vehicle of a stolen vehicle and four counts
DQG GULYLQJ XQGHU WKH LQÀXHQFH RI of hit and run.
And Amanda Sue Walton, 34,
intoxicants.
Court records on Friday after- RI 6WDQ¿HOG LV VHUYLQJ PRQWKV
noon did not have information probation for leading police on a
chase April 15 that ended after she
available about sentencing.
Stackhouse stole one car, refused to drop a knife at gunpoint,
according to police, then stole a but gave up when a detective threat-
second and crashed into multiple ened to shoot her with a stun gun.
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Walton that morning arranged to
meet with a man in Morrow County
about his stolen motorcycles, and
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and detective spied the scene, but
Walton took off when the deputy
tried to pull her over.
She ran from cops for about an
hour, and even took a video during
part of the chase and posted that
to Facebook. She avoided a spike
strip, though the deputy did not, and
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GMC pickup into detective Brian
Snyder’s sports utility vehicle.
She then pulled a knife on
Synder, who kept his distance while
aiming his gun at her. She gave up
Morrow County schools ponder
long-term future of facilities
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Big changes could be
coming to Morrow County
schools as the district
weighs the long-term
future of its buildings in
Boardman, Irrigon and
Heppner.
Ideas include building
a new K-12 school in
Heppner above the current
high school, converting
Windy River Elementary
School in Boardman to a
middle school and consoli-
dating all elementary grades
in Irrigon under one roof.
With the district’s current
20-year bond to expire in
2021, administrators are
reaching out early in each of
the communities to develop
a long-range plan for the
schools based on their
needs, condition, usability
and projected enrollment.
Morrow County Super-
intendent Dirk Dirksen said
each community will have
its own unique plan, but that
any building project would
need county-wide support
when a new bond measure
is presented to voters. The
plans themselves are still
in draft form, but will be
presented to the school
board in September for
consideration and approval.
The planning process
started last school year
as the district prioritized
maintenance work needed
at each of the facilities.
From there, Dirksen said
the question became what
the schools should look like
in the next 20 years.
“We’re just trying to
create a priorities list,”
Dirksen said. “You have to
start that planning now. You
can’t wait.”
The district hired DLR
Group in December, an
architecture and planning
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An engineering team eval-
uated each of the schools
before bringing their initial
Morrow County school enrollments
AC Houghton Elementary School (K-3):
294
Irrigon Elementary School (4-6):
168
Irrigon Junior-Senior High School (7-12):
386
Sam Boardman Elementary School (K-3):
351
Windy River Elementary School (4-6):
207
Riverside Junior-Senior High School (7-12):
379
Heppner Elementary School (K-6):
180
Heppner Junior-Senior High School:
158
District total:
2,153
Enrollments as of June 2015.
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committee made up of local
parents and community
members.
Karen
Montovino,
educational facility planner
with DLR Group, said they
held four work sessions
with the committee to gauge
what residents want to see
from their schools. The
most recent work session
was in May.
While a number of
options were discussed,
Montovino said the draft
plans now include the
following
recommenda-
tions:
Consolidate all students
in Heppner into one K-12
school, either by building
a new facility or renovating
the existing Heppner High
School;
Move K-3 students from
AC Houghton in Irrigon to
Irrigon Elementary, creating
a K-6 school, and budget
for further improvements at
Irrigon Junior-Senior High;
Convert Windy River
Elementary School in
Boardman to a 6-8 middle
school and Sam Boardman
Elementary to a K-5 school,
leaving Riverside as strictly
a 9-12 high school.
Montovino said it is
ultimately up to the school
board to decide if those are
the directions they want to
go.
“Each recommendation
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change for each commu-
nity,” she said.
Enrollment plays a major
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Dirksen said. For example,
Heppner’s
enrollment
has been in decline ever
since the Kinzua sawmill
closed in the 1980s, while
Boardman’s enrollment is
expected to grow with the
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at the Port of Morrow.
As it stands, Dirksen
said the Boardman schools
could take on another 300
students before all their
classrooms are full.
“That’s a while down the
road. But it could happen,”
Dirksen said.
Of course, Dirksen said
any project will boil down
to funding in the next
bond measure. The most
expensive proposal would
be to build a new school in
Heppner, with an estimated
price tag of $33 million —
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“It’s kind of a dream
list,” Dirksen said. “The
plans are going to have to
be cut down, I can tell you
that already.”
With Boardman and
Irrigon located 45 miles
from Heppner, Dirksen said
it’s crucial for the planning
process to involve district
patrons in all communities
to get on the same page.
“We wanted to get the
discussion out there,” he
said. “It’s going to take a
while to process this all
through.”
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-564-4547.
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stun gun.
Walton pleaded guilty June 4
in Umatilla County Circuit Court,
Hermiston, to attempt to elude
police in a vehicle and recklessly
endangering
another
person,
according to court records. She also
pleaded no contest to menacing. The
Umatilla County District Attorney’s
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assault, mischief and reckless
driving. She also pleaded no contest
to a possession of methamphetamine
charge out of Morrow County.
Circuit Judge Eva Temple gave
Walton probation and also ordered
her to pay more than $2,500 in
restitution for damages to the police
vehicle. Walton also lost her driver’s
license for 90 days.
Umatilla County
set to adopt
$68.9M budget
Will increase full-
time employees
by almost 17
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
The Umatilla County
Board of Commissioners
is set to adopt the county’s
$68.9 million budget for
2015-16 on Wednesday.
The county will increase
full-time employees by
almost 17, including 6.5
positions new positions
in human services; 3.9 in
public health; 3.5 in the
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division and three new
spots in the district attor-
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“These
increases
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demands and also possible
new revenues,” according
to county’s budget narra-
tive.
Commissioner George
Murdock said the budget
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departments to consol-
idate functions, such
as moving the juvenile
department under the
roof of the Community
Justice Department and
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director
and
budget
director positions into a
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county also has cut costly
job titles in recent years,
namely its executive
director and economic
director.
Murdock also said
the county has a $1
million reserve to cover
an increase to the Public
Employees
Retirement
System that came in
the wake of the Oregon
Supreme Court ruling that
the 2013 Legislature could
not reduce retirees’ annual
cost of living adjustment.
The county budget
committee, which includes
the three commissioners,
already approved the
roughly 200-page docu-
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hold a public hearing
on the budget then vote.
The county scheduled the
meeting for Wednesday at
9 a.m. in room 130 at the
Umatilla County Court-
house, Pendleton.
In other country news,
commissioners
learned
Thursday employee health
and dental insurance for
2015-16 would increase to
roughly $409,000 a month,
an increase of just 0.26
percent over year prior.
Lifewise provides the
coverage, and company
representatives said while
medical increased 2.3
percent and dental went
up more than 4.4 percent,
medication costs dropped
almost 11 percent. They
said one reason was
more county employees
switching to generic medi-
cations.
The county also saved
money because there were
only a couple of large
claims in the past year, so
premiums are covering the
costs of claims.
The board voted 3-0
to renew coverage with
Lifewise.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0833.
Shelby Rinehart
Auto
Health
Home
Life
Shelby Rinehart
Family Insurance Agent
541/276-2302 • 800/225-2521
The Stratton Agency
Pendleton / Hermiston • stratton-insurance.com
Music Saturday, June 13
on the
DAN
Lawn FALLER
6-9
P
H AMLEY S TEAK H ouse & S aloon
COURT & MAIN, PENDLETON • 541.278.1100
Umatilla County Historical
Society Presents:
A Tour of Farms
& Historic Barns
in the Butter Creek Area
Saturday, June 20 th
9:30 AM -- 4:00 PM
$55 Members/$60 General Admission
Call Heritage Station Museum for registration information and details.
541-276-0012