Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 6, 2015)
Page 8A OFF PAGE ONE East Oregonian Man wielding pellet gun, ax attacks theater; shot by police ANTIOCH, Tenn. (AP) — A man with “signi¿cant” psychological issues who was armed with a hatchet and pellet gun unleashed a volley of pepper spray at audience members inside a movie theater Wednesday before being ¿red at by a police of¿cer and shot dead by a SWAT team as he tried to escape out a back door, police said. The attacker, identi¿ed as Vincente David Montano, 29, of Nashville, was carrying two backpacks, one of which hung from his chest, and he wore a surgical mask, possibly to protect himself from the pepper spray he unleashed in large amounts during the showing of “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Metro Nashville Police spokesman Don Aaron said. He said three people were blasted with the spray and treated. There were eight people in the theater, including Montano, Aaron said. As Montano Àed out the back of the theater Wednesday, he encountered a SWAT team and was shot dead, Aaron said. About two dozen gunshots could be heard in a 10-second period in raw video footage posted online by WKRN TV. Aaron said police had not uncovered a motive, but he said Montano had been committed for psychiatric treatment at least four times, twice in 2004 and twice in 2007. It wasn’t immediately clear why he had been committed or if that commit- ment was involuntary. “This individual has had signi¿cant psychiatric or psychological issues,” Aaron said. He also noted that Montano had been arrested in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in 2004 for assault and resisting arrest, and said he was reported as a missing person to the Murfreesboro police department on Monday. Police initially said that Montano had been armed with a gun and that he exchanged ¿re with the ¿rst responding of¿cer, but Aaron later Wednesday identi¿ed the weapon as an airsoft pellet gun. “The gun is a very realistic looking gun that strongly resembles a semi- automatic pistol,” he said. “If someone confronted you with it, you would think it was a real pistol. Obviously an airsoft gun makes noise. When that initial of¿cer who confronted him reported that the gun was aimed at him, the trigger was pulled, that of¿cer heard noises. That’s when the of¿cer ¿red his weapon at the suspect in that initial confrontation.” The violence at the Carmike Hickory 8 complex comes about two weeks after a 59-year-old drifter opened ¿re inside a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, fatally shooting two before killing himself. It also happened while jurors in Colorado decide whether the man who killed 12 and injured 70 others during a theater shooting in 2012 should receive the death penalty. COLLEGE: 2,410 Umatilla, Morrow County students earned a total of 21,424 credits last year Continued from 1A schools. “We put our funding as low as we thought we could to recover our costs,” he said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if enrollment went down a little bit. On the other hand, it’s still the best deal you can get for college credits.” Hermiston School District Deputy Superintendent Wade Smith said, however, the fee increase would have a “signi¿cant impact” on the district, which covers the cost of tuition for students who qualify for free or reduced- price meals. According to information from BMCC, 408 Hermiston students participated in traditional dual credit classes and 332 participated in credit by pro¿ciency classes. Smith said more than half of the students in the district qualify for reduced-price meals, so he estimated the district would cover about half of the college credits. At $31 per credit, that would cost the district more than $100,000. Smith said one of the bene¿ts of the program was being able to target students who otherwise may never have taken college classes. He said, however, the district may be forced to stop funding the program, which could reduce student participation. “It’s a wonderful program,” he said. “Obvi- ously it has been an extreme bene¿t to many kids, but I’m afraid, without funding ¿nd her 15-year-old middle child laying in the yard with family photos, a note and a pistol near her body. Eight years later, in Albuquerque, Patnode sat at a table with her husband and reacted with astonishment to the news she had won the Kenneth L. MacEachern Memorial Award. As she walked to the microphone, she decided to dedicate the award to her daughter. She scrolled to a photo of Devin on her cell phone and passed it around the room. “She was very humble, very emotional,” said retired Judge Bill Sutton, a former winner of the award and a member of the selection committee. “It was emotional for everyone.” Sutton praised Patnode for her wisdom, common sense, compassion, intelligence and work ethic. “She also understands people and uses tough love when needed,” Sutton said. “Cris simply gets it.” After Devin’s death, three other suicides shook Condon. Patnode and others spear- headed a suicide prevention group called Suicide Aware- ness for Everyone (SAFE) to kick the subject into the open. At a community barbecue, Patnode talked openly of her loss while others spoke of battles with depression and bullying. Counselors Continued from 1A infected with West Nile since 2009. But with all the con¿rmed cases in Wash- ington and a long mosquito season still ahead, Gerard said isn’t letting his guard down. “I watch what goes on around us very closely,” he said. “Obviously, when I see numbers as high as what they’re seeing, it does raise concern for me.” Hot weather and drought conditions tend to increase the transmission rates for West Nile, Gerard said. And, as the region’s streams and rivers slow to a crawl, the warm, stagnant water increases breeding grounds for mosquitoes. “We’ve had a lot of sources in the Umatilla River we don’t typically see,” Gerard said. In Morrow County, mosquito pools have yet to test positive for West Nile. Greg Barron, manager of the North Morrow Vector Control District in Boardman, said the district is actually seeing lower overall populations after getting an early jump on their spraying operations. “We just have to stay on top of it,” Barron said. Eastern Promise, which began in the fall of 2012, provides a way for students to earn college credits in high school. Traditional dual credit classes required high school teachers to be fully qualified to teach at the college level, including having a master’s degree, BMCC VP Jim Whittaker said. These teachers participated in Professional Learning Communities with university and community college content specialists to develop student assessments. at the ballot box they were opposed to the legalization of marijuana,” Murdock stated. Election records show almost 63 percent of Umatilla County voters in November 2014 opposed Measure 91, the law that won statewide approval to legalize recre- ational marijuana. The 2015 Legislature changed that law with House Bill 3400, which allows local govern- ments to prohibit marijuana businesses in counties where at least 55 percent of voters shot down Measure 91. Murdock said he applauded the Legislature for creating the opt out for rural Oregon. He stressed it was — Raymon Smith, Echo School District Superintendent from the state, it’s going to be very problematic for us to be able to offer the same type of program perpetually.” Echo School District covers the credit cost for all of its students. Superintendent Raymon Smith said, with continued community dona- tions, he believes the district will be able to continue to do so. Smith said funding the credits helps encourage more students to go to college. “We don’t want it to become just the kids that can afford (college credits) are getting them,” he said. “It’s vital that we provide an avenue for those kids that don’t have the means. It really opens the doors for kids who never thought they would do anything after high school except go to work.” During the last school year, 29 Echo students earned 164 credits, according to information from BMCC. Every high school in Umatilla and Morrow counties has participated in the program, Whittaker said, with 2,410 students earning a total of 21,424 credits last school year. He said those students saved more than $1.7 million. Whittaker said the program has been successful in providing inexpensive college credits and encour- aging students to attend college, and he thinks that success will continue even with the price jump.. “I’m excited about the whole aspect of high school students having a chance to ¿gure out what college is about and take real college classes,” he said. “It’s an opportunity I would have loved to have had and didn’t have.” talked about warning signs and shared strategies. The group later presented in other communities. Like Patnode, Sutton also suffered the loss of a daughter to suicide, which increases his admiration for the judge. “She took a tragedy and made it into a testimony,” he said. “We can learn a lot from her example of how to react to tragedy.” Tiffany Wilkins, of Arlington, wrote a nomina- tion letter on behalf of her good friend. She described Patnode as someone who “can make you laugh until you cry,” “is beautiful inside and out” and is something of a community whirlwind. “There is nothing too big or too small,” she wrote in her letter. “She has helped me learn the gift of giving back and for that I will always be grateful.” Patnode ferries between Condon and Arlington from the ranch where she lives with husband Joe and their youngest daughter. She said Devin’s death has changed her. “It was hard at ¿rst not to feel robbed,” she said. “But that didn’t last long. I was able to turn it around. My work helped me through and gave me purpose.” The tragedy changed how Patnode saw those who came into the courtroom. “Every person who comes before me is in the midst of a crisis,” she said. “A lot of that is self-induced — drug addiction, alcohol, domestic violence — but there is an opportunity to make a better society with each person who comes to me.” Away from the courtroom, preventing suicide continues to drive Patnode. She knows people feel stigmatized about mental health issues and she is working to change that mindset. “We ¿x our leg if it is broken,” she said. “We need to ¿x our mind the same way.” That focus is one reason NJA Executive Director Candace Hissong approved Patnode’s selection, made by past award recipients who were each mailed copies of nomination letters. Each person made their selection, but didn’t know the outcome until the banquet except for Hissong and Sutton. Some years, the award isn’t given, they said. But in 2015, Patnode inspired agreement. “The MacEachern award is an award that recognizes a judge that goes above and beyond,” she said. “I’ve known Judge Patnode since she took the bench and always found her to be thoughtful, insightful and caring.” ——— Contact Kathy Aney at kaney@eastoregonian.com or call 541-966-0810. “We’re doing all of our usual testing, but so far all of our tests have come back negative.” Tompkins, director of the nonpro¿t Blue Mountain Wildlife, said a Àedgling great gray owl died within hours of being brought to the refuge on July 19. Everyone was a little surprised to ¿nd out, after testing, the bird had been infected with West Nile. “We didn’t know what was wrong with it. It was acting very strange,” Tompkins said. “There were no obvious injuries ... We really couldn’t tell if it was trauma, something toxic or disease. That’s why we took a sample.” Young birds are espe- cially susceptible to the disease, Tompkins said. She noti¿ed Gerard of the incident after sample results came back from Oregon State University. According to the Centers for Disease Control, only one in ¿ve people infected with West Nile will show symptoms. Of those, less than 1 percent come down with potentially serious complications. West Nile may cause encephalitis, or inÀammation of the brain. Melissa Ney, environ- mental health supervisor at the Umatilla County Public Health Department, said children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems are at the most risk. “There’s always the potential,” Ney said. “The weather plays a big role in that, too. The hotter it is, the more it tends to be trans- mitted.” Ney said people should take precautions to protect themselves against mosquito bites, such as using insect repellent and wearing protec- tive clothing, especially at dusk and dawn when mosquitoes are most active. People should also remove sources of standing water on their property to get rid of pools where mosqui- toes can breed. Those with questions or concerns should call the county health department at 541-278-5432 or their doctor. To report dead birds in the area, contact the West Umatilla Mosquito Control District at 541-567-5201, or the North Morrow Vector Control District at 541-481- 6082. ——— Contact George Plaven at gplaven@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0825. MARIJUANA: 63 percent of county opposed Measure 91 Continued from 1A JUDGE: Patnode spearheaded a suicide prevention group Continued from 1A WEST NILE: Hot weather increases transmission Eastern Promise “We don’t want it to become just the kids that can afford (college credits) are getting them. Thursday, August 6, 2015 OK for Eastern Oregon and the Portland-metro area to have different values. “My neighbors don’t pride themselves on being weird,” Murdock said. “In fact, these same individuals also don’t line the streets of Pendleton, Hermiston or any other local community to celebrate nude bike rides.” Murdock also said while people believe in the merits of medical pot, he saw no valid research backing those claims. In other action, the commissioners voted 3-0 to place ballot drop boxes in Athena, Pilot Rock, Stan¿eld and Umatilla. This came in response to the U.S. Postal Service closing its distri- bution center in Pendleton. Local mail now can take up to a week to arrive, Murdock said, so drop boxes in Athena, Pilot Rock, Stan¿eld and Umatilla — all cities with at least 1,000 residents — will help ensure citizens can vote on time. He said the county is working with the cities on ¿nding a secure and public space for the boxes. And the board delayed a vote to allow all-terrain vehicles on certain roads in the northeast section of the county. Some ranchers and farmers, he said, were concerned ATV drivers could ride onto their lands. Murdock said voting on the issue now would have been hasty. Commissioner Bill Elfering will head up a group to look at the issue. Just For You! Now Open Sundays Weekdays 7 AM – 5:30 PM Weekends 8 AM – 2 PM 432 Southeast Dorion, Pendleton www.tumalum.com
