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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 26, 2015)
NORTHWEST Saturday, September 26, 2015 BRIEFLY 2 Idaho residents killed in Eastern Oregon crash BURNS (AP) — Oregon State Police say two Idaho residents were killed in a one-vehicle rollover on Highway 20. Police were called just after 8 p.m. Thursday on an initial report of a motorist driving over the speed limit without headlights on Highway 20. They received another call minutes later that the vehicle had crashed 15 miles west of Burns. Police say 42-year-old Danielle Shea and 22-year-old Caleb E. Lynn died in the crash after the SUV they were riding in rolled multiple times and ejected them. Shea and Lynn both lived in Eagle, Idaho. It’s unclear to police who was driving the vehicle. They believe alcohol was a factor in the crash. Man found dead near Mt. Hood died of gunshot PORTLAND (AP) — Oregon’s medical examiner says the missing Gresham man found dead at a the Trillium Lake Sno Park east of Government Camp died of a gunshot wound to the chest. The Oregonian reports Dr. Karen Gunson released the 68-year-old Frank Wilson’s cause of death on Friday after his autopsy. He was found Thursday dead in a white pickup truck parked at a lot at the park on Mount Hood. The Clackamas County 6KHULII¶V2I¿FHVDLG Wilson’s death is now being investigated as a homicide. $755,000 verdict against UO police in retaliation case PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal jury has awarded $755,000 to a former University of Oregon public safety RI¿FHUDIWHU¿QGLQJWKH university’s police chief and a top lieutenant retaliated against him for speaking out about department wrongdoing. The Oregonian reports jurors awarded the damages to James Cleavenger on Friday. Jurors found UO Police Chief Carolyn McDermed violated Cleavenger’s First Amendment rights ZKHQVKH¿UHGKLPLQ 2012 and in 2014 when she tried to prove he was too untruthful to testify. Cleavenger in 2013 sued the university and its police department saying KHZDVZURQJIXOO\¿UHG for reporting problems, including a vulgar list FRPSLOHGE\RI¿FHUV7KH list included people and things the department disliked, from Hillary Clinton to campus bicycles. 8QLYHUVLW\RI¿FLDOV said they’re disappointed with the jury’s decision. East Oregonian Page 11A Workgroup to evaluate crime lab procedures Associated Press SALEM — Oregon Governor Kate Brown is forming a workgroup to review the practices and procedures of the Oregon State Police crime lab, as the state investigates a forensic analyst for allegedly tampering with evidence. The workgroup, announced on Friday, will examine the recent allegations of tampering and identify any changes that need to be made. It also will help draft new legislation if statutory changes are needed. Last week, state authorities said evidence in hundreds of criminal “The credibility of the criminal justice system is critical to Oregon’s citizens.” — Kate Brown, Governor cases was being reviewed following accusations that a forensic analyst stole pills and other drugs and replaced them with over-the-counter pills. The analyst, 35-year-old Nika Larsen, worked in OSP’s Bend lab since 2012 and at two other state labs prior to that. She was placed on leave earlier this month. The state Department of Justice took over the criminal investigation from OSP earlier this week. Spokeswoman Kristina Edmunson said the state police will continue to assist with the probe. “The credibility of the criminal justice system is critical to Oregon’s citizens,” Brown said in a statement. The discovery puts current cases and convictions in doubt and could cost counties thousands to retest and retry cases. State police declined to publicly release the number of potentially affected cases, citing the ongoing criminal investigation. Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel said he must retest the evidence in 502 cases dating back to 2012. In Klamath County, District Attorney Rob Patridge said he’s reviewing 328 cases dating as far back as 2007. And in Polk County, District Attorney Aaron Felton is reviewing 35 cases. Last week, state police also said a second forensic analyst at its crime lab had been investigated. Investigators found Jeff Dovci, who worked at OSP’s Central Point lab, had overstated evidence during a criminal trial in 2005. Dovci, who has since retired, disputes the state’s allegations and says his interpretation of evidence is a matter of opinion. The state police operates ¿YH ODEV 2WKHUV DUH LQ 6SULQJ¿HOG 3HQGOHWRQ DQG Portland. Lt. Bill Fugate, a state police spokesman, said the forensic labs have very strict policies and procedures in place. But, he said, the disclosures about the analysts are prompting further reviews. Critics say duck boats too dangerous for city streets Associated Press SEATTLE — Even before a duck boat crashed into a charter bus in Seattle, killing four international students, calls had emerged for greater oversight and even an outright ban on the military-style vehi- cles that allow tourists to see cities by road and water. Critics say the large amphibious vehicles are built for war, not for ferrying tourists on narrow city streets. “Duck boats are dangerous on the land and on the water. They shouldn’t be allowed to be used,” Robert Mongeluzzi, a Philadelphia attorney, said Friday, renewing his call for a moratorium on their operation nationwide. +LV ¿UP UHSUHVHQWHG WKH families of victims in a deadly 2010 crash near Philadelphia. A tugboat-guided barge plowed into a duck boat packed with tourists that had stalled in the Delaware River, sinking the boat and killing two Hungarian students. “They were created to invade a country from the water, not to carry tourists,” VDLG0RQJHOX]]LZKRVH¿UP now represents the family of a woman killed in May by an amphibious vehicle in Philadelphia. Some attorneys also ques- tion the focus of the drivers. In Seattle, tours are complete with exuberant operators who play loud music and quack through speakers. “This is a business model that requires the driver to be a driver, tour guide and enter- tainer at the same time,” said Steve Bulzomi, the attorney for a motorcyclist who was run over and dragged by a duck boat that came up behind him at a stoplight in Seattle in 2011. Brian Tracey, president of Ride the Ducks Seattle, which is independently owned and operated, said Thursday that it was too early to speculate about what happened. “We will get to the bottom” of the crash, he said. He said the captains are &RDVW*XDUG FHUWL¿HG DQG licensed as commercial drivers, and are required to take continuing education once a month. State regulators last conducted a comprehensive safety inspection of the Ride WKH 'XFNV¶ ÀHHW LQFOXGLQJ GULYHU TXDOL¿FDWLRQV employee drug and alcohol testing, in 2012. They issued said at a news conference Friday. The NTSB has scru- tinized the vehicles several times when they have been in accidents on water, he said. The amphibious boats are remnants from when the U.S. Army deployed thousands of amphibious landing craft during World War II. Once the war was over, some were converted to sightseeing vehicles in U.S. cities. Thirteen people died in 1999 when an amphibious boat sank to the bottom of Lake Hamilton in Arkansas in an accident the NTSB blamed on inadequate maintenance. Bulzomi, the lawyer for the Seattle man struck by a duck boat in 2011, said he found two other recent cases AP Photo/Ted S. Warren Seattle Police investigators examine the front tire from a Ride the Ducks tour bus in which duck boats rear- as it lies on the ground following a crash involving the tour bus and several other ended vehicles at stoplights. vehicles, Thursday in Seattle. In both cases, the drivers told Bulzomi, the lawyer for vehicles for the time being. police they couldn’t see the a satisfactory rating. The company operates 17 amphib- the Seattle man struck by a He wasn’t sure whether the other vehicle because of the ious vehicles and employs 35 duck boat in 2011, said the duck boats would be allowed height of the duck boats, he drivers, according to the state latest incident should compel to continue in the city but said. Thursday’s crash authorities to take action. said the NTSB was interested review. “I would hope everybody in duck-boat safety because happened as North Seattle Ferndale-based Bellair Charters was last inspected would take a serious look at such vehicles are operating in College students were touring the city. The collision on the by the Federal Motor Carrier whether this is a real good other cities. The federal agency’s Aurora Bridge, which carries Safety Administration in 2013 idea for the streets of Seattle,” investigation in Seattle is the one of the city’s main north- and received a satisfactory he said. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray ¿UVW WLPH LW LV ORRNLQJ LQWR south highways, left behind a rating, state regulators said. About 45 students and staff said Ride the Ducks Seattle a duck-boat crash on land, tangled mess of twisted metal from North Seattle College has voluntarily sidelined its board member Earl Weener and shattered glass. were traveling Thursday to the city’s iconic Pike Place Market and Safeco Field for orientation events when witnesses said the duck boat suddenly swerved into their oncoming charter bus. The driver of the charter bus reported that the duck boat “careened” into them on the bridge, Richard Johnson, president of Bellair Charters, said Friday. Authorities say it’s too soon to determine what caused the crash that killed four students from Austria, China, Indonesia and Japan. A National Transportation Safety Board team arrived Friday to lead an investigation that typically takes a year, the agency said. Katie Moody, 30, from Fremont, California, was among 36 tourists aboard the duck boat when it crashed. From her hospital bed, where she was recovering from a broken collarbone, she broke into tears Friday as she recounted the accident. “I just remember it felt like we lost control, and I looked up and saw the bus headed toward us,” Moody said. “Hearing the impact, that was the scariest part.” Look to a U.S. Bank Home Equity Line of Credit for your next major project. You’ll be greeted with competitive rates, flexible payment options and people who genuinely care. Diabetes Education Series Diabetes Self Management Series October 7 th , 14 th , 28 th & November 4 th 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM Advance Registration Required Most Major Insurances, Medicare, Medicaid For more information or to register 541-278-3249 Melissa Naff, RD, LD, CDE Diabetes Educator • 541-278-3249 2801 St. Anthony Way Pendleton, OR 97801 www.sahpendleton.org If you call a contractor yourself, that still counts as DIY. 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