Page 8A
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Wind, dust close interstate, cause accidents
Troutdale to Hood River, due
to falling trees. Highway 11
Interstate 84 was closed was closed for hours north
for hours Tuesday evening of Pendleton due to a serious
after winds gusting up to 65 accident as well. Westbound
mph blew threw the area and lanes between Pendleton and
caused serious car accidents, 6WDQ¿HOG UHRSHQHG DW DERXW
knocked down trees and 10:30 p.m.
There was also no imme-
knocked out power.
The interstate was closed diate word on the seriousness
in both directions between of the accidents, though
3HQGOHWRQ DQG 6WDQ¿HOG DV many cars were involved,
well as a large section through many ambulances were
the Columbia Gorge from dispatched and extrication
East Oregonian
equipment was needed at
multiple crash sites.
The latest information
from Oregon State Police
noted one interstate crash
near Echo involved at least
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The high winds also
knocked out power to nearly
1,900 Umatilla Electric
Cooperative customers in
the Hermiston and Pendleton
area, from about 5:45 p.m.
until well into the night.
Service areas affected
include the Ordnance area
southeast of Hermiston,
Butter Creek, in and around
the city of Hermiston and in
the Mission area near Pend-
leton, according to h.
Trees were reported down
in the area, too, including one
that landed on a house and
another that landed on a car
in Hermiston.
Visit eastoregonian.com
for updates to this story.
MARIJUANA: Has until end of year to enact a ban
there is zero risk to
“I tell you what, I voted against (Measure then
referring it to the voters.”
Although the stalemate
issue to Pendleton’s citizenry
91). But this is not my personal agenda,
was already well established,
was the next best option.
this is the agenda of the citizens.”
the council was required
“I
believe
(council
to vote on the unamended
members) want what’s best
— Chuck Wood, Pendleton city councilor
RUGLQDQFH WKDW LQGH¿QLWHO\
for the community,” he said.
“Put it up to us. Make us Umatilla County would an amendment and not the banning marijuana. It, too,
decide.”
suggest.
ordinance itself, Houk was resulted in another 4-4 tie.
In
accordance
with
After the public hearing
He also solicited input on allowed to break the tie and
city charter, Houk was not
was closed, Councilor Al his Facebook page and the cast a vote.
Plute quickly made a motion feedback he received gave
He voted against the allowed to break the tie and
to amend the ordinance him additional anecdotal amendment, defeating it 5-4. the ordinance was referred to
banning marijuana, replacing evidence.
“Once this passes, then it the next meeting.
Houk said it was in the
D LQGH¿QLWH EDQ ZLWK D
“I tell you what, I voted goes into ordinance form and
temporary one that would against (Measure 91). But you still got 4-4,” he said. “I city council’s best interest
last until the November 2016 this is not my personal will not support just moving to negotiate a compromise
election.
agenda, this is the agenda of it forward for no reason. You amongst themselves.
If the council doesn’t
The councilors that the citizens,” he said.
QHHGWRJHW¿YHFRXQFLORUVRQ
supported a ballot referral
Councilor Tom Young board one way or the other.” enact a temporary or indef-
— Plute, Jane Hill and warned the council that if
Proponents of a voter inite ban by the end of the
McKennon McDonald — anybody eventually voted in referendum
were
not year, state law dictates it
loses that power perma-
gained a new ally in Wood.
favor of marijuana dispen- pleased.
Explaining his change saries, it would violate their
“I see that the votes are nently.
The council also voted to
of heart, Wood said he oath as city councilors, here to enact a ban, and the
took a deeper look in to the ZKLFK VSHFL¿FDOO\ SURPSWV votes that are opposing the postpone a vote on an ordi-
Measure 91 elections data, them to uphold federal law.
amendment are only opposed nance enabling street utility
which revealed the vote to
Young joined councilors to having citizen input,” Hill fees to the Dec. 15 meeting.
———
legalize marijuana in two out Neil Brown, Becky Marks said. “If you truly believe
Contact Antonio Sierra at
of the three voting wards in and John Brenne in voting that the community is
Pendleton was closer than against the amendment.
opposed to both recreational asierra@eastoregonian.com
the 63-37 percent result in
Because the vote was on and medicinal marijuana, or 541-966-0836.
Continued from 1A
TRANSPORTATION: Good Shepherd offers free
rides to medical appointments for low-income patients
Continued from 1A
he said.
His 12-year-old son
walks back and forth to
Sandstone Middle School,
only blocks away, but Orem
is worried about what will
happen when his son is old
enough to attend Hermiston
High School and has to walk
more than a mile to school
every day, rain or shine.
Orem, who spent 17
years living in California
cities with public transpor-
tation, said having a small
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Hermiston would be a huge
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other transportation.
“I would go out and just
do things,” he said.
Orem said the employees
of
Hermiston
Transit
Services and Umatilla Cab
Company are all “beautiful
people” he has enjoyed
getting to know. But he
wishes he could take a spon-
taneous trip to a restaurant
or store without having to
call and wait as long as 30
minutes for a cab.
“It’s doable to live with
just the taxi system in town,
but it’s just not cutting the
mustard,” he said. “It’s
an existence but it’s not a
happiness.”
Sundi Marquez sees a
lot of car-less residents,
including Orem, through
the Umatilla Cab Company
and Prestige Car Service.
She said probably 80 to 85
percent of her companies’
clients don’t have another
way to get around.
“You’d be surprised,”
she said. “There are a lot.
We’re their primary mode of
transportation.”
She said cab drivers
in town become “part of
peoples’ daily activities,”
including rides to work, to
medical appointments and
to the grocery store.
“Wal-Mart is our main-
stay, always,” she said.
Umatilla Cab Company
charges customers by the
mile, while Prestige Car
Service charges by the
hour. Marquez said the car
service has become popular
with elderly customers who
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Dale Orem, of Hermiston, gets out of a Umatilla Cab Company taxi after a ride to
Loneys Martial Arts Center on Main Street.
would like a driver to come
into the store and help them
with their groceries.
Not everyone who takes
a taxi is without other modes
of transportation. Marquez
said clients’ car might be in
the shop, or they don’t want
to drive in the snow or need
a ride home from a medical
procedure.
Taxis aren’t the only way
to get around without a car,
either. For residents who
want to go from one city
to the next, Kayak Public
Transit is a free bus system
run by the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation.
The bus is open to all
area residents and runs
through
cities
around
Umatilla County, as well as
connecting the Tri-Cities,
Walla Walla and La Grande.
It stops daily in Hermiston
at McKenzie Park and
Wal-Mart.
CTUIR Planning Director
J.D. Tovey said “kayak” is a
tribal word that means “to
remove hindrances.”
“That’s kind of what our
mission is, is to remove
obstacles for people to go to
work, to play, whatever they
need to do in their lives,” he
said.
Tovey said a family with
two vehicles can save an
estimated $9,000 a year by
getting rid of one. Kayak
Public Transit saves families
that money by allowing them
WR¿QGDQRWKHUZD\WRJHWWR
work, he said. Each bus seats
about 30 people, and Tovey
said every morning there
is a “nearly full” busload
of people commuting to
work from Pendleton to
Hermiston. Some go even
farther, meeting up with a
carpool buddy in Hermiston
to travel the rest of the way
to a job in Heppner.
The service has been
growing steadily and now
gives more than 100,000
rides a year. It connects
people to eight regional
hospitals and helps reduce
absenteeism at the area’s
major employers.
Some organizations offer
rides to medical appoint-
ments for low-income
patients. Good Shepherd
Medical Center’s CareVan
service has been providing
free
transportation
to
appointments at the hospital
or Hermiston physicians’
RI¿FHVVLQFH
CAPECO also provides
rides to its clients via Dial-
a-Ride. In some cases, such
as an Oregon Health Plan or
Medicaid patient going to a
doctor’s appointment, the
ride is free; in other cases
riders are asked to pay for
the trip.
Dawn
Capica
of
CAPECO
transportation
VDLG WKHUH LV ³GH¿QLWHO\ D
need” that CAPECO does
LWV EHVW WR KHOS ¿OO 6KH
said more volunteer drivers
would make a world of
difference in how many
rides the program could
give.
“There are a lot of people
out there who need help,”
she said. “Not everyone has
a vehicle or has access to
one.”
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
CHRISTMAS TRIO 12 TH ANNUAL
Continued from 1A
evidence and limits anal-
ysis to two pills, with the
exception of MDMA, or
ecstasy.
State police operate
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provide the only full-ser-
vice forensic lab system
in Oregon. The American
Society of Crime Labora-
tory Directors/Laboratory
Accreditation Board of
Garner, North Carolina,
provides the accreditation
for the labs. John Neuner is
the executive director of that
operation. He said Oregon
State Police reported the
labs stopped drug testing,
and the society on Sept. 11
removed the accreditation
for drug work.
That does not stop the
labs from processing drug
evidence, he said, but
accreditation matters in the
eyes of the public, jurors
and law enforcement.
He said the society and
board ensure 369 crime
labs across the U.S. meet
international
standards
for handling and testing
evidence.
The society renewed
accreditation for the Oregon
labs on Sept. 30, 2011, and
LW H[SLUHV DIWHU ¿YH \HDUV
Neuner said the society
is changing to a four-year
window in part to provide
more frequent oversight, as
well as for administrative
reasons, including to more
easily meet new federal
standards for DNA analysis.
The society does not
conduct
“unannounced
visits” of labs, he said,
and it has no plans to send
someone to the Pendleton
or Bend labs to see any
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“As an accrediting
body,” he said, “we are
concerned with what
they are doing to address
that and we monitor that
activity.”
The monitoring comes
in the form of reports
and information the labs
provide, he said, and in
Oregon’s case the society
is requiring more reporting
than usual.
Neuner said the suspen-
sion for drug evidence will
last only as long as it needs,
but that may depend on
the length of the criminal
investigation. He said
accreditations for other
analysis remain intact. The
Pendleton and Bend labs,
for example, still can gather
and test evidence from
crime scenes.
Morrow County District
Attorney Justin Nelson said
accreditation matters, and
until state police conclude
their investigation and
ensure changes are in place,
suspending the drug work
was the right move.
“I think the Pendleton
lab went above and beyond
what it had to do.” Nelson
said. “They voluntarily
suspended the work.”
The Larsen investiga-
tion also opens the door
to new questioning from
defense attorneys, partic-
ularly regarding evidence
chain of custody. Nelson
said defendants have every
right to know and question
what happened to evidence
at every step, from the
crime scene to the lab to the
courtroom. He and other
prosecutors in those letters
promised to review cases
Larsen was involved with
and notify defense lawyers
RI¿QGLQJV
“There’s a lot of
good people in
law enforcement,
and when there’s a
question of integrity
of one of them, that
tarnishes the repu-
tation of all of them.
And that’s what’s
unfortunate about
this situation.”
— Will Perkinson,
Pendleton attorney
Brady v. Maryland is
the landmark 1963 United
States Supreme Court case
that compels prosecutors
to make such disclosures.
Pendleton attorney Will
Perkinson explained the
Supreme Court in that case
found prosecutors withheld
evidence that indicated a
man convicted of murder
did not commit the crime.
The Supreme Court ruled
withholding exculpatory
evidence — evidence that
exonerates or tends to
exonerate the defendant
— violates due process
“where the evidence is
material either to guilt or to
punishment.”
Perkinson said Brady is
a case every prosecutor and
defense attorney knows and
“has been interpreted and
applied pretty expansively
in the decades since.” And
key subsequent cases out of
the Brady ruling have deter-
mined prosecutors have a
GXW\WRFRPEWKHLU¿OHVIRU
exculpatory evidence.
Oregon, however, did not
have a state law enforcing
compliance with the Brady
ruling until 2013, when the
Legislature created Oregon
Revised Statue 135.815 to
outline what prosecutors
must disclose. Even so,
Perkinson said, prosecutors
do not reveal evidence that
favors the defense “more
than you would like to
think.”
He said he does not
think local district attorneys
have nefarious motives,
EXW LQVWHDG DUH LQ GLI¿FXOW
positions.
“They work hand-in-
hand with the front lines of
law enforcement and feel
that pressure,” Perkinson
VDLG³%XWWKHLU¿UVWREOLJD-
tion is to justice.”
Perkinson questioned
how suspending accredi-
tation could be voluntary
and not mandatory, and
he raised concerns the
accreditation bar is too low.
Not only does the Crime
Laboratory
Directors/
Laboratory Accreditation
Board not conduct surprise
inspections,
Perkinson
noted it gives labs a
six-month notice before a
visit.
But Perkinson said
the Oregon State Police
Forensic Services Division
has to explain what Larsen
did — and how — and not
merely input new policies
for people who should be
trustworthy.
“There’s a lot of good
people in law enforcement,
and when there’s a question
of integrity of one of them,
that tarnishes the reputation
of all of them,” Perkinson
said. “And that’s what’s
unfortunate about this
situation.”
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0833.
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VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT
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OR CALL US AT 541-278-2222
LAB: Accreditations for
other analysis remain intact
For more information: 509-525-7918
S E V E N
D A Y S
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COURT & MAIN, PENDLETON • 541.278.1100
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