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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 2015)
OFF PAGE ONE STANFIELD: McBride claims he was ¿red Ior reporting on Toombs’ behavior Page 14A East Oregonian Continued from 1A oI -ustice personnel investigating allegations oI misconduct. /arsen said he became aware oI the justice department investigation on Nov. 16 but would not comment until the investigation was complete and all the Iacts were known. “There’s basically one party talking in this situation, and it’s not us,´ he said. “:e can’t spread inIormation without going through due process through the investigation. I would ask that everybody withhold judgment and wait until the real inves- tigation determines what actually happened.´ McBride claims he was ¿red in retaliation Ior reporting to =umwalt unethical and criminal behavior by Toombs, McBride according to the Nov. 17 letter Irom McBride’s attorney to =umwalt and Mayor Thomas McCann. The letter states that in August 2015 McBride told =umwalt that Toombs had seized at least two marijuana plants during an investigation and did not properly log the plants into evidence and that there was a possibility he took the plants Ior personal use. The letter also states that earlier in 2015 McBride reported to =umwalt that he had inIormation Toombs was approaching married couples in the Stan¿eld and Echo area and soliciting them to engage in sexual acts with Toombs and his wiIe. McBride was concerned the behavior was in violation oI Stan¿eld personnel policies and a criminal violation Ior oI¿cial misconduct. McBride alleges in the letter that =umwalt did not investigate Toombs and instead terminated McBride’s employment. The Oregonian reported that it had obtained documents alleging that =umwalt seized a revolver during a traI¿c stop but did not enter it into evidence. The newspaper also reported obtaining a document the remaining active-duty Stan¿eld oI¿cer, 'aniel PoIIenberger, submitted to the 'epartment oI -ustice. In that document, PoIIenberger alleges ² among other things ² that Toombs, while oII duty, “For emergencies, we’re always covered. We have mutual aid agreements (with other local agencies).” — Blair Larsen, Stanfield City Manager had demanded his neighbor be arrested by PoIIenberger, who did not believe it was warranted, and that Toombs reIused to put out a ¿re on his property aIter being advised it was in violation oI a burn ban, according to The Oregonian. The 'epartment oI -ustice denied the East Oregonian’s public records reTuest Ior the documents because oI an open criminal investigation. /arsen said, despite having only one Iull-time oI¿cer on duty, the city will still be protected during an emergency. “For emergencies, we’re always covered,´ he said. “:e have mutual aid agreements with other local agencies.´ /arsen said he also inIormed +ermiston Police Department and the Umatilla County SheriII’s OI¿ce about Stan¿eld’s lack oI staI¿ng. SheriII Terry 5owan said the oI¿ce would assist Stan¿eld when necessary. “Their oI¿cer that is working there will be handling most incidents, but we’ll be there in the event oI an emergency or iI their oI¿cer needs backup or whatever the case may be,´ he said. “Don’t get me wrong, we’re going to be strapped, and it may create a delay in response to the more lower-level- type events like cold cases and things like that, but in emergency situations, we’ll be able to respond like normal.´ -ack +uxoll, a Stan¿eld City Council member who is on the police committee, said Mayor McCann has law enIorcement experience, so the town should have enough police presence. McCann retired as Stan- ¿eld’s police chieI in 12. +uxoll said, however, that he knew very little about the investigation into the oI¿cers. “I’m in the dark just like everybody else,´ he said. “Even though I co-chaired the police committee, no inkling ever came out oI anything.´ Toombs did not respond to a reTuest Ior comment and =umwalt could not be reached. BROWNING: Could reduce time with good behavior Continued from 1A Empire, an all-white gang that operated in Pendleton until police took it down starting in late 2014. Brauer sentenced Browning to ¿ve years Ior the attempted assault, two years and 11 months Ior the gun crime and more than seven years Ior racketeering. Some oI the time is concur- rent and some consecutive Ior a total sentence oI seven years, 11 months. Brauer held to the sentence recommendation the state and deIense agreed to and said Browning could Saturday, November 21, 2015 reduce the time with good behavior. Browning also will spend three to ¿ve years on supervision aIter prison. BeIore pronouncing the sentence, the judge gave Browning the opportunity to make a statement. ³, am remorseIul,´ he said, his wiIe and son watching Irom the court- room benches. “I am sorry Ior the things I did. ... I made some mistakes. I was part oI things that made some damage. I¶m sorry Ior those actions.´ Browning dropped his head, stiÀed tears and told the court other gang members tried to shoot him through his door when his son was a mere Ieet away. “Because oI that,´ Browning said, “I’ll never Iorgive myselI.´ Brauer recalled when Browning introduced his son at an earlier hearing, and he said to the boy sometimes good people go oII track and need help to get their lives going in the right direction. Browning thanked the judge Ior the sentiment, and said he was there to be account- able. Brauer said in that way he was showing his son how to be responsible. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Kindergartners gesture while reciting a poem before the start of their Friendsgiving Feast on Friday at the Pendleton Early Learning Center. FEAST: 50 middle schoolers volunteered Continued from 1A teachers to treat the Ieast as an inIormal lunch, but the school district’s contract with the Iood services corporation Sodexo meant lunchtime had to proceed as scheduled. Sokoloski and the other early learning center staII brainstormed and came up with a workaround ² a school-wide Ieast scheduled during the student’s snack time. “It’s a pretty Iancy snack today,´ she said. “Usually, its just a couple oI crackers.´ Parents contributed supplies and the children helped make the Iood, but there were other logistical challenges to wrangle with. Although the center has been praised Ior its spacious design, the circular tables in the caIeteria could only seat 128, a problem solved by switching them out with longer, rectangular tables. The Friendsgiving Feast was also only the second time over the course oI the year that the entire student body would be in the same room, reTuiring careIul coordination Irom staII and volunteers. Parents and staII members were aided by 50 students Irom Sunridge Middle School, who Staff photo by E.J. Harris Sunridge Middle School leadership student prepare plates of food for a Friendsgiving Feast for kindergartners at the Pendleton Early Learning Center on Friday in Pendleton. volunteered at the event as a part oI 5andy CrawIord’s leadership class. CrawIord said he sought out volunteer opportunities Ior his students to teach them the value oI being role models and to remind them oI the beginning oI their educational journey. “They Iorget what it’s like to be here,´ he said. The middle school students took CrawIord’s assignment with aplomb, dutiIully taking care oI the preparatory tasks beIore playing with the kindergart- ners during their recess. The Sunridge students bonded with their younger counterparts quickly, so much so that it seemed they had been mentoring them Ior more than an aIternoon. At one point, a Sunridge student asked iI they could take a sel¿e with their new kindergarten “buddies,´ a request Sokoloski politely declined. Despite the Iast-paced organizing that went into the eIIort, Sokoloski told volunteers she was already planning next year’s event beIore the ¿rst Ieast was over. ²²² Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0836. Get ready for Winter with great savings on AWD & 4WD Toyotas! Convicted spy released aIter 30 years behind bars NE: <O5. AP ² -onathan Pollard was released Irom prison Friday aIter 0 years behind bars Ior spying Ior Israel, and his lawyers immediately went to court to challenge tough parole conditions seemingly designed to ensure he doesn’t spill any U.S. military secrets he might have leIt. The 61-year-old Iormer Navy intelligence analyst was set Iree in the middle oI the night Irom a medium-secu- rity Iederal prison in Butner, North Carolina, aIter being paroled Irom a liIe sentence that had turned him into a continual source oI tension between the U.S. and Israel. Under the rules oI his release, he must wear a GPS unit to transmit his where- abouts at all times, allow the installation oI monitoring equipment on any computers he uses at work or at home, and agree to periodic, unan- nounced inspections oI those machines. “The notion that, having Iought Ior and ¿nally obtained his release aIter serving 30 years in prison, Mr. Pollard will now disclose stale, 30-year-old inIormation to anyone is preposterous,´ his lawyers, Eliot /auer and -acques Semmelman, said in a statement. +ours aIter his release, Pollard checked in with probation oI¿cers at a Iederal courthouse in New <ork, then emerged into a throng oI jour- nalists. +e wore a yarmulke. “I can’t comment on anything today,´ he said, his wiIe, Esther, on his arm. Despite parole require- ments that he not leave the U.S. without government permission Ior the next ¿ve years, Pollard has expressed a desire to renounce his Amer- ican citizenship and move to Israel, where he is seen by some as a national hero. The :hite +ouse has come out against the request. U.S. intelligence oI¿cials have long argued that Pollard, who pleaded guilty in 186 Pollard to conspiracy to commit espionage, did severe damage to the United States during the Cold :ar by giving away an enormous volume oI military intelligence secrets that some suspect wound up in Soviet hands. +is deIenders have contended that his punish- ment was overly harsh Ior helping a close U.S. ally. The prosecutor who handled the case, Iormer U.S. Attorney -oseph diGenova, said it is legitimate Ior the government to be concerned that Pollard might still have secrets to tell. “Anyone who obtained as much inIormation as Mr. Pollard did over an extended period oI time is perIectly capable oI revealing ... inIormation that he might have in his brain locked away somewhere,´ he said. “It is perIectly understandable that the government would want to do those types oI examina- tions oI computers and other Enjoy the Jazz sounds of Brass Fire Sat., Nov. 21 2015 7 pm - 10 pm In the Red Lion Lounge 304 SE Nye Pendleton 541-276-6111 devices.´ Pollard’s lawyers submitted a statement Irom Iormer U.S. national security adviser 5obert McFarlane dismissing such Iears. “To the extent Mr. Pollard even recalls any clas- si¿ed inIormation, it would date back 30 years or more, and would have no value to anyone today,´ he said. .enneth /asson, a law proIessor at the University oI Baltimore who supported Pollard’s bid to have his sentence shortened, said the GPS monitoring and computer inspections amount to “vindictiveness by a petty- minded government.´ +e said the U.S. should grant Pollard’s request to leave the country. “:hat they are aIraid oI"´ he asked. “I think what they are aIraid oI is that he’s going to be received as a hero by the Israeli public.´ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu applauded Pollard’s Ireedom, saying in a statement: “As someone who raised -onathan’s case Ior years with successive American presidents, I had long hoped this day would come.´ 2016 TUNDRA Standard Cab, Double Cab, CrewMax % 1.9 APR for 60 Mo. 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