REGION
Thursday, January 14, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 3A
HERMISTON
Violent crime dips, total crime unchanged
35 percent drop from the city’s
10-year average.
Violent crime — homicide,
+HUPLVWRQ SROLFH RI¿FHUV rape, robbery and aggravated
initiated more actions on their assault — fell from 24 incidents
own in 2015 as calls for service in 2014 to 21 in 2015, yet the city
fell to a 10-year-low. And violent KDGLWV¿UVWKRPLFLGHVLQFH
crime shifted down from the and assaults jumped from eight
year before, but crime overall to 12. Assaults are 56 percent
remained stagnant through lower than the 10-year-average,
but after a low of four in 2013
2015.
Hermiston police Chief are trending up. Edmiston in
Jason Edmiston this week the report stated the department
released his department’s annual will monitor that for causation
crime statistics, which measure purposes.
Burglaries hit 53 last year,
crime across eight categories.
While individual types varied, 22 fewer than in 2014 and the
Hermiston had 524 reported lowest in the city in a decade.
crimes in 2015, just one more Edmiston stated curbing that
than in 2014. Still, that was a crime has been a focus since he
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
PENDLETON
No filings for
city council seats
Chuck Wood won’t
seek reelection
East Oregonian
As of Wednesday, no one
has committed to running
IRUWKH¿YH3HQGOHWRQ&LW\
Council seats that are up
for election in May.
Among the incumbents,
two councilors intend to
leave their seats while the
other three say they haven’t
yet made a decision. With
less than two months before
WKH ¿OLQJ GHDGOLQH QR
challengers have submitted
SDSHUZRUNWR¿OHIRURI¿FH
either.
Following three years on
the council, Ward 2 Coun-
cilor Chuck Wood said he
won’t seek reelection and
will leave the council when
his term expires at the end
of the year.
A retiree since 2008,
Wood said he commits 30
hours per week to council
business, a time commit-
ment he didn’t want to
sustain for another four
years.
Although he’ll turn 70
E\WKHWLPHKHOHDYHVRI¿FH
Wood said he plans to stay
involved with the city in
some form.
Wood won his seat in
2012 by beating then-in-
cumbent Bryan Branstetter
in a landslide. His Ward
2 seat covers North Hill,
Westgate and the Eastern
Oregon Regional Airport.
Wood won’t be the
RQO\ ¿UVWWHUP FRXQFLORU
to decline a reelection
campaign.
At-large
Councilor
Jane Hill announced in
December that she would
resign her seat to seek a
job with the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation.
Because Hill intends
to resign before the end
of her term, her appointed
replacement would have
WR ¿OH IRU HOHFWLRQ LI WKH\
wanted to stay beyond
2016.
The
other
three
members of the council
facing election — Ward 1
Councilor Becky Marks,
Ward 3 Councilor Tom
Young and Mayor Phillip
Houk have yet to make a
decision.
“You have to weigh
wanting to serve with the
time commitment,” Young
said, echoing the senti-
ments expressed by Houk
and Marks.
Houk said he expects
to make a decision around
Feb. 1 while Marks is
aiming for mid-February to
render her verdict. Young
didn’t commit to a timeline
for his decision.
City Recorder Andrea
Denton said no one has
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to submit a candidacy
petition is March 8.
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period has been open since
September, Denton said
FDQGLGDWHVWHQGWR¿OHDIWHU
Jan. 1, with some waiting
until the last minute to
submit a petition.
became chief in 2012.
Property crime ticked up 1
percent in 2015, primarily due to
an increase in larceny from 388
incidents to 413.
Hermiston police took
10,032 calls for service in 2015,
almost 2,100 fewer than in 2014.
Edmiston in the report stated
that was concerning to him, but
KH ZDV FRQ¿GHQW VRPH RI WKH
decline has to do with tracking
information that comes into the
police department compared
to when the city had its own
dispatch center.
The drop in calls also corre-
sponds to police taking more
initiative. Edmiston reported
Hermiston police experienced an
Long talked about but
never acted on, Pendleton
City
Council
heartily
endorsed the idea of hiring
a spokesperson for the city
at a workshop Tuesday.
The proposal was one of
several recommendations
made in a communications
plan, a draft of which was
presented at the workshop.
After
the
council
expressed
interest
in
improving city commu-
nication, City Manager
Robb Corbett approached
InterMountain Education
Service District spokes-
woman Michele Madril
about creating a communi-
cation plan.
Madril said the IMESD
offers
communications
services as part of its
entrepreneurial
division.
The city is paying the
IMESD up to $1,500 for
Madril’s services.
Using feedback from six
department heads, Corbett
and Madril produced an
eight-page
document
detailing ways the city
can improve internal and
external communication.
The proposal that seemed
to draw the most support
from the council was the
recommendation to hire a
designated communications
employee.
“We need a communica-
tion-focused department,”
Councilor Chuck Wood
said. “One or two people,
Calls for service
Ofi cer initiated activity
Total violent
Homicide
Rape
Robbery
Aggravated assault
Total property
Burglary
Larceny
Auto theft
Arson
Total crime
2014
12,129
10,970
24
0
2
14
8
499
75
388
34
2
523
2015
10,032
13,205
21
1
4
4
12
503
53
413
36
1
524
East Oregonian
A pair of local events in Hermiston
and Pendleton are planned to commem-
orate Martin Luther King Day.
In its 16th year, citizens of Hermiston
and the surrounding area are invited
to the Community Walk. The Black
International Awareness Club is hosting
the event, which is Monday from noon
to 2:30 p.m. at the Hermiston United
Methodist Church, 191 E. Gladys Ave.,
Hermiston.
The gathering will include a march,
special speakers, music, prayer, the
Polynesian Dancers, an open mic time
and refreshments. For more information,
call Virginia Rome at 541-720-6895 or
search Facebook for “Hermiston Martin
Luther King Peace Walk.”
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to
connect with other community members
and celebrate our unique and diverse
community,” said Jesus Rome.
A musical celebration is planned in
Pendleton featuring an evening of folk
songs and protest songs in honor of
King and in recognition of the progress
we’ve made as a nation.
Sponsored by the Pendleton Baha’i
EO i le photo
Marchers gather in front of Hermiston City Hall to listen to city govern-
ment ofi cials speak during a past Martin Luther King Day celebration in
Hermiston.
community, everyone is invited to
attend. The music begins at 6 p.m. at
*UHDW3DFL¿F:LQH&RIIHH&R6
Main St., Pendleton. The gathering will
include local musicians singing their
favorite songs from the civil rights era.
Those attending are encouraged to be
prepared to sing along.
For more information, call 541-276-
9360.
PENDLETON
Wtechlink owners mum on settlement deal
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
The owners of Wtechlink
in Pendleton are resolving
their dispute for control of
the company outside the
courtroom.
Jordan McDonald, the
minority owner of the
Pendleton Internet company,
dropped his lawsuit late last
year against his business
partner and majority owner
Byron Wysocki, according
to Umatilla County Circuit
Court Records.
Wysocki did not return
a call seeking comment.
McDonald declined to
comment.
McDonald sued Wysocki
in 2013 for control of the
company. A source familiar
with the situation reported
Wysocki is buying out
McDonald’s share of Wtech-
link.
Wysocki and another
business partner also reached
a civil deal and avoided pros-
ecution for theft in a separate
case.
Wysocki and Mason
Murphy own the Pendleton
bar 40 Taps. The pair faced
¿UVWGHJUHH WKHIW FKDUJHV IRU
taking doors from the old St.
Anthony Hospital demolition
site on Southeast Court
Avenue at the beginning of
October 2014 and installing
them at their bar at 337 S.W.
Emigrant Ave., on the block
next to Pendleton City Hall.
The doors were worth
about $4,600, according
to Pendleton Police Chief
Stuart Roberts. Attorney
Dean Gushwa of Pendleton
represented the two entre-
SUHQHXUV DQG FRQ¿UPHG
Tuesday his clients and the
demolition company with an
interest in the doors reached
a civil compromise in late
December 2015.
“We gave them some
money for the trouble,”
Gushwa said, and the court
agreed to that and dismissed
the criminal case. Gushwa
said courts tend to go along
with the parties in those
situations.
“The doors are back
[at the bar],” he said, “and
everyone’s happy.”
Pilot Rock helicopter pilot injured in crash
City council communicates
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somewhere in the city, that’s
their job. Whether its a full-
time job or a part-time job, I
don’t know.”
Although many coun-
cilors were excited to hire
someone who could share
their side of the story,
the plan also advised the
council against directing
all lines of communication
through a spokesman.
“(The) very nature of
city organization makes
it necessary for direct
communication to happen
EHWZHHQ HOHFWHG RI¿FLDOV
FLW\
GHSDUWPHQWVFLW\
employees and citizens,”
the plan states. “It is not
feasible to funnel all
communication through a
central point of contact or
department.”
Citing letters to the
editor and editorials in the
East Oregonian, Councilor
John Brenne asked if a
designated person should
respond to criticism the
council feels is factually
incorrect.
Although the city should
respond if its a particularly
egregious
disagreement,
Madril said responding
sometimes exacerbates the
issue rather than quells it.
“My big thing that I go
by is that I can control my
message, I can control what
I put out there,” she said. “I
cannot control what other
people are going to say,
but I can consistently keep
saying my message and I
think that’s important.”
Madril said that a plan
Hermiston crime stats
Gatherings celebrate MLK Day
PENDLETON
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
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initiated activity, including a 26
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That work also bumped up
total reports 9 percent, arrests 6
percent and citations 11 percent.
Edmiston also reported
Hermiston police from Dec. 21,
2015, to Jan. 4 arrested eight
people for driving under the
LQÀXHQFHRILQWR[LFDQWVFLWHG
people driving while suspended
and handed out 26 citations for
hazardous crash-causing viola-
tions (not equipment-related
violations). A grant provided the
funds for the crackdown.
Edmiston also plans to
release juvenile crime numbers
later this month.
and a communications
RI¿FHU FRXOG OHVVHQ EDFN
lash, but it won’t eliminate
it completely.
Councilor
McKennon
McDonald agreed with
Madril.
“People are going to
have their own thoughts
about everything and we’re
all going to have differing
thoughts about it, so the
people should be able to
write those letters too ... As
long as we have our piece
along with it, then people
can make up their minds
in a more educated way,”
McDonald said.
Discussion of a public
LQIRUPDWLRQ RI¿FHU VSLOOHG
over into other topics.
The council reached
a consensus that the city
shouldn’t seek another
ballot measure in 2016, with
some councilors reasoning
that the extra time could
be used to get a spokesman
to help communicate the
city’s perspective on tax
proposals.
6RPH FLW\ RI¿FLDOV FLWHG
a lack of communication in
the demise of a proposed
5-cent gas tax on the ballot
last November.
Corbett said he would
take the feedback on the
draft from the council and
come back with a more
VSHFL¿F UHFRPPHQGDWLRQ
on how to hire a communi-
cations specialist.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.
GRANT
COUNTY
(AP) — Authorities say
one man was injured and
another walked away after
a helicopter crash in Grant
County.
Grant County Sheriff
Glenn
Palmer
said
60-year-old Cliff Hoeft,
RI 3LORW 5RFN ZDV À\LQJ
a 1988 Enstrom helicopter
when it crashed just after
10 a.m. Tuesday.
Palmer said the heli-
copter ran out of fuel
and crash landed among
juniper trees and a rock
outcropping near Ritter
Butte Lookout.
Palmer says Hoeft was
injured and transferred
by aircraft to a hospital in
Bend.
Hoeft’s
passenger,
34-year-old Cody J. Cole,
of Monument, walked
away from the crash and
was taken to a local hospital
for observation.
The men had been hired
by people who were coyote
hunting on adjoining prop-
erties in the area.
Palmer says the heli-
copter sustained major
damage and is a total loss.