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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 2016)
GRIZZLIES RALLY, BEAT COUGARS STUDENTS RALLY FOR TEACHER REGION/3A 46/39 COUPON INSIDE: $10 off at Safeway BASKETBALL/1B TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2016 140th Year, No. 72 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Hermiston man dies after fight By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian A Hermiston man died late Friday night from injuries sustained in a ¿ ght that tooN place north of Hermiston two days before. David Wayne Newton, 53, died at Sacred Heart Medical &enter in SpoNane at 1050 p.m. Friday night after being taNen off life support the night before. According to the Umatilla Newton &ounty Sheriff¶s Of¿ ce, witnesses reported that Newton sustained a head injury during a physical altercation with Lloyd Allan Terpening, 54, from Irrigon, at a commercial property on 81252 Hwy 395 Wednesday night. Both men were reportedly living on the property while helping clean it out. Undersheriff Jim Little¿ eld said Monday that Terpening had been questioned and was scheduled to taNe a polygraph test but had not been arrested and no charges had been ¿ led. “After the entire investigation is complete we will turn it over to the district attorney¶s of¿ ce,´ he said, noting that investigating such cases taNes time and is “not always cut and dried.´ Hilda White, Newton’s mother, said Terpening, who goes by Allan, was a close friend of Newton’s. When her son was Staff photo by E.J. Harris It has been six months since an explosion and fi re gutted the old City Hall building in Pendleton. ClocN ticNing on building repairs By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian With shattered windows and charred bricN, the old Pendleton City Hall serves as a starN reminder of the July 21 explosion the engulfed the building for hours and claimed the life of a 25-year-old man. The family that owns the 34 S.E. Dorion Ave. building still plans to restore it, but a city ordi- nance could hasten those efforts. According to the city’s nuisance ordinance, any structure that sustains damage from a ¿ re must be repaired enough to meet city building code within a year of the ¿ re. The building owners must also taNe steps to repair the damage within 120 days of the ¿ re, with the possibility of an additional 120-day extension if the property owner can show the city that an engineer or architect is maNing plans. City Manager Robb Corbett said he didn’t Nnow enough details on the ordinance to comment on it and referred the issue to City Attorney Nancy Kerns. In an email, Kerns wrote that the building’s owner has engaged a engineer to develop reconstruction plans, activating the extension. That gives owner Jose Quezada and his family until March 17 to start repairs and July 21, 2016 to bring the building up to code. Corbett said a representative of the Quezada family has inquired about obtaining funding from the Pendleton Development Commission to help cover the cost of repairs, but an application hasn’t been submitted. The commission provides loans and grants to projects in the down- town area. Marco Quezada, the son of Jose Quezada, said the family has hired an engineer to maNe plans and are still gathering bids for the repairs. Repairs won’t come cheap — Marco Quezada said the window, exterior bricN and roo¿ ng costs alone are $260,000 and the family is still looNing into costs on repairing the structure and electrical worN. Marco Quezada said that if the family can secure the money, they should start rebuilding the old city hall over the summer with plans to maNe it into a housing complex. He said city staff have not informed him of the repair requirements of the nuisance ordinance. The East Oregonian ¿ led a public records request to the Oregon State Fire Marshal in August for the investigation into the explosion and ¿ re, but it has yet to be ful¿ lled. ——— Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0836. HARNEY COUNTY STANDOFF: DAY 23 Tribe asks feds to stop armed group’s free travel at refuge By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press The Burns Paiute Tribe wants federal of¿ cials to bar armed activists from traveling bacN and forth to a national wildlife preserve they are occupying in southeastern Oregon, fearing tribal artifacts will go missing or the group will disturb burial grounds. The small group tooN over buildings at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge more than three weeNs ago that store over 4,000 archaeological artifacts and maps detailing where more items can be More inside Authorities say demands by leaders defy logic and law Page 7A found. Members of the group, who are occupying the site to oppose federal land use policies, recently posted videos to social media that show them looNing at some of the relics and criticizing the way the federal government has stored them. The artifacts belonged to ances- tors of the Burns Paiute Tribe, which worNs closely with the U.S. Fish City planner resigns, cites ‘difference of opinions’ By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian See NEWTON/8A PENDLETON Old city hall must be up to code by July 21 PENDLETON and Wildlife Service to preserve prehistoric sites and artifacts at the refuge. The tribe has “grave concerns regarding the present handling of the occupation as well as the prosecution of the militants,´ tribal chairwoman Charlotte Rodrique wrote in a letter Friday to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and FBI Director James Comey. Federal authorities have taNen a hands-off approach so far and say they want a peaceful resolution. One of the group’s leaders, Ammon Bundy, has been in contact with an See STANDOFF/7A Pendleton City Planner Evan MacKenzie resigned from his position Monday, ending an almost eight-year stint with the city. A city press release did not speci¿ cally state why MacKenzie was departing city government, but did commend him for his worN on the Pendleton Downtown Plan, the Comprehensive Land Use Plan and other updates to land use ordinances. “The City of Pendleton appreci- ates Evan’s commit- ment to the commu- nity and wishes him well in the future,´ City Manager Robb Corbett said in a statement. “In addition to his worN, Evan contributed MacKenzie in many positive ways through volunteering of his time to Pendleton,´ In a FacebooN message to the East Oregonian, MacKenzie attributed his resignation to differing opinions. “I had a different viewpoint on the City’s goals and policies than manage- ment, and a different viewpoint on administering the code as well,´ he wrote. “It made for an unpleasant environment for all parties, and when Robb asNed me to resign I agreed to do so. I had a good seven and a half years with the City of Pendleton but it’s time to move on.´ Corbett did not return a request for comment. MacKenzie, who was hired in 2008, previously announced he would resign his job in 2014 to taNe a similar position in Ketchum, Idaho. He reversed his posi- tion a few weeNs later, saying there was a “miscommunication´ between himself and Ketchum of¿ cials about salary. MacKenzie sometimes attracted public criticism, especially from Sign Men Neon Co. owner Ed Miltenberger, who excoriated MacKenzie for muddling the sign approval process. According to the press release, the city intends to ¿ ll MacKenzie’s position and will evaluate how to manage his duties in the interim. ——— Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@ eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0836. IRRIGON Friends, family and colleagues remember councilwoman By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian The conversation was emotional as it was businessliNe. Phyllis Danielson met with her friend, Christine Sorenson, for the last time on Jan. 12. Sorenson’s health was failing, and she Nnew there wasn’t much time. Together, Danielson and Sorenson served on the board of directors for the Irrigon Chamber of Commerce, which Sorenson they helped revive almost two years ago. Sorenson was appointed treasurer, and vowed to Neep worNing until she couldn’t anymore. The day ¿ nally came, and it was time to teach the job to someone else. Sorenson was gentle, but franN, See SORENSON/7A
