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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 8, 2016)
NANCY REAGAN DIES AT 94 51/34 SPRINGFIELD KNOCKS BUCKS FROM PLAYOFFS NATION/8A 5A BASKETBALL/1B TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2016 140th Year, No. 102 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD PENDLETON HERMISTON Nude intruder rescued after Cops face leaping from cliff into tree silence By KATHY ANEY East Oregonian Gail Wilson’s surreal Saturday started when a naked man stepped through her front door and said, “Hi, honey.” Wilson, who has muscular dystrophy, had been sitting in a stuffed lift chair drinking soup when the man appeared at the doorway of her Southeast Pend- leton residence. She set her soup aside. “He had a big grin on his face,” she said. “He came walking toward me with his arms open wide. I kept saying ‘Get away from me. Get Burton out of my house.’” She was home alone. Her husband Roger, her son and her daughter were away. When the man leaned over to give Wilson a hug, she pushed him off. Wilson, D IRUPHU FRUUHFWLRQDO RI¿FHU DW the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution said her training kicked in. She didn’t look him in the eye DQGUHPDLQHGFDOPDQG¿UP6KH thought about her pistol in her bedroom nightstand. Wilson would have to push Steven S. Burton, 30, away several times. He dragged the Wilson’s affectionate black lab, Hunter, down the hall and shut him in a back room. “I thought, ‘This is it, I’m going to be raped or murdered,” Wilson recalled. “I’d more or less accepted my fate. Today was my day. But I wasn’t going to let him take me gently.” She managed to dial 9-1-1, and soon police drove up the Wilson’s long driveway. Burton, Photo contributed by Monty Severe who had wandered outside to Steven S. Burton hangs from a tree above the Umatilla River in Pendleton on Saturday See NUDE/8A on cold murders Gang-related killings leave police with few sources, answers By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian Alonso Madrigal was killed more than a year ago in a Hermiston parking ORWLQDURXQGRIJXQ¿UH+HZDV Hermiston Chief of Police Jason Edmiston said his department deter- mined early on gang members were involved and a wall of silence would hinder solving the killing. “That’s still true,” he said. “We have not made an arrest yet.” Even so, Madrigal Edmiston said, the case is “inching forward.” Last week detectives took another trip to California to follow leads, just as they have traveled to other nearby states for the investiga- tion. And detectives Randy Studebaker and Robert Guerrero have questioned and interviewed people over and again, often to verify information. The detec- tives also continue to communicate with Madrigal’s family, including on the anni- versary of death of their son and brother. “They have walked with the family through the last year,” Edmiston said. “Everybody’s got the same goal: Hold WKH SHRSOH UHVSRQVLEOH IRU WKH FULPH accountable.” Hermiston police the night of March 4, 2015, responded to a call about JXQVKRWV 2I¿FHUV WKHQ KHDUG VKRRWLQJ from the area of the 11th Street Market and rushed there. Edmiston said an See MURDER/8A morning as Pendleton fi refi ghter Jared Uselman and Umatilla County Sheriff’s Deputy Dwight Johnson try to help him down. PENDLETON PNNL launches first Pendleton UAS test flight East Oregonian to a press release from the laboratory. The 1.5-lb. craft was developed by University 3DFL¿F 1RUWKZHVW 1DWLRQDO /DERUD of Colorado at Boulder and based on the WRU\ ODXQFKHG LWV ¿UVW XQPDQQHG DHULDO Stryker F-27C model aircraft. ³,W LV JUHDW WR ¿QDOO\ JHW LQWR WKH DLU WHVWÀLJKWRIWKH'DWD+DZNLQWKHVNLHV with these aircraft,” said Mike Hubbell, above Pendleton last week. 7KH 311/ ÀLJKWV DW WKH 3HQGOHWRQ Director of Flight Operations for UAS Range were the beginning of 311/ ³7KLV LV WKH ¿UVW RI PDQ\ WULSV sensor testing to aid upcoming research WRWKH3HQGOHWRQ8$65DQJHWKDWZLOO HQKDQFH RXU DELOLW\ WR JDWKHU VFLHQWL¿F and atmospheric testing campaigns. The DataHawk is the latest tool added See UAS/8A to PNNL’s aviation program, according From left: John McClelland, Jen Armstrong, Mike Hubbell, Clayton Eveland. Photo contributed ArgenTech Solutions ‘Municycler’ joins bike race in Echo By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian No cyclist took longer than Joe Myers to complete the Echo Red 2 Red Cross Country Mountain Bike Race on Saturday. But the true accomplishment RIKLVUDFHZDVQRWUHÀHFWHGLQWKH seven hours and 15 minutes he spent on the 32-mile course. It was that he was the only person to complete the race on just one wheel. After hugging his wife, the Bellingham, Washington man gave a simple answer to the question of the biggest challenge of unicycling through a mountain bike course. “Finishing,” he said. Myers, 59, took up mountain unicycling, or “municycling,” as See BIKE/8A Photo by Antonio Sierra Unicyclist Joe Myers of Bellingham, Wash. wheels through the fi nish line at the Echo Red 2 Red Saturday. Kovach to take top job in district East Oregonian The Pendleton School Board has picked Andy Kovach as the district’s next superintendent. Kovach will start July 1 after Super- intendent Jon Peterson retires, and the board is working with Kovach on an employment agreement. “After interviews with numerous candidates, reference checking and KDYLQJWKH¿QDOWKUHHFDQGLGDWHVVSHQG a day in our district meeting staff and community, Andy Kovach emerged as the right choice to be our next super- intendent,” Board Chair Michelle Monkman wrote in a news release. “He has a proven record Kovach of success as an administrator in the Ontario SD and he IHOW OLNH WKH ULJKW ¿W WR WDNH RXU GLVWULFW into the future.” Monkman said the board consid- HUHG FDQGLGDWHV LQFOXGLQJ ¿QDOLVWV Kovach, Pendleton Assistant Superin- tendent Tricia Mooney and Hermiston Deputy Superintendent Wade Smith. Smith removed himself from consider- ation after accepting the superintendent See KOVACH/8A
