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