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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 17, 2016)
REGION Thursday, March 17, 2016 HERMISTON East Oregonian Page 3A PENDLETON &RSÀHHLQJVXVSHFWIDFHV DWWHPSWHGPXUGHUFKDUJHV attempted aggravated murder for shooting at police. The other charges The man injured by are: four counts of reckless Oregon State Police in -anuary aIter he ¿red at endangering; one count each of them and tried to escape near Pendleton faces reckless driving, unlawful use of a weapon, two counts of felony attempting attempted aggra- to Àee police for vated murder and the car chase and more. the misdemeanor Bryan Alberto attempting to Àee Corona, 24, of for trying to run Pendleton, led on foot; troopers on a two counts of high-speed chase assault of a public Jan. 2 on back safety of¿cer; roads through and two Umatilla County. Corona counts of ¿rst-de- Oregon State Police reported Corona ¿red gree assault. Primus, who is running a gun at troopers in pursuit, and one trooper crashed his unopposed for re-election, car into Corona’s to end the also said Circuit Judge chase. Then as Corona got Christopher Brauer of out of the car to run, another Pendleton presided over trooper’s car struck him and Corona’s arraignment on March 4, and his next court put him in the hospital. Corona arrived Monday hearing is April 1. Until then, Corona at the Umatilla County Jail, Pendleton. Undersheriff Jim remains in the Umatilla /ittle¿eld said Corona was County Jail in lieu of a at Oregon Health & Science $1,075,000 bond. The University, Portland, then online jail roster displays went to the nearby Mult- Corona’s most serious nomah County Jail, which charges as aggravated had the medical facilities murder, not attempted to care for him until he was aggravated murder. Primus and Sheriff Terry Rowan, well enough to return. Umatilla County District who also is seeking re-elec- Attorney Dan Primus said tion in a contested race, said Corona faces 14 counts that information was not in all, including two of accurate. By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian Photo contributed by Umatilla County Umatilla County will clean up this property on Lorraine Ave. near Hermiston. County to clean up abandoned property By JENNIFER COLTON East Oregonian Umatilla County will clean up an abandoned Hermiston property that has attracted sTuatters since it caught ¿re in February. Wednesday morning, the Umatilla County Commissioners voted to take abatement action on a debris-scattered property off Lorraine Avenue north of Hermiston. Photos provided by code enforcement show debris, building materials and garbage scattered around the property, both inside and outside of buildings. The house on the property caught ¿re Feb. 6 and did have people in it at the time, according to emergency reports. Police were also called to the abandoned home on Feb. 25 after reports of people on the property burning material. Umatilla County code enforcement began working on the property in the summer of 2015. The county voting to abate a property is unusual, according to code enforce- ment coordinator Gina Miller. Miller said this is likely the ¿fth abatement to come from a vote in 10 years. “This doesn’t happen all that often. This is a kind of unique circumstance where the people who are on the deed are no longer living, and there has been no contact from any heirs,” Miller said. “This is a health hazard in that garbage like that attracts vermin. In the interest of public health, we’re going to get that cleaned up.” In most code enforcement cases, the county works with the owners to bring the prop- Photo contributed by Umatilla County Umatilla County will clean up this property on Lorraine Ave. near Hermiston. “This is a health hazard in that garbage like that attracts vermin. In the interest of public health, we’re going to get that cleaned up.” — Gina Miller, code enforcement coordinator erty into compliance. “It’s a matter of education. That’s our ¿rst and foremost: reaching out to people and educating them on what they can and cannot do on a property, such as with solid waste,” Miller said. “We’re trying to do a good thing here. When we get a property cleaned up and we have a resolution, that’s a really great feeling.” Because of the long process of working with landowners — often exacer- bated by issues like weather and health concerns — code enforcement cases can take months to resolve. The commissioners’ vote followed a judgment through the court system for a solid waste violation. Now that the vote has been approved, the next step will be to have a representative from the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Of¿ce post notices at the site so anyone illegally staying on the property has time to relocate. LAWSUIT: Investigation found nothing criminal Continued from 1A model, so Mason had the Valdezes audit the system. Laura Aviles-Valdez discovered “several ques- tionable costs,” including over-paying GOBHI for administrative services. Mason and the Valdezes concluded GOBHI was underfunding the human services department to line the pockets of “private human services providers whose CEOs served on the GOBHI board with Commissioner Murdock.” Mason and her compan- ions’ demise with the county came after the state over- hauled reimbursement rules for the Oregon Health Plan. The county’s human services billing clerk began submitting non-Medicaid screenings for reimburse- ment. The Oregon Health Plan rejected the submis- sions in April 2015. The lawsuit alleges the county used those errors as an excuse to ¿re Mason and the Valdezes. The lawsuit also alleges the county leaked informa- tion to the East Oregonian. The EO covered the suspen- sions and ¿rings in 2015, but the tip to the paper did not come from Murdock or other county of¿cials. The EO reported GOBHI in April 2015 investigated the county’s alcohol and drug treatment program. Henry O’Keefe, GOBHI’s in-house attorney, con¿rmed the investigators sent ¿nd- ings to the Oregon Depart- ment of Justice. However, he did not discuss what GOBHI found. Neither Mason nor either Valdez returned EO requests for comment at that time. Umatilla County Counsel Doug Olsen said this week that the investigation found nothing criminal, and Justice Department spokes- person Kristina Edmunson con¿rmed Wednesday the agency did not open a crim- inal investigation. The new lawsuit demands a jury trial and that the county pay the three plaintiffs for monetary losses, including back pay and future earnings and impairment of earning capacity. They also seek damages for physical and emotional injury, humili- ation, embarrassment and “loss of enjoyment of life in an amount to be determined by a jury.” They also want the county to pay for the cost of the suit. The county received a copy of the lawsuit on March 2. Magistrate Judge Patricia Sullivan is presiding over the case in federal court in Pendleton. County counsel Doug Olsen said at this point the county has nothing to say. Attorney Robert Franz of Spring¿eld is repre- senting the county and did not respond to an email Wednesday. He has 21 days to ¿le a response to the suit. ——— Contact Phil Wright at pwright@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0833. Everything 50% Off l’s r y a y r e Av niversa n 25th A SALE Friday, March 18 & Saturday, March 19 Salvation Army Thrift Store 1805 SW Court Pl. Pendleton, OR 97801 541-276-3301 The county will then work with Sanitary Disposal, the sheriff’s of¿ce and commu- nity corrections to remove the garbage from the property. Miller said the county hopes to have the process completed within the next two weeks. More information on Umatilla County Code Enforcement — including solid waste restrictions and online complaint forms — is available at www.co.uma- tilla.or.us ——— Contact Jennifer Colton at jcolton@eastoregonian.com or 541-564-4534 &RXQW\WRJHWWKUHHQHZRI¿FHUV PENDLETON — Three new of¿cers are graduating from the state’s basic police class to join local agencies. Curtis Harper, 24, of Heppner, becomes the newest of¿cer with the Pendleton Police Depart- ment. Zachary McCarl, also of Heppner, will join the Umatilla Police Depart- ment. McCarl served in the U.S. Marines in Afghanistan and left the military with an honorable discharge in May 2015. And Mason Murphy is a new of¿cer with the Umatilla Tribal Police Department. They are among 39 graduates from Oregon Public Safety Academy’s 355th basic police class that will work for agen- cies throughout Oregon, according to a written statement from the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training. The class is 16 weeks long and includes dozens of training areas, from survival skills to ¿rearms to commu- nity policing. The class graduates Friday at 11 a.m. at the Oregon Public Safety Academy, 4190 Aumsville Highway S.E., Salem.
