Page 8A
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East Oregonian
HERMISTON: Center costs
about $179K a year to operate
Continued from 1A
one livability priority at the
moment should be ensuring
the completion and success
of EOTEC. Once the event
center part of the project has
been operating for over a
year, a consultant should be
brought in to study the rela-
tionship between the event
center and conference center
in depth.
“Basically, is one canni-
balizing the other, or is there
actually a complementary
relationship?” Morgan said.
At that point the city could
look at its options with the
conference center.
In
the
meantime,
the Livable Hermiston
Committee laid the ground-
work for the city to look at
what its next big project
should be. In 2015 it put out
an open-ended community
survey asking what the top
priority should be if the city
suddenly had a multi-million
dollar windfall for a new
project.
Morgan said the most
popular responses fell into
¿ve categories: A year-round
indoor aquatics center, a
youth/family activity center
such as a YMCA, an arts and
cultural center, downtown
revitalization projects and
more parks and trails.
More than 1,000 commu-
nity members were given a
second survey about those
¿ve options, and more than
80 people participated in
focus groups.
In both the survey and
the focus groups, an indoor
aquatic center had the most
support, with 89 percent
support in the survey and 93
percent support in the focus
groups. Morgan said people
made it clear, however, that
it was only worth building if
it could become a multi-use
regional attraction and not
simply an indoor lap swim-
ming pool.
The focus groups’ second
priority was a community
activity center, while survey
respondents’ second choice
was downtown revitalization.
An arts and culture center
came in last with both groups.
The Livable Hermiston
Committee recommended
that in 2017 the city begin
a feasibility study for an
aquatic center, a family
activity center or a combi-
nation of both housed in the
same facility.
The city council accepted
the recommendations to
hold off on more studies
until 2017. Mayor David
Drotzmann commented that
it was nice to have commu-
nity buy-in on the next steps,
and councilor John Kirwan
said the committee’s work
was helpful in seeing where
the city should focus its
resources after EOTEC is up
and running.
“We’ve talked about all
this stuff since I’ve been
involved in the community,
but it’s good to ¿nally have a
plan,” he said.
The plan leaves the
conference center in limbo,
however, with a contract with
the Hermiston Chamber of
Commerce that currently
runs only through the end of
2017.
According to information
supplied by Morgan in 2015,
the city uses money from
the transient room tax fund
to pay the chamber about
$64,000 to run the conference
center, plus shells out another
$30,000 for insurance, utili-
ties and maintenance.
The center costs about
$179,000 a year total to
operate but only brings in
$130,000 in revenue from
events. The city will be on
the hook for at least $50,000
a year toward EOTEC’s
operating costs once the full
project is built.
A
recent
insurance
appraisal valued the confer-
ence center building and
property at $3.2 million.
The conference center
came about in 1994, when the
community raised $600,000
and added it to $250,000
from the city and a $300,000
loan from the city’s general
fund to renovate a former
Safeway.
WILDHORSE: Proposed three
additional screens at cineplex
Continued from 1A
Board Secretary David
Close voiced concern about
spending money during a
tough global economy.
“How far should we be
leveraged?” he asked. “I
love the expansion plans but
I’m worried about where
we’re heading. I just think
we should be cautious and
careful as we move forward.”
BOT Treasurer Rosenda
Shippentower, also in support
of more hotel rooms, said
she’d feel better about the
proposals if the casino adds
another couple of hundred
slot games in a recon¿gura-
tion of the casino Àoor that
could involve moving the
vault and pay-out windows.
“Some of this sounds ¿ne
and dandy, but we should
move forward ¿rst with what
we can do,” she said.
Shippentower suggested
the proposals be laid out in
phases, but Robinson said it
would be best designed as
one large project. He noted
that a proposed 32-lane,
state-of-the-art
bowling
alley, would be a minor piece
of any expansion.
Jeremy Wolf, BOT vice
chairman, reminded George
about the horse arena that
had been talked about last
year. (In fact, a new horse
arena, potentially to serve the
Blue Mountain Community
College rodeo team, has been
talked about for years.)
Wolf said such a standing
covered
arena
would
accommodate horse events,
including roping and rough
stock competition, as well as
concerts, boxing and other
activities. The board directed
George to include plans for
the arena into the proposal.
“That would justify more
slot machines and a larger
hotel,” Wolf said.
Some highlighted recom-
mendations from the Klas
Robinson feasibility report
on the proposed plans:
• A 200-room tower hotel
to replace the original hotel,
offering 175 standard rooms,
20 two-bay suites and ¿ve
ground-level, four-bay hospi-
tality suites. Replacing the
courtyard hotel would create
additional outdoor space that
could be used for amenities
such as a swimming pool,
lazy river, oversized jacuzzi,
sun deck, patio, gardens,
water features and ¿re-pit.
• A 32-lane bowling center
and pro shop, including eight
private VIP lanes for private
parties, plus a 75-seat sports
bar that may be an extension
of the current sports bar.
• Three additional screens
at the ¿ve-screen cineplex.
• An additional 15,000
square-foot divisible event
complex that would accom-
modate theater seating for up
to 1,500 guests for live enter-
tainment, sit-down service
for 600 people, or trade
shows for 60-75 booths.
• The new facilities may
warrant space for up to 300
more slots and 4-6 table
games.
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Planned Parenthood shooter
admired Florida doctor’s killer
By SADIE GURMAN
Associated Press
DENVER — The man
who acknowledges killing
three people at a Colorado
Planned Parenthood clinic
idolized an abortion foe who
killed a Florida doctor more
than two decades earlier,
court documents released
Monday show.
Robert Dear told police he
attacked the clinic in Colorado
Springs because he was upset
with the reproductive health
organization for “the selling
of baby parts,” according to
the court documents, which
give the deepest look yet
into his seething disdain for
abortion providers. Dear also
told investigators he put glue
in the locks at an abortion
clinic when he lived in South
Carolina, a common protest
technique among activists
trying to shut down such
facilities.
The documents were
unsealed Monday after The
Associated Press and other
news outlets petitioned the
state’s highest court for
their release. Judge Gilbert
Martinez initially refused to
make them public, saying
the media do not have a First
Amendment right to access
court documents, which
prompted the monthslong
court ¿ght over records that
are routinely released in
criminal cases. They include
Dear’s arrest warrant and
warrants to search Dear’s
pickup truck, computer,
emails and tumbledown
trailer in rural Hartsel, Colo-
Andy Cross/The Denver Post via AP, Pool, File
In this Dec. 9, 2015 file photo, Robert Lewis Dear,
middle, talks during a court appearance in Colorado
Springs, Colo.
rado.
Dear, 57, is charged
with 179 counts, including
murder, attempted murder
and assault, in the Nov. 27
attack. He held police at bay
for more than ¿ve hours at
the clinic, injuring nine others
and forcing the evacuation
of hundreds of people from
surrounding businesses. As
he was being put in a patrol
car, Dear began yelling about
the killing of babies and “no
more baby parts,” according
to the court documents.
The dead included a police
of¿cer from the 8niversity of
Colorado, Colorado Springs,
and two people who were
accompanying friends to the
clinic separately.
In courtroom outbursts,
Dear declared himself a
“warrior for the babies” and
said he was guilty. A hearing
this month will reveal more
about whether he is compe-
tent to continue with his
criminal case.
The documents show
Dear had been nursing a
grudge against abortion
providers for years.
He told police he admired
Paul Hill, a former minister
who was executed in 2003
for the 1994 shootings of
abortion provider Dr. John
Bayard Britton and his
bodyguard, a retired 8.S. Air
Force of¿cer named James
Herman Barrett, outside the
Ladies Center in Pensacola,
Florida.
Hill himself said he was
inspired by the shooting death
of another abortion doctor in
Pensacola a year earlier. At
the time of Hill’s execution,
some urged that he be spared
for fear the extreme wing of
the anti-abortion movement
would turn him into a martyr.
Dear often talked about
Hill, including once when he
drove past a North Carolina
abortion clinic and again
when he learned that Colo-
rado Springs had a clinic, his
girlfriend told police. Dear’s
comments after the gunbattle
even seemed to echo Hill,
who spoke of being rewarded
in heaven for his actions.
During an interview in
which he repeatedly recited
Bible passages, Dear told
police he dreamed he would
be “met by all the aborted
fetuses at the gates of heaven
and they would thank him
for what he did because
his actions saved lives of
other unborn fetuses,” the
documents say. “He was
happy with what he had done
because his actions ... ensured
that no more abortions would
be conducted at the Planned
Parenthood facility in Colo-
rado Springs,” which has
since reopened.
Before the shooting, Dear
frequently posted messages
online about his anti-abortion
views, he told police. In
2009, he emailed his son a
link to a website that has the
stated purpose of “honoring
heroes who stood up for the
unborn,” with links to infor-
mation about Hill and others
who had targeted abortion
clinics.
Dear asked several people
for directions to the Planned
Parenthood, ¿nally getting
the address by calling the
clinic.
He wore a homemade
ballistic vest made from silver
coins and duct tape when he
barged into the clinic with
four riÀes, according to the
documents. He told police he
had other weapons, including
two handguns and a shotgun,
in his truck.
Man arrested after body parts found in Seattle
SEATTLE (AP) — Three
body parts — including a
foot — found in a home-
owner’s recycling bin likely
belong to a woman who was
reported missing Saturday
morning, Seattle police said
Monday.
Seattle Police Chief
Kathleen O’Toole said at an
evening news conference
that an arrest had been made
in the case and detectives
believe the human remains
are that of Ingrid Lyne, a
40-year-old mother of three
who works as a nurse in
Seattle.
“All evidence leads in
the direction of that missing
woman,” O’Toole said.
Friends of Lyne said they
last saw her Friday afternoon
and that she had planned to
go on a date to a Mariners
baseball game Friday night
Lynsi Burton/seattlepi.com via AP
Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole speaks to re-
porters during a news conference Monday in Seattle.
Multiple body parts — including a foot — found in a
homeowner’s recycling bin likely belong to a woman
who was reported missing Saturday morning, Seattle
police said Monday.
with someone she met online.
The King County Medical
Examiner’s Of¿ce will make
the ¿nal determination of
identity.
Police arrested John
Robert
Charlton,
37,
on Monday morning in
Snohomish County, north
of Seattle. He’s been booked
into jail on investigation of
homicide. It wasn’t immedi-
ately clear if Charlton had an
attorney.
Police don’t believe
there are any other suspects,
O’Toole said.
A homeowner in Seattle
called police at 4 p.m.
Saturday after discovering
the body parts. Police say
the body parts had been
packaged in plastic bags and
placed in the bin sometime
late Friday or on Saturday.
The bin had been emptied of
recyclables Friday.
Police
previously
described the remains as
fresh. They said they had
searched other bins in the
area and found nothing of
note.
Police are still searching
for Lyne’s vehicle, a grey
2015 Toyota Highlander
with Washington license
plates.
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Paid For By The Committee To Elect Jon Lieuallen Judge
UMATILLA-MORROW COUNTIES COMMUNITY HEALTH PARTNERSHIP
Presents:
The Umatilla-Morrow Counties Community
Health Assessment Report 2015-2016
• Presentation of results of health survey conducted across our
two counties.
• Learn about the health status of our community, as well as our
state and nation.
• Provide feedback in roundtable discussion on what should be
our health priorities.
• Help share the strategy to address our community’s unmet
needs.
Working Together for a
Healthier Tomorrow
Wednesday, April 13th
Milton-Freewater
Thursday, April 14th
Boardman
Friday, April 15th
Hermiston
9:00am-11:30am
OR Child Development Coalition • 403 Peabody Street
2:30pm-5:00pm
Port of Morrow • Riverside Room
8:00am-10:30am
Good Shepherd Medical Center
Conference Rooms 1 & 2
Pendleton
1:00pm-3:30pm
Pendleton Convention Center • East Rooms 5, 6 & 7
Contact:
Pendleton
Rod Harwood
541-278-3239
rharwood@chiwest.com
Please let us know which event you will be attending.
Hermiston
Juli Gregory
541-667-3506
jgregory@gshealth.org
Boardman
Sheree Smith
541-256-0110
ssmith@co.morrow.or.us
Milton-Freewater
Rebecca Gardner
541-938-0282
Rebecca.Gardner@ocdc.net
