GROGAN
DRAFTED
BY TWINS
66/40
HARNEY COUNTY
BRACES FOR
RECALL ELECTION
BASEBALL/1B
NORTHWEST/2A
The scope
of the
Orlando
carnage
OPINION/4A
TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2016
140th Year, No. 172
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
ORLANDO NIGHTCLUB SHOOTING
Victim vignettes: A look at those killed
By NOMAAN MERCHANT
and CARLA K. JOHNSON
Associated Press
A gunman wielding an assault-type
rifl e and a handgun opened fi re inside
a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando,
Florida, early Sunday, leaving at least
49 people dead in the worst mass
shooting in modern U.S. history. Here
are stories of some of the victims.
———
Last Monday, Akyra Murray, who
turned 18 in January, graduated third
in her class of 42 students at West
Catholic Preparatory High School in
Philadelphia, where she had also been
a 1,000-point scorer on the basketball
team. She had recently signed a letter
of intent to play basketball at Mercy-
hurst University in Erie.
“She was very loving, caring, out
to help anybody,” her mother, Natalie
Murray, recalled.
To celebrate her graduation,
Akyra, her parents and her 4-year-old
sister traveled to Orlando for a family
vacation.
On Saturday, Murray told her
parents she wanted to party in down-
town Orlando. They dropped her off
at Pulse at 11:30 Saturday night.
At about 2 a.m., Akyra Murray sent
a text message to her mother, saying
that she and her cousins wanted to be
picked up. She said there had been a
shooting.
Moments later, the phone rang.
“She was saying she was shot and
she was screaming, saying she was
losing a lot of blood,” Natalie Murray
said.
Murray said her daughter was
hiding in a bathroom stall, cowering
from the shooter, her arm bleeding for
hours with no medical treatment.
Akyra Murray told her mother to
call police and send help.
They never spoke again. “It was
devastating,” Natalie Murray said.
———
Leroy Valentin Fernandez recently
had found a job as a leasing agent for
an Orlando apartment complex, said
his friend, Jennifer Rodriguez. “He
had fi nally found something he liked.
He was taking care of his mom,” she
said.
He was her hair stylist and became
one of her best friends, she said. “He
was like a brother,” she said. “He was
See ORLANDO/8A
AP Photo/David Goldman
Crowd members hold up candles during a vigil downtown for
the victims of a mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub Monday
in Orlando, Fla.
PENDLETON
MILTON-FREEWATER
No arrest,
charges
in infant’s
death
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
EO fi le photo
The investigation continues into
Wednesday’s death of a 5-month-old
Milton-Freewater boy. Umatilla County
District Attorney Dan Primus said on
Monday he is not aware of any arrests in the
case and he has not charged anyone with a
crime in relation to the death.
Walla Walla County Coroner Richard
Greenwood reported the child died at 6:23
p.m. Wednesday at Providence St. Mary
Medical Center, Walla Walla. Primus said
that led to the activation of the Umatil-
la-Morrow County Major Crime Team,
which consists of detectives and offi cers
from local agencies.
Primus also said he has the results of an
See DEATH/8A
A SeaPort fl ight prepares for departure in February at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport in Pendleton.
SeaPort subsidy denied
Pendleton, airline dispute federal order
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The U.S. Department of
Transportation has tentatively
decided to eliminate the
Essential Air Service subsidy
to Eastern Oregon Regional
Airport, which could deal
a huge blow to commercial
fl ights from Pendleton to Port-
land.
The city and SeaPort
Airlines, Pendleton’s commer-
cial provider, fi led an objection
to the department’s May 20
order, which lists 30 small
airports across the country that
it now deems ineligible for the
subsidy.
While
eight
airports
received waivers because
of signifi cant interruptions
in service, Pendleton and
21 other cities are still on
the chopping block because
they exceeded the $200 per
passenger subsidy cap.
Tracking the Pendleton
airport from Oct. 1, 2014 to
Sept. 1, 2015, the department
determined the passenger rate
by dividing Pendleton’s yearly
subsidy — $1,797,333 — by
its number of boardings —
8,422. The resulting $213 per
passenger rate is just over the
See SEAPORT/8A
JOHN DAY — A deputy
protected his relatives from blame
in a random shooting by arresting
the 9-1-1 caller who reported it,
resulting in a foul-up that raises
fresh questions about embattled
Grant County Sheriff Glenn
Palmer.
The district attorney didn’t
pursue a case, instead rebuking
Palmer and his deputy. The
county quietly paid the caller
$12,000 from its insurer to fend
off a lawsuit.
“This incident is the most egre-
gious abuse of power I have ever
seen,” said attorney
Edie Rogoway, who
represented the arrested
man.
The botched arrest
comes to light as
Palmer faces a state
criminal investigation
for allegedly tampering
with offi cial records.
He also faces a state Palmer
administrative inves-
tigation into whether he’s fi t to
retain his police certifi cation.
Palmer gained national notice
earlier this year for his sympathy
for militants who took over
the Malheur National Wildlife
Refuge. He considers himself a
Council OKs
smaller hike on
electric rates
Also approves $49.2M budget
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
“constitutional sheriff”
and vows to protect
citizens from abusive
government.
In the shooting
case, Palmer approved
the arrest and later
promoted the deputy to
undersheriff, his second-
in-command. This is
the latest in a series of
questionable actions by
Palmer to come to public atten-
tion in recent months. He faces
10 complaints that he violated
standards for police offi cers. The
complaints, including two from
The Hermiston city council approved
an electric rate increase of 2.59 percent
Monday.
The change was smaller than the
4.4 percent increase Hermiston Energy
Services superintendent Nate Rivera origi-
nally recommended during a May 23 work
session.
“We were able to tighten our belts and
fi nd some cost savings,” he said.
The rate adjustments vary by account
type. The charge per kilowatt hour will
remain the same for residential customers
but their base charge will increase from
$10.50 per month to $14. Small commer-
cial customers will see a .71 percent
increase, large commercial customers a
.4 percent increase, industrial no increase
and irrigation customers a 6.43 percent
increase.
The changes will take effect on bills
calculated after Sept. 1.
The rate increase follows an 11 percent
increase adopted a year ago, but prior to that
Hermiston Energy Services had not raised
rates for 12 years. The utility had instead
built up a sizable reserve fund when the
cost of wholesale power from Bonneville
See SETTLEMENT/6A
See COUNCIL/6A
Grant County pays $12,000
settlement after botched arrest
By LES ZAITZ
The Oregonian
HERMISTON