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THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2016
140th Year, No. 219
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WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One shooter identifi ed in Nelson case
More information released as homicide investigation continues
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Federal prosecutors last week revealed
the identity of one shooter connected to
the death of Thadd Nelson.
Joseph Aaron McIver, Edward Duarte
Ayala and Armando Ruben Vargas face
federal weapons charges stemming from
Nelson’s homicide on Jan. 27 at his
home near Meacham on Umatilla Indian
Reservation land.
According to the Aug. 8 fi ling from
assistant United States attorney Jennifer
J. Martin, “Defendant Ayala, and at least
one other individual fi red guns, with two
shots from different weapons killing
Nelson.”
The information came in the govern-
ment’s response seeking to prohibit
Ayala from having access to the identities
of witnesses. Martin lays out a brief
statement about what happened in the
shooting death.
McIver, Ayala, Vargas, and two
See HOMICIDE/8A
Ayala
McIver
Vargas
State board
adopts lead
testing rule
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
The Oregon Board of Education adopted
a new rule Wednesday that for the fi rst time
requires school districts to test for lead in water
at district-owned buildings and report those
results to the public.
The board in June agreed to fast-track adop-
tion of the new rule at the request of Gov. Kate
Brown, after widespread media coverage of a
scandal in Portland Public Schools over lead in
drinking water that went unreported.
The rule requires school districts to submit
a preliminary plan for testing for both lead and
radon by Oct. 1, with a fi nal plan due by Jan.
1. While the rule gives no specifi c deadline
for testing for lead, it does require districts to
report results to the public within fi ve business
days and to send out an annual report.
“What we like about this plan is that part of
Contributed photo
See TESTING/8A
Cindy Womack talks to a group of Kenyan teenagers about the diffi cult subject of suicide during her recent trip to Africa.
Taking on the taboo
Pilot Rock woman tackles tough topic of suicide in Kenya
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Cindy Womack recently fl ew 9,000 miles to talk to
teenagers in Kenya about suicide.
Womack, a suicide prevention specialist for Blue
Mountain Community College, usually leads suicide
prevention workshops closer to home. The invitation
came after Womack and her husband Terry hosted two
directors from an international organization called Good
Samaritan Ministries for a few days in their Pilot Rock
home. One of the directors, James Opiyo, oversees
mission work on the continent of Africa, while the
other, Gorretty Amollo, directs the program in Kenya.
Womack invited the pair to attend a suicide prevention
workshop she was teaching.
“I brought them to work with me,” she said. “After-
wards, both of them came to me and said, ‘You need to
come to Kenya.’”
See SUICIDE/8A
Contributed photo
A group of grade school kids smile happily for the camera
during Cindy Womack’s recent trip to Kenya to talk with mostly
older students about suicide and how to prevent it.
IMESD to assist
in lead testing
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The InterMountain Education Service
District is taking the lead on lead.
Since elevated levels of lead were announced
in Portland Public Schools’ water supply earlier
this year, IMESD Superintendent Mark Mulvi-
hill said one of the district’s top priorities has
been to help schools sort out the “alphabet soup”
of bureaucracies offering their input on how to
protect children from the harmful chemical
element.
But the IMESD is going further, offering
assistance with testing and a September
conference for local superintendents where city
and county public works offi cials will answer
technical questions.
The IMESD itself recently released the
results from a round of testing, which revealed
that all of the district’s facilities were well below
levels the Environmental Protection Agency
says should spur some sort of action.
See LEAD/8A
HEPPNER
4-H showcases small animals at MoCo Fair
Months of hard work pay off for young competitor
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Raising small animals is a big job for
kids in 4-H, as Stephine Wendler has
learned with her Japanese bantam chicken
named Chabo.
Wendler, 13, bought Chabo from
a hatchery in April. He’s a small bird
compared to the other chickens — Japanese
bantams are known for having extremely
short legs and usually weigh less than 2
pounds. But just because he is small doesn’t
mean caring for Chabo is easy.
“You can’t feed them whole corn, or
they’ll choke,” Wendler said during show-
manship and conformation Wednesday
at the Morrow County Fair. “You have
to crumble it, and grind it up into a fi ne
powder.”
As a chick, Wendler said Chabo’s coop
had to be kept at a certain temperature at all
times. If it got too cold, he could become
sick. If it got too hot, he might lose his
feathers.
“We keep them in a portable chicken
coop with the heat lamp on at all times,”
Wendler said.
Her months of hard work paid off as she
was awarded reserve champion showman
at opening day of the fair. Showmanship
and conformation was also held for ducks,
roosters and rabbits, with kids from 4-H
groups across Morrow County standing
See FAIR/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Isabella Orr, 11, right, picks up her black Australorp rooster
for judge Beth Dudley during showmanship Wednesday at
the Morrow County Fair in Heppner.