RECORDS
Thursday, January 12, 2017
PUBLIC SAFETY LOG
MONDAY
12:07 p.m. - A caller complained about a man riding a
snowmobile on Southeast Alexander Avenue near Washington
Elementary School.
3:17 p.m. - Boxer dogs at a home on Southwest 28th Street,
Pendleton, put their heads through spaces in the fence and try
to bite people walking on the sidewalk.
6:18 p.m. - Pendleton police received a report of possible
elder abuse at a home on Southeast Goodwin Avenue.
11:48 p.m. - Employees of the Southgate Sinclair &
Foodmart, 701 Southgate, Pendleton, called police when a man
came into the store and threatened people with a knife. He was
gone before officers arrived.
TUESDAY
2:07 a.m. - A caller on Southwest 30th Street, Pendleton, told
police someone stole her sound machine.
10:58 a.m. - A man called the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office
from Ace Jewelry & Loan, 80876 N. Highway 395, Hermiston, to
report items he pawned were reported stolen by someone else.
11:48 a.m. - A man reported he shot at a dog that attacked
him on North Fourth Street, Athena.
12:16 p.m. – A resident of East High Street, Athena, reported
his dog was shot. The Umatilla County sheriff’s deputies issued
a citation in the matter, but did not report who was cited.
2:36 p.m. - A roadside assistance company requested
Morrow County sheriff’s deputies check on a woman whose
transmission fell out of her vehicle while she was driving on
Highway 74 near the DH Blattner Wind Towers near Ione.
2:54 p.m. - The Morrow County Sheriff’s Office was asked to
meet a woman at a home on Southeast Park Place, Irrigon, after
someone pulled a gun on her daughter there the previous night.
ARRESTS, CITATIONS
Tuesday
•Pendleton police arrested Mary Jean Yu, 41, address not
provided, for aggravated fourth-degree assault.
Wednesday
•Pendleton police arrested Casey Joe Cernazanu, 30, of
1412 N.W. 48th Drive, No. 6, Pendleton, for misdemeanor
failure to report as a sex offender and possession of
methamphetamine.
Walla Walla police
make arrest after
heroin seizure
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
Walla Walla police say
they have made a substantial
drug seizure and arrest
following the discovery of
heroin intended to be mailed
through a local shipping
business.
The total amount of the
drug seized at two locations
Tuesday is one of the largest
in Walla Walla in many
years, according to police
spokesman Officer Tim
Bennett.
The suspect, Luz S. Leon,
37, who was booked into the
county jail on investigation
of a variety of charges, made
her first appearance in court
Wednesday morning. Bail
was set at $20,000.
Leon allegedly tried to
ship a package containing
about 4 ounces of suspected
“China White” heroin from
the Postal Annex, 1644 Plaza
Way, to a California address.
The heroin was located
in a stuffed animal, which
was revealed after a police
K-9 alerted on it with officer
Gunner Fulmer at the busi-
ness, according to a news
release by Bennett.
A search warrant was
obtained and further inves-
tigation led to identification
of Leon, who allegedly had
used an alias of Maria Rodri-
guez when she tried to ship
the package.
Detectives from the
Special
Teams
Unit
responded to her residence at
104 S.E. 12th St. in College
Place to contact her. But she
didn’t answer to repeated
knocks on her door, so
officers kept the residence
under surveillance while a
second search warrant was
requested, the news release
says.
A short time later, Leon
was taken into custody when
she went outside to take a
garbage can to the curb of
her street.
Detectives searched her
residence after the second
warrant was granted. Items
seized during the search
included an additional 4
ounces of suspected heroin,
about 3 ounces of suspected
methamphetamine,
$832
cash and a sawed-off
shotgun, officials said.
Leon was arrested on
investigation of delivering
heroin, possession with
intent to deliver metham-
phetamine and heroin, and
possession of a short-bar-
reled shotgun.
Bennett said the investi-
gation into the drug activity
is continuing.
12-year-old boy arrested in
mom’s death, sister’s stabbing
MEDFORD (AP) — A
12-year-old boy is suspected
of fatally stabbing his mother
and wounding his sister.
Police responded to two
911 calls on Tuesday and
found the boy’s 52-year-old
mother at the family’s home
in Ashland, the Mail Tribune
reported.
The boy’s sister was in
stable condition at a hospital
and was expected to survive.
The boy doesn’t have a
history of crime or a troubled
past, Ashland police Chief
Tighe O’Meara said.
O’Meara
said
it’s
unknown what sparked the
stabbing and that investiga-
tors are going to speak with
friends of the children.
“It’s going to take a
while,” O’Meara said. “I
would imagine detectives
would be working on this
for several days to maybe a
couple weeks.”
He said the district
attorney will determine how
the boy will be charged.
“Every homicide is
tough, and to watch this
unfold and see a 12-year-old
taken into custody ... it’s
been a rough day and it’s
going to be a rough patch
for the community to work
through,” O’Meara said
during a news conference.
“This is really especially
tragic.”
One other family member
who was home at the time
was not injured.
Tuesday was the first
time police were called to
the home.
“This was completely out
of the blue,” O’Meara said.
Online records said the
mother was retired from the
Air Force and had earned
degrees in aeronautical
engineering and engineering
management.
Man gets life sentence for 2015 slaying
EUGENE (AP) — A
man who admitted to killing
a 23-year-old Springfield
woman after breaking into
her home and sexually
assaulting her has been
sentenced to life in prison
without parole.
The
Register-Guard
reports that Kyle Dean
Pfaff was sentenced after
changing his plea to guilty
Thursday
on
several
different charges, including
aggravated
murder,
burglary and sexual assault.
The plea deal helped Pfaff
avoid a possible death
sentence.
Sarah Ann Coleman
came home in July 2015 to
find Pfaff had broken into
the residence. Authorities
say Pfaff then assaulted and
sexually abused her before
killing the woman and
fleeing in her car.
Police arrested him days
later near Sutherlin.
Court documents say
Pfaff confessed to the
crimes. At his sentencing
hearing, Pfaff told the judge
he deserved a life sentence.
East Oregonian
Page 5A
DEATH NOTICES
UPCOMING SERVICES
Diana Ruth Carson
THURSDAY, JAN. 12
No services scheduled
FRIDAY, JAN. 13
GENTRY, JACKIE — Graveside service at 2 p.m. at the
Heppner Masonic Cemetery.
HILL, DEE — Services at 10:30 a.m. at the First Christian
Church, 775 W. Highland Ave., Hermiston.
Milton-Freewater
March 17, 1951-Jan. 9, 2017
Diana Ruth Carson, 65, of Milton-Freewater died Monday,
Jan. 9, 2017, in Walla Walla. She was born March 17, 1951.
Munselle-Rhodes Funeral Home in Milton-Freewater is in
charge of arrangements.
Kathleen Ellen Dieter
MEETINGS
Tumwater, Wash.
June 4, 1956-Jan. 7, 2017
Longtime Boardman resident Kathleen Ellen Dieter, 60, of
Tumwater, Wash., died Saturday, Jan. 7, 2017, at her home.
She was born June 4, 1956, in Olympia, Wash. A funeral
service will be held Saturday, Jan. 14 at 1 p.m. at the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Boardman. Burial will
follow at Riverview Cemetery in Boardman. Burns Mortuary
of Hermiston is in care of arrangements. Sign the online
condolence book at burnsmortuaryhermiston.com
Aloha J. Rosenberg
Pendleton
June 6, 1928-Jan. 10, 2017
Aloha J. Rosenberg, 88, of Pendleton died Tuesday, Jan.
10, 2017, at a local care facility. She was born June 6, 1928.
A full obituary will follow in the East Oregonian. Burns
Mortuary of Pendleton is in charge of arrangements. Sign the
online condolence book at www.burnsmortuary.com.
OBITUARY POLICY
The East Oregonian publishes paid obituaries. The obituary can in-
clude small photos and, for veterans, a flag symbol at no charge.
Obituaries may be edited for spelling, proper punctuation and style.
Expanded death notices will be published at no charge. These in-
clude information about services.
Obituaries and notices can be submitted online at www.eastorego-
nian.com/obituaryform, by email to obits@eastoregonian.com, by fax
to 541-276-8314, placed via the funeral home or in person at the East
Oregonian office.
For more information, call 541-966-0818 or 1-800-522-0255, ext. 221.
THURSDAY, JAN. 12
MONDAY, JAN. 16
PORT OF MORROW STRA-
TEGIC PLAN WORKSHOP, 9 a.m.,
Port of Morrow, 2 Marine Drive,
Boardman. (Brandy Warburton 541-
561-3440)
UMATILLA-MORROW COUN-
TY FARM BUREAU, 12 p.m., TBA,
TBA, Pendleton. (Julie Spratling
541-457-8045)
BOARDMAN RURAL FIRE
PROTECTION DISTRICT, 1 p.m.,
Boardman Fire Department, 300 S.
Wilson Lane, Boardman. (541-481-
3473)
MORROW COUNTY ROAD
COMMITTEE, 1 p.m., Bartholomew
Government Building upper confer-
ence room, 110 N. Court St., Hep-
pner. (Sandi Putman 541-989-9500)
HERMISTON PARKS & REC-
REATION COMMISSION, 5:30
p.m., Hermiston City Hall, 180 N.E.
Second St., Hermiston. (541-567-
5521)
ATHENA CITY COUNCIL, 6:30
p.m., Athena City Hall, 215 S. Third
St., Athena. (541-566-3862)
UMATILLA SCHOOL DIS-
TRICT, 7 p.m., Umatilla School Dis-
trict office, 1001 Sixth St., Umatilla.
(541-922-6500)
ECHO SCHOOL DISTRICT, 6
p.m., Echo Community School, 600
Gerone St., Echo. (541-376-8436)
HELIX CITY COUNCIL, 7 p.m.,
Helix City Hall, 119 Columbia St.,
Helix. (541-457-2521)
PENDLETON YOUTH COM-
MISSION, 7 p.m., Intermountain
ESD office, 2001 S.W. Nye Ave.,
Pendleton. (541-276-6711)
FRIDAY, JAN. 13
EASTERN OREGON TRADE
& EVENT CENTER AUTHORITY,
7 a.m., EOTEC main building, 1705
E. Airport Road, Hermiston. (541-
289-9800)
LOTTERY
Tuesday, Jan. 10
Mega Millions
11-20-40-41-59
Mega Ball: 15 Megaplier: 5
Estimated jackpot: $126 M
Lucky Lines
04-07-09-15-FREE-17-24-
27-31
Estimated jackpot: $80,000
Pick 4
1 p.m.: 9-5-6-9
4 p.m.: 7-8-1-2
7 p.m.: 8-8-7-9
10 p.m.: 0-2-3-3
Wednesday, Jan. 11
Pick 4
1 p.m.: 5-0-9-9
Historic preservation grants available
East Oregonian
Thousands of dollars in
state grants are up for grabs
for qualifying historic and
Main Street projects.
The State Historic Preser-
vation Office is offering up
to $20,000 matching grants
for buildings on the National
Register of Historic Places.
The register lists 42 sites in
Umatilla County, ranging
from Weston School to
portions of Pendleton’s and
Echo’s downtowns.
Funds are available for
preservation of existing
building features or for
reconstructing facades to
match their historical appear-
ance.
The preservation office is
also offering up to $100,000
in matching funds for
downtown
revitalization
projects in communities
in the Oregon Main Street
Network.
Communities
in the network include
Pendleton,
Hermiston,
Milton-Freewater, Irrigon,
Pilot Rock and Stanfield.
Projects may include façade
improvement, accessibility
enhancement,
utilities,
second floor renovations and
other improvements that will
facilitate community revital-
ization.
The Oregon Heritage
Commission is offering
grants between $2,000 and
$10,000 to museums for
collections projects, heritage
tourism and educational
programs.
The Oregon Commission
on Historic Cemeteries is
offering grants, typically
between $1,000 and $6,000,
for preservation projects at
historic cemeteries. Projects
funded in the past include
marker repair workshops,
fencing, signs, interpretive
panels, brochures, security
lighting, access improve-
ments and records manage-
ment.
More information for all
of the grants listed above will
be presented in webinars on
Jan. 18-19 and a two-hour
workshop in Salem on March
15. For applications, or for
more information about
the webinars and the grant
requirements, visit www.
oregonheritage.org or contact
Kuri Gill at kuri.gill@
oregon.gov or 503-986-0675.
WORLD BRIEFLY
Texas carries out
first U.S. execution
of 2017
HUNTSVILLE, Texas
(AP) — Texas on Wednesday
put to death an inmate
convicted of killing two men
over a phony drug deal, the
first U.S. execution of 2017.
Christopher Wilkins, 48,
was declared dead at 6:29
p.m., 13 minutes after a lethal
injection of pentobarbital.
Before the drug was
administered, he twice
mouthed “I’m sorry,” to two
relatives of one of the murder
victims as they watched
through a window. He gave
no final statement.
Wilkins had explained to
jurors at his capital murder
trial in 2008 how and why
he killed his friends in Fort
Worth three years earlier,
saying he didn’t care if they
sentenced him to death.
Wilkins shot Willie
Freeman, 40 and Mike Silva,
33, after Freeman and an
unidentified drug supplier
duped Wilkins into paying
$20 for a piece of gravel he
thought was crack cocaine,
according to court records.
Turkey bogged
down in Syria as
it realigns with
Russia
BEIRUT (AP) — Nearly
two months into the assault,
Turkey has become bogged
down in an unexpectedly
bloody fight to retake the
Islamic State group’s last
stronghold in northern Syria.
It has been forced to pour in
troops, take the lead in the
battle from its Syrian allies
and reach out to Russia for
aerial support.
The fight for al-Bab
underscores the precarious
path Ankara is treading with
its foray in to Syria, aimed
against both IS militants
and Syrian Kurdish fighters.
The assault on the town
had already driven a wedge
between Turkey and the
United States, and now
the realignment toward
Moscow — which supports
the government in Syria’s
civil war — further tests
Ankara’s alliance both with
Washington and with the
Wilkins
Syrian opposition.
The battle itself has
proven grueling.
Nearly 50 Turkish soldiers
have been killed in its Syria
operation, most of them since
the al-Bab assault began in
mid-November — including
14 killed in a single day.
The militants have dug in,
surrounding the town with
trenches, lining streets with
land mines and carrying
out painful ambushes and
car bombings against the
besieging forces. Each time
Turkish-backed Syrian
opposition fighters have
thrust into the city, they’ve
been driven out. More than
200 civilians are believed to
have been killed since the
attack began Nov. 13. Mud
and cold rain have only made
it more of a slog.
“The battle for al-Bab has
been mostly about killing
civilians and destroying the
city, whether by Daesh or the
Turks,” said Mustafa Sultan,
a resident of al-Bab and a
media activist who has been
covering the fight. He used
the Arabic acronym for IS.
Trump says
BuzzFeed ‘garbage’
for publishing
allegations
PASADENA, Calif.
(AP) — President-elect
Donald Trump and his team
on Wednesday attacked news
organizations that spread
unsubstantiated reports about
a damaging dossier collected
on him by Russia, an incident
that illustrates how old rules
of journalism are tested in
today’s rapidly changing
media world.
Trump called BuzzFeed
“a pile of garbage” for
publishing the allegations and
got into a spat with CNN’s
Jim Acosta during his first
news conference since July.
He praised organizations that
didn’t follow BuzzFeed’s
lead.
The combative news
conference, less than two
weeks before Trump’s
inauguration, was dominated
by questions about Russia
and the president-elect’s
relationship with the
intelligence community.
CNN on Tuesday reported
that Trump had been briefed
by intelligence officials about
compromising personal and
financial information that
Russia had collected on him.
The network did not give
details about the information,
saying the charges had not
been verified, but BuzzFeed
soon published them. Most
reputable news organizations,
following up the story, also
did not report the details.
Despite those decisions,
it took only the single report
for the news to spread so
rapidly that within hours, one
specific, salacious allegation
was a top trending topic on
Twitter.
Six VW employees
indicted in
emissions scandal;
VW fined $4.3B
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Six high-level Volkswagen
employees from Germany
were indicted in the U.S.
on Wednesday in the VW
emissions-cheating scandal,
while the company itself
agreed to plead guilty to
criminal charges and pay
$4.3 billion — by far the
biggest fine ever levied by
the government against an
automaker.
In announcing the
federal charges and the plea
bargain, Justice Department
prosecutors detailed a large
and elaborate scheme inside
the German automaker
to commit fraud and then
cover it up, with at least 40
employees allegedly involved
in destroying evidence.
“Volkswagen obfuscated,
they denied and they
ultimately lied,” Attorney
General Loretta Lynch said.
Prosecutors may have
trouble bringing the
executives to trial in the U.S.
German law generally bars
extradition of the country’s
citizens except within the
European Union. Privately,
Justice Department officials
expressed little optimism
that the five VW executives
still at large will be arrested,
unless they surrender or
travel outside Germany.
Still, the criminal charges
are a major breakthrough
for a Justice Department
that been under pressure to
hold individuals accountable
for corporate misdeeds ever
since the 2008 financial
crisis.
1/12
Cineplex Show Times
$5 Classic Movie
1/18
CINEMA PARADISO
Rogue One (PG13)
2D 7:00
3D 4:00 10:00
Sing (PG)
4:20 6:50 9:20
Underworld:
Blood Wars (R)
2D 4:30 6:40
3D 9:30
Passengers (PG13)
4:40 7:10 9:40
Why Him? (R)
4:50 7:20 9:50
FIND US ON FACEBOOK
facebook.com/scishows
Credit & Debit Cards accepted
Cineplex gift cards available
* Matinee Pricing
wildhorseresort.com
541-966-1850
Pendleton, OR I-84 - Exit 216