East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, January 19, 2017, Image 3

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Newspaper Page TextREGION Thursday, January 19, 2017 East Oregonian STANFIELD Former cop ﬁ les suit against city By MAXINE BERNSTEIN The Oregonian/Oregonlive A former ofﬁ cer from the Stanﬁ eld Police Depart- ment in eastern Oregon has ﬁ led a lawsuit against the city, contending he was ﬁ red in retaliation for his whistleblowing about a lieu- tenant’s misconduct. Ryan McBride is seeking $500,000 for the emotional distress, anger and humil- iation he suffered, plus about $3,700 for lost wages, according to the suit ﬁ led in Umatilla County Circuit Court. McBride said the chief extended his period of proba- tion, from 12 to 18 months, shortly after he shared serious concerns he had about the on-duty behavior of his supervisor, Lt. Troy LaMonte Toombs. That included alle- gations of improper trafﬁ c stops and inappropriate sexual solicitations. The city ﬁ red McBride on Oct. 26, 2015, without a termination letter or explana- tion why, his lawsuit said. But in a letter to Oregon Department of Justice ofﬁ - cials from a former colleague, Toombs placed McBride on leave after McBride showed up drunk while off duty to help a sheriff’s deputy, also off duty, pull his truck out of Ryan McBride Bryon Zumwalt (left) and Monte Toombs (right) a ditch that he had driven into after a night of drinking with McBride and another on Aug. 5, 2015. McBride was driven by someone else to the scene, his lawyer Sean Riddell said. Months later, McBride was ﬁ red. Stanﬁ eld City Manager W. Blair Larsen said McBride was ﬁ red for failing to be forthright on the night of Aug. 5, 2015, and said his lawsuit mischaracterizes what occurred. The Justice Department, which investigated Stan- ﬁ eld’s four-member police force, reported last spring that the police chief and Toombs failed to properly log evidence and did shoddy work, but their lapses didn’t rise to criminal misconduct. The state, for example, found Toombs failed to document the 2015 seizure of two marijuana plants from a property and the subsequent destruction of the plants. He completed paperwork only after a complaint was raised. He also “inappropriately reported’’ to a state police certiﬁ cation agent that he had done a full background check to hire a friend as a reserve ofﬁ cer when he hadn’t. His “misrepresentation’’ on the state form raised ethical ques- tions, an assistant attorney general wrote to Stanﬁ eld city ofﬁ cials. Gene Jorgenson, a former Stanﬁ eld ofﬁ cer and city councilor who was asked by the chief to do an inquiry before the state Justice Department’s investigation began, recommended Toombs’ termination, citing concerns about his credibility. “In the 15 minute chat I had with him, I think that he does not always tell the truth, and tends to report the problems as not his fault,’’ Jorgenson wrote, according to an exhibit attached to McBride’s lawsuit. “Several times I questioned him on items that I knew were true, he told me that they didn’t happen at all or happened that way. ... When I called him on this, he stated that he had not been advised of his rights and that this was illegal.’’ The Stanﬁ eld city manager, though, said Jorgenson never concluded his investigation, which was done in a voluntary capacity. McBride had reported to his police chief in May 2015 that Toombs conducted multiple trafﬁ c stops of a young woman but gave her only warnings until he saw a man in her car and then gave her citations and instructed McBride to stop the woman whenever possible, the suit says. It also alleges Toombs solicited married residents in the Stanﬁ eld and Echo area to engage in sexual acts with him and his wife. The lawsuit alleges that the city failed to do a proper background search on Toombs before hiring him in March 2014. It contends that Toombs resigned from an earlier police job in Oroﬁ no, Idaho, after a lawsuit ﬁ led BRIEFLY Drunk driver almost hits state cop in ice storm against him was settled that alleged he had assaulted a man after responding to a routine call to help resolve the man’s dispute regarding his credit union account. Toombs told the investi- gator hired by the city that he left the Oroﬁ no job for personal reasons, according to court documents. Though Toombs held a supervisory position on the Stanﬁ eld police force and provided ﬁ eld training to McBride, Toombs never received any management or supervisory certiﬁ cation from Oregon’s Department of Public Safety Standards and Training, the suit says. The Stanﬁ eld city manager had the city’s insurer conducted an internal review and audit of the police department after the Justice Department investigation. Both the chief and Toombs were placed on probation. On Jan.20, 2016, the chief returned to his job. On Jan. 29, 2016, Toombs was stripped of his super- visory role and demoted to senior ofﬁ cer, with the under- standing that after additional training and evaluations he might regain his supervisory status, Larsen said. Yet Toombs’ demotion did not include a drop in pay, the city manager said. PENDLETON — Oregon State Police reported a drunk driver nearly took out a trooper in his car near Pendleton during the ice storm. Senior trooper Ryan Sharp was in his police car with lights ﬂ ashing around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday on the right shoulder of eastbound Interstate 84 near milepost 206 to deal with the multiple semi- trailers that jacked-knifed, slid off or ﬂ at out crashed due to the onslaught of freezing rain that covered the region. The Oregon Department of Transportation was closing the freeway near milepost 202, state police reported, and an ODOT employee set ﬂ ares across the road and was going to place more when he noticed a white Jeep Cherokee going fast. The Jeep drove over the ﬂ ares, into a snowbank and continued east. The ODOT worker grabbed a radio and gave a warning. Sharp saw the Jeep barreling around the corner. The Jeep began to lose control, slide past the semis and lined up to hit the police car. “The driver barely regained control and missed my car,” according to Sharp’s report. “I was able to stop the vehicle.” Sharp contacted the driver, Elwood Lamar Davis, 36, of Richland, Washington, and right off saw indications he was impaired. “He said he didn’t notice ODOT,” according to the report, “that it was icy and seemed oblivious to all the (commercial vehicles) across the road.” Sharp took Davis to the Umatilla County Jail, Pendleton, for driving under the inﬂ uence of intoxicants (alcohol), recklessly endangering highway workers and reckless driving. His blood alcohol level at the jail was .10 percent, above the .08 percent legal limit. IRRIGON High schooler steps up to join city council By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN East Oregonian Marlina Avila Serratos is no stranger to responsibility. At age 12, her mother was deported to Mexico, and she took care of her younger sister and the family’s home while her father worked long days as a farm laborer. As a high schooler, Avila Serratos has balanced classes, extracurriculars like cheerleading, Key Club and National Honor Society, and two jobs — at Oregon’s Potato Company in Boardman, and Washington State University’s “Gear Up” mentorship program. On Tuesday Avila Serratos, 18, took on a new responsibility as she was sworn in to the Irrigon City Council alongside returning coun- cilor Daren Strong and Mayor Sam Heath. Avila Serratos, who was born in Hermiston and grew up in Irrigon, said she ran for city council because she wanted to be active in her community and get young people excited about doing the same thing. “I want to have my peers involved and make this small town well-known as a good place,” she said. Avila Serratos plans to attend Blue Mountain Community College after graduation, where she will study to be a registered nurse and continue serving on the city council. She said while she hasn’t visited her mother and family in Mexico for a while, due to school and other obligations, she tries to visit when she can. “She’s really proud,” Avila Serratos said of her mother. Two of her friends and her adopted mom were at the swearing-in to support Avila Serratos. Avila Serratos ﬁ rst became interested in city council when she was moving to a new home and was researching some land use policies. Hermiston lists changes to school calendar HERMISTON — The snow and ice have wreaked havoc on school schedules throughout the state — but local districts have set their new schedules in light of the past week’s closures. Changes to the Hermiston School District include a new end date for ﬁ rst semester — Friday, Jan. 27 for both middle and high schools. Second semester (and third quarter) will now start Monday, Jan. 30. Third quarter will end Friday, April 7, and fourth quarter will start Monday, April 10. Second semester and fourth quarter will end Wednesday, June 14. Some dates will remain the same for the district, such as graduation — which will take place Saturday, June 10. Conferences at the middle and high schools are still set for March 20 and 22. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Irrigon’s newest city councilor Marlina Avila Serratos listens to Tesia Hunsucker ask a question about marijuana dispensaries on Tuesday in Irrigon. “She got really involved and did a great job,” said Irrigon city manager Aaron Palmquist. Avila Serratos asked if there were any city positions available for her to get involved, and the only one open was a city council position. Palmquist said she is the youngest councilor, and the ﬁ rst Latina coun- cilor, that city employees can recall. “She’s had a very positive recep- tion,” Palmquist said. “I know she’ll be looking at economic development, and at ways to get the younger generation to make the community stronger.” Council discusses wastewater, marijuana IRRIGON — Irrigon City Council met Tuesday night to discuss its wastewater treatment system, and hear from a citizen who wants the city to reconsider its ban on recre- ational marijuana dispensaries. City manager Aaron Palmquist said the city will apply for a new Mutual Agreement Order with the Department of Environmental Quality, since their old one expired. The city’s residential wastewater supply exceeds DEQ’s required level of nitrates. “We need to get a new MAO to keep us moving forward,” said Palmquist. “It gives us breathing room to come into compliance with those nitrate levels.” Councilors also heard from Tesia Hunsucker, an Irrigon resident who wants to open a recreational mari- juana business — she asked coun- cilors to reconsider the city’s ban on such businesses, and consider implementing a tax on recreational pot sales. “Our part of the state could gain a lot of proﬁ t through dispensing marijuana legally,” she said. Councilors said 62 percent of Irrigon citizens had voted to maintain a ban on selling marijuana within city limits. “As long as the city population votes no, I will always vote no, no matter how much money it makes,” said councilor Marty Brown. Stanﬁ eld mint grower aces yield contests for corn, wheat sion. Though Mills grows primarily spearmint and A Stanﬁ eld mint grower peppermint on the family’s recently won top honors 3,000-acre farm, he said at two separate contests they use both wheat and corn as rotational designed to boost crops. Mills cred- wheat and corn ited the region’s yields. environment, as Dan Mills, of well as advances in Mills Mint Farm, precision irrigation took ﬁ rst place in technology, for his Oregon as well wins. as nationwide at “With our the ﬁ rst National climate and our Wheat Yield soil, we produce Contest in the irri- some of the highest gated spring wheat Dan Mills yields in the category. The contest was organized by the country,” Mills said. Mills yield nearly 320 National Wheat Foundation, bushels per acre of corn based in Washington, D.C. One week later, it was using a variety developed announced that Mills also by DuPont Pioneer. As for took ﬁ rst place for Oregon at wheat, Mills used a variety the National Corn Growers by WestBred, owned by Association’s Corn Yield Monsanto, which yielded an Contest in the irrigated divi- average of 146.5 bushels per By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian Page 3A acre. The average yield for irrigated wheat in Oregon in 2013 was approximately 102 bushels per acre, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service. In addition to the natural growing environment, Mills said he works with IRZ Consulting in Hermiston to use real-time soil moisture monitors, which helps the farm to irrigate using exactly the right amount of water. “We’ve tried to use new technology, and our yields have gotten better and better,” he said. More than 170 farmers participated in the National Wheat Yield Contest, which included categories for spring, winter, irrigated and dryland wheat. The winners are determined based on yield increase over county averages. The National Corn Yield Contest has divisions for irri- gated, non-irrigated and no-till or strip-tilled corn. There were 343 state titles awarded this year, including Mills. Mills said the contests do provide a benchmark to shoot for future yields. “I would suspect a lot of growers in this area have comparable yields,” he said. “It’s mostly about testing varieties to see where you’re at.” FIND US ON FACEBOOK facebook.com/scishows 13th Annual Cattleman’s Workshop Navigating the Future in the Cow/Calf Industry Saturday, January 21st, 2017 Blue Mountain Conference Center • 404 12th Street, La Grande, OR 9:00 - 9:15 Workshop Introductions & Overview Kevin Ochsner, Host Cattlemen to Cattlemen TV; Kersey, CO FREE! No Pre-Registration Required. Lunch Included. 9:15 - 10:00 Cattle Market Challenges and Opportunities in 2017 Dr. Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 10:00 - 10:45 Genetic Technologies in the Poultry Industry, The Other Protein Dr. Mitch Abrahamsen, Senior VP Research & Development; Cobb-Vantress, Siloam Springs, AR 10:45 - 11:15 Break (provided by sponsors) 11:15 - 12:00 Ethics, Values & Science. Finding the Right Mix For Building Consumer Trust Donna Moenning, Center For Food Integrity; Gladstone, MO 12:00 - 1:15 Lunch (provided by sponsors) 1:15 - 2:00 Keys to a Successful Heifer Development Program Dr. Che Trejo, Zoetis Beef Technical Services Veterinarian; Malad, ID 2:00 - 3:00 Navigation Tools for the Cow/Calf Producer Kevin Ochsner, Host Cattlemen to Cattlemen TV; Kersey, CO NOTE: For more information, please contact Kim McKague at (541) 562-5129 • http://oregonstate.edu/dept/eoarcunion