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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 2017)
TRUMP FIRES ATTORNEY GENERAL NIXYAAWII GIRLS STAY UNDEFEATED NATION/7A SPORTS/1B 29/17 $10 off at Safeway COUPON/9A TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2017 141st Year, No. 76 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Supporters honor LaVoy Finicum in John Day on anniversary of death HERMISTON Teen charged with attempted murder for Mother’s Day shootout By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian Dave Killen/The Oregonian via AP Jeanette Finicum, Robert “LaVoy” Finicum’s widow, speaks to the crowd about her husband and his beliefs Saturday. More than 500 people turned out for a meeting in John Day to hear her message that federal lands should be turned over to states and counties. On Jan. 26, 2016, Finicum was shot and killed by Oregon State Police on his way to a community meeting in John Day with Ammon Bundy and others. The meeting that never happened one year before. “They silenced one man’s voice, but in doing so, they created 13 Attorneys, ranchers more very loud voices,” and members of the Finicum said in reference Finicum family called to herself and her 12 for political activism in children. the wake of the Malheur She read a statement National Wildlife Refuge prepared by the family’s occupation and the death lawyers announcing they of LaVoy Finicum last Finicum fi led a notice of adminis- year. Jeanette Finicum — the widow trative claim as a precursor to fi ling of the refuge occupier who was a federal civil rights lawsuit. “While we could have fi led our killed during a traffi c stop en route to a meeting in John Day in the fi nal wrongful death lawsuit against the days of the Malheur occupation — state of Oregon, it is more effi cient to spoke to the crowd Saturday and wait a short while longer to include thanked God and all those who the FBI in one lawsuit,” she said. supported her and her family since See FINICUM/10A her husband’s death almost exactly By RYLAN BOGGS EO Media Group The Eagle/Rylan Boggs More than 500 people attended “The meeting that never happened” at the Grant County Fairgrounds Saturday. Adalberto Flores sought help for the bullet wounds in his buttocks early May 8 at a Hermiston hospital when he spotted Lalo Murillo. Flores pointed to Murillo, according to public records from Umatilla County Circuit Court, and told the police present, “That’s the [expletive] that shot me!” Hermiston police Capt. Travis Enyon also said that’s how it went down, and offi cers immediately arrested Murillo on a warrant. Enyon said Murillo, 22, was at Good Shepherd Medical Center that Mother’s Day morning with fellow Bedolla Hermiston resident Alexis Manuel Paredes Bedolla, who was 17 at the time and had been shot in his right forearm by Flores earlier in the morning. Bedolla was too injured for police to arrest, Enyon said, but offi cers later booked him into the juvenile jail at the Northern Oregon Regional Correctional Facility, The Dalles. He turned 18 on Jan. 21, records show, and fi ve days later was in the Umatilla County Jail, Pendleton. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, fi rst-degree assault, unlawful possession of a fi rearm and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, all related to the drive-by and shootout that sent him and Flores, 20, to the hospital. Court records do not show a date for his next hearing. The shooting may have been sparked hours earlier at a Hermiston bar, where Murillo “basically sucker punched” Flores’ cousin Omar Figeroa, Enyon said, knocking him off a chair. According to court documents, Murillo sent text messages bragging about the assault. Enyon said Flores heard about the situ- ation at the bar and went to see if anyone needed a ride. Flores found everyone had split, so he went to the local Jack in the Box for a meal and headed home. See SHOOTING/10A Audit: ODOT culture lacks accountability, vision By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau SALEM — A long-awaited performance audit of the Oregon Department of Transportation found the agency has a familial culture that is lacking in dissent and accountability and needs a clearer and more coordinated strategic vision for its future. “There is no uniform clarity at the senior level, or with governing bodies, on priorities and the metrics to track achieving them,” the consultants with New York-based McKinsey & Co. wrote in a report on their fi ndings. Yet, overall, the consultants ranked ODOT’s organizational health as better than average, compared with other western states. The audit is intended to ensure ODOT is prepared to effectively manage a potential transportation package that state legislators could approve later this year. That legislation — one of Gov. Kate Brown’s priorities as governor — could hike gas taxes and fees on drivers and funnel hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funding to ODOT. The state in September awarded a nearly $1 million contract to McKinsey & Company to conduct the long-awaited review. The consultants found that the culture of ODOT management was like a family, only one without dissent. More self-criticism could help ODOT improve its perfor- mance, the consultants found. “Only 44 percent of employees agree that leadership consistently offers a critical perspective. Interviews with senior manage- ment supported these fi ndings,” See ODOT/10A PENDLETON Camouflaged door relieves Alzheimer’s residents’ wandering By KATHY ANEY East Oregonian In the past, as the sun dipped in the sky, came the occasional sound of banging on the locked steel door serving as the main entrance to the Juniper House Memory Care unit. Some of the unit’s 16 resi- dents exhibited the symptoms of Sundown Syndrome, where individuals with Alzheimer’s Staff photo by E.J. Harris Staff at the Juniper house in Pendleton hired a local artist to paint a mural on the disease get agitated, disori- doors leading from their memory care unit into the rest of the facility. ented and restless late in the day. They attempted to get through the door and couldn’t. Hence, the banging. It was heartbreaking to see. “A door is a big target for someone with memory impair- ment,” said Alanna Thompson, health services coordinator at Juniper House. “Sundowning is a phenomenon with Alzheimer’s and dementia. From mid-afternoon to early evening, some of the residents See DOOR/10A