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East Oregonian
FINICUM: 470 tickets were sold before
the event and another 218 at the door
Continued from 1A
She
recounted
the
jury’s acquittal of seven of
the occupants on federal
conspiracy charges to thun-
derous applause, adding her
husband should have been
among them.
“Our family is truly
grateful that some of them
have been able to return home
to their families, and we are
praying for all those who are
still incarcerated, unjustly, for
their immediate release,” she
said. “We hope for the same
outcome for the next seven
that are still on trial and for
those in Nevada.”
Finicum played several
videos made by her husband
before and during the occu-
pation, which explained he
supported the occupation
because he believed the
federal government was
overreaching and overly-reg-
ulating farmers and ranchers.
She urged those in atten-
dance to become involved
however they can in their
local communities.
“One man can make a
difference,” she said. “He did
make a difference.”
———
A crowd of more than
500 gathered Saturday night
at the Grant County Fair-
grounds for what was billed
as “The meeting that never
happened.”
Unlike the Jan. 26, 2016,
event
LaVoy
Finicum,
Ammon and Ryan Bundy
and other occupation leaders
were en route to when
stopped by police, no pick-
eters were lined up outside.
The atmosphere was calm
and peaceful.
The crowd at the 2017
meeting was a mix of
veterans, former law enforce-
ment, ranchers and residents
from across the country who
came to hear speakers on
the Constitution, media and
LaVoy Finicum’s beliefs.
Burns resident Hunter
Davis said he attended the
meeting to learn about the
Constitution and the rights it
granted him.
“The government doesn’t
want you to know about the
rights you have and what
powers you have and how
much you control you actu-
ally have over them,” he said.
Grant County resident
and event organizer Jim
Sproul said 470 tickets were
sold before the event and
another 218 at the door, at
$15 each. He estimated there
were 650 in attendance,
The Eagle/Rylan Boggs
More than 500 people attended “The meeting that never happened” Saturday at
the Grant County Fairgrounds.
Reunited in John Day
By MAXINE BERNSTEIN
The Oregonian/OregonLive
Four of the seven defendants who were
acquitted last fall — Jeff Banta, Shawna
Cox, Kenneth Medenbach and Neil
Wampler — were together again at Satur-
day’s meeting. They slapped each other on
the back and hugged each other.
Cox, who came from her home in Utah,
stood by a table, selling and signing copies
of her book, “Last Rancher Standing: The
Cliven Bundy Story a Close-Up View.’’
“This is the first time I ever got to John
Day,’’ said Cox, a back-seat passenger in
Finicum’s truck when he sped off from a
traffic stop on U.S. 395 and then crashed
into a snowbank at a police roadblock. State
police shot him after they say he emerged
from his truck and reached at least two times
into his jacket to grab what police suspected
was his gun. He had a loaded 9mm gun on
him at the time, police later said.
including 250-300 locals.
———
Speakers
presented
information on a variety of
topics related to the role of
government.
Former Fox News radio
show host and investigative
reporter Kate Dalley said
the “mainstream media” lies
and is heavily influenced
and infiltrated by the federal
government. The federal
government is overreaching
and using the media to “keep
the masses asleep,” she said.
“They are crafting the
mainstream media to turn
patriots into terrorists. They
seek to discredit anyone who
stands up for their property
rights. They will turn the
nation against you. They will
imprison you. They will kill
you,” Dalley said. “Why?
Because the government has
to control the land to control
the people.”
She applauded the Bundys
On her way to John Day, Cox said she
drove by the spot where Finicum was
killed. “I didn’t think it was going to be that
tough,’’ she said.
In the three months since she was
acquitted in the federal conspiracy case,
Cox said she’s been “so busy trying to
help the other people” — the seven other
defendants set to face trial next month, as
well as Ammon Bundy, his brother, Ryan
Bundy, and their father Cliven Bundy, who
await trial in Nevada in the 2014 standoff
with federal agents near the elder Bundy’s
ranch.
Jeff Banta, who also was acquitted last
fall, said he drove 14 hours from Nevada to
attend the meeting. “It’s great to be here,’’
he said. “It’s great to be a free man.’’
Since the October verdict, Neil Wampler,
who served as a cook at the refuge during
last winter’s occupation, said he’s been
happy staying out of the limelight, back at
his home in Los Osos, California.
“I hardly even go anywhere,’’ he said.
“But I couldn’t miss this meeting.’’
and the Malheur occupiers.
Dalley praised the occupation
and said the refuge occupiers
were peaceful.
“If you want to fear
someone, if you want to fear a
movement, fear those seeking
to undermine your rights that
reside in the highest positions
of power in this country, fear
those that conspire to keep
the masses asleep, fear those
that seek to imprison patri-
ot-loving Americans.”
Author Bill Norton and
his 15-year-old daughter,
Laine Norton, spoke on
the importance of property
rights. Bill Norton said the
reason personal property
is so important is that it is
purchased with an individu-
al’s life and liberty.
“We are not anti-govern-
ment,” he said. “We love
government. We love very
clearly defined boundaries,
very clearly limited govern-
ment with separation of
powers. ... It’s others who are
trying to break those bound-
aries down that are truly the
anti-government folks.”
Attorney Garret Smith
spoke on the role of a consti-
tutional sheriff and claimed,
if one had been involved
in the events last year in
Harney County, the outcome
could have been drastically
different. He asserted the
sheriff’s job is to represent
the people who elected him
and stop federal overreach.
Federal and state agencies
had become outlaws, Smith
said, and it fell to consti-
tutional sheriffs with the
support of the people to keep
them in check.
He warned of the govern-
ment indoctrinating students
and advocated for those in
attendance to remember
what they learned during the
meeting and to study docu-
ments such as the Constitu-
tion for themselves.
DOOR: Alzheimer’s patients have trouble with depth perception
Continued from 1A
get anxious or aggressive and
start to wander. A lot of times,
residents tried to get out that
door.”
It’s called “exit seeking”
behavior, a strong desire
to leave the building and
wander. Assistant Director
Jessica Raphael read about
other facilities that disguised
doors as bookcases or turned
them into murals. She hired
Pendleton artist Laurie
Doherty to paint a scene on
the double doors.
Doherty
designed
a
bucolic scene that included
mountains, trees, a meadow,
a pond and a variety of
animals – fish, beaver, ducks,
a squirrel and a fat robin.
“When I painted the
details, some of the residents
watched me work,” she said.
Since completion around
Christmastime, the banging
has all but stopped, said
Thompson and Raphael.
In the other part of the
facility — home for 25
assisted living residents
— another door was camou-
flaged as a set of bookshelves
to deter occasional exit
seeking activity in at least
one occupant.
Sundowning is only
one of many challenges for
Alzheimer’s patients and
their caregivers. People with
the disease have trouble
with depth perception and
distinguishing other visual
information. A white table
against a white wall may
blend together. Tiles may
appear as scattered objects.
“A black rug on a
light-colored floor — they
commonly see that as a hole,”
Thompson said. “They’ll
walk around it.”
Thompson said staff who
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
An exterior exit door has been camouflaged with a
wrap to make it appear as a bookshelf at the end of
one hallway at Juniper House in Pendleton.
serve Alzheimer’s patients
must be cognizant of those
challenges. At Juniper, she
said, even the color of dish-
ware was chosen with care.
“In our unit, we have
red plates, red bowls and
red cups,” Thompson said.
“When you have a white
plate with potatoes and
chicken, it all blends together.
Rather than looking at a
monochromatic surface, red
plates provide contrast.”
With Alzheimer’s patients,
Raphael said, the idea is to
figure out what makes each
person feel comfortable and
normal.
“We help them live the
life they are familiar with,”
she said. “That may be the
newspaper and coffee in
the morning and tea in the
afternoon, whatever it takes
to feel normal.”
An Alzheimer’s living
center in Ohio, the Lantern,
has taken that notion to the
extreme. Each resident’s
room has a front porch and
window with shutters to
mimic the style of the ’30s
and ’40s when most of the
residents were children.
Grass-like carpet covers the
hallways. The fiber optic
ceiling appears as sky, which
dims and brightens depending
on time of day. Birds chirp
through speakers and appe-
tizing aromas are pumped
into the unit to get residents
in the mood for meals.
At Dementia Village, in
the Netherlands, residents
live in stylized homes from
bygone eras. Instead of hall-
ways, the facility is a village
with town square, garden,
theater and stores where no
money changes hands. Care-
givers dress in street clothes.
Care at the Juniper House
comes with less staging,
but plenty of compassion,
Raphael said.
“Providing an environ-
ment that is calming and feels
homey – that’s the goal.”
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
SHOOTING: Murillo serving
six years in prison for assault
Continued from 1A
He arrived at his
apartment at 645 S.E.
Fourth St., Hermiston, and
saw Murillo and Bedolla
coming at him, Enyon said.
Flores started for the back
of the residence to get a gun
and bullets began to fly.
Police received reports
of at least 10 gunshots at
3:16 a.m. The shooters fired
through a screen in an open
window, Enyon said, and
two rounds struck Flores in
the buttocks.
Flores shot back with
an AK-47, hitting Bedolla
in the forearm, before the
gunfire stopped.
The injured shooters had
the same plan — get to the
hospital — and both were
taken in private vehicles.
Enyon said he did not
know why Murillo fought
at the bar or what was
behind the gunfight, but it
all could be gang related.
While Bedolla waits in
the county jail, Murillo is
serving almost six years in
state prison for second-de-
gree assault. He pleaded
guilty Jan. 20 in Morrow
County Circuit Court to
stabbing a man in August at
a party in Irrigon.
He committed that crime
while out on bail. Murillo
also is serving a concurrent
year for the bar fight after
pleading guilty in late
December to misdemeanor
fourth-degree assault.
ODOT: Could do more to reward
employees, hold them accountable
Continued from 1A
according to the report.
“There were no example of
individuals who considered
themselves a ‘dissenting
voice.’”
ODOT
management
performed poorly in laying
out a shared vision with
strategic clarity, as well
as in setting performance
standards to achieve that
vision, according to the
consultants.
“Furthermore, organi-
zational standards, such as
operational goals … are
deployed inconsistently,
leaving ODOT without
clear standards to direct
how the organization
should operate most effec-
tively,” they wrote.
While ODOT does a
good job in creating clear
roles and responsibilities,
and
recognizes
good
performance in non-finan-
cial ways, it could do more
to reward employees and
hold them accountable,
with more of an emphasis
on results, according to the
report.
It
quoted
several
employee
comments
gathered during a survey,
including “We need to
ensure accountability for
performance and behavior
problems … High-level
mangers can talk the talk,
but poor performers and
poor behavior is still toler-
ated … Good employees
currently
work
hard
through internal motivation
and personal dedication
to high quality service,
not because the agency
rewards them.”
The consultants found
that clear roles and respon-
sibilities for the Oregon
Transportation Commis-
sion,
which
oversees
ODOT policy, and other
governing bodies also were
“inconsistently and vaguely
defined, particularly in
the areas of governance,
strategy, and performance
management, partly due
to ambiguous charters and
interpretation.”
The agency received
good marks from the
consultants for engaging
people who have interest
in transportation projects,
including local govern-
ments, lobbyists and the
public, in project develop-
ment.
“I am very pleased
with the outcome,” ODOT
Director Matt Garrett wrote
in an email to staff. “The
report paints the picture of
a strong, high-performing
government agency that,
like all organizations, has
opportunities to improve,
and it gives concrete advice
on how we can do so.”
Garret
noted
that
the report “calls out
ODOT’s supportive and
collaborative
leadership
style as a strength and
suggests complementing
that approach with a more
directive and challenging
management style.”
The findings were
based on interviews with
management,
experts,
interest
groups
and
surveys, including a survey
of more than 2,700 ODOT
employees.
ODOT’s
performance on several
indicators were compared
with other western states
with departments of trans-
portation of similar size and
found to generally perform
better than average. The
states used for comparison
were Arizona, California,
Colorado, Idaho, Nevada,
Utah and Washington.
The next step is for the
Department of Adminis-
trative Services to take the
findings and options and
turn them into concrete
recommendations
to
deliver to the governor,
the Oregon Transportation
Commission and the Legis-
lature, said Matt Shelby, a
DAS spokesman.
“These are McKinsey’s
complete set of findings;
this report concludes the
bulk of McKinsey’s work,”
Shelby said.
“As we work to develop
the recommendations, we
still have McKinsey on
contract and will work
in
consultation
with
McKinsey to develop the
recommendations, but the
recommendations them-
selves will be coming from
DAS,” Shelby said.
The 69-page report was
released Monday to the
EO Media Group/Pamplin
Media Group Capital
Bureau in response to a
public records request for
the document.
———
Portland Tribune
reporter Nick Budnick
contributed to this report.
Ugandan Kids Choir
EXPERIENCE THE MUSIC OF AFRICA
February 3rd - 5:30p.m. • Bob Clapp Theatre, BMCC Pendleton
Flower/Candy Bouquets • Stuff ed Animals •
Balloons • Jewelry • Purses & More!
Put a smile on the heart with
the power of flowers.
HWY 395, HERMISTON
541-567-4305
Mon-Sat 8am-6pm • Sun 12pm-5am
www.cottagefl owersonline.com
The Ugandan Kids Choir, a group of ten talented Ugandan children, have been given hope through
Childcare Worldwide’s Sponsorship Program and now they are here to spread that hope to audiences
all across the United States. The choir has performed nationwide at churches, schools, at Disneyland,
on King 5 Television’s “New Day Northwest,” at Qwest Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks.
By coming to this event, you will enjoy traditional African song and dance, as well as help children in
need all around the world. So don’t miss this unique and authentic performance by the children of the
Ugandan Kids Choir.
Hosted by the ARTS AND CULTURE SERIES
Questions? Contact atimmons@bluecc.edu
Blue Mountain Community College is an equal opportunity
educator and employer. For a full EEO disclosure statement
please visit www.bluecc.edu/EEO.