WEEKEND EDITION
BUCKS
CLAIM
STATE
TROPHY A PASSION FOR ANIMALS
SPORTS/1B
SPRING FORWARD
Daylight saving time starts
on Sunday at 2 a.m. when
clocks are turned to 3 a.m.
Sunrise and sunset will
be about one hour later
than the day before, which
means there will be more
light in the evening.
LIFESTYLES/1C
MARCH 11-12, 2017
141st Year, No. 105
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
HERMISTON
Rancher
indicted on
200 counts of
cattle neglect
Walchli Farms, sheriff’s office
continue to take care of herd
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Mabel Largaespada Dean prepared food for dinner as her son, Luis, takes plates to the table Thursday evening at her home
in Hermiston.
N E W RO OT S
Hermiston woman’s journey to citizenship took the long road
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Mabel Largaespada met Stephen
Dean 11 years ago waiting in line for
a concert at the Silver Saddle Night-
club in Roxboro, North Carolina.
She was 21, he was 20. Though
he was underaged, he bought her a
drink that night.
They fell in love. They got
married. She took his last name.
They had twin boys, Luis and Victor,
now 5. Steve’s construction career
brought them to Hermiston two years
ago. They bought a house. They put
the boys in school. Last year she
started her own janitorial business,
and on Feb. 10 she won a contract
to provide services at Hermiston’s
Eastern Oregon Trade and Event
Center.
One week later, Mabel became a
United States citizen.
Moving north
Mabel was 20 when she arrived
in Roxboro for college from her
home in Managua, the capital of
Nicaragua. She grew up in a tradi-
tional family, where going barefoot
“I’m a big believer that
if you go to another
country, you should
try to communicate in
their language. I’m not
expecting anybody to
understand me.”
— Mabel Largaespada Dean,
proud U.S. citizen
was taboo and relatives tended to be
protective of girls and women.
“When I came (to the U.S) the
girls my age were like, ‘You don’t
know how to drive?’ So I had to
become independent,” she said.
And she worked to speak and
understand English.
“I’m a big believer that if you go
to another country, you should try to
communicate in their language,” she
said. “I’m not expecting anybody to
understand me.”
Because she speaks English
with an accent, people in the South
See MABEL/14A
Contributed photo
Mabel Largaespada Dean poses for a photo
on Feb. 17 after receiving her U.S. citizenship.
A Hermiston rancher may be charged with
200 counts of animal neglect after authorities
discovered dead and malnourished cattle on
his property earlier this year.
Michael Hockensmith, 55, was indicted
Feb. 28 by a grand jury in Umatilla County
Circuit Court. His arraignment is scheduled
for Monday, April 3 before Judge Dan Hill.
The indictment accuses Hockensmith of
14 counts of fi rst-degree animal neglect, and
186 counts of second-degree animal neglect
— one count for each animal in the herd.
All together, the offenses amount to Class
C felonies since more than 10 animals were
involved.
Jake Kamins, a deputy district attorney for
the state of Oregon who specializes in animal
rights cases, has been brought on as a special
prosecutor. Hockensmith has not returned
multiple phone calls by the East Oregonian
for comment.
On Jan. 7, the Umatilla County Sheriff’s
Offi ce arrived at Hockensmith’s Cedar Creek
Cattle Company on Columbia Lane and
South Edwards Road to fi nd 14 dead cattle,
and another 15 animals so malnourished they
could not safely be moved off the pasture.
Since then, the sheriff’s offi ce has assumed
daily care of the cattle, with help from local
farmers and volunteers. Sheriff Terry Rowan
said they have spent more than $30,000 so
far on feed, vaccinations and checkups for
the animals. At least another three have died
since the investigation began, bringing the
overall death toll to 17.
“We would like this case to move more
quickly, but that’s our criminal justice
system,” Rowan said.
Meanwhile, the size of the herd has grown
with the births of new calves, Rowan added.
At last count, there were 204 total animals.
Once Hockensmith is arraigned, Rowan
said the courts will address whether the cattle
will be forfeited. Until then, Walchli Farms of
Hermiston is providing hay and a few ranch
hands to get the animals fed, under the super-
vision of sheriff’s deputies. Walchli Farms
will be reimbursed, Rowan said.
Another obstacle, Rowan said, has been
trying to separate the unusually high number
of bulls within the herd from the rest of the
cows. Deputies hope to address that issue
next week.
“There is an unusual bull-to-cow ratio,”
Rowan said. “It goes back to the mismanage-
ment of the herd.”
Rowan said neighbors should not hesitate
to report any type of suspicious activity
among the herd while the matter proceeds to
court.
PENDLETON
Student dish it out in
Future Chefs Challenge
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Provided a day off
because of an in-service day,
a dozen Pendleton elemen-
tary school students chose
to hang out in the school
cafeteria.
The fourth and fi fth
graders were there to cook,
though, not to eat.
Garbed in black chef’s
uniforms, the students were
in the Sherwood Heights
Elementary School cafeteria
Friday to compete as the
fi nalists in the 2017 Sodexo
Future Chefs Challenge,
a fi rst for the Pendleton
More inside
For photos from the
event see Page 14A
School District.
Earlier in the school year,
fourth and fi fth graders were
asked to submit recipes
based on the theme “healthy
comfort food.”
Sodexo, a food services
company that contracts
with the district to provide
school lunches, chose the 12
best recipes based on their
ingredients, leading them to
See CHEFS/14A
Reptile rescued from residence fi re
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Pendleton fi refi ghters/paramedics Craig Murstig and Marc Proctor give aid to
an iguana they rescued from a burning house Friday on Southwest Goodwin
Avenue. The family and their pet were all unhurt. For the full story see Page 3A.