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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 11, 2017)
CAR BULLDOGS SHOW START REVS UP FAST REGION/3A 70/45 Oregon Supreme Court will have majority women NORTHWEST/2A SPORTS/1B THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2017 141st Year, No. 148 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD A group of scientists view U.S. Army chemical contamination simulation exercises at the Umatilla Army Depot, occasionally entering ammunition igloos such as this one, where chemical weapons were once stored. The program is called “Scientists in the Foxhole.” Staff photo by Kathy Aney Former guard accused of sex with teen parolee Trysts at Pendleton hotel TRAINING DAYS Soldiers, scientists participate in exercises at Umatilla Army Depot By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN East Oregonian Hundreds of military personnel from the U.S. and Germany descended on the Umatilla Army Depot this weekend, searching through the abandoned bunkers for decoy munitions and nuclear weapons. The exercise, called “Dragon Fire,” involves troops from several CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives) battal- ions, all of whom are learning how to decontaminate an area that may be threatened by weapons of mass destruction. “If called upon, we have to be able to identify and under- stand a nation’s WMD infra- structure, disable it and render it inoperable to some extent, to prevent proliferation,” said Col. Christopher Cox, commander of the 48th Chemical Brigade. “Umatilla is on a former chemical weapons site. Should we need to go somewhere, that provides us the maximum realism. You can’t replicate that anywhere in the U.S.” In addition to troops from around the U.S., about 20 personnel from a German platoon that specializes in decontamination was also at Camp Umatilla, where the two countries were learning a bit more about each other’s opera- tions. “This hasn’t been done before, bringing German troops to the U.S. in a CBRNE environ- ment,” said Maj. Ryan Donald Staff photo by Kathy Aney Two soldiers participate in simulation exercises inside a storage bunker at the Umatilla Army Depot. In this scenario, the pair was collecting evidence from a site where a group had possibly been processing spent nuclear fuel. of the 20th CBRNE command based in Aberdeen, Maryland. “So far it’s been phenomenal. If we can, we’d love to try and continue this.” The exercise took about 15 months to plan and involved more than a thousand people. About 350 troops started the 10-day exercise in Yakima, then they deployed to Satsop in western Washington, the site of a never-completed nuclear power plant. There, the troops were provided scenarios that mimicked potential chemical or nuclear targets they might encounter. Troops had to collect information at the site, some of which sent them to the Umatilla Army Depot. “Obviously, there’s no production. Most pieces of equipment are obsolete,” said Tom Woloszyn. “But for the purpose of the exercise, to represent a country with emerging technology that might want to develop WMDs — we have to replicate how something might be set up.” Woloszyn, the Umatilla base commander from 1999 to 2001, was on site during the training. Woloszyn now works directly with NATO facilitating programs between countries in the alliance. In the early 2000s, Woloszyn was deployed to Iraq as part of the search for weapons of mass destruction. “The trainings here are to prepare for such operations,” said Woloszyn. Woloszyn said one of the most important things about exercises like this one is getting troops from different NATO countries familiar with each others’ processes. “Everybody’s army has been reducing, so we have to work together,” he said. “We have to be each other’s formations. People think NATO is senior leaders, but it’s the people on the ground here.” In several of the bunkers at Umatilla that used to store See TRAINING/8A “If called upon, we have to be able to identify and understand a nation’s WMD infrastructure, disable it and render it inoperable to some extent, to prevent proliferation.” — Col. Christopher Cox, commander of the 48th Chemical Brigade Water on the rise High water levels persist at the McKay Creek Reservoir outside of Pendleton on Wednesday, with more rain forecast for the end of the week according to the National Weather Service. Staff photo by E.J. Harris By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian A former Oregon Youth Authority employee pleaded not guilty Tuesday to trysts at a Pendleton hotel with a teenage girl he once supervised in juvenile prison. Gary Charles Cross, 38, of Jefferson, appeared in Umatilla County Circuit Court, Pendleton, to answer to four misde- meanor charges of fi rst-degree offi cial misconduct and two felony charges of fi rst-degree custodial sexual misconduct. Attorney Justin Morton of Pendleton gave not guilty pleas on behalf of Cross. Oregon State Police detective Ted Moisan in Salem investigated the case but declined to answer questions. Instead, he referred to the 21-page affi davit he wrote for a warrant to seize and search cellphones and Facebook records, as well as security camera footage from the Pend- leton Oxford Suites. The East Oregonian used the state’s public records law to obtain a copy of the affi davit, which provided the following account. Moisan caught the case Aug. 30, 2016, after Dave Manley, the chief investigator with the Youth Authority, reported a possible relationship between Cross and See CROSS/6A PENDLETON Council prepares to implement city goals By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian Shortly after he was elected on May 16, 2016, Pendleton Mayor John Turner sent out a statement laying out his plan to create new goals for the city. A year later, they are ready to be imple- mented. At a Pendleton City Council workshop Tuesday, council members spoke with City Manager Robb Corbett about how staff would measure progress toward each goal. The council spent the following months devising a list of measurables, last discussing a draft of them in March. The goals and their “measures of success” vary in scope and specifi city, but generally adhere to the principals of improving infra- structure, economic development, land development and housing. Infrastructure • Reduce backlog of building main- tenance ($4.3 million) by 3 percent or $130,000 every year. • Reduce $16 million backlog of road maintenance • Maintain road condition • Meet planned replacement schedules for water, sewer and stormwater as per 2015 master plans • Fund emergency equipment plan Economic Development • Increase Transit Room Tax revenue by 10 percent (2016: $1 million) • Increase valuation by more than 3 See PENDLETON/8A