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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