East Oregonian : E.O., May 27, 2017, WEEKEND EDITION, Image 1

WEEKEND EDITION
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MAY 27-28, 2017
141st Year, No. 160
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WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Found gun,
new charges
in Nelson
homicide
.45 discovered by ODOT work
believed to be used in killing
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Veteran Tom Tangney talks about how his brother died on Heartbreak Ridge during the Korean War on Friday during the
Honoring Our Veterans Day at Pendleton High School.
Bringing sacrifi ce to life
Veterans’ stories help
high schoolers connect
to Memorial Day
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
More inside
About 50 veterans from
eight decades of American wars
converged on Pendleton High
School to remind students that
the upcoming Memorial Day
holiday is about more than
barbecues and a day off from
school.
The veterans were there
as a part of the high school’s
Honoring Our Veterans Day,
where students got a chance to
hear from a number of speakers
on their experiences and what it
means to serve.
One of those veterans was
Jennifer Olson.
Avenue of Flags in
Hermiston pays tribute
to deceased veterans
REGION/3A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
More than 40 veterans gathered to tell their stories of ser-
vice to the county to students during the Honoring Our
Veterans Day on Friday at Pendleton High School.
In an interview before the
event, Olson said she came
from a military family spanning
multiple generations of veterans.
“We have a long history with
the red, white and blue,” she
said.
Olson served for three years
in the Air Force during the Gulf
War and now works as an assis-
tant veterans services offi cer for
Umatilla County.
Memorial Day doesn’t just
commemorate those who died
on the battlefi eld. Olson said
some of the personal losses her
family has felt from the after-ef-
fects of war informs her own
See VETERANS/14A
Thadd Nelson’s homicide on Jan. 27,
2016, outside his Meacham-area home
stemmed from a drug debt, according to
new records in the case.
The court fi lings from Jennifer Martin,
assistant
U.S.
attorney, also asserted
the people looking
for Nelson that night
armed
themselves
with seven guns and
brought rope and a
blowtorch. And a
superseding indict-
ment in the case added
a defendant after McIver
another cut a deal for
20 years in prison and
took an offer from
the Umatilla County
District Attorney’s
Offi ce to plead guilty
to manslaughter.
The discovery of
a .45 caliber pistol
connected to Nelson’s
killing was a key
reason for the latest Vargas
indictment.
Joseph
Aaron
McIver,
Armando
Ruben Vargas, and
Edward Duarte Ayala
faced multiple federal
weapons charges in
the wake of Nelson’s
homicide on Umatilla
Indian Reservation
land. Ayala on April Ayala
20 took a plea deal,
court records show, and admitted he and
at least one co-defendant fi red at Nelson in
his driveway and at the female passenger in
Nelson’s International Scout.
The bullets missed the passenger,
according to the document, but Nelson died
from gunshot wounds from two different
fi rearms.
Ayala pleaded guilty to assault with a
dangerous weapon and use of a fi rearm in
See HOMICIDE/12A
CTUIR, Whitman College deal
seeks to strengthen relationship
College built on
land ceded by tribes
in Treaty of 1855
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Forever linked by the
past, the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation and Whitman
College are turning a new
leaf on their relationship
moving forward.
College and tribal offi -
cials gathered Friday, May
19 on campus in Walla Walla
to sign a memorandum of
understanding that aims to
strengthen recruitment of
Native students, collaborate
on research and provide a
more rounded curriculum on
American Indian studies.
The signing took place
at Treaty Rock, which
commemorates the contro-
versial Treaty of 1855 where
the Umatilla, Cayuse and
Walla Walla tribes ceded
6.4 million acres to the U.S.
government in northeast
Oregon and southeast Wash-
ington. Whitman College
— founded as Whitman
Seminary in 1859 — is
located within that ceded
territory.
While not a legally
binding agreement, the
freshly inked memorandum
See WHITMAN/14A
Big game Hunter
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Stanfi eld’s Hunter Barnes makes a bow and arrow gesture towards his team-
mates in their dugout after hitting a RBI double in the Tigers’ 23-11 win against
Taft on Friday in Stanfi eld. Barnes was fi ve for fi ve at the plate with four RBIs,
a double and a home run. For the full story and more photos see SPORTS 1B.
Hermiston Offi ce:
Pendleton Offi ce:
GLENN SCOTT
JENNIFER OLSON
Veteran's Service Offi cer • 435 E Newport Ave.
Veteran’s Service Offi cer • 17 SW Frazer
Ph: 541.667.3125 • Cell: 541.848.8120
Ph.541.278.5482
glenn.scott@umatillacounty.net
jennifer.olson@umatillacounty.net
VETERANS SERVING VETERANS
NS
LET US ASSIST YOU WITH YOUR BENEFITS
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