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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 14, 2017)
LOCALS EARN ALL-STATE HONORS A FLAG WORTH CELEBRATING OPINION/4A 71/50 SPORTS/1B WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 2017 141st Year, No. 172 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD HERMISTON Houfmuse charged with murder By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN East Oregonian Houfmuse Tyree Quaddray Houfmuse, arrested Monday in Umatilla two weeks after being identi- fi ed as a suspect in the killing of James Cragun, was charged Tuesday with murder. The Umatilla County District Attorney’s Offi ce fi led charges of both fi rst-degree manslaughter and murder against Houfmuse, 35, of Tacoma, for the May 27 death of Cragun. The district attorney also fi led a charge of felon in possession of a fi rearm. Houfmuse was arraigned Wednesday afternoon, speaking via video from the Umatilla County Jail, Pend- leton. He was represented by attorney Kara Davis of Inter- mountain Public Defenders. Davis asked to defer entering a plea until the defense had time to look at preliminary police reports and other relevant documents. Prosecutor Jaclyn Jenkins with the Umatilla County District Attorney’s offi ce said it would be possible to get some of those documents to the defense. She asked that Houfmuse be held without bail, due to his charges and repeated offenses. She also PENDLETON asked for a couple of weeks so the case could be taken to a grand jury. Davis insisted bail had to be set. “There’s no facts. We don’t have an indictment yet,” she said. See HOUFMUSE/8A Budget committee advances health care provider tax By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Capital Bureau Staff photo by E.J. Harris Mireya Nieves, 6, Marilla Holden, 9, and Aidan Woodworth, 9, all of Pendleton, sample cheese at the Umapine Creamery booth at the Farmers Market on Friday in Pendleton. Kid chefs take to farmers market Parks and Rec gives lesson with local food By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian In the Pendleton Recreation Center kitchen, Marilla Holden, 9, Brandy Coleman, 9, and Mireya Nieves, 6, huddle around a large cutting board and carefully slice fresh strawberries to make their own shortcake cupcakes. “We’re lucky,” said a grinning Holden. “We get to use knives.” Volunteers kept a close watch on the girls as part of Kids in the Kitchen, a class organized by Pendleton Parks and Recreation. The program is designed to get children interested in food and cooking through hands-on activ- ities such as cupcake decorating and making their own pizza. The theme last Friday was a little different, focusing on the farm-to-table movement. It included a fi eld trip to the rain- soaked Pendleton Farmers Market. Once they returned to the rec center, the kids got busy prepping a colorful garden salad, classic grilled cheese sandwiches and strawberry shortcake dessert. “This tastes and smells really good,” Holden raved as she popped a bit of cupcake into her mouth. Angie Nash, who supervises the class, came up with the idea See FOOD/8A Staff photo by E.J. Harris Angie Nash of Pendleton helps Aurelia Greenwald, 5, of Pendleton, cut radishes during a Kids in the Kitchen cooking class Friday in the Pendleton Recreation Center kitchen. SALEM — The Legislature’s budget-writing committee on Tuesday advanced a bill over Republican objec- tions that would increase the state’s tax on health care providers to cover the costs of expanding Medicaid. The Joint Committee on Ways and Means also advanced Tuesday a $19.9 billion total funds budget for the Oregon Health Authority for the next two years, including $2.2 billion from the state’s General Fund. Both bills now go to the fl oor of the Oregon House of Representatives. The increased tax would raise revenue from hospitals, insurers and coordinated care organizations — the regional networks of providers serving patients on the Oregon Health Plan, Oregon’s version of Medicaid — to help cover the costs of the govern- ment’s health care plan for the poor and other qualifying groups. The bill is expected to raise $673 million in the next two years to fund Medicaid and to help fund reinsurance, a reimbursement system that protects insurers from high claims. Currently, certain urban hospitals are assessed a 5.3 percent provider tax that is set to expire in 2019. The legis- lation would extend the assessment to 2021 and increase it to 6 percent for those hospitals, and establish a new 4 percent on net revenues of rural hospitals. Some Republicans criticized the proposal, contending the costs of care were likely to be shifted to consumers. Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, a member of the committee, voted against advancing the provider tax legislation. See HEALTH/8A PENDLETON T-shirts, teamwork create special Relay for Life quilt Will be raffl ed off to raise money for Cancer Society By TAMMY MALGESINI East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris Cindy Webb, left, made a quilt out of Relay for Life T-shirts owned by Pete Wells as a raffl e item to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Interrupting her husband’s spring cleaning efforts more than a year ago, ElRae Wells came up with an idea to make a quilt to raise money for the American Cancer Society. A former ambassador for Pendleton Relay for Life, Pete Wells was going to get rid of a bunch of his old event T-shirts. “He was going to toss them and I said, ‘No, there is a better way to use them,’” ElRae recalled. “They were either headed to the dump or to the Salvation Army because he was ready to throw them away.” That’s when the idea of a quilt popped into her head. ElRae thought it would be neat to create a quilt out of the shirts and then donate it for a Relay for Life raffl e. However, lacking the needed skills for the project, ElRae began searching for someone willing to take on the task. Pete said his fi rst thoughts were that it was a huge undertaking. However, knowing his wife, Wells said he knew that wouldn’t stop her. “It’s an ambitious project, but she’d done ambitious projects in the past,” he said. “So, I didn’t think it would be a deterrent.” One day while visiting Thimbles Fabric-N-More, a sewer’s paradise in Pendleton, ElRae approached owner Cindy Webb. When Wells asked Webb if she knew anyone who might be willing See QUILT/8A
