East Oregonian : E.O., August 17, 2017, Image 1

RALLY SUPPORTS BUCKAROOS
MEN ON TRIAL THRILLED TO
FOR BUNKERVILLE BE BACK
REGION/3A
88/56
SPORTS/1B
THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2017
141st Year, No. 218
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
UmCo
considers
tobacco
licensing
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Taking a bite out of the old fairgrounds
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
An excavator picks up a piece of concrete from the foundation of the old Farm-City Pro Rodeo Arena on Wednesday in
Hermiston. The Hermiston School District is also making safety improvements to two schools this summer. For more on
that story and the fairgrounds demolition see Page 3A.
See TOBACCO/8A
PENDLETON
The price of policing big events
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Crime doesn’t pay but public
safety does come with a price.
Pendleton Fire Chief Mike
Ciraulo can name the exact price
he charged for his department’s
services at the two massive
tourist events so far this summer.
For his staff’s time and
resources, Ciraulo charged the
organizers of Pendleton Whisky
Music Fest $2,622 and the
promotional company behind
the “Nitro in the Blues” hill
climb $2,592 to have emergency
personnel on the scene at each
event.
But these fees don’t account
for the resources spent on
treating tourists who are drawn to
Pendleton for these events.
Ciraulo said he has enough
staff and resources to handle the
increasingly popular one-two
punch of Whisky Fest and
Pendleton Bike Week. But as
city offi cials seek more events of
the size and scale of the concert
and motorcycle rally, local public
safety offi cials are thinking
about how to recoup the cost of
providing their services to the
thousands of people that pack
Umatilla County health offi cials want
cities to require retailers to have a license
to sell tobacco and nicotine.
Mariah Hinds, the county health
department’s tobacco prevention coordi-
nator, said the licensing program is geared
toward preventing sales to youth.
Hinds spoke to the county board of
commissioners about the plan Wednesday
in Pendleton. The county program would
include a retail license for the sale of
tobacco, Hinds explained, and a prohi-
bition on the sale of tobacco to minors.
The County Environmental Health
Department would inspect each retailer at
least once per year. She said other areas of
the country have established similar local
laws and experienced major declines in
youth obtaining tobacco.
Hinds said a licensing program allows
the county to oversee tobacco and nicotine
sales in their jurisdictions. The county
board voted 3-0 to allow health department
staff to ask cities and other jurisdictions
Eclipse plans for
procrastinators
By TIM TRAINOR
East Oregonian
strokes, seizures.
On the other hand, the
younger audience brought to
The total solar eclipse is now four days
from fl ashing across Eastern Oregon. And
if you haven’t made plans yet, the race is
on to claim enough space to witness the
planetary oddity overhead.
You’re too late for hotel rooms in
Eastern Oregon’s totality zone, and the few
Airbnb offerings
still available
come with very
hefty price tags
SOLAR
— you could get
a six-bedroom
ECLIPSE
villa in Sicily for
2017
the same price.
A
quick
4 days left
check at the site
reveals
these
desperate options: You can reserve a $400
campsite in Shaniko. There’s a seven-bed-
room log cabin available in Mitchell for
$5,000 per night (2-night minimum). In
Condon, just outside the zone of totality,
you can rent a home for $3,000 a night.
On vrbo.com there are $166 campsites
still open for Saturday night outside of
Mitchell, but they’re booked up solid
Sunday and Monday. Prices are similar
See POLICE/8A
See ECLIPSE/8A
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Audience members fuel up on whisky and beer during the second annual Pendleton Whisky
Music Fest on July 15.
Pendleton for these events.
Ciraulo said the type of calls
varies during big gatherings.
Pendleton Bike Week tends
to attract an older crowd, the fi re
chief said, and rally attendees
tend to need emergency services
for the type of ailments that
would affl ict them regardless of
where they are — heart attacks,
Conspirator linked to reservation homicide gets seven years
Joseph McIver pleads guilty
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Phil Wright
Joseph Aaron McIver readies for a Umatilla County
sheriff’s deputy to take him to jail Wednesday from circuit
court in Hermiston after pleading guilty to manslaughter
for the 2016 death of Thadd Nelson of Meacham.
Joseph Aaron McIver is headed to prison
for more than seven years for his role in the
2016 shooting death of Thadd Nelson of
Meacham.
McIver, 23, of Umatilla, showed up
Wednesday afternoon to circuit court in Herm-
iston in blue jeans and a blue plaid button
shirt. Friends and family surrounded him.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit
burglary and second-degree manslaughter.
Judge Dan Hill asked McIver if he was
pleading guilty because he committed the
crimes.
“Yes,” McIver replied.
The plea came after a deal with the
Umatilla County District Attorney’s Offi ce
and federal prosecutors. McIver pleaded guilty
on Aug. 8 in U.S. District Court, Portland, to
felon in possession of a fi rearm, according to
federal court records. The charge stems from
the Nelson homicide, which occurred on the
Umatilla Indian Reservation.
Per C. Olson, McIver’s defense attorney in
the federal case, said his client was remorseful
and was not a major player in the crime. He
added McIver is young enough to turn his life
around and has a 3-year-old child.
Hill asked McIver if he wanted to make a
statement. McIver declined.
Umatilla County District Attorney Dan
Primus said Nelson’s family was not in court
but he had been in contact with them.
Hill sentenced McIver to the mandatory
minimum term of six years and four months
for the manslaughter and two years and six
months more for the burglary charge. But
Olson stated McIver would get 18 months
credit for jail time already served.
That reduces his total sentence to seven
years, four months. He will serve the time
concurrent with the federal prison term, but
See COURT/8A