REGION
Thursday, September 28, 2017
BRIEFLY
HERMISTON
Investigation turns
up no answers in
wrong-way crash
ARLINGTON — Oregon
State Police identified
Charles Eugene Bockman
as the driver who died in a
head-on crash Sept. 18 at
Arlington.
State police Lt. Les
Kipper of The Dalles said
the investigation has not
determined how Bockman,
70, of Sequim, Washington,
ended up driving west on the
eastbound lanes.
The crash occurred
around 7:45 p.m. on the
eastbound side of I-84
at milepost 137 on the
Arlington overpass. Kipper
said Bockman may have
entered the interstate the
wrong way at milepost 147
or somehow reversed his
direction on the freeway.
State police reported it
received calls around 7:40
that night about a wrong-way
driver near milepost 141.
Bockman’s green 2003
Ford Windstar struck a
semi tractor-trailer carrying
vehicles. The semi caught
fire, completely blocking
all lanes of the interstate for
several hours.
Bockman died at the
scene. The driver of the
semi, Santos Colunga, 24,
of California, received
treatment at the scene for
non-life threatening injuries.
Apartments
evacuated after
smoke alarm
PENDLETON — After
the Security Apartments were
evacuated and the 100 block
of Southwest Court Avenue
closed off from traffic early
Wednesday afternoon, the
Pendleton Fire Department
allowed residents to return to
their units after approximately
30 minutes.
Fire Chief Mike Ciraulo
said multiple fire alarms went
off at the three-story complex
at 130 S.W. Court Ave., at
approximately 1:30 p.m.
Firefighters placed a fan in
the complex’s front entrance,
wafting the smell of smoke
into the surrounding sidewalk,
where more than a dozen
tenants were milling about.
Ciraulo said firefighters
went through the complex
looking for the source,
scanning the building with
thermal imaging cameras,
but couldn’t find any heat
signatures. Once the smoke
odor was cleared with the
fan, it did not return.
The fire chief suspected a
ballast in a fluorescent light
had burned out, which often
causes a burning smell but
isn’t a major safety threat.
Ciraulo told the tenants
that they could call the fire
department again if the
smell returned, but the fire
suppression sprinklers were
well equipped to deal with
any outbreaks.
Page 3A
STANFIELD
Police chase on
back roads ends
with two arrests
Man charged
with 50 counts
of sex crimes
MILTON-FREEWATER
— Jeffrey Allen Pierce of
Milton-Freewater pleaded not
guilty Wednesday afternoon
to 50 counts of sex crimes.
The Umatilla County
District Attorney’s Office
alleged Pierce committed the
crimes against one girl.
Milton-Freewater Police
Chief Doug Boedigheimer in
a written statement reported
his officers arrested Pierce,
40, on a warrant Wednesday
stemming from a Umatilla
County grand jury indictment.
The grand jury found the
abuse began in 2008 when
the girl was younger than 12
and continued through 2013,
according to the 13-page
indictment, which lists four
counts of second-degree
sodomy, 22 of first-degree
sodomy, and 24 of first-de-
gree sexual abuse. All the
charges are felonies under
Oregon’s Measure 11 and
carry mandatory minimum
sentences upon conviction.
Boedigheimer stated
Pierce’s arrest concluded
a complex and lengthy
investigation involving
Milton-Freewater police,
the Oregon Department
of Human Services Child
Welfare Division and the
Umatilla County District
Attorney’s Office.
Circuit Judge Jon
Lieuallen of Pendleton
set bail for Pierce at $2.5
million. Pierce’s next court
appearance is Oct. 27.
East Oregonian
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Jayati Ramakrishnan
Cristal Alatorre Perez, a dietary interviewer, talks with Chris Woltman during the
NHANES survey.
Health survey comes
to Umatilla County
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
The four long, white
trailers on the former
Umatilla County Fair-
grounds might look out
of place amid the rubble,
but nurses and doctors are
hard at work inside. A team
from the National Health
and Nutrition Survey is in
Umatilla County for the next
month, conducting inter-
views and examinations on
selected participants from
around the county.
The survey team travels
to 15 different counties
around the United States
each year and collects health
data. The data are then used
to create statistics that the
Centers for Disease Control
publish about the health of
people in the U.S.
In each county the team
visits, they identify about
450 people to be surveyed.
From that population, they
hope about 350 will partic-
ipate.
“With the 15 counties,
we’re trying to match the
U.S. population,” said study
manager Janis Eklund.
That means the people
they select are picked based
on age, race, gender and
socioeconomic status —
with the hopes that they
can find a collection of
participants that mirrors the
population of the country.
However, Eklund said,
they select random home
addresses and visit those
homes to see if the person
living there fits a demo-
graphic they need.
Eklund said so far, they
have identified about 300
people, and they will start
examinations
Thursday.
They will be in Umatilla
County until Oct. 31.
The examinations this
year include dental, dietary,
hearing and body mass
scans. They also draw blood
and test participants’ blood
pressures using both an old
and a new machine.
The data they collect
is used to study a variety
of health trends across the
U.S., including anemia,
diabetes,
cardiovascular
diseases, obesity and sexu-
ally transmitted diseases.
All the information
participants give is confi-
dential, Eklund said.
Eklund said every few
years, some of the tests will
change based on medical
research.
The staff that work for
the survey spend much
of the year on the road,
conducting examinations in
different counties.
Rita Washko, a doctor
with the survey team,
has been traveling with
NHANES for about 12
years.
She said it’s been inter-
esting seeing how different
the various parts of the
United States are, health-
wise.
“The biggest difference
I’ve seen is the difference
in blood pressure control
throughout the country,”
she said. “There are some
regions where it’s much
higher.”
Washko would not say
specifically where, but she
“The biggest
difference I’ve
seen is the
difference in
blood pres-
sure control
throughout the
country.”
— Janis Eklund,
National Health and
Nutrition Survey manager
said she has also noticed
that in rural areas she tends
to see older people that are
more physically robust.
Washko said one of the
challenges with the survey
job is the lack of follow-up.
“Say you have an
abnormal CBC (complete
blood count). I speak to the
person so they understand,
and send them off, but I
never find out what happens.
That’s a big disconnect, and
I had to get used to that.”
But she noted that the
primary goal of those
working for NHANES is to
collect data.
“We’re collecting data
that affects the entire popu-
lation.”
Those who participate in
the study are compensated
$125, plus a transportation
fee.
–——
Contact
Jayati
Ramakrishnan at 541-564-
4534 or jramakrishnan@
eastoregonian.com.
PENDLETON
Arts center’s new coordinator
wants to expand youth outreach
East Oregonian
Kaisa Hill may have
moved out of the classroom,
but intends to stay focused
on youth at the Pendleton
Center for the Arts.
Hill, the art center’s new
outreach and education coor-
dinator, is getting acquainted
with the nonprofit’s opera-
tions as its fall programming
gets into full swing.
The center’s after-school
art program started this
week, and music and clay
classes are also underway.
It’s Hill’s job to help
coordinate and promote
these events, and she’s
learning on the job. Hill
replaces Bonnie Day, who
held the job since 2014.
Hill came to Pendleton
from Tualatin six years
ago, not as an artist but as
a teacher. Hill taught sixth
grade science at Sunridge
Middle School before her
hiring at the arts center.
Hill said she loved
teaching, but she was
intrigued by the option of
trying something new with
the arts center.
Arts center Executive
Director Roberta Lavadour
said the position fielded six
qualified applicants, but
Hill’s experience with chil-
dren stood out. Lavadour
said Day did a good job of
Staff photo by Antonio Sierra
Kaisa Hill is the new outreach and education coordi-
nator for the Pendleton Center for the Arts.
building a structure to bring
in more youth, and it is now
Hill’s duty to populate it.
Lavadour said one idea the
arts center is considering is
holding a Halloween costume
contest during trick or treating
on Main Street, which could
bring more children across the
Umatilla River.
For her part, Hill wants
to expand the arts center’s
youth programming by
doing
more
outreach,
especially with teens at high
schools and middle schools.
Although she may not
have experience in this kind
of position, Hill is already
starting to see some parallels
between her old job and her
new one.
“I can handle work at a
fast pace,” she said.
Two local offenders
ended up in jail after trying
to flee Stanfield police.
The
chase
began
Wednesday at about 12:40
a.m., according to a written
statement from Stanfield
police, when officer Cody
Marcum attempted to pull
over a vehicle that failed to
stop at the Stanfield inter-
section of West Coe Avenue
and Sherman Street.
“The vehicle was also
swerving into the oncoming
traffic lane and driving in a
reckless manner,” Stanfield
police reported.
Marcum attempted to
contact the driver, who hit
the gas pedal and headed
south onto Echo Meadows
Road, then turned west.
Stanfield police reported
pursuit speeds ranged
from 65-90 mph with the
majority of the incident
taking place on gravel roads
at slower speeds.
Stanfield Police Chief
Bryon Zumwalt said the
passenger in the fleeing
vehicle even shined a
rechargeable LED spotlight
on the police car windshield
to impede officers.
Members
of
the
Umatilla County Sheriff’s
Office, Morrow County
Sheriff’s Office and Oregon
State Police joined the
chase. Zumwalt said state
police set out spike strips,
which ended the pursuit
on Frontage Road near
the former tree farm near
Boardman.
Stanfield police arrested
the driver, Victor Flores
Martinez, 39, of Boardman,
for felony attempt to elude
a police officer, reckless
driving, recklessly endan-
gering another, and on two
felony warrants. Police
arrested the passenger,
Frank Jesse Walker, 38,
of Umatilla, for recklessly
endangering another and
interfering with a police
officer.
Zumwalt
said
the
charges of reckless endan-
gering and interfering apply
to Marcum and Jason Post,
a Umatilla County sheriff’s
deputy.
Umatilla
County
Circuit Court records show
Martinez and Walker have
misdemeanor and felony
convictions going back to
the late 1990s. The pair
remain in the Umatilla
County Jail, Pendleton.
PENDLETON
No gun found after
threat, lockout
East Oregonian
Pendleton High School
was put on a brief lockout
Wednesday
afternoon
after the Pendleton Police
Department received a
report that a 17-year-old
planned to shoot a PHS
student.
Police Chief Stuart
Roberts said a third party
reported that the teenage
male intended to hide on the
Pendleton River Parkway
and shoot a high school
student he had gotten into
a conflict with earlier in the
day.
Police canvassed the
area, found the 17-year-old
in plain sight on the
parkway and took him
into custody. Authorities
searched a backpack the
male was carrying on him
but didn’t find a gun.
While in custody, the
17-year-old, a former Pend-
leton High School student
who had dropped out, told
police that he and the high
school student had been
“horsing around” by the
Umatilla River earlier in
the day that resulted in the
17-year-old thrown into the
river.
After the incident, the
juvenile talked with another
person about potentially
shooting the high school
student, who then reported
the conversation to police.
After police took him
into custody, the juvenile
told authorities that he and
the student stayed in touch
through their phones and
worked out their problem.
Roberts said they didn’t
charge the 17-year-old with
a crime and returned him to
his mother’s custody.
The high school lockout
went from 2:34 p.m. to 2:55
p.m. By local definition, a
school lockout is when staff
lock the external entrances
and exits to a school but
otherwise maintain normal
operations internally.