REGION
Saturday, October 28, 2017
Man shot with bean bag
round still in hospital
JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
A member of a forest
work crew is recovering
after being shot with a bean
bag round on a dare Tuesday
night.
Gregory Barron, 29, of
Reno, Nevada, was shot
in the upper thigh at the
Frazier Campground near
the Umatilla-Union county
line while a group of people
were drinking and cele-
brating. According to reports
from the Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Office, Barron and
Austin Vaught, 28, agreed
to shoot each other with the
bean bag rounds on a dare.
Vaught, a Greenville, Texas,
resident, was not shot.
Sheriff’s Capt. Dave
Williamson said Barron
was still in Grande Ronde
Hospital in La Grande
and that his condition was
stable, but deputies had not
yet been able to speak to
him. A spokesperson for the
hospital declined to confirm
Barron’s condition.
Ian Reid, the district
ranger for the North Fork
John Day Ranger District,
said the two men were with
his group, a 20-person crew
of veterans from all branches
of the armed services that
spend the summer thinning
forest and working as an
initial fire suppression crew
during the summer.
Reid said he had been
gone all week and was not
present when the incident
happened.
The men were off duty
when the incident happened,
Reid said, and may have
been done with their
temporary employment for
the season. Reid said he had
not yet spoken to Barron or
Vaught, but hoped to speak
with both of them and make
sure they are OK.
“I’m sure he probably
feels a lot of remorse,” Reid
said. “It was an accident. It’s
a very tight-knight group.”
Bean bag rounds are
classified as “less lethal”
ammunition that can be shot
from a shotgun or rifle. The
rounds are supposed to hit a
larger area and not penetrate
the body. They spread out
in flight and distribute the
impact of the round over the
target. They are sometimes
used by police to slow or
suppress someone. Though
not necessarily lethal, they
are still dangerous and can
be fatal if shot from too
close or at a vital organ.
Cause of shed fire at
mobile homes unknown
East Oregonian
A shed in a Hermiston
mobile home park caught
fire Friday morning, sending
a column of smoke into the
sky and sending residents of
the park out of their homes.
No one was reported to be
injured, and the cause of the
fire is still unknown.
The back shed at a home
in Vista Park Mobile Home
Park, on Northeast 10th
Street, caught fire, spreading
to the awning of the home.
According to park manager
Pat Hughes, the home itself
was not burned.
Hughes said he and a
few other residents were
trying to fight the flames
before firefighters got there,
in efforts to save the house.
Several water tenders and
ambulances from Umatilla
County Fire District arrived
on the scene shortly after the
fire started.
Hughes said he was not
sure if anyone was in the
home at the time of the fire,
but that three or four people
live there.
Cole Willenberg, who
lives in the home where
the shed caught fire, said
he was at a friend’s house
when he came outside and
saw smoke coming from his
home.
Another resident said
there were several family
heirlooms in the shed.
East Oregonian
Page 3A
PENDLETON
Teen suffers life-threatening injuries
Underwent emergency
surgery, making
remarkable recovery
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Pendleton High School
sophomore Tristan Morris
is recovering after suffering
life-threatening injuries in a
crash.
His
father,
David
Morris of Adams, said the
16-year-old boy was driving
Wednesday at about 7:45
a.m. on Cayuse Road when
his car ended up in a ditch.
An ambulance transported
Tristan to St. Anthony
Hospital, Pendleton, then to
an emergency helicopter that
flew him to Oregon Health &
Science University, Portland.
Tristan,
16,
suffered fractures
in his face and
other
injuries,
David Morris said.
His son also under-
went emergency
surgery Thursday
morning in which
doctors removed
a part of his skull
to allow for brain Morris
swelling.
Since
then,
Tristan has shown remark-
able recovery, his father said,
and is now breathing on his
own.
“Now it’s just monitoring
him 24 hours a day,” Morris
said.
Tristan is a big game
hunter and plays baseball
and basketball, David Morris
said, but the long recovery
he faces could hamper
those endeavors. Morris
also thanked school sports
teams, family and friends for
their outpouring of love and
support for Tristan.
PHS student Cora Theis
opened a donations web
page Friday with a $20,000
goal to help pay for Tristan’s
medical expenses. The effort
raised more than $2,400 in its
first four hours.
The crash was the first of
several in recent days that
sent locals to hospitals.
Travis Hoeft, 27, of
Flower
Open 7 days
A week
Topicals
Edibles
8-10
Mon-Sat
Concentrates
and more
10-10
Sunday
Adults 21+ • Keep Out of Reach of Children • Do not drive while under the infl uence of Marijuana
McKay Creek Estates
Tuesday, October 31, 3:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Families, friends and little spooks and goblins are
invited for a festive and fun time!
Please join us for a Halloween Party, Trick-or-Treating and a Costume Contest. Only
residents with a pumpkin on their door will be participating in the Trick-or-Treating.
Costume contest for Spooky babies, Spooky mid-size & Spooky adults.
For more information, please call (541) 276-1987.
McKay Creek Estates
1601 Southgate Place, Pendleton, OR 97801
www.PrestigeCare.com
Contributed photo by Shawn Penninger
This head-on crash Thursday near Pendleton sent the two drivers to hospitals.
Pendleton,
and
Jack Mann, 49, of
Pilot Rock, went to
separate hospitals
after a head-on
crash
Thursday
around 5 p.m. near
Pendleton.
The Umatilla
County Sheriff’s
Office in a written
statement reported
Hoeft was driving
a Dodge Ram pickup on
Hoeft Road when he crossed
into the oncoming lane and
smashed into a Chevrolet
Silverado. The head-on crash
trapped Mann, the Chevro-
let’s driver.
The Pendleton Fire and
Ambulance
Department
responded to the wreck,
along with sheriff’s deputies,
Pilot Rock fire and police and
the commercial emergency
service LifeFlight. Emer-
gency workers freed Mann
and a helicopter ambulance
flew him to Kadlec Regional
Medical Center, Richland,
Washington.
Hoeft also suffered inju-
ries; a ground ambulance
took him to St. Anthony
Hospital, Pendleton.
The sheriff’s office did
not report information about
their injuries. St. Anthony
Contributed photo by Shawn Penninger
A LifeFlight helicopter lifts Thursday with one patient
after a head-on crash Thursday near Pendleton.
treated and released Hoeft,
and Kadlec staff reported
Mann was not at the hospital.
The sheriff’s office also
reported Hoeft received a
citation for careless driving.
And Pendleton emer-
gency crews Friday morning
freed another driver. The city
fire department responded to
the westbound side of Inter-
state 84 near milepost 225 to
assist the Umatilla Tribal Fire
Department with the crash of
a semitrailer. First responders
removed the driver from the
rig after extensive work.
Shawn Penninger, Pend-
leton’s assistant fire chief,
stated in an email this was
the first time the department
used its new extrication
equipment to help save a life.
He added Pendleton’s fire
bond, which voters approved
in November, paid for the
equipment
The driver was seriously
injured, according to the
statement, and fog grounded
the LifeFlight helicopter. A
ambulance took the victim
to St. Anthony Hospital,
Pendleton.
Agencies have not identi-
fied the driver.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0833.