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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2017
142nd Year, No. 31
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
PENDLETON
Offi cer shoots man near busy intersection
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
A Pendleton Police offi cer shot
a man who ran from an altercation
Wednesday night near Walmart.
Pendleton Police Chief Stuart
Roberts said an ambulance
took one victim to St. Anthony
Hospital, Pendleton, and as far
as he knew the shooting involved
only one offi cer. No offi cers were
injured. The offi cer, who was not
immediately identifi ed, is on an
automatic 72-hour leave.
Roberts also said Oregon
State Police would handle the
investigation.
Monte Ludington, Umatilla
County deputy district attorney,
went to the scene in place of
District Attorney Dan Primus,
who is at the Oregon District
Attorneys Association confer-
ence in Gleneden Beach.
The shooting occurred around
8:45 p.m., near the busy inter-
section of Southwest 20th Street
and Court Avenue in Pendleton.
Witnesses said a person ran
from the Walmart parking lot to
Southwest 20th, where an offi cer
shot the person. One witness said
she saw the shooting but did not
want to speak to a reporter. Other
witnesses said they heard multiple
shots, perhaps as many as seven.
Medical supplies remained in
the middle of the street just north
of the access road to Taco Bell
and the nearby Walmart.
Pendleton police, the Umatilla
County Sheriff’s Offi ce and
Oregon State Police troopers all
responded to the scene.
Please visit www.eastore-
gonian.com for updates to this
breaking news story.
Police offi cers
stage near
the scene
of an offi cer
involved
shooting on
Southwest
20th Street
near the
intersection
of Court
Avenue on
Wednesday
in Pendleton.
Staff photo
by E.J. Harris
Audit:
OHA fails
to detect
improper
payments
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
board, CTUIR voters installed a new
person to lead the General Council
— Willie Sigo IV.
Speaking in both Umatilla and
English as Thomas Morning Owl
translated, the former CTUIR
Language Department employee
said he put his whole heart into his
SALEM — Following
news that the state may
have improperly paid or
allocated about $186.4
million in Medicaid
funds, a state audit has
found that the Oregon
Health Authority lacks
suffi cient
processes
to detect and prevent
improper payments.
It also recommends
possible fi xes, saying
that, among other fi nd-
ings, OHA should adopt
certain best practices,
improve data matching
and integrity, and boost
oversight of Medicaid
providers.
The long-anticipated
review was released
Wednesday morning by
the Oregon Secretary
of State’s Offi ce, after
months of negative news
about the state health
agency’s handling of
eligibility and payment
issues in the Medicaid
program.
Medicaid is a health
care program for the
poor and other qualifying
groups, jointly funded
by the state and federal
government. Although
the federal government
shoulders much of the
costs, it’s up to the
states to administer the
program, which is used
by 1 million Oregonians.
See CTUIR/8A
See OHA/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Michael R. Johnson, vice-chairman of the General Council, is sworn in Wednesday along with other newly-elected offi ceholders at the
Nixyaawii Governance Center in Mission.
BOT, councils say ‘I do’
CTUIR members pack the house for swearing-in ceremony
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The audience spilled out into the
lobby at the Nixyaawii Governance
Center Wednesday to witness the
swearing in of the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reser-
vation Board of Trustees, the General
Council and two youth councils.
Tribal Chief Judge William
Johnson directed the members as
they swore to uphold and protect the
Treaty of 1855 between the federal
government and the Walla Walla,
Cayuse and Umatilla tribes and the
CTUIR constitution.
Gary Burke will serve another
term as board chairman and made a
few remarks afterward. Burke said a
two-year term was too short to expect
major changes, but he expected to
begin seeing improvements.
“It takes time to make the plan
right,” he said.
Burke said the board needed
support from the General Council
and youth councils to explain some
decisions to tribal members.
While Burke is a veteran of the
Food processors air grievances at Cleaner Air Oregon
State could add more
regulations by July 2018
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
EO fi le photo
The Lamb Weston frozen potato facility at the Port of Morrow in
Boardman in January 2015.
While few people attended Tues-
day’s public hearing in Pendleton
about proposed regulations for
industrial air polluters, one industry in
particular was on hand to express its
displeasure with Cleaner Air Oregon:
food processing.
According to the state employment
department, food processing makes
up 6 percent of overall employment
in Umatilla County and a whopping
28 percent in neighboring Morrow
County. Food processors accounted
for 3,426 jobs between the two coun-
ties in 2016, along with $143 million
in combined payroll.
But Craig Smith, director of
government affairs for the Northwest
Food Processors Association, said
those companies face another layer
of burdensome regulations under the
Cleaner Air Oregon rules, spearheaded
by Gov. Kate Brown to lower health
risks posed by industrial air emissions.
“We don’t like this rule at all,”
Smith said. “It’s way too broad, and
the cost of the program will be enor-
mous for very little benefi t.”
Smith was one of 14 people who
attended the hearing Tuesday at the
Pendleton Public Library, and half of
those were employees of the Oregon
Health Authority and Department
of Environmental Quality, which
are working to develop the rules.
Similar meetings were held Nov. 15
in Medford, Nov. 16 in Coos Bay and
See AIR/8A