RECORDS
Thursday, December 7, 2017
PUBLIC SAFETY LOG
DEATH NOTICES
TUESDAY
Billy Wayne ‘Bill’ Stalford
12:44 a.m. - Pendleton police received a report of
suspicious activity at Southeast Isaac Avenue and Second
Street involving two ”guys” who got out of a green car,
possibly a Nissan Alitma, then walked through a neigh-
bor’s property, and one of them may have had a knife.
9:01 a.m. - A caller reported spray paint graffiti and
vandalism at the Main Street Park, Heppner.
11:51 a.m. - Staff at the Baltimore Apartments, 180
Baltimore St., Heppner, reported someone broke into a
basement room and stole flashlights, a drill and more.
1:06 p.m. - An Irrigon resident on Wagon Wheel Loop
reported a neighbor plugged an extension cord into her
power and is stealing her electricity.
1:30 p.m. - The Oregon Department of Transportation
was the victim of theft at a rock pit at the junction of
Highway 730 and Highway 207. Oregon State Police
reported the suspect or suspects stole 100 gallons of
diesel fuel, $400 in hand tools and cut out and stole about
50 feet of 2-inch copper wire that has a replacement cost
of $2,880.
2:19 p.m. - Distracted driving was the reason behind a
crash on Highway 11 near Pendleton. Oregon State Police
reported it was not a cellphone, however, that distracted
the 18-year-old female from Athena. Even so, she drifted
off the road in a red Chevrolet Cavalier, over-corrected
and flipped the car. State police also reported she was not
injured, but took an ambulance ride to the hospital as a
precaution.
3:10 p.m. - A Hermiston man reported the theft of his
Glock 19-mm pistol. He told Oregon State Police the crime
occurred at his residence around September or October
2012.
Police have no suspects at this time.
3:15 p.m. - A caller told Hermiston police about finding
a stack of identification and credit cards with different
names in a garbage container on West Sunland Avenue.
3:34 p.m. - Another Hermiston caller reported suspi-
cious activity on Southeast Crestline Drive involving a
slow-going green van with its hood open. The caller said
she talked to the driver, a man in his 20s or 30s, who said
he thought his wife was cheating on him with someone in
the area. She told him to get out of there.
5:42 p.m. - A criminal conviction for domestic violence
assault prevented a 37-year-old man from buying a gun at
Bi-Mart, 901 S.W. Emigrant Ave., Pendleton. Oregon State
Police responded to the denial and advised the man not to
buy a gun until after the four-year waiting period expires.
ARRESTS, CITATIONS
•The Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office at 8:29 p.m.
responded to the Long Branch Cafe & Saloon, 201 E.
Main St., Weston, on a stalking complaint. Deputies
arrested Raul Ureno Alvarez, 32, of 114 W. Water St.,
Weston, for interfering with a peace officer, second-degree
trespass and stalking.
Hermiston
May 8, 1958 - Nov. 29, 2017
Billy Wayne “Bill” Stalford, 59, of Hermiston died Wednesday,
Nov. 29, 2017, in Richland, Wash. He was born May 8, 1958, in
Corvallis. A celebration of life service with military honors will
be held Friday, Dec. 15 at 1 p.m. at the Hermiston Church of the
Nazarene, 1520 W. Orchard Ave. Burns Mortuary of Hermiston
is in care of arrangements. Sign the online condolence book at
burnsmortuaryhermiston.com
Edward Victor ‘Ed’ Verkist
Weston
March 25, 1940 - Dec. 5, 2017
Edward Victor “Ed” Verkist, 77, of Weston died Tuesday, Dec. 5,
2017, at his home. He was born March 25, 1940. Munselle-Rhodes
Funeral Home in Milton-Freewater is in charge of arrangements.
Richard C. Gay
Pendleton
Feb. 24, 1949 - Dec. 5, 2017
Richard C. Gay, 68, of Pendleton died Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2017, at
his home. He was born Feb. 24, 1949. Arrangements are pending
with Pendleton Pioneer Chapel, Folsom-Bishop. Online condo-
lences may be shared at www.pioneerchapel.com
East Oregonian
MEETINGS
For a complete listing
of regional events, visit
easternoregonevents.com
THURSDAY, DEC. 7
ADAMS PLANNING COM-
MISSION, 6:30 p.m., Adams City
Hall, 190 N. Main St., Adams. (541-
566-9380)
FRIDAY, DEC. 8
No meetings scheduled
MONDAY, DEC. 11
IRRIGON FIRE DISTRICT, 7
a.m., Irrigon Fire Department, 705
N.E. Main Ave., Irrigon. (541-922-
3133)
PENDLETON SCHOOL DIS-
TRICT, 6 p.m., Pendleton School
District office, 107 N.W. 10th St.,
Pendleton. (541-276-6711)
HERMISTON SCHOOL DIS-
TRICT, 6:30 p.m., district office,
502 W. Standard Ave., Hermiston.
(541-667-6000)
M I LT O N - F R E E WAT E R
SCHOOL DISTRICT, 6:30 p.m.,
LOTTERY
Tuesday, Dec. 5
UPCOMING SERVICES
THURSDAY, DEC. 7
STONE, MARGARET — Viewing at 10 a.m. followed by a
funeral service at 11 a.m. at Bateman Carroll Funeral Home, 520
W. Powell Blvd., Gresham.
FRIDAY, DEC. 8
No services scheduled
OBITUARY POLICY
The East Oregonian publishes paid obituaries. The obituary can include
small photos and, for veterans, a flag symbol at no charge. Obituaries may
be edited for spelling, proper punctuation and style. Expanded death notic-
es will be published at no charge. These include information about services.
Obituaries and notices can be submitted online at www.eastoregonian.
com/obituaryform, by email to obits@eastoregonian.com, by fax to 541-276-
8314, placed via the funeral home or in person at the East Oregonian office.
For more information, call 541-966-0818 or 1-800-522-0255, ext. 221.
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Central Middle School, 306 S.W.
Second St., Milton-Freewater.
(541-938-3551)
HEPPNER CITY COUNCIL,
7 p.m., Heppner City Hall, 111 N.
Main St., Heppner. (541-676-9618)
MILTON-FREEWATER CITY
COUNCIL, 7 p.m., Milton-Freewa-
ter Public Library Albee Room, 8
S.W. Eighth Ave., Milton-Freewa-
ter. (541-938-5531)
PILOT ROCK FIRE DISTRICT,
7 p.m., Pilot Rock Fire Department,
415 N.E. Elm St., Pilot Rock. (541-
443-4522)
HERMISTON CITY COUNCIL,
7 p.m., Hermiston City Hall council
chambers, 180 N.E. Second St.,
Hermiston. (541-567-5521)
ADAMS CITY COUNCIL, 7
p.m., Adams City Hall, 190 N. Main
St., Adams. (541-566-9380)
ATHENA-WESTON SCHOOL
DISTRICT, 7 p.m., Athena Elemen-
tary School library, 375 S. Fifth St.,
Athena. (Kim Thul 541-566-3551)
TUESDAY, DEC. 12
OREGON WHEAT COMMIS-
SION WEB CONFERENCE, 9-11
a.m., Umatilla Couty Extension,
Blue Mountain Community College
Umatilla Hall, 2411 N.W. Carden
Ave., Pendleton. (Diana Thomp-
son 503-467-2161)
PENDLETON PARKS & REC-
REATION COMMISSION, 12
p.m., Pendleton City Hall commu-
nity room, 500 S.W. Dorion Ave.,
Pendleton. (541-276-8100)
PORT OF UMATILLA COM-
MISSION, 1 p.m., Port of Umatilla
offices, 505 Willamette Ave., Uma-
tilla. (541-922-3224)
PENDLETON
FARMERS
MARKET BOARD, 5:30 p.m.,
Pendleton Early Learning Cen-
ter, 455 S.W. 13th St., Pendleton.
(541-969-9466)
WESTON
CEMETERY
BOARD, 6 p.m., Memorial Hall,
210 E. Main St., Weston. (541-
566-3313)
PENDLETON
LIBRARY
BOARD, 6 p.m., Pendleton Public
Library meeting room, 502 S.W.
Dorion Ave, Pendleton. (541-966-
0380)
LEXINGTON TOWN COUN-
CIL, 7 p.m., Lexington Town Hall,
425 F St., Lexington. (541-989-
8515)
Homelessness jumps for the first time in seven years
By CHRISTOPHER WEBER
and GEOFF MULVIHILL
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — The
nation’s homeless population
increased this year for the first
time since 2010, driven by a
surge in the number of people
living on the streets in Los
Angeles and other West Coast
cities.
The U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Develop-
ment released its annual Point
in Time count Wednesday,
a report that showed nearly
554,000 homeless people
across the country during local
tallies conducted in January.
That figure is up nearly 1
percent from 2016.
Of that total, 193,000
people had no access to
nightly shelter and instead
were staying in vehicles, tents,
the streets and other places
considered uninhabitable. The
unsheltered figure is up by
more than 9 percent compared
to two years ago.
Increases are higher in
several West Coast cities,
where the explosion in
homelessness has prompted
at least 10 city and county
governments to declare states
of emergency since 2015.
City officials, homeless
advocates and those living
on the streets point to a main
culprit: the region’s booming
economy .
Rents have soared beyond
affordability for many lower-
wage workers who until just a
just few years ago could typi-
cally find a place to stay. Now,
even a temporary setback can
be enough to leave them out
on the streets.
“A lot of people in America
don’t realize they might be
two checks, three checks,
four checks away from being
homeless,” said Thomas
Butler Jr., who stays in a
carefully organized tent near
a freeway ramp in downtown
Los Angeles.
Butler said he was in tran-
sitional housing — a type of
program that prepares people
for permanent homes — for a
while but mostly has lived on
the streets for the past couple
of years.
The numbers in the report
back up what many people
in California, Oregon and
Washington have been expe-
riencing in their communities:
encampments
sprouting
along freeways and rivers;
local governments struggling
to come up with money for
long-term solutions; conflicts
over whether to crack down
on street camping and even
feeding the homeless.
The
most
alarming
consequence of the West
Coast homeless explosion is
a deadly hepatitis A outbreak
that has affected Los Angeles,
Santa Cruz and San Diego, the
popular tourist destination in a
county where more than 5,600
AP Photo/Jae C. Hong
A homeless man, who declined to give his name, is dwarfed by skyscrapers Monday in Los Angeles. The U.S.
Department on Housing and Urban Development release of the 2017 homeless numbers are expected to show
a dramatic increase in the number of people lacking shelter along the West Coast.
people now live on the streets
or in their cars. The disease is
spread through a liver-dam-
aging virus that lives in feces.
The outbreak prompted
California officials to declare a
state of emergency in October.
The HUD report under-
scores the severity of the
problem along the West Coast.
While the overall homeless
population in California,
Oregon and Washington grew
by 14 percent over the past
two years, the part of that
population considered unshel-
tered climbed 23 percent
to 108,000. That is in part
due a shortage of affordable
housing.
In booming Seattle, for
example, the HUD report
shows the unsheltered popula-
tion grew by 44 percent over
two years to nearly 5,500.
The homeless service area
that includes most of Los
Angeles County, the epicenter
of the crisis, saw its total
homeless count top 55,000
people, up by more than
13,000 from 2016. Four out
of every five homeless indi-
viduals there are considered
unsheltered, leaving tens of
thousands of people with no
place to sleep other than the
streets or parks.
By comparison, while
New York City’s homeless
population grew to more than
76,000, only about 5 percent
are considered unsheltered
thanks to a system that can
get people a cot under a roof
immediately.
In the West Coast states,
the surge in homelessness has
become part of the fabric of
daily life.
The Monty, a bar in the
Westlake neighborhood near
downtown Los Angeles,
usually doesn’t open until
8 p.m. Partner and general
manager Corey Allen said
that’s because a nearby shelter
requires people staying there
to be in the building by 7.
Waiting until after that to open
means the streets outside are
calmer.
Allen said the homeless
have come into his bar to
bathe in the restroom wash
basins, and employees have
developed a strategy for stop-
ping people from coming in to
panhandle among customers.
Seventy-eight-year-old
Theodore Neubauer sees the
other side of it. Neubauer says
he served in Vietnam but now
lives in a tent in downtown Los
Angeles. He is surrounded by
thriving business and enter-
tainment districts, and new
apartments that are attracting
scores of young people to the
heart of the nation’s second
most populous city.
“Well, there’s a million-
dollar view,” he said.
Helping
those
like
Neubauer is a top policy
priority and political issue in
Los Angeles.
Since last year, voters
in the city and Los Angeles
County have passed a pair of
tax-boosting ballot initiatives
to raise an expected $4.7
billion over the next decade
for affordable housing and
services for the homeless.
HUD Secretary Ben Carson
praised the region for dealing
with the issue and not relying
solely on the federal govern-
ment.
“We need to move a little
bit away from the concept
that only the government can
solve the problem,” he said.
But Mayor Eric Garcetti
said that insufficient federal
funding for affordable housing
and
anti-homelessness
programs are part of the reason
for the city’s current crisis.
“Los Angeles’ homeless-
ness crisis was not created
in a vacuum, and it cannot
be solved by L.A. alone,”
Garcetti said in a statement.
Excluding the Los Angeles
region, total homelessness
nationwide would have been
down by about 1.5 percent
compared with 2016.
The California counties of
Sacramento, which includes
the state capital, and Alameda,
which is home to Oakland,
also had one-year increases
of more than 1,000 homeless
people.
In contrast, the HUD
report showed a long-running
decline in homelessness
continuing in most other
regions. Nationally, the overall
homeless number was down
by 13 percent since 2010 and
the unsheltered number has
dropped by 17 percent over
that seven-year span, although
some changes in methodology
and definitions over the years
can affect comparisons.
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