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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2017
142nd Year, No. 39
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
PENDLETON
HERMISTON
Downtown railroad
gets new fence line
City adds
fee for
‘lengthy’
records
requests
Part of Pendleton
Enhancement program
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
After starting off with subtrac-
tion, the Pendleton Enhancement
Project is in the midst of adding to
the 500 block of South Main Street.
The project — a collaboration
between several local organizations
and government agencies — is
behind the installation of new iron
fencing around the railroad tracks.
According to a press release from
the Pendleton Downtown Asso-
ciation, one of the organizations
involved with the project, the fences
will run from behind the Heritage
Station Museum toward Main
Street. From Main, the fence will
proceed eastward toward Southeast
Third Street. Additional fencing will
be installed at the site of the former
Webb’s Cold Storage building
and on the north side of the Eagles
See FENCES/8A
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Gabriel Chavez, left, and Dan Woellmer, both with Jimco Fence of
Salem, unload sections of fencing while installing a fence along
the north side of the Union Pacifi c Railroad tracks on Monday in
downtown Pendleton.
NOT FORGOTTEN
Helix students show gratitude by laying wreaths on veterans’ graves
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
The graves at Olney Cemetery
normally sit in peaceful environs
disturbed only by the muffl ed
noise of passing cars.
On Sunday, a bugle playing
“Taps” pierced the hush. The
Wreaths
for
Remembrance
ceremony, which also included
Christmas music, a reading and
the posting of the colors by two
members of Let ’er Buck Post
922, was a preamble to the main
purpose of the gathering — laying
wreaths on the graves of veterans
buried in the
sprawling
“It was
Pendleton
cemetery.
really an
Before
sending his honor. These
contingent
were men
of teenagers
and women
forth, Gris-
wold history
who have
teacher Lorin
fought and
Kubishta
instructed his sacrifi ced so
students
to
pause
after much for our
laying each
country.”
wreath and
say the veter- — Alyssa Keene,
Griswold High
an’s name.
School senior
“A person
does
not
truly die until their name is never
spoken again,” Kubishta said.
Armed with cemetery maps,
the teens started at the cemetery’s
American Legion section then
dispersed far and wide around
the grounds looking for veterans’
graves. Community members paid
$20 apiece for the ribbon-fes-
tooned wreaths. Students set
them gently at the base of each
gravestone.
See WREATHS/8A
Public records fees for
the city of Hermiston have
expanded to include email
and other digital formats.
The city council voted
Monday to add $35 per hour
fee to cover staff time for
“lengthy” records requests
that take more than 15
minutes to fulfi ll. The fee will
be charged in increments of
15 minutes.
Previously, fees were
mostly based on reimburse-
ment for the physical record
— such as a printed page or
DVD — instead of based
on the staff time it takes to
compile the information then
redact or format as needed. A
memo to the council estimated
the city spends $21,000 of
staff time on records requests
each year.
City Manager Byron Smith
said the city once fi elded a
request for certain types of
emails that took $2,000 of
staff time to complete but the
person did not pay anything
because they received elec-
tronic copies.
He said the most common
form of records request
was police reports, about
60 percent of which are
requested by insurance
See HERMISTON/8A
PENDLETON
Police chief
would rather
release names
involved in
shooting
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
A Griswold High School student lays a wreath on Sunday at Olney Cemetery in Pendleton as part of
the Wreaths for Remembrance.
PENDLETON
Holiday Stroll features
Santa and tree lighting
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Santa Claus cruised
into downtown Pendleton
on Saturday in a big
red city fi re engine. His
shiny black boots hit the
pavement outside the
Children’s Museum of
Eastern Oregon on Main
Street, and eager children
clamored around the jolly
old elf while parents posi-
tioned for photos.
His arrival marked the
beginning of the Pendleton
Downtown Association’s
second Holiday Stroll, an
event to draw the commu-
nity to downtown for
treats, fun and shopping.
Local merchants said
last year’s stroll worked
in spite of the harsh winter
weather, and this year’s
seemed to be going as well
or better.
Mark Royal served up
sugar cookies and fresh
pretzels at his Rolling
Stone Bakery, 215 S. Main
St. While the stroll was not
underway until 3 in the
afternoon, he said the shop
already had an uptick in
See HOLIDAY/8A
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Caleb Hinkle, 3, poses with Santa as his mom takes a
photo Saturday during the Pendleton Holiday Stroll.
Pendleton Police Chief
Stuart Roberts said if he had
his way, he would release the
identities of the suspect and
offi cers involved in the Nov.
29 police shooting.
Two Pendleton police
were involved that night with
chasing down a theft suspect
from the Walmart, according
to Roberts, before one offi cer
opened fi re after seeing what
police described as “a dark
colored pistol.”
Roberts said he would
prefer to release the names
of everyone involved, but
the “standard operating
procedure” nationwide in
police shootings is to keep
information from the public.
Getting to this point probably
involved plenty of lawyers
and case law, he said, but the
standard does not square with
how police agencies claim
to operate in a transparent
manner.
The circumstances make
it look like police are trying
to hide something, he said,
when that is not the case.
Police and district attorney
offi ces often protect iden-
tities of offi cers involved
in shootings for the sake of
the investigation and not to
See SHOOTING/8A