WOLVES KILL
ALPACA IN
UNION COUNTY
TRAIL BLAZERS
BREAK 5-GAME
LOSING STREAK
OREGON/2A
SPORTS/1B
33/26
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017
142nd Year, No. 41
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
HERMISTON
Hit-and-run leads to discovery
of large illegal marijuana stash
East Oregonian
Rhoades
An investigation following
a failed traffi c stop early
Wednesday morning led police to
fi nd an illegal marijuana operation
in a Hermiston apartment.
Hermiston arrested Richard
Rhoades, 27, of Hermiston, and
confi scated 75 pounds of mari-
juana, distribution paraphernalia
and multiple guns, including one
that had been reported stolen.
The case began when police
attempted to stop a car for a traffi c
violation at 1 a.m. near the inter-
section of South 1st Street and
West Highland Ave., according
to a press release from Hermiston
police. The driver sped off and
eluded offi cers after a short
pursuit.
With the help of Oregon State
Police, offi cers later found the
vehicle crashed into a house on
SW 16th Street where it had also
hit an electrical supply box. No
one was injured. But the driver,
who police now believe was
Rhoades, was nowhere to be
found.
See MARIJUANA/8A
Photo contributed by Hermiston Police Department
About 75 pounds of marijuana, packaging material,
scales and other paraphernalia, two rifl es and two
handguns — including one reported stolen — were
recovered from an apartment during the investigation
into a hit-and-run in Hermiston.
HEPPNER
PENDLETON
DA confi rms
identities of
offi cers, victim
in shooting
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
of three. Shuffl ed to 38 foster
homes throughout her youth,
she fell out of a tree when she
was 14, and her injuries left her
paralyzed from the waist down.
Workman ran into another
challenge about three years ago,
when Les, her husband of 29
years, passed away.
“It breaks my heart,”
Workman said. “I loved him
Baker County District Attorney
Matt Shirtcliff confi rmed Wednesday
the identities of the offi cers and suspect
in the recent Pendleton police shooting.
Shirtcliff said Sgt. Tyler Reddington
shot Matthew Hoisington Nov. 29. Cpl.
Jon Lehman also was involved in the
incident but did
not fi re his gun.
Shirtcliff said
he was reviewing
records
and
reports and hoped
to release details
soon.
The shooting
happened
the
night of Nov. 29
on Southwest 20th Reddington
Street near the
intersection with
Court
Avenue.
Pendleton Police
Chief
Stuart
Roberts is out
of the offi ce but
has said offi cers
chased a theft
suspect from the
Walmart
store, Lehman
and the suspect
had a “dark colored pistol.”
Roberts earlier this week advocated
for releasing the names of the offi cers
and the suspect and said the offi cers
passed psychological evaluations in
the wake of the shooting. Both offi cers
returned from administrative leave on
Wednesday, said city attorney Nancy
Kerns.
The East Oregonian independently
confi rmed Hoisington was the shooting
victim and was working on identifying
Reddington and Lehman when Shirt-
cliff called. He is handling the shooting
investigation because Umatilla County
See WORKMAN/8A
See SHOOTING/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Lelia Workman, who is paraplegic and deaf, has been without the use of her powered wheelchair since Thanksgiving. The
Heppner resident has also been sleeping at nights in the broken power chair due to not having a proper bed.
Hoping for a helping hand
Paraplegic deaf widow struggling with home and broken wheelchair
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Though she can’t walk or
hear, Lelia Workman does most
things for herself. Deaf and para-
plegic, she lives in Heppner with
her service dog Sam. She counts
hunting, sewing and gardening
among her hobbies. Most
recently, she began teaching free
American Sign Language classes
downtown.
But recently, Workman has
run into some diffi cult times. And
community members are hoping
to help her fi nd a solution.
“She can live by herself, she
doesn’t need to go to a nursing
home,” said Jodi Segraves,
Workman’s friend and caregiver.
“She just needs a good provider.”
Workman spent much of
Wednesday morning in the
hospital with what she worried
was a broken rib, a continuation
of the unlucky streak she’s
been riding. On Thanksgiving,
Workman’s power wheelchair
broke, seriously limiting her
mobility. The use of the manual
wheelchair has put extra stress
on her arms and causes strain to
her upper body.
A string of roadblocks
Workman was not born deaf
or paraplegic, as she is now.
She was beaten by her parents,
and lost her hearing at the age
Pendleton council takes pledge, passes on prayer
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Pendleton city councilor Dale Primmer, second from right, ex-
presses his views on whether or not the council should start
their meeting with an invocation during a work session Tuesday.
The Pendleton City Council has
come to the consensus that prayers are
private but pledges can be public.
At a workshop Tuesday, the council
discussed adding an opening invoca-
tion and the pledge of allegiance to its
regular meeting agenda.
The issue was brought up at the
behest of councilor Paul Chalmers,
who said prayers were already a part
of the council rule book. He added that
he had seen other governing bodies
open their meetings with prayers.
For him, invocations were about
recognizing personal weaknesses and
asking a higher power for wisdom.
“I understand the concept of invo-
cation because I believe as human
beings we need divine intervention
“If we are able to stand
together and say the
pledge, then we know,
at least for that one mo-
ment, we’re all together.”
— Becky Marks,
Pendleton city councilor
more times than we would like to
admit,” said Chalmers, a member of
the Pendleton First Assembly of God
Church.
The rules of public prayer
Nancy Kerns, Pendleton’s city
attorney, said the council had discon-
tinued invocations in the early to
mid-1980s over worries that it violated
See COUNCIL/8A