REGION
Friday, July 20, 2018
California man sentenced to prison for
Umatilla Indian Reservation shooting
East Oregonian
A California man was
sentenced Thursday for a
March 2016 fatal shoot-
ing on the Umatilla Indian
Reservation.
Victor Joseph Contreras,
23, will serve 150 months in
federal prison. In July 2017
he pleaded guilty to one
count of assault resulting
in serious bodily injury and
one count of pos-
on people leav-
ing a party after
session of a firearm
they were asked
in furtherance of a
to leave. Simpson
crime.
shot a victim in the
According to a
back of the head,
news release from
who later died
the Department of
from his injuries.
Justice, which cites
Contreras fired
court documents,
20 rounds into a
Contreras
along
crowd that was
with his co-defen- Contreras
dant Julian Darryl
leaving the party,
James Simpson opened fire one of which hit a victim in
East Oregonian
Page 3A
HERMISTON
the ankle. Contreras then fled
the scene and was arrested
shortly after, while Simpson
was arrested a week later in
Lewiston, Idaho.
Simpson pleaded guilty
to second degree murder in
October 2017 and was sen-
tenced to 25 years in prison.
Upon completion of their
respective sentences, they
will both serve 5-year super-
vised releases.
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
TRCI food services manager Matt Vester, left, and
superintendent Troy Bowser present a check to (left
to right) Debbie Pedro, Fran Rice, Brad Wayland and
Briana Cortaberria of Leadership Hermiston.
Toadally cool dude
TRCI inmates donate
more than $4,000 to
Leadership Hermiston
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A toad tries to blend in near the banks of the Umatilla River on Wednesday in Pendleton.
Convention Center hires new caterers
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
The Pendleton Conven-
tion Center will have a new
chef in the kitchen soon.
OutWest Catering, the
company that provided food
for events at the convention
center, will no longer be the
catering service. After put-
ting the catering contract up
for bid in January, a selec-
tion committee chose CG
Public House and Catering,
from Kennewick. They will
take over on Aug. 1.
Pendleton Convention
Center Manager Pat Beard
said the business will have
an office in Pendleton, and
all their Oregon events will
be coordinated out of that
space.
OutWest owner Patti
Fairbank said she had been
catering out of the conven-
tion center kitchen for 15
years.
Fairbank said for larger
events she would employ
between 15 and 20 people
and for smaller events, about
six. She said none of those
employees will be moving
on to the new company.
She said she decided to
resign and close her business
shortly after the announce-
ment that the center would
put the catering spot up for
bid. She said she knew of a
few applicants for the posi-
tion, including her daugh-
ter-in-law, who had worked
with her for 14 years.
Fairbank said she has
already resigned and moved
to Illinois, but some of her
former employees are down
at the convention center this
week, preparing for Pendle-
ton Bike Week, OutWest’s
last event.
She was surprised the
committee decided to select
an out-of-town business to
take on the role.
“It would have been won-
derful if it had stayed in
Pendleton,” she said.
Beard said the Conven-
tion Center has three-year
contracts with catering com-
panies and that when Fair-
bank retired, they began
looking for another com-
pany to take over.
Beard said the process
included a request for pro-
posal, and the position
had to be advertised for
three months. He said they
received bids from three
companies, but one opted
not to come for an interview.
A committee of 10 people,
including convention cen-
ter board members, custom-
ers, local business people
and city employees inter-
viewed the remaining two
candidates.
A subcommittee of three
did some further vetting, and
Beard said the committee
unanimously recommended
CG Public House to Pendle-
ton City Council.
Regarding
complaints
that the business was from
out-of-state, Beard said
local laws prevent organiza-
tions from awarding a con-
tract to a business based on
their location.
“Following state law and
city ordinance, we can never
consider locale,” he said.
Beard said he is excited
about the changes the new
company will bring.
“It was a very positive
opportunity for us,” he said.
Fairbank said she had
lots of good memories from
her time at the convention
center.
“I don’t even know
how many prime ribs I’ve
cooked,” she said. “It’s been
a wonderful experience.
I’m going to miss all my
Happy Canyon boys, all the
organizations.”
Leadership Hermiston
got a boost in funds after
Two Rivers Correctional
Institution inmates chose
to fundraise for the pro-
gram that tours TRCI each
year.
The Greater Hermiston
Area Chamber of Com-
merce was presented with
a $4,321 check Thursday.
The chamber offers Lead-
ership Hermiston to a class
of about 20 people who
live or work in Hermiston
each year, to learn about
the city and get involved in
a group service project of
the class’s choosing.
Public Safety Day
includes a tour of the “city
within a city” that is the
prison.
“It’s a great opportunity
for folks in our region to
see what you do out here,”
chamber director Debbie
Pedro told superintendent
Troy Bowser. “It’s one of
the best things we do.”
Brad Wayland, who was
in the Leadership Hermis-
ton cohort that graduated
in June and now serves
on the steering committee,
said the prison tour was
one of his favorite events
the group did that year.
TRCI allows inmates
to create fundraisers inter-
nally to help local groups.
And after the Leadership
Hermiston tour, some of
them decided they wanted
to help the program.
Matt Vester, food ser-
vice manager for TRCI,
said many of the forms
giving permission for
money to be drawn from
their accounts included a
thank-you note for allow-
ing them the opportunity to
contribute to a good cause.
“At the core of our mis-
sion is rehabilitation, and
a lot of them want to do
that,” he said. “A lot of
them want to give back.”
Pedro said the steer-
ing committee would meet
soon to discuss how the
funds would be used to
improve the program.
The chamber is now
taking applications for the
next Leadership Hermis-
ton cycle, which begins
Sept. 11 and ends in June
2019. Classes — which
include themes such as
Media Day, Agriculture
Day and Education Day
— are the second Tuesday
of each month and include
tours and presentations on
the topic from 7:30 a.m.
to 5 p.m. April’s class will
include an overnight trip to
Salem to learn about state
government.
To apply for a spot,
download the application
at hermistonchamber.com,
email
info@hermiston-
chamber.com or call 541-
567-6151. Tuition is $700
for chamber members and
$850 for non-Chamber
members, due upon notifi-
cation of selection.
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
“It’s a great opportunity for
folks in our region to see what
you do out here”
— Debby Pedro, Chamber Director
HERMISTON
Airport looks for feedback on master plan at open house
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
The public is invited
to learn about current and
upcoming projects at the
Hermiston Municipal Airport
next week.
The airport is hosting an
open house Wednesday, July
25 from 3-4 p.m. at the airport
on 1600 Airport Way, Herm-
iston, where project consul-
tants and airport staff will
be on hand to answer ques-
tions about recent upgrades
to the airport and what proj-
ects are being considered for
inclusion in the Airport Mas-
ter Plan.
Rolf Anderson Leirvik,
who started as the airport’s
new general manager this
month, said he wants to hear
from people.
“It’s a great opportunity
for people to come in and ask
questions or raise any issues,”
he said.
Hermiston’s airport has
received millions of dol-
lars in upgrades over the past
few years, thanks mostly to
grants from the Federal Avia-
tion Administration and Ore-
gon Department of Aviation.
In 2015 and 2016 contrac-
tors performed runway pav-
ing work and moved the air-
port’s taxiway to comply
with FAA standards. During
the project, the airport’s fuel-
ing station was moved and
enlarged. Anderson Leirvik
said the “great new fuel farm”
was more convenient and also
helped the airport be prepared
for serving larger planes in the
future.
Last year the city accepted
federal and state grant fund-
ing to hire Century West Engi-
neering to update the airport’s
master plan. At the time assis-
tant city manager Mark Mor-
gan said that using the state
grant as matching dollars for
federal funds means the city’s
out-of-pocket costs for the
$300,000 project is expected
to be about $3,300.
Anderson Leirvik said
airports are required to sub-
mit a master plan to the FAA
for approval about every 10
years. The plan studies the
airport and its traffic, poten-
tial growth and other fac-
tors in-depth and creates a
roadmap for the next 10 to
15 years that the airport is
required to follow.
“If it’s not on the master
plan, you’re not going to get
a grant for it,” he said. “It’s
never going to go anywhere.”
While the Hermiston
Municipal Airport doesn’t
have commercial passenger
flights, it is more than sin-
gle-engine hobby planes.
Traffic in and out of the air-
port includes UPS deliver-
ies, corporate traffic and agri-
cultural uses. A 2014 report
from the Oregon Department
of Aviation stated the airport
supported 80 local jobs and
26 elsewhere in the state.
Anderson Leirvik said the
master plan that citizens can
give feedback for on Wednes-
day will help the city get fund-
ing for future projects to help
it continue to improve and
expand over the next decade.
“The community has
grown a lot, and the airport
is going to grow with it,” he
said.
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SKYSCRAPER (PG13)
2:00* 7:10
4:30 9:40
ANT-MAN AND THE WASP
(PG13)
1:50* 4:40 7:20 10:00
JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN
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1:20* 4:10 7:00 9:50
INCREDIBLES 2 (PG)
1:10* 4:00 6:40 9:20
* Matinee Pricing
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The city of Pendleton has awarded the
catering contract at the Pendleton Convention
Center to an out of state caterer.
{COUNTRY GENTLEMAN}
After fifteen years of serving this wonderful
community, we are auctioning off all
of our equipment and decor.
There are too many items to list here.
See the list online at
www.maconbrosauction.com
Onsite Preview on Monday July 23rd
Auction Closes Tuesday July 24th
Thanks to the people of Pendleton
for a great fifteen years.
Miss Patti and the Ladies of Outwest Catering