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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 21, 2018)
WEEKEND EDITION STUNT RIDERS BEAT THE HEAT OREGON RETHINKS YOUTH FOOTBALL REGION/3A LIFESTYLES/1C SPORTS/1B JULY 21-22, 2018 142nd Year, No. 186 $1.50 WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD BOARDMAN Feds act to secure troubled dairy SALEM (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice has asked a judge to appoint a federal trustee to take over an embattled Oregon mega- dairy, citing the owner’s drug use, gambling, out-of- control spending and pend- ing criminal charges. Lost Valley Farm, located near Boardman, sup- plies milk to the Tillamook County Creamery Associa- tion, which produces Tilla- mook Cheese, the (Salem) Statesman Journal newspa- per reported. The 11-square mile dairy has had issues includ- ing financial and regulatory problems since it opened over a year ago. The Justice Department is handling owner Greg te Velde’s Chapter 11 bank- ruptcy, which was filed in April to stall a bank-foreclo- sure sale of his cattle. Since then, te Velde admitted he continued to use methamphetamine and gam- ble at a California casino once or twice a week, U.S. Trustee Tracy Hope Davis wrote in a July 13 motion. Davis asked a judge to either appoint a separate trustee to manage the dairy’s finances and operations on behalf of creditors, or to dis- miss the bankruptcy case. Te Velde is also facing criminal charges in Califor- nia for possession of meth- amphetamine and trying to bribe an officer. He declined to comment on Thursday. Davis wrote that te Velde is accused of violating bank- ruptcy procedures when he moved more than $660,000 into a newly opened personal checking account less than a month before he declared bankruptcy. Te Velde has declined to say where the money came from. He also has another violation for taking out a $205,000 loan without noti- fying the bankruptcy court. Lost Valley Farm is the second-largest dairy in the state. Thalia Torres-Medrano’s life changed forever six years ago when a simple traffic stop led to her boyfriend, and father of their baby, being arrested and then deported back to Mexi- co for being an undocu- mented immigrant. TAKEN Families broken apart after deportations By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian ix years ago a simple traffic stop ripped Thalia Torres-Medrano’s life to shreds. Her boyfriend — the father of her child, her rock since she was 13 years old and their family’s financial support — was driving over the speed limit. And he was undocumented. “As soon as those lights came on, we knew, somehow,” she said. “It was an unspoken thing. We looked at each other and we knew.” Alvaro was about to be deported. Torres-Medrano met Alvaro (she declined to give his last name) when they were both lost, scared teens from rough homes — so rough, in his case, that Tor- res-Medrano said a domestic violence inci- S dent left him with two broken legs when he was five years old. They became each oth- er’s family, and at age 15 they bought a trailer for $500 and lived together in a back yard in Hermiston. They were poor, but happy. “I loved my life,” she said. “We strug- gled, but we struggled together.” They became parents at 17. Neither of them had grown up with fathers in the house, and they talked about how the one thing they wanted to give their son was a loving two-parent home. “That’s all I ever wanted was to give my child a father figure,” she said. The specter of deportation always haunted them, however. It had haunted Alvaro since he came to the United States before kindergarten, and it had been woven into the fabric of Torres-Medrano’s life as the daughter of an undocumented single Inside Hear from immigrants inside Oregon detention center 10A mother. They left the “father” space on the birth certificate blank, even though it pained them to do so, because they were worried about outing Alvaro to the government. The arrest Six months after their son was born, Alvaro’s mother called and said she had a doctor’s appointment in the Tri-Cities and needed someone to drive her. That night, heading back, an unmarked patrol car flooded their rear-view mirror with red and blue lights and a Washington state trooper asked Alvaro to step out of the car. SEE TAKEN/10A Staff photo by E.J. Harris “About 725,000 deaths a year can be attributed to mosquitoes worldwide” — Sascha McKeon Warming planet means more mosquito-borne disease Future may include tropical weather, malaria By KATHY ANEY East Oregonian The deadliest creature in the ani- mal kingdom doesn’t have teeth or claws — it is smaller and far more benign looking than bear, boa con- strictor or shark. “The number one most dan- gerous animal in the world is the tiny, tiny mosquito,” said mosquito expert Sascha McKeon. “Mos- quitos are the worst vectors. They transmit bacteria, viruses and par- asites like protists and nematode worms. Mosquitoes can carry mul- tiple infectious agents.” Mosquitoes can pass along malaria, Dengue fever, chikun- gunya, encephalitis, yellow fever, West Nile virus and zika, among Staff photo by E.J. Harris Mosquioto expert Sascha McKeon spent three years in the Brazilian Amazon and even discovered a previously unknown mosquito spe- cies — the anopheles rickwilkersoni. others. Now, thanks to climate change, some of these ailments could someday come to a neighbor- hood near you. McKeon spent three years as a field researcher in the Brazilian Amazon and even discovered a pre- viously unknown mosquito species — the Anopheles rickwilkersoni. The Blue Mountain Community College biology instructor spoke Tuesday at the monthly Science Cafe hosted by the Eastern Oregon Climate Change Coalition (EOC3) at the Prodigal Son Brewery & Pub. McKeon likes to refer to a mos- quito researcher as a cross between Indiana Jones and Buffy the Vam- pire Slayer. Instead of gold, how- ever, mosquito researchers chase down larval breeding sites and genetic information. McKeon flashed on the screen a chart showing numbers of people killed by various animals. Sharks kill about 10 people in the world each year. Crocodiles kill 1,000. See MOSQUITO/9A
