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