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OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
REMOVED: PAWS brought 26 of the dogs to its shelter
Continued from 1A
Pendleton, for child neglect and endanger-
ing the welfare of a minor. Zumwalt said
the two children belonged to Michael Ruiz
and Murray.
Michael Ruiz
Timi Murray
Richard Ruiz
Marina Ruiz
The animal neglect charges are felonies,
and the rest are misdemeanors.
Officer Joyce Wright said they did not
know how many dogs were at the home
until getting a good look. Police soon real-
ized they needed help and reached out to
Fuzz Ball Animal Rescue, Hermiston, and
the Pioneer Humane Society, Pendleton.
Matthew DeGarmo and Shaindel Beers
are instructors for Blue Mountain Commu-
nity College, Pendleton, and PAWS volun-
teers. The couple got the message around
8:20 a.m. Sunday to meet at the Pendleton
shelter to help with the situation. They and
other volunteers spent most of their day at
the Stanfield house.
Beers said the search warrant had an
expiration, so the clock was ticking to save
as many dogs as they could before time ran
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
One of the dogs confiscated from a home in Stanfield this weekend sits in a pen at PAWS on Monday in Pendleton.
out. That meant venturing into a wreck of
a home.
“There wasn’t a square foot that didn’t
have dog feces,” DeGarmo said.
He found dried feces between the box
spring and mattress in a child’s bed. Sev-
eral dogs chewed their way into a mat-
tress to hide. Nine small dogs scrambled
for cover when he overturned the couch.
They saw a Japanese sword on the main
bed and plenty of drug paraphernalia. The
home also had “security cameras all over
the place,” he said, and a main monitor in
the bedroom.
DeGarmo, who teaches criminal justice,
said he helped at a couple of other animal
rescues in his past, but none matched what
he experienced Sunday.
“This was the worst place I’ve ever
been, for sure,” he said.
Most of the dogs were small, such as
Chihuahua mixes. Beers said some of the
dogs bit, but there were not big enough to
do real damage.
“They were doing anything to get
away,” she said.
The dogs were sweet but scared, they
said, and seemed more frightened of men
than women. DeGarmo estimated the effort
saved at least 36 dogs and even a kitten.
PAWS brought 26 of the dogs to its shel-
ter. Beers said most of the dogs went to fos-
ter homes.
“There was a ton of people there yester-
day coming down to get a dog,” DeGarmo
said. “It was a good community response.”
———
Contact Phil Wright at pwright@eas-
toregonian.com or 541-966-0833.
“There wasn’t a square foot that didn’t have dog feces.”
— Matthew DeGarmo, instructor at Blue Mountain Community College
SMOKE: “We’re not going to get rid of this smoke until Thursday”
Continued from 1A
of hazardous air.
Other fires added to smog-
giness around the state. Fire-
fighters are working to con-
tain the Stubblefield, Seale,
Buckhorn and Jennie’s Peak
fires in Gilliam and Wheeler
counties. The Lonerock Fire
burns near the community
of Lonerock, about 22 miles
southeast of Condon. Fire-
fighters are battling the West-
cliff Fire, northwest of Hood
River, between Interstate 84
and the Columbia River. The
Hood River County Sheriff’s
Office ordered evacuations
for residents in the area of
the fire, which burns in rug-
ged cliffs.
“We’re seeing a lot of
smoke coming down from
Canada and Washington,”
said ODEQ spokeswoman
Katherine Benenati. “Every
county in the state except for
Curry and Coos is under a
smoke advisory.”
The Umatilla County
Public Health Department
advises people to limit expo-
sure by staying indoors
in well-ventilated areas.
Administrator Jim Setzer
advised everyone to lay low.
People with heart conditions
or any kind of lung impair-
ment should take special care
to avoid the bad air.
Setzer
also
advised
against outdoor physical
exertion such as running,
biking or training for sports
teams.
“You’re pulling more
air in,” Setzer said. “You’re
more at risk.”
To avoid that fate, the
Pendleton High School cross
country team has trained
inside the school’s Gold
Gym since last Tuesday.
“We’ve had to incorporate
a lot of high intensity inter-
val training, as well as sprints
in the gym and stair repeats,”
said head coach Ben Bradley.
“It’s been a tough adaptation
to dealing with the smoke,
but the kids have worked
their tails off and have done
a great job dealing with this
adversity early on.”
Those craving fresh air
must be patient, according
to National Weather Service
forecaster Rob Brooks from
the Pendleton office.
“We’re not going to get
rid of this smoke until Thurs-
day,” Brooks said. “We’re
sitting under a high pressure
system that is pushing the
smoke downwards. It’s just
sitting here.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0810.
TURNER: Will assist with transition
Continued from 1A
Turner said it was her
decision to leave the asso-
ciation and she will assist
with the transition, although
she will not participate in
the selection process for her
replacement.
Bill Dochnahl, the asso-
ciation board’s director of
marketing and communi-
cations, said the new job at
BMCC — the early college
connections coordinator —
was a good opportunity to
take.
The association also
put out a press release that
repeatedly praised Turner
and her tenure with the non-
profit, a merchant organiza-
tion dedicated to promoting
and improving the down-
town area.
The association cred-
ited Turner for coordinating
events like the Pendleton
Holiday Stroll and Pend-
leton Comes Alive, work-
ing with the Rivoli Resto-
ration Coalition to secure
a $100,000 grant, and con-
tinuing the hanging of
flower baskets in the down-
town core.
The organization also
praised her for her work
in convincing the city to
establish a source of public
funding for the downtown
association.
Turner was heavily
involved in the campaign,
lobbying the council repeat-
edly at public meetings and
rallying support among the
association’s constituency.
The city eventually
agreed to pay the associa-
tion’s entire $55,000 oper-
ating budget in the first two
years of the deal, before the
city’s contribution decreases
by 10 percent each year in
years 3-5. After the fifth
year, the association will
continue to receive $25,000
per year indefinitely. The
council does have the right
to review the agreement in
2020, but a different direc-
tor will need to convince the
council that it needs to keep
the money flowing.
Turner was originally
hired by the association as an
intern through the Univer-
sity of Oregon’s Resource
Assistance for Rural Envi-
ronments program and was
promoted to lead the non-
profit full-time in 2017.
Instead of using a simi-
lar process, the association
plans to conduct a state-
wide search to find Turner’s
replacement.
If the association doesn’t
find a new director by the
end of the month, Dochnahl
said President Fred Brad-
bury and the rest of the
board will run day-to-day
operations until a permanent
successor is found.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
WESTGATE: According to study, city
could support 125 more rental units
Continued from 1A
ton’s need for housing.
According to Corbett,
one of their recent conver-
sations led Ivanov to take a
trip to Pendleton, where the
former EOTC property has
been marketed as a site for
potential housing.
Corbett said the depth of
I&E’s plans show that the
project is beyond the con-
cept stage.
“This appears like he’s
serious about doing some-
thing,” he said.
Corbett said he hasn’t
heard I&E’s presentation
yet and is unsure if the
company will ask the city
to buy the property or pro-
vide financial assistance.
If I&E went forward
with the project, it could
meet Pendleton’s current
rental housing needs by
itself.
According to a study
commissioned by the city,
Pendleton’s market could
support 125 more rental
units and 90 for-sale units,
especially three-bedroom
units.
Meet our newest
pediatrician
Lina Castillo, MD
As a Pediatrician Dr. Castillo
brings with her compassion
and a desire to care for
your children. In addition
to caring for the general
pediatric needs of children,
newborn to 18 year olds,
she also specializes in
gastroenterology and
hepatology.
“
I wanted to become a pediatrician
because it brought me joy to know
that by making a positive impact
on a child’s life it could positively
impact our world for generations
to come.
”
Welcoming
New Patients
Good Shepherd
Medical Group
Pediatrics
541.667.3740
600 NW 11th Street
Suite E-33
Hermiston, OR 97838