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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 2018)
Where we stand on the measures INLAND ORCHESTRA RETURNS NO. 1 BUCKS HIT THE ROAD SPORTS/1B OPINION/4A REGION/3A WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2018 142nd Year, No. 243 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD State seeks repayment from mother after prison shooting Jayson Withers killed in 2014 fight; officer cleared in August By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris A gun tower sits above the fence line overlooking the eastern yard at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton. Kristen Wilson lost her son Jayson Withers in 2014 when a cor- rections officer at the state prison in Pendleton shot and killed him. She filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court against Charles Frates for making that shot. She lost the case at trial in Pendleton in early August. Now the state is asking her to pay more than $11,000 for the cost of defending the lawsuit. Withers was an inmate at East- ern Oregon Correctional Institu- tion, and on Aug. 29, 2014 he and another inmate attacked a third in an outdoor prison yard. Correc- tions officer Charles Frates was in the gun tower and shot With- ers, killing him. He was 26. Frates never fired a warning shot. Andrew Hallman, Oregon assistant attorney general, this past Aug. 28 provided the U.S. District Court of Oregon with a bill for $11,445.83 for defending the case and asked Wilson and the estate of Withers to pay the tab. The amount covers almost $10,500 for depo- sitions and transcripts, more than $300 for witness fees and even $135.24 for 14 binders from Office See SHOOTING/8A PENDLETON BMCC rodeo project heads west By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian FARM II has a new name and a new location. At a Pendleton City Council workshop Tuesday, Blue Mountain Commu- nity College President Cam Preus said the indoor rodeo arena/agricultural classroom space will be renamed the Blue Mountain Regional Training Center to reflect the project’s new partner- ship with the InterMountain Education Service District. The training center will also switch its proposed site away from the northwest section of the Round-Up grounds where the pavil- ion and Fallen Field are to the 1800 block of Southwest Byers Avenue west of the grounds; a cluster of proper- ties mostly controlled by the Round-Up Association and the city of Pendleton. Mayor John Turner said the council will consider transferring all of its land along Byers to the Round-Up at its Oct. 16 meeting, pav- ing the way for the rodeo organization to turn around and lease the collection of properties to BMCC. Although no money See BMCC/8A Staff photo by E.J. Harris Students and staff sing along with reggae singer Aaron Nigel Smith on his song “One” at Rocky Heights Elementary School on Tuesday in Hermiston. The concert was part of the school’s Run for the Arts fundraiser. Running, singing and dancing FOR THE ARTS By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN East Oregonian T hough it was near the end of the day, Rocky Heights Elementary School stu- dents showed no signs of slow- ing down. They spent Tuesday afternoon singing, dancing and jumping to the reggae tunes of Aaron Nigel Smith, a musician who stopped by the Hermiston elementary school as part of the Run for the Arts program. Each year, the school has a week dedicated to raising money for the arts, complete with an art and fitness night, a visiting musi- cian, artist or theater performer, and a fun run where students col- lect pledge money from family and friends. All the money raised goes toward art and music pro- grams, and events for the school. “We’ve brought in artists to do fused glass, had authors, the- ater performances,” said Erin Andreason, a fifth grade teacher at Rocky Heights. As he strummed the first few notes of a song, Smith told the kids that this wasn’t a concert where they had to be quiet. “All of my songs have instruc- tions,” he said. As he sang a song about animals, students made the noises of each creature. Behind Smith and his band, Staff photo by E.J. Harris Aaron Nigel Smith performs for the student body at Rocky Heights Elementary School on Tuesday in Hermiston. See ARTS/8A HERMISTON Knerr Construction gets EOTEC contract City partners with schools, library director talks expansion By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian The Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center will once again be under construction next year as Knerr Construction builds offices for the Umatilla County Fair and improves the on-site RV park. The Hermiston City Council chose the Hermiston-based con- struction firm Monday to manage both projects, using a bid-design- build process. The city promised to build office and storage space for the fair as part of an agree- ment forged last year when Uma- tilla County pulled out of EOTEC and gave full ownership to the city. The city also hopes that adding the needed utility hookups to the RV park will open up more revenue opportunities. John Eckhardt of Knerr Con- struction told the city he felt “really confident” that the projects could be completed before the 2019 fair. “I think it’s very doable,” he said. City councilors said they hoped it was done sooner than the day before the fair, a reference to the completion of EOTEC before its inaugural 2017 fair. Knerr Con- See EOTEC/8A
