REGION
Saturday, January 12, 2019
East Oregonian
A3
Council
Burglary at Happy Canyon leads police to crime stash
to discuss
EOTEC
dilemma
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
By JADE
MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
The Hermiston City
Council will be looking
for solutions to a puz-
zle at the Eastern Oregon
Trade and Event Center
on Monday.
The city has hired
Knerr Construction to
construct an RV park on
the EOTEC grounds that
could potentially pro-
vide year-round revenue
for the facility. The city
had planned to construct
the RV park next to the
rodeo arena, so that peo-
ple living or staying at
the park could access it
without driving through
the rest of the property.
After the plan came to
light, however, Farm-
City Pro Rodeo board
members spoke out
against the move, not-
ing the space has been
used in the past for over-
flow parking during the
rodeo.
According
to
a
memo from City Man-
ager Byron Smith, on
Wednesday the city’s
planning
commission
altered EOTEC’s park-
ing variance to restrict
development until an
alternate overflow park-
ing plan had been sub-
mitted and approved to
them.
“Due to the contro-
versy and the probable
delay caused by the Plan-
ning Commission action,
I am providing the coun-
cil an update and seeking
any input that the coun-
cil might have,” Smith
wrote to the council.
On Monday the coun-
cil will also swear in
municipal court Judge
Thomas Creasing and
council members elected
in November (Lori
Davis, Roy Barron,
Jackie Myers and Doug
Smith), as well as elect a
council president for the
year and make commit-
tee assignments.
The council will con-
sider awarding a con-
struction bid for replace-
ment of a South First
Street bridge near Cres-
tline Drive to Moreno
& Nelson Construction
Corporation. The city
has purchased the new
box culvert for $129,336
and plans to award the
installation
contract
for $151,198, bring-
ing the total project cost
to $280,534. Construc-
tion is expected to run
through February and
March and will result in
a period of closure for
that section of South
First Street.
The council meets
Monday at 7 p.m. at
city hall, 180 N.E. Sec-
ond St. For a full coun-
cil agenda, visit hermis-
ton.or.us/meetings.
Pendleton police Thurs-
day morning arrested a bur-
glary suspect on Happy Can-
yon property. Police Chief
Stuart Roberts said the case
also touches on the common
problem of absent landlords.
Officers at 10:41 a.m.
responded to Happy Can-
yon, 1601 Westgate, behind
the Pendleton Convention
Center, when a Happy Can-
yon board member spot-
ted a man he did not recog-
nize. Officers arrived and
arrested Levi Daniel
other things inside
Reed, 34, a Pendle-
the building,” Rob-
erts said.
ton transient.
Roberts said it
Robert said the
was fortunate the
officers also saw
Happy
Canyon
items near Reed
board member hap-
that did not belong
pened to be there at
to Happy Canyon.
Reed
that moment and the
They investigated
department has been
and found Reed was
holing up in the empty East- able to return most of the
ern Oregon Fast Freight goods to their owners.
building at 1825 Westgate,
According to court docu-
just a couple of blocks west ments, the Umatilla County
near the Club 24 fitness spot. District Attorney’s Office
“He had literally thou- on Friday brought ini-
sands of dollars worth of tial charges against Reed
tools, sound boards and of first-degree burglary,
first-degree trespass, sec-
ond-degree theft and sec-
ond-degree criminal mis-
chief for breaking into the
property stealing food and
other products and damag-
ing property. Roberts said
he anticipates Reed will
face more charges. For now,
Reed remains in the Uma-
tilla County Jail, Pendleton.
While police are wrap-
ping up the burglary case,
the former home to the
freight company brings up
the absent landlord issue,
a common situation in
Pendleton.
Crown Enterprises Inc.
of Warren, Michigan owns
the Fast Freight building,
and Roberts said the com-
pany does not have a man-
ager for the property. The
company this summer was
responsive to cleaning up
code violations at the site, he
said, but the burglary inves-
tigation reveled people have
been using the building for
some time, leaving behind
trash, graffiti and human
waste.
“It’s a problem building,”
he said. “We need to get it
secured and locked down.”
Sunset cruise
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
A duck floats in a pond Thursday near the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution at sunset.
BMCC president search yields nine finalists
Video interviews
set for next week
East Oregonian
Blue Mountain Com-
munity College’s search
for a new president is one
step closer to fruition. The
search committee com-
posed of employees, stu-
dents, Board of Education
members and community
residents winnowed a pool
of 44 applicants to nine
semifinalists.
The search committee
will interview applicants
by videoconference Jan. 17
and 18. The field will be
trimmed to several final-
ists to come to BMCC for
additional in-person inter-
views and to meet with
faculty, staff and students.
Community members will
have the opportunity to
meet the finalists in a vari-
ety of forums sometime in
mid-February. Names of
the semifinalists are confi-
dential, but will be released
prior to their visits to the
college.
The BMCC presidential
search is being facilitated by
Dr. Preston Pulliams, CEO
9:00
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able as of 2 p.m. Friday.
He said police secured
the home before 9:41 a.m.,
after obtaining a search
warrant, and took two
people into custody. He
said he did not have the
names of those arrested,
but that a quarter pound
of methamphetamine was
discovered early in the
search.
January 14 is the most special day because
SATURDAY, JANUARY 12
®
Police arrested two
people Friday morn-
ing after Blue Mountain
Enforcement
Narcotics
team searched a Hermis-
ton residence and found
drugs.
Pendleton Police Chief
Stuart Roberts, who chairs
the drug task force, said he
only had limited informa-
tion about the bust avail-
Happy 8th Birthday, Brody!
Live
Music
From all of us at WestBred wheat,
congratulations on a winning season.
SPRING
of Gold Hill Associates, an
executive search firm that
works with community col-
leges around the nation. The
BMCC Board of Education
hopes to have a new presi-
dent hired by spring.
Updates
on
the
search can be found
online at https://www.
bluecc.edu/about-
bmcc/
presidential-search.
BENT arrests two in Hermiston
You are always in our
thoughts & prayers
Love, Grandpa & Grandma Powell
M
A
K
R
A
V
N
E
L
O
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