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E O
AST
143rd year, No. 218
REGONIAN
Tuesday, augusT 20, 2019
WINNER OF THE 2019 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Outdoor
grow ban
possible
June
deaths
prompt
inquiry
Planning commission
to tackle topic at
Thursday meeting
County searching for
evidence of criminally
negligent homicide
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
draped around his shoulders.
He answered questions about
his time in the military. The
veteran said he went on four
maneuvers with the glider
infantry and later made 10
jumps from C-47 transport
planes.
“Gooney Birds, they were
the workhorse of the South
Pacific,” he said of the C-47s.
A grandson asked about the
weapon he carried and so Liebe
described a .30 caliber Brown-
ing Automatic Rifle, which
weighed more than 20 pounds.
The gun provided quick bursts
of automatic fire, but required
a lot of ammo. Ammunition
bearers jumped alongside.
During the 1945 Los Banos
prison camp raid, members of
the 11th Airborne conducted a
daring rescue of American and
Allied civilians. Some soldiers
parachuted in while others, like
PeNdLeTON — The Pendle-
ton City Council has mostly stayed
out of the marijuana debate over the
past two years, but it’s set to reenter
the fray in the near future.
On Thursday, the Pendleton
Planning Commission will meet to
consider changes to the marijuana
zoning code. Among its most signif-
icant alterations is a prohibition on
outdoor marijuana grows in com-
mercial and residential areas.
From 2015 through 2017, mari-
juana was a hot topic of debate as
the public successfully pressured
the city council to put the issue of
legalizing marijuana sales onto the
ballot.
Not wanting to be caught without
any regulations, the council passed
zoning rules for marijuana facili-
ties ahead of the November 2016
election. When the ballot measures
passed, the city used it to approve
three active cannabis retailers and a
pot producer in 2017.
City Planner George Cress said
the planning commission decided
to revisit the zoning code because
the language was in need of “word-
smithing” and streamlining, like
formally banning marijuana sales in
residential zones and consolidating
all zoning codes applying to mari-
juana into one section of the code.
The substance of the zoning
rules are mostly the same: Retailers
are restricted to service commercial
and central mixed-use zones while
wholesalers and producers are con-
fined to the light industrial zones in
town.
Regardless of their purpose, no
marijuana businesses can be located
within 1,000 feet of a school, public
park, or another cannabis facility.
But the most sweeping fea-
ture of the revisions is a require-
ment on growing or storing mar-
ijuana “indoors in a solid walled
structure.”
Cress said the new language
was a result of complaints the city
received over the smell of outdoor
marijuana grows.
“In the summertime, if (mari-
juana is) growing, it has an aroma,
especially if (growers are) process-
ing it,” he said. “There was a lot of
complaints about that, so we tried to
have some mitigation to that, where
they could grow indoors.”
Under current rules, Pendleto-
nians can grow their own mari-
juana for personal use as long as it’s
obstructed from public view.
Brandon Krenzler of Kind Leaf
Pendleton is well-versed in the aver-
See WWII, Page A7
See Marijuana, Page A7
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
UMATILLA — Carbon monox-
ide may have played a role in the June
drowning deaths of Janice Arsenault
and Trenton Williams.
The information came from the
affidavit Umatilla County sher-
iff’s Sgt. Rowen Hayes wrote June
26 to obtain a warrant to search for
evidence of criminally negligent
homicide.
Arsenault, 44, and Williams, 20,
went missing June 15 while boating
with friends in Lake Wallula on the
Columbia River in the area of Bob-
by’s Beach.
They were on a 21-foot-long blue
2007 Skiers Choice with three other
adults, according to the affidavit,
and witnesses reported the two were
intoxicated. They were chest down
on the dive deck at the back when the
craft headed to shore. After arriv-
ing, the party discovered Arsenault
and Williams were not on the boat.
A dive team recovered their remains
June 17.
Two days later, a witness came
forward and told investigators with
the sheriff’s office the story he read
in the news about their deaths did not
match what he saw the day they went
missing. The sheriff’s office at the
time reported Richard Kirkendall,
41, of Hermiston, drove the boat. But
according to the affidavit, Kirkendall
was not the only driver.
The witness claimed he stopped
in his boat that day to talk with the
people in the Skiers Choice. He said
he noticed the two people hanging
off the dive deck. The affidavit also
stated the witness said the boat’s
owner — not Kirkendall — was
driving.
Deputy Jon Roberts asked the
witness if he was sure about who had
the helm. The witness said he was
positive, according to the document.
He said he knew the owner of the
boat and did not recognize the other
man, referring to Kirkendall.
The East Oregonian is declin-
ing to identify the owner at this time
because there have been no arrests or
charges in the case.
The boat pulled away with Arse-
nault and Williams on the dive deck,
the witness said, and after the owner
cut power to coast to the beach, he
thought “he saw someone that was
struggling to stay above the water,”
but it was too far away and saw it
See Drowning, Page A7
$1.50
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
World War II paratrooper Walt Liebe answers questions about his war experience during a surprise par-
ty in his honor on Aug. 10, 2019, at the Hermiston Airport.
Lasting legacy
WWII paratrooper
surprised by party
in his honor
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
H
ERMISTON
—
Walt Liebe’s fam-
ily yearned to know
more about his time
as a World War II paratrooper.
For years, Liebe kept most of it
to himself.
His grandchildren didn’t
know about how Liebe and
other members of the 11th
Airborne Division liberated
2,147 prisoners from a Japa-
nese internment camp during
the Raid on Los Banos in the
Philippines. Or about serving
on Gen. Douglas McArthur’s
Honor Guard on the USS Mis-
souri. Or the nitty gritty about
his time in the glider infan-
try and later as a paratrooper
jumping from C-47 military
transport planes.
Lauded as the Greatest
Generation, Liebe’s generation
might also be the humblest.
The country is losing WWII
veterans like Liebe at a diz-
zying pace. As of 2018, fewer
than 500,000 of the 16 mil-
lion who served in the war still
lived. Honoring these veterans
and coaxing them to tell their
stories before they are gone
is taking on more urgency for
groups such as the National
WWII Museum, which con-
ducts oral histories and pro-
duces exhibits. And for fami-
lies, such as Liebe’s, the clock
is ticking.
Family members and friends
recently showered the 96-year-
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
War planes dotted the tables at a party honoring WWII paratrooper
Walt Liebe on Aug. 10, 2019, at the Hermiston Airport.
old Hermiston veteran with
appreciation — and plenty of
questions — during a surprise
gathering Aug. 10, 2019. Linda
Stark, who attends church
with Liebe, spearheaded the
gathering.
He thought he was going
to lunch at Denny’s. His son,
John, missed the turnoff, or
so Liebe thought. John turned
instead onto Airport Way and
continued to the main airport
building. He ushered his father
inside to a room adorned in
red, white and blue balloons
and toy WWII-era airplanes.
A cake proclaimed in red icing:
“Our Thanks to Walt Liebe:
Honorable WWII Veteran.”
The elder Liebe reacted
with incredulity.
“He was surprised and a lit-
tle choked up,” John said. “He
had no clue.”
Over the next couple of
hours, Liebe received acco-
lades and a Quilt of Valor
Businesses persevere
through construction
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — As irritat-
ing as road construction can be
for drivers, it can be harder on
businesses.
Better roads and sidewalks
boost economic development in
the long run, but a current proj-
ect that has torn up two blocks
of Hermiston Avenue shows that
progress can come with a heavy
price in the short term.
“It’s really impacted business
because people avoid construc-
tion,” said Jackie Koppany of Feel-
ingstone Rock & Bead Shop, ges-
turing out the front window at
heavy machinery and piles of bro-
ken asphalt. “I think people look at
this and say, ‘No thank you.’”
Koppany is one of several busi-
nesses with storefronts between
Southwest First and Southwest
Third streets on Hermiston Ave-
nue. The stretch of road, torn
up last week, is expected to stay
closed until the end of September
for a complete overhaul of street
and sidewalk. The city’s water
department also took advantage of
the project to get in and install new
water valves.
See Construction, Page A7
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Road construction is underway on Hermiston Avenue, leaving business-
es along the street without sidewalks or parking along the two-block
stretch of Hermiston Avenue.