A8
REGION
East Oregonian
Thursday, January 14, 2021
Residents ask council to ‘open up’ Hermiston
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Umatilla County Sheriff ’s Offi ce/Contributed Photo
A utility terrain vehicle helps with the rescue of an injured
snowmobiler near Ruckel Ridge, where a Life Flight heli-
copter, also pictured, awaits.
Man seriously injured
in snowmobile crash
East Oregonian
UMATILLA COUNTY
— Umatilla County Sher-
iff’s Offi ce rescued a man
injured in a snowmobile
accident in a remote area
on Sunday, Jan. 10.
According to a news
release from the sheriff’s
office, dispatch received
a 911 call at about 1 p.m.
reporting a snowmobiler
had been injured during
a crash on USFS 31 Road
about 1 mile north of Ruckel
Junction. Deputy Hayes
responded and discovered
a 56-year-old male who
was not named in the news
release had been thrown
from his snowmobile,
which had landed on top of
him after he tried to navi-
gate an embankment.
“The patient was expe-
riencing signifi cant pain in
his chest and left side, caus-
ing concerns with moving
him,” the release stated.
“Deputy Hayes and other
snowmobilers on scene
covered the patient with
rescue tarps and blankets
to maintain body tempera-
ture.”
Because ambulances
were only able to get within
9 miles of the crash site,
Life Flight and Search and
Rescue from Union and
Umatilla counties assisted
with the evacuation.
Life Flight was able to
land on Ruckel Ridge east
of the crash site, and Union
County search and rescue
and other snowmobilers on
the scene transported Life
Flight personnel and equip-
ment to the crash site to treat
the patient. Then members
of Umatilla County Search
and Rescue carefully loaded
the patient onto their utility
terrain vehicle and trans-
ported him to the Life Flight
helicopter, which fl ew him
to a hospital in Walla Walla,
Washington, at about 4 p.m.
USCO thanked partic-
ipating members of the
mission, including Bob and
Dottie Carrell with Umatilla
County Search and Rescue
for using their own UTV
in the mission, as well as
Union and Umatilla County
Dispatch Centers, Union
County Sheriff’s Office,
Elgin Rural Fire Protection
District, La Grande Fire
Department, Union County
Sheriff’s Offi ce, Life Flight
Network, and Union County
Search and Rescue.
HERMISTON — It was
three city councilors’ first
meeting in offi ce on Monday,
Jan. 11, and several city resi-
dents wasted no time in getting
in front of them to encourage
the council to do something
about the COVID-19 restric-
tions imposed by the state and
enforced by state agencies.
Allen Aichle said he feels
for all the business owners
struggling right now, some of
whom he knows personally.
“We’re looking to our local
governments to help this thing
along and we’re not going to
get this done looking the other
way like they’ve done on the
federal level and the state
level,” he said to applause from
audience members.
A man identifi ed as Steve
thanked the city for the grants
it has partnered with Umatilla
County to offer small busi-
nesses impacted by COVID-
19, but said it was frustrating
to live in a state with so many
restrictions. He said he wanted
to see Oregon open up and “get
this thing behind us,” citing
South Dakota, Florida and
Texas as examples of states he
felt were doing things right.
“Right now, business
owners don’t feel served, they
feel strangled, so what is it we
Clackamas County being clas-
sifi ed as extreme risk.
In a Jan. 5 follow-up post
on his Facebook page he
noted that he was hearing
reports from some partici-
pating businesses that they
are now “being contacted by
the governor’s enforcement
“WE’RE NOT GOING TO SOLVE
THIS THING TONIGHT.”
— Rod Hardin, Hermiston city councilor
can do to open this up?” he
asked.
Some at the meeting
mentioned the mayor of
Sandy, Oregon, as an example
of a city leader they said had
“opened up” his city.
Mayor Stan Pulliam
encouraged restaurants and
other closed-down busi-
nesses in Sandy to protest
state mandates by opening
and following the “high risk”
instead of “extreme risk” rules
on New Year’s Day, despite
agencies about possible fi nes
and other punishments” and
encouraged people to donate
to his political action commit-
tee, Main Street Mayors, for a
legal defense fund.
City Councilor Roy Barron
responded to the group at the
Jan. 11 city council meeting
by saying while he is tired of
the pandemic too, the state
COVID-19 mandates that
businesses face are not enacted
or enforced by the city.
“As a city, we cannot over-
ride stuff that’s going on in
the state and federal govern-
ment. That’s just the way it
is,” he said. “We appreci-
ate everybody coming here
today because you guys are
the reason why government
runs, absolutely. We’re here to
hear you, absolutely. But when
there’s something that is out of
our control we can’t simply do
it.”
During council comments
later in the meeting, other
councilors expressed similar
views, and said while due to
the council’s rules they had not
engaged in a back-and-forth
discussion with the comment-
ers during the public comment
period, they had heard their
views and would continue to
consider how the city might
fi nd ways to help.
“We’re not going to solve
this thing tonight,” Coun-
cilor Rod Hardin said, before
encouraging people to speak
with Umatilla County offi-
cials, since the state’s COVID-
19 levels are broken up by
county rather than city.
LOCAL BRIEFING
Gang member
sentenced to
federal prison
PORTLAND — A Port-
land resident was sentenced on
Monday, Jan. 11, to 58 months
in prison after he was arrested
in Morrow County last year.
Jaelan Sarray Reid, 26,
a known Hoover Criminal
Gang member, was sentenced
for illegally possessing a fi re-
arm as a convicted felon,
announced U.S. Attorney
Billy J. Williams.
According to court docu-
ments, on June 18, 2020, a
deputy from the Morrow
County Sheriff’s Office
received a tip that several
people with outstanding
criminal arrest warrants were
traveling west on Interstate
84 in a black Range Rover.
The deputy located the vehi-
cle with three occupants and
conducted a traffi c stop. Reid
identifi ed himself as “Charles
Benton” and gave the deputy a
false date of birth. The deputy
identifi ed Reid using a DMV
photo and detained him.
During the traffi c stop, the
deputy noted a strong smell of
marijuana coming from the
vehicle. Deputies searched and
located a backpack behind the
driver’s seat. Inside the pack-
age was a prescription bottle
in Reid’s name and a loaded
9mm semiautomatic pistol.
Reid was arrested and held at
the Umatilla County Jail on
state charges. During recorded
jail calls, Reid made several
incriminating statements
about possessing the fi rearm
in his backpack.
This case was investigated
by the FBI, Homeland Secu-
rity Investigations, Portland
Police Bureau and Multnomah
County Sheriff’s Offi ce with
assistance from the Morrow
County Sheriff’s Offi ce.
Autopsy proves
inconclusive, no
sign of foul play
PENDLETON — An
autopsy conducted on a man,
who was a “person of inter-
est” in a December 2020
shooting in Heppner and
was later found dead in the
Umatilla County Jail after
turning himself in, has proven
“inconclusive” but indicates
there was “no foul play,”
according to a spokesperson
from the Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Offi ce.
David Bowles, 43, was
wanted for weeks in connec-
tion to a homicide investiga-
tion on the shooting death of
his wife, Marlen Bowles, who
was shot on Dec. 15, 2020,
and later died after being Life
Flighted to Oregon Health
and Science University in
Portland in critical condition,
according to offi cials.
Now that the initial autopsy
has been conducted, medi-
cal examiners will conduct
a toxicology report, which
could take more than three
months to complete, accord-
ing to the spokesperson. The
toxicology report will analyze
things like possible medical
issues or drug use that could
have contributed to Bowles’
death, the spokesperson said.
Bowles turned himself in
to the Morrow County Sher-
iff’s Office on Thursday,
Jan. 7, and was then lodged
in the Umatilla County Jail
on charges of first-degree
manslaughter and felon in
possession of a weapon,
according to the Oregon State
Police. Jail staff found Bowles
deceased in his bed while
making their rounds on the
morning of Saturday, Jan. 9.
— EO Media Group
2020 COMMERCIAL RECYCLER
of the Year
EAST OREGONIAN
At the end of each year the employees of Pendleton Sanitary Service, Inc. (PSSI)
nominate several commercial businesses or institutions for the Commercial
Recycler of the Year award. The winning recipient is also determined by a vote
of PSSI employees. This award is given to a commercial recycler that does an
outstanding job in recycling or has made significant improvements in their
recycling efforts over the past year.
The employees of Pendleton Sanitary Service voted unanimously to choose the
East Oregonian as Pendleton’s Commercial Recycler of the Year for 2020.
The East Oregonian began recycling newspaper in 1984 as one of PSSI’s first
commercial recycling customers. In the 36 year working relationship, the East
Oregonian has continued to be a community leader in recycling efforts. In 2020,
the East Oregonian recycled 102 tons of newspaper, 13 tons of cardboard and 2.1
tons of office paper. This ranks as one of the City’s top commercial recyclers!
In addition to the significant volume they recycle, the East Oregonian’s quality
of recycled material is impeccable. Their recycled newspaper ranks as grade #9,
which requires near zero tolerance for contamination. That quality standard has
been maintained consistently over almost four decades of recycling with PSSI.
Impressive to say the least!
Last, the East Oregonian has consistently worked with PSSI to reuse and repurpose newsprint rolls
that are damaged or unusable. Those rolls have been marketed to other printers or mills to be
reused rather than disposed of. An excellent example of the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle hierarchy!
Pendleton Sanitary Service would like to congratulate and thank the East Oregonian and their
employees for their outstanding efforts in recycling!