REGION
Saturday, June 5, 2021
A3
East Oregonian
LOCAL BRIEFING
Hermiston police
arrest man
for 39th time
HERMISTON — The
Hermiston Police Depart-
ment arrested a man on
Wednesday, June 2, on
charges of menacing, harass-
ment, possessing a Schedule
II controlled substance and
resisting arrest.
Hermiston Police Chief
Jason Edmiston said his
department had encountered
Juan Fernando Ponce, 29,
plenty of times.
Police responded to a
reported fi ght on Southeast
Sixth Street in Hermiston at
around 11 p.m. on June 1 but
found no subjects in the area,
Edmiston said in an email.
Officers then contacted a
woman who said Ponce had
entered her apartment and
tried to steal her phone, but a
man confronted Ponce in the
parking lot and took back the
phone. The woman declined
to press charges, Edmiston
said.
Later that night, police
responded to a report of
a burglary on North First
Place. Police spoke with
the victim who said she “let
Ponce inside the residence as
she has known him for a long
time,” Edmiston said.
Police established prob-
able cause of menacing and
harassment and sought out to
arrest Ponce.
The following afternoon,
police found Ponce and tried
to arrest him, but he “resisted
and pulled away from the
officers several times,”
Edmiston reported. Police
eventually made the arrest
and found he possessed a user
amount of fentanyl, a Sched-
ule II controlled substance.
Ponce, who pol ice
describe as a transient, was
booked in the Umatilla
County jail, where he remains
with a bail of $47,500.
Edmiston said Hermiston
police over the years have
arrested Ponce 39 times on
86 separate charges.
Pendleton man
dies in car crash
PENDLETON — Oregon
State Police reported a Pend-
leton man died Wednesday,
June 2, on Interstate 84 near
Pendleton in a rollover.
Troopers at approximately
3:30 p.m. responded to the
eastbound side of the freeway
for a crash near milepost 206
about 4 miles west of Pend-
leton. State police reported
the preliminary investiga-
tion indicated Kurt Hitchen,
48, was driving a Dodge
Ram pickup pulling a travel
trailer when the trailer began
to sway, causing the pickup
and trailer to roll.
Hitchen suffered fatal
injuries. An ambulance
took his passenger, Melissa
Hagen, 38, of Pendleton, to
St. Anthony Hospital, Pend-
leton.
The Pendleton Fire
Department, Echo Fire
Department and Oregon
Department of Transporta-
tion assisted at the scene.
Milton-Freewater
voters say ‘yes’ to
new police station
MILTON-FREEWATER
— Results from the May 18
election were certified by
Umatilla County offi cials on
Wednesday, June 2, showing
that voters here gave a green
light to a new police station.
A total of 403 people
voted “yes” for the $7.7
million general obligation
bond, while 241 voters said
“no.”
City officials requested
the money to build a sepa-
rate public safety building on
a nearby lot the city already
owns. That action removes
the police station from the
basement of city hall on
South Main Street, where
local law enforcement has
been operated since 1929.
Over the years, the space
has become cramped and is
unsuited for modern tech-
nology. The basement has a
number of issues that create
poor working and safety
conditions, officials have
said.
The new station will be
about 7,200 square feet and
will house Milton-Free-
water patrol officers and
911 dispatchers. The build-
ing will include conference
and report-taking rooms,
two holding cells, offices,
evidence rooms, a public
lobby, a break room, inter-
view spaces and training
areas.
Further design planning
and bond sale meetings will
begin next week, said City
Manager Linda Hall.
Milton-Freewater
offi cial buildings
start to reopen
MILTON-FREEWATER
— Public doors are reopen-
ing in Milton-Freewater after
being closed since 2020 in
the face of the COVID-19
pandemic shut downs, offi -
cials announced Thursday,
June 3.
City hall, the public
library and public works
buildings again will be open
to users starting June 7.
City Manager Linda Hall
said safety protocols, includ-
ing the use of masks and
physical distancing, will be
in place to protect custom-
ers and employees as things
return to a more normal
routine.
City hall and public works
customers needing more than
a 15-minute visit to conduct
business are asked to call
specifi c departments for an
appointment to avoid too
many customers in lobbies or
offi ces at one time, Hall said.
Other tasks such as paying
a bill or fi ne and getting a
license or permit will not
require appointments.
Library use will be limited
to 24 users at a time for one
hour each.
For more information,
go to mfcity.com or call
541-938-5531.
— EO Media Group and
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
Umatilla County Historical
Society Presents:
OLD IRON SHOW
PENDLETON — With
Blue Mountain Commu-
nit y College heading
toward the home stretch of
its presidential search, the
college is introducing its
top three candidates for the
open position over a series
of digital forums.
All three candidates
will be traveling to Pend-
leton, where they will tour
the BMCC campus before
holding a series of meet-
ings with students, staff ,
the board of education
and community members.
The digital forums for the
general public will be June
7-9, 5:20-6 p.m.
On Monday, June 7,
the candidate forum will
feat ure Mark Brown-
ing, the vice president of
college relations at the
College of Western Idaho,
a community college in
Nampa.
According to a BMCC
press release, Browning’s
14 years of experience in
higher education include
a decade at the commu-
nity college level. The
press release touted his
experience advocating for
more community college
funding and developing
a campaign to increase
college enrollment.
The lin k to access
Brow ni ng’s for u m is
at https://bluecc.zoom.
us/j/99525660347.
On June 8, Western
Nebraska Com mu nit y
College President Carmen
Simone will participate in
the next forum.
Simone has been a
college ad minist rator
at both two- and four-
year institutions in South
Dakota, North Dakota,
Colorado, Id a ho a nd
Wyoming. An accom-
plishment listed in the
press release was turn-
ing a university center at
the University of South
Dakota into a fully inte-
grated community college.
The link to Simone’s
forum is https://bluecc.
zoom.us/j/94563551006.
Rounding out the fi eld
is Christopher Villa, the
former president of Port-
land Community College’s
Rock Creek campus, who
will be the subject of the
June 9 forum.
Villa’s 35 years in
higher education include
leadership stints in Utah,
California and Oregon, his
latest job ending in 2020
after Portland Commu-
nity College eliminated
his position. The press
release highlighted his
time in Portland, where
he used funding from the
college’s foundation to
start a cultural awareness
program for students and
staff .
The link to Villa’s
forum is https://bluecc.
zoom.us/j/97557038222.
All three are vying to
replace Dennis Bailey-
Fougnier, who abruptly
resigned in February after
less than two years on the
job, citing personal health
issues.
Connie Green, a former
Tillamook Bay Commu-
nity College president, has
been the interim president
since then.
A presidential search
committee will make a
recommendation to the
BMCC Board of Education
on its top candidate later
this month, with a final
decision expected in July.
IMATALAMLAAMI SINWIT
UMA101 –
Umatilla Tribal
Language Class
CLASSES ON TUES/THURS | 5 P.M.-6 P.M.
TAUGHT BY MASTER SPEAKER, FRED HILL
June 4th-6th
in Roy Raley Park
Admission is FREE and open to the public
www.heritagestationmuseum.org
always the first full week of june
Kachira Phillips & Makenzie Polfer
East Oregonian
OFFERED FALL TERM
17 TH ANNUAL
June 7 - 13, 2021
Ed Miller
Xtreme Bull Riding
Thurs, June 10, 2021 @ 6:30 pm
BMCC announces forums
for presidential fi nalists
Get your tickets now
ONLINE at
www.easternoregonlivestockshow.com
or AT THE GATE
PRCA Rodeo
& Pari-Mutuel Horse Racing
Friday, June 11, 2021 @ 4 pm
Saturday, June 12, 2021 @ 2 pm
Sunday, June 13, 2021 @ 1:30 pm
Register in Wolfweb at bluecc.edu/NAC
UMA101 class counts as elective credit
Fall terms starts Sept. 22 and ends Dec. 10
For more information, please contact Annie Smith, Native
American Liaison and Success Coach at asmith@bluecc.edu
Carnival
Thursday
through
Saturday
Parade
Friday @ 2 pm
BLUE MOUNTAIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE IS
AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EDUCATOR AND
EMPLOYER. FOR FULL EEO DISCLOSURE
STATEMENT VISIT WWW.BLUECC.EDU/EEO.
