WEEKEND EDITION
Pendleton flour mill fire still under investigation |
REGION, A3
AUGUST 20 – 21, 2022
146th Year, No. 104
WINNER OF THE 2022 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
$1.50
WILDHORSE RESORT & CASINO
Suspect, bystander injured in robbery attempt
Javier Francisco
Vigil faces up to
20 years in federal
prison if convicted
By ANTONIO ARREDONDO
AND MARCO GRAMACHO
East Oregonian
PORTLAND — The suspect
in the robbery and shootout earlier
this week at Wildhorse Resort &
Casino near Pendleton tried to steal
$1 million.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for
the District of Oregon in a press
release Friday, Aug. 19 reported
Javier Francisco Vigil, 51, a
local man, walked straight to the
cashier cage in the gaming area on
Aug. 17 and handed the cashier a
note demanding $1 million.
“Vigil then drew a holstered
pistol,” according to the press release,
“pointed it at the cashier and threat-
ened to ‘bathe everyone in blood.’”
Instead of the $1 million, Vigil got
almost $70,000 in cash before making
his exit, when he then pointed his gun
at a Umatilla Tribal Police Depart-
ment officer who was responding to
the robbery and fired.
Vigil suffered injuries in an ensu-
ing exchange of gunfire before police
took him into custody.
He made his initial appearance in
federal court in Portland on Aug. 19
before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jolie
A. Russo. Federal prosecutors
charged Vigil with committing a
Hobbs Act robbery and using and
carrying a firearm during and in
PILOT ROCK
relation to a crime of violence.
The Hobbs Act is a federal law
from 1946 that further criminalizes
robbery or extortion. A conviction
under the Hobbs Act can mean a
prison sentence of up to 20 years.
The court ordered Vigil to remain
in custody pending further court
proceedings. He now is an inmate at
the Multnomah County Jail, Portland.
Caught in the gunfire
Wildhorse is on the Umatilla
Indian Reservation several miles
east of Pendleton. The Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reser-
vation reported the Umatilla Tribal
Police Department at 1:04 p.m.
responded to a report of a robbery
in action at Wildhorse. Vigil was
not the only one to take a bullet.
The Pendleton School District
reported some of its staff were at
Wildhorse and a school event.
“Several members of our staff
witnessed the incident,” accord-
ing to the district, “and one staff
member was injured.”
See Casino, Page A8
OREGON GUBERNATORIAL RACE
Coming
under fire
Former LA fire
commissioner seeks
ouster of Pilot Rock
fire captain while
chief is on leave
By JOHN TILLMAN
East Oregonian
PILOT ROCK — A former Los
Angeles Fire Board commissioner
is calling out the Pilot Rock Rural
Fire Protection District for allowing
a man with criminal convictions to
stay in its ranks.
Rebecca Ninburg also stated
Herschel Rostov, the district’s new
fire chief, is on administrative leave
due to an ongoing sexual harass-
ment investigation.
Ninburg sent an email Wednes-
day, Aug. 17, to local fire officials
and news outlets that addressed Jim
Critchley, chief of Pendleton Fire
and Ambulance Department, and
Tim Weinke, president of the Pilot
Rock Rural Fire Protection District
Board of Directors.
“I’m writing because I’m deeply
concerned that Fire Captain Brian
Hemphill is continuing to work for
Pilot Rock Fire Protection District,”
she stated. “You are both aware that
Captain Hemphill has felony and
misdemeanor charges including
assault and strangulation, DUI, and
stealing medication from Pendleton
Fire Department.”
State court records show
Hemphill pleaded guilty to 2013
charges of strangulation and
fourth-degree assault, pleaded
guilty in September 2015 to
fourth-degree assault and in Janu-
ary 2016 pleaded guilty to driving
under the influence of intoxicants.
All the charges were misdemean-
ors and the cases were in Umatilla
County. Records also show
Hemphill completed probation in
each case.
Nothing in the state court records
verified Ninburg’s theft assertion.
Yasser Marte/East Oregonian
Oregon Republican gubernatorial candidate Christine Drazan, right, on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022, greets State Rep. Bobby Levy at the “Get
the Scoop” ice cream social fundraiser at the Christian Life Center in Heppner.
Drazan rolls campaign into Heppner
Republican nominee visits
Eastern Oregon, discusses
‘Roadmap’ for the state
By DAKOTA
CASTETS-DIDIER
East Oregonian
H
EPPNER — Christine Drazan rolled
her campaign to become Oregon’s first
Republican governor in 40 years into
Heppner on Wednesday, Aug. 17, for
an ice cream social.
The event at the Christian Life Center drew
several dozen people and some public offi-
cials, including Morrow County Sheriff Ken
Matlack and fellow Republicans state Reps.
Greg Smith, Heppner, and Bobby Levy, Echo.
“Getting involved in public service in the
first place for me was about service,” Drazan
explained, sitting for an interview within
the chapel of the Christian Life Center. “It
was really about the opportunity to make a
difference and be effective. What I learned as
a legislator was that my opportunity to really
change outcomes, which is really what defines
effectiveness for me, was really limited.”
Drazan, 50, served in the Oregon House
of Representatives 2019-22 for District 39,
which includes parts of Clackamas County.
She also was minority leader until 2021,
when she left the state House to run for
governor.
“As Republican leader, my caucus
members proposed a hundred amendments to
various pieces of legislation, and repeatedly
it was on party line vote, rejected,” she said.
With Democrats holding a supermajority
in the Legislature, she said, Republicans have
few tools to stop proposals they opposed.
It became clear, she explained, there was
not going to be an opportunity for her as a
Republican legislator in Oregon to work on
big issues. But the governor’s office offers
just that.
“The governor’s role is so critical and so
important to provide balance and account-
ability,” Drazan said. “In single party control,
if you’re in a state with only one party every-
where you look, you really don’t have the
kind of accountability that I think Orego-
nians want right now.”
She criticized the “one size fits all”
approach in Oregon government. Some rules
and expectations that might be workable and
culturally aligned in the more metro and
suburban parts of our state instead affect the
ability of rural Oregonians to support their
families and lives.
See Drazan, Page A8
See Fire, Page A8
School supply drive exceeds expectations
Giveaway set for
next week
By ANTONIO ARREDONDO
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Pendleton
students can meet their needs for a
backpack or other school supplies
next week with a school supply
giveaway.
The Pendleton Community
School Supply Drive and Backpack
Giveaway will take place Wednes-
day, Aug. 24 at Roy Raley Park
from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Three local
organizations are presenting the
event: Blue Mountain Small Engine
Repair, Let’er Uber, and Zom-B13.
Jesselee Leachman, the creator
of Zom-B13, began the giveaway
in 2021 with money from his
own pocket. Leachman said he
purchased between 30-40 back-
packs last year for those in need.
He had wanted to keep things in
2022 but was lower on funds since
buying a house.
That’s when he came in contact
with Alicia Reynon. The creator
of the Let’er Uber group of Uber
drivers in Pendleton heard about
the situation and wanted to help.
“I put my foot down to the dirt
and started doing what I could,”
Reynon said.
Leachman, Reynon, and James
Turk of Blue Mountain Small
Engine Repair all met to create a
bigger fundraiser — the Commu-
nity School Supply Drive and
Backpack Giveaway. Initially,
Leachman said the goal was to
have around 50 backpacks. So far,
they have 207.
See Supplies, Page A8
East Oregonian, File
Jesselee Leachman, owner of the Pendleton-based Zom-B13, poses for a
photo in October 2017. Leachman helped form the Pendleton Communi-
ty School Supply Drive and Backpack Giveaway, which occurs Wednes-
day, Aug. 24, 2022, at Roy Raley Park, to provide free school supplies to
Pendleton students.