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Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
HEPPNER
Morrow County man sentenced to 62+
years in prison for child sexual abuse
Morrow County Jury had
convicted Joseph Edward
Pergande of rape, unlawful
sexual penetration, sexual
abuse, and coercion
“ We all have a
moral obligation to protect
children,” said Attorney
General Kroger. “1 want to
thank the Morrow County
District Attorney’s office
for their excellent work on
the case.”
E d w ard Jo se p h
Pergande, 33, was sen­
tenced Thursday, October
13 by Circuit Court Judge
Eva J. Temple to 62.5 years
in prison for the repeated
sexual abuse of two minor
children. Members of the
victims’ family listened to
the sentencing in real-time
from the Circuit Court in
Hermiston.
The defendant was
convicted by a unanimous
Morrow County jury on
September 2 o f 1 count each
o f Rape in the First Degree
and Unlawful Sexual Pen­
etration in the First Degree,
and 2 counts each of Sexual
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Abuse in the First Degree
and Coercion. The jury de­
liberated for approximately
ninety minutes at the con­
clusion of the four day trial
in Heppner.
within the state.
U nder J e s s ic a ’s
The only other me­ law, the Defendant faced
teorite found yet in eastern a mandatory 25 years in
Oregon was also identified
last year and was found at
Lakeview. Both discover­
ies from eastern Oregon
attracted the attention of
scientists and media world­
The City of Board-
wide.
man is conducting inter­
Funding for mete­ views this week for their
orite programs in eastern Chief of Police position.
Oregon this year has been
The city’s consult­
made to the PSU Cascade ing firm, Prothman, re­
Meteorite Laboratory from ceived 26 applications for
NASA and are sponsored the position, which closed
by Libraries of Eastern Or­ on September 11. Four ap­
egon (LEO) and its member plicants have been invited
libraries.
to interview with the city’s
Program attendees interview panel, made up
are encouraged to bring o f citizens o f Boardman,
in rocks that they’d like to and others who work in the
have identified. For further field o f law enforcement.
information, contact Or­ The candidates are Ernesto
egon Trail Library District D oram e, Louis Gomez,
director Marsha Richmond Kevin Lynch and Richard
at 541-481-3365 or LEO Stokoe.
director Lyn Craig at 541-
Ernesto Dorame
763-2355.
was with the City of On­
To le a rn m o re tario, CA police department
about the PSU laboratory for 25 years, retiring in
and Pugh, who recently 2007 at the rank of lieuten­
won an international award ant. At the beginning of his
for his efforts for meteorite law enforcem ent career,
identification and educa­ he also served the City of
tion, see www.meteorites. Fullerton, CA, PD and the
pdx.edu.
Santa Clara County, CA,
On O cto b er 14,
D istrict A ttorney Justin
Nelson and Attorney Gen­
eral John Kroger announced
a 62.5-year prison sen ­
tence for a Morrow County
man convicted o f sexually
molesting two children. A
5<K
ette
VOL. 130
NO. 41
8 Pages
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Scientist to present Morrow
County meteorite in Heppner
On Tuesday, No­
vember 1, scientist Dick
Pugh will present photos
of the Morrow County me­
teorite at a public program
at the Oregon Trail Library
District’s branch library in
Heppner. The program will
begin at 6:30 p.m.; all ages
are welcome.
This fifth meteor­
ite ever to be discovered
in Oregon was found in
Morrow County in 1999
and identified and dated by
scientists just months ago.
The meteorite was found
in a ditch along a rural road
after traveling millions of
miles and billions of years
through space before fall­
ing to Earth and landing in
Morrow County.
Pugh will give a
lively, updated program
about searching for mete­
orites and the discovery of
“Morrow County,” as the
meteorite is named. He will
also bring $ 10,000 worth of
meteorites for attendees to
pick up and handle.
The Morrow Coun­
ty meteorite weighs more
than 40 pounds and is about
the size o f a beach ball.
The cone-shaped rock was
picked up by Donald Wes-
son and his wife Debbie
while driving past open
wheat fields.
“That wheat coun­
try in Morrow County is
ideal for looking for me­
teorites such as this one,”
Pugh said. “We think there
could very well be several
more out there, including
m eteorites lying on the
ground out there from the
fireball that shot overhead
across northeastern Oregon
a few years ago.”
“That one likely
left a stream of meteorite
debris as it exploded above
the region,” he added.
The program will
help area residents know
w hat to look for when
searching for meteorites.
The extraterrestrial rocks
are often p itted , cone-
shaped and have a burnt
su rface from trav elin g
through space.
M e te o r ite s are
quite valuable and belong
to the person on whose
property they are found.
To date, only six meteorites
have ever been found in Or­
egon, yet scientists believe
there is at least one lying
on every half square mile
Boardman holds interviews for
chief of police
ZeaChem named in Cleantech 100
ZeaChem,
a
B oardm an-based d ev el­
oper of biorefineries for the
conversion o f renewable
biomass into sustainable
fuels and chemicals, was
named in the 2011 Global
Cleantech 100. The pres­
tigious list is produced by
Cleantech Group, a leading
research firm focused on
global cleantech innova­
tion. The Global Cleantech
100 program is produced
in collaboration with the
UK’s Guardian News and
Media.
The Global Clean­
tech 100 list is unique in the
sector because it highlights
the promise of private clean
technology companies from
all around the world, focus­
ing on those com panies
which are most likely to
make the most significant
market impact over the next
5-10 years.
building a portfol io o f a j -
vanced biofuels and bio-
based chemicals derived
from cellulosic biomass,”
said Jim Imbler, CEO o f
ZeaChem. “Our patented
process offers the highest
yield, the lowest cost, and
the lowest fossil carbon
footprint o f any known
biorefining method. As our
250,000 gallon demonstra-
continuedpage 8
Wenholz, Theisen to represent Irrigon
on county charter revision committee
Former Morrow Coun­
ty Commissioner John
Wenholz and Irrrigon city
council member Arnold
“Joe” Theisen were ap­
pointed by the Irrigon city
council Tuesday night to
serve on the Mayors and
City Managers’ Morrow
County charter revision
committee. The commit­
tee will come up with a re­
vised charter changing the
number of county commis­
sioners from the present
three to five, and present
the charter to voters for ap­
proval. “This will repre­
sent a major change in the
way we do business," Ir­
rigon mayor David Bums
said after the council voted
unanimously to make the
appointments. Bums also
said he had spoken to for­
mer county commissioner
Warren McCoy who told
Bums he supported the
charter revision effort. “We
currently have two people
making all the decisions
(on the court),” Bums said.
“They are in charge of a
$30 million budget. We
feel it would be more rep­
resentative if we had five
people making those deci­
sions,” Bums added.
The mayors and city
managers from all the cit­
ies in the county get to­
gether once per month to
discuss common interests
and problems. Last month
the group issued a press
release saying there would
be two people each from
prison on each of the Rape the District Attorney posi-
and Unlawful Sexual Pen- tion became vacant. Upon
etration counts. Under Bal- his appointment in July of
lot Measure 11, the
2010, District At­
m andatory m in i­
torney Justin Nel­
mum sentence on
son asked DOJ to
each of the Sexual
continue to pros­
A buse charges is
ecute certain cases
75 months. Judge
involving serious
Tem ple im posed
person crim es in
consecutive sen ­ Edward
order to minimize
tences, finding that Joseph
disruption to crime
the defendant had Pergande
victim s and their
committed multiple
families. Senior As­
criminal sex acts against sistant Attorney General
multiple victims.
Dan Wendel and Deputy
The facts at trial District Attorney Richard
showed that the defendant Tovey prosecuted the case.
repeatedly sexually as­
“Child sexual abuse
saulted two minor children crimes are among the most
during 2006 and 2007. The devastating crim es that
defendant knew the child can occur in a community.
victims through a personal Crimes like these inflict
relationship. The child vic­ severe physical, emotional,
tims were between four and and psychological trauma
seven years old during the on their victims. As Morrow
time of the abuse.
County District Attorney, I
The case was ini­ am proud of the successful
tially investigated by the prosecution of this case and
Morrow County Sheriff’s the teamwork between the
Office with the assistance of Oregon Department of Jus­
the Guardian Care Center in tice and the Morrow County
District Attorney’s Office
Pendleton.
The Oregon De­ that led to the conviction.
partment of Justice (DOJ) Assistant Attorney General
has been prosecuting the Dan Wendel and Morrow
case in cooperation with the County Deputy D istrict
Morrow County District At­ Attorney Richard Tovey did
torney’s office since March an impressive job prosecut­
2010. DOJ temporarily ran ing this case,” said District
the office in 2010 when Attorney Nelson.
Irrigon, Boardman and
Heppner, and one each
from lone and Lexington
appointed to come up with
a new charter, however at
last week’s Heppner city
council meeting the coun­
cil declined to participate
in the process and refused
to appoint anyone to the
committee.
The committee will
be looking at changing to
what is commonly called
a “home rule” form of
government, which many
times also includes a paid
administrator as well as
doing away with many
elected officials such as as­
sessor, clerk and treasurer
in favor of those positions
appointed by the commis­
sion.
City o f Los A ngeles as
an investigator conduct­
ing police and firefighter
background investigations;
he is currently working
as an undercover robbery
suppression security agent
for Spyglass, LLC in Los
Angeles. Mr. Dorame has
an Associate of Arts degree
in Police Science from Ful­
lerton College, Fullerton,
CA.
Louis Gomez has
been the Police Chief for
the city of Oakridge, OR,
since 2001, and he also
served the city as police
sergeant prior to being pro­
moted to Police Chief. He
began his law enforcement
career in 1993 in Newport,
OR, and since then has also
served in the police depart­
ments of the Oregon cities
o f Reedsport and Baker
City. Mr. Gomez is cur­
rently pursuing a Bachelor
of Science degree in Public
Sheriffs Department. Since Safety Emergency Manage­
retiring from the Ontario ment with Grand Canyon
PD, he has worked for the University, Phoenix, AZ.
Kevin Lynch has
been the Police Chief for
the city of Elgin, OR, since
2006. He began his career
in law enforcement in the
Hood River County Sher­
iffs Office in 1983 and was
with the Hood River PD for
over 20 years before going
to the City of Elgin. Chief
Lynch was also a special
operations supervisor from
1999-2000 with the United
Nations International Police
Task Force in Kosovo.
Richard Stokoe has
more 21 years of law en­
forcement experience and
is currently the Police Chief
for the City of Nyssa, OR.
He came to Nyssa in 2009
from the Caribou County,
ID, Sheriffs Office, where
he served as Undersheriff
for three years and Deputy
Sheriff for 12 years. Early
in his career, Chief Stokoe
was also with the Wendell,
ID, Police Department, the
Council, ID. Police Depart­
ment and the Adams Coun­
ty, ID, Sheriff s Office.
OHSU student receives hands-on
experience with local doctor
Local physician opportunity to reinforce or alongside Dr. Anderson, a
B etsy A n d erso n , MD, reftite their desire to go into family physician in Hepp­
shared her exper­
family m edicine, ner and a graduate of OHSU
and o th ers took School o f Medicine. Dr.
tise with a visiting
medical student this
advantage o f this Anderson, who works at the
summer.
experience to gain Pioneer Medical Clinic, has
Last month,
understanding and been a staple in the Heppner
empathy for those community since her move
the Oregon Acad­
physicians w ork­ here in 2007.
emy of Family Phy- Betsy
“The warm
sicians/Foundation Anderson,
ing in rural
goodbyes at the end
settings.
granted 19 scholar- MD
of each visit made
ships to first-year
Though
me feel more like
their inten­
OFISU me d i c a l
I had been sitting
students who lived and tions were varied,
in the patient’s liv­
worked with various family the unm istakable
ing room instead
physicians throughout rural c o mmo n t hr ead Elyssa
o f a sterile, clinic
me nt i oned from Ackerman
towns in Oregon.
environment,” said-
The students had these students after
numerous reasons for par­ completing their experience Ackerman. “I thoroughly
ticipating in the rural family was one of positivity and an enjoyed these personal in­
medicine experience. Some unabashed respect for their teractions and got a glimpse
into the enormous impact of
students wished to improve physician mentors.
Dr.
Anderson’s work in the
One student, El-
upon their clinical skills
community.”
w ithout feeling rushed, yssa Ackerman, worked
others wanted to take the
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