WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2016
LOCAL NEWS
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Marching band sweeps awards
Tea Party gets
first-hand account of at Holiday Bowl parade
Harney County case
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
Public lands at
heart of Monday
meeting
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Staff Writer
Harney County ranchers
Dwight and Steven Ham-
mond reported to federal
prison Monday, though at
least one of the family’s al-
lies believes they won’t be
serving their full sentences.
Dave Duquette of
Hermiston works with the
national nonpro¿t Protect
the Harvest and met at
length with the Hammonds
in Burns before a peace-
ful rally broke off into an
armed occupation of the
Malheur National Wildlife
Refuge on Saturday.
Duquette defended the
Hammonds and weighed
in on the militia’s presence
Monday with the Greater
Hermiston Area Tea Party,
which lent a sympathetic
ear to what they see as a
gross injustice carried out
by the federal government.
The Tea Party also heard
from a retired U.S. district
forester about the Blue
Mountains Forest Plan
Revision, and the intent to
reach out to local of¿cials
in order to invoke coordi-
nation with the Forest Ser-
vice — similar to recent
efforts in Grant and Baker
counties. About 20 people
attended the meeting.
At the heart of both is-
sues is the perceived mis-
management of public
lands and domineering at-
titude of agencies like the
Forest Service and Bureau
of Land Management. Rob
Lovett, chairman of the
Greater Hermiston Area
Tea Party, said citizens
need to unite in opposition
under a single voice.
“We’re talking about
what seems like a govern-
ment against the people,”
Lovett said. “We want our
country back under a con-
stitutional
government,
and we’ll settle for nothing
less.”
That unity seemed to
splinter in Burns, where
Saturday’s march on be-
half of the Hammonds was
overshadowed by an armed
militia’s occupation of the
nearby Malheur National
Wildlife Refuge. Duquette
said he has swapped mes-
sages with the group’s
leader, Ammon Bundy,
and believes the group will
eventually leave peaceful-
ly. Bundy’s brother, Ryan
Bundy, recently told Ore-
gon Public Broadcasting
they will go if the commu-
nity wants them to go.
“My guess is this thing
won’t last much longer,”
Duquette said.
Duquette said the resi-
dents of Burns are divided
about the militia’s effort.
However, Duquette added
the occupation has gone
a long way toward raising
awareness about the Ham-
monds’ case.
“There’s nothing better
than free press. And they
got a lot of it,” Duquette
said.
Duquette said the Ham-
mond sentence is “the most
sickening case of govern-
ment overreach I’ve seen.”
The ranchers were con-
victed of arson after set-
ting ¿res that burned onto
public land. A U.S. district
judge initially refused to
impose the mandatory ¿ve-
year minimum sentence,
which he said was cruel
and unusual punishment,
though the ruling was later
overturned on appeal.
The Hammonds were
resentenced and turned
themselves in on Monday,
though Duquette said he
believes the duo will be re-
leased early. His organiza-
tion, Protect the Harvest, is
going to bat for the ranch-
ers.
“It was an extreme in-
justice to send them away
for ¿ve years,” Duquette
said. “I think they were
done wrong. Constitution-
ally, I don’t think it was le-
gal what happened.”
Duquette said the mi-
litia’s actions aren’t what
he would have done, but
at least people now have a
better understanding of the
Hammonds’ plight. The
Hammonds have distanced
themselves from the group.
In a separate presenta-
tion, the Tea Party heard
from Dave Price, a retired
district forester who spent
37 years working with the
Forest Service in Oregon,
Washington and California.
He spoke about the ongo-
ing Blue Mountains Forest
Plan Revision, which is due
for a ¿nal environmental
report in September.
Price was critical of the
Forest Service, which he
said has stacked restriction
upon restriction to prevent
active management that has
gradually built to 20-year
backlog of fuels — the same
fuels that are now driving
bigger, hotter wild¿res.
The plan does not ap-
prove speci¿c forestry
projects, but sets goals and
conditions for the forests
moving forward. Plans are
updated every 10-15 years,
though the current Blue
Mountains forest plan dates
back to 1990.
Just 30 percent of land
in the three forests is now
deemed suitable for man-
agement, Price said. The
rest is locked up in wilder-
ness areas, roadless inven-
tory or other protected cate-
gories. The proposed forest
plans call for 162 million
board feet of timber avail-
able for harvest, despite the
fact the area is growing at
a rate of 800 million board
feet per year.
“It ain’t gonna work,”
Price said. “You’re falling
way behind. Something has
to be done.”
Lovett said the group
needs to reach out to timber
executives and county com-
missioners to come up with
a local forest management
plan that will allow them
to invoke coordination with
the Forest Service.
Lovett said the Forest
Service has acted like a
“quasi-dictatorship” which
has led to economic losses
in communities.
“We have lost much
of our prosperity to this,”
Lovett said.
Price encouraged the
group to act quickly. After
2016, he said they might not
have another chance.
“It’s your land. And you
have a big investment,” he
said.
There is going to be a lot
less room in the trophy case
after the Hermiston High
School marching band re-
turned from their Holiday
Bowl trip last week with a
lot of new hardware to dis-
play
The band swept every
award in their division on
Dec. 30, beating out nine
other schools for the overall
grand prize at the San Diego
Holiday Bowl Parade in ad-
dition to bringing home the
¿rst place trophies for best
music, best percussion, best
color guard, best marching,
best drum major and best
general effect.
Shaelynn Boyd, a senior
who plays percussion in the
band, described a scene of
jubilation when the band
found out they had won ev-
erything.
“Everyone was cheering
and laughing and crying,”
she said.
The announcement came
while the band was getting
ready to play at the halftime
show of the Holiday Bowl
Wednesday night, when the
nation watched the Wiscon-
sin Badgers beat the USC
Trojans, 23-21.
Boyd said getting ready
for the trip meant a lot of
extra practicing and hard
work fundraising, but in
that moment there were no
regrets.
“It was all worth it,” she
said. “All the time we put in
and the struggles we had, it
was all worth it.”
The awards meant a lot
to the mentors who went
along for the trip, too.
Adrian Rodarte, the
band’s color guard instruc-
tor, said he was as ecstatic
as the kids about the win.
Rodarte was captain of
the color guard during his
senior year at Hermiston
High School in 1999-2000
and then watched the band
go through a rebuilding pe-
riod when it didn’t take any
major trips again until this
year.
“I grew up in Hermis-
ton, and just to see the band
come back alive and grow
... it has been just surreal,”
he said.
Rodarte said the color
guard didn’t have much
time to learn the routine
for the halftime show after
receiving videos of it, and
it was also a tight schedule
choreographing and learn-
ing a routine for the pa-
rade, but the group seemed
to have taken his words to
heart when he pushed them
to give it their all.
“I made sure they knew,
‘You need to take this se-
riously. You’re represent-
ing your school and your
state,’” he said.
Band director Paul Dun-
smoor said he went down
to San Diego con¿dent the
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band would measure up
well, but to win ¿rst place
in every category while
competing against nine
other similarly sized bands
from around the country
was a “huge surprise.”
He said he hoped the
students gained a lot of
self-con¿dence from the
experience and also learned
from the other bands they
interacted with while re-
hearsing for the halftime
show.
After working hard to
help the band shine in San
Diego, Dunsmoor won’t
soon forget the cheering,
crying, hugging and Àur-
ry of sel¿e-taking with the
trophies that happened af-
ter the awards were handed
out.
“They were so excited,”
he said. “It was incredible.”
Hermiston man joins list of missing men in area
known vehicle was a blue
1998 Mercury Sable with
A Hermiston man’s fam- Oregon plate number 185
FGV.
ily is worried about
Luna’s family ar-
his whereabouts af-
en’t the only ones
ter three weeks with-
still searching for a
out any contact from
loved one in the area.
him.
John Getman, 78,
Family and friends
is still missing af-
say they haven’t seen
ter wandering away
Joel Luna, 36, since
from a family mem-
Dec. 15, 2015. His John
Getman
ber’s home in Irrigon
stepmother Michelle
about 2 a.m. on Nov.
Luna said his phone
16, 2015.
is turned off and a car
Getman has Alz-
he borrowed around
heimer’s disease and
that time hasn’t been
had recently moved
found.
to Irrigon from New
Michelle said it
York. Several people
isn’t uncommon for
later reported seeing
him to take off for a
him walking along
few days at a time.
nearby roads that
He had recently re- Joel
Luna
morning but search
turned from visit-
and rescue efforts
ing a friend in the
were unsuccessful in
Grand Coulee area
in Washington. But he has locating him.
He is described 6 feet
never gone weeks without
any contact with his three tall, 190 pounds with short
daughters in Boardman or gray hair and brown eyes.
He was last seen wearing
other family members.
“Somebody should have a heavy brown Carhartt
heard from him,” she said.
7he family ¿led a miss-
ing person’s report and has
been spreading the word
on Facebook and with Ài-
ers, but so far haven’t had
any luck in locating him.
Joel is Hispanic, 5’7”,
170 pounds with brown
eyes and dark hair. He
has a piercing on his chin,
several tattoos and usually
wears facial hair. His last
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
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jacket, brown plaid shirt, on June 18. The dog was
found wandering around
blue jeans and sneakers.
Marcus Wise, 27, of the west end of town later
Hermiston has been
that day, but Wise
missing since June
was nowhere to be
18, 2015 but his fam-
found and his fam-
ily and friends hav-
ily hasn’t seen him
en’t given up their
since.
efforts to distribute
Anyone with in-
Àiers with his picture
formation on the
on them in the hopes
whereabouts of the
that someone comes Marcus
three men can con-
Wise
forward with infor-
tact Hermiston Po-
mation on his where-
lice Department at
abouts.
541-567-5519
or
According to them, he Morrow County Sheriff’s
left for a walk with his dog Department at 541-676-
in the Riverfront Park area 5317.
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