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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 2016)
LOCAL NEWS WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2016 Woman escapes from ex who kidnapped her By PHIL WRIGHT Staff Writer A Boardman woman escaped a man that kid- napped, strangled and assaulted her this week- end, according to Morrow County Sheriff Ken Mat- lack. The suspect, Travis Lane Thomas, 44, pleaded not guilty Monday in Morrow County Circuit Court to 11 FRXQWVIRXURI¿UVWGHJUHH NLGQDSSLQJWZRRI¿UVWGH- gree assault; and one each of second- and fourth-de- gree assault, menacing and strangulation. A caller on Saturday morning at 7:35 asked law enforcement to pick up a woman outside his home on Hill Top Lane, Board- man, according to a written statement from the Morrow &RXQW\ 6KHULII¶V 2I¿FH The woman, the caller stat- ed, was an assault victim “covered in blood and only wearing a coat.” %RDUGPDQSROLFHRI¿FHU Matt Clinard and Morrow County sheriff’s deputy 0DWW&URZHOOZHUHWKH¿UVW police on the scene, and the Boardman Ambulance took Heather Payne to Good Shepherd Medical Center, Hermiston. There she talk- HG WR RI¿FHUV EHIRUH WKH hospital transferred her to Kadlec Regional Medical Center, Richland, Washing- ton, due to a serious head injury. Matlack said she had bleeding in her brain from the assault, and Kadlec treated her and sent her back to Good Shepherd, ZKLFK H[SHFWHG WR UHOHDVH her early this week. Matlack said Payne was staying alone in a friend’s recreational vehicle in the West Glen Edition of southeast Boardman. Thomas was at his mo- tor home Thomas at 70072 K u n z e Road on the same property where Payne was. Saturday around sunrise, Matlack said, Thomas kidnapped Payne and forced her into his home. The two were previously in a relation- ship and Morrow County records show Thomas has domestic violence convic- tions in 2015 for menacing and assaulting her. Thomas bound Payne’s feet and hands, the sheriff said, then assaulted and strangled her. Thomas stepped out around 7:30 a.m. but told Payne he would be right back. Matlack said Payne broke her bonds, grabbed her coat and left out a win- dow. She made it about 100 yards before getting help from residents on Hill Top Lane. Members of the sheriff’s RI¿FHDQG%RDUGPDQSROLFH tried to contact Thomas at his home, Matlack said, but he did not answer the door. So sheriff’s detective Brian Snyder obtained a search warrant. Matlack said Thomas was wearing blood-stained clothes and sitting on the ÀRRUZKHQRI¿FHUVHQWHUHG the home, and he did not SXW XS D ¿JKW GXULQJ WKH arrest. Circuit Judge Eva Tem- ple set bail Monday for Thomas at $100,000. He remains in the Umatilla County Jail, Pendleton. Equipment failure knocks out power to 1,165 homes Hermiston EOTEC more than halfway to $2 million goal ested city council, business or civic group. The committee The fundraising committee has also been actively solicit- for the Eastern Oregon Trade ing donations from people and and Event Center is 57 percent EXVLQHVVHVLGHQWL¿HGDVOLNHO\ of the way toward its $2 mil- donors. Some people have do- lion goal. nated unsolicited, too, Barnett ³:H¶UHYHU\FRQ¿GHQWWKDW said, including someone who things are on track,” commit- ZDONHGLQWRKLVRI¿FHUHFHQWO\ tee chair Dennis Barnett of and handed over $8,000. Barnett & Moro said. He said some major spon- The committee had raised sors, including one individual $1,140,639 as of Feb. 17. Its who donated $100,000 to EO- goal is to raise $2 million by TEC, have asked to remain April 1. anonymous. After 30 years STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Barnett said some area in the community, he said it businesses are in the process A sign marking the fundraising efforts for the Eastern Oregon doesn’t surprise him that the of sending a donation request Trade and Event Center on Highway 395 in Hermiston shows committee has found so many up their chain of command, more than half of the $2 million goal has been raised. people willing to support the while others have indicated project. they would like to donate but and Farm-City Pro Rodeo. VLJQL¿FDQWO\ ORZHU WKDQ WKDW “This area is supremely have not yet decided how In 2015, the Umatilla County He said a large number of giving,” he said. “People are much to give. Fair Youth Livestock Auction “very generous people” are very charitable.” Some donations have come raised more than $492,000. giving their entire donation up The committee has already from the east side of Umatilla “When you’re talking front. And although the board raised the $625,000 needed to County, and others from Mor- about the fair, you’re talking needs to know by April 1 how build a third barn on the fair- row County, but Barnett said about the county,” he said. much money it will have for grounds and is very close to so far the majority of dona- In order to provide donors construction in order to design UHDFKLQJ WKH QH[W tions have come from Herm- the option of spreading dona- components and send them needed for permanent seating iston residents and locally tions out over a period of two out to bid, Barnett said they in the rodeo arena. The fol- owned Hermiston businesses. WR¿YH\HDUVZKLOHVWLOOEHLQJ won’t actually need all of the lowing $700,000 will go to- “They’re people who live able to access the entire sum PRQH\ WR ¿QLVK SD\LQJ FRQ- ward permanent pens, panels here, who work here, who during construction, the coun- tractors until early in 2017, af- and stalls and an additional sleep here,” he said. ty commission and Hermiston ter donors have already made $75,000 beyond that would Barnett said even though City Council have given per- their second payment. pay for utility hook-ups for (27(&ZLOOEHQH¿WWKHFRXQ- mission for EOTEC to borrow He said the fundraising RVs. ty by bringing travelers to up to $1.5 million. committee has been mak- The fundraising committee the area and providing larg- Barnett said it is hard to say ing itself available to give an will continue to look for ways er, higher-quality facilities how much the board could end informational presentation to raise money after April 1 to for the Umatilla County Fair up borrowing, but it should be about EOTEC to any inter- improve the facility. By JADE McDOWELL Staff Writer Fire district merger goes back to voters Cost to Hermiston, Stanfield taxpayers is lowered in second attempt for approval By PHIL WRIGHT Staff Writer Power was out for 1,165 households in Hermiston for the second time in less than a week after an equip- ment failure on Monday night. Umatilla Electric Coop- erative spokesman Steve Myers said an underground line coming out of the Hermiston Butte substation, located at UEC headquar- ters on Elm Avenue, failed shortly after 8 p.m. Monday night. The substation serves several thousand customers, he said, but only 1,165 were affected by the outage. My- ers said in order to make re- pairs those customers have been temporarily switched to the Feedville substation. He said for safety reasons the switch took several hours to implement gradu- ally, which is why the last of the customers affected did not get power until about 8 a.m. Tuesday morning. “Cold weather can slow down the process, because power loads are heavier when people have their heating switched on,” he wrote in an email. On Friday afternoon about 10,000 Hermiston-ar- HDFXVWRPHUVH[SHULHQFHGD power outage after a high- speed wind gust knocked out a transmission line and damaged other sections of line in town. Hermiston AD Blaine Ganvoa resigns Blaine Ganvoa has sub- until the end,” he said. “I mitted his resignation as will continue that until the athletic director of Hermis- end of the school year.” ton High School. Ganvoa became The Hermiston the athletic direc- School Board of tor at Hermiston Education accept- High School in ed the resignation July 2014. He pre- Monday night viously served as during a board a teacher and ath- meeting and work letic director at Ir- session. Ganvoa rigon Senior High Ganvoa said School. Tuesday the decision was Ganvoa’s submitted his made for personal and pro- resignation Feb. 12. His fessional reasons but said last day with the Hermiston he had no further comment. School District will be June ³, DP GH¿QLWHO\ IXOO\ 30. committed to Hermiston — Jennifer Colton Interested in a Medical career? Need funds to complete your training? Medical scholarship applications are now being accepted from local qualified applicants through February 29th. The Good Shepherd Community Health Foundation is again pleased to partner with Tualatin Imaging to offer a $1,500 scholarship for students who have expressed an interest in pursuing a diagnostic imaging career. For application requirements and application form, call 541-667-3419 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3 +HUPLVWRQDQG6WDQ¿HOG voters will have a second FKDQFHDWPHUJLQJWKHLU¿UH districts. The Umatilla County Board of Commissioners voted 3-0 Wednesday, Feb. 17, to place the matter on the May ballot. The pro- posal would establish a SHUPDQHQWWD[UDWHRI per $1,000 of assessed property value to create Umatilla County Fire Dis- trict No. 1, replacing the +HUPLVWRQ DQG 6WDQ¿HOG ¿UHGLVWULFWV The creation of the dis- trict went before voters in November 2015. That time the rate was $2 per $1,000. 6WDQ¿HOG YRWHUV DSSURYHG the proposal, but Hermis- ton voters turned it down and the measure failed. The county commis- sioner’s approval came DIWHU WKH VHFRQG DQG ¿QDO public hearing to place the matter on the ballot. Scott 6WDQWRQ ¿UH FKLHI RI ERWK the Hermiston and Stan- ¿HOG ¿UH GLVWULFWV DJDLQ spoke in favor of the merg- er. He said the notion start- ed in 2009, and a 2012 study showed one district would better serve the peo- ple the two communities. ,Q WKH ¿UH GLVWULFWV merged administrations and Stanton became chief of both. 7KH QH[W VWHS ZDV DVN- ing the voters to approve a new district. Stanton said that failure led to getting additional input and drop- SLQJWKHDPRXQWRIWKHWD[ to $1.75 per $1,000. That would be a 31 cent GHFUHDVH LQ 6WDQ¿HOG¶V rate, but a rate increase of 55 cents for rural areas around Hermiston, which works out to paying about DQH[WUDDPRQWKRQ a $200,000 home. Property owners inside the Hermis- ton city limits may not see an actual increase because of compression, the Ore- gon law that limits proper- W\WD[UDWHV 7KH WD[ ZRXOG JHQHU- ate about $900,000 a year, most of which would go STUDENT OF THE WEEK Megan Glynn P ILOT R OCK H IGH S CHOOL Pilot Rock High School student of the week is senior Megan Glynn. Megan has many outstanding qualities, but foremost is her positive attitude in all situations. Her infectious smile makes anyone she meets in the hallway feel better immediately. Megan is the senior class president, National Honor Society president, and a member of Key club and leadership class. She is also involved in athletics and can be seen after school sprinting around town in preparation for the upcoming track season. Megan likes to set goals and is looking forward to attending college in the fall. Proudly Sponsored by 2801 St. Anthony Way, Pendleton, OR • 541-276-5121 WRZDUG DGGLWLRQDO VWDI¿QJ and the rest toward capi- tal improvements. Stanton said the new district would SURYLGH VWDI¿QJ DW Hermiston’s main station and at station No. 2, as well as day shifts at station 1RDQGLQ6WDQ¿HOG The new district would also have enough money to cover equipment costs, he said, and not have to ask voters to pass future bonds. :LWKRXW WKH QHZ ¿UH district, Stanton told com- PLVVLRQHUVEDFNDWWKH¿UVW public hearing in January, +HUPLVWRQ DQG 6WDQ¿HOG may have to put off equip- ment upgrades and cut staff. He also said at that time the new district would tie Redmond as the cheap- est in the state for its size. Most districts of this size, KHVDLGKDYHDUDWHH[FHHG- ing $2. Stanton was the only person to speak for the proposal, and no one spoke against it, just like at the January hearing. Riverside High coach arrested A Boardman high school sports coach and educational assistant was arrested Tues- day and may be charged with supplying alcohol to minors. Matthew Ryan Sum- mers-Johnson, 27, coaches football and junior varsity boys basketball at Riverside High School. He is on ad- ministrative leave from the school district pending the allegation. The Mor- Summers- row County Johnson Sheriff’s Of- ¿FH EHJDQ investigating Summers-John- son on Feb. 9 based on a com- plaint that he provided alcohol to a group of student athletes. He was arrested on a warrant out of Clatsop County for vi- olating probation from a 2014 charge of driving under the LQÀXHQFHRILQWR[LFDQWV Morrow County Dis- trict Attorney Justin Nelson said he has not yet charged Summers-Johnson with a crime, and planned to review the case on Monday. Sum- mers-Johnson has been with the Morrow County School District since July 2015.
