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
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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
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The woman, the caller stat-
ed, was an assault victim
“covered in blood and only
wearing a coat.”
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Matt Clinard and Morrow
County sheriff’s deputy
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police on the scene, and the
Boardman Ambulance took
Heather Payne to Good
Shepherd Medical Center,
Hermiston. There she talk-
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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,
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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
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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
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the home, and he did not
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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
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said, including someone who
things are on track,” commit-
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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-
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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
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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
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voters will have a second
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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
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per $1,000 of assessed
property value to create
Umatilla County Fire Dis-
trict No. 1, replacing the
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The creation of the dis-
trict went before voters in
November 2015. That time
the rate was $2 per $1,000.
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the proposal, but Hermis-
ton voters turned it down
and the measure failed.
The county commis-
sioner’s approval came
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public hearing to place the
matter on the ballot. Scott
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the Hermiston and Stan-
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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.
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merged
administrations
and Stanton became chief
of both.
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ing the voters to approve a
new district. Stanton said
that failure led to getting
additional input and drop-
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to $1.75 per $1,000.
That would be a 31 cent
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rate, but a rate increase
of 55 cents for rural areas
around Hermiston, which
works out to paying about
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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-
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ate about $900,000 a year,
most of which would go
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OF THE
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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
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and the rest toward capi-
tal improvements. Stanton
said the new district would
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Hermiston’s main station
and at station No. 2, as
well as day shifts at station
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The new district would
also have enough money to
cover equipment costs, he
said, and not have to ask
voters to pass future bonds.
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district, Stanton told com-
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public hearing in January,
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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,
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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-
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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
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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.