Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 16, 2016)
COMMUNITY A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016 Victims’ parents make case for sex offender Ramirez sentenced to 18 months By JENNIFER COLTON Staff Writer The victims’ parents tearfully asked the judge for leniency March 9 in the sentencing of a man con- victed of sex abuse. Luis Alberto Ramirez, 21, entered the Hermiston Circuit Court with eight FRXQWVRI¿UVWGHJUHHVH[X- al abuse and two counts of ¿UVWGHJUHHVRGRP\LQYROY- ing two female relatives who were under the age of 14 at the time of the abuse. He left the courtroom with a plea deal of 18 months in jail, four years of probation and a lifetime record as a sex offender. “We all do things, and we have to pay for it,” the mother of the victims said through an interpreter. “My daughters love him. My son misses him as well. They say they forgive him.” The court did not identi- fy the parents by full name to protect the identity of the victims. The age of the vic- tims was not released, other than that both were young- er than 14 at the time of the incidents. Through most of the hearing the parents, sit- ting in the back of the court- room, wore headphones and listened to a translation of the proceedings in Span- ish while Judge Eva Temple KLV ,4 ZDV ³VLJQL¿FDQWO\ worked through the case. low.” After the evaluation, Ramirez, born in Mexi- 'DYLV ¿OHG D PRWLRQ IRU D co, came to Hermiston via change of plea. Davis said California to live with his Ramirez is not “a predator” aunt and uncle. Over a pe- and is unlikely to re-offend riod of time in 2010 with treatment. and 2011, while a Ramirez then student at Hermis- pleaded guilty to ton High School, two felony counts of Ramirez allegedly ¿UVWGHJUHH DWWHPSW- assaulted the victims, ed sexual abuse. The both his relatives. charges were one In October, Ramirez count for each of the was arrested on sexu- Ramirez victims. al abuse charges. He Each count is a pleaded not guilty. deportable offense, but the According to defense family asked that Ramirez attorney Kara Davis, a not be sent back to Mexico. psychological evaluation Temple said that decision in February determined is out of her jurisdiction. Ramirez could participate The mother acknowledged in his own defense although Ramirez had a severe prob- lem, but said he knows no one in Mexico and comes from a family that has suf- fered. The father of the vic- tims also spoke. “I’ve known him as a child, and I know some- thing happened to him. But he is a good boy and he always respected us,” he said through a translator. “I’ve always taught every- body from childhood that when someone commits a crime, they have to pay for it. That’s why he’s here today — because we love him, not because we hate him. … Lastly, I want him to know that he’s not alone, that he can always count on us.” Ramirez was sentenced to 18 months in prison, el- igible for early release for good behavior. He was also sentenced to 200 hours of community service work and 60 months of post-pris- on supervision. Ramirez will be required to register as a sex offender within 10 days of his birth- day every year. Ramirez, clad in a yel- low jumpsuit and hand- cuffs, spoke little during the hearing, providing yes and no answers to most ques- tions. “I just wanted to say that at the time I was going through a lot of things being a teenager,” Ramirez told the court. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry.” BRECKHEIMER GETS EIGHT YEARS FOR FATAL DUII Highway 395 committee considers paving roads privately By JENNIFER COLTON Staff Writer Group also wants to make landscaping recommendations sensus that we should try diction. to handle this ourselves,” Tom Houge, an eco- Watkinds said. nomic development He said about two- planning specialist thirds of property owners from the Oregon De- abutting those roads had partment of Land Con- already expressed some servation, also spoke interest and he planned on with the group about meeting one-on-one with FUHDWLQJ PRUH ÀH[LELO- By JADE McDOWELL the rest. ity with zoning in the Staff Writer If the property owners area, particularly by Property owners on take the initiative to pave creating an overlay. Umatilla County’s High- the loop of road starting He said it is not un- way 395 North Technical where vehicles turn west common for the allow- Advisory Committee are onto Baggett Lane from able uses in zones to hoping their neighbors will Highway 395, Watkinds be out of date. Creat- agree to voluntarily contrib- said trucks would gravitate ing an overlay instead ute to road improvement there when accessing the of changing the base efforts instead of forming a network of businesses west zoning would add more local improvement district. of that stretch of highway. allowed uses to proper- The committee of land- +H VDLG D WUDI¿F VLJQDO DW ties if they meet certain owners and business own- Baggett Lane — another requirements such as ers has been working with priority for the committee landscaping or clean- WKHFRXQW\RQ¿QGLQJZD\V — is already in the Ore- up. to foster economic devel- gon Department of Trans- “You want to make opment in the area between portation’s master plan to sure businesses can get Hermiston’s urban growth improve safety. Paving on the ground here, stay boundary at Punkin Center Baggett Lane “elevates it on the ground and play and Umatilla’s at Bensel up the priority list” past well with their neigh- Road. projects in other cities. bors,” he said. One of the committee’s “There won’t be any Committee member top priorities is improving more laying on the throt- Kari Christiansen, own- the roads branching off the tle once you pass Punkin er of nearby Sherrell highway that are public Center and going 70 once Chevrolet, told proper- roads but not owned by you hit Baggett Lane,” he ty owners in attendance DQ\VSHFL¿FMXULVGLFWLRQ said. the committee had also “A lot of them are in On March 8, the com- been working to come pretty rough shape,” coun- mittee also gave other up with some design ty planning director Tam- updates on their work to standards and draw- ra Mabbott said during a neighbors who had been ings for landscaping meeting March 8. “They invited to the meeting. and facades. She said probably weren’t built to One thing they discussed is the standards wouldn’t standard and nobody has WKDWDODFNRIZDWHUIRU¿UH be mandatory, but they taken responsibility to suppression was hindering would provide helpful maintain them.” economic development in information to devel- Committee chair Steve the area. opers new to the area Watkinds, who owns the Mabbott said the com- about things like which Columbia Court Club, said mittee was looking for trees grow best in the WKH¿UVWRUGHURIEXVLQHVVLV grants to bring more climate. getting the loop of Baggett non-potable water to the “I think we need Lane to West Fourth Street stretch of land but was something in place that to Kik Street and back “not quite there yet” as when we have potential to Highway 395 paved. far as sending in appli- landowners or poten- The loop is bordered by a cations. There was also tial developers coming patchwork of commercial some talk of seeing if the into the county we have and industrial property, in- city of Umatilla would be some sort of packet we cluding a strip mall along interested in extending its can hand to them and the highway, Eastern Ore- urban growth boundary in say ‘This is our goal,’” gon Machine and Hermis- order to bring water south she said. ton Sanitary Disposal. and speed up the building The committee’s To pave the road, prop- permit process by moving next meeting is sched- erty owners could form a it from state to city juris- uled for June 7. local improvement district or handle the project pri- vately. Forming a local im- provement district would only require 50 percent of landowners to agree, and money contributed to the district would mean a property tax credit. The downside, Watkinds said, is that the project would have to follow government G RISWOLD H IGH S CHOOL standards for contracts — including paying prevail- Senior Tucker Wilson is involved in multiple activities including ing wages — and would Varsity Basketball, in which he was a co-captain, Varsity Track, cost an estimated $1 mil- Key Club, National Honor Society, and is a three time state lion to pave a loop that is champion, in different events for FBLA. Tucker is also the Chapter President for FBLA, the Sergeant- at-Arm for ASB, and less than a mile long. the Knowledge Bowl team captain. Tucker is a two time state Watkinds said he and finalist and national qualifier in National History Day, two time Bill Kik have been talking Voice of Democracy state finalist, a four time participant of the to contractors who have Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth program, told them they could do the and will be the Class of 2016 Valedictorian for Griswold High project for $200,000 if the School. Tucker plans on going to either Whitworth University or property owners handled Gonzaga University to get his Bachelor’s in Biology, and then continuing on to pursue a doctorate in zoology to become an it privately. But that mon- animal researcher. ey wouldn’t be credited to their property taxes, and it Proudly Sponsored by leaves a question of what to do with neighbors who can’t or won’t contribute to the project even though WKHLUEXVLQHVVZLOOEHQH¿W 2801 St. Anthony Way, Pendleton, OR • 541-276-5121 “There was a small con- STUDENT Alicia George Breck- heimer, 33, of Hermiston, was sentenced to more than eight years in prison Mon- day for manslaughter in a drunk-driving car crash that killed an Ione man in 2014. Breckheimer was sen- tenced to 100 months for second-degree manslaughter, plus a year for each of three counts of recklessly endan- gering another person and reckless driving and a year for driving while under the LQÀXHQFH RI LQWR[LFDQWV7KH sentences are to be served concurrently, followed by a period of probation and post-prison supervision. She DOVRPXVWSD\LQ¿QHV and her driver’s license was suspended. At 1:27 a.m. March 7, 2014, Breckheimer was driv- ing westbound in the east- bound lanes of Interstate 82 near milepost 4. Her vehicle collided head-on with a ve- hicle driven by Robert Henry Baker, 66, of Ione. Baker died at the scene, and Breckheimer was extricated from her Ca- GLOODF &76 E\ ¿UH¿JKWHUV and was transported to Good Shepherd Medical Center. She later was transported by air ambulance to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland. Her blood alcohol level af- ter the crash was at least .15 percent, and the legal limit is .08 percent. This was Breck- heimer’s second DUII con- YLFWLRQ WKH ¿UVW FRPLQJ LQ 2003 after she crashed into a Hermiston building. STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY Alicia Breckheimer, of Hermiston, talks with her attorney Monday at her sentencing at the Stafford Hansell Government Center for driving drunk and killing Robert Henry Baker, of Ione, in a head-on crash on Interstate 82 near Hermiston. Breckheimer was released from the hospital after treat- ment; she was arrested at her Hermiston home in June 2014. Breckheimer initially pleaded not guilty to charges RI ¿UVW DQG VHFRQGGHJUHH manslaughter, three counts of recklessly endangering another person, one count of reckless driving and one of GULYLQJ XQGHU WKH LQÀXHQFH of intoxicants. In Oregon, manslaughter is the charge for vehicular homicide, and the three counts of recklessly endangering another person refer to other drivers on the road. In February of this year, Breckheimer changed her plea to guilty on one count of driv- LQJXQGHUWKHLQÀXHQFHRILQ- toxicants, three counts of reck- lessly endangering and one count of second-degree man- slaughter. The state dismissed charges of reckless driving DQG¿UVWGHJUHHPDQVODXJKWHU as part of the agreement. Breckheimer appeared in court Monday at the Stafford ! s g n i l r a Little D This special section will be full of adorable little darlings that have arrived over the last 3 years to bless many families and our communities. Families will want to keep this special keepsake for their child and family for years to come. Submit a photo of your Little Darling (Age 0 - 3) & be entered into a drawing for prizes by local sponsors! OF THE WEEK Tucker Wilson Hansel Government Center. In half of the courtroom, her friends and family cried audi- bly; in the other half, Baker’s friends and family sat stoical- ly, waiting for the announce- ment. Baker’s family declined to make a statement. Speaking quietly with her head down, Breckheimer said pleading JXLOW\ ZDV WKH ¿UVW VWHS LQ atoning for what she had done. “I just want to tell every- one here that I’m sorry for the pain that I’ve caused ev- erybody,” she said. “I would never imagine that something like this could happen, and I just want to say I know it will never go away for me and it will never go away for any- one in this courtroom.” A civil suit between Breckheimer and the victim’s family had already been set- tled. A request by Breck- heimer’s defense to have her transported on her own to custody was denied, and she was taken into custody from the courtroom. Send in, or drop by, a full color high resolution photo, your child’s name and a message to your child today! Little Darlings 211 SE Byers, Pendleton, OR 97801 333 E. Main, Hermiston, OR 97838 or email classifieds@eastoregonian.com Deadline for photos: April 4 th Publish date: April 13 th Your Name: Phone Number: Child’s Name: Message: