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
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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
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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
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n
i
l
r
a
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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
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