WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2016
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
LOCAL NEWS
Community remembers victims at vigil
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
STAFF PHOTO BY GARY L. WEST
Oficers from Hermiston and Umatilla police departments
and Oregon State Police congregate near the corner of
Madison Street and McFarland Avenue, Umatilla, where a
man was taken into custody after a shooting Wednesday
morning in Hermiston.
Man arrested
after shooting
friend ‘over a girl’
Hermiston Herald
address, according to
A Hermiston man
state court records,
shot a childhood friend
though Edmiston
Wednesday, Aug. 24,
said he now lives in
“over a girl,” according
Hermiston.
to police, and he now
Edmiston stated
faces a charge of
Hermiston police,
second-degree assault.
with the assistance of
Eduardo Rodriguez
the Umatilla Police
Barriga, 23, was
Department, took
arrested in Umatilla
Rodriguez Barriga
soon after the
into custody,
Hermiston
interviewed him,
shooting. His
and later booked
victim, Daniel
him into Umatilla
Lemus Carranza,
County Jail,
25, was treated
Pendleton.
and released at
Officers served
Good Shepherd
a search warrant
Barriga
Medical Center,
at Rodriguez
Hermiston, with
Barriga’s
what police described
Hermiston home at
as a superficial gunshot
460 E. Pine Ave.
wound to the leg.
later Wednesday and
Hermiston Police
recovered a handgun,
Chief Jason Edmiston
Edmiston said, and a
said officers around
stolen shotgun from
8:15 a.m. responded
a Umatilla County
to the area of the 11th
Sheriff’s Office case.
Street Market, 425 N.W. He said the state police
11th St., Hermiston,
crime lab would test the
after a report of a man
handgun to see if it was
there with a gunshot
from the shooting.
wound. Edmiston said
Edmiston said this
the man was shot in the
was not Rodriguez
area of Elm Avenue and Barriga’s first arrest.
N.W. Seventh Street,
“Life is about
near Butte Park, after a
choices, and the
dispute “over a girl.”
decisions made today
After the shooting,
by those involved are
Rodriguez Barriga
frustrating,” Edmiston
drove off and the
said in a written
victim tried to keep up
statement. “At some
with him in his own
point, people need to
vehicle through the
take responsibility
back streets near the
for what they value.
Butte while calling 9-1- Clearly the values of
1. Dispatch told him
Mr. Rodriguez differ
to stop following the
from the overwhelming
vehicle and he parked
majority of people in
at the convenience
this community and we
store where police and
are going to ask that he
medical personnel met
be held accountable for
up with him.
his reckless actions.”
Police around 9:25
The Umatilla County
a.m. found Rodriguez
Sheriff’s Office and
Barriga and a female
Oregon State Police
outside a house at
are assisting with the
1745 McFarland
investigation. Umatilla
Ave., Umatilla. A July
County Fire District 1
9 citation Oregon
responded to the market
State Police gave to
to transport the victim,
Rodriguez Barriga for
and the Umatilla County
driving while suspended District Attorney’s
shows that as his home
Office is involved.
Snifles and quiet sobs
broke the stillness Wednes-
day night at McKenzie Park
as hundreds of people stood
in a moment of silence for
the victims of a Hermiston
shooting that claimed three
lives and left a fourth injured.
Community
members
gathered in memory of the
victims and in support of
their grieving families, cast-
ing a glow with candles,
glowsticks and lashlights.
They were there to honor
James “JJ” Hurtado, 14, and
Kenneth “Kenny” Valdez,
who were killed Thursday,
Aug. 18, and to support An-
dria Bye, Hurtado’s moth-
er who was injured in the
shooting, and the family of
Jason Huston, who shot the
other three before turning the
gun on himself.
“May we as a city be
known as a city that loves,”
Pastor Terry Haight of Herm-
iston Assembly of God de-
clared, before praying for all
those affected by the tragedy.
Haight spoke of the Bibli-
cal story of Job, who lost ev-
erything he owned, his fam-
ily and health. His friends
responded irst with support
but later with accusations of
blame.
“We as a community
don’t want to make the same
mistake,” Haight said. “We
do not want to cast shame
on anyone. We need to reach
out and unconditionally love
anyone who was closely af-
fected.”
Many of those who were
closely affected were present
at the park, including the Val-
dez family and Bye. Teenag-
ers who went to school with
Hurtado or were coached
by Valdez and Huston were
present in force, wearing
Hermiston wrestling gear or
T-shirts honoring Hurtado.
Three of his classmates
— Janelle Almaguer, Sa-
mantha Atilano and Aidan
Villarreal — were selling
the shirts as a way to raise
money for Hurtado’s family.
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TO VIEW PICTURES OF THIS EVENT
The shirts showed pictures
of Hurtado with what they
said was his favorite saying:
“Start unknown, inish un-
forgettable.”
“JJ was a really good
friend of ours, and we want-
ed to do it for his family,”
Atilano said. “He was al-
ways smiling, and always
there for us.”
Other friends of the vic-
tims shared their memo-
ries with the group after the
moment of silence, eliciting
smiles and tears in turn.
One girl remembered
how Hurtado would always
show up to support his little
sister at her dance compe-
titions, and drew chuckles
when she described how he
lirted with the other girls on
the team and told them they
were pretty.
A teacher in the school
district described Valdez’s
work with a program to help
students stay out of gangs
and other trouble, calling
him the “MVP volunteer.”
“Ken is a teddy bear,”
he said. “His heart is so, so
gentle and the kids gravitated
toward him.”
Another woman, a nurs-
ing student of Bye’s at Blue
Mountain Community Col-
lege, told the group how Bye
would always start class with
a funny story about her chil-
dren, including Hurtado.
“You made it so that he
was our kid, too,” she told
Bye.
After the remembrances,
a long line of people came
up and hugged Bye. When
the night was over, organizer
Bonnie Grifith said she was
surprised and grateful to see
such a large turnout to honor
her former classmate Valdez
and the others.
“He was a nice guy. The
sweetest guy,” she said
through tears. “I never heard
anyone say anything bad
about him.”
Transit committee will help plan free city bus system
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
The irst meeting of
Hermiston’s new Tran-
sit Planning Committee is
Sept. 13.
The temporary commit-
tee has been created to help
plan for a free ixed-route
public bus system through
the city.
Kayak Public Transit,
operated by the Confeder-
ated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation, already
runs between 17 cities,
stopping in two Hermiston
locations. The tribes have
agreed to expand that ser-
vice to include a bus that
runs a ixed loop around
Hermiston during the day
in exchange for funding
from the city.
Assistant city manager
Mark Morgan said the cost
to the city will greatly de-
pend on how many stops
the bus makes and the hours
it runs.
“It’s a system that is rel-
atively scalable,” he said.
Creating a recommen-
dation for the city coun-
cil about that scale will be
city councilors Rod Hardin
and Doug Primmer, Dean
Fialka of the city planning
commission, Juli Gregory
of Good Shepherd Health
Care System, Hermiston
Police Chief Jason Edmis-
ton representing the Herm-
iston Chamber of Com-
merce board, Kristi Avery
of Eastern Oregon Support
Services Brokerage and
Barb Martin and Jennifer
Roberts representing the
general public. Morgan,
J.D. Tovey of the CTUIR
and Laura Slater of the Or-
egon Department of Trans-
portation will participate
in the meetings in a staff
capacity.
Morgan said the com-
mittee’s irst meeting will
be mostly discussing back-
ground information on the
city’s current public trans-
portation, the current Kay-
ak Public Transit program,
the costs and funding avail-
able. Committee members
will also be asked to mark
on a map where they think
the most important places
will be for the bus to stop.
He said the city has had
“pretty good luck” with on-
line surveys and will like-
ly put out a public survey
about potential bus stops as
well.
During the committee’s
second meeting sometime
in October members can
give feedback on a route put
together by the tribes based
on the results of the survey
and committee members’
input. They will then take
a tour of the proposed route
and look for potential prob-
lems with buses pulling out
or with pedestrian safety.
Morgan said a third
meeting to study an updat-
ed proposal and inalize
costs will likely take place
in time for the committee
to give a recommendation
to the city council during
its November 14 meeting.
If the council approves the
proposal at that meeting
it will give Kayak Public
Transit the time it needs to
hire bus drivers and make
other arrangements to be-
gin the bus route on Jan. 2,
2017.
Morgan said it will not
replace the city’s $2 taxi
ticket program for senior
and disabled residents,
which will continue to be
available.
The committee will meet
Sept. 13 at 5 p.m. at City
Hall, 180 N.E. Second St.
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The Hermiston SHIBA (Senior Health
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has certified volunteers to help you with
Medicare questions.
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to schedule an appointment.
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