WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2017
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
LOCAL NEWS
Harkenrider Center on pace to beat winter
Council tours
senior center, then
approves raise for
police
By JADE McDOWELL
STAFF WRITER
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE McDOWELL
A black SUV is towed from inside the Umatilla Post Office
after it crashed through the side of the building Saturday just
before noon, destroying mailboxes and parts of the building.
Preliminary information indicates it was accidental, and no
one was transported to the hospital or cited.
SUV crashes through
Umatilla post office
HERMISTON HERALD
A sport utility vehicle
crashed through the side of
the Umatilla Post Office Sat-
urday, traveling through the
outer wall, a line of mailbox-
es and into an employee-on-
ly area.
Umatilla Police Chief
Darla Huxel said one woman
who had been in the building
at the time was taken by a
private vehicle to seek med-
ical care for minor injuries.
The driver was Edward
Olwell, 80, of Plymouth,
Washington. Huxel said he
was at the fuel station next
door shortly before noon
when the vehicle crossed the
street and struck the post of-
fice. The driver reported that
it was accidental, and he was
not cited.
“I’m not sure if he made
a mistake and hit the gas or
there was a malfunction with
the pedal,” she said.
Umatilla Police Depart-
ment and Oregon State Po-
lice responded, and the ve-
hicle was pulled out of the
inside of the building and
towed away.
The post office was
closed Monday for Colum-
bus Day, but a sign posted on
the door stated that mail for
customers with boxes 1121-
1818 would be delivered at
the window to customers
with identification starting
Tuesday.
Hurtado faces charges after
officer-involved shooting
HERMISTON HERALD
Morrow County District
Attorney Justin Nelson will
bring charges against a man
who allegedly pointed a gun
at a deputy and was shot in
late September.
A
Morrow
County
grand
jury recommend-
ed bringing the
charges based on
evidence present-
ed by the district
attorney.
Efren Hurtado,
26, will be charged
with
unlawful
use of a weapon, Hurtado
menacing and car-
rying a concealed weapon.
He is currently lodged in the
Umatilla County Jail.
Hurtado was shot in the
early hours of Sept. 22 in a
parked Chevy Tahoe on the
westbound side of Interstate
84 near the Boardman exit.
Nelson said the grand
jury heard testimony and
video indicating that Hurta-
do leaned out of the vehicle
and pointed his gun at Mor-
row County Sheriff’s Dep-
uty Aaron Haak, although
Hurtado did not fire the gun.
According to Nelson,
Haak did not expect any-
one to be inside the vehicle,
which he was tagging to be
towed. But as he
approached, Hur-
tado opened the
rear
passenger
door, looked out,
and pointed a gun
at Haak.
Haak quickly
fired two rounds,
one of which
struck Hurtado
in the side of the
head, dropping
him but not penetrating his
skull.
According to Nelson,
Haak rushed back to his car
for cover, called dispatch,
and waited for other police
officers to arrive. Officers
arrived to find Hurtado un-
conscious with a revolver
near his hand. Hurtado had
been recovering at a Port-
land hospital.
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The Harkenrider Center
is on time and on budget.
Hermiston city coun-
cilors toured the partially
completed senior center
Monday before their regu-
lar meeting to learn about
the building’s floor plan
and progress.
“It’s going very well I
think,” said Jared Wend-
landt of G2 Construction.
He said G2 is working
hard to get exterior work
finished before winter hits
so that bad weather won’t
affect the timeline.
The Harkenrider Cen-
ter, located near the Herm-
iston Public Library and
visible from Highway
395, is expected to open
in March 2018. It is 7,000
square feet with a 4,000
square foot unfinished
basement. The main floor
includes a reception area,
great room, fireplace,
breakout rooms, offices,
restrooms,
commercial
kitchen and elevator. The
outdoors will feature a bus
drop-off, parking, covered
deck, landscaping and a
path leading to Highway
395.
The former senior cen-
ter was 5,000 square feet
but was demolished re-
cently when Hermiston
School District took own-
ership of the former fair-
grounds. Willard Fordice,
the senior center’s bus
driver, said Our Lady of
Angels Catholic Church
was gracious in offering its
parish hall for senior meals
By PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER
Hermiston police are
cracking down on jay-
walkers on Highway 395.
Police Chief Jason Ed-
miston said his department
started a zero tolerance
campaign for October to
curtail pedestrians cross-
ing the highway through
town whenever or wher-
ever they want. He warned
jaywalkers should not ex-
pect mere warnings.
“When I say ‘zero tol-
erance,’ then enforcement
is going to be the norm
and education secondary,”
he said.
He said this campaign
is akin to Oregon’s em-
phasis on distracted driv-
ing. Jaywalkers can block
traffic and worse, he said,
and distracted pedestrians
have walked into vehicles.
Edmiston said Hermis-
ton police received sever-
al complaints about jay-
walkers, primarily at the
in the interim, but the se-
niors are looking forward
to having their own space
again.
“Some of them can’t
believe it’s that big,” he
said of a recent tour the se-
niors took. He said Herm-
iston Senior Center presi-
dent Irene Miller, 96, was
“tickled to death about it.”
City councilors said
they have had people ask-
ing about the project and
asked that some sort of
sign be added along High-
way 395 across from the
Holiday Inn Express so
that people would know
that was what was being
built.
“I’m excited,” Mayor
David Drotzmann said. “It
looks nice.”
On Monday during their
regular meeting the coun-
cil also approved a con-
tract with the police union.
The contract was supposed
to be completed before
July, but City Manager
Byron Smith said a medi-
ator was finally brought in
on Sept. 26 to help finish
negotiations.
The contract approved
Monday provides for a
2.75 percent salary in-
crease retroactively dated
to July 1, 2017, another
2.75 percent increase on
Jan. 1, 2018 and a 1 per-
cent increase on July 1,
2018. It also gives a $200
allowance for boots, in-
creases bilingual pay from
2 percent to 3 percent,
gives 5 percent assignment
pay to officers promoted
to a new corporal position
and expands the definition
of sick leave and bereave-
ment leave to fit the one
used by the city’s non-
union employees. Associ-
ation members agreed to
pay 2.5 percent of current
health insurance premiums
starting July 2018.
Smith said the contract
was a little above what the
city had budgeted for, in-
cluding 2.5 percent salary
increases, but didn’t have a
total dollar amount off the
top of his head.
Smith also reported to
the city council that he had
met with the owners of
Ranch & Home, and they
reported that problems get-
ting electrical contractors
had delayed progress on
their new store on South
Highway 395, and they
would likely not open un-
til February or March. The
city had offered the com-
pany financial incentives
for gaining their occupan-
cy permit by Jan. 1.
intersection with Highland
Avenue and between Or-
chard and Jennie avenues.
He also said he saw it for
himself while off duty. He
added Highway 395 car-
ries a fair share of truck
traffic through town, and
“those vehicles don’t stop
on a dime.”
Various Oregon stat-
utes can apply to jaywalk-
ing, Edmiston explained.
Crossing against a light in
an intersection, for exam-
ple, can result in a ticket
for failure to obey a traf-
fic control device, while
walking into and block-
ing traffic can draw a dis-
orderly conduct charge,
which carries the potential
for arrest. He said Herm-
iston officers are to dou-
ble-check to make sure
they apply the correct law
depending on the circum-
stances.
“Our intent is not to in-
crease arrests for disorder-
ly conduct, but as written,
it’s a tool we can use if
the circumstances apply,”
he said. “We want people
to conform to the norms
of society, and willy-nilly
walking across a four-lane
or a five-lane highway ...
because you feel like it, is
not conforming.”
Some residents might
not like the crackdown,
he said, but as Hermiston
grows and new people
come into the city, police
need to continue enforcing
the regulations and laws
on the books. Edmiston
said he anticipates the en-
forcement might generate
complaints about jaywalk-
ing from other areas of
town, but for now the fo-
cus is on Highway 395.
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Part of the Harkenrider Center’s great room as seen during a tour by the Hermiston City
Council on Monday.
Police crack down on jaywalking
McKay Creek Estates
Enhance your loved one’s spirit
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STAFF PHOTO BY JADE McDOWELL
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