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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (June 6, 2018)
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2018 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3 LOCAL NEWS Police investigate shooting Hermiston man hospitalized after incident Monday By JADE MCDOWELL STAFF WRITER A 26-year-old man was shot early Monday morning on West Hartley Avenue in Hermiston. He was identified Mon- day afternoon by police as Erik Campos Navarrete of Hermiston. According to a news release from Hermiston Police Department, the department received a report of shots fired at approxi- mately 1:20 a.m. in the 500 block of West Hartley Ave- nue, two blocks west of First Place. Responding officers “located a 26-year-old male with what appeared to be a significant wound to his head,” and the man was transported to Good Shep- herd Medical Center in Hermiston and then Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland, Wash., where he was listed in critical condition. He was still in the hospi- tal as of Tuesday morning. HH FILE PHOTO A substation technician installs a ground wire on a riser structure in December 2017 at the new Umatilla Electric Cooperative substation on East Elm Avenue in Hermiston. STAFF PHOTO BY JADE MCDOWELL A house in the 500 block of West Hartley Avenue in Hermiston is blocked off after a shooting early Monday morning. On Monday morn- ing police were still out- side the residence, which was blocked off with crime scene tape, and the release from HPD stated that inves- tigation is “still very much active.” The department has not announced a person of interest or arrest related to the incident but is search- ing for the person or per- sons responsible. Anyone with information on the inci- dent is asked to call Herm- iston Police Department at 541-567-5519 or leave a message on their tip line at 541-667-5148. An unrelated stabbing incident on Kelli Boulevard had taken place earlier that evening, and between the two incidents HPD received assistance from Oregon State Police, Umatilla Police Department, Board- man Police Department, Pendleton Police Depart- ment, Milton-Freewater Police Department, Blue Mountain Enforcement Narcotics Team (BENT), the Umatilla County Dis- trict Attorney’s office, Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office and Morrow County Sheriff’s Office. Stabbing suspect arraigned on charges of attempted murder His two victims are expected to survive their injuries By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN STAFF WRITER Two Hermiston men are still in the hospital more than a day after they were stabbed by another man. A nursing supervisor at Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland confirmed that Har- old Piercy, 72, and Richard Rukaveno, 64, were receiv- ing treatment at the hospi- tal, but would not offer more about their condition. According to Deputy District Attorney Jaclyn Jenkins, the two men are in intensive care but expected Aaron Zuwala to survive their wounds. The suspect in the stab- bings, Aaron Zuwala, 34, was arrested Monday morn- ing and was arraigned Tuesday afternoon at the Umatilla County Court- house in Hermiston. He is being charged with two counts of attempted mur- der, two counts of first-de- gree assault, and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon. According to a news release from Hermiston police, all three men knew each other. The stabbing took place at 2350 Kelli Blvd. south of Hermiston, at 9:55 Sunday night. It happened at a resi- dence on the same property as A and A Storage Units. A representative for the stor- age units, as well as Herm- iston Police Chief Jason Edmiston, said the business had nothing to do with the incident. Jenkins said one man was stabbed under the chin, and the knife pierced his sinuses. She said the other was stabbed multiple times in the chest, to the point where the knife hit one of the vertebrae in the victim’s spine. Jenkins appeared by video from the Umatilla County Jail, along with Zuwala. Jenkins requested Zuwala be held at $200,000 bail and, if released, have no con- tact with the victims or their families. Judge Eva Temple granted both requests. Zuwala’s preliminary hearing is Monday, June 11 at 3 p.m. in Hermiston. Zuwala has had sev- eral criminal charges in his background, but this is the first in Umatilla County. He was charged with theft on two separate occasions in 2017, in Jefferson and Deschutes County, for steal- ing merchandise from gro- cery stores. He has a charge of criminal mischief in the second degree in Jeffer- son County that same year, as well as theft in the sec- ond degree for stealing more than $100 worth of water from the Deschutes Valley Water District. Telecom execs buy out business By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN STAFF WRITER Umatilla Electric Coop- erative announced Thursday that it has sold its subsidiary internet and phone provider, Eastern Oregon Telecom, to EOT company executives. Joe Franell, EOT gen- eral manager and CEO, said the sale had been dis- cussed for about four years, and that three executive offi- cers would share equal own- ership of the company. The three officers are Franell, Chief Financial Officer Paul Keeler and Chief Operating Officer Richard Holbo. A press release from UEC stated that the EOT execu- tive team did business under the name Columbia Basin Development Group. Franell said he could not discuss the terms of the sale, but said he hopes that it will eventually allow for all employees to have a stake in the company. “Step one was to get own- EO FILE PHOTO Joseph Franell is the CEO of Eastern Oregon Telecom. ership of the company,” he said. “Our corporate attor- ney is looking at options for us.” The most formal option, he said, would be to form an “Employee Stock Option Program,” or ESOP. Employee-owned compa- nies such as Bi-Mart use this structure, he said. Other possibilities include allow- ing employees to purchase stock options, or profit-shar- ing, which Franell said is not Gift s for Graduates Candy Bar Bouquets Balloons • Gift s & more! Put a smile on the heart with the power of flowers. HWY 395, HERMISTON • 541-567-4305 Mon-Sat 8am-6pm • Sun 12pm-5am www.cottagefl owersonline.com true ownership. He said they have no set timeline for when employ- ees will be able to have a stake in the company’s own- ership. He said when they do provide that option, the three current owners intend to remain equal partners. Franell said the goal with taking over ownership of the company was to serve other areas not currently in the UEC footprint. “Our intent is to look at opportunities to grow the business,” he said. Without naming specific locations, he said they are considering areas in adja- cent counties on both sides of the river. “Anything east of the Cascades in Oregon and in Washington is fair game,” he said. He said they will likely see employee growth with that expansion. Eastern Oregon Telecom currently has about 3,500 customers, and covers area from Tower Road, west of Boardman, to Pendleton. They also provide service to some areas in Washington. They have been in a new building, on 2180 SE Kelli Blvd., Hermiston, for a month, and have an open house on June 14. EOT was formed in 1999, and was initially owned by UEC, Douglas Electric Cooperative, four telephone cooperatives and a telecom- munications consulting firm. Initially offering telephone services, EOT expanded to high-speed internet in 2003. Celebration of Life for Lea Thompson September 4, 1940 March 9, 2018 Maryhill State Park Shelter 1 June 9, 2018 11:00am – dusk Potluck June 9 is a free entrance day to Washington State Parks Contact Leah with questions, 503-901-5374 Electric utility learning from rash of outages Car crashes, wind, equipment failure behind some recent incidents By JADE MCDOWELL STAFF WRITER Hermiston’s electric utilities have heard the message loud and clear that people are tired of power failures. Nate Rivera, gen- eral manager of Herm- iston Energy Services, apologized May 29 to the city council and Hermis- ton residents for the rash of outages that occurred recently. Between April 27 and May 16, Hermiston-area residents — depending on their address — experi- enced anywhere from one to six outages, he said. Since then he has heard from a number of people about how those outages affected their businesses and homes. “We understand that is too much,” he said, add- ing he wanted to assure the council and the com- munity that there is a “laser focus” at Hermis- ton Energy Services and at Umatilla Electric Coop- erative on improving reliability. While UEC and HES are separate entities, HES contracts operation and maintenance of infrastruc- ture, meter reading and some other tasks to UEC. According to informa- tion provided by Steve Meyers of UEC, there were outages affecting more than 1,000 UEC cus- tomers on April 27, May 3, May 8, May 9 and May 16, with multiple outages on the 16th. The disruptions to ser- vice on April 27 and May 8 were caused by wind- storms and May 9 was caused by a van colliding with a transmission pole. The single-vehicle crash at Northeast 10th Street and East Elm Avenue caused extensive damage to the pole and transmis- sion lines that took several hours to repair. On May 3 at about 5:10 p.m. an equipment fail- ure at the new Hermiston East Substation caused an outage, and on May 16 an equipment failure at the Hermiston Butte Substa- tion caused a series of four outages over a three-hour period in the middle of the day. Meyers said in an email that the new substation at Hermiston East helped reduce the number of cus- tomers affect by the out- ages and allowed for quicker restoration times by providing an alterna- tive source to transfer customers. New automated meters that have been installed at buildings around Herm- iston also helped the util- ity company pinpoint the problem more quickly and respond with “greater speed and accuracy.” “After every major out- age, we assess our resto- ration efforts and look for opportunities for improve- ment, with the emphasis on being protective of our members, the general pub- lic and employees,” Mey- ers said. “We understand the impact of these out- ages, and we are commit- ted to reducing restoration times.” Rivera said the outages had been learning oppor- tunities that should lead to better service in the future, but in the meantime he wanted to sincerely apol- ogize to all who had been inconvenienced. “I just wanted to let you guys know that we have heard the message and we are listening and respond- ing,” he said. During power outages in the Hermiston area cus- tomers can call 888-465- 5701 to report an outage or check UEC’s real-time outage map, which includes information on estimated restoration times, at outageviewer. umatillaelectric.com. 5 Theater Cineplex Check wildhorseresort.com for showtimes $5 Matinee Classics Every Wednesday Credit & Debit Cards accepted Cineplex gift cards available 541-966-1850 Pendleton, OR I-84 - Exit 216 COME SEE US FOR ALL YOUR POWDER COATING NEEDS: • Wheels • Truck Beds • Trailers • ATV’S • Motorcycles • Fencing • Railing GIVE US A CALL FOR A FREE ESTIMATE: 541.567.7171 80496 N. HWY 395 • Hermiston (Behind Oxarc)
