WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2018 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3 NEWS Sheriff Matlack to discuss immigration in Washington he hopes to discuss poten- tial solutions to what he believes is a major problem. Morrow County is “Perhaps (Trump) may almost 2,000 miles from the hear a few new ideas on U.S.-Mexico border. But working to repair our bro- its sheriff has taken a vocal ken immigration system,” stance against illegal immi- he said. gration, and will be travel- Matlack said they intend ing to Washington, D.C., to tell Congress that their this month to discuss it with failure to deal with immigra- the President, and 40 other tion for 20 years has com- promised the safety sheriffs nationwide. Sheriff Ken Mat- of local communities. lack sent out a let- “We will also take ter Friday morning the opportunity to to several media out- express and thank lets, stating that he President Trump and will be traveling to his administration for the nation’s capitol re-establishing law on Sept. 5 and 6 for Matlack enforcement’s foot- ing to enforce our a meeting called the “White House Nationwide laws.” Matlack has been open Sheriffs Fly-In.” Matlack states in the let- in his opposition to illegal ter that the White House has immigration, and has made invited sheriffs from each several trips to the border. state to talk about their expe- He said despite Morrow riences on issues of immi- County’s distance, it has gration and the impact it has experienced many of the had on their communities. problems that he says start He said President Donald at the border. Trump is expected to host “Mexican cartels make the group. millions of dollars,” he said. Matlack said he’s not “When we got rid of ephed- exactly sure what conclu- rine, Umatilla County was sions the group will reach at the largest producer of meth the meeting. per capita. When they got “I don’t know what direc- rid of it, you couldn’t fill tion other people will be up your cart with ephed- taking,” he said. But he said rine anymore. When that By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN STAFF WRITER changed, Mexicans came in and brought their own prod- uct from Mexico.” Matlack said he doesn’t have a specific sense of crime committed by ille- gal immigrants in Mor- row County, because they don’t track them. Nor, he said, does he feel that illegal immigrants commit crime at a higher rate in the county than legal residents. “I wouldn’t say we have a rampant crime problem,” he said. “The illegal aliens I personally know are some of the hardest working peo- ple I know. They contribute in their life’s work and pro- duce value.” He said he supports find- ing a path to citizenship for them. “However, I’m a law- and-order kind of guy,” he said. “It’s against the law for (undocumented immi- grants) to be here.” He said he’s also against sanctuary states, and is one of 16 Oregon sheriffs that recently signed a letter ask- ing voters to repeal Ore- gon’s sanctuary law. Matlack said he is opposed to the idea of an open border. “I don’t think open bor- ders will ever work,” he said. “There’s too many bad people coming in. I’ve been down to see what they do — rob, rape and murder.” He added that the con- cerns are not just people coming in from Mexico. “There’s literature from Middle Eastern countries, all kinds of people coming in,” he said. Matlack’s trip is funded by the Federation for Amer- ican Immigration Reform (FAIR). He said he was first approached by the group many years ago. He said there was a conference in Las Vegas for border sher- iffs to discuss the problems they were having with ille- gal immigration. Matlack said the group had trouble finding Ore- gon sheriffs willing to participate. “It’s a political thing,” he said. “FAIR is a conserva- tive group.” On its website, FAIR states that it hopes to bring the number of immigrants coming into the U.S. annu- ally from one million to 300,000 a year. The group is listed by the South- ern Poverty Law Center, a group that monitors hate and extremist groups in the U.S., as a hate group. Mat- lack said he disagrees with that designation. Hermiston council gives city manager strong review, raise By JADE MCDOWELL STAFF WRITER Hermiston city man- ager Byron Smith is meeting or exceeding all expectations of the city council, according to their annual evaluation, and he received raise of $6,400 on Sept. 1. During the Aug. 27 city council meeting the council met in executive ses- sion “for the pur- pose of discussing matters pertain- ing to the review and evaluation of Smith employment-re- lated performance of the City Manager.” Afterward the coun- cil approved an adjust- ment to his contract, giving him a base salary increase of $6,400. Smith was originally hired in August 2014 at $115,000 and has been given a raise after each annual performance review. His salary was listed as $132,330 in a database of city salaries in the fall of 2017. The city’s pay structure includes six salary steps for each position, which represent a four to five percent salary increase at each step. The Hermiston Her- ald made a public records request for Smith’s eval- uation, which shows his composite score on seven categories. City council- ors rated each category on a scale of one to five, and Smith scored a four (exceeds expec- tations) or three (meets expecta- tions) on all cat- egories. Smith’s highest score was a 4.3 for “personal,” which includes ethics and professional- ism, and his lowest was a 3.4 for “elected body rela- tions” with the city council and for communication. In open session Mayor David Drotzmann noted that Smith met or exceeded all of the coun- cil’s expectations and had also been given some feedback and goals to work on. “You have led us down a very positive pathway and I think you will con- tinue to do so,” Drotz- mann said. Two die in Umatilla County crashes during holiday weekend Highway 11 wreck injures five, crash into Camas Creek kills Salem man 5 Theater Cineplex Check wildhorseresort.com for showtimes HERMISTON HERALD Two people died from crashes on state highways in Umatilla County during the Labor Day week- end. Oregon State Police on Tuesday identified the victims. James Edward Tincher, 41, of Walla Walla, died in a head-on crash Sunday night north of Milton-Free- water. The multi-vehicle wreck also injured five, including two children. Tincher was driving a 1998 Ford Mustang south on Highway 11 at a high speed, according to state police, and slammed into the back of a 1991 Ford Escort. The Mustang crossed into the north- bound lanes and smashed into a 2002 Chevy Suburban. Tincher died in the crash before emergency respond- ers arrived, according to $5 Matinee Classics Every Wednesday Credit & Debit Cards accepted Cineplex gift cards available PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY OREGON STATE POLICE PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY OREGON STATE POLICE A three-vehicle crash on Highway 11 near Milton-Freewater killed James Tincher of Walla Walla and injured five others on Sunday, Sept. 2. Alexander Ionita, 62, of Salem, died in a rollover wreck on Highway 395 in southern Umatilla County when his vehicle crashed into Camas Creek. state police. The crash shut down the highway for about six hours. State police reported Horacio J. Mendoza Cas- tillo, 25, of Milton-Free- water, drove the Escort and had one passenger, a 24-year-old man also from Milton-Freewater. Jason Lee Morgan, 40, of Baker City, drove the Suburban. His wife, Kara Morgan, 36, and their two children, a 6-year-old boy in a ditch off the north- bound side of Highway 395 near milepost 53. State police reported troopers and emergency person- nel responded and found a black 2016 Dodge Ram was heading north on a left turn and headed off the road, rolled down an embankment and landed in Camas Creek. Alexander Ionita, 62, of Salem was the driver and lone occupant, state police and 9-year-old girl, were passengers. Local ambulances took five victims from the crash to Providence St. Mary Medical Center, Walla Walla. The Morgan family via social media reported the hospital released them the night of the crash. The second deadly crash occurred in the south end of Umatilla County. 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