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
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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
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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.
A caller at about 2 p.m.
Monday reported a pickup
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