NEWS
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
HerMIsTOnHeraLd.COM • A3
Operation Wildfire burns through local drug dealers
By PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER
T
he Blue Mountain
Enforcement
Nar-
cotics Team arrested
more the five dozen sus-
pects to take down drug
trafficking
organizations
last Wednesday in Opera-
tion Wildfire.
Pendleton police Chief
Stuart Roberts, head of local
anti-drug team’s board, said
the goal was to dismantle
drug dealing operations in
Umatilla, Morrow, Union,
and Gilliam counties.
“The reason this is called
Wildfire is because it just
took off,” he said, “took off
like a wildfire.”
BENT usually works its
way up the chain of com-
mand in a criminal organi-
zation. But Roberts said the
team was in a lull on a big
case and decided to revisit
the notion of “knock and
talks” — knocking on doors
of possible drug activity
and seeing if people will
talk.
“We’ve kind of gotten
away from that because of
so many big cases to work,”
he said.
The focus in last week’s
bust was on places reported
as drug houses. Local police
departments have a hard
staff photo by Kathy aney
The Pendleton Convention Center served as a command and processing center for Operation Wildfire, a significant BENT drug
bust that seized large amounts of drugs and involved at least 65 arrests.
time making those cases,
Roberts explained, because
the drugs and offenders are
not always at the home. But
those nuisance sites affect
the livability of a commu-
nity and involve the local
offenders, which police and
neighbors know.
“That was kind of where
all this started,” he said.
Roberts reported the
investigation used 116
undercover drug purchases.
Police would hit one house,
Roberts said, and find clues
that led them to another
name, another place, and
the investigation burned
along. The work resulted in
police seizing two guns, 5.9
grams of cocaine, 22 fen-
tanyl pills, 39.5 grams of
heroin and 1,447.5 grams
— about 3.2 pounds — of
methamphetamine. BENT
detectives and county pros-
ecutors presented the evi-
dence to grand juries,
which handed up 63 secret
indictments.
BENT units rolled with
those Jan. 16 and arrested
65 suspects from around
the region, including as
many as 16 already in
county jails or state prisons.
The team also obtained five
search warrants. Roberts
said police conducted those
searches the week before to
minimize risks to the public
and in anticipation of last
week’s efforts.
Several suspects were
small-time dope slingers,
but Roberts said a few were
dealing in larger amounts,
and police earlier in the
week arrested suspects that
were more troublesome.
Operation Wildfire also
netted more arrests than the
targets on the indictments.
Roberts said police found
other offenders who were
violating probation, for
example, and seized more
drugs.
The team used the Pend-
leton Convention Center
as its base of operations,
and staff from the Umatilla
County Jail were on hand to
book and process suspects.
He said BENT could not
conduct this kind of enter-
prise without relying on law
enforcement partners.
Operation Wildfire is
not finished. Roberts said
police are tracking down
another 10 or 11 suspects.
City taking input on skate park plans
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
The city of Hermiston
is looking for input on a
planned skate park.
Skateboarders, neigh-
bors of the proposed park
and others are invited to give
their opinions on Thurs-
day from 3:45-5:15 p.m. at
Hermiston High School.
The city aims to build
the park on South First
Street, just north of the
high school and across the
street from the building that
houses Hermiston Police
Department and Umatilla
County Fire District. While
the city already owned a
part of the undeveloped
property across from the
public safety building, in
2017 it made a deal with
Mitco Investments to lease
more land, allowing for a
larger design, parking and
landscaping.
Local skaters were first
eO file photo
A remote control operator decouples a rail car in July 2012 while taking apart a train at the
Union Pacific Railroad Hinkle Locomotive Service and Repair Facility and Freight Classification
Yard near Stanfield.
Hinkle Rail Yard affected
by Union Pacific layoffs
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Hermiston’s Hinkle Rail Yard is part of a
round of layoffs by Union Pacific Railroad.
Union Pacific notified its mechani-
cal employees this month that 140 posi-
tions would be eliminated in early February,
according to spokesperson Hannah Bolte.
She said in an email that the company was
not providing “location-specific informa-
tion,” but confirmed that the Hinkle facility
was affected.
She said that the workforce reduction
came about due to the completion of Posi-
tive Train Control installation and a reduc-
tion in Union Pacific’s locomotive fleet
staff photo by Jade Mcdowell
The city of Hermiston wants to build a skate park across
South First Street from the building housing Hermiston
Police Department and Umatilla County Fire District.
asked to give their input on
the project in 2015, but the
park was put on hold after
an Oregon Supreme Court
ruling that opened cities up
to more liability for pub-
lic use of parks. The leg-
islature passed a bill pro-
tecting cities in 2017, and
money for the skate park
was included in the city’s
2018-19 budget.
The city has retained
California Skateparks, a
skate park design and con-
struction company, and
representatives from the
company will be on hand
Thursday to discuss various
design options for the park.
For more informa-
tion,
call
Hermiston
Parks and Recreation at
541-667-5018.
HAPPY 50th
ANNIVERSARY!
under Unified Plan 2020, a new operat-
ing plan that “streamlines operations as we
ensure Union Pacific remains a strong, com-
petitive and vibrant company.”
Positive Train Control is a technologi-
cally advanced safety system Union Pacific
has been working to implement. It can auto-
matically stop trains to prevent accidents,
such as derailments and collisions.
Located within the rail yard is the Hin-
kle Locomotive and Service Repair Facil-
ity. Union Pacific’s website states the
100,000-square-foot repair facility employs
235 people and provides repairs of loco-
motives, inspections and “the service track
fuels and readies nearly 90 locomotives a
day.”
5 Theater Cineplex
Check
wildhorseresort.com
for showtimes
$5 Matinee Classics
Every Wednesday
Harold & Sarah Bruce
Married January 24, 1969
Credit & Debit Cards
accepted
Cineplex gift cards
available
541-966-1850
Pendleton, OR I-84 - Exit 216
McKay Creek Estates
FREE Cognitive
Screening
Is Mom a
little more
forgetful
lately?
1
2
3
4
There are many early warning signs of a
potential memory disorder, such as Alzheimer’s
disease. That’s why we’re offering a FREE
and CONFIDENTIAL cognitive screening. We
Whiteline Dig Area
Call 811 to Locate
Wait for Locates
Dig Safe
encourage anyone who is concerned about
cognitive decline to take this short, in-person
screening. The screening is administered by a
qualified health care professional.
To schedule your cognitive screening today, please call (541) 704-7146.
www.PrestigeCare.com
858387
McKay Creek Estates
7607 Southgate Pl.
Pendleton, OR 97807
1-888-522-1130 | www.cngc.com