LOCAL NEWS
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2019
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Two suspects
arrested in
Navarrete slaying
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN AND
PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITERS
Staff photo by Jade McDowell/East Oregonian
A portion of the pedestrian bridge over the Umatilla River near Umatilla High School collapsed Sunday.
Flooding damages Umatilla bridge
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Umatilla County and
several of its cities have
declared a state of emer-
gency as fl ooding damages
structures.
In Umatilla, a pedestrian
bridge connecting South
Hill with downtown par-
tially collapsed sometime
late Saturday night or early
Sunday morning.
The bridge spans the
Umatilla River about half a
mile west of Umatilla High
School, and many students
use it to walk to school.
The next closest bridge
is another half mile west
where Highway 730 crosses
the river.
Umatilla city manager
David Stockdale said on
Monday that engineers had
yet to make an offi cial deter-
mination, but staff believe it
is a total loss. Demolition
and replacement costs will
likely be in the millions of
dollars and take at least a
year — probably more like
three to fi ve years, he said.
On
Sunday
morn-
ing a section of the bridge
dipped down toward the
water, which was rush-
ing just below the bridge
as spring runoff pushed
the river higher than usual.
A tangle of branches was
caught under the break in
the bridge.
Scott Coleman, city pub-
lic works director, said
when rivers are swollen
with fl oodwaters, debris
tend to collect against the
bridge and form a natural
dam, magnifying stress and
pressure on the structure.
“That’s what we had
going on here,” he said.
A water main runs along
the bridge, carrying water
to South Hill residents.
Coleman said the water
had been rerouted and was
being delivered through a
different pipe. No one lost
Alzheimer’s Association
offers support
Emotional support and
resources are available for
family, friends and care-
givers for people with Alz-
heimer’s disease or other
forms of dementia.
The Alzheimer’s Asso-
ciation coordinates groups
that connect people that are
on the same unique journey
of caring for someone with
Alzheimer’s disease. The
groups offer an opportu-
nity to learn, share and gain
emotional support from
others.
“Alzheimer’s is a debil-
itating disease,” said Tom
Moore, Hermiston support
group facilitator. “One of
the most diffi cult things for
family members and care-
givers to recognize is that
the behaviors exhibited are
coming from the disease
and not from their loved
one.”
There is no fee to attend.
Hermiston groups include:
•Second Monday of each
month from 5:30-7 p.m. at
Guardian Angel Memory
Care, 540 N.W. 12th St.
•Fourth Monday of each
month from 5:30-7 p.m. at
Good Shepherd Medical
Center, 610 N.W. 11th St.
Both of Moore’s par-
ents had dementia and his
wife is now battling the dis-
ease. Moore began studying
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the disease through online
courses offered by organi-
zations like the Alzheimer’s
Association and Oregon
Care Partners.
“I have found by attend-
ing a support group for
years — and also facilitat-
ing two different support
groups — that I not only
learn from other’s experi-
ences, but am able to con-
tribute to their ability to
deal with their caregiving
experiences in a positive
way.”
For more information
about the Alzheimer’s Asso-
ciation support groups and
other resources, call 1-800-
272-3900 or visit www.alz.
org/oregon.
their water service but they
may see a drop in pressure,
and there would be a major
problem if the backup line
broke.
Umatilla Police Depart-
ment posted on Facebook
that anyone trying to cross
the broken bridge would
be subject to criminal tres-
pass charges. Stockdale said
the bridge is “unusable and
unsafe.”
“Go ahead and be curi-
ous — from a distance,” he
said. “If nature is taking out
a structure like that, it’s defi -
nitely lethal to humans.”
The Umatilla city council
planned to make an emer-
gency declaration regard-
ing the bridge during their
meeting at 8 p.m. Tuesday
evening at city hall, follow-
ing a budget work session at
6 p.m.
Over the weekend the
Umatilla River contin-
ued to run high elsewhere,
including the rapids formed
along Umatilla River Road,
fl ooded fi elds between Echo
and Pendleton and the fl ood-
ing that continued to wash
over Riverfront Park and the
Oxbow Trail in Hermiston.
On the other side of the
county, McKay Creek has
fl ooded neighborhoods in
Pendleton, Ukiah and Pilot
Rock. On Friday and Sat-
urday hundreds of volun-
teers fi lled, transported and
stacked sandbags to protect
homes. Willowbrook Ter-
race evacuated its 35 res-
idents and several homes
experienced water damage.
The Umatilla County
Board of Commissioners
offi cially declared an emer-
gency on April 10, and the
county’s emergency man-
agement department has
been busy taking stock of
the damage and meeting
with offi cials in areas where
fl ooding has occurred. They
are being assisted by numer-
ous local agencies and Team
Rubicon, a veteran-led team
of disaster volunteers.
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Hermiston
Best Western
Hermiston Police have
arrested two men in a June
2018 murder.
David Edgar Sommer-
ville, 19, of Hermiston,
and Vincent Wesley David
Shermantine, 29, have been
charged in connection with
the murder of 26-year-old
Erik Navarrete, who was
found on June 4 of last year
with a gunshot wound to
the head at a residence in
the 500 block of West Hart-
ley Avenue. Navarrete was
unconscious and was fl own
to Kadlec Medical Center
in Richland, where he was
taken off life support sev-
eral days later.
Sommerville has been
charged with aggravated
murder, felony murder, two
counts of unlawful use of
a weapon and robbery in
the fi rst degree. Sherman-
tine was charged with mur-
der, fi rst-degree robbery,
felon in possession of a fi re-
arm and unlawful use of a
weapon. Both men had been
in the Umatilla County Jail
since late March on charges
not related to the homicide.
Hermiston Police identi-
fi ed Sommerville as a sus-
pect after following leads
for several months. On
March 26, they arrested him
for resisting arrest, unlawful
possession of methamphet-
amine, interfering with a
peace offi cer and carrying a
concealed weapon. On April
10, the Navarrete homi-
cide case was presented to
the Umatilla County Grand
Jury, who charged Sommer-
ville with murder.
According to the indict-
ments, Sommerville and
Shermantine attempted to
commit robbery and, while
trying to leave the scene,
Shermantine
Sommerville
Sommerville fi red a gun at
Navarrete, who, according
to the document, was not a
participant in the crime.
Umatilla County District
Attorney Dan Primus said
he was aware of what Som-
merville was trying to steal,
but was not comfortable
releasing the information.
He would not say whether
Sommerville and Navarrete
knew each other. Hermiston
Police Chief Jason Edmis-
ton said there was a “family
relation” between Sherman-
tine and Sommerville.
Sommerville is being
held in the Umatilla County
Jail without bail, and has
a preliminary hearing on
April 30. Shermantine was
arraigned Friday afternoon
in Hermiston and is also
being held at the jail.
The court appointed
two Portland-area lawyers
to represent Sommerville:
Benjamin Kim and Steve
Lindsey. They defended
Edwin Lara, 31, who in Jan-
uary 2018 pleaded guilty to
aggravated murder for the
2016 killing of 23-year-old
Kaylee Sawyer of Bend.
Lara is serving a life sen-
tence at Eastern Oregon
Correctional
Institution,
Pendleton.
Sommerville’s attorneys
fi led a request for the court
to order the district attor-
ney’s offi ce to allow inspec-
tions of evidence and pro-
vide copies of police reports,
recordings, photographs and
more. Primus said his offi ce
has set a meeting with Kim
and Lindsey.
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