NEWS
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2019
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Woman charged with DUII had previous record
By JESSICA POLLARD
STAFF WRITER
Michelle Dawn Fry’s
2009 Toyota Camry became
a dangerous weapon in the
eyes of the state Friday night.
Oregon State Police
arrested 45-year-old Fry,
of Hermiston, on multiple
charges including third-de-
gree assault and second and
fi rst-degree manslaughter in
the wake of a crash that left
Alicia Salas, 75, of Hermis-
ton dead and her husband,
Elidio Salas de la Paz, 77,
injured.
At the time of the crash,
Fry allegedly failed to stop
at a red light along Highway
396 and East Punkin Center
Road while headed north-
bound at about 10 p.m., col-
liding with Salas de la Paz
who, headed southbound,
was preparing to make a left
turn.
Alicia Salas, who was a
passenger in the vehicle, was
declared dead at Good Shep-
herd Medical Center.
In addition to assault,
manslaughter and hit and
run charges, Fry was also
charged with a DUII. Court
documents say she was
under the infl uence of alco-
hol while driving that night.
It wasn’t the fi rst time.
In 2005, Fry pleaded
guilty to DUII in Washing-
ton County. An inactive,
related court case states her
license was suspended at the
time of that incident.
Then last December, Ore-
gon State Police stopped
Fry near Highway 395 for
displaying fog lights while
approaching traffi c. When
the offi cer asked for her
driver’s license, she said she
didn’t have one, and received
Contributed photo from Oregon State Police
A fatal two vehicle crash occurred on Highway 395 near East
Punkin Center Friday night.
a citation.
When Hermiston local
Tony Loveday heard about
Friday’s fatal crash, he sent
a thank you note the very
offi cer who initially arrested
him for his own DUII back
in 2012. Unbelievably, he
said, the two are on friendly
terms. It’s not a relationship
that Loveday thought he’d
ever entertain.
His experience with driv-
ing while intoxicated began
at 14 in Idaho, when peo-
ple would carry him out to
the driver’s seat after a bout
of drinking. Loveday didn’t
think then that the alcohol
would disrupt his focus, and
neither did his friends.
“I had a holier-than-thou
feeling that I could handle
anything,” Loveday said.
Later in life, among the
strenuous demands of an
$80,000 a year job with UPS
Loveday would develop
that same attitude in regards
to stimulants and narcot-
ics. Caffeine was no longer
a match for the long nights
driving to and from Hermis-
ton and Portland, three trail-
ers in tow.
Being intoxicated on the
clock led to damaged equip-
ment, and even a fl ooded
residence in Portland after
Loveday struck a fi re-hy-
drant while driving for UPS.
“I was disregarding all
the signs,” Loveday remem-
bered. “I guess I almost hit a
few people. I was questioned
by the company.”
In 2012, police pulled
Loveday over for swerving
in the road near Hood River,
but let him go with a warn-
ing. He said that exactly a
month later, he failed sobri-
ety tests when Oregon State
Police pulled him over at a
rest stop in The Dalles. He
was on the clock.
Loveday said he was sur-
prised that following the
arrest he was handed back
his driver’s license. But it
would seem he lost almost
everything else.
Loveday was no longer
employed by UPS. His late
wife eventually got her own
apartment. He started rely-
ing on food donations from
Agape House and money
borrowed from family. But
he made it through hours of
community service, coun-
seling and treatment classes
stipulated by the court fol-
lowing his DUII.
Today, he’s in the highest
rank of his department at a
new trucking job.
It’s been years since the
DUII, and even longer since
he’s taken out a fi re hydrant
or guardrail while driving.
“I really think that we
need to look out for people
that have issues and prob-
lems like that. We need to
not be scared to get in their
face, do whatever it takes to
keep an eye on each other,”
Loveday said.
In 2014, a report released
by the National Highway
Traffi c Safety Administra-
tion showed that 21% of
people arrested for driving
while impaired in Oregon
between 2007 and 2009 had
been arrested for the same
offense in the past.
Hermiston Police Chief
Jason Edmiston said he can’t
speak to how frequently peo-
ple who get DUIIs in Herm-
iston end up getting them
again, but he knows that
recidivism exists in the area.
The number and rate of
alcohol-impaired
drivers
involved in fatal crashes has
decreased since 2002 accord-
ing to the 2014 National
Highway Traffi c Safety
Administration report. But
the percentage of fatalities
caused by drunk driving
remained the same.
Fewer arrests were made
in 2010 for driving while
intoxicated, but there were
EOTEC neighbors petition county
to vacate part of Airport Road
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Residents of East Air-
port Road are petitioning
Umatilla County to vacate
a portion of the road’s
right-of-way.
The county is planning a
$1.2 million rebuild of the
road leading to the East-
ern Oregon Trade and Event
Center, adding an extra lane
and other improvements that
would better handle traffi c
during the Umatilla County
Fair and other high-volume
events.
The plan would impact
13 feet of county-owned
right-of-way along the south
side of the road that neigh-
bors had previously believed
was part of their prop-
erty, based on a decades-
old “witness corner” that
was recently discovered to
be off from true property
lines. County commission-
ers and staff have met with
the neighbors to offer rem-
edies, such as granting con-
ditional use licenses, but the
petition’s signers are asking
that the county give them the
land outright.
“I think we came up with
a good solution, within the
confi nes of the law, some-
thing the county can do,” said
Chris Waine, who emailed a
copy of the completed appli-
cation to the county Wednes-
day afternoon.
Waine, the president of
HH fi le photo
The proposal from Umatilla County is to widen Airport Road
to 66 feet to accommodate increased traffi c fl ows. The project
could call for the relocation of utility poles and the removal of
trees from property along the road.
the Hermiston Airport Road
Neighborhood Association,
is one of those affected. If
the county builds the road’s
shoulders and swales as
wide as planned, he said, he
would likely have to move
his septic system. Umatilla
Electric Cooperative would
have to move relatively
new power poles and other
neighbors could lose trees.
He said the county is fol-
lowing the Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation’s
standards for widths on fea-
tures, such as the road’s
shoulders, but state statute
allows counties to set their
own standards instead. He
hopes the county will con-
sider adopting its own stan-
dards for road construction
in order to create a narrower
project that doesn’t need the
additional 13 feet.
The area around East Air-
port Road is a patchwork
of property within Hermis-
ton city limits and unincor-
porated parts of Umatilla
County. The application only
asks for a vacation of the
portions of the right-of-way
that abut county properties,
which Waine said makes the
request a bit “chopped up”
but allowed him to get the
needed signatures.
“We’re essentially this
island of county within the
urban growth boundary,” he
said.
According to state stat-
ute, at least 60% of prop-
erty owners along the pro-
posed vacation would need
to sign the petition ask-
ing the county to vacate the
road. Waine said the county
originally said he didn’t
have enough signatures, but
he successfully argued that
each individual person on
the property deeds should be
counted as a property owner.
He was able to collect sig-
natures from 22 of the 27
affected property owners.
County counsel Doug
Olsen said the request would
be forwarded to the Board of
Commissioners, which will
decide what action, if any,
to take.
Waine said he appreci-
ated that Olsen, along with
Matt Kenny from the survey-
or’s offi ce, have been help-
ful and fair to him during
the process despite ongoing
clashes he has had with the
county and city of Hermis-
ton regarding EOTEC. The
county even waived the
$500 application fee.
“That was a gesture of
good faith, so we appreciate
that,” he said.
He said if the county
declines the request to
vacate the right-of-way, he
plans to pursue an appeal.
likely still 112 million alco-
hol-impaired driving epi-
sodes that year. The U.S.
Department of Transporta-
tion attributed the decrease
in arrests to burdened law
enforcement agencies that
can only keep so many eyes
on the road at a time.
Edmiston corroborated
that suggestion.
The Hermiston Police
Department made 101 DUII
arrests in 2016, according to
department data. This year,
police have made 50 such
arrests. But calls for service
have increased by almost
1,500 within those three
years.
“We’re getting to a poten-
tial saturation point,” Edmis-
ton said.
He said the department
plans to propose the addi-
tion of another traffi c offi cer
to crack down on intoxicated
driving.
If the police have rea-
sonable grounds to believe
someone driving is intox-
icated, that person can be
taken into custody for a
breath test on the intoxi-
lyzer in Hermiston, which
is used by multiple agen-
cies. Because Oregon is an
implied consent state, refusal
to take a test can result in
license suspension.
After that, according to
Edmiston, the police will
attempt to locate someone
that can safely take the intox-
icated driver home. This
doesn’t always happen, he
said, and sometimes the per-
son will leave with their car
keys in hand.
“Those are the types of
people that just don’t get it
and they need to sit in jail,”
Edmiston said.
But the department can’t
always make that happen
either, he said, with the jail
being half an hour away.
For fi rst-time offenders,
fi nes for DUII can range
from $1,000 to $10,000 and
suspensions can last for a
year. Being convicted of
a DUII also means proba-
tion, drug or alcohol treat-
ment, attendance of a victim
impact panel and jail time as
well.
According to Oregon law,
someone with a blood alco-
hol level of 0.08% is liable
to be charged with a DUII.
But someone who exhibits
signifi cantly impaired driv-
ing, regardless of their blood
alcohol level, could get a
DUII.
The United Methodist Church presents
The 27th Annual
Living Nativity
Saturday, Dec 14th • 6-8pm
Sunday, Dec 15th • 4-6pm
191 E Gladys Ave • Hermiston, Oregon
This adventure will take you through a beautiful
setting featuring live animals and characters so you
can experience first hand the birth of our Savior.
Then come inside for warm drinks and cookies.
Please bring your friends and family and enjoy this special event.
Christmas Eve Worship is at 7:00pm
Thurs. Dec 12 th To Sat. Dec 14 th
30 OFF 60 OFF
%
%
Storewide including jewelry,
purses, housewares,
clothing, hats and more!
Clearance with items
being added daily
Pendleton Round-Up
& Happy Canyon
Gift Store
M-F 8:30-5 and Sat 9-5
1114 SW Court Ave • Pendleton • 541-276-2553
Shop online www.leterbuck.com
PET OF THE
W EEK
Buddy is looking for his forever home. He is
approximately 13 years old and has really
blossomed. He loves cuddling and rolling in
his blanket. He’s a silly old man that LOVES
attention. He does get jealous of other dogs
when they get attention, however, he barely
attempts to bite them at all, it’s actually pretty
funny. He does have a weak back and his rear
legs give out sometimes.
MEET
BUDDY
Mark Sargent, DVM • Brent Barton, DVM
Eugenio Mannucci, DVM, cVMA • Jana von Borstel, DVM, cVMA
Small and Large Animal Care
Mon: 8-6
Tue - Fri: 8-5
Sat: 8-12
Emergency Service
541.567.1138
80489 Hwy 395 N
Hermiston
www.oregontrailvet.com
PLACE
YOUR AD
HERE!
Contact Audra at
541.564.4538
Today!
If interested please go to fuzzballrescue.com and fill out an application.
If you are not able to adopt, but would like to foster or donate, visit fuzzballrescue.com
or you can mail in donations to Fuzz Ball Animal Rescue, PO Box 580, Hermiston, OR 97838