NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2022
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Police make arrest in 2015 murder case
Hermiston Herald
Hermiston police Thurs-
day, Jan. 13, made an arrest
for a 2015 murder of a Uma-
tilla man.
Jose Maria Oseguera,
40, now is in the Uma-
tilla County Jail, Pend-
leton, on probable cause
charges of second-degree
murder, unlawful use of a
weapon, felon in possession
of a weapon and contempt of
court and failure to appear.
Police arrested Oseguera
for the homicide of Alonso
Madrigal. Hermiston police
Chief Jason Edmiston in a
press release stated in the
evening of March 4, 2015,
Madrigal, 23, was “sense-
lessly murdered” in the
parking lot of a conve-
nience store in the 400 block
of Northwest 11th Street,
Hermiston.
From early in the inves-
tigation, several persons of
interest were identifi ed and
for the last six-plus years,
Hermiston detectives have
worked on the investiga-
tion, according to Edmis-
ton. Days after the murder,
detectives fl ew to California,
where a vehicle involved in
the homicide was located
and seized.
Hermiston police detec-
tives with Oregon State
Police and the Blue Moun-
tain Enforcement Narcot-
ics Team arrested Oseguera
at about 7 p.m. in the park-
ing lot of Walmart, 1350 N.
First St., Hermiston.
At the time of his arrest,
according to Edmiston,
Oseguera “possessed a
loaded handgun, crystal sub-
stance suspected to be meth-
amphetamine and a large
amount of cash.”
Detectives have remained
in constant contact with the
family of Madrigal, Edmis-
ton also reported, and Herm-
iston police told Madrigal’s
family about the arrest.
Throughout this inves-
tigation, Hermiston police
received assistance from the
Umatilla-Morrow County
Major Crime Team, the
Umatilla County District
Attorney’s Offi ce, the Los
Angeles Sheriff ’s Offi ce
New computer, forklift training program starts
By ANTONIO SIERRA
Hermiston Herald
The Port of Morrow
on Jan.10 announced a
new partnership with Blue
Mountain Community Col-
lege that includes free fork-
lift training in Boardman
and free non credit computer
classes.
“We have heard from
employers and job seek-
ers that there is a need for
short term bilingual train-
ing,” Port of Morrow Direc-
tor of Workforce Develop-
ment Kalie Davis said in a
statement. “We are excited
to partner with Blue Moun-
tain Community College to
make these opportunities
easily accessible and free.”
The noncredit classes
will be at the BMCC Work-
force Training Center and
won’t require students to be
enrolled at Blue Mountain to
attend, according to a port
press release.
The curriculum includes
courses in Microsoft Word
and Excel off ered in both
English and Spanish. A fork-
lift simulator also is avail-
able during the center’s
business hours and can be
accessed in a number of
languages.
The
new
program-
ming also got plaudits from
BMCC Workforce Train-
ing Center Director Anne
Morter, who said the col-
lege’s Boardman campus
is now a “regional training
hub” for Morrow County
residents.
As BMCC looks to grow
enrollment and boost its
presence across the region,
its sought out partnerships
with other organizations.
Last summer, the college
launched a new unmanned
aerial systems by starting
a noncredit program with
the Volatus Group, a com-
pany based at the Pendleton
UAS Range. And in Decem-
ber, Blue Mountain signed
an agreement with Washing-
ton State University Tri Cit-
ies to make it easier to trans-
fer between the two schools.
Morning and evening
class times have been set
through May. More informa-
tion on the courses and reg-
istration info can be found
at www.portofmorrow.com/
workforce-training/home.
Bentz says 2020 election was ‘bought’
By DICK MASON
EO Media Group
Oregon U.S. Rep. Cliff
Bentz, R-Ontario, does not
believe former President
Donald Trump’s claim that
President Joe Biden won the
2020 presidential election
because of voter fraud.
“The election was not sto-
len, it was bought,” Bentz,
a fi rst-term congressman,
said during a meet-and-greet
held Jan. 6, in La Grande.
Bentz said Democrats
had an enormous edge in
funding donors with deep
pockets, including one who
donated $400 million to
Biden’s campaign. Bentz
said the Democrats spent
several times more money
per vote than the Republi-
cans did.
Bentz referenced a large
donation Facebook founder
Mark Zuckerberg made and
suggested it benefi ted Biden
and Democrats.
According to a 2020
article from the news web-
site Vox, Zuckerberg and
his wife, Priscilla Chan,
personally made a $300
million donation to two
groups: Center for Tech
and Civic Life and the Cen-
ter for Election Innovation
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File
Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, speaks to residents during a meet-
and-greet Jan. 6, 2022, in La Grande.
& Research. The money
was specifi cally designated
to recruit poll workers, sup-
ply them with personal pro-
tection equipment and set
up drive-thru voting. The
rest was distributed to state
election offi cials through-
out the country.
Both groups are 501(c)(3)
nonprofi ts, which are legally
prohibited from political
campaign activity.
Bentz is hopeful Repub-
licans can win control of
the House of Represen-
tatives in mid term elec-
tions in November. He
noted. though, that is when
heavy lifting will begin for
Republicans. He said House
minority leader Kevin
McCarthy,
R-California,
issued this warning earlier
when speaking at a gather-
ing of about 40 Republican
freshmen in Congress.
McCarthy said members
of the minority party have
it easier because they often
fi nd themselves just voting
no. McCarthy said, how-
ever, they will fi nd when
they are in the majority party
the situation can be more
challenging.
“He told us, ‘When you
are in power you have to
make things happen, it is
hard,’” Bentz said.
Bentz spoke in La Grande
on the one-year anniversary
of the day Trump supporters
rioted at the Capitol Build-
ing in an attempt to reverse
the results of the 2020 pres-
idential election. Bentz said
he believes Democrats are
blowing the Jan. 6 riot out
of proportion in an attempt
to divert attention from the
issues people really are con-
cerned about.
“It is a huge opportu-
nity for them to distract
the nation from infl ation,’’
Bentz said.
Bentz also said United
States Attorney General
Merrick Garland is asking
the FBI to investigate a rise
in harassment and threats
of violence against school
board members nationwide.
Bentz said it is not the FBI’s
place to do this.
“This is what communi-
ties should be looking into,”
he said.
On Oct. 4, Garland
released a memo directing
the FBI to meet with fed-
eral, state, local and tribal
law enforcement to develop
strategies to address “harass-
ment, intimidation and
threats of violence” against
school board members and
school employees.
crime lab, the police depart-
ment of Huntington Park,
California, and the United
States Marshals Service.
And on Jan. 13 before the
arrest, the Umatilla Police
Department assisted while
Hermiston detectives were
in Umatilla. Edmiston also
said the Hermiston Police
Department’s biggest thank
you perhaps needs to go to
Madrigal’s family.
“They have been so
incredibly
patient
and
understanding with us as
our detectives worked the
Lawsuit against
Good Shepherd
seeks more than
$4.6 million
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herad
A medical malprac-
tice lawsuit against Good
Shepherd Healthcare Sys-
tem and a doctor seeks
more than $4.6 million.
Kimberly A. Helms of
Ione is bringing the law-
suit, which claims negli-
gence on the part of Dr.
Andrew John Haputa as
well as “vicarious liability”
by Good Shepherd. Attor-
ney Kelly L. Andersen of
Medford fi led the com-
plaint Jan. 10 in Umatilla
County Circuit Court.
According to the doc-
ument, Helms received
gallbladder surgery from
Haputa on April 3, 2021,
and during the surgery
Haputa cut her common
bile duct and her right
hepatic artery.
“Not realizing his mis-
takes, he then compounded
his errors by using surgical
clips to clamp the common
bile duct and the hepatic
artery,” the complaint
states.
The lawsuit also accuses
Haputa of several acts of
negligence, including per-
forming a surgery beyond
his abilities, not obtaining
a “critical view” during the
surgery of key organs, not
taking photographs during
surgery to help identify and
locate the key organs and
“failing to discontinue the
surgery rather than cutting
what he could not see.”
Helms in the complaint
claims she has suff ered
Oregon Rep. Cliff Bentz,
R-Ontario, denounced the
River Democracy Act on the
House fl oor Jan. 11, saying
the legislation that would
label 4,700 miles of water-
ways as “Wild and Scenic”
would instead leave them
“just waiting to be burned
and ruined.”
“The
overwhelming
majority of my 62 county
commissioners have seri-
ous and unanswered con-
cerns about the dangers
the act presents,” Bentz,
a freshman congressman,
said during his fl oor speech.
“Chief among them is that
this designation will pre-
vent what needs to be done
to protect these watersheds,
placing them in a bureau-
cratic wasteland where
it will take years, if not
decades, to initiate and then
complete plans that may
or may not allow the treat-
ment activities needed right
now.”
Bentz noted that with
a mile-wide corridor — a
half-mile on each side of
the designated areas —
being marked Wild and
Scenic, the area cordoned
off , 4,700 square miles,
would be about the size of
Connecticut.
Bentz said the bill would
allow just one method of
fi re prevention — pre-
scribed burning — which he
contended would actually
increase the threat of fi res.
“I cannot emphasize
enough how dangerous it
is to use prescribed burns
in overgrown, densely
packed, dry forests with-
out thinning the forest fi rst,”
he said. “Prescribed burn-
ing before thinning puts at
extreme risk the very rivers
and watersheds the designa-
tion is supposed to protect.
It is like dropping a match
in a tinderbox. It is impossi-
ble to contain these types of
fi res once they start.
“The River Democ-
racy Act, if passed, would
threaten watersheds, homes,
businesses, farms, ranches,
livestock and, most impor-
tantly, human lives.”
Bentz also denounced
the bill for not containing
“explicit protections” for
uses of the land, includ-
ing, “sustainable timber
harvests, hunting, grazing,
fi shing and mining.”
“Regardless of legisla-
tive intent, the applicable
agencies will have broad
authority to restrict these
activities,” he said.
The RDA, introduced
last year by Sen. Ron
Wyden and backed by Sen.
Jeff Merkley, both Oregon
Democrats, has been con-
demned by several county
commissioners in East-
ern Oregon. Union County
commissioners voted in
October 2021 to send a let-
ter to Wyden asking him
to remove the roughly 135
miles of waterways in their
county from the act. Part of
their issue with the RDA,
they claimed, was that
methods in place for des-
ignating rivers as Wild and
Scenic were not adhered to.
an extended hospitaliza-
tion and corrective surgery
because of injuries result-
ing from the surgery, in
addition to pain that lim-
its her “normal and usual
activities.”
She seeks the $4.6 mil-
lion to cover the loss of
physical abilities, medi-
cal bills, impairment of
past and future earning
capacity.
The lawsuit further
claims Good Shepherd
is negligent in retaining
Haputa. It states that six
months after being hired,
police arrested the doctor
at Good Shepherd Medi-
cal Center, Hermiston, for
driving under the infl u-
ence of intoxicants, as well
as for third-degree assault,
reckless
endangering
and reckless driving. He
pleaded guilty to the DUII
charge and the state dis-
missed the other charges.
He was sentenced to jail
and the suspension of his
driver’s license.
“Haputa’s arrest at Good
Shepherd and his resulting
criminal conviction were
warnings to Good Shep-
herd that Haputa posed a
danger to Good Shepherd
patients. Good Shepherd
was negligent in retaining
Haputa after those events,”
the document states.
The lawsuit added the
Oregon Medical Board on
Oct. 7, 2020, publicly rep-
rimanded Haputa.
Good Shepherd has not
yet responded to a request
for comment.
The most valuable and
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Congressman decries River Democracy Act
By RONALD BOND
EO Media Group
investigation,” he said in the
press release. “We had all
the pieces of what transpired
that fateful night, we were
just waiting for a break we
prayed would come. Within
the last couple of months,
that break happened, and
the DA’s offi ce presented the
information to a grand jury
where an arrest warrant was
eventually issued for Mr.
Oseguera. It is our sincere
hope that once brought to
justice with a conviction, the
family will have some sense
of closure.”
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