NEWS
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2022
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Last-minute fi lings alter picture of county commissioner races
lost in the runoff 50-48.
Shafer’s other challenger is con-
servative activist HollyJo Beers, who
also is making her second attempt at
county offi ce. Beers came in second
during the 2020 primary for an open
Position 3 seat, but she ended up los-
ing the runoff to Dan Dorran.
Regardless of the results during
the primary, the two candidates who
get the most votes in each commis-
sion race will advance to a Nov. 8
runoff .
Hermiston campaigns
competitive
By ANTONIO SIERRA
Hermiston Herald
David Nelson made a sudden
return to local politics on March 8.
On the last day candidates could
fi le for local offi ce ahead of the
May 17 election, Nelson, a former
state senator, joined a packed race
to replace Position 1 Commissioner
George Murdock.
The Pendleton resident repre-
sented District 29 as a Republican
in the Oregon Senate from 1997-
2013, including a stint as the majority
leader. After retiring from the Legis-
lature, Nelson served on the Eastern
Oregon University Board of Trustees
before stepping off in 2020.
Then-Commissioner Bill Hansell
won election to succeed Nelson in
the senate. A decade later, Nelson
now is seeking the county board seat
Hansell once held.
It’s not unprecedented in Ore-
gon for legislators to seek county
offi ce after serving in Salem. Former
Republican Minority Leader Her-
man Baertschiger left the senate in
2020 after he was elected to a seat on
the Josephine County Board of Com-
missioners. And in 2016, former state
Rep. Jessica Vega Pederson success-
fully ran for a county commissioner
seat in Multnomah County, although
Hermiston City Council
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald, File
A ballot is dropped into a drop box in Hermiston on Nov. 3, 2020.
unlike Nelson, both legislators
immediately transitioned from state
to county offi ce.
While Nelson brings plenty of
name recognition to the race, he
won’t have a glide path to a seat on
the board. Before Nelson entered his
name, fi ve other candidates already
fi led.
Two business owners — Susan
Bower of Pendleton and Cindy Tim-
mons of Milton-Freewater — were
the fi rst to join the race. Bower has
spent more than $18,000 on her cam-
paign while Timmons has reported
more than $3,000 in expenditures.
The rest of the fi eld is composed of
Bob Barton, a Hermiston construc-
tion business owner; Jesse Bonifer,
an Athena city councilor and Sec-
ond Amendment activist; and Alvin
Young, a Hermiston store manager.
A late entry means voters also will
weigh in on Position 2 in the May
primary.
Rick Pullen, a former Umatilla
County employee, fi led a last-min-
ute challenge to incumbent Com-
missioner John Shafer. In 2018,
Pullen ran against Murdock for
Position 1. He came in second
during the primary and narrowly
Hermiston voters will have a
choice in all but one race in May,
but as of 5 p.m. on March 8, the one
exception is set to be decided by
write-in votes.
The race for Ward 1 will feature
a rematch between incumbent Lori
Davis and retiree Jackie Linton. Lin-
ton also was a candidate for Ward 1
in 2018, but she narrowly missed the
runoff and Davis would go on to pre-
vail in the general election.
Ward 2 Councilor Roy Barron is
facing a challenge from Stan Strad-
ley, the executive director of the
Umatilla County Housing Authority.
Barron fi rst won offi ce in 2018.
In Ward 4, former Coun-
cilor David McCarthy is challeng-
ing incumbent Phillip Spicerkuhn
to rejoin the council. Spickerkuhn
won a special election unopposed in
March 2021 to represent Ward 4 on
the council.
Ward 3 has been represented by
Councilor Jackie Myers for nearly
30 years. At the deadline, Myers sub-
mitted her application and will be on
the ballot to resume her position on
the council. City offi cials confi rmed
that she does intend to run again for
her offi ce.
Rounding out the slate of Herm-
iston elections is the race for munic-
ipal court judge, where incumbent
Thomas Creasing will face a chal-
lenge from Municipal Judge Pro Tem
Cameron Bendixsen.
Levy draws challenger
Most races for state offi ces that
represent Umatilla and Morrow
counties will not be competitive, but
state Rep. Bobby Levy of Echo is
facing a challenge in the Republican
primary.
Skye Farnam, a Summerville
business owner, is seeking to oust
Levy. Farnam ran for the District
58 seat in 2018 as an independent
but lost to then-incumbent Greg
Barreto.
State Rep. Greg Smith, R-Hep-
pner, the incumbent in District 57, is
all but assured another term in Salem
after drawing no Republican or Dem-
ocratic opponents.
In Umatilla County Circuit, Posi-
tion 2 Judge Jon Lieuallen and Posi-
tion 3 Judge Daniel Hill are running
unopposed. And in Morrow County,
District Attorney Justin Nelson also
is running unopposed.
Hermiston man arrested in the disappearance of Moses Lake woman
By CHARLES H. FEATHERSTONE
Columbia Basin Herald
Police in Hermiston have
arrested a former Moses
Lake, Washington, resi-
dent in the disappearance of
30-year-old Yanira Cedillos
of Moses Lake last week.
At a press conference
Thursday, March 10, at the
Moses Lake Civic Center,
Moses Lake Police Depart-
ment Capt. Mike Williams
said Hermiston police offi -
cers arrested Juan Gastelum,
27, a former Moses Lake
resident, the evening of
March 9.
Gastelum has been
charged with second-de-
gree murder and rape of
Cedillos, who was last
seen late March 3 and very
early March 4 celebrating
her birthday with friends
at Papa’s Casino in Moses
Lake, Williams said.
MLPD detectives learned
Cedillos received a num-
ber of phone calls and text
messages the night of her
birthday celebrations from
Gastelum, with whom she
had lived with and been
involved romantically, Wil-
liams said. Williams also
said MLPD determined
Gastelum picked Cedillos
up somewhere in the 900
block of North Stratford
Road and took her to her
apartment.
Cedillos’ family reported
her missing March 4, after
she failed to show up for
work.
Williams said that while
Cedillos’ body has not yet
been found, MLPD detec-
tives collected evidence
from her residence at the
Heron Creek Apartments
in Moses Lake showing
Cedillos was killed in her
apartment.
“The last evidence we
have that she was still alive
was a few minutes after
midnight, approximately
seven minutes after they
arrived at the apartment,”
Williams said.
Williams said MLPD
believes
Cedillos
is
deceased, but added he was
not at liberty to discuss the
evidence that led the MLPD
to reach that conclusion.
Gastelum, who also goes
by the name Johnny Tru-
jillo, is sitting in the Uma-
tilla County Jail, Pendle-
ton, awaiting extradition
to Washington. Williams
said Gastelum was taken
into custody without inci-
dent and would not com-
ment on the suspect’s crim-
inal history.
Williams also said the
MLPD held off on com-
menting
about
Cedil-
los’ disappearance before
March 10 because they did
not want to tip Gastelum
off about the status of the
investigation.
“Since (March 4), our
detectives and other offi-
cers assisting with this
case have been working
16 to 18 hour days track-
ing down leads and search-
ing for Yanira,” Williams
said. “We would not and
could not risk releasing
details that could cause
Gastelum to flee or stop
cooperating.”
Williams said the inves-
tigation into Cedillo’s mur-
der is ongoing, and more
information will be made
public in the future.
MLPD Chief Kevin
Fuhr thanked the Hermis-
ton police, the Washington
State Patrol, the Othello and
Quincy police departments,
the Grant County Sheriff ’s
Offi ce, Washington, and the
Spokane County Sheriff ’s
Offi ce as well as the FBI
for their assistance in the
investigation.
“Were it not for the
assistance of these agen-
cies, we would not be as far
along in this investigation
as we are,” Fuhr said.
The Columbia Basin
Herald will continue to
monitor this story for any
additional information as it
becomes available.
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CAPECO is issuing a Request
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Umatilla Counties.
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