REGION
A6 — THE OBSERVER
TuESday, July 19, 2022
Shooting
Baker County meets with landowners along B2H power line route
Idaho Power dismissed all the
suspect
Baker County suits this spring after
all the affected landowners granted
could be
BAKER CITY — About 20
the company permission to do
Baker County property owners
surveys.
land is along the proposed
prosecuted whose
Easement payments
route for the Boardman-to-Hem-
A focus of the meeting was the
ingway power transmission line
as an adult attended
one-time payments Idaho Power will
a meeting to discuss their
offer to property owners for ease-
options in dealing with Idaho Power
By IAN CRAWFORD
Baker City Herald
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
BAKER CITY — Baker
County District Attorney
Greg Baxter is seeking to
have the 17-year-old suspect
in a fatal shooting in Baker
City on Wednesday, July
13, tried for second-degree
murder and unlawful use of
a weapon as an adult rather
than a juvenile.
Baxter confirmed on July
15 that he had filed for a
motion for a waiver under an
Oregon law, ORS 419C.349.
Under that law, a district
attorney can seek a hearing
in a case in which a sus-
pect who was 15, 16 or 17
years old is accused of a
crime that, if committed by
an adult, would constitute a
Class A or Class B felony.
The male suspect is
accused of fatally shooting
another juvenile male just
after midnight on July 13 in
the parking lot at the Baker
Technical Institute, on the
Baker High School campus.
Police have not released
the name of the victim or the
suspect, nor have they given
the age of the victim, who
died at the scene.
Police haven’t said what
type of gun was used.
Baxter said he couldn’t
give any additional details.
He said the investigation is
continuing.
The 17-year-old sus-
pect was taken to a juve-
nile detention facility in The
Dalles.
The shooting was
reported at 12:25 a.m. on
July 13, according to a press
release from the Baker
County Sheriff’s Office.
The caller told a dis-
patcher that the shooting sus-
pect had fled.
Baker City Police offi-
cers responded and found a
male juvenile with a gunshot
wound. Efforts to save the
victim were not successful.
Police also found a female
juvenile at the scene who
was not hurt.
Police haven’t said
whether the female juve-
nile who was in the parking
lot reported the shooting, or
whether someone else called
police.
According to the state law
dealing with juveniles being
prosecuted as adults, a judge
can consider, among other
criteria, whether:
• “The youth at the time
of the alleged offense was
of sufficient sophistication
and maturity to appreciate
the nature and quality of the
conduct involved.”
• “The amenability of the
youth to treatment and reha-
bilitation given the tech-
niques, facilities and per-
sonnel for rehabilitation
available to the juvenile
court and to the criminal
court that would have juris-
diction after transfer” (to
adult court).
• “The aggressive, vio-
lent, premeditated or willful
manner in which the offense
was alleged to have been
committed.”
• “The previous his-
tory of the youth, including:
prior treatment efforts and
out-of-home placements;
the physical, emotional and
mental health of the youth;
the youth’s prior record of
acts that would be crimes if
committed by an adult; the
gravity of the loss, damage
or injury caused or attempted
during the offense.”
The law also gives the
prosecutor the right to
have at least one psychia-
trist or licensed psychol-
ogist, of the prosecution’s
choice, examine the juvenile
defendant.
Baxter said he doesn’t
know how long it typically
takes for a judge to decide on
a motion seeking to prose-
cute a juvenile defendant in
adult court.
A defendant convicted
of second-degree murder as
an adult could be sentenced
to life in prison without the
possibility of parole.
Company regarding payments for
permanent easements.
County Commissioner Mark
Bennett set up the meeting the eve-
ning of Wednesday, July 13, at the
Baker County Courthouse.
Andrew Martin, an attorney with
Intermountain Law in Baker City,
the firm the county has enlisted,
also attended.
Bennett said county officials
offered many years ago to help
affected property owners navigate
the potentially complicated process.
Idaho Power, the Boise-based
company that has been leading
the Boardman-to-Hemingway
project since it was first proposed
in 2007, would own 45% of the
line, and PacifiCorp, of Portland,
would own 55%.
The Bonneville Power Admin-
istration (BPA), a federal agency,
was also involved in the project, but
early this year the BPA transferred
its ownership interest to Idaho
Power.
“Over the years we discussed
what would we do when we got to
this point,” Bennett said during the
meeting, noting that the proposed
route covers more than 70 miles
in Baker County and affects about
30 separate landowners, making
it a challenge to get most or all to
gather.
About 20 landowners attended,
some by Zoom.
“I want to make this clear, we’re
not pushing anything specific, but
we do think it’s important that you
hear from a confident land use law
Baker City Herald, File
The proposed Boardman to Hemingway power transmission line could follow
the route of an existing line that runs along the eastern edge of Baker Valley near
Highway 86.
attorney,” Bennett said, referring
to Martin. “We think it’s important
that information gets out.”
The federal government has
approved the 293-mile route,
which runs from near Boardman,
in Morrow County west of Pend-
leton, and the Hemingway substa-
tion near Murphy, Idaho. The Oregon
Energy Facility Siting Council, part
of the state Department of Energy,
is reviewing the proposed 500-kilo-
volt transmission line, which would
cross parts of Baker, Malheur, Union,
Umatilla and Morrow counties.
The proposed route through
Baker County would run south
of Interstate 84 from near Hun-
tington to the Durkee Valley, cross
the freeway near Pleasant Valley,
then follow the route of an existing
230-kilovolt line (which it would
replace) along the north side of the
freeway to near Baker City, then
head north along the east side of
Baker Valley between the freeway
and the Oregon Trail Interpretive
Center.
Martin said he has been in touch
with Idaho Power officials, who
expect to complete the state permit-
ting process later this year, although
he said “that timeline may get
pushed out a little bit further.”
Idaho Power anticipates the
transmission line could be finished
as early as 2026.
A regional organization, Stop
B2H, has been working for several
years to block the project, claiming
it is not needed and would harm
the environment, increase the risk
of wildfire, and intrude on private
property.
Idaho Power is required to
survey sites along the route,
including private property, for wild-
life and plants, among other things.
In late 2021 and early 2022,
attorneys representing the com-
pany filed 10 lawsuits against Baker
County landowners — and sim-
ilar complaints against other prop-
erty owners elsewhere in Eastern
Oregon — seeking access to their
properties for surveys.
ments across their land.
“They have individuals that work
with Idaho Power approaching land-
owners and presenting packages of
documents to folks,” said Martin,
who called for a show of hands from
property owners who’d already
received the documents.
Nearly every landowner
attending has received initial offers
from Idaho Power.
Martin said landowners should
have an attorney review the forms
before signing.
“If you notice, they’re full of
blanks, so those are pretty generic
forms,” he said. “For most of you,
unless you have an attorney look at
it, it’s a lot of legalese and lawyer
jargon.”
Martin said the packages are in
effect the first step in the negotiating
process. In most cases Idaho Power
is seeking a 160-meter wide ease-
ment, although the dimensions vary
depending on the property.
He said landowners would be
able to continue using the easement
for purposes such as cattle grazing.
Martin said that if Idaho Power
can’t negotiate an easement, the
next step would be a “condemnation
lawsuit.”
Also known as eminent domain,
that’s a legal process that forces a
private landowner to give up a por-
tion of property for a public project,
such as a highway or power line. The
property owner would receive a pay-
ment, but it would be determined by
the court rather than in a negotiation
between the parties.
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