THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 9
FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015
Local & Entertainment
SWAT team called to Huntington
By Eileen Driver
Eileen@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Tuesday, March 17th
started out the same as any
other day in Huntington.
But by nightfall it was
anything but normal for the
sleepy little town.
By 5 p.m. the population
of Huntington had swelled
to include members of the
Baker County Sheriff's De-
partment SWAT team and
Oregon State Police.
In order to understand
what transpired the follow-
ing timeline is a compila-
tion taken from statements
by Lieutenant Travis Ash
of the Baker County Sher-
iff offi ce, Mayor Travis
Young of Huntington
and several Huntington
residents.
12- 12:30 p.m. Gary
Waldrup, a 59-year-old
resident of Huntington was
involved in a one-vehicle
accident on Highway 30
across the street from
Mayor Young's residence,
in what the locals call “Old
Town.”
Mayor Young, who
is also an EMT with the
Huntington Fire & Medical
Department, tried to assist
Waldrup who appeared to
be visibly under the infl u-
ence of alcohol when he
exited the vehicle. Waldrup
refused any help and pro-
ceeded to head out on foot
toward his home yelling
obscenities and acting in a
belligerent manner.
1:00-2:30 p.m. Deputy
John Hoopes arrived in
Huntington, discovered the
crashed vehicle and started
investigating the scene.
He learned who owned the
vehicle and discovered in
the back seat of the vehicle
a cardboard box contain-
ing a live cat. It was later
learned that the cat be-
longed to Gary Waldrup’s
neighbor and was returned
unharmed to its owner.
Hoopes took the cat to
City Hall and proceeded
to Waldrup’s house to talk
with him. On arriving at
Waldrup’s home he found
the man visibly intoxicated
and yelling threats of vio-
lence to his neighbor and
to police offi cers.
Then Waldrup barricad-
ed himself in his home.
2:30 p.m. Lieutenant
Ash, who was in Pendleton
at the time, was called and
updated on the situation.
This isn’t the fi rst
incident for Waldrup, who
is classifi ed as a disabled
military veteran.
In 2005, Waldrup was
involved in a similar
situation in which he
barricaded himself in his
home with numerous guns
and threatened to shoot the
police and himself, which
culminated in his arrest for
driving under the infl uence
of intoxicants, unauthor-
ized use of a motor vehicle
and improper use of the
911 services.
Lt. Ash decided at that
time to call in SWAT to try
and avoid escalation of the
situation and safeguard the
Huntington residents.
4-4:30 p.m. Baker
County SWAT team and
Oregon State Police Of-
fi cers arrived, and with
the help of the Huntington
Fire and Medical Depart-
ment, started to block
off the roads surround-
ing Waldrup’s home and
made plans to evacuate the
people in the surrounding
homes.
5-6:00 p.m. The evacua-
tion began.
Huntington Librarian
Christina Gaines said, “ I
was at the library and the
Sheriff told me to ‘lock it
down.’ I had to turn people
away and tell them to
move along so they didn’t
get caught in the crossfi re.
At 6 they evacuated me. As
I left you could hear Gary
yelling and throwing stuff
at the cops.”
6:00 p.m. - 2 a.m. Sher-
iff’s Department personnel
continued to negotiate with
Waldrup who during this
time was yelling, scream-
ing and taunting offi cers.
At one point Waldrup was
convinced to call Veteran’s
Services and speak to a
councillor there. His fam-
ily was kept up-to-date by
police.
2-3:00 a.m. Waldrup
fell asleep and the Sher-
iff’s department decided
to pack it in for the night
after ascertaining that all
the guns had been removed
from the home.
According to Lt. Ash in a
briefi ng to the Huntington
City Council on Friday
March 20, “We want to
respond to what is done,
not make the fi rst aggres-
sive move.”
He said that charges are
being fi led for DUII, reck-
less driving and several
other related crimes and
Waldrup would be arrested
at that time.
Waldrup was not taken
into custody that evening
because it was determined
that in order to do so
signifi cant damage would
have had to be done to his
residence and the situation
had to potential to escalate
with either Waldrup or a
police offi cer being shot.
Lt. Ash has kept in con-
tact with Waldrup’s family.
Waldrup is scheduled to
be taken to the V.A. Hospi-
tal for treatment.
Bebe’s word search
This week’s crossword puzzle
— Random Acts of Kindness —
Each week The Baker
County Press will in-
clude a list—all anony-
mous, of course—of
the good deeds and
random acts of kind-
ness people from
around the area have
witnessed. To include
something you’ve seen
The
or experienced, email
News@TheBakerCoun-
tyPress.com with “Ran-
dom Acts of Kindness”
in the subject line.
We’ll be sure to include
your story.
• To the school kid
(brown hair, black shirt)
who ran across the road
and grabbed our dog
when it got out of the
fence, and carried him
back home to the yard,
thank you! It’s not like
him to run off like that.
I wish you’d knocked
on the door, but you
walked off too fast.
Baker County Press
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Across
1- Olive genus;
5- Elegance;
10- ___ Alto;
14- Dull resonant sound;
15- “M*A*S*H*” name;
16- ____-friendly: not
too technical;
17- New Rochelle col-
lege;
18- ___ barrel;
19- Pealed;
20- Sports fi gure;
21- Blown about;
23- Sweetie;
25- Get it?;
26- Cherish;
31- Begin;
35- Sunburnt;
36- Fencing blades;
38- Rose;
40- Scored 100 on;
42- Simmons rival;
44- Catch a view of;
45- Horse locks;
47- Eats to a plan;
49- ___ Quentin;
50- Sacred song;
52- Make moral;
54- Feedbag morsel;
56- Meadow;
57- Lively young wom-
an;
62- 1994 Jodie Foster
fi lm;
66- Smack;
67- Brown ermine;
68- Now ___ me
down...;
69- Very funny;
70- Artist Matisse;
71- Scottish loch, home
to a monster!;
72- Adjoin;
73- Org.;
74- Fence opening;
Down
1- Kimono ties;
2- Booty;
3- Sicilian resort;
4- First name in who-
dunits;
5- Adults;
6- Sitarist Shankar;
7- Arabian Sea gulf;
8- Parlor game;
9- Rubs out;
10- Free from contami-
nation;
11- Quickly, quickly;
12- Pre-Easter season;
13- Assn.;
22- Dampens;
24- Sugary suffi x;
26- Streetcar;
27- Summary;
28- Perfect places;
29- Vibrating component
of a woodwind instru-
ment;
30- Causing goose
bumps;
32- Consumed;
33- Martini’s partner;
34- Mineral used as a
gem;
37- Editor’s mark;
39- Unit of force;
41- Narc’s org.;
43- Physically active;
46- Slovenly person;
48- Sprechen ___
Deutsch?;
51- Actress Mason;
53- Punishing;
55- French beans?;
57- Thick slice;
58- Island of Hawaii;
59- ___ the crack of
dawn;
60- Heaps;
61- Edible corm;
63- Zeno’s home;
64- Go the distance;
65- Dissolve, as cells;
66- Doo-wop syllable;