THE SPOKESMAN • TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022 A3
Police search for potentially dangerous suspect
BY TIM TRAINOR
Redmond Spokesman
Law enforcement continues to search for
a Redmond man who evaded capture after a
short pursuit.
The suspect is Braxton Michael Monson, 36.
Monson is 6 feet tall and weighs approximately
200 pounds.
According to police, Monson was last seen
wearing dark jeans and a hooded sweatshirt.
He has a dark flower tattoo on his neck and
various tattoos on his arms. His facial hair is
not currently as long as in the
attached photos, according to
police.
It is possible Monson is
armed, so do not attempt to
contact him. He is known to
frequent Prineville and Ma-
Monson
dras.
According to the Deschutes
County Sheriff’s Office, at about 10:48 p.m.
Wednesday a deputy tried to pull over Mon-
son’s 1994 Toyota Camry in the area of NE 5th
and NE Maple in Redmond.
The driver over the vehicle refused to pull
over and the deputy pursued for a short dis-
tance before losing sight of the car. The officer
then saw the vehicle again, in the area of NE
5th and Maple, where the driver exited the car
and fled on foot.
The deputy on scene, as well as residents in
the area, then heard what they believed were
gunshots. As of 3 p.m. Thursday, police have
not since been able to confirm any such shots.
A search of the area with K9 teams and
drones overnight on Wednesday into Thurs-
day morning was not successful.
Alerts were sent out to residents in the
neighborhood advising law enforcement was
searching for a male suspect who may be
armed and dangerous.
An updated alert was sent out Thursday
morning, advising that law enforcement was
no longer active in the area and the suspect is
still at large.
If you see Monson or know his location, call
911 immediately.
Ruling requires revisions for Prineville solar project
BY MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
EO Media Group
To pass legal muster, a Cen-
tral Oregon solar facility ex-
pansion plan must provide
more specifics about mitigat-
ing impacts on wildlife hab-
itat, according to a state land
use ruling.
However, the West
Prineville Solar Farm’s devel-
oper, NewSun Energy, is op-
timistic the project can now
proceed with “only limited re-
finements to the plan criteria,”
said Jake Stephens, its CEO.
The state’s Land Use Board
of Appeals said Crook County
approved doubling the solar
facility’s size, from 320 acres
to 654 acres, without “sub-
stantial evidence” its wildlife
plan will ensure quality hab-
itat mitigation that’s reliable
and durable.
The developer’s wildlife
plan also “lacks a schedule of
performance measures” re-
quired under state law to en-
sure it will cause “no net loss”
of habitat, the ruling said.
Despite these issues,
NewSun Energy said it wel-
comes LUBA’s order because
the ruling has confirmed the
mitigation plan is “appropriate
and acceptable in form, size,
scale, substance and type,” as
well as in its definition of habi-
tat, Stephens said.
For example, the plan can
now move forward with
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press File
A land use ruling requires revisions to a wildlife mitigation plan for a Central Oregon solar facility expansion.
“more tightly defined limits”
on where mitigation occurs
as well as “specific deed re-
striction language” that will
shield the habitat mitigation
site from future development,
he said.
The company believes the
plan already includes these el-
ements and has exceeded the
requirements of state wildlife
officials, Stephens said. “Re-
gardless, NewSun looks for-
ward to continuing to invest
in good faith in rural Ore-
gon communities, including
performing mitigation as re-
quired by law.”
Crook County will have to
reconsider its authorization of
the solar facility’s expansion
based on the the ruling’s crite-
ria and standards, most likely
based on additional evidence
from the project’s developer,
according to LUBA.
Last year, LUBA blocked
the expansion project but the
Oregon Court of Appeals
said it incorrectly construed
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state land use law. The appeals
court faulted LUBA for requir-
ing the county to fully meet
wildlife criteria that’s meant
for larger solar projects.
LUBA has now issued a new
ruling based on instructions
from the appellate court but
has still found that the wildlife
mitigation plan needs to be
improved.
The developer’s plan to en-
hance an acre of wildlife hab-
itat for every acre affected by
the project, plus a “buffer” of
additional acreage, is sufficient
to conclude “there will be no
net loss of habitat quantity,”
LUBA said.
However, the plan “lacks
the specificity and definite-
ness” required by state law,
since it proposes two options
without providing enough de-
tails about the location of re-
placement habitat, effectively
preventing third parties from
evaluating the quality of mit-
igation measures, the ruling
said.
Likewise, the so-called “V2
Plan” contains treatment op-
tions that are “too vague” to
be evaluated for reliability and
durability, “especially in the
absence of defined perfor-
mance measures,” the ruling
said.
“In conclusion, the V2 Plan
is not substantial evidence in
the record as to the quality of
mitigation, the reliability or
durability of mitigation, and
lacks a schedule of perfor-
mance measures required to
be included in a mitigation
plan,” LUBA said. “Accord-
ingly, the V2 Plan is not ev-
idence a reasonable person
would rely on to conclude
that the development action
meets the no net loss stan-
dard.”
The Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife, which
had objected to the project’s
wildlife plan, can “absolutely”
make the solar facility’s ex-
pansion work under the rul-
ing’s requirements, said Greg
Jackle, district biologist for the
agency.
The new LUBA ruling is
similar to the previous order
and will assure a “very positive
outcome for wildlife habitat,”
Jackle said. “This opinion will
assure that wildlife impacts
from the project will be off-
set, protected and enhanced
on a specific wildlife mitiga-
tion site.”
Redmond student earns
Oklahoma State scholarship
BY TIM TRAINOR
Redmond Spokesman
A Deschutes County student recently was
honored by the Oklahoma State University Fer-
guson College of Agriculture with academic
scholarships for the 2022-2023 academic year.
The scholarships are part of the more than
$1.8 million that students will receive from the
college and its academic de-
partments.
Rhiannon Curley is an an-
Curley
imal science student from
Redmond. Curley received the Oklahoma
Grain and Feed Industry Scholarship and the
Joseph Fleming Memorial Continuing Schol-
arship.
Submitted Photo
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