WEEKEND EDITION
BAILEY ANDERSON
BMCC SOFTBALL
SPORTS/1B
INSIDE A BUJINKAN DOJO TREEFORT BRANCHES INTO
EASTERN OREGON MUSIC/3C
LIFESTYLES/1C
APRIL 1-2, 2017
141st Year, No. 120
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
BOARDMAN
County’s dairy cow count to hit 100,000
Lost Valley Farm approved by state
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
Despite a fl ood of opposi-
tion from environmentalists
and small farm advocates,
Oregon regulators have
agreed to permit what will
become the state’s second-
largest dairy in Morrow
County.
Lost Valley Farm will add
30,000 cows on 7,288 acres
at the former Boardman Tree
Farm, just 25 miles from
where Threemile Canyon
Farms operates an even
larger dairy with 70,000
head of cattle.
The Oregon Department
of Agriculture and Depart-
ment of Environmental
Quality announced Friday
they have issued what’s
known as a National
Pollutant Discharge Elim-
ination System permit for
Lost Valley, which outlines
how the dairy will manage
its wastewater and manure
— about 187 million gallons
annually.
With the permit now in
hand, Lost Valley will start
milking cows sometime in
the next few weeks. The
dairy will start out with
16,500 animals before grad-
ually building the full herd.
Greg te Velde, the Cali-
fornia dairyman behind Lost
Valley Farm, is no stranger
to Eastern Oregon. He estab-
lished Willow Creek Dairy
in 2002 on land leased from
Threemile Canyon Farms.
The milk is sold to Tilla-
mook Cheese, which runs a
large cheese-making plant at
the nearby Port of Morrow.
In late 2015, te Velde
purchased land at the
Boardman Tree Farm in
order to relocate and expand
his business. But fi rst, he
needed state approval for a
new confi ned animal feeding
operation, or CAFO.
ODA and DEQ received
more than 4,200 public
comments
about
the
proposal, with opponents
railing against the dairy’s
impact on air and water
See DAIRY/12A
UMATILLA
Roxbury’s
2016 crash
unreported,
Trott seeks
investigation
By PHIL WRIGHT
and JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
On the night of April 12, 2016, Mike
Roxbury drove his red Corvette off the
road and through two fences at Third Street
just west of Ferry Road outside Umatilla.
Roxbury was the chief of the Umatilla
Rural Fire Protection District at the time,
but had been on paid medical leave since
December 2015. He did not call emergency
services for help after
he crashed that night.
Sometime after,
he called Geico, his
insurance company,
according to the
investigative report
from the Umatilla
County
Sheriff’s
Offi ce, which the East
Oregonian obtained
through a public Roxbury
records
request.
Someone at the company on April 13
contacted the property owner — the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers.
Corps employee Brandon Frazier took
that call and at 12:53 p.m. that day told the
sheriff’s offi ce someone during the night
crashed through the fences and damaged
other Corps property. Frazier also said he
did not think the driver reported it. Deputy
Nathan Good investigated the case as a hit
and run.
The stretch of road is not treacherous
or diffi cult to drive. Photos from the report
show swerving tire marks on the paved
road crossing into the wrong lane before
the car headed deep into a grassy fi eld.
The deputy found red exterior car pieces
See CRASH/12A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Sen. Bill Hansell looks as Oregon State Police Capt. Alex Gardner, director of the forensic services division, points out a piece
of dust that made it’s way through the ventilation system at the Oregon State Police crime lab on Friday in Pendleton. Dust
and small insects frequently make their way through the building’s ventilation system and end up in the lab.
LAB PARTNERS
Move to BMCC may spare Pendleton crime lab from elimination
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Law enforcement, educators
and lawmakers are lining
up behind a plan to give the
Oregon State Police crime lab
in Pendleton a new home on old
grounds.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown
proposed closing the lab at 405
S.E. Eighth St. and moving its
staff to forensic facilities in
“I think it would
be cost effective
in the long run.”
— Sen. Bill Hansell
Bend, Portland or Central Point.
Local police and prosecutors
oppose the plan, as do Eastern
Oregon lawmakers.
Rep. Greg Barreto of Cove
and Sen. Bill Hansell of Athena,
both Republicans, toured the
lab Friday morning and then
a possible site for a better lab
at the Pendleton campus of
Blue Mountain Community
College. They said they see the
potential for a partnership that
would provide state police with
a new facility and the college
with teaching, learning and job
opportunities.
“Plus,” Hansell said, “I think
Kilkenny believed in UO’s Altman
Former athletic director remains
one of Oregon’s biggest fans
See KILKENNY/2A
Photo by Eric Evans
Heppner native and former UO ath-
letic director Pat Kilkenny hired Dana
Altman and remains a fan.
See CRIME LAB/12A
Murder suspect feigned
insanity to avoid prison
By LES ZAITZ
Malheur Enterprise
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
As the Oregon Ducks manhandled the
powerful Kansas Jayhawks at the Sprint
Center last Saturday, one could almost hear
the last persistent doubts about Coach Dana
Altman fall away.
Pat Kilkenny, the guy who hired Altman
during a 39-day search in 2010, shared in the
celebration after the wild Elite Eight win. The
former Oregon athletic director climbed the
ladder at the invitation of the team and snipped
off part of the net as Coach Altman looked on
in the confetti-strewn arena.
It’s well documented that Altman wasn’t
Kilkenny’s fi rst or even second choice. The
Heppner native initially courted his friend,
it would be cost effective in the
long run.”
The move also would bring
the lab back to where it began.
Calvin Davis is the forensic
scientists in charge of the
Pendleton lab. He said the state
opened it in 1970 at Blue Moun-
tain, then in 1986 moved it to
the Emigrant Avenue facility.
But the lab’s days there are
He got away with it.
After feigning insanity
for years to stay out of a
prison cell, Tony Mont-
wheeler fi nally confessed
his scheme. Now, no longer
judged mentally ill, he would
walk free from the Oregon
State Hospital even though
offi cials were told he was
dangerous.
That day, state psycholo-
gist Brian Hartman warned
the state board considering
Montwheeler’s release what
might happen.
“His risk of violence
would be high and it would
be most
likely to
target his
intimate
partner
or other
family
member,”
Hartman
Montwheeler testifi ed in
December.
He was prophetic.
Police say that a month
later Montwheeler kidnapped
his ex-wife in Idaho, drove
her to an Ontario conve-
nience store and stabbed her
to death in the front seat of
his pickup.
See MONTWHEELER/11A