OFF PAGE ONE
HUNT: 394 deer, 255 elk illegally harvested in 2016
Page 10A
East Oregonian
Continued from 1A
Police Department. He joined
the OSP Fish and Wildlife
Division in 2003 and never
looked back.
“I always wanted to do
this job,” Gardner said. “As
far as police work goes, this is
where it’s at.”
Growing up, Gardner
spent plenty of time in the
woods hunting and fishing
and has developed a remark-
able eye for spotting faint,
faraway wildlife. Even a
single prowling coyote cannot
escape his radar-like vision.
Gardner’s supervisor, Sgt.
Tim Brown, said that kind of
local knowledge of hunting
and fishing makes him a
tremendous asset to the team.
“He’s passionate about the
work he does, and it shows
as far as his tenacity,” Brown
said.
The dirt road through
Bridge Creek Wildlife Area
becomes increasingly rough
as Gardner drives down into
a draw, fog rolling off the
surrounding hillsides. The
radio is so far quiet, which is
a good sign though Gardner
knows how quickly that can
change.
“We’ve had years where
we’re salvaging double-digit
numbers of elk in a weekend,”
he said.
According to OSP figures,
394 deer and 255 elk were
illegally harvested statewide
in 2016. That compares to
492 deer and 231 elk in 2015,
and 504 deer and 222 elk in
2014.
Poaching will always be
an issue wherever there is
wildlife, Gardner said, though
he is quick to point out the
difference between poachers
and ethical hunters who
sometimes make mistakes.
If a hunter mistakenly takes
an animal out of season, he
said they should report the
incident so at least the meat
can be salvaged.
“If they call in, we’ll do
everything we can for them,”
Gardner said. “If they don’t
and leave it to waste, we’ll
do everything we can to catch
them.”
OSP Fish and Wildlife
is the state’s main line of
defense to uphold hunting
and fishing laws. Troopers
like Gardner are out on patrol
year-round across the state,
checking tags, gathering tips
and generally making their
presence known.
“Really, you just hope
you’re visible so somebody
will think twice before they
make that bad shot or bad
decision,” he said.
‘Somebody rushed a shot’
By mid-afternoon, the
radio crackles to life as
Gardner is alerted to a
mortally wounded branch
bull elk not far from Mush-
room Camp in the Umatilla
National Forest.
It takes some time
navigating
the
uneven
Forest Service roads, but
Gardner eventually meets
with Sponseller, fellow OSP
Trooper Ryan Sharp and
Deputy Rick Carter with the
Umatilla County Sheriff’s
OHA: New director promises
to increase transparency
Continued from 1A
Staff photo by George Plaven
Dain Gardner, senior trooper with the Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division,
looks out over the Blue Mountains south of Ukiah on Saturday, the first day of sec-
ond season elk hunting in Eastern Oregon.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Oregon State Police Senior Trooper Dain Gardner talks
to Oregon City-area hunters as he patrolled the woods
near Ukiah on Tuesday.
Office. Carter was first tipped
to the gut-shot elk by another
hunter, and was forced to
euthanize the animal.
The four men convened
around the dead bull, and the
dirty work began as they field
dressed the elk, removing its
organs and dragging it out
of the thick woods behind
Carter’s four-wheeler. It
would eventually be skinned
and butchered, and the meat
distributed either to CAPECO
in Pendleton, Agape House
in Hermiston or the Ukiah
School District.
“Luckily someone called it
in,” Gardner said. “Otherwise
it would have been left here to
rot.”
Despite the fact that
someone clearly committed
a crime, Gardner said there is
very little evidence to pursue
a case. Without finding a
bullet or even a footprint, it is
unlikely they will be able to
catch the culprit.
“Really,
we’ve
got
nothing,” he said. “I don’t
even have a reason to believe
they tracked it that far.”
Carter, a retired OSP Fish
and Wildlife trooper, said it
is unlikely an experienced
hunter would mistake the
three-point bull for a spike.
It is a maddening situation,
Gardner agreed, compounded
by the fact that it was nearly
left to waste.
“Somebody rushed a shot
before they knew what was
on its head,” Gardner said.
“And it happens every year.”
‘That’s cool to see’
Hunters are the number
one wildlife management tool
in Oregon, Gardner said, and
most of the people he meets
are more than happy to help
him catch those who break
the rules.
“Out here, I come in
contact with really super nice
people,” he said.
In fact, Gardner was recog-
nized Oct. 17 with an award
from the Oregon Hunters
HOTEL: Company has not paid any property taxes
Continued from 1A
Olsen said he has no idea
if Western Hotels & Proper-
ties removed the carpet and
picked up any trash, but the
site is a mess and not secure.
The county’s code enforce-
ment department determined
it meets the criteria of a
dangerous building.
Olsen on Oct. 6 sent
Western Hotels the dangerous
building notice via certified
mail and someone signed for
it, he said. That same day,
code enforcement tacked
notices to one end of the
building and near the front
entrance.
“Basically, (it’s) a notice
giving them the opportunity
to address the violations,”
Olsen explained.
So far, no one has.
This is the county’s first
use of its new dangerous
building law, which the board
of commissioners approved
June 28, in part to deal with
the Rodeo City Inn. The local
law allows 60 days to secure
a building and six months
“to remedy the dangerous
conditions,” Olsen said.
“If we take it to court it
would be a $1,000 fine,” he
said, “and $500 per week
until it’s brought up to
compliance.”
Olsen said he has been
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Items are piled in front of the office on Tuesday at the
Rodeo City Inn outside of Pendleton.
dealing with Suresh “Kris”
Krishnan of Western Hotels.
The East Oregonian reached
Krishnan on Facebook, but he
did not respond to messages
by deadline Tuesday.
Olsen said he certainly
hopes Western Hotels comes
through on its plans for the
old hotel. County records
show the company has not
paid any property taxes for
the site and owes $15,828,
including $5,934 for 2017-18.
Age 60+? Need legal help for:
Keeping your income ▪ getting medical care ▪ moving into or
out of a care facility ▪ housing problems ▪ utility shut-offs ▪
stopping abuse ▪ contesting a guardianship?
For referral to an attorney,
call toll-free: 1-855-673-2372.
For a free handbook,
“Legal Issues for Older
Adults,” published by
the Oregon State Bar,
call: 503-945-6237
(available in English,
Spanish, Vietnamese,
Russian, or Chinese).
Association Columbia Basin
Chapter for his work inves-
tigating two recent poaching
cases, one in Baker County
and one in Umatilla County,
that both ended in convic-
tions.
Dean Groshong, chapter
president, said the goal is to
preserve the hunting tradition
for future generations.
“Everybody is basically
responsible to help out and
prevent any wrongdoing,”
Groshong said. “It’s just not
fair and not acceptable for
people to break the law.”
While on patrol, Gardner
frequently stops to visit with
hunters huddled around their
campfire or passing by in their
vehicles to chat, which he said
is the best way to learn about
what is happening on any
given day in the otherwise
remote areas of the forest.
Finally, Gardner arrives
at a camp where 14-year-old
Steven Stanley, of The
Dalles, has just returned from
a successful hunt. Stanley
proudly tags his spike, which
brings a smile to Gardner’s
face.
“That’s cool to see,”
Gardner said. “It makes me
remember how I felt when
that happened for me, and it
shows me it will continue.”
———
Contact George Plaven at
gplaven@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0825.
2016, but OHA can’t say
who specifically was noti-
fied or exactly when.
Moore and Buckstein
diverge on whether the fact
that one party controls most
of the state’s branches of
government plays a role in
recent failures by agencies
to correct course.
Most state executive
offices are held by Demo-
crats, as are both chambers
of the Legislature.
“My reading of Oregon
history is it’s not,” Moore
said, “And it is, however,
part of bureaucracies that
get self-centered, and they
stop responding to outside
pressure.”
Buckstein, though, said
that having one party in
control can increase reluc-
tance to raise red flags.
“It’s not the fact that
they’re Democrats, it’s the
fact that they’re all the same
party and philosophy,”
Buckstein said. “There’s
pressure not to criticize
your compadres, so to
speak, and there’s the same
pressures in the Republican
Party.”
Buckstein also main-
tains that from his political
perspective, the govern-
ment should play a limited
role in healthcare.
“I think it’s really a
matter of trying to do what
they shouldn’t be doing in
the first place, and they’re
not doing it very well,” he
said.
Oregon Secretary of
State Dennis Richardson,
a Republican, said last
week that an audit of the
state’s Medicaid program,
expected to be complete
by early December, will
highlight
management
problems.
OHA, for its part,
says its new eligibility
system, which was fully
implemented earlier this
year, is more accurate and
links up with the payment
system properly, so the
overpayment problem will
not continue. A recent audit
by the Secretary of State
also found that those two
systems worked well.
The agency says it has
also streamlined who can
retroactively
determine
someone ineligible for
Medicaid in an effort to
keep better track of patient
data.
OHA’s new director,
Patrick Allen, has also
promised to increase trans-
parency at the agency.
Gov.
Kate
Brown
appointed Allen, the former
head of the Department of
Consumer and Business
Services, to the OHA post
two months ago in the wake
of another recent scandal at
OHA — August news that
top officials had planned
to discredit a Portland-area
Medicaid provider by
planting negative stories in
the press.
Allen’s first email to
OHA staff, released to
the EO/Pamplin Capital
Bureau through a public
records request, acknowl-
edged Cover Oregon
created problems internally
as well as externally.
“I have seen the impact
the Cover Oregon failure
had on people who needed
coverage through Oregon’s
Health Insurance Market-
place and the Oregon
Health Plan,” Allen said.
“As well as the resulting
decrease in public trust and
staff morale.”
Allen has also brought
on new staff members and,
instead of keeping the duties
of a chief operating officer
and chief financial officer
in one position, decided to
make them separate. He
also said the agency would
be “taking some time to
evaluate the best organi-
zational structure” for the
Medicaid program.
Moore said that some
of the entrenched issues
may be resolved by hiring
people whose expertise is
the “nuts and bolts” of tech-
nical systems in healthcare,
who know what the poten-
tial pitfalls are and what to
watch out for — someone
who played a management
role at the OHA equivalent
in another state.
“So far, (Brown) has
moved people from one
agency to another,” Moore
said. “...Which is good, but
you know, is that enough?”