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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 11, 2019)
SOFTBALL: Pendleton 12u team wins state championship | SPORTS, B1 E O AST 143rd year, No. 190 REGONIAN Thursday, July 11, 2019 Court documents say Walla Walla man was dismembered By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian BaKEr CITy — Pendleton police officers had no idea who Colby James hedman was when they arrested him June 5 for misdemeanors. Maybe no one did. Now hedman, 23, suspected of killing and dismembering a Whitman College employee on Monday, has been charged with first-degree murder. Court documents released Tuesday state hedman admitted to police he struck Kyle J. Martz, 35, with an ax multiple times before stealing his car and flee- ing to Baker City, where he was arrested Monday night. Hedman No motive for the killing was provided in the report. Police also reported hedman and Martz did not know each other. Police said they found two coolers Monday in a locked garage. The lock had not been on the garage earlier, according to reports. a square shovel, hammer and ax with blood on them were found nearby. Blood and dismem- bered human remains were found in one of the coolers, records stated. The incident began around 6 p.m. Monday night when Martz’s roommate called police about suspicious circumstances at their Walla Walla home. The roommate found blood in differ- ent parts of the house and noticed a strong smell of bleach, accord- ing to documents. Two people living next door told police they last saw Martz around 10 p.m. sunday on the back porch, records said. The neighbors also told police they loaned an ax and shovel on Mon- day to a man in a red shirt, later identified as Hedman, records stated. he allegedly told them he See Murder, Page A8 Staff photo by Ben Lonergan A pair of the district’s ambulances sits outside the Milton-Freewater Rural Fire District fire station Tuesday afternoon. A difficult decision Milton-Freewater ambulance service area health district proposes formation of ambulance district By ALEX CASTLE East Oregonian M $1.50 WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD IlTON-FrEEWaTEr — Milton-Freewater voters may face a difficult decision in November over the city’s emer- gency medical services. Board members for the Mil- ton-Freewater ambulance service area health district met with the umatilla County Board of Commis- sioners on June 26 to discuss the for- mation of a new ambulance district due to insufficient funding. The proposed ambulance district, which would encompass the city of Milton-Freewater like its predecessor, would be put on the ballot to raise the permanent tax rate from 25 cents per $1,000 of assessed value to a higher, yet undecided rate. “The only way we can survive, in our opinion, is to receive more fund- ing,” said George White, the ambu- lance board’s treasurer. The process of getting the measure to the ballot hit a lull after the board wasn’t able to present it at July’s city council meeting. “We won’t really know the status until next month,” said Dan Kilmer, the ambulance board’s president. until the ambulance board receives approval from the Milton-Freewater City Council, they can’t move forward in getting the proposal to the ballot. at its current rate, the ambulance district doesn’t collect enough funds and is supplemented by the Mil- ton-Freewater rural Fire district. Rick Saager is the district fire chief and privately owns Milton-Freewater Emergency Medical service, which provides the district’s ambulances and service. Kilmer said saager has had to shift funds to cover operational costs but has told the board he can’t for much longer due to a litany of issues. For starters, the permanent tax rate in the area is lower than other districts yet receives more calls. White said See Decision, Page A8 OREGON Construction bill divvies up millions to state projects By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE AND AUBREY WIEBER Oregon Capital Bureau salEM — Government agen- cies across Oregon will go on a run of remodeling public buildings and erecting new ones under legis- lation recently approved. house Bill 5006 is a checklist of big-ticket construction projects from Tillamook to Condon costing a total $528 million. The money comes from lottery and other bonds and $33.7 million from the federal government. That money will go to fund projects on National Guard bases and aviation facilities. about $200 million will go to tackling the state’s housing crisis. about 14,000 Oregonians are homeless, according to the u.s. Interagency Council on home- lessness. and as of 2016, about 298,000 Oregon renters were “cost burdened,” or paying more than 30 percent of their income toward rent and utilities, according to the Oregon Center for Public Policy. lawmakers approved $150 mil- lion in bonds to build about 2,100 units of affordable housing for low-income Oregonians through the local Innovation Fast Track, or LIFT, program. Specific proj- ects haven’t been chosen yet, but the program is designed to priori- tize rural communities with fewer than 25,000 people and communi- ties of color. The legislature also approved another $50 million for about 500 units to house low-income people who have disabilities or are chron- ically homeless. Those units will be in the form of permanent supportive housing, which pairs housing with support services such as health care. The bill lays out about $65 mil- lion to pay for maintenance, code compliance, and to enhance safety and accessibility at public univer- sity buildings, as well as a $12.7 million project to build a rapid toolmaking center on the site of the Oregon Manufacturing Inno- vation Center in scappoose. lawmakers are also distribut- ing about $24 million for projects at community colleges. some of that money is allocated for community colleges in rural areas to develop local workforces in health care, agriculture and other industries. at Klamath Community College, for example, the bill approved $3.9 million for that col- lege to build an apprenticeship and industrial trades center that See Bill, Page A8 Oregon kicks off next phase in Medicaid reform By KRISTIAN FODEN-VENCIL Oregon Public Broadcasting salEM — Oregon’s years-long effort to reform Medicaid took a big step Tuesday. The Oregon health authority awarded coordinated care contracts to 15 organizations. They’re spread across the state and serve almost a million people on the Oregon health Plan. This new phase is known as CCO 2.0, and the state hopes it will reduce costs, improve access to mental health services, and reward providers for improving health — not just for treat- ing people. Oregon health authority direc- tor Pat allen, said the CCOs will also spend some health care money on problems outside the doctor’s office — like housing and hunger. “The most cost effective health care system is one that you don’t have to use very often because you’re healthy to begin with,” allen said. “and that’s really what we’re shooting for.” Of the coordinated care organiza- tions, 11 were awarded five-year con- tracts. Four only got one-year con- tracts, and have to prove themselves over time. Eastern Oregon Coordinated Care Organization received a five-year con- tract. EOCCO covers sherman, Gil- liam, Morrow, umatilla, union, Wal- lowa, Wheeler, Grant, Baker, lake, harney and Malheur counties. Primaryhealth in Josephine County was the only current CCO whose application to continue admin- istering Medicaid was denied, due to concerns reported in the organiza- tion’s financial review. AllCare CCO has now been awarded a contract to serve Josephine County. Three new applicants were also denied. In October 2018, at the request of Gov. Kate Brown, the Oregon health Policy Board approved a comprehen- sive set of policies aimed at improv- ing the health of Oregon health Plan members, addressing health dispar- ities, controlling program costs, and continuing to transform health care delivery in the state. These priori- ties were affirmed during an exten- sive public meeting process involving 2,500 Oregonians across the state. Jackson Care Connect is one of the CCOs to get a full five-year con- tract. CEO Jennifer lind said she was pleased with Tuesday’s announcement. “As the sole nonprofit CCO serving southern Oregon, our application was backed by more than 40 letters of sup- port from local partners and provid- ers,” lind said. “We are looking for- ward to continue working with them and furthering our mission of improv- ing the health, well-being and equity of our community.” There were some changes in how CCOs will be organized. For exam- ple, Trillium CCO in lane County has been awarded a contract to oper- ate in the Portland metro market. and Pacific Source, which operates in Bend and along the Columbia river Gorge, will now operate in lane County too. “We look forward to working together with CCOs and communi- ties to build on the gains of the first six years of health transformation and address gaps and challenges that per- sist in the state’s health care system,” allen said.