6A — BAKER CITY HERALD
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2019
Man jailed
after Friday
crime
spree
La Grande rallies to top Baker
BAKER VOLLEYBALL
■ Michael Tatro of Washington
accused of threatening a Haines
man with a gun and a knife
By Ronald Bond
The (La Grande) Observer
LA GRANDE — Tues-
day’s Baker-La Grande
volleyball match didn’t have
the typical feel of a contest
between the Greater Oregon
League rivals. Whether it was
because the teams had just
played one another Saturday
in the Sisters Tournament or
because of illness among the
Tigers, energy was lacking at
La Grande High School.
“We came out pretty fl at.
We knew Baker was going to
give us a good game tonight,”
La Grande head coach Me-
linda Becker-Bisenius said.
“They gave us a game (last)
weekend (in Sisters). You
don’t want to make excuses.
We gotta come out stronger
in the fi rst game regardless of
anything.”
The Tigers, though, found
a reserve of energy in the lat-
ter portion of the match and
fi nished strong after a rough
fi rst set for a 17-25, 25-18,
25-19, 25-15 win over Baker
to take sole possession of fi rst
place in the GOL.
“It was really fl at, but
after that fi rst set we got in
the huddle and decided we
needed to play strong. Even
though we were all sick, we
couldn’t let that get to us,” La
Grande senior Kenzie Wil-
liams said.
What energy was in the
building in the fi rst set came
from Baker, as the Bulldogs’
offense peppered La Grande
early and often to take the
lead. Lacy Churchfi eld, who
led Baker with 12 kills, had
six in the opening set, but it
was the combination of Averi
Elms and Hailey Zikmund
By Chris Collins
ccollins@bakercityherald.com
A Washington man remains in custody today ac-
cused of an early Friday crime spree in the Haines
area in which he reportedly threatened one of his
victims with a gun and a knife.
Michael David Tatro, 36, of West Rich-
land, Washington, is being held on 20
charges. Bail has been set at $283,500.
District Attorney Matt Shirtcliff said
Tuesday that the case will be considered
by the grand jury this week.
Tatro
“They will review these charges and
potentially add more charges,” he said.
Tatro is being held on these charges:
• Three counts of fi rst-degree burglary, Class A felonies.
• One count of second-degree burglary, a Class C felony.
• One count of unauthorized use of a vehicle, a Class C
felony.
• Two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, Class C felonies.
• Two counts of coercion, Class C felonies.
• Two counts of criminal trespass in possession of a fi rearm,
Class A misdemeanors.
• Two other counts of second-degree criminal trespassing,
Class C misdemeanors.
• Two counts of menacing, Class A misdemeanors.
• One count of pointing a fi rearm at another, an unclassifi ed
misdemeanor.
• Two counts of second-degree criminal mischief, Class A
misdemeanors.
• Two counts of third-degree theft, Class C misdemeanors.
Ronald Bond / The (La Grande) Observer
Baker’s Kaylee Dalke reaches out to try to return a serve during the Bulldogs’ match
against La Grande Tuesday night. Baker dropped the Greater Oregon League contest
in four sets.
that was strong late in the
set for Baker. Zikmund had
a kill and teamed with Elms
on a block, and Elms added a
solo block and a kill during a
set-ending 9-2 run.
That early burst didn’t
carry over, though, continuing
a theme Baker head coach
Chelsea Hurliman said has
plagued the Bulldogs this fall.
“That’s the hardest thing
we struggle with as a team,”
Hurliman said. “We come out
really strong and excited and
ready to go, and we make a
few errors and we just can’t
seem to get our feet back
under us again.”
Hurliman also said Baker
struggled offensively when
the Tigers prevented Church-
fi eld from being as big a piece
of the offense later in the
match.
“That tends to be what
happens,” Hurliman said.
“She’s very strong in one
area, and as soon as (the
other team) fi gures out how
to stop that, or double block it
or triple block it, they shut it
down and then we gotta go to
Plan B.”
The Tigers started to fi nd
some energy in the second
set and picked up a big boost
from Josie Reagan. She had
four kills during the set, two
during what proved to be an
important 5-0 run to give La
Grande the lead for good at
14-9. Jayce Seavert added a
late block and Reagan had
another kill late to help stop a
Baker rally.
“I thought Josie gave us a
huge offensive boost tonight,”
Becker-Bisenius said.
A 10-3 run in the third
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set put La Grande in the
driver’s seat as it gathered
momentum. Seavert, who led
La Grande with 11 kills, had
fi ve in the set, including three
down the stretch to help give
the Tigers a 2-1 lead.
Another 10-3 run by
La Grande, which started
after an ace by Elms, put the
match away. Presley Justice
had a kill and an ace to start
it, and Reagan and Anna
Green teamed on a block later
to push the Tigers’ margin
to 20-13. Justice added two
more kills to help fi nish the
match.
“They just decided they
were going to do it,” Becker-
Bisenius said. “We obviously
didn’t want to lose tonight,
and we at times had good
runs.”
Lauren Benson contributed
seven kills for Baker and,
along with Anna Carter, had
a team-best 19 digs. Kaylee
Dalke added 15 digs, and
Elms had a strong all-around
match with 21 assists, 13
digs, fi ve kills and four aces.
Baker plays Weiser on
Monday at 6:30 p.m. in the
Baker gym.
The investigation began when the Baker County
Sheriff’s Offi ce responded to a call to the dispatch cen-
ter at 4:45 a.m. Friday, a Sheriff’s Offi ce press release
stated.
Steve Widner, of 46523 Highway 30, reported that
a man was trespassing on his property near Haines
and had left driving a Jeep Cherokee toward Haines.
Tatro also is accused of breaking windows on Widner’s
property and theft of a blanket belonging to Widner.
The Jeep was found at 612 Front St. in Haines, but
the alleged trespasser was not around, according to
court records.
The dispatch center next received a second call from
Chris Olmstead of 645 Fifth St. at Haines. According
to court records, Tatro damaged the door jamb to Olm-
stead’s house, which Tatro entered without permission,
and then threatened Olmstead with a revolver and a
knife while demanding the keys to Olmstead’s vehicle.
At one point, Olmstead told investigators that Tatro
held the revolver to Olmstead’s head and pulled the
trigger, according to court documents. (The gun did not
discharge.)
Deputies later found Tatro at the Haines rodeo
grounds, the press release stated. He was driving a
1994 Ford Tempo belonging to Clyde Bigley, according
to court records.
BILLS
release states.
Wholesale power costs
Continued from Page 1A
account for more than half of
Rates for actual power us- OTEC’s business costs, which
age will not increase.
is why the BPA increases are
“By staying away from a
passed through to mem-
rate increase that impacts
bers, according to the press
actual usage, residential
release.
members are not nega-
According to OTEC’s
tively affected for using more annual report for 2018, the
energy when they need it,
cooperative paid $27.7 mil-
particularly for heating their lion for power that year.
homes during the colder
A 3.97% increase from
months of the year,” the press BPA equates to about $1.1
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million more in OTEC’s an-
nual power costs.
The $4 increase in the
monthly delivery charge for
the 22,000 residential cus-
tomers will boost revenue by
about $1,056,000.
“Because we know a rate
increase could be more dif-
fi cult for some of our residen-
tial members than others,
OTEC distributes more than
$1 million each year to help
manage or reduce monthly
electric bills,” the press re-
lease states.
Although OTEC hasn’t
increased its rates for
power usage since 2011, the
cooperative has more than
doubled the monthly delivery
charge since 2009.
The sequence of increases
in the delivery charge:
• Oct. 1, 2011 — from $15
to $18
• Oct. 1, 2013 — from $18
to $21.56
• Oct. 1, 2015 — from
$21.56 to $25.50
• Oct. 1, 2017 — from
$25.50 to $29.50
• Nov. 1, 2019 — from
$29.50 to $33.50
In an email to the Herald,
Sandra Ghormley, OTEC’s
director of member services,
wrote that over the past
decade the consumer price
index “increased 17.1% while
OTEC’s overall residential
rate increases were 18.8%.
(for the residential consumer
using an average of 950
kWh per month). Of that
18.8%, BPA’s increases (cost
of power) were 10.1% and
OTEC related increases were
8.7% overall. Hence, OTEC’s
average annual increase was
1.8% per year which, I be-
lieve, was less than infl ation.”