LOCAL & STATE
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2020
BAKER CITY HERALD — 3A
County reports 4 new COVID-19 cases
WELL
munity in Baker City.
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
The outbreak there, which included
Baker County reported one new case of 27 cases, has ended, according to a press
COVID-19 on Wednesday, following three release from Meadowbrook.
new cases on Tuesday, the highest one-day
During the 10-day period ending Sept.
total since Sept. 6, when there were eight. 21, the county recorded only one new case.
The eight cases on Sept. 6 were from
There have been nine new cases in the
Meadowbrook Place assisted living com-
ensuing nine days, bringing the county’s
Owen said the city
will continue to increase
water rates based on
the federal cost of living
rate, but there are no
plans for larger increas-
es to pay for specifi c
large projects.
The new well will be
the city’s second.
The other well, which
the city drilled in 1977
near its water treatment
plant and reservoir on
the hill near Reservoir
Road, is about 800 feet
deep.
Owen said the new
well will tap the same
aquifer.
The city likely will
tap the new well during
two periods.
The fi rst is in spring
when rapid snowmelt
can sometimes tempo-
rarily cause streams in
the watershed to silt up,
Owen said.
That doesn’t happen
every year, she said.
The second time-
frame when the new
well will be especially
benefi cial is in mid to
late summer, when the
volume of the water-
shed’s springs and
streams diminishes
just as the city’s thirst
peaks.
The city defi nitely
would have relied
on the new well this
summer had it been
fi nished, Owen said.
With daily water use
averaging more than
4 million gallons per
day during August, the
city had to supplement
the watershed with
water from its existing
well and from its lone
reservoir, Goodrich, high
in the Elkhorns.
Owen said water use
declined during Sep-
tember, to less than 4
million gallons per day.
By Jayson Jacoby
ROAD
Martin, for about an hour dur-
ing an executive session, which
Continued from Page 1A
was closed to the public, before
Joelleen Linstrom, who lives convening in a public session.
with McCarty and attended
During the public session
Wednesday’s meeting, said af- commissioners unanimously
ter the meeting that McCarty approved a motion, made by
locked the gate because he is
Commissioner Mark Bennett,
concerned about people start- to direct the road department
ing fi res and trespassing on
to remove the lock and to
his property. McCarty posted a install a sign asking travelers
sign on the gate that includes to stay on the road.
his cellphone number.
Bennett said Wednesday af-
Linstrom said McCarty
ternoon that the county’s goal
has made the code to the lock is to have the gate unlocked
available to several agencies,
without having to cut the lock.
including the Oregon State Po-
Many years ago the county
lice, Baker County Sheriff, Or- put up a sign near the gate
egon Department of Forestry, noting that the road passes
Forest Service and Bureau of
through public land.
Land Management.
Bennett said the county will
Commissioners met with
also ask the Department of
the county’s attorney, Drew
Forestry to install a sign near
LAWSUIT
total since the start of the pandemic to
99, according to the Baker County Health
Department.
The number of weekly tests has also
increased recently, from 76 the week of
Aug. 30-Sept. 5 and 76 the week of Sept.
6-12, to 102 and 99, respectively, for the
next two weeks.
the gate listing the current fi re
danger.
The confl ict centers on
whether the public has legal
access to the road as it passes
through McCarty’s property.
Bennett on Wednesday
afternoon referred to an 1891
county document that de-
scribes the surveying of a road
along Pine Creek. The docu-
ment includes a map of the
route that, based on the town-
ship, range and sections shown
on the map, appears to follow
the route of the existing road
through McCarty’s property.
In a written statement to
the Herald from McCarty and
Linstrom, they write that the
title report McCarty received
while his purchase of the
property was pending does not
perform surgical reduction of fractures.”
The lawsuit alleges that surgery was
Continued from Page 1A
“the only appropriate management” for
Martin has requested a jury trial.
her daughter’s serious arm injury.
Mark Snider, Saint Alphonsus spokes-
“Nonoperative management would pre-
man in Boise, declined to comment on
dictably, and in fact did, result in clinical
pending litigation. The Herald called
deformation, loss of function, and disabil-
Sandefur’s offi ce but did not receive a
ity,” the complaint states.
comment.
Martin further alleges that Sand-
The lawsuit states that because of the
efur was negligent in not recognizing
defendants’ negligence, Avery, who was
Crowder’s “inappropriate management”
6 when she was hurt in a fall on May 5,
of her daughter’s injury and should have
2018, is disabled by limited use of her
intervened.
right arm.
Sandefur also is accused of failing to
According to the complaint, Chrissy
discuss options with Chrissy Martin that
Martin took her daughter to the emergen- could have restored her daughter’s use of
cy department where it was determined
her arm.
that Avery had fractured her right elbow.
When her daughter’s condition failed
She was referred to Sandefur for orthope- to improve, Martin sought treatment for
dic care.
Avery from Dr. Jason Robison, a pediatric
Avery’s arm was placed in a cast and
orthopedic surgeon in Boise.
her care was followed by Crowder. The
According to the complaint, Robison
lawsuit notes that Crowder is not a physi- “concluded that the care provided by the
cian and further claims that she “does not Defendants was negligent” and operated
have the skill, training, or experience to
on Avery’s fractured right elbow.
show a public road or list any
public easement through the
property.
“The sole focus of Mr.
McCarty’s inquiries to the
County,” the written state-
ment reads, “is to determine
whether, in fact, a public road
exists across his property.”
This isn’t McCarty’s fi rst
legal tussle with the county.
About a decade ago the county
sued McCarty’s company,
Columbia Basin Helicopters,
claiming the business violated
county zoning laws.
A judge ruled in 2015
against the county, and later
ordered the county to pay Mc-
Carty $324,000 in legal fees he
incurred defending against the
county’s lawsuit.
Martin seeks $2.7 million in noneco-
nomic damages against the defendants
for her daughter’s “pain, suffering, anxiety,
emotional distress, scarring, hospitaliza-
tion, surgical intervention, disfi gurement,
loss of self-esteem and permanent limita-
tion of motion, together with interference
of all aspects of her daily life.”
The lawsuit also seeks $2.5 million
in economic damages for what Martin
claims is her daughter’s sustained “loss of
future earning capacity and inability to
compete in the labor market” as a result
of the defendants’ alleged negligence.
She also seeks $35,000 in current
medical expenses, which she says are
continuing, and has included “all reason-
able and necessary medical expenses paid
by her” in her claim.
Martin is represented by the Portland
law fi rm of Huegli Fraser.
The complaint was fi led Monday in
Baker County Circuit Court. Judge Matt
Shirtcliff has recused himself from the
case because of a confl ict.
Continued from Page 1A
“Usage is trending
down but not as quickly
as I would like,” she
said.
The weather, as
always, is a factor,
With dry and
unseasonably warm
weather forecast to
continue through the
weekend, Owen said
water demand is likely
to remain higher than
usual for the fi rst week
of October.
Owen said she hopes
the new well will con-
sistently produce 1,500
gallons per minute
— about 2.16 million
gallons per day.
Like the existing well,
the new one will have
the potential to serve as
a sort of underground
reservoir.
More than a decade
ago Baker City became
the fi rst Oregon city to
receive a state permit
for what’s known as
aquifer storage and
recovery (ASR).
That permit allows
the city to divert up to
200 million gallons of
water per year from the
watershed into its exist-
ing well, in effect using
the aquifer as a storage
facility. The city then
taps the well to supple-
ment the watershed
and Goodrich Reservoir
during summers —
including 2020 — when
water use is high.
Owen said the new
well will have ASR
capability as well.
ASR has made the
existing well more
productive. Prior to the
ASR permit, when the
city used the well for
long periods the water
tended to have amounts
of iron and manganese
which, though they
didn’t violate federal
drinking water stan-
dards, could stain
clothes.
‘It’s got to stop’: Rancher reports mutilated cow near Ukiah
By Alex Castle
“What’s more disturbing is now that we’ve identifi ed
this as a mutilation kill, we’ve actually discovered we
had two other ones.”
East Oregonian
UKIAH — Fee Stubblefi eld
was just doing the rounds on
Sept. 12, checking in on his
cattle near Dixie Ranch Road
outside of Ukiah, when he
saw something sitting in the
thicket.
He approached, peering
closer as his eyes made out
the dead body of a cow lying
on its side in the dirt.
“At the moment, I didn’t
think anything of it,” Stubble-
fi eld said. “But then when
I looked closer, you know, it
didn’t look right.”
The skin around the cow’s
mouth was sliced away, and its
tongue, glands and sex organs
had been cleanly removed. A
piece of the cow’s ear was cut
off and placed on its neck.
“It’s a very unusual cut,”
Stubblefi eld said. “There was
no blood.”
He found no footprints or
tracks as evidence of someone
traveling through the area.
Stubblefi eld fi rst thought it
might be the work of wolves,
so he called authorities to get
some answers.
According to Stubblefi eld,
Oregon State Police responded
to the scene Sept. 12 and
confi rmed it as a mutilation
kill. The state trooper with
knowledge of the case could
not be reached for comment.
“We got lucky because we
found the cow within a couple
days of when it had been
killed, so it really yielded some
good photos and hopefully
some good evidence,” he said.
“What’s more disturbing is
now that we’ve identifi ed this
as a mutilation kill, we’ve
actually discovered we had
two other ones.”
Stubblefi eld raises cattle
as part of a small ranching
operation between Pendleton
and Ukiah. He said these
other two potential mutila-
tions occurred within the last
six months.
— Fee Stubblefi eld, Umatilla County cattle rancher
Ben Lonergan / EO Media Group
Darwin Hodges, the cowboss for CRC Cattle, unloads his horse Friday at the Dixie
Ranch just outside Ukiah. Hodges was among those who identifi ed a mutilated cow
Sept. 12 at the Dixie Ranch.
One was a cow of his own
that was found in an “ex-
tremely remote location un-
connected to this site,” while
the other fi nding belonged
to another rancher. That cow
was found on Stubblefi eld’s
property.
Neither were found as
timely as the one discovered
on Sept. 12, he said, but the
Oregon State Police were
informed of them and an
investigation is underway.
The scene Stubblefi eld
stumbled onto shares
disturbing similarities with
thousands of other cattle
and livestock in the Western
United States that have been
mutilated and left with little
to no evidence of a suspect or
motive.
In each instance, cattle
are usually found with their
tongues and genitals care-
fully removed without signs
of a struggle. In the 1970s,
hundreds of these reports
spurred a FBI inquiry into the
phenomenon that was largely
unsuccessful, which the
agency chalked up to a lack of
Stubblefi eld is asking all
ranchers and residents in
the area to be on the lookout
for additional mutilations or
suspicious activity.
“If anybody fi nds one of
these unusual ones, they need
to stay away from it — don’t
even come close to it — and
call Oregon State Police im-
mediately,” he said. “Any evi-
dence that can be preserved
is going to help solve this
seemingly unsolvable case.”
For now, the carcass of
Stubblefi eld’s mutilated cow
remains in the same spot he
found it. Though none were
in place prior to the discovery
of the dead cow, trail cams
are now staged in the area to
monitor it.
According to Stubblefi eld,
that footage has revealed
another disconcerting
detail: predators and scav-
engers are avoiding and
refusing to eat the carcass.
Coyotes have approached
the area but keep their
distance, he said, and birds
will land on the body briefl y
before fl ying away.
Stubblefi eld read the re-
ports and heard the stories
of other Oregon ranchers
fi nding mutilated cattle
before, but now he’s hoping
the death of his own will
fi nally provide some an-
swers to the decades-long
mystery.
“This is too much,” he
said. “It’s got to stop.”
jurisdiction where the cattle
little more practical and this
were found.
is criminal behavior,” he said.
In July and August of
With that in mind,
2019, the report of fi ve bulls
NATIONAL HISTORIC
mutilated on the Silvies Val-
ley Ranch in Harney County
grabbed headlines across
oregontrail.blm.gov
Oregon, and another mutila-
oregontrail.blm.gov
tion was later reported at the
border of Lake and Deschutes
County in September that
year.
According to a report from
the Capital Press, a cow was
found mutilated earlier this
year near Fossil in Wheeler
County on July 23. The car-
cass was found upright with
its legs tucked underneath
it, and authorities located a
partial boot print about 100
yards away from the scene.
“There’s a lot of concern
about this, and there needs to
be,” Stubblefi eld said.
Theories around cattle
mutilations and their culprits
have ranged from UFOs and
aliens to government conspir-
acies and satanic cults, which
Stubblefi eld isn’t subscribing
to.
22267 OR Hwy 86 | Baker City, OR | call 541-523-1843 for info
“I’m a believer that this is a
O REGON T RAIL
INTERPRETIVE CENTER
Free Event
Pioneer History
Blacksmithing
Gold Panning
Frontier Day
Sunday, October 4th, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.