TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — A3
LOCAL
Obituaries
News of Record
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If you were to ask Mary what she
loved most about her life she would
have responded first with “family”
followed immediately by “grandkids.”
Mary had a total of 13 grandchildren:
Devan League, Austin League, Brandon
League, Kaitlyn Kraxberger, Coletin
Trump, Kassey Trump, Kaden Trump,
Delaney Trump, Jillian Slater, Chris-
tian Anderson, Chad Anderson, Connor
Anderson and Maryah Anderson. In
addition, she had three and a half great-
grandchildren. Mary also had many
nieces and nephews all of whom she
loved deeply.
FUNERALS PENDING
Mary Pearl Armon Trump was
preceded in death by her father, Francis
Harvey Armon, and her mother, Leona
Myrtle Marie Weaver Armon; her oldest
brother, Lonnie Joe Armon; and the love
of her life, Robert Leon Trump.
For those who would like to make a
donation in her memory, the family sug-
gests one that Mary was fond of called
Paralyzed Veterans of America, through
Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home & Cre-
mation Services, P.O. Box 543, Halfway,
OR 97834. Online condolences can be
made at www.tamispinevalleyfuneral-
home.com.
David Coughlin: Celebration
of life, Sunday, Sept. 19 at 4 p.m.
at the Quail Ridge Golf Course,
2801 Indiana Ave. in Baker City.
Donna Weir: Graveside
service will be Saturday, Sept.
25 at 11 a.m. at the Eagle Valley
Cemetery in Richland. Arrange-
ments are under the direction of
Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home
& Cremation Services. Online
condolences can be made at
www.tamispinevalleyfuneral-
home.com.
POLICE LOG
Baker City Police
Arrests, citations
FAILURE TO APPEAR (Wasco
County warrant): Candace
LeAnn Stewart, 29, Walla Walla,
Washington, 12:39 p.m. Sunday,
Sept. 5 at Broadway and Second
streets; cited and released.
PAROLE VIOLATION: Alex-
ander Prentice Griffin, 30, Baker
City, 8:09 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 5 in
the 2200 block of Wabash Street;
jailed.
SECOND-DEGREE THEFT:
Samantha Ann Steele, 25, Baker
City, 7:22 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 5
in the 2200 block of Broadway
Street; cited and released.
PAROLE VIOLATION: Michael
Scott Tugman, 33, Baker City,
7:21 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 4 in the
1800 block of Main Street; jailed.
SECOND-DEGREE CRIMINAL
GARDEN
WATER
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A gate offers access to
this sanctuary, where a goat
named Sally Fields stands
atop a tower of tires to as-
sess the visitors.
Her penmates, goats
named Oreo and Oscar, are
more friendly and push
their noses through the
fence to greet Cheryl.
“The kids were moving
on,” Cheryl said of her chil-
dren. “We needed a replace-
ment.”
So she got goats and
chickens.
As for the garden area,
Cheryl said “Donnie really
likes tilling.”
They plant rows north to
south because Cheryl said
that orientation seems to
grow the best. She starts
“With colder nights and
shorter days I would expect to
see a steady reduction in use
throughout September,” Owen
said.
She started becoming con-
cerned about the water supply
during June.
With rainfall just 17% of
average for the month at the
Baker City Airport, and a
record-setting heatwave in
the final week, the city’s water
use averaged 4.3 million gal-
lons per day during June.
That was an increase of
45% compared with June
2020.
The unusually high water
use during June prompted
Owen to move the city to
Phase 1 of its water curtail-
ment ordinance on June 28
— asking residents and busi-
nesses to voluntarily reduce
their water use.
Two weeks later, with hot
temperatures continuing and
no rain falling, the city shifted
to Phase 2, in which residents
are asked to restrict outdoor
watering to between 7 p.m.
and 7 a.m., when evapora-
tion rates are lower and less
water is needed for lawns and
gardens.
At the time, Owen noted
that the city had been going
through 5 million gallons or
more on several days, a rate
that the city could not sustain
throughout summer, she said.
The city gets most of
its water from springs and
streams in the 10,000-acre
watershed on the east slopes
of the Elkhorn Mountains
about 10 miles west of town.
The city has two supple-
mentary sources: a well, and
Goodrich Lake, which holds
about 200 million gallons.
Although water use
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Donnie Tholen, owner of Farm & Industrial in Baker City, creates metal works to
decorate the yard and garden he shares with his wife, Cheryl.
seeds inside every year.
“I take over the dining
room table,” she said.
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Cheryl Tholen greets her goats — Oreo, Oscar and
Sally Fields — after a day at work.
The Tholens keep notes
of each growing season
to help them plan the
next year.
“First I figure out where
we’re going to grow every-
thing,” Cheryl said. “We
keep a map of everything
and rotate crops.”
This year the garden
boasts tomatoes, beets,
green beans, peas, carrots,
onions, spinach, Swiss
chard, pumpkins, corn (deco-
rative and sweet), zucchini
and leeks.
“We have so much,”
Cheryl said.
And no one gets away
without a fresh vegetable if
she has her way.
“You need a beet. Maybe
two?” she said to an eve-
ning visitor.
And she’ll throw in some
extras, just because.
“It’s our sharing garden,”
she said. “We grow it to
give it.”
The pumpkins are
growing particularly well
this summer.
“The pumpkins took
ROAD
HARVEY
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the junction of the Snake
River Road along Brown-
lee Reservoir.
The 2002 resolution
deems the Connor Creek
Road as a public right-of-
way.
But although the com-
missioners’ discussion at
that time focused on the
gate near the Connor Creek
mine, the county ended
up designating as public
a much longer section of
road — including the part
running through the prop-
erty Longgood and Hansen
bought 15 years later.
Hudson writes in his
motion for summary judg-
ment that the county never
notified affected landown-
ers about this extension
of the public right-of-way,
including those who owned
the property Longgood and
Hansen later bought.
In his response to the
lawsuit, Hudson included
maps, survey records,
property deeds and an
easement granted to the
Bureau of Land Manage-
ment to bolster his conten-
tion that the gated road
at the heart of the lawsuit
was built many years after
the property was converted
from public to private. As
a result, Hudson argues,
the disputed section of road
can’t be designated now as
a public right-of-way.
“would establish a preponder-
ance of evidence in support of
a post-hearing order to find
three violations of Oregon
Revised Statute 244.120 (2)
(b) and five violations of ORS
244.040 (1).”
ORS 244.120 requires pub-
lic officials to disclose conflicts
of interest and to recuse them-
selves from decisions related
to the conflict.
ORS 244.040 prohibits
public officials from using
their position for financial gain
for themselves or for relatives.
Case dates to 2020
The case started when
Greg Baxter, Baker County
district attorney, filed a
complaint with the Ethics
Commission on Sept. 16, 2020.
The Ethics Commission voted
6-0 on Nov. 6, 2020, to assign
an investigator to look into the
allegations in Baxter’s letter.
Susan Myers, an investiga-
tor for the Ethics Commission,
recommended the Commis-
sion make a preliminary find-
ing that Harvey committed
eight violations of ethics laws.
Myers wrote in her report
that she found a “preponder-
ance of evidence” that Harvey,
who was elected in 2014 and
re-elected to a second four-
year term in 2018, used his
position to benefit himself, his
son and his son’s business, and
that the elder Harvey failed to
disclose conflicts of interest as
over — and there’s only six
plants,” she said.
A sprinkler pokes up
from the middle of the mass.
“I had to raise the sprin-
kler three times,” Donnie
said. “The leaves are so big.”
They water their garden
from a well, which provided
ample moisture during this
year of restricted water use
due to the drought.
The well is powered by
energy they collect through
solar panels and a windmill.
“This is totally self con-
tained,” Donnie said. “We
have a garden that’s off the
grid.”
He didn’t garden before
he met Cheryl, who says
she’s gardened all her life.
Now, in addition to
helping with the seasonal
crops, he’s added decorative
grasses to the landscape
and metal creations like a
sea serpent (he owns Farm
& Industrial, a metal fabri-
cation shop in Baker City).
“It’s kind of crazy, but
we have fun with it,” Don-
nie said.
required by state law.
Myers investigated three
issues:
• Harvey’s hiring of his
son, contractor William Shawn
Harvey, to help haul docks to
the county-owned Hewitt Park
near Richland, for which his
son was paid $1,710.
• Harvey’s proposal, which
he later withdrew, to hire his
son to help with remodeling
of the county’s new health de-
partment building on Fourth
Street.
• Harvey’s reimbursements
from the county for mileage
and meal expenses while he
was working at the Hewitt
and Holcomb parks during the
spring of 2020.
In a written response to
the Commission, dated May
27, 2021, Harvey wrote that
“the thought that I used my
County Commission position
to benefit myself is absurd.
Who would ever want to work
seven days a week, for two
months away from my family,
and ignore what was required
of me at home as a father,
grandfather and husband? As
a salaried elected official, all of
the extra hours and workload
was done at no additional pay
for myself.”
Harvey asked that the
Ethics Commission give him
a warning on one conflict of
interest allegation — hiring
his son to haul docks to Hewitt
Park.
Bill Harvey also proposed
that the Commission warn
him for discussing the possibil-
ity of hiring his son to do de-
molition work at the building
the county bought in August
2020 and that now houses the
Baker County Health Depart-
ment.
Bill Harvey requested
that the Ethics Commission
dismiss all allegations that
he received more money for
mileage and meals during the
spring and summer of 2020
than is authorized under the
county’s travel policy.
But during its June 11
meeting, the Ethics Commis-
sion reached a preliminary
finding that Harvey commit-
ted the ethics violations that
Myers listed in her report.
According to the stipulated
final order, Harvey violated a
state law by failing to disclose
his conflict of interest in the
decision to award the dock-
hauling job to his son, and by
signing the $1,710 invoice for
the work.
Harvey also violated that
law by participating in a
discussion about potentially
hiring his son to help with
demolition work at the health
department building, even
though his son was never
hired to help with that project.
In the matter of meal and
mileage reimbursements,
according to the stipulated
final order, Harvey received
about $1,070 more than he
was entitled to under county
policies — $535 for meals and
$535 for mileage.
According to the order,
Harvey received payments
for meals on 22 days between
April 6, 2020, and Aug. 6,
2020, while he was work-
ing at Hewitt and Holcomb
parks near Richland. Those
meals were not eligible for
reimbursement under county
policies because they did not
happen during overnight busi-
ness travel, were not part of a
conference or county business
meeting, and were not pre-
approved.
TRESPASSING: Pearl Naomi
Adair, 41, Baker City, 5:04 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 4 in the 1900
block of First Street; cited and
released.
FAILURE TO REGISTER AS
A SEX OFFENDER: Darin Ray
Stone, 38, Baker City, 6:42 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 3 in the 1600 block
of Auburn Avenue; cited and
released.
VIOLATION OF RESTRAINING
ORDER: Alyssa Renee Owens,
26, Baker City, 3:31 p.m. Friday,
Sept. 3 in the 3100 block of 10th
Street; cited and released.
PAROLE VIOLATION: Jace
Taylor Prowell, 30, Baker City,
3:31 p.m. Friday, Sept. 3 in the
3100 block of 10th Street; jailed.
declined briefly after the city
instituted Phase 2, the heat
persisted — July was the hot-
test month on record at the
airport — and the city ended
up using more water in July
than in June.
Daily use stayed below 5
million gallons, though, and
Owen decided that imposing
Phase 3 — which bans all
outdoor watering and includes
the provision for the city to
fine violators $500 — wasn’t
necessary.
The city has never moved
to Phase 3.
Rain and cooler tem-
peratures the first week of
August helped curb the city’s
thirst, and although water
use rose in the middle of the
month when hot, dry weather
returned, daily use was only
a bit more than 4 million
gallons.
The second half of August
was considerably cooler, with
the temperature staying be-
low 90, and water use dipped
further.
The city hasn’t used more
than 4 million gallons on any
day since Aug. 16. The city’s
daily use averaged 3.6 million
gallons from Aug. 16-31.
That trend pushed the
daily average for the whole of
August to 3.7 million gallons,
compared with 4.8 million
during July, and 4.3 million
during June.
Water use this August was
also much lower than in the
same month in 2020, when
the daily average was 4.3 mil-
lion gallons.
Owen said water use typi-
cally declines noticeably after
school resumes and fewer
people are at home during the
day.
Given recent trends, Owen
said she expects the city will
move back to Phase 1 of the
water curtailment ordinance
as early as this week.
Harvey also received pay-
ments for mileage on 32 days
between March 23, 2020, and
Aug. 26, 2020, according to the
final order.
Those payments were at
the county’s higher rate —
54.5 cents per mile rather than
35 cents — but the higher rate
is only for situations when a
county vehicle isn’t available,
and according to the final
order, county vehicles were
available on each of those days.
Harvey contended during
the June 11 meeting that none
of those county vehicles was a
pickup truck suitable for haul-
ing the equipment he needed
to the parks, which is why he
used his personal truck and
submitted mileage forms at
the higher rate.
With summer
here, there is
lots of traveling.
Be safe &
have fun!
2390 Broadway, Baker City
541-523-5223