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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 2015)
HOT HOOPS Tigers corral Mustangs, GU cages Imbler – PAGE B1 Grant County’s newspaper since 1868 W EDNESDAY , F EBRUARY 4, 2015 • N O . 5 • 20 P AGES • $1.00 www.MyEagleNews.com Parole panel reviews brutal cop-killing Sidney Dean Porter argues for his release By Scotta Callister Blue Mountain Eagle CANYON CITY – After a hearing last week in Salem, Grant County District Attor- ney Jim Carpenter is cautious- ly optimistic that convicted cop-killer Sidney Dean Por- ter will stay in prison at least a few more years. The Or- egon Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision is Officer expected to is- Frank sue its decision Ward soon. Porter, 55, has been in prison for 23 years for the April 1992 bludgeoning GHDWKRI-RKQ'D\3ROLFH2I¿ cer Frank Ward. The Jan. 27 hearing before a panel of parole board mem- bers was Por- ter’s second bid for free- dom. In 2013, the board set Sidney a release date Dean for that sum- Porter mer but, after a public uproar across the state, revisited the is- sue and decided to hold him for two more years. This time, the board can de- cide to release Porter as soon as this summer or extend his incarceration another two to 10 years. Carpenter said the board members were attentive throughout the daylong hear- ing, and questioned Porter for nearly three hours on details from his testimony. Porter recounted his ver- sion of the events that night, when he was drinking with friends and got into an alco- KROIXHOHG¿JKWZLWKKLVZLIH A neighbor called police to report a domestic disturbance TEMP CEO MAKING ROUNDS AT HOSPITAL and Ward was dispatched. Porter contends he didn’t recognize Ward was a police RI¿FHUDQGWKDWKHIRXJKWZLWK Ward out of fear for his life and his family. Carpenter noted the evi- dence showed that Ward was in uniform when he went to the Porter home and that he repeat- HGO\LGHQWL¿HGKLPVHOIDVDSR OLFHRI¿FHU±DWRQHSRLQWORXG enough that a neighbor across the road heard him clearly. Ward, hearing a woman’s screams, entered the home DQG WKH WZR PHQ VFXIÀHG Porter says Ward repeatedly pepper-sprayed him; they fell against the wood stove and VRPH¿UHZRRGWKHRI¿FHUID tally breaking his neck. Carpenter said the pan- el noted changes in his story from the previous hearing – including the assertion about a broken neck – and ques- tioned him carefully. He also scoffed at the idea of Porter as family protector. See PORTER, Page A11 :LOG¿UHZRUN wins national award for Jerome er, Malheur National For- HVW ¿UH VWDII RI¿FHU LQ WKH nomination. “Irene has By Scotta Callister given tremen- Blue Mountain Eagle Irene dous energy Jerome to raising Irene Jerome, an inde- awareness pendent forestry consultant and helping our residents and in Grant County, has been responders work together to selected to receive a nation- mitigate the risks of living in DO :LOG¿UH 0LWLJDWLRQ the WUI.” Jerome said she feels hon- Award. She is one of 21 individu- ored to receive such recogni- als or organizations across the tion and thanked her “friends nation selected to receive the and partners at the Malheur awards, and one of just nine National Forest,” Walker and KHU FDWHJRU\ ZLOG¿UH PLWL 'DQD 6NHOO\ ¿UH VSHFLDOLVW gation innovation. She is the who proposed her for the hon- or. only honoree from Oregon. 2I¿FLDOV RI WKH 0DOKHXU Jerome is being recognized for her work for Grant Coun- National Forest, Grant Coun- ty to update its Community ty Court and Oregon Depart- :LOG¿UH 3URWHFWLRQ 3ODQ DQG ment of Forestry supported her recent success in organiz- her nomination. The awards were estab- LQJWKH¿UVW)LUHZLVH&RPPX nity in Eastern Oregon, in the lished in 2014 in response to Pine Creek area of John Day. the large number of positive The award program laud- ZLOG¿UHSUHSDUDWLRQSURJUDPV ed her efforts to connect res- in progress. The 2015 awards will be idents of the Wildland-Urban Interface – where residences presented at the Internation- and manmade improvements al Association of Fire Chiefs intermingle with forest lands Wildland Urban Interface ± WR UDLVH DZDUHQHVV RI ¿UH Conference on March 25 in protection strategies and is- Reno. 7KH :LOG¿UH 0LWLJDWLRQ sues. “Like many rural areas Awards are sponsored by that nationwide, there are parts association, the National As- of Grant County that have sociation of State Foresters, been getting more developed the National Fire Protection outside of traditional town Association and the U.S. For- boundaries,” said Roy Walk- est Service. Advocate for fire awareness gains 2015 honor The Eagle/Scotta Callister Margie Molitor, with Tina Shorts (left) at the reception desk, is getting to know the staff in her duties as interim CEO at Blue Mountain Hospital. S TUDENT A RT Molitor’s on the job at least through spring By Scotta Callister Blue Mountain Eagle Mary Woodbury Prairie City School Teacher: Becky Sharp JOHN DAY – The remoteness. The small towns. The scenic mountains. The dry climate. Coming from Wyoming, Margie Molitor found plenty to make her feel at home in John Day – even temporarily. Molitor is the interim CEO at Blue Mountain Hospital. She began her duties in mid-January, succeeding Bob Houser, who retired after 15 years with the district. Molitor was brought in by HealthTech Management Services, which contracts with the hospital district. She expects to be on the job through the recruitment process for a new permanent CEO. “I’m excited to be here,” she said. “We’ve got people here who really want to do a good job for the community.” ,Q KHU ¿UVW WZR ZHHNV 0ROLWRU EHJDQ meeting with staff and putting names to faces for as many of the hospital’s 187 employees DVVKHFRXOG6KHDWWHQGHGKHU¿UVWERDUGRI directors meeting, and is getting to know the different departments and their needs. See CEO, Page A12 It’s Phase II for Eastern Oregon wolves, ranchers Biologists count seven breeding pairs in 2014 By George Plaven EO Media Group Eastern Oregon’s wolf population reached a key milestone in 2014 that not only gives ranchers more leeway to protect their livestock, but could lead to re- moving the predators from the state Endangered Species List entirely. For the third year in a row, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife counted at least four breeding pairs of wolves among packs east of Highways 395, 78 and 95, triggering Phase II of the agen- cy’s Wolf Management and Conservation Plan. $EUHHGLQJSDLULVGH¿QHGE\2'):DVDSDLURIDGXOWZROYHVZKLFK produce at least two pups that survive to the end of the year. Of the nine wolf packs in Oregon, seven had breeding pairs in 2014 – six in the state’s northeast corner. Only the Imnaha pack was found without a breeding pair, and the Umatilla River pack has not yet been surveyed. Under Phase I of the management plan, ranchers were allowed to shoot wolves only if they were caught in the act of biting, wounding or See PLAN, Page A11 Grant County denies discrimination in hiring talk actions were not against the law. The response says Han- son’s lawsuit fails to allege IDFWVVXI¿FLHQWWRFRQVWLWXWHD claim against the defendants, By Scotta Callister and says both the county and Blue Mountain Eagle Hoodenpyl qualify for immu- nity under state law. PENDLETON – For the The response consists of second time in three months, terse denials of most of the al- attorneys for Grant County legations in the Hanson law- have denied claims of dis- suit. 7KH ¿OLQJ DGPLWV +DQVRQ crimination arising from a Dec. 9, 2013, hiring meeting. applied for the county’s com- 7KH ODWHVW ¿OLQJ ZDV ODVW munity service supervisor job, Friday in U.S. District Court met the minimum require- in Pendleton, responding to a ments for the job, and was not lawsuit by Terry Hanson, who interviewed or hired. However, the two sides re- was a job applicant discussed in the hiring meeting. Hers is main at odds as to what hap- one of two federal lawsuits pened at the hiring discussion against the county stemming held by Hoodenpyl and mem- bers of his staff. from that meeting. Hanson’s lawsuit contends ,Q)ULGD\¶V¿OLQJDWWRUQH\V Karen M. Vickers and Blake case aide Roni Hickerson and + )U\ RI WKH 3RUWODQG ¿UP juvenile counselor Cindy Tiri- Mersereau Shannon LLP con- co “made derogatory and dis- tend that Grant County and criminatory statements” about Dean Hoodenpyl, director of Hanson’s sex and sexual ori- the county’s community cor- entation. The lawsuit cites the rections department, acted in See SUIT, Page A12 good faith and believed their Federal lawsuit is one of two facing the county