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
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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-
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enough that a neighbor across
the road heard him clearly.
Ward, hearing a woman’s
screams, entered the home
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Porter says Ward repeatedly
pepper-sprayed him; they fell
against the wood stove and
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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-
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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
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gation innovation. She is the who proposed her for the hon-
or.
only honoree from Oregon.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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