News
Blue Mountain Eagle
SALMON
Continued from Page A1
He said fishing is open
to anyone who has a fishing
license and follows the oth-
er regulations for the river,
such as no live bait to protect
bull trout. The season lasts
until Aug. 15 from Blue-
bucket Creek, which is south
of Malheur Ford, up to the
headwaters of the Malheur,
including tributaries such as
Summit Creek, Bosonberg,
Big Creek and Lake Creek.
“The intent is to encour-
age harvest by tribal anglers
or other anglers, so there is
not a Columbia Basin En-
dorsement required for this.
There’s not a salmon/steel-
head harvest card record that
is required for this. They
have to have a fishing li-
cense, but other than that the
intent is to promote harvest
of this resource.”
The general public can
catch two salmon per day
and can have two daily lim-
its in their possession, Banks
said.
Members of the Tribe can
also use traditional methods,
such as spears.
Jason Kesling from the
Tribe’s Natural Resources
Department said they host-
ed a spearfishing demon-
stration, and a relative tribe
helped teach methods to de-
velop the spears. He said the
salmon provided a tradition-
al cultural experience for the
Tribe.
“If you really think about
it through the history of set-
tlement, the Tribe has been
pretty suppressed from do-
ing historic activities,” he
said. “This is a fantastic op-
portunity for them to relearn
the skill of salmon fishing.”
A large group attended
the last fish transplant June
15. Many stood in the river,
stalking salmon with spears.
After several attempts,
Gabe Portillo, another youth
from the Tribe from Burns,
speared one of the salmon,
which then jumped out of the
water, trying to get away. He
fought to lug it to shore for
about a minute as it splashed
and churned, turning a por-
tion of the clear stream to a
pool of whitewater.
When he finally got the
fish ashore, Portillo said he
enjoyed using the spear.
“It was crazy,” he said,
short of breath. “It was in-
sane.”
Roderique said the Tribe
is actively engaged to re-
store fish passage, and she
hoped the salmon transplants
would continue in future
years for members of the
Tribe such as her grandson.
“It’s just something that
I feel, as his grandmother,
he needs to experience,”
she said. “For him to ex-
perience using a spear — I
think it’s something he’ll
remember.”
PALMER
Continued from Page A1
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04049
A18
also said she was sure she
heard shots coming from the
Coalwell residence.
Mobley said in the report
he then interviewed his niece
at the Coalwell residence, but
he did not record video of
the interview as he had with
Koitzsch and Thexton.
“I then went to the
Coalwell residence and
spoke with (my niece) and
asked her if there were any
guns out and she said no,”
Mobley said in the report.
“I asked her if they were all
in the safe and she said yes.
I asked (her) if anyone had
been shooting at their house
and she said no.”
Mobley then returned to
Koitzsch’s residence, arrest-
ed him for initiating a false
report and booked him in the
Grant County Jail, according
to the report.
District Attorney Jim Car-
penter declined to charge
Koitzsch, according to a Jan.
29, 2015, memo obtained
from the district attorney’s
ofice.
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
The Eagle/Sean Hart
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife employees prepare to transplant
salmon in the Malheur River June 15 to provide fishing opportunities that were
available on the river before dams blocked fish passage.
“It is clear that shots were
ired in the area, which is
what Koitzsch reported,”
Carpenter said in the memo.
“While your policies may
differ, LE (law enforcement)
investigations of relatives
and close friends will be re-
viewed with a skeptical eye.
Every precaution should be
taken to avoid this situation.”
Carpenter also mentioned
that the interview at the
Coalwell residence had not
been recorded.
Mobley declined to speak
to the Eagle.
Palmer said in an email to
the Eagle last week that Mo-
bley was following orders to
arrest Koitzsch.
“There was no one else
to take the call and based
on what I was told I direct-
ed Mobley to arrest him for
initiating a false report. I did
not know and I am not sure
if Mobley knew it at the time
that (there) were other wit-
nesses,” Palmer said in the
email. “From where we were
told the shots were coming
from and at the time, I didn’t
believe that the suspect was
being up front. There is a
long history of inger point-
ing back and forth over a
long period of time in the
neighborhood.”
Records obtained from the
sheriff’s ofice show multi-
ple complaints against the
Coalwells from Thexton as
early as 2008 and Koitzsch as
early as 2011. The Coalwells
and neighbors Shane and
Sherri Gifin had also iled
multiple complaints against
Koitzsch and Thexton. The
disputes were over a vari-
ety of complaints, including
dogs, burning, trespassing
and easements.
Palmer also pointed out a
June 8, 2013, criminal tres-
passing complaint Koitzsch
iled against Palmer. James
Burgett, a former sheriff’s
ofice deputy, investigated
the incident.
Burgett said in his incident
report that Koitzsch claimed
Palmer and Terry and Leann
Coalwell were trespassing
behind Koitzsch’s house
with body armor and guns.
Palmer told Burgett he had
responded to a complaint by
the Coalwells the day before
Koitzsch claimed Palmer had
trespassed and that he had
declined an invitation from
Koitzsch to look at tomato
plants behind his house.
Leann Coalwell told Bur-
gett Palmer had responded
the day before when she com-
plained Koitzsch was yell-
ing at her children. She said
Palmer spoke to Koitzsch for
about an hour before return-
ing to her residence to in-
form her he could not charge
Koitzsch with any crimes.
Terry Coalwell told Burgett
he was at work.
In a Feb. 13, 2015, email to
the county’s insurance provid-
er, which was investigating
Koitzsch’s complaint, Palm-
er summarized the Jan. 26,
2015, incident and mentioned
previous incidents involving
Koitzsch.
“My main issue is the facts
are the facts that someone
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heard shots ired. My issue is
that these neighbors contin-
ually point the ingers at the
Coalwells and did so again
when they weren’t home,”
Palmer said in the email. “(...)
We have other reports on ile
where Koitzsch alleged that I
was involved with the neigh-
bors in giving them body ar-
mor and it gets bizarre.....I
wasn’t even there.”
In a series of emails re-
sponding to questions from
the Eagle, Palmer stated the
district attorney had declined
to charge Koitzsch before
Mobley had inished writing
his incident report.
In response to the Eagle’s
records request from the dis-
trict attorney’s ofice, Car-
penter said in an email he had
three segments of video of
Mobley’s interviews — both
interactions with Koitzsch and
the interaction with Thexton
— and even if Mobley had not
been related to the Coalwells
he would not have pursued
charges against Koitzsch.
In an email Monday, Palm-
er said he still believes there
was probable cause to arrest
Koitzsch.
“It was not based sole-
ly on this one call per se but
based on a history of false
info,” Palmer said in the
email. “This was not the irst
of call(s) from (Koitzsch) that
would it the initiating a false
report statute. The arrest was
for the shots ired call and
for nothing else. Based on
(Koitzsch) stating that they
came from that house right
there....pointing to Coalwell’s,
and there was nothing to cor-
roborate that shots were ired,
I believe there was probable
cause to believe that the info
was false.”
Palmer said he only recent-
ly learned of the settlement
with Koitzsch, and he was up-
set by it.
“I thought it was still pend-
ing up until a couple weeks
ago, I had no idea that it was
settled without us having in-
put or giving direction or I
having input with (the) insur-
ance company,” he said in an
email. “I am not happy with
the results of this outcome
myself.”
Palmer said this is the irst
time the sheriff’s ofice has
been “litigated with a settle-
ment or a judgment” in the 16
years he has been sheriff.
The Oregonian, which
sued Palmer and the sheriff’s
ofice to release records, irst
reported the settlement.
Clark’s Disposal
is relocating all recycle depots and will
be closing all drop sites
as of July 1st.
All recyclable items need to be taken
to Clark’s Transfer Station.
Call for Hours:
541-575-0432