WHO WILL BE THE NEXT GRANT COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE? | PAGE A3
The
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
ROB RASCHIO
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
JOHN LAMBORN
152nd Year • No. 6 • 20 Pages • $1.50
JIM CARPENTER
MyEagleNews.com
NEW TAXING DISTRICT
could fund aquatics center
Contributed photo/Clancy Roth
A cow was found dead and mutilated at Bar DR Land and
Cattle, a Deschutes County ranch in Hampton.
Investigators perplexed
by death, mutilation of
another Oregon cow
By Sierra Dawn McClain
EO Media Group
Authorities are investi-
gating the mysterious death
and mutilation of a cow on
a remote ranch at the bor-
der between Oregon’s Lake
and Deschutes counties.
The range cow, a breed-
ing animal worth about
$850, was found dead and
mutilated — her genitals,
udder, tongue and heart cut
out — last fall at Bar DR
Land and Cattle, a prop-
erty in Hampton owned by
ranchers Clancy and Ste-
phen Roth.
The cause of death is
unknown.
Lake County Sheriff’s
Office Deputy Tom Roark
launched the investigation
Sept. 18, 2019. The Bureau
of Land Management is
also on the case. Four
months later, Roark said he
still has no leads.
“It’s creepy, gives me
chills,” rancher Clancy
Roth said. “There’s no evi-
dence of who did it or how
they killed her. It’s so sad.”
This isn’t the first time
the Roths have had their
cattle maimed. About 20
years ago, Roth said, her
father-in-law and her hus-
band, Stephen, found mul-
tiple cattle mutilated in the
same way with the same
body parts removed.
And the Roths aren’t
alone.
In August 2019, a simi-
lar incident involving five
bulls had occurred at Sil-
vies Valley Ranch in East-
ern Oregon.
According
to
FBI
records, thousands of kill-
ings and mutilations of cat-
tle have happened across
the U.S. since the 1970s.
The animals typically are
found with the same body
parts missing.
Kenyon Morehouse, the
Roth’s ranch hand, found
the cow dead when he vis-
ited the pasture to fill the
water tanks, as he did every
morning.
Deputy Roark said it’s
hard to discern how the
cow died. By the time he
arrived on site the morning
after getting a call, which
he said was “a good hour-
and-a-half trip” from the
sheriff’s office, it was past
the 24-hour window during
which a necropsy could
have been performed on
the body.
There were no bullets,
no strangulation marks, no
recent lightning storms, no
rope burns on trees, no tire
tracks, no shoe prints —
and no spilled blood.
Roth said the lack of
blood is what troubles her
most about her cow’s death.
“The blood was gone,”
she said. “It looked like
someone snipped her artery
and drained her.”
On the ground beside
the cow’s foot were agi-
tated hoof marks, as though
she had struggled in her
last moments.
Roark said the missing
body parts could not have
been taken by scavengers.
“When a pack of coy-
otes or birds gets to a car-
cass, not much is left — just
bones and hide, unevenly
chewed,” said Roark.
“This was clean-cut, like
it was done with a blade.
If somebody was hungry,
they would’ve whittled up
a chunk of back meat and
taken it home. This wasn’t
done for food. It was some-
thing sinister.”
Roth speculates that
her cow may have been
poisoned.
She said after the kill-
ing, her husband and his
friend found a tiny scrap
of fiber resembling a
feather tip caught in nearby
Voters near John Day, Canyon City, Prairie City, Mt. Vernon
and Seneca will likely determine fate of pool in Grant County
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
A
fter this summer, it’s
likely the fate of a pool
in Grant County will
depend whether voters
approve a new aquatics
taxing district in November.
John Day City Manager Nick
Green presented the proposal to
the city council Feb. 28: a new tax-
ing district likely comprised of John
Day, Canyon City, Prairie City, Mt.
Vernon, Seneca and their respec-
tive rural fire protection districts.
The service area could still change
and will need to be approved by the
Grant County Court.
While the city council will
receive the final feasibility study on
the pool in March, additional plan-
ning will continue until May to pre-
pare the ballot measure, Green said.
During June and July, listening ses-
sions will be held in the commu-
Eagle file photo
A crowd of swim team fans cheer
from the stands at the 2019 John Day
Swim Meet at Gleason Pool.
nities that would be affected, and
action committees will then present
the final plan to be recommended to
the county, Green said.
Green said around July 22 the
county would have to initiate the
referral process to place the measure
before voters that would be included
in the district.
Gleason Pool will be open for
the 2020 season, closing Aug. 22.
The parks and recreation district
will continue to operate the pool this
year.
“At that point, the park and pool
revert to the city of John Day: The
Parks and Rec. agreement has ended,
and they have no further involve-
ment in it by contract,” Green said.
If the measure for the proposed
aquatics district is approved, then the
city will complete the final designs
and planning the next fiscal year
with the goal to open a new pool by
the summer of 2022, Green said.
The city is interested in selling
the property around Gleason Pool to
the state to create a new Kam Wah
Chung interpretive site. The city is
working toward a purchase and sale
agreement that could be accepted in
September or October, Green said.
The city council agenda adds
that proceeds from the sale of Glea-
son Pool will be used as bridge
funds for the design and preliminary
See District, Page A10
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
John Day City Manager Nick Green, right, and City Councilor Shannon Adair discuss the importance of space at a pro-
posed aquatic center at a city council meeting Jan. 28. The city has proposed a new aquatics taxing district to fund a
new pool for Grant County. TOP PHOTO: Audrey Colson leaps into fun at Gleason Pool June 12 . (Eagle file photo)
See Cow, Page A10
Quiet start to legislative session, but tensions simmer
First day of meetings in the Capitol not
as contentious as expected ahead of
votes on controversial bills
By Sam Stites, Jake
Thomas and Claire
Withycombe
Oregon Capital Bureau
A contentious proposal
to reduce the state’s green-
house gas emissions dom-
inated political chatter in
the weeks before the 2020
legislative session began.
So much so that observ-
ers expected “sparks”
when lawmakers convened
on Monday, said Sen.
Brian Boquist, R-Dallas.
But sitting in his office
on the appointed day,
wearing cowboy boots,
jeans and his signature
turtleneck under a sports
jacket, Boquist said, “It
seems like it’s in neu-
tral. This building is never
neutral.”
Then the longtime sena-
tor reconsidered.
Instead, he said, it was
more like the Legislature
was “out of gear” or like
standing on a calm beach
as the water recedes before
a tsunami.
As legislators prepared
Oregon Capital Bureau/Sam Stites
Cap and trade architect Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland,
explains how he’s attempted to craft his bill to overcome Re-
publican opposition.
for meetings inside the
Capitol, Boquist said he
was going back to his dis-
trict office in Dallas to
read legislation and meet
with constituents. This
might be his last chance to
do that for a while.
“As soon as committees
begin, our lives are not our
own,” he said.
The pace is expected to
pick up quickly as legisla-
tors race to meet deadlines
to finish within 35 days.
“If it doesn’t hap-
pen fast, it doesn’t hap-
pen at all,” Senate Major-
ity Leader Ginny Burdick,
D-Portland, told reporters
on Monday. “And that’s the
reality of a 35-day session.
So I think you’re going to
see a lot of pressure at the
very beginning.”
Republicans have com-
plained Democrats, who
hold large majorities in
See Session, Page A10