HOSPITAL BOARD MULLS CUTTING TIES WITH MANAGEMENT COMPANY| PAGE A7
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
152nd Year • No. 43 • 18 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
Sheriff countersues Olson for defamation
Palmer claims accusations invaded his privacy and damaged his reputation
By Sean Hart
Blue Mountain Eagle
Contributed photo
Oregon State Police are inves-
tigating the killing of a wolf
in eastern Baker County on or
about Sept. 24.
Wolf killed
in Baker
County was
breeding
male from
Cornucopia
pack
Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer has
filed a countersuit for defamation against the
person who claimed he improperly obtained
and disseminated private materials from her
phone.
Palmer claims Haley Olson published false
and defamatory statements on four occasions
between April 24 and Sept. 3 that invaded his
privacy, caused him anxiety, damaged his pub-
lic image and subjected him to ridicule and
loss of reputation, according to a complaint
“DEFENDANT’S STATEMENT WAS A STATEMENT OF FACT,
AND NOT A MERE ALLEGATION, WHICH ACCUSED (PALMER)
OF ILLEGALLY ACCESSING AND VIEWING NUDE IMAGES OF
(OLSON) INCLUDING NUDE IMAGES OF HER AS A MINOR.”
Sheriff Glenn
Palmer
—Complaint filed Oct. 8 in Grant County Circuit Court on behalf of Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer
filed in Grant County Circuit Court Oct. 8 by
Palmer’s attorney Daniel E. Thenell.
Olson, whose lawsuit against Palmer,
District Attorney Jim Carpenter and Grant
County is proceeding in federal court, said she
planned to file a motion to dismiss Palmer’s
countersuit.
Olson accused Palmer, Carpenter and the
See Countersuit, Page A18
Haley
Olson
WATER RIGHTS
Larson prevails in contested case
EO Media Group
Oregon State Police are
investigating the unlawful
killing of the breeding male
wolf from the Cornucopia
pack in eastern Baker County.
The wolf died from a gun-
shot wound on or about Sept.
24, according to OSP.
This incident occurred
northwest of New Bridge in
the Skull Creek drainage of the
Wallowa-Whitman National
Forest. Forest Service Road
7741 accesses the Skull Creek
drainage, and the wolf was
found off the 125 spur road.
That’s about 1 mile east of
Eagle Forks campground.
Anyone with information can
contact OSP Sgt. Isaac Cyr
through the Turn in Poachers
hotline at 1-800-452-7888.
Biologists from the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wild-
life trapped the wolf and fitted
it with a GPS tracking collar
in December 2018.
According to ODFW, the
breeding male and female of
the Cornucopia pack bred for
the first time in 2019. The
breeding female is a radio-col-
lared wolf that dispersed from
the Pine Creek pack, also in
eastern Baker County, and the
breeding male that was killed
in September had dispersed
from the Walla Walla pack in
Union, Umatilla and Wallowa
counties.
The pair produced three
pups that survived to the end
of 2019, according to ODFW.
Data from the wolves’ col-
lars showed the pack used a
162-square-mile area in the
Pine Creek and Keating wild-
life management units, with
92% of the location points on
public land.
Contributed photo
Gordon Larson’s Berry Creek Ranch is green again after he prevailed in a contested water rights hearing and was able to irrigate this summer after two
years without being able to use the water.
Officials say claims Larson stole wilderness trees,
failed to secure water project permits also false
By Sean Hart
Blue Mountain Eagle
Gordon Larson
Gordon Larson will retain all portions of his water
rights on the Berry Creek Ranch south of Canyon City
after two people who claimed he did not use the water
failed to provide any evidence at an administrative
hearing.
Larson said this and other false claims against him
were politically motivated to upend his bid for Grant
County commissioner in 2018.
“They were trying to send a clear message that they
were willing to go to any lengths to damage a political
opponent,” Larson said. “This was a better community
than that, I thought, and in many ways, I feel so betrayed
by the people who let it happen. It was an open and
unveiled attack against my family and I.”
Grant County residents Jim Sproul, who died in July,
and Dave Traylor each signed affidavits in 2018 attest-
ing that Larson failed to put all or a portion of three sepa-
rate water rights from Canyon Creek to beneficial use for
a period of at least five consecutive years from 2011 to
2018, which would legally forfeit the water rights.
However, Administrative Law Judge D. McGorrin
ruled in April that Sproul and Traylor did not prove by a
preponderance of the evidence that Larson did not use his
water rights for five consecutive years.
“Neither Mr. Sproul nor Mr. Traylor testified at the
hearing,” McGorrin wrote in his proposed order. “They
offered no evidence other than their July 2018 affidavits
and August supplemental submissions to the (Oregon
Water Resources Department).”
See Larson, Page A18
“THEY WERE TRYING TO SEND A CLEAR MESSAGE THAT THEY WERE WILLING
TO GO TO ANY LENGTHS TO DAMAGE A POLITICAL OPPONENT. THIS WAS A
BETTER COMMUNITY THAN THAT, I THOUGHT, AND IN MANY WAYS, I FEEL
SO BETRAYED BY THE PEOPLE WHO LET IT HAPPEN. IT WAS AN OPEN AND
UNVEILED ATTACK AGAINST MY FAMILY AND I.”
—Gordon Larson