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Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
STATE
Family wants answers in shooting
Man killed by Crook
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mental illness
By JOE SIESS
The Bulletin
PRINEVILLE 4 The
woman on the other end of Lee-
Anne Trent9s phone was frantic,
screaming that Trent9s son had
just been shot by a Crook County
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worse for Trent, who sat in her
Oklahoma home as the woman
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Nick Rodin, who lay dying in a
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<She9s calling me, and she9s
screaming because she can hear
Nick screaming and I can hear
her screaming, and I9m on the
other phone while my son is
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Trent and her family searching
for answers and trying to recon-
cile Rodin9s troubled life with
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Trent9s son had a long crim-
inal record in Central Oregon,
severe mental health issues and
had survived a brutal stabbing in
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<I want answers,= Trent said,
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just let this happen and then not
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Dan Wendel, the acting Crook
County District Attorney, has
said little on the investigation
now underway, but promised
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The woman who called
Rodin9s mother was his long-
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had heard Rodin9s name over a
police scanner, and called her
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They were on the phone during
Rodin9s entire encounter with
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The deputy approached
Rodin alone and at some point
during the confrontation, drew
his weapon and ordered Rodin
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Submitted Photo
Nick Rodin poses in this photo submitted by the family.
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was within two minutes and he
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I heard him take his last breath
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Rodin was diagnosed with
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and struggled with his men-
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His family and friends said it
is common knowledge among
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in Prineville that Rodin suf-
fered from mental illness, and
the common procedure was to
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Rodin9s criminal record goes
back to 2008, and includes con-
victions for driving under the
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drugs and second-degree assault,
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ferson, Deschutes, and Lincoln
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At one point, while in jail in
Crook County in April of 2012,
Rodin tried to commit suicide
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crippling depression and halluci-
nations, prompting his appointed
counsel to report to the court
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with criminal proceedings, court
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was convicted of assaulting his
cellmate with a mop ringer and
then sentenced to nearly six
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While in prison, Rodin got a
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The tattoo appeared in one of
his Facebook photos that has
since been taken down after the
Central Oregon Peacekeepers
brought it to the public9s atten-
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The Peacekeepers have
called for an investigation into
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a protest previously scheduled to
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Both Trent and Rodin9s
younger half-brother Tommy
Lamance said Rodin got the
swastika tattoo in prison as a
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from being beaten or stabbed,
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When you are in prison, you are
obligated to live a certain way,=
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Trent said after her son got
out of prison, he tried to scrub
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it was somewhat still visible on
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Lamance said his half brother
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Rodin was 6-foot-7-inches tall,
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<I don9t care if he had a swas-
tika tattooed on his forehead,
none of this is right,= Lamance
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like we know Nick, and who
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at what they can see and judg-
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After his release from
prison, Rodin was also at the
center of an attempted mur-
der case last year after he was
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he encountered at Ochoco Plaza
while buying a pizza with his
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ries that required him being
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After his most recent release
from prison, Rodin9s friends
and family said he had reformed
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remained on a number of medica-
tions for his mental health condi-
tion, he was largely living a sober,
productive lifestyle working for
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Rodin9s body remained on
Southeast Maphet Road south of
Prineville for nearly nine hours,
said Lamance, who went to the
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Lamance said he and his family
were not allowed to get close to
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Rodin, too, and recognized his
white Nike sneakers poking out
from under the sheet police used
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were sticking out because he was
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The investigation into the
police-involved shooting has
been turned over to the Central
Oregon Major Incident Team, the
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The Crook County District Attor-
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Police remain the leading agen-
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<We are in the midst of an
investigation of the events of
Friday afternoon, and the most
important thing at this point is
the integrity of this investiga-
tion,= said Wendel, the acting
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there will be transparency and
the facts will be released, but
at this point I have no further
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Wendel said he has dealt with
police-involved shooting inves-
tigations in the past, and that the
end goal is always to determine
whether or not lethal action was
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remains an independent inves-
tigatory body that will follow
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<The DA is an independently
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<Everything is proceeding
according to law and policy as
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Crook County Sherif 9s Oo ce
Steven Hatcher, left, with Crook County Sherif John
Gautney.
Deputy in fatal
incident ID9ed
By JOE SIESS
The Bulletin
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Steven Hatcher, who has been a deputy with the Crook
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road south of Prineville after he stopped Rodin as he walked
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Rodin9s half-brother, Tommy Lamance, said he doesn9t
know much about Hatcher, but given his status as a law
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is unlikely he would have been unaware that Rodin had a
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<I just know that he murdered my brother,= Lamance
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he should be aware of my brother and my brother9s condi-
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the cop pull the trigger?=
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In a statement released Friday afternoon, the Crook
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administrative leave pending the conclusion of an investi-
gation being conducted by the Central Oregon Major Inci-
dent Team, led by Oregon State Police in conjunction with
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The release added that no further information will be
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Rodin9s mother, LeeAnne Trent, accompanied Lamance
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Protests were scheduled for last weekend and next
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Oregon has paid out most of its rental assistance
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The agency issued an update
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The agency says it and part-
restart payments, Oregon9s hous- QHU RUJDQL]DWLRQV FKLHÀ\ FRP
ing agency reports that slightly munity action agencies or coun-
more than 39,000 households ties themselves, will continue to
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lion in federal emergency rental LV VKRUW 7KH OLNHO\ GHDGOLQH LV
assistance, close to Oregon9s HDUO\0DUFK
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The Oregon Legislature
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Community Services Depart- gency rental assistance from
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applications submitted before GXULQJ D 'HF VSHFLDO VHV
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will require more informa- December 2020 that was spent
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applications submitted since has not yet reallocated fed-
PHOTO
CONTEST
Local Photos by Local Folks
eral money that went
unspent in other states
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gon did get an addi-
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According to the
National
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come Housing Coali-
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best in terms of rental
assistance payouts, topped in
ascending order only by North
Carolina, New York, Texas and
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Tenants can apply only once
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According to federal guide-
lines, priority goes to house-
holds earning less than 50% of
an area9s median
income 4 for
Portland, that is
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and one or more
adults unemployed
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According to state
guidelines, other
eligibility
fac-
tors are the size
of households, months behind
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residents are in a census tract
deemed to have a high per-
centage of low-income rent-
ers, as measured by the rental
assistance priority index of the
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Under a state law revised
WANTED: Local Photos
taken by Local Folks
Send in your photos to
be showcased in the
2022 Explore Grant County.
Send photos to: office@bmeagle.com
& editor@bmeagle.com
195 N. Canyon Blvd. John Day, OR 97845
541-575-0710
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sion, tenants can receive legal
protection against eviction for
nonpayment of rent if they
show proof to their landlords
they have applied for emer-
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deadline for payment of past-
due rent 4 owed since the
onset of the pandemic on April
1, 2020, through June 2021 4
if a tenant has an application
pending for emergency assis-
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The law does not forgive
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Becky Straus, an attorney
with the Oregon Law Cen-
ter, said the changes can be
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<It can be hard to keep up
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everyone to know that in Ore-
gon, no one should be evicted
for nonpayment of rent when
there are new safe-harbor
extensions and rent assistance
available,= said Straus, man-
aging attorney for the cen-
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<Unfortunately, we are see-
ing many people in court who
shouldn9t be there because they
didn9t know about the protec-
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Straus said the law gives
tenants 10 days to respond to
notices of eviction from their
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touch with the eviction defense
project, which is funded by
the state, Multnomah County,
the city of Portland and foun-
dations to provide legal repre-
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and provides free services in
English and Spanish 4 trans-
lators for other languages are
available 4 without regard to
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<As the new COVID vari-
ant continues to sweep across
our state, people are losing
income because of illness or
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Some people are still struggling
to catch up from the economic
hit of the past couple of years,=
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Oregon that short-term help is
available for people who are
still dealing with the economic
upheaval of the pandemic and
we just need to make sure they
know the help is available at
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A MAN
WAKES
UP in the
morning
after sleeping on...
an advertised bed, in advertised
pajamas.
He will bathe in an ADVERTISED TUB, shave with an ADVERTISED RAZOR,
have a breakfast of ADVERTISED JUICE, cereal and toast, toasted in an
ADVERTISED TOASTER, put on ADVERTISED CLOTHES and glance at his
ADVERTISED WATCH. He’ll ride to work in his ADVERTISED CAR, sit at an
ADVERTISED DESK and write with an ADVERTISED PEN. Yet this person
hesitates to advertise, saying that advertising doesn’t pay. Finally, when his
non-advertised business is going under, HE’LL ADVERTISE IT FOR SALE.
Then it’s too late.
AND THEY SAY ADVERTISING DOESN’T WORK?
DON’T MAKE THIS SAME MISTAKE
Advertising is an investment, not an expense. Think about it!
Blue Mountain Eagle
S281512-1
MyEagleNews.com
S281710-1
PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
Don’t get left behind, call today! Kim Kell 541-575-0710