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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 2017)
OSP searches for poachers HEPPNER G T 50¢ azette imes VOL. 136 NO. 39 8 Pages Wednesday, October 4, 2017 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Assisted living residents get a new yard By Bobbi Gordon JoAnne Burleson of Heppner began creating what the residents call the new front yard at Willow Creek Assisted Living a year ago, but ran into a few problems with water pres- sure and weather. It was completed this summer with the help of many vol- unteers. “It’s been a chore, been tough,” she said. Burleson was asked to take on the project and received funds from the Bryant Trust fund. She said she couldn’t have done it without the help of Mike Duncan, Jerry Healy, John Murray, Mark Miller, Tim Dickenson, Jack Meligan, Greg Grant, Dave Fowler, many high school students, Pettyjohn’s, Nancy and Dick Snider and Bill and OSP is asking for the public to help identify these two men that may be involved in the il- legal killing of three elk in the Heppner unit. -Contributed photo Two individuals that were caught on camera on private property are being sought by the Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division. The subjects were contacted and told they were on private property in Morrow County. After the photo was taken, at least three elk were illegally killed between Sept. 16 and Sept. 23 and much of the meat was left to waste. Troopers believe the two subjects in the photo were involved in the illegal taking of the elk and waste of the animals. There is believed to be a third person with the two subjects who were camped in the area of Martin Prairie off of Forest Service Road 21 in the Heppner Unit. If anyone has any in- formation they are asked to contact the Oregon State Police Senior Trooper Mi- chael Mayer at 541-561- 7581. Booster Club provides bags to athletes JoAnne Burleson headed up landscaping project, shown with the plaque installed in her honor. – Photo by Bobbi Gordon Sherry Ewing. Volunteers donated funds and hours to prep the space, do the landscaping, pour concrete, install furniture and plant flowers, shrubs and trees. A plaque has been in- stalled at the site thanking Burleson for the countless hours she contributed to make the space a reality. on the westbound side of Interstate 84 near the exit for Boardman in the early morning hours of Sept. 22. Other officers noticed the vehicle the day before, and Haak indicated he was go- ing to make sure state police tagged it for towing. As Haak approached, he said he did not expect anyone to be inside. That’s when Hurtado opened the rear passenger door, looked out and pointed a gun at the deputy, according to reports. Haak said he quick- ly fired two rounds. One missed and the other struck Hurtado in the side of the head, dropping him. The bullet, however, did not penetrate the man’s skull. Haak indicated he rushed back to his car for cover, called dispatch and waited until other police arrived minutes later. According to reports, police approached the SUV and found Hurtado uncon- scious with a revolver next to his hand. A decision has not been made about charging Hurta- do, who told police he knew when Haak was approach- ing the vehicle that he was a police officer, but other- wise gave guarded answers. Circuit court records show Hurtado pleaded guilty to methamphetamine pos- session in Dec. 2015 in Deputy Aaron Haak cleared in shooting A grand jury found no criminal wrongdoing in deputy Aaron Haak’s Sept. 22 shooting of an armed man near Boardman. Monday afternoon the grand jury watched police video footage from the shooting and heard testi- mony from the state police detective who investigated the case. After reviewing the evidence, the jury de- cided to not pursue charges. The shooting victim, Efren Hurtado Jr., 26, of Boardman, is recovering at a Portland hospital, and was well enough to talk to police, in spite of taking a bullet to the head. Haak, of Heppner, said he parked his police car be- hind an older Chevy Tahoe -See SHOOTING/PAGE THREE Pictured: (Front Row L-R) Carson Brosnan with wrestling bag, Hunter Nichols with cross country bag, Coby Dougherty with football bag, Maddie Nichols with track and field bag, Kevin Smith with boys’ basketball bag. (Back Row L-R) Beau Wolters with baseball backpack, Morgan Correa with softball backpack, Sophie Grant with volleyball backpack, Claire Grieb with girls’ basketball backpack. -Contributed photo The Heppner Jr/Sr High School Booster Club provided team bags for nine of the school’s high school sports programs this fall. The organization regularly supports all athletic, aca- demic and extracurricular programs in a variety of ways. In addition to the team bags, Booster Club funds have recently been used to provide traveling teams with dinner when they come to Heppner to play, send students on dis- trict and state competitions and support team camps during the summer. The Booster Club has also committed to donating money to every class, team, club and extracurricular group each fall after its annual fundraising event. The Booster Club dinner and auction will be held on Oct. 14 at the Heppner Elks Club. A dinner, fun games, raffle, silent auction and live auction will take place. Everyone is welcome to at- tend to support the Booster Club and the work they do for the students. County signs tax agreement with new wind farm Could pay up to $3.6 million per year Erin West harvested a non- typical 6X7 buck on opening day at the family ranch up Rhea Creek. This is her third consecutive successful hunt and at 33 weeks pregnant. -Contributed photo The Heppner Gazette- Times wants to see pic- tures of your trophy ani- mals from this hunting season. Stop by to have your picture taken, drop off photos, mail them to PO Box 337 in Heppner, email them to editor@ rapidserve. net or text cell phone photos to 541-980-6674. Patience paid off. Aaron Smythe scouted this buck before the sea- son and jumped it opening day. It didn’t present a good shot, so he passed. Sunday evening he ran across it again and took the nice 3X4. Assisting with skinning is his dad, Scott and uncle Tim Rankin. -Contributed photo Heppner Gazette- Times Trophy Corner By David Sykes M or r ow C ounty h as signed a 15-year tax agree- ment with the new Wheat- ridge Wind Energy Facility that could have the company paying up to $3.6 million per year instead of property taxes. The agreement, called a SIP (Strategic Investment Program), allows the company to get a property tax break for creating economic activity and jobs here. Details of the agreement have the company paying the regular property tax rate on the first $25 million in investment, then $8,000 per mega-watt up to a possible maximum of 450 MW. There is also a Community Service Fee (CSF) up to $500,000 per year and spread among various taxing districts. The total of all these payments would not exceed $3.6 million. In addi- tion to these funds Wheatridge has agreed to pay the schools in the county $1 million per year, of which $600,000 will go to science, technology, engineering and mathematics studies, and $400,000 to art and music programs. It was not disclosed how the funds would be divided up between the two school districts in the county. How much of the pro- posed wind farm’s property tax bill was reduced with the agreement has not been dis- closed by the county, but the project when completed was estimated to have a total value of around $600 million. Wheatridge is planning a year 2018 construction of the up to 292-tower wind farm, and it will be built North of Lexington to Butter Creek and be partially located in Umatilla County. 10% OFF Danner & Georgia Boots Morrow County Grain Growers Green Feed & Seed 242 W. Linden Way, Heppner • 676-9422 • 989-8221 (MCGG main office) Harley Anderson, 13, daugh- ter of Colin and Erin Ander- son shot her first buck, a 4X4, opening morning around 8:30 Chace Jones, Heppner, took a.m. on her parents’ property. his first white tail. -Contributed -Contributed photo photo ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
