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.