Local runners meet the

Connie Cabrera:

Champ in the
classroom

OWYHEE Challenge!
 

– Page 9

– Page 14

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

107th year, No. 25
City of Vale and Malheur County, Oregon

75¢

Adam Worthington/KTVB

Police investigate at scene where
this truck, driven by Anthony
Montwheeler, crashed into an SUV
near Ontario in January. Montwheeler’s ex-wife Annita Harmon
was found stabbed to death in
the truck, and Vale resident David
Bates, who was driving the SUV,
was killed in the crash.

and violent, Anthony

DEADLY
DECISIONS

By Les Zaitz
Malheur Enterprise

H

Deemed dangerous

e got away with it. After feigning insanity for years to stay out of a prison cell,
Tony Montwheeler finally confessed his
scheme. Now, no longer judged mentally ill, he
would walk free from the Oregon State Hospital
even though officials were told he was dangerous.
That day, state psychologist Brian Hartman warned
the state board considering Montwheeler’s release what
might happen.
“His risk of violence would be high and it would be
most likely to target his intimate partner or other family
member,” Hartman testified in December.
He was prophetic.
Police say that a month later Montwheeler kidnapped
his ex-wife in Idaho, drove her to an Ontario convenience store and stabbed her to death in the front seat of
his pickup.
With her body beside him, Montwheeler fled. A store
clerk who had witnessed the knifing called police. A
pursuit ensued.
After four miles, Montwheeler veered head-on into
another vehicle. The collision killed the other driver, a
father of five, and injured his wife.
Montwheeler, 49, now sits in the Malheur County
Jail, charged with aggravated murder, assault, and
kidnapping. He may face the death penalty. He declined
an interview.
State officials would not discuss their handling of

Montwheeler and the decision to free him. Attorney
General Ellen Rosenblum ordered them to turn over
public records sought by the Malheur Enterprise about
their decision but they are refusing to do so. The Oregonian/OregonLive is publishing this story in cooperation
with the Enterprise.
Available records establish that Montwheeler ran a
medical con for 20 years, insisting to a string of state
psychiatrists and psychologists that he was mentally ill.
He did so to evade state prison, where he would be
sent if he was convicted of kidnapping his first wife and
son in Baker City in 1996. Because he was found to be
guilty but insane, he was treated as a patient instead of
a convict.
He later testified that his insanity gambit allowed
him to live off the public. He cost taxpayers millions
for hospitalization and housing expenses as he moved
around rural Oregon, working odd jobs and committing one crime after another – all while under the state’s
supervision.
Montwheeler’s circumstances raise troubling questions about the Oregon State Hospital, the state’s
primary mental hospital, where criminal defendants are
routinely sent for diagnosis and treatment. At least eight
professionals prescribed Montwheeler medications or
therapy over the years at the state hospital.
It wasn’t until last year that cracks began to emerge
in Montwheeler’s scheme. One doctor in April 2016
concluded he was mentally ill. Seven months later, the

Montwheeler’s 20year odyssey through
the state psychiatric
system began with an
insanity strategy and
ended with his release
– and the deaths of
two people

doctor concluded there was no medical evidence Montwheeler had ever been mentally ill.
The case points to a gap in the legal system. There
is no provision – no consequences – for what to do
with someone who fakes a mental illness after criminal
conduct.
Montwheeler’s case also raises serious questions
about the state Psychiatric Security Review Board,
which supervises about 500 mentally ill persons. The
board cites privacy laws in declining to explain its
handling of individual cases. That keeps crucial information confidential even though the board’s decisions
affect community safety.
Montwheeler’s case seemed to jolt those sitting on
the Psychiatric Security Review Board. Created in
1977, the board supervises the treatment of adults and
juveniles who successfully deploy an insanity defense
to criminal charges. Individuals are discharged from
board control at the end of their term, when they have
no mental illness, or are no longer a threat. The 10
board members are appointed by the governor.
The board gathered Dec. 7 to consider a hospital
staff recommendation to release Montwheeler. Board
members Kate Lieber, John Swetnam and Trisha Elmer
listened to witnesses, including Montwheeler, spin out
his tale of trickery.
Lieber, a Portland attorney serving as the board’s
chair in December, said she was “aghast.”
See Deadly Decisions, Page 6

‘You can either screw it up or you can do the right thing.
My hope is you’ll do the right thing. I am sincerely worried you won’t.’
State Psychiatric Security Review Board member Kate Lieber,
to Anthony Montwheeler as the board ordered
his release last December

Enterprise photos/John L. Braese

Clockwise from lower left, competitors included Esmeralda Martinez (Cairo), Lizzy
Corona (St. Peter), Aliciana Lopez (Four Rivers), Keegan Maupin (Vale), Karlie Bennett
(Aiken) and Bodie Johnsrud (Jordan Valley).

They don’t need spell-check

By John L. Braese
The Enterprise

NYSSA – Tips for spelling guided students last
week at the inaugural Malheur County Spelling
Bee. The emphasis was on “i before e except after
c.”
There were thoughts on a possible silent e at
the end of the word and “when two vowels go
walking, the first one does the talking.”
Students from across the county gathered at
Nyssa Elementary School for the competition last
Wednesday, March 22.

With number tags hanging from their necks,
each rose from a chair, walked to the microphone
and awaited a word. After hearing the word from
a judge and also listening to the word used in a
sentence, each student started ever-so carefully to
try to spell the word. Any mistake, even if corrected, bumped the student out of the competition.
As one by one dropped off, a champion for
each grade was left standing. The champions then
met at 11 a.m. for a final “spell off.”
See Spellers, Page 9

A sampler
from the bee
quandary
Mandarin
prodigious
Holocaust
aperture

 Page 6 MALHEUR ENTERPRISE Vale, Oregon March 29, 2017

‘The psychiatrist said that
I wasn’t crazy … And my
attorney advised me to keep
that quiet and we’ll try to get
you another psychiatrist.’
Anthony Montwheeler,
testifying before the state
Psychiatric Security Review Board
last December

Grant County Sheriff’s Office

Above: Anthony Montwheeler’s mugshot
from the 2012 Grant
County scrap metal
theft case.
Montwheeler makes
his first appearance in
Malheur County Circuit
Court by teleconference, with his lawyer
in the courtroom.
Enterprise file photo

Deadly Decisions
From Page 1

But more recently, Lieber would not comment
about how Tony Montwheeler had been set loose
on an unsuspecting public.

Violent roots

The Enterprise/Les Zaitz

Wreck litter remains on the roadside where
a memorial has been erected in memory of
David Bates, who died when his SUV was
struck by Anthony Montwheeler’s pickup
truck. Montwheeler’s ex-wife Annita Harmon
also perished, her body found stabbed in the
pickup.

Timeline
to tragedy
Anthony W. Montwheeler

March 9, 1974 – His father kills his mother
in Deschutes County. He is then raised by an aunt
and uncle.
March 26, 1996 – Arrested for kidnapping
and arson after holding his wife and son at gunpoint in Baker City .
Sept. 23, 1997 – Found guilty but insane in
Baker County, placed under jurisdiction of state
Psychiatric Security Review Board for 70 years.
He is committed to the Oregon State Hospital.
Sept. 17, 2001 – Security Review Board turns
down Montwheeler’s request for release from the
state hospital.
Nov. 4, 2002 – Security Review Board releases Montwheeler to an Ontario group home.
Aug. 1, 2003 – Charged with auto theft and
first-degree theft in Union County. The case is later
settled civilly.
June 28, 2004 – Arrested for grand theft in
Payette County. He is convicted and ordered to
pay restitution.
Aug. 1, 2005 – Convicted of reckless burning
in Malheur County.
June 15, 2011 – Accused of metal theft with
Annita Harmon in report to Grant County Sheriff’s
Office.
Sept. 6, 2012 – Convicted of aggravated theft

in Grant County, sentenced to prison.

April 21, 2014 – Released from state prison,
transferred to Oregon State Hospital.
April 13, 2016 – Court vacates Grant County

theft conviction.

May 14, 2016 – Security Review Board concludes Montwheeler still mentally ill and a danger.
Oct. 25, 2016 – State hospital review board
concludes Montwheeler has no mental illness.
Dec. 7, 2016 – State doctor testifies Montwheeler faked mental illness for 20 years to avoid
prison.
Dec. 14, 2016 -- Security Review Board orders his release from state hospital.
Dec. 29, 2016 – Files police complaint against
ex-wife Annita Harmon for credit card fraud.
Jan. 9, 2017 – Accused of kidnapping and killing Harmon, killing a motorist and injuring motorist’s wife, David and Jessica Bates of Vale.
April 17, 2017 – Scheduled to enter plea to
charges in Malheur County Circuit Court.

Anthony W. Montwheeler’s life was ripped
apart when he was 6. His
parents were divorcing in
1974 when his father took
his mother to Bend for dinner. After a night of drinking, Wayne Montwheeler
shot his wife, Linnie, in a
restaurant parking lot. With
her bleeding from a chest
wound, he loaded her into
his car and drove the 36
miles back to Prineville,
parking outside an all-night
café. He called the local
sheriff to report the shooting, and then sat in a café
booth with a friend until
police arrived and found
Linnie dead.
Tony Montwheeler and
his younger brother had
been left with a babysitter
that day. They went to live
with an aunt and uncle from
Halfway.
The father initially
raised an insanity defense
but later pleaded guilty
to manslaughter, serving
nearly three years in the Oregon State Penitentiary. He
later moved out of state and
died, according to relatives.
Jim Hildebrand Jr., a
cousin whose parents took
in the Montwheeler boys,
said Tony Montwheeler
joined the Marine Corps
out of high school but was
discharged early because of
an injury.
He then took a job in
1990 as a corrections officer at the Oregon State
Penitentiary – where his father had been incarcerated.
He moved to California
in 1991 and at some point
married Rosa Carrasco.
The events that led to
his insanity ruse in Oregon
started north of San Diego
in spring 1996. In March
of that year, Carrasco’s
sister told police Rosa was
missing and she feared her
husband had forced her to
go to Oregon, according to
police reports.
Two days later, Rosa
called her family to say
she was in North Powder, a
small town north of Baker
City. She got in touch with
the local police to assure
them that she was fine.
She was indeed with
Montwheeler and just a
month later he was holding
her at gunpoint in Baker
City.

First wife, son held
According to police
reports, Rosa planned to
leave her husband and take
their 3-year-old son to Texas. (They later divorced.)
When Montwheeler learned
of her imminent departure,
police reported, he forced
his wife into their pickup,
tying her with a strap to the
seatbelt. He then placed his
son and his .22-caliber rifle
on the front seat, police reports say.
Throughout that afternoon, Montwheeler threat-

Montwheeler: ‘I could still stay in
the group home and not have to
pay rent or anything like that.’
Board member: ‘On the state’s
dime?’
Montwheeler: ‘On the state’s
dime.’
– Testimony in last December’s
hearing before the state
Psychiatric Security Review Board
ened to kill his wife and
son, police said. After Rosa
freed herself, Montwheeler
holed up in their home with
his son, stepping out at one
point to set fire to the pickup truck.
Police finally talked him
into surrendering, in part by
agreeing to let him share a
pizza with his son at the police station. He was charged
with kidnapping, arson and
use of a dangerous weapon.
A psychiatrist who examined Montwheeler after his arrest concluded he
could be held responsible
for the crimes, according to
testimony last year before
the Security Review Board.
In his own testimony, in
December, Montwheeler
described what happened
next.
“The psychiatrist said
that I wasn’t crazy, there
was nothing wrong with
me,” he testified. “And
my attorney advised me to
keep that quiet and we’ll try
to get you another psychiatrist.”
After talking to his private investigator, he said,
he saw a choice: go the
state hospital or the lessfriendly confines of prison.
“And all I got to do is
make myself sound like
I’m crazy. And that’s the
route I took,” Montwheeler
testified.
Other witnesses at the
hearing cited records indicating Montwheeler was
“coached” on mental illness symptoms and had
been provided a reference
book about mental health
that described symptoms.
Neither his attorney nor
the private investigator on
his case could be found for
comment.
At the state hospital, he
told the board, he put on
an act for his first doctor,
reporting “that I was hearing my mother and hearing people that died when
I was in the Marine Corps
and stuff.”
“And all of that was not
true?” his attorney asked.
“Exactly,” Montwheeler
responded.
What sent Montwheeler
to the hospital was a second opinion in 1997 by
psychologist John B. Cochran, who, according to
testimony, found Montwheeler was mentally ill.
It’s not clear who retained
Cochran. Two years ago,
Cochran surrendered his
state license while under
investigation for professional misconduct in an
unrelated case. The state

licensing board found that
in 2008 he used obsolete
tests and misstated crucial
facts in evaluating whether
a suspect in custody posed
a risk to the community if
released.
With Cochran’s report
in hand, a Baker County
circuit judge ruled in late
1997 that Montwheeler
was guilty but insane. He
placed Montwheeler under
the supervision of the Security Review Board for 70
years – nearly three times
the usual commitment for
such felonies.
Besides avoiding what
was shaping up to be a seven-year prison term, Montwheeler later testified how
his con had cost taxpayers.
The government currently
pays $18,000 a month for
a single patient to stay in a
secure treatment facility.
“I could take and go and
work and I could still stay
in the group home and not
have to pay rent or anything
like that,” he testified in
December.
“Room and board?” a
board member asked.
“Room and board,” he
answered.
“On the state’s dime?”
he was asked.
“On the state’s dime.”
Officials said a day in
the state hospital costs the
public $860 – nine times
the cost of a day in prison.

The Idaho
compromise

He even crossed state
lines. He once asked for
permission to live in Idaho,
he testified, but was turned
down because he was required to live in Oregon.
He claimed the Security
Review Board worked out
a compromise, treating an
Ontario address as his official residence while letting
him live across the river in
Weiser.
“That’s how it was
worked out,” he said. “I
lived like that for many
years.”
The Security Review
Board declined to address
the claim, but records show
he did live in Idaho and
ran a business there. Montwheeler repeatedly got into
scrapes. He was accused of
auto theft in Union County
in 2003, grand theft in Idaho in 2004, and reckless
burning in Ontario in 2005.
The Security Review Board
returned him to the hospital
briefly in 2003 for evaluation but otherwise left him
in the community.
He married his second

wife, Katie Spring, in 2005
in Prairie City. They had
two children and later separated before divorcing in
2010.
That same year, he married for a third time. With
his new wife, Annita Harmon, Montwheeler ran a
scrap metal business in
Weiser, Idaho. A year later,
authorities investigated the
couple for stealing scrap
metal. They were indicted
in Grant County and convicted in 2012 of aggravated theft.
Montwheeler was still
under the jurisdiction of
the Security Review Board
for the 1996 kidnapping
case, but this time he was
incarcerated. He reported
in September 2012 to the
same prison where his father had been an inmate
and where he had worked
as a corrections officer. The
convictions of Montwheeler and his wife were vacated on appeal, but not before
he’d finished his sentence
in April 2014.
A month later, the Security Review Board ordered
Montwheeler back to the
state hospital.
He tried to get released
into the community in
2015, but said he didn’t like
what the Security Review
Board had planned for him.
The board wanted Montwheeler to stay in a secure facility. Montwheeler
wanted to live without the
tight restrictions. To him,
it felt like a step backward
from the comparative freedom of living on state hospital grounds in a cottage.
“That’s when I had
enough of it,” he said. He
told the medical staff he
had no mental illness, that
he had been faking it – malingering – for 20 years.
“I’ve been using the system,” Montwheeler testified. “I’m done.”
The staff dug in to evaluate his claim.
An internal review board
concluded in October 2016
that he wasn’t mentally ill
and hadn’t shown any signs
since he first said he was
hearing voices.
“Since his admission 19
years ago, Mr. Montwheeler has not displayed symptoms of mental disease or
defect,” the review board
concluded in recommending his release.

Diagnosis:
‘Self-reporting’

Dr. Mukesh Mittal, a
state psychiatrist, concluded the same thing after a meticulous review of
every medical record since
Montwheeler first showed
up on the Security Review
Board’s client list in 1996. 
Mittal explained that
Montwheeler’s treatment
as mentally ill could be
traced back to his “self-reporting” in 1996 of hearing
voices.
Cochran’s
report
“formed the basis of the diagnosis ever since,” Mittal
testified.
See Diagnosis, Page 7

 March 29, 2017 Vale, Oregon MALHEUR ENTERPRISE Page 7

Diagnosis
From Page 6

“And the diagnosis has
been carried over by different providers that have
cared for him over the last
20 years. However, that is
the only report that I have
found that mentions psychotic symptoms.”
Cochran said in a brief
telephone interview that he
didn’t remember the case.
State hospital officials
would not make any of the
treating doctors available,
citing patient confidentiality.
An incredulous Security Review Board member
asked another state psychiatrist, Dr. David Jobe:
“Is it simply that he’s been
here all this time because
he continues to endorse
symptoms he lied about for
20 years?”
“He didn’t endorse any
symptoms,” Jobe said,
meaning he showed none.
That’s when Hartman,
the state psychologist, testified that Montwheeler was
a threat.
Montwheeler’s attorney,
Harris Matarazzo of Portland, read into the record
parts of a state report about
Montwheeler that said “if
unsupervised in the community it is probable he
would engage in substantially dangerous behavior.”
He said Montwheeler had a
personality disorder, not a
mental illness.
“To the extent my client
may become dangerous, it’s
due to his personality disorder,” Matarazzo said. He
reminded the board it had
no jurisdiction over people
with personality disorders.
Lieber, the acting board
chair in December, told
Montwheeler he was being
discharged. She said, “I’m
just a little aghast” at what
she heard but that he was
getting a second chance.

‘I’m assuming someone in the
system might do a forensic look
at this and figure what the hell
happened.’
Kate Lieber, at Montwheeler’s final hearing before PSRB – a month before the
kidnap, stabbing and fatal crash
Montwheeler
apologized.
“I didn’t want to do
seven years in prison with
me being an ex-corrections
officer,” he told Lieber. “I
didn’t want to get shanked.”
Lieber cautioned Montwheeler.
“You can either screw it
up or you can do the right
thing,” Lieber said. “My
hope is you’ll do the right
thing. I am sincerely worried you won’t.”

January 9, 2017
Annita Harmon seemed
to be in good spirits, judging by her Facebook posts.
Divorced from Tony
Montwheeler
for
18
months, she was living
with her parents in Weiser
and working as a data clerk
at Dickinson Frozen Foods,
one of the area’s major employers.
As she readied to go to
work the morning of Jan. 9,
she traded messages with
the new man in her life.
“I’ll treat you like a
queen!!” he wrote her.
At 6:03 a.m., Harmon
replied: “Oh babe you already are.”
In less than an hour, she
was dead.
Sometime not long after
that last Facebook message,
sheriff’s deputies found
Harmon’s car running and
empty in the middle of a
road outside Weiser. Police
suspect that Montwheeler
stalked her, ran her off the
road, and forced her into

his pickup truck.
At 6:51 a.m., a clerk inside a service station convenience store in Ontario
frantically called police.
A man was stabbing a
woman in a pickup truck
outside. The killing held
eerie similarities to the
murder of Montwheeler’s
own mother.
As police responded, the
driver took off west out of
Ontario and onto a state
highway leading to the
countryside. Coming the
other way was David Bates,
38, and his wife, Jessica,
35, riding together on their
way to work at Ontario’s
hospital.
Pursued by police, the
speeding pickup truck
crossed into the Bates’
path. The impact crushed
the fronts of both vehicles
and sent them spinning off
the side of the highway,
coming to a stop 100 yards
apart.
David Bates died at the
scene. Police found Annita
Harmon’s body and later
determined she had died
of the stab wounds. Montwheeler and Jessica Bates
were hospitalized.
While law enforcement
officials have revealed no
motive, relatives who talked to Montwheeler in the
days before the killing say
they have a good idea what
happened.
Jim Hildebrand, the
cousin who grew up with
Montwheeler, said that after leaving the state hospi-

Board hires lawyer to
keep records secret
The Enterprise

The state Psychiatric
Security Review Board is
defying a state order that
it release public records to
the Malheur Enterprise and
intends to sue the weekly
newspaper to keep the records secret.
Such a suit would be
only the third time in the
past 30 years a state agency
has gone to court to keep its
records secret.
The state board wants to
keep confidential certain
records it used in deciding
last December to discharge
from state custody Anthony
W. Montwheeler, 49. Three
weeks after that decision,
police say Montwheeler
kidnapped and killed his
ex-wife and then killed a
Vale man and injured his
wife in a collision as he was
eluding police.
He has been under Security Review Board’s jurisdiction since 1996 after being found guilty but insane
in an earlier kidnapping
case. The board released
Montwheeler after learning
in December that he had
been faking his mental illness for 20 years.
The Enterprise sought
access to 15 of the 227
documents admitted as exhibits. The records included
recent risk assessments of
Montwheeler by state hospital officials.
Under the Oregon Public
Records Law, government
records generally are open
to the public. Exceptions
allow agencies to keep
some records confidential.
In a Feb. 6 letter to the
newspaper, Juliet Britton,
Security Review Board ex-

‘There is a strong
public interest in
understanding
and evaluating the
bases for PSRB’s
release decision.’
– Fred Boss, Deputy
Attorney General

ecutive director, said state
and federal law prohibited
the agency from releasing
the documents. She also
said that disclosing two
documents would “be an
unreasonable invasion of
a private citizen’s personal
privacy.”
She did release board
orders regarding Montwheeler and the audio recording of the Dec. 7 hearing. Montwheeler and state
professionals testified in
that open session about his
mental condition and treatment.
The Enterprise appealed
her decision to withhold records to Attorney General
Ellen Rosenblum, who has
the power under state law
to require state agencies to
release public documents.
Greg Roberts, superintendent of the Oregon
State Hospital, cautioned
Rosenblum in a Feb. 17 letter not to order the records
released. If she did, he said,
his staff might cut off information it gives the Security
Review Board. The board
relies on such information
in deciding how to handle
dangerous and mentally ill
people.

Roberts also said his
staff might change what
it enters in medical files
so patients would trust
their personal information
wouldn’t get out. He said
this could mean “watered
down” patient records.
“This is frankly dangerous,” Roberts wrote.
Rosenblum’s
office
subsequently said that the
newspaper was entitled to
the documents it requested.
The public records order issued March 15 and supplemented a week later said
there would be some redactions.
In the order, Deputy Attorney General Fred Boss
concluded the law didn’t
prohibit release of the records. He also rejected the
Security Review Board’s
claim that secrecy was
needed to protect Montwheeler’s privacy. He said
the Enterprise “has shown
by clear and convincing
evidence that the public interest requires disclosure.”
He said “that general
interest is magnified enormously by the specific facts
of this case” and that “there
is a strong public interest in
understanding and evaluating the bases for PSRB’s
release decision.”
Rather than comply, the
Security Review Board retained at public expense the
private law firm of Harrang
Long, which on March 22
notified the Enterprise to
expect to be sued to block
access to the state’s records.
The Security Review Board
last week couldn’t produce
a contract or any other record showing the cost of
hiring the outside lawyers.

tal, Montwheeler moved in
with his brother in Emmett,
Idaho. He told his cousin
that his ex-wife had opened
credit cards using his name
and ran up big debts.
Montwheeler gathered
up records he thought
showed fraud and went to
police to press for prosecution. He posted a photo of
himself outside the sheriff’s office after filing the
report.
“It’s done,” he wrote.
Whether police investigated couldn’t be immediately established.
Montwheeler told another relative that he had
dined with his ex-wife and
she asked that he drop the
charges. The relative said
the dinner was a week before the murder and Montwheeler described in the
days after growing upset
with his ex-wife’s text messages.
“He’s stable until he’s
pushed to a certain point,”
the relative said.
As news emerged of the
crime, the Security Review
Board released little about
its dealings with Montwheeler. Juliet Britton, the
board’s executive director,
told the Malheur Enterprise
in January she couldn’t release any information about
him.
She subsequently released the board’s orders
regarding Montwheeler and
the audio recording of the
December hearing, which
included intimate details
about Montwheeler’s treatment.
Since then, state officials
from the Security Review
Board and Oregon State
Hospital have gone silent,
declining to provide interviews or respond to written
questions about the case.
Britton did acknowledge
in an email last week that
the board has no practice
to warn the public when it

File/Submitted photo

David Bates died in the crash as he and his
wife, Jessica, were headed to their jobs at the
hospital in Ontario. The family tragedy sent
shock waves through the Vale community,
where he was known as a loving father and caring community member.
Below: A clerk at this Ontario gas station called
police to report a man stabbing a woman. Montwheeler’s ex-wife, Annita Harmon was found
dead in his truck after the crash.

discharges a person into the
community.
The 20-year con at the
state hospital did bother
Lieber, the review board
member who served as
chair last December.
“I’m assuming someone
in the system might do a
forensic look at this and
figure what the hell happened,” Lieber said at the
hearing.
Meantime, Montwheeler has recovered from his
injuries. Taxpayers paid

for his care, including hip
surgery that typically costs
$30,000. He is scheduled
to enter his plea April 17 in
criminal proceedings that
likely will stretch on for a
year or more.
His new attorney has already signaled Montwheeler will contest the charges.
His defense?
He was insane.
John Braese and Pat
Caldwell of the Enterprise
contributed to this report.

 FORE!

Check out the
egg hunts!

After a rough winter, Country
View tees up for spring golf

– Page 3

 

– Page 12

Crab haul feeds
a crowd
– Page 2

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

107th year, No. 26
City of Vale and Malheur County, Oregon

75¢

Gov halts lawsuit vs Enterprise

The Enterprise

SALEM – Under pressure
from Gov. Kate Brown, a state
agency Tuesday dropped its lawsuit against the Malheur Enterprise and will turn over public
records concerning accused murderer Anthony W. Montwheeler.
The contested records were to
be released late Tuesday.
The governor’s extraordinary
intercession came a day after
the weekly newspaper started
a $20,000 legal fund campaign
to defend itself against the suit
brought last week by the state
Psychiatric Security Review

Wear, tear
threaten
critical ag
siphon

Board. The state board wanted to
keep the public from seeing government records about the state’s
history with Montwheeler.
The state agency for 20 years
had jurisdiction over Montwheeler, 49, after he was declared guilty
except insane in the 1996 kidnapping of his wife and son. Last December, it found that Montwheeler had been faking mental illness
to avoid prison and ordered him
discharged. A month later, he was
charged in Malheur County with
aggravated murder, kidnapping
and assault for a Jan. 9 episode.
He is accused of kidnapping

and stabbing to death his ex-wife,
Annita Harmon, and killing a
Vale man, David Bates, and injuring his wife Jessica when he collided with their vehicle while he
was eluding police.
“Oregonians deserve a government that is transparent to the
fullest extent permitted by law,”
Brown said in a statement Tuesday. “No one requesting public
records should be at risk of being
sued by a state agency. I believe
that the public is best served by
bringing this matter to an end
now rather than afer a lengthy and
costly litigation.”

While the governor appoints
the 10 members of the Security
Review Board, she has no authority over its actions and couldn’t
legally force it to end the suit.
“We appreciate the governor
sparing the taxpayers and our
supporters a lengthy, costly legal
battle,” said Les Zaitz, Enterprise
publisher. “This has always been
a matter of holding the state accountable, not aimlessly wandering through private medical files.”
The Enterprise sought records
entered as exhibits at Montwheeler’s open hearing before the Security Review Board. The board

oversees about 500 people who
successfully asserted the insanity
defense against criminal charges.
Individuals remain under the
board’s control until their term
expires, they are judged no longer
mentally ill, or they are no longer
a threat.
The public documents requested by the newspaper included risk
assessments by the Oregon State
Hospital, where Montwheeler has
been confined off and on over 20
years. The newspaper also sought
assessments and reviews by the
hospital’s professional staff.
See Records, Page 7

In Jamieson, it’s definitely a …

The Enterprise/Pat
Caldwell

The 20th annual
Maag/Oft/Vallad
bull sale drew
spectators and
customers from
across the region.
The event not only
showcased prime
stock for sale but
also a free lunch
and plenty of conversation for those
who journeyed
to Jamieson in
March.

Soil conditions are
warping the big pipe
needed by irrigators
By Pat Caldwell
The Enterprise

NYSSA – Almost from the beginning there were signs one of
the region’s most iconic symbols
was in trouble and now the Malheur Siphon needs up to $2 million in repairs.
Time and soil elements induced damage to specific sections
of the 4.3-mile irrigation lifeline.
“We are fighting Mother Nature and what the soils are doing,”
said Jay Chamberlin, manager of
the Owyhee Irrigation District.
The siphon was finished in
1935 as part of the ambitious Owyhee Dam project. The familiar
tube furnishes 300 cubic feet of
water per second to agriculturists of the Owyhee Irrigation District in the northern section of the
county. That translates into about
2,244 gallons of water per second
– a rate that would fill a standard
swimming pool in about seven
seconds.
The siphon begins in the southern part of the valley and ends
north of the Malheur Butte. The
water in the siphon comes from
the Owyhee Dam. The siphon
moves water to fuel numerous irrigation canals and laterals in the
northern part of the county.
Chamberlin said the structure’s
legs are the issue. The soil where
the legs are lodged – specifically
near Malheur Butte and Foothill
Drive – consists of bentonite
clay. The soil swells and compresses each day as the temperature climbs or falls. That motion
forces the support legs to move,
sometimes as much as several
inches a day, which in turn stresses the big water, tube.
“That causes the pipe to be
misaligned and, literally, it has
kinked itself,” Chamberlin said.
If the problem isn’t fixed, the
pipe could fail and deprive farmers of needed water. The economic impact would be devastating,
Chamberlin said.
See Siphon, Page 6

BULL MARKET

By Pat Caldwell
The Enterprise

JAMIESON – Everyone goes to the bull
sale.
Or so it seems.
Men and women from as far away as Nevada and Washington – and many from right
here in Malheur County – converged recently
at the Maag/Oft/Vallad bull sale in Jamieson.
Pickups and cars and trucks with trailers
lined the gravel roadway at Bob and Mary
Ann Maag’s Angus Ranch for a mile or more
against a backdrop of corrals and loading
chutes.
The atmosphere resembled that of one
big barbecue but the feast prepared for sale

attendees was but the prologue to an event
where big money and a year’s worth of work
is at stake.
In a Roman-style arena packed with a
crowd lounging in school bus seats, firstclass Angus bulls drew bids with a nod, a
twitch of a finger or a raised hand.
Within a few minutes, thousands of dollars transacted as the auctioneer – situated
above and behind the arena - delivered a fast
dialogue of prices.
The bull sale isn’t really an event but a relaxed yet serious experience highlighted by
a free banquet of certified Angus tri-tip beef,
salad, baked beans and desert.
“This is my paycheck for the year,” said

Deanne Vallad, one of the organizers of the
event, said.
The annual bull sale is the effort of Bob
and Mary Ann Maag; Terry and Susan Oft
and Vallad and her husband, Jason.
“I haven’t slept in a week,” Vallad joked
as she rushed from one errand to another.
“You wonder if your bulls will make all the
grades and cuts.”
Grades and cuts and a host of other statistics – many of them as minute and complicated as batting averages in pro baseball– are
the heart of the bull sale. Yet it is big cash
payouts that put the exclamation mark on the
sale.
See Bull sale, Page 6

Two injured in ATV-semi collision
A Life Flight air
ambulance lifts off
from a stretch of U.S.
Highway 20 near
Harper Saturday afternoon after a semitruck and an ATV
collided.
The driver of the
truck suffered minor
injuries while the
ATV driver was seriously injured and
airlifted to a Boise
hospital.
See story on Page 6.
The Enterprise/John L. Braese

 April 5, 2017 Vale, Oregon MALHEUR ENTERPRISE Page 7

Deadly Decisions: Editor’s Note:
Family of victim The lawsuit: Where we go from here
responds
By Les Zaitz and Scotta Callister
The Enterprise

The Enterprise

The family of Annita Harmon, who was stabbed
to death in the Montwheeler incident, responded last
week to the incident and the Enterprise’s March 29
watchdog report on the case.
Following are excerpts from the story with comments from Harmon’s sister, Stacey Harmon-Roeber,
who had previously declined to speak about the incident with the newspaper but offered this perspective
after seeing last week’s article. For the full version,
visit www.malheurenterprise.com.
• “Jim Hildebrand, the cousin who grew up with
Montwheeler, said that after leaving the state hospital,
Montwheeler moved in with his brother in Emmett,
Idaho. He told his cousin that his ex-wife had opened
credit cards using his name and ran up big debts.”
Family: Mr. Montwheeler was released not even
three weeks before kidnapping and murdering Annita.
Mr. Montwheeler has proven himself to be a con, a liar,
a thief and a violent man.  Annita had walked away
from him and did not open credit cards and use them
for self gain.  She lived with her parents, she drove a
vehicle that operated on a whisper and a prayer, she
lived from pay-check to pay-check and with the help
of her family. 
Annita had NO criminal history before or after her
marriage to Mr. Montwheeler.  The reason her conviction was vacated was because information came to light
that proved she had no knowledge of the fraud Mr. Montwheeler perpetuated on his clients.  She was partner in
name only, he used her name and credit to fund the
business and equipment. 
• “Montwheeler gathered up records he thought
showed fraud and went to police to press for prosecution. He posted a photo of himself outside the sheriff’s
office after filing the report.
‘It’s done,’ he wrote. Whether police investigated
couldn’t be immediately established.”
Family: This is something that needs to be verified
as a truth.  The last week of her life Annita was in fear
of him and angered by his stalking behavior, including
getting hired on where she worked and his aggressive
actions at that place of work.
Mr. Montwheeler was doing everything he could to
push her buttons, including making false accusations
about her on social media.  Annita was never contacted
by authorities with regard to the above information.
Our family counseled Annita to keep to herself and file
for a restraining order, which she was in the process of. 
• “Montwheeler told another relative that he had
dined with his ex-wife and she asked that he drop the
charges. The relative said the dinner was a week before
the murder and Montwheeler described in the days after growing upset with his ex-wife’s text messages.”
Family: Not true, Annita was working evenings the
weeks before her murder. The week before was our father’s birthday and we arrived in town for a week plus
visit.  Annita was with us or at work during that time.
Again, Mr. Montwheeler lied.
• “He’s stable until he’s pushed to a certain point,”
the relative said.”
Family: Clearly, he is not stable … his own words
prove it true, his own actions prove it true.  Even if Annita had done what his cousin said Mr. Montwheeler
accused her of, that is NO provocation for murder.  To
even suggest that Annita is responsible in some small
way for Mr. Montwheeler’s terrorizing and murderous
actions is beyond ridiculous!
– Stacey Harmon-Roeber

At the Enterprise, our goal is to defend your right to public information.
We were stunned last week to find
ourselves facing a lawsuit from a state
agency aimed at blunting that right.
As this week’s Page 1 story explains, the Oregon Psychiatric Security Review Board sued the Malheur
Enterprise last week to keep it from
gaining access to public records.
The records relate to the state management of Anthony W. Montwheeler,
who is charged with the deaths of two
people after his release from state supervision and despite his admission
that he feigned mental illness for 20
years to stay out of prison.
How did we get here?
The Malheur Enterprise learned
after the deadly January incident that
Montwheeler had been under the jurisdiction of the Security Review
Board. The board turned over its orders and a recording of a crucial hearing from last December that led to
Montwheeler’s release but declined
to release 15 records. The documents
included risk assessments of Montwheeler by professionals at the Oregon State Hospital.
Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum’s office considered the newspaper’s challenge to that denial. Her
office concluded no law prohibited
disclosure of the records and that
there was significant public interest
in them. The Security Review Board

Records
From Page 1

The Security Review
Board claimed the records
couldn’t be released, but
Attorney General Ellen
Rosenblum’s office on
March 15 said otherwise.
Rosenblum’s office ordered
the records be turned over
to the Enterprise, allowing
for limited redactions.
Instead of complying,
the Security Review Board
hired outside attorneys to
defy the order. Under the
Oregon Public Records
Law, the Security Review
Board had to sue the requester – the Enterprise
– and not the attorney general.
After the suit was filed,
Zaitz noted that the Valebased newspaper is a small,
family-run enterprise.
“We can’t hope to
match the Security Review
Board’s ability to tap its

IRONSIDE RURAL ROAD DISTRICT MEETING
The Ironside Rural Road District #5 has regular monthly meetings the second Tuesday
of every month at the road shop building starting at 5 p.m.
Publish date: April 5, 2017
Notice to Interested Persons
In the County Court of the State of Oregon for the County of Malheur
In the Matter of the Estate of David W. Morris  
Case No. 5973.
Notice is hereby given that Dena A. Cummings and Jennifer L. Gonzales have been
appointed Personal Representatives of the above estate. All persons having claims against
the estate are required to present them to the Personal Representatives at the office of their
attorneys, Butler & Looney, P.C., 292 Main St. South, P.O. Box 430, Vale, Oregon 97918,
within four months after the date of first publication of this Notice, or they may be barred.
All persons whose rights may be affected by this proceeding may obtain additional information from the records of the Court, the Personal Representatives, or the attorneys for
the Personal Representatives. DATED and first published March 22, 2017.
Publish Dates: March 22, 29 and April 5, 2017.
NOTICE OF BUDGET COMMITTEE MEETING
A public meeting of the Budget Committee of the Malheur Education Service District
Region 14, Malheur County, State of Oregon, to discuss the budget for the fiscal year July
1, 2017 to June 30, 2018, will be held at Malheur ESD Office, 363 A St. W, Vale, OR.
The meeting will take place on April 18, 2017 at 6:00 p.m. The purpose of the meeting
is to receive the budget message and to receive comment from the public on the budget.
A copy of the budget document may be inspected or obtained on or after April 12, 2017
at Malheur ESD Office, 363 A St. W, Vale, OR, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 3:30
p.m. This is a public meeting where deliberation of the Budget Committee will take
place. Any person may appear at the meeting and discuss the proposed programs with
the Budget Committee. This notice is also posted online at http://www.malesd.k12.or.us/.
Publish Date: April 5, 2017
Oregon Telephone Corp.
As mandated by the Federal Communications Commission, effective with your April
2017 statement the Federal Universal Service Charge (FUSC) will increase from 16.7%
to 17.4%
The FUSC amount is calculated by multiplying the FCC’s universal service contribution factor times your interstate service charges. The federal Universal services fund
program is designed to help keep local tel-ephone rates affordable for all customers, in all
areas of the United States.
Publish dates: April 5 and April 12, 2017

was ordered to release the records
with some redactions.
Instead, the board sued the Enterprise in Marion County Circuit Court,
raising many of the claims considered
and rejected by Rosenblum’s office.
The lawsuit was extraordinary because it was only the third time in 30
years a state agency has defied an attorney general’s order to disclose records.
The Security Review Board hired
private attorneys for the case, at a cost
of $400 an hour for the lead lawyer.
As a tiny newspaper and a small
business, the Enterprise can’t match
that kind of legal firepower from its
own pockets. Few newsrooms these
days can afford the costs of fighting
government secrecy if agencies are allowed to flaunt the public records laws
and hide behind high-priced lawyers.
To defend ourselves – and the public’s right to know – we took steps to
create the Enterprise Defense Fund.
Our goal was to raise $20,000 in 30
days to fight the state lawsuit. We
pledged to tap the fund, set up through
the Oregon Newspaper Foundation,
solely for legal costs in this case, with
absolutely none of the money going
toward operation of the newspaper.
Any excess contributions would be
donated to a nonprofit journalism organization to help in similar challenges to freedom of the press.
However, with the governor’s intervention, it appears the lawsuit is
over and the need for our legal de-

fense fund is resolved. We haven’t
had time yet to process the return of
contributions already sent in, but will
do so promptly.
What next?
This case was really not about
the Malheur Enterprise. It was about
holding accountable people who run
government. In this case, a state board
was trying to keep secret public records that will document what state
officials knew about Anthony Montwheeler and what they did with that
knowledge. Were their decisions reasonable?
We intend to find answers to that
question – and to continue to press
for your right to public information in
this and other cases.
We also will continue to wage a
campaign for public awareness about
similar threats to public information
and transparency in government. You
deserve to know how officials are
conducting public business.
Above all, we want to thank all the
people in Malheur County and well
beyond our borders who spoke in opposition to the flaunting of the Department of Justice’s public records ruling
and the lawsuit. Your support and
encouragement were a welcome sign
that a free press and government accountability remain valued assets for
our community and nation.
Les Zaitz is editor and publisher
of the Enterprise, les@malheurenterprise.com. His wife, Scotta Callister,
is former publisher of the Enterprise.

‘No one requesting public records should be
at risk of being sued by a state agency.’
Gov. Kate Brown,

Regarding the lawsuit against Enterprise

taxpayer-provided budget,”
Zaitz said. “We have only
sought the truth from the
Security Review Board,
and our request for a handful of records was meant
to serve the public interest.
We will not be steamrolled
by a state agency. We will
find a way to defend ourselves and serve that public
interest.”
On Monday, the newspaper opened an effort to
raise a legal defense fund.
The newspaper retained
Portland attorney Duane
Bosworth of Davis Wright
Tremaine to answer the
state’s lawsuit.
Pledges started rolling in
immediately, ranging from
a $10 commitment from a
Seattle man to $1,000 from
a Salem business owner.
Pledges came from across
the country.
“The state of Oregon
should not be trying to financially squeeze you for
doing your job,” one supporter wrote in a social
media post. “Freedom of
the press implies not using
state resources to bankrupt
you for researching a legiti-

mate news story.”
In its 11-page complaint
filed in Marion County Circuit Court March 29, the
Security Review Board
asserted that releasing the
records “immediately and
unreasonably will invade
the privacy of Anthony
Montwheeler as a patient
of the state hospital.”
The agency said in its
complaint that state law
prohibits disclosure of records the Security Review
Board received from the
state hospital, the doctorpatient privilege applies,
and releasing the records
would invade Montwheeler’s privacy.
The Security Review
Board said there was no
“clear and convincing evidence” that disclosure of
Montwheeler’s medical records was justified.
Rosenblum’s
office
had ruled otherwise. Her
deputy, Fred Boss, said in
a March 21 letter that the
Enterprise “has shown by
clear and convincing evidence that the public interest requires disclosure.”
The letter continued,

“Mr. Montwheeler is accused of committing serious crimes – including
killing two people, and
seriously injuring a third
– a few short weeks after
his discharge. Under the
circumstances, there is a
strong public interest in
understanding and evaluating the bases for PSRB’s
release decision.”
Boss also said that
“Montwheeler’s testimony
that he was under PSRB’s
jurisdiction for nearly 20
years, despite never suffering from actual mental
disease, in order to enjoy
perceived benefits of that
status, raises an issue of
significant public interest.”
Kate Lieber, Security
Review Board member,
said at the December hearing after the decision was
made to release Montwheeler: “I’m assuming
somebody in the system
might do a forensic look at
this and figure out what the
hell happened.”
Officials at the Security
Review Board and Oregon
State Hospital have declined to say whether such
a review was initiated.
See continuing coverage and the full text of Gov.
Brown’s press release at
www.malheurenterprise.
com.

2nd NOTICE OF BUDGET COMMITTEE MEETING
Public Hearing Notice
A public meeting of the Budget Committee of the City of Nyssa, Malheur County,
State of Oregon, to discuss the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2017 to June
30, 2018 , will be held at Nyssa City Council Chambers, 14 S 3rd St. Nyssa, OR. The
meeting will take place on the 18th day of April 2017 at 7:00pm. The purpose of the
meeting is to receive the budget message, uses of State Revenue Sharing funds and to
receive comment from the public on the budget. A copy of the proposed budget document
may be inspected or obtained on or after April 18th 2017 at City Hall 301 Main Street,
between the hours of 9:00am and 4:00pm. This is a public meeting where deliberation of
the Budget Committee will take place. Any person may appear at the meeting and discuss
the proposed programs with the Budget Committee.
Written comments may be submitted to City Hall, 301 Main St., Nyssa, OR 97913,
prior to 4pm Monday, April 18th, 2017. For additional information please contact Amy
Harlan, City Finance at (541) 372-2264.
Publish Date: April 5, 2017
Notice to Interested Persons
In the County Court of the State of Oregon for the County of Malheur.
In the Matter of the Estate of NADENE M. GARNER FOSTER  
Case No. 5976.
Notice is hereby given that Dion L. Garner has been appointed Personal Representative of the above estate. All persons having claims against the estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative at the office of his attorneys, Butler & Looney,
P.C., 292 Main St. South, P.O. Box 430, Vale, Oregon 97918, within four months after the
date of first publication of this Notice, or they may be barred. All persons whose rights
may be affected by this proceeding may obtain additional information from the records of
the Court, the Personal Representative, or the attorneys for the Personal Representative.
DATED and first published April 5, 2017.
Publish Dates April 5, 12 and 19, 2017.

 Vale baseball

Chickens,
moonshine in the
news in 1923

Cairo loves
chili!

Viks drop league twin bill
against Eagles

– History, Page B5

 

– Page A2

– Section B

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

107th year, No. 27
City of Vale and Malheur County, Oregon

16 Pages, 2 Sections

75¢

Anthony Montwheeler

Hospital suspected illness faked
By Les Zaitz
The Enterprise

VALE — State doctors suspected nearly 20 years ago that
Anthony W. Montwheeler was
feigning mental illness to avoid
prison, newly disclosed records
show.
The records, a portion of state
files on Montwheeler, give no
indication that officials acted on
that suspicion until Montwheeler
admitted his ruse two years ago.
Montwheeler, 49, told doctors
that he hoped his ploy would get
him in and out of the Oregon State
Hospital in six months, sparing

him at least seven years in prison.
Instead, he remained under
the jurisdiction of the state Psychiatric Security Review Board,
including years in custody at the
state hospital, from 1997 until last
December.
That’s when the board released
Montwheeler, concluding he was
no longer mentally ill and despite
warnings that he was a danger to
the community. He was subsequently indicted for kidnapping
and stabbing to death his fourth
ex-wife and killing a Vale man
and injuring the man’s wife while
fleeing from police Jan. 9. He is

scheduled
to plead to
the charges
next week
in Malheur
County Circuit Court.
The records
don’t
Montwheeler
fully explain
how a man with a high school education could for decades maintain
a façade of mental illness before
a series of psychiatrists and psychologists. They do show medical professionals considered him
potentially dangerous and warned

he needed close supervision if released into the community.
The Security Review Board,
however, said it had no authority
to impose supervision or any limits on Montwheeler when he was
freed in December.
Officials at the Security Review Board and the Oregon State
Hospital have declined to discuss
Montwheeler, citing patient confidentiality.
But the documents chronicle
the struggle of medical professionals treating Montwheeler as
mentally ill when he exhibited
no symptoms. In some instances,

they gave him the wrong medications and at the wrong dosages.
Professionals at the state hospital subsequently concluded that
Montwheeler wasn’t ill and had
been “improperly” put under the
control of the Security Review
Board, according to the state documents.
Those documents also provide
a deeper profile of Montwheeler,
who grew up in eastern Oregon.
While at the state hospital, he was
caught loan sharking, lending
money to other patients.
See Records, Page A7

Maret pledge: wise city spending School

project
costs
climb

By Pat Caldwell
The Enterprise

NYSSA — When Jim Maret
walked into Nyssa City Hall last
week to start his first day as city
manager, he realized that life had
changed.
“Now I have to put some big
shoes on here and just go,” he
said. Maret, who was the Nyssa
ordinance officer, stepped into
the top city job April 3.
He will manage 21 employees and a city with a budget of
about $12 million. Maret replaces Roberta Vanderwall, now the
Lakeview city manager.
He said his first day on the job
went by fast.
“That first day was full of
stuff. A lot of phone calls. I talked to the staff, visited with them
to find out what some of their
wants, goals, needs and concerns
were,” he said. The new job requires transition, he said.
“For me, the most difficult
part is going from working basically out of a patrol car outside
to mostly inside in an office. I
am not used to being inside all
the time,” he said.
Maret is no stranger to management. He worked for Les
Schwab for more than 25 years,
including management roles at
the Nyssa store and the Emmett
tire facility. He said he’s back in
a job managing people.
“This is actually more of my
forte to what I was doing before
(at Les Schwab),” he said.
Maret, who grew up in Hermiston and has lived in Nyssa since
2005, said he is also fortunate to
take over the city manager for
another reason.
See Maret, Page A7

By John L. Braese
The Enterprise

The Enterprise/Pat Caldwell

Jim Maret, the former Nyssa Police Department ordinance officer, stepped into the city
manager position April 3. Maret, who has lived in Nyssa since 2005, will now manage
about 21 employees and a budget of $12 million. He said he is pleased to be the city
manager and is looking forward to the future.

NYSSA — Higher construction costs are forcing Nyssa and
Vale school districts to modify
plans for new middle schools to
keep in budget.
Both districts are looking at
blueprints and making the tough
decisions on what to leave out of
the new buildings.
Nyssa voters approved a bond
for a new middle school in May.
Vale voters did the same in November.
Rising costs were no surprise
to Adrian school officials, who
are under construction already on
a new gym.
Adrian voters supported a
bond for the gym, but costs came
in $200,000 higher. Because of
an anonymous donor, crews are
today on the site and plans are in
place for the new facility to open
in the fall.
Plans for the new Vale Middle
School look good, according to
Vale Superintendent Scott Linenberger.
“We are looking at blueprints
and deciding what is needed,”
said Linenberger.
The district is moving
$500,000 into reserve that was
intended for other school projects.
See Costs, Page A7

Water project is going under the river
By John L. Braese
The Enterprise

VALE — When your water
supply is on one side of the river
and your customers are on the
opposite side, the answer to the
problem is to bore under the river.
That is what is occurring this
week as the first phase of Vale’s
new water system takes place.
A specialized machine will
drill down and make a turn to
make way for a 14-inch pipe to be
installed under the Malheur River
near the rodeo grounds.
The pipe will connect the water supply on the hill to the main

water main located at the rodeo
grounds.
The new pipe is the first phase
an $8.1 million project to reduce
arsenic in Vale’s water system
and add a pressure station.
“Right now, we have an 8-inch
pipe that needs to be updated,”
said Vale City Manager Lynn
Findley. “We are increasing the
size of the pipe for both pressure
and fire flow. With one fire hydrant turned on currently, there is
not enough pressure to serve parts
of Vale.”
The project was halted briefly
due to an archeological issue.
A survey turned up shards of
glass along the pipeline route,
triggering a review to make sure
a cultural site wasn’t being dis-

turbed. It wasn’t.
“We believe it was someone’s
old bottle thrown out,” Findley
said. “It was not antique.”
Once drilled, 543 feet of PVC
weld-able pipe will run 20 feet
beneath the bed of the Malheur
River.
The pipe is the first phase of
updating the city’s water system
and bringing it into compliance
with new federal regulations regarding arsenic.
Bids for building an arsenic
treatment plant are scheduled to
be opened this month.
The Enterprise/John L. Braese

Have a news tip? Email new@
malheurenterprise or call John L.
Braese at 541-473-3377.

Crews are on site working on the first phase of the Vale
water project. With the progress made, the tunneling under
the Malheur River is expected to begin Monday.

 April 12, 2017 Vale, Oregon MALHEUR ENTERPRISE Sec. A, Page 7

Records

‘There is an increased risk of aggressive
behavior towards others during times when he
experiences interpersonal conflict’

From Page A1

When released into the
community, he twice set
fire to his property to claim
insurance and engaged in
money laundering, the reports show.
With Montwheeler, the
public is getting a rare
glimpse into how the state
handles someone who successfully asserts an insanity
defense to criminal charges.
The Security Review Board
historically has maintained
that its files are confidential
and not open to the public.
The board pressed that
point after the Enterprise
sought 15 of 227 exhibits
the board relied on for its
December decision.
The board sued the
newspaper to defy an order
from Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum’s office to
turn over the documents.
The board relented under pressure last week from
Gov. Kate Brown, dropping
the suit and releasing 125
pages of material, including doctor’s notes, risk reviews, and violence assessments.
Juliet Britton, Security
Review Board executive
director, said last week her
agency is now processing
another 600 pages from its
Montwheeler file for public
release.
Montwheeler ended up
in state jurisdiction after a
1996 standoff with police
in Baker City.
Police reports say Montwheeler kidnapped his
then-wife and 3-year-old
son, threatening to kill
them and himself.
After his arrest, the state
records show, a state psychiatrist concluded Montwheeler was mentally fit to
stand trial.
Montwheeler’s attorney
retained Salem psychiatrist
John Cochran to provide a
second opinion.
Cochran recounted how
Montwheeler was raised by
an aunt and uncle in Halfway after his mother was
murdered by his father in
1974. He married in Guam
while in the Marine Corps,
a marriage he said lasted
just weeks.
It was a pending separation from his second wife
that led to the Baker City
standoff.
Cochran said Montwheeler “does meet the test
for being guilty except for
insanity” and that he “does

— State hospital report
on Anthony Montwheeler

Excerpts from state records (highlights added) show issues with Anthony W. Montwheeler, facing aggravated murder, kidnapping and assault
charges in Malheur County. The records are from the state Psychiatric
Security Review Board.
not appear to be malingering.”
In his April 30, 1997,
evaluation, Cochran noted
Montwheeler’s statements
that he heard voices, including that of his murdered
mother and of a friend he
said he watched die in the
Marine Corps. (Contacted
recently, Cochran said he
did not recall the case.)
Montwheeler testified
last December none of that
was true.
The recently released records quote Montwheeler’s
statements explaining how,
he said, his attorney orchestrated that second opinion,
which was relied on by a
state judge to put Montwheeler under the Security
Review Board.
“He said his defense attorney had an assessment
done because ‘she said the
state hospital is safer than
going to prison.’ Mr. Montwheeler said that the first
assessment ‘said there is
nothing wrong with me.’
Then his attorney told him
not to worry because she
would find another psychologist,” according to an

Oct. 26, 2015, memo by a
social worker.
State hospital employees said Montwheeler told
them his attorney gave him
a medical reference book
and “coached him well on
how to act if he had a mental illness,” according to a
risk review dated last Oct.
25.
Montwheeler said his attorney told him he would
be out of the state hospital
in six months instead of
facing seven years in prison.The attorney didn’t respond to written questions
mailed to addresses on file
with the state bar.
A state psychiatrist wrote
in December 1997 that
Montwheeler remained a
danger because he couldn’t
explain the kidnapping.
Dr. Charles Faulk said
there was a “reasonable
medical probability that the
patient may have simulated
symptoms in order to avoid
the prison system,” according to his report.
Faulk said there were
no symptoms of mental illness, making it “difficult,
if impossible, to find just

what and how to treat.”
The Security Review
Board had that report at a
January 1998 hearing involving Montwheeler, its
records show.
Seven years later, another psychiatrist wrote that
Montwheeler’s “unusual
course of illness does open
the possibility of malingering.” That report contains
no recommendation to act
on that possibility.
By 2016, hospital professionals concluded Montwheeler wasn’t bipolar as
diagnosed.
A hospital psychologist
wrote in July 15, 2016, that
Montwheeler “repeatedly”
asserted that he wasn’t
mentally ill.
“This is consistent with
the opinion of multiple
members of his treatment
team,” the psychologist
wrote. A hospital risk review team report last October said that Montwheeler
was “misdiagnosed with
bipolar disorder and had
never received appropriate
treatment for bipolar disorder.”
Dr. Mukesh Mittal, a

hospital psychiatrist, separately said in patient progress notes dated last Nov.
8 that Montwheeler’s biopolar diagnosis “has not
been validated in a clinical
setting.”
Still, medical professionals treated Montwheeler for
years, the records show.
At one time, he was prescribed medication that, according to hospital records,
“is not a recognized treatment for bipolar disorder.”
A state psychologist in
a violence risk assessment
said Montwheeler had been
given “excessive” services.
“The main service need
being met by the hospital
is containment,” wrote Dr.
Brian Hartman.
Montwheeler was confined to the state hospital
from 1997 until 2002. He
returned to eastern Oregon,
where he arrested for a series of crimes and sent to
state prison in 2012.
After he finished his
sentence in 2014, state officials returned him to the
state hospital, where he
stayed until his release last
December.
He proved a challenging
patient, according to hospital records.
A December 2015 hospital report said Montwheeler
was loan sharking.
“He ran a store out of
his room charging 100 percent interest for items,” the
report said. “He also ran a
business and charged for
computer parts with significant markups.”
He was given passes
to leave hospital grounds,
but refused group therapy.
Instead, he joined “leisure
groups” for bowling and
fishing.
He also was “defiant towards a particular nurse.”
The hospital records
maintained a mixed assessment of Montwheeler’s risk
of violence.
State hospital officials
in 2014 assessed moving
Montwheeler into the community, a social worker reporting that he was not “an
imminent danger to himself
or others.”
The social worker said
Malheur County “would
not be a good fit” because
of his past criminal conduct
and relationships.

Maret

Costs

Both
Nyssa
Police
Chief Ray Rau and Vale
City Manager Lynn Findley filled in while the city
council sought a full-time
person and their work
helped.
“I made sure Ray stayed
on as assistant city manager
and Lynn has helped me a
ton,” Maret said.
His job presents many
responsibilities, he said.
“I make sure that the
projects within the city are
on the timeline they are
supposed to be on,” he said.
Maret also must make
sure the daily functions of
the city – such as garbage
collection or ordinance enforcement – are completed.
He must also ensure he
communicates effectively
with the city council and
residents he said.
“You have to be available to the public,” he said.
Finally, he works as a
cheerleader for Nyssa.
“You are also promoting
the city outside of its own
citizens to try to get more
citizens,” he said.
Maret said using taxpayer money wisely is a goal
of his.
“We have to make sure
the taxpayers get every-

The reserve will pay
for unanticipated costs
of the new school.
Vale voters will begin
to see action on other
school
improvement
projects as soon as the
students leave the classroom.
“We are in the process
of obtaining bids for
roofing on the schools
in the district,” Linenberger said. “That is our
main priority currently.
We will then look at the
projects dealing with
safety and security in the
schools.”
Linenberger has met
with the public and educators obtaining ideas on
the new middle school.
The
new
Nyssa
Middle School is a few
months ahead of Vale as
the bond was passed last
May.
“We are having to rework our plans because
several of the areas were
bid higher than expected,” said Nyssa Superintendent Jana Iverson.
In a meeting Monday,
the committee overseeing construction looked
at a number of items.
“We are making some

From Page A1

From Page A1

The Enterprise/Pat Caldwell

Jim Maret, the new Nyssa City Manager, believes being a good steward of
taxpayer dollars is vital to be successful.
thing they can out of that
dollar they are spending. It
is a big responsibility and I
take it seriously,” he said.
Maret also was involved
in the police department’s
reserve officer program and
sold real estate, jobs that
get shelved for now.

Maret has been involved
with Nyssa Chamber of
Commerce and the city
planning commission He
believes residents need to
support local merchants.
“If you live in a small
town, you need to shop
in a small town. Maybe

the costs are a little more,
though I think our stores
are pretty competitive, but
you need to support your
community,” he said.
Have a news tip? Email
news@malheurenterprise.
com or call Pat Caldwell at
541-473-3377.

He remained a risk to
become violent, the reports
show.
“The patient’s most
likely victims of violence
would be his family or active crime victims,” according to a 2014 violence
risk assessment.
A year later, Montwheeler was reported telling a state hospital worker
he was “ready to get out of
here.”
He would later testify he
admitted his ruse in frustration when hospital officials
proposed releasing him
but only to another secure
treatment home.
A treatment care plan
dated Aug. 7, 2015, advised
that Montwheeler needed
to deal with frustrations so
he didn’t “go off on people” in the community.
“There is an increased
risk of aggressive behavior
towards others during times
when he experiences interpersonal conflict,” the care
plan said.
A Dec. 23, 2015, hospital report said that Montwheeler showed no threat
of violence but said he had
a record at the hospital of
“assaultive behavior” that
included playing volleyball
“with intent to hurt others.”
The December hospital report said if released
into the community, Montwheeler would need “close
monitoring,” “close supervision,” and a “structured
environment.”
By late 2016, hospital
professionals
concluded
that Montwheeler was no
longer mentally ill and recommended his discharge.
The Security Review
Board accepted the recommendation after witnesses
testified that if Montwheeler was a risk, it was because
of a personality disorder
over which the board had
no jurisdiction.
Three weeks after his
release, Montwheeler told
relatives he had discovered
credit card fraud by his
fourth ex-wife, Annita Harmon (Harmon’s family denies this). He took his complaints to police, he said.
Eleven days later, police
say, he kidnapped Harmon
outside the Idaho town of
Weiser in a start to events
that led to her death.

‘We are basically
looking at needs
versus wants right
now’

— Luke Cleaver, Nyssa
Middle School principal

minor modifications and
talking to some of the
contractors to see where
costs can be cut,” said
Luke Cleaver, middle
school principal.
Cleaver said the size
of the new school won’t
change.
“We are basically
looking at needs versus
wants right now,” said
Cleaver. “We may make
some changes to some
landscaping and things
like that.”
The good news for
students in Nyssa is the
doors are expected to
open on schedule the
first day of school in
2018.
“We are proceeding as
planned as far as the time
frame goes,” said Inverson. “We have completed the first round of
value engineering which
has saved $800,000.”
News tip? Email
us
at
news@
malheurenterprise
or
call John L. Braese at
541-473-3377.

 April 19, 2017 Vale, Oregon MALHEUR ENTERPRISE Page 7

State wants to close files
By Les Zaitz
The Enterprise

Submitted photo

A graceful heron stands amid the greenery at
the Hikaru Mizu Garden at Four Rivers Cultural
Center. The garden will take centerstage this
weekend during a celebration and volunteer
work party to mark Arbor Day.

Garden event scheduled
to celebrate Arbor Day
The Enterprise

ONTARIO – Garden
lovers can get a jump on
Arbor Day with a day of
projects and fun Saturday,
April 22, at the Japanese
Garden at Four Rivers Cultural Center in Ontario.
From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.,
the garden committee will
be on hand to talk about the
plans for growing the garden.
People are invited to
visit or bring their garden
gloves and volunteer some
time edging, weeding,
planting new plants, setting
drip sprinklers and more.
During the event, garden curator Mike Miller
will present the history of a
Japanese Garden. 
The Hikaru Mizu garden

Plea

From Page A1
For the next 40 minutes,
he never looked up.
And he didn’t enter a
plea. That proceeding was
set over until June 20.
Instead, Falls said he
would seek a change of
venue, ask that Malheur
County’s two circuit judges
be taken off Montwheeler’s
case and that the state Justice Department be barred
from participating.
Malheur County Circuit
Judge Erin Landis took no
action on Falls’ statements.
Falls supplemented his
courtroom with new filings
outlining his objections. He
said Montwheeler couldn’t
be fairly tried in Malheur
County “because of the excessive and inaccurate pretrial publicity.”
He said Landis and
Circuit Judge Lung Hung
would be disqualified
from the case if they were

is the second largest Japanese garden in Oregon.
Over the past three
years, the garden has been
expanded with more plantings, pond refurbishment
and paving of walkways.
The committee has developed a 12-month plan for
additional
development
and improvements at the
garden.
Admission to the garden
is free.
The committee is seeking donations to help purchase dozens of new plants,
including boxwood, blueberry bushes, serviceberry
trees, dwarf pines and
more. For information on
how to help, contact the
Four Rivers Cultural Center, 541-889-8191.

involved in prosecuting
Montwheeler in 2005 for
reckless burning. He said
Landis also had approved
search warrants used by
police to gather evidence.
Falls also said the Justice Department shouldn’t
be involved in prosecuting
Montwheeler. State prosecutors often participate in
major criminal cases in rural counties.
The filing noted the Justice Department had issued
a public records order to
disclose some of Montwheeler’s medical records
to the Malheur Enterprise
and advised the state Psychiatric Security Review
Board, which had jurisdiction over Montwheeler.
Falls wrote that it would
be “unethical” for state attorneys to prosecute Montwheeler. “The Oregon attorney general’s office has
already worn too many hats
in this case,” Falls wrote.
Malheur County District

Forum

From Page A1
“Many of these candidates eventually
go on to state or national positions, so this
is a chance for voters to decide who may be
their next state senator,” said Turrill. “This
is beginning the hiring process for them.”
In the areas the league holds forums,

SALEM — Legislation
rushed through a House
committee last week
would keep the public
from seeing state records
such as those recently released concerning accused
killer Anthony W. Montwheeler.
House Bill 2836 would
revise the Oregon Public
Records Law to exempt
from disclosure medical
records provided to the
state Psychiatric Security
Review Board. The House
Health Care Committee
conducted a 14-minute
public hearing Friday before passing the legislation.
Legislators acted after the Security Review
Board recently released
125 pages of records concerning Montwheeler. He
was put under jurisdiction
of the board in 1997 after
successfully asserting an
insanity defense to charges
he kidnapped his second
wife and son in Baker City.
He remained under state
control until last December, when the Security Review Board released him
despite warnings he was a
risk. He subsequently was
charged with aggravated
murder, assault and kidnapping.
The Security Review
Board records reported
Montwheeler’s
claims
that his attorney in 1997
coached him on how to act
insane so he could go to
the Oregon State Hospital
instead of prison. The records showed state doctors
almost from the start suspected he was faking his
illness.
The move to cloak such
records in secrecy came
one day after Gov. Kate
Brown directed the Security Review Board to
release the records to the
Malheur Enterprise. The

Attorney David Goldthorpe
said the Justice Department
hasn’t assigned a prosecutor to the case.
“I counsel with them just
to know about certain motions,” Goldthrope said.
In his court filing, Falls
said Montwheeler intended
to rely on the insanity defense “such that he lacked
substantial capacity either
to appreciate the criminality of the conduct or to
conform his conduct to the
requirements of the law.”
Falls said Montwheeler’s “mental health/medical condition is still being
evaluated.”
In 1997, Montwheeler
successfully raised the insanity defense in the face
of charges he kidnapped his
second wife and their son in
Baker City.
He testified last December he feigned mental illness so he could be sent to
the state hospital instead of
prison.

Turrill said it is not unusual to gather up to
100 people in the audience.
“We are seeing participation in the local
elections picking up a bit,” Turrill said. “In
a presidential election of 100 million votes,
it is tough to see your vote as counting.
“In these local elections, every single
vote is needed by a candidate.”

Time to sign up for Kindergarten
The Enterprise

NYSSA – Nyssa Elementary School is doing
a “last chance” roundup
for next fall’s kindergarten
class.
Parents with a child
coming to kindergarten in
the 2017-18 school year
who missed the scheduled

round-up should bring the
child in to register at the
school by April 28.
Hours are 9 a.m. to 4
p.m.
The registration tally is
needed to help the district
hire staff for the coming
year.
Parents are asked to

bring the child and his or
her birth certificate and immunization records when
they come in to register.
For more information,
call 541-372-3313
The school also released
the information in Spanish,
which is posted on the Enterprise Facebook page.

agency sued the newspaper to prevent disclosure,
but dropped the case at
Brown’s urging.
Legislative
records
show that the Oregon
Health Authority, which
oversees the state hospital, promoted the secrecy move. The draft law
was produced a day after
Brown’s involvement in
the case. Her staff said
Monday that “the governor’s office understood
that OHA was discussing a confidentiality issue
with the Legislature.” Her
spokesman didn’t answer
whether she approved the
concept.
The amendment wasn’t
posted for public viewing
by the Legislature until
April 11 – four days before
the public hearing on the
bill.
The agency pressed
for the law change even
though Juliet Britton, executive director of the Security Review Board, said
the legislation was moving
too fast.
“I was concerned that
the short amount of prep
time to digest the amendment draft was insufficient
to fully appreciate how the
bill could affect our agency,” Britton said Monday.
She said she decided last
week not to testify on the
legislation and urged the
Oregon Health Authority
“to postpone work on this
issue.”
The amendment was accomplished with a legislative technique known as
“gut and stuff,” where an
original piece of legislation is stripped except for
its bill number and title
and replaced with new language.
The caption for the HB
2836 described it as requiring the Oregon Health
Authority to study certain
health care programs.
The committee’s agen-

House Health Care Committee
members voting to pass the
legislation:
Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland; Rep. Cedric
Hayden, R-Roseburg; Rep. Rob Nosse, D-Portland;
Rep. Teresa Alonso Leon, D-Woodburn; Rep. Knute
Buehler, R-Bend; Rep. Jodi Hack, R-Salem; Rep. Bill
Kennemer, R-Oregon City; Rep. Alissa Keny-Guyer, DPortland; Rep. Sheri Malstrom, D-Beaverton;
da for Friday’s session listed the original intent of the
bill and made no mention
of the switch in legislative
intent.
Micky Logan, state hospital legal affairs director,
told legislators that medical records provided to the
Security Review Board
needed to be confidential
for public safety. She said
patients expect what they
tell their doctors to remain private, and that they
would be less forthcoming
if their records were public.
She said patient files
wouldn’t be as complete,
leading to “placement errors” in the community of
those found guilty except
for insanity. She warned
of more crimes by patients
“whose danger level the
PSRB underestimates because it lacked insufficient
information to make an
informed decision. This
reduces public safety.”
She also said the Security Review Board might
also keep patients assigned
to the hospital “much longer than necessary” and at
high cost.
Logan noted that the
Security Review Board
would continue to hold
open hearings regarding
patients.
At those hearings, state
hospital doctors testify
from their medical records
about diagnoses, risk assessments and evaluations.
Logan didn’t address
whether disclosures by
witnesses posed the same
risk to public safety iden-

tified with releasing state
records.
Montwheeler
wasn’t
mentioned in the hearing.
The state Justice Department last month ordered
select medical records released after concluding the
exceptional public interest
in the state’s conduct outweighed his privacy. The
order applied specifically
to Montwheeler’s records
and not all patient files
held by the Security Review Board.
State Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland and chair
of the Health Care Committee, said he had been
briefed on the expanded
confidentiality beforehand
by an “OHA lobbyist.” He
said Monday that he knew
nothing about the Montwheeler case but “I do not
believe the public has the
right to anyone’s medical
information.”
Greenlick, a health care
professional, serves on the
Oregon State Hospital Advisory Board.
Oregon Health Authorities didn’t respond
to questions about who
drafted the secrecy law
or whether it obtained approval from the governor
to do so. The governor’s
office also didn’t respond
to questions about whether
Brown had approved her
agency’s push for more
secrecy. The governor has
made government transparency a hallmark of her
administration.
Contact Les Zaitz: les@
malheurenterprise.com;
Twitter: @leszaitz.

NOTICE OF BUDGET COMMITTEE MEETING
A public meeting of the Budget Committee of the Valley View Cemetery Maintenance
District, Malheur County, State of Oregon, on the budget for the fiscal year July 1, 2017
to June 30, 2018, will be held at Valley View Cemetery, 1699 Valley View Rd, Vale Oregon. The meeting will take place on May 8, 2017 at 4:30 p.m.
The purpose of the meeting is to receive the budget message and to receive comment
from the public on the budget.
This is a public meeting where deliberation of the Budget Committee will take place.
Any person may appear at the meeting and discuss the proposed programs with the Budget Committee.
A copy of the budget document may be inspected or obtained on or after April 20,
2017 at Valley View Cemetery, 1699 Valley View Rd, between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and
12:00 p.m.
Publish date: April 19, 2017
NOTICE OF BUDGET COMMITTEE MEETING
A public meeting of the Budget Committee of the Nyssa School District #26, Malheur
County, State of Oregon, to discuss the budget for the fiscal year July 1, 2017 to June
30, 2018, will be held at Nyssa School District Boardroom, 804 Adrian Blvd, Nyssa, OR
97913. The meeting will take place on Tuesday, May 9, 2017, at 6:00 p.m.
The purpose of the meeting is to receive the budget message and to receive comment
from the public on the budget.
This is a public meeting where deliberation of the Budget Committee will take place.
Any person may appear at the meeting and discuss the proposed programs with the Budget Committee.
A copy of the budget document may be inspected or obtained on or after Tuesday, May
9, 2017 at Nyssa School District Office between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
 
Publish date: April 19, 2017
Notice to Interested Persons
In the County Court of the State of Oregon for the County of Malheur.
In the Matter of the Estate of NADENE M. GARNER FOSTER  
Case No. 5976.
Notice is hereby given that Dion L. Garner has been appointed Personal Representative of the above estate. All persons having claims against the estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative at the office of his attorneys, Butler & Looney,
P.C., 292 Main St. South, P.O. Box 430, Vale, Oregon 97918, within four months after the
date of first publication of this Notice, or they may be barred. All persons whose rights
may be affected by this proceeding may obtain additional information from the records of
the Court, the Personal Representative, or the attorneys for the Personal Representative.
DATED and first published April 5, 2017.
Publish Dates April 5, 12 and 19, 2017.
Storage Auction
Lincoln Storage will hold an auction of delinquent units on May 2, 2017 at 2:00 p.m.
in Vale OR. This will be a sealed bid Auction. Units will be opened starting at 2:00 p.m.
Location is at 315 Glenn St. North, Vale, OR. The following are delinquent and will be
sold at auction if not paid in full by May 1, 2017: Amy Lawrence Q; Cody Ellis T-27; JR
Levanger HH; Mary & Dale Garmon T-31; John Hicks 1-D.
Publish Dates: April 19 & 26 2017

 Vale School
Board ballot
crowded

Sports

Nyssa plays host to
some ‘pirates’ –

Area harriers compete at Don
Walker Invite

Page 3

 

– Page 9

– Page 5

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

107th year, No. 30
City of Vale and Malheur County, Oregon

75¢

Trump holds
key to federal
storm money

Owyhee Field Day

Disaster declartion for county
is held up at the White House
By Pat Caldwell
The Enterprise

VALE — Idaho received one.
So did Washington.
But a federal disaster declaration for Malheur County is still
pending, nearly four months after
severe winter storms devastated
the area.
That’s because the disaster
declaration submitted by the state
appears to be trapped on President Donald Trump’s desk.
Malheur County public agencies racked up $1.6 million in
costs from the storms. Ontario
School District incurred the most,

recording $834,887 in costs while
Saint Alphonsus Medical Center
registered the second-highest total with $299,368 in total damage costs. Nyssa School District
claimed $71,900 in costs and
damage.
As of last week the Federal
Emergency Management Agency
had not received a signed disaster
declaration for the county from
the president.
There is no firm estimate
when, or if, the declaration will
be approved.
See Storm, Page 6

The Enterprise/John L. Braese

Vale fifth grader Tarahlynne Trotter takes her turn shooting a fire hose at a target while
visiting the booth hosted by the Vale Bureau of Land Management.

FUN IN THE RAIN

More than
900 students
take part in
annual event
By John L. Braese
The Enterprise

The Enterprise/Pat Caldwell

Rubble is all that remains of this packing shed along Oregon Highway 201 between Ontario and Cairo Junction. A
federal disaster declaration request for the county has still
not been approved, nearly four months after a series of
severe winter storms slammed the area.

Wet spring hurts
planting campaign
Farmers race
the clock to
get crops in
By Pat Caldwell
The Enterprise

VALE – Every growing season is a gamble but this year the
odds may be even worse for area
farmers as wet weather and the
lingering impact of winter storms
collapsed the traditional planting
window.
“There are still some onions
that haven’t been planted yet,”
said Stuart Reitz, the cropping
systems agent at the OSU Extension Service.
Some sugar beets are yet to be
planted as well.
The late planting season scenario stands in contrast to 2016,
when weather conditions created
ideal yields for onion producers.
Row crops are a major part of
Malheur County’s economy.
According to U.S. Department
of Agriculture statistics, Malheur
County contains 204,769 acres
of cropland and the average farm
is 967 acres. There were 1,113

farms in the county in 2012.
Reitz said spring rains are partly to blame for delayed planting.
Timing is everything regarding
the county’s biggest crop – onions
– and other agriculture products.
“For a crop like that (onions) it
must mature to the right stage before end of the season in the fall,”
Reitz said.
Several factors come into play
every year for farmers, including
temperature in the spring and autumn, the type of weather and the
length of the growing season.
If the weather remains moderately cool throughout the growing
season, an onion producer could
see a smaller plant and an overall
smaller harvest.
“You have smaller onions or
plants that haven’t matured properly. So, they might not store as
well. We’d like it to be warm but
not excessively hot,” Reitz said.
Smaller plants ultimately
mean lower prices, a major factor for Malheur County, home to
25 percent of the nation’s Spanish
onion supply. Onion production
produces more than $25 million
annually for the area.
So, when the planting campaign is hindered, it creates a cascading effect, Reitz said.
See Crops, Page 6

OWYHEE RESERVOIR –
Charlie, the Holstein steer, stood
quietly in the drizzling rain.
A crowd of Adrian fifth-grade
students listened to how a cow’s
stomach was actually one organ
with four chambers.
After donning plastic gloves
extending to their shoulders, the
students stepped up on a milk
crate next to Charlie and placed
a hand inside the cow’s stomach.
Charlie took the probing
without so much as a flinch.
The exercise was just one
event as fifth grade students
from around the county and
even from Boise participated in
Field Day April 26.
Usually at the University
of Idaho farm in Parma, Charlie spends his days munching
on different feed only to have
people reach inside his stomach,
pull out the digested food out
and test the contents.
Charlie has been surgically
altered with his stomach attached to his hide. A hole, about
the size of a person’s hand, al-

The Enterprise/John L. Braese

Students from Adrian stand under cover, out of the rain,
while learning the different parts of a cow’s stomach.
lows both those at the University
of Idaho and students attending
Field Day, access to his inner
workings.
All those in the group from
Adrian braved the green goo
pulled from Charlie’s stomach.
Immediately following the stop
at Charlie’s station, the group
went to lunch.
“It really was not that bad,”
said Adrian’s Presley Speelmon
as she removed her slime-covered glove into a trashcan. “It
kind of feels weird.”
Those enjoying day one
donned Les Schwab tire bags
to protect themselves from the
rainy conditions and carried on
around the 30 stations set up
around the Owyhee Park.

In two days, 906 students
participated. They learned about
noxious weeds, parts of a fish,
falconers, and soil conditions.
Many of the stations involved
interactive exhibits. At one, students practiced their fly fishing
techniques while another allowed the students to grab a raft
and race each other on the reservoir. As in past years, a popular stop was the Bureau of Land
Management’s fire fighting stop.
After patiently listening about
the dangers of range fires and
what each could do to prevent
them, each student took a turn at
turning on the fire hose to hit a
target.
See Field Day, Page 6

Montwheeler case

Agency moves to seal key records
By Les Zaitz
The Enterprise

SALEM — A state agency determined to close
off records regarding dangerous individuals such
as Anthony Montwheeler has quietly used a bureaucratic move to seal documents, its executive
director revealed last week.
Oregon’s Psychiatric Security Review Board in
February started routinely issuing orders prohibiting disclosure of certain health records it uses to
oversee individuals who assert an insanity defense
to often violent crimes. The board did so by an administrative action – without notifying the public
or the legislators who subsequently considered
new legislation to make the health records secret.
The move is one of several state officials have
undertaken recently to block public access to mental health records of the Oregon State Hospital.
They were deeply troubled by a state court ruling and an attorney general’s order that in some
circumstances doctor’s notes, risk reviews, and violence assessments of state hospital patients were
open to the public.

The issue grabbed public attention after Attorney
General Ellen Rosenblum’s
office ordered the Security
Review Board to release
selected documents it used
as evidence in deciding to
release Montwheeler from
state control.
Montwheeler
Montwheeler was placed
under state control in 1997 after successfully asserting an insanity defense to charges he kidnapped his then-wife and son.
The records, obtained by the Malheur Enterprise, showed Montwheeler said he faked his mental illness to avoid prison.
The documents, which under the new practice
would be kept secret, showed state doctors almost
from the start suspected he was malingering but
for years continued treating him with therapy and
medication.
See Records, Page 7

 May 3, 2017 Vale, Oregon MALHEUR ENTERPRISE Page 7

Records
From Page 1

The Security Review
Board released Montwheeler in December and he was
subsequently charged with
aggravated murder, kidnapping and assault.
The Security Review
Board
initially
defied
Rosenblum’s
disclosure
order, suing the Enterprise
and seeking a court order
that it didn’t have to release
its record.
Under pressure from
Gov. Kate Brown, the
agency dropped the suit and
released the records. The
Security Review Board in
settling the lawsuit agreed
last week to reimburse the
Enterprise for $5,000 in legal expenses.
But by then, the Security
Review Board had already
acted to ensure no further
disclosures would be made.
Juliet Britton, board executive director, said that
in February she directed
that protective orders be
issued “for all current cases and new client files.”
Britton said the board was
concerned disclosure of
records would violate the
federal privacy law governing health records, known
best by its shorthand acronym – HIPAA.
“As the board is sworn to
uphold all state and federal
laws regarding the handling
of HIPAA documents in its
custody, we implemented
an administrative practice,”
Britton said. “The board
has always had the ability
to issue protective orders.”
A protective order restricts access to documents
even though they are ad-

mitted as exhibits at board
hearings. Only the board,
its staff, and attorneys can
see the documents.
Witnesses, however, often refer to the documents
and sometimes read portions of them at the public
hearings.
The board conducts
hearings to consider whether a person in its jurisdiction should be held at the
state hospital, released with
conditions into the community, or discharged entirely
from state control.
The decision rests on
whether the board finds evidence the patient is mentally ill.
The Oregon Health Authority had gone another
route to plug disclosure
of state hospital records,
seeking help from legislators. The House Health
Care Committee earlier
this month conducted a
14-minute public hearing
on legislation that had been
dramatically modified from
its original purpose to give
state officials their secrecy
legislation. Britton said she
had urged state health officials to slow down the effort on House Bill 2836 and
opted not to support it.
But the rush was supported by the state’s top
executives, including Lynn
Saxton, director of the Oregon Health Authority.
Her staff wouldn’t answer
whether Saxton personally
approved the legislative
gambit.
Saxton “believes this
legislation is necessary to
protect the privacy of state
hospital patients,” her communications staff said in an
email.

“This clarification will
better enable state hospital
staff to maintain the integrity and dignity of the
therapeutic process, give
patients the greatest opportunity to successfully
return to the community
and protect public safety by
ensuring open communication with authorized partner
agencies,” the email said.
Her staff refused to say
whether she has ordered
an investigation of Montwheeler’s case. A Security
Review Board member at
the time of the decision to
release Montwheeler said
the state should do a “forensic” review.
The legislation supported by Saxton was derailed
in the House last week
when representatives sent
it back for more committee
work instead of passing it
on to the Senate.
A top legislator cited the
Enterprise’s report on the
legislative machinations as
the reason.
“After hearing from
many of our colleagues
following your coverage,
House Democratic leadership asked for the bill to
be pulled back to the Rules
Committee,” said State
Rep. Jennifer Williamson,
House majority leader.
“There’s clearly an important conversation to have
about the need to protect
patients’ privacy balanced
with what’s in the public
interest to disclose.”
State Rep. Mitch Greenlick, chair of the Health
Care Committee, said he
was ordered by House leaders to send the bill back.
“I expect the bill is
dead,” Greenlick said.

Area students secure scholarships
The Enterprise

Three Malheur County students have
been awarded scholarships from the IdahoOregon Fruit and Vegetable Association.
Ontario High School’s Garrett Kitamura
will receive a $1,000 and plans to attend
Oregon State University.

Vale High School’s Amanda Trenkel
was awarded $500 and plans to attend
the University of Colorado in Colorado
Springs.
Nyssa High School’s Bailey Myers was
awarded a $500 and plans to attend BYUHawaii.

PUBLIC NOTICES
IRONSIDE RURAL ROAD DISTRICT MEETING
The Ironside Rural Road District #5 has regular monthly meetings the second Tuesday
of every month at the road shop building starting at 5 p.m.
Publish date: May 3, 2017
Notice to Interested Persons
In the County Court of the State of Oregon for the County of Malheur.
In the Matter of the Estate of RICHARD LYNN BUNN Case No. 5893 NOTICE IS
HEREBY GIVEN that Fredric Bunn has been appointed as Personal Representative. All
persons having claims against the estate are required to present them, with vouchers attached, to the Personal Representative c/o Zanotelli Law Firm, 160 S. Main Street, Vale,
Oregon 97918, within four months after the date of first publication of this Notice, or the
claims may be barred.
All persons whose rights may be affected by the proceedings may obtain additional
information from the records of the Court, the Personal Representative, or the lawyer for
the Personal Representative, Brian Zanotelli, 160 S. Main Street, Vale, Oregon 97918.
Dated and first published on May 3, 2017
Publish Date: May 3, 10, 17, 2017
Advertisement for Bids
Owner: City of Nyssa
Address: 301 Main Street, Nyssa, Oregon, 97913
Separate sealed Bids for the construction of City of Nyssa Water System Improvement
Project – Idaho Side, consisting of water treatment pressure filtration system for arsenic
and manganese removal, water treatment building, site improvements, booster pump station, lift station, piping, improvements at existing supply wells, rehabilitation of existing
water storage reservoir, and other related items as specified in the plans and contract
documents will be received by Nyssa City Manager at the office of Nyssa City Hall, 301
Main Street, Nyssa, Oregon, 97913 until 2:00 pm (Local Time), June 1, 2017, and then at
said office publicly opened and read aloud. Said project will be administered by the Infrastructure Finance Authority with funding provided by both the Water/Wastewater Financing Program (WWFP) and the Oregon Community Development Block Grant Program
(CDBG). Project funding is also provided by the Oregon Safe Drinking Water Revolving
Loan Fund Program (SDWRLF).
The Contract Documents may be viewed for free at the following locations:
www.holladayengineering.com
Holladay Engineering Co., 32 N. Main St., Payette, ID 83661
Nyssa City Hall, 301 Main Street, Nyssa, OR 97913
Officials Bidding Documents can ONLY be obtained from two sources: they may be
downloaded under QuestCDN Project #5092401 at www.questcdn.com for a non-refundable, non-transferrable charge of $20.00; OR, paper copies may be obtained directly from
Holladay Engineering’s office upon payment of $150.00, non-refundable, non-transferrable for each set. Contatc QuestCDN.com at 952-233-1632 or info@questcdn.com for
assistance in viewing or downloading this digital project information. Holladay Engineering’s office is located at 32 N Main Street, Payette, ID 83661.
Any bid that does not include the Official Bidding Documents as prescribed, completed and signed, will be considered an incomplete bid and returned to the bidder.
4/26/2017  
James L. Maret, City Manager, City of Nyssa
Publication Dates: May 3, 10 and 17, 2017.

PUBLIC NOTICES
PUBLIC NOTICE: Vale District BLM, Malheur Field Office, Northwest Malheur
County Greater Sage-Grouse Habitat Restoration Project and Environmental Assessment
The Malheur Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management has released the Northwest Malheur County Greater Sage-grouse Habitat Restoration Project Environmental
Assessment (EA) on April 28, 2017, for public review. The EA analyzes the effects
of habitat restoration and hazardous fuels management treatments on approximately
258,566 acres of priority sage-grouse habitat in the northwestern quarter of Malheur
County, Oregon. The project area is primarily north of Beulah Reservoir and it is located
roughly 46 miles west of Vale. The purpose of the project is to improve the habitat of
sage-grouse and other sagebrush dependent species, reduce the influence of conifer encroachment on sagebrush habitat, reduce hazardous fuels, address annual grass infestations, and constrain future wildfire size within the project area. A copy of the EA may
be obtained by viewing the Vale District eplanning website for the Northwest Malheur
County Greater Sage-grouse Habitat Restoration Project, listed under Documents in the
left column, at: http://bit.ly/2pYjAPq. If you would like to comment, please do so using one of the following communication tools: E-mail: BLM_OR_VL_Mail@blm.gov,
Subject: Northwest Malheur Environmental Assessment, Fax: 541-473-6213, Mail: Vale
District BLM Office, 100 Oregon Street, Vale, OR 97918; ATTN: Don Rotell. To be
considered, your comments must be postmarked by May 30, 2017. If you need further
information or would like to receive a hard copy of these documents, please contact the
Vale District office at 541-473-3144.  
Publish Date: May 3, 2017 
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN
according to ORS 294.250(5), that the Malheur County Court Proceedings and the
Schedule of Payments exceeding $500 will be posted and available for review at the
Malheur County Courthouse (Clerk’s Office), the Ontario Community library, the Nyssa
city public library, the Vale city public library, and the Jordan Valley U.S. Postal Service
office. Copies of all or part of the posted information may be obtained upon request and
upon payment of a fee not exceeding the actual cost incurred by the county in making
copies of the posted information, from the Malheur County Clerk, 251 B Street West,
Vale, OR 97918 or phone (541) 473-5151.
/s/Deborah R. DeLong
Malheur County Clerk
Publish date: May 3, 2017
NOTICE OF BUDGET HEARING
A public meeting of the Malheur Co. School Distruct #51 Board will be held on May 11,
2017 at 3:00 p.m. at the McDermitt Library, McDermitt NV, Oregon. The purpose of this
meeting is to discuss the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2017 as approved by
the Malheur Co. School District #51 Budget Committee. A summary of the budget is presented below. A copy of the budget may be inspected or obtained at 363 A St W Vale, OR
(ESD office) between the hours of 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. This budget is for an annual period.
This budget was prepared on a basis of accounting that is the same as the preceding year.
 

FINANCIAL SUMMARY - RESOURCES
TOTAL OF ALL FUNDS Actual Budget  Adopted Budget  Approved Budget
  
2015-2016
This Year 2016-2017 Next Year 2017-2018
Beginning Fund Balance 
$201,106  
$190,000  
$185,000
Current Year Property Taxes,    
 
other than Local Option Taxes 18,829 
18,800 
18,800
Current Year Local Option
Property Taxes 
0 
0 
0
Other Revenue from Local
Sources 
2,227 
2,150 
2,200
Revenue from Intermediate
Sources 
2 
0 
0
Revenue from State Sources  34,017 
59,500 
24,200
Revenue from Federal Sources 0 
0 
0
Interfund Transfers 
0 
0 
0
All Other Budget Resources  0 
0 
0
Total Resources 
$256,181 
$270,450 
$230,200
FINANCIAL SUMMARY - REQUIREMENTS BY OBJECT CLASSIFICATION
Salaries 
$0 
$0 
$0
Other Associated Payroll Costs 0 
0 
0
Purchased Services 
63,958 
109,940 
69,690
Supplies & Materials 
0 
210 
210
Capital Outlay 
0 
0 
0
Other Objects (except debt 
 
 
service & interfund transfers)  230 
300 
300
Debt Service* 
0 
0 
0
Interfund Transfers* 
0 
0 
0
Operating Contingency 
0 
160,000 
160,000
Unappropriated Ending
Fund Balance & Reserves  0 
0 
0
Total Requirements  
$64,188  
$270,450  
$230,200
FINANCIAL SUMMARY - REQUIREMENTS AND FULL-TIME
EQUIVALENT EMPLOYEES (FTE) BY FUNCTION
1000 Instruction 
$55,120 
$98,350 
$55,600
FTE 
0 
0 
0
2000 Support Services 
9,069 
12,100 
14,600
FTE 
0 
0 
0
3000 Enterprise & Community
Service 
0 
0 
0
FTE 
0 
0 
0
4000 Facility Acquisition &
Construction 
0 
0 
0
FTE 
0 
0 
0
5000 Other Uses 
0 
0 
0
5100 Debt Service* 
0 
0 
0
5200 Interfund Transfers*  0 
0 
0
6000 Contingency  
0 
160,000 
160,000
7000 Unappropriated
Ending Fund Balance 
0 
0 
0
Total Requirements 
$64,188 
$270,450 
$230,200
Total FTE 
0 
0 
0
* not included in total 5000 Other Uses. To be appropriated separately from other
5000 expenditures.
STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN ACTIVITIES and SOURCES OF FINANCING FROM
LAST YEAR**

Funding continues to be the same as in past years. Fluctuations in enrollment continue to
be an issue that the Board takes care to follow and discuss regularly.
PROPERTY TAX LEVIES
 
Rate or Amount  Rate or Amount  Rate or Amount
 
Imposed 
Imposed  
Approved
Permanent Rate Levy (Rate
Limit $4.5972 per $1,000) $20,000 
$20,000 
$20,000
Local Option Levy 
0 
0 
0 
Levy For General
Obligation Bonds 
$0 
$0 
$0
STATEMENT OF INDEBTEDNESS
LONG TERM DEBT 
Estimated Debt Outstanding  
Estimated Debt Authorized
 
On July 1   
But Not Incurred
    
On July 1
General Obligation Bonds
$0   
$0 
Other Bonds 
$0   
$0 
Other Borrowings 
$0   
$0 
Total 
$0   
$0 
Publish date: May 3, 2017