Grocery Store Altercation Leads To An Arrest
Two men are in jail after a heated exchange at Crowfoot Grocery in Lebanon escalated to blows and damaged property, and ultimately gunfire.
Linn County Sheriff deputies responded at 8:35 p.m. to a reported shooting at the store, located at 115 Central Avenue. According to the investigation, Richard Lee Taylor, 51, of Lebanon, was parked at the store with a female passenger when he was confronted by an acquaintance, Michael John Hoffman, 43, of Harrisburg. Taylor said Hoffman broke out the driver's side window of his vehicle and struck him several times in the face. Hoffman then ran to his own vehicle. Taylor then fired at least three rounds from a 9mm pistol at Hoffman's vehicle. No one was hit or injured from the gunfire.
Taylor later told deputies he was only shooting at the tires of Hoffman's vehicle and was not trying to hurt him.
Taylor was arrested for unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm. Hoffman was arrested for criminal mischief II, fourth-degree assault, and possession of methamphetamine.
Both men were booked into Linn County Jail.
Woman Dies After Falling Behind Moving Vehicle
An unidentified woman died Thursday night when a taxi cab driver accidentally backed over her after she exited the cab at her destination.
Lebanon police responded to the call at 8:25 p.m., at 2016 South 7th street, where they found two men trying to help a badly injured woman. One of the men had been in the cab with the woman before she exited. The cab driver, Brian E. Jackson of Lebanon, then backed out of the parking space, unaware the woman had fallen behind the vehicle.
Police are continuing to investigate. The report suggests alcohol may have been a factor in the accident.
Lebanon Fire District personnel treated the woman and later transported her to Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital. She was later pronounced dead as a result of her injuries.
Jackson, a driver for Lebanon Cab Company, cooperated with investigators. Police say there is no indication Jackson was impaired.
The victim’s name has been withheld until all next-of-kin notifications can be made.
Albany Man Finds Lost Toddler
It was late, and Michael Bacio was in the mood for a snack.
The 30-year-old Albany resident was walking down 10th Avenue about 1:30 a.m., headed for some tacos at Rigoberto’s, when he saw a little girl wandering around in the road near the intersection with Elm Street.
“She had on leggings and a little blanket on. She couldn’t be more then 3 years old,” Bacio told the Democrat-Herald. “She was crying scared and cold. I wrapped my sweater and jacket around her to help keep her warm.”
Bacio called 911, which sent an ambulance. He rode with her to Samaritan Albany General Hospital and stayed with her until her family was found a little more than an hour later.
Albany police confirmed the incident but said a full report was not yet available and did not have details.
Bacio said officers gave him a ride home at that point, so he didn’t speak with the family. However, he said he was told the little girl’s family said she and her brothers and sisters were sleeping in the living room and she went out the front door and couldn’t get back in.
He never did get the tacos, but said that was OK.
“I’m just glad I was in the right spot at the right time,” he wrote. “I think helping a child is worth missing out on some tacos.”
LUBA Sides With Mid-valley Straw Processor
The Land Use Board of Appeals has sided with a Linn and Benton county farmer, who in 2012 developed a straw compressing operation — and outright farm use — on Walnut Drive south of Albany.
Johnny Gilmour contends he did not need to obtain a Conditional Use Permit from Linn County because the operation was simply preparing the straw for shipment to Asian markets — much like the straw-baling machinery in farm fields — and not processing the materials in a factory-like way.
“I’m very happy with this decision,” Gilmour said. “It’s been a long battle to get to this point.”
According to Gilmour, it’s taken nearly four years to get back to his original starting point.
“I’ve always said it’s a farm use and should fall under state laws and not county legislation,” he said.
The property is in an area zoned Exclusive Farm Use. Gilmour operated the plant for two years without a Conditional Use Permit and in 2014, obtained one from the county that included a list of rules such as hours of operation and number of trucks that could operate daily.
At the heart of the issue was that neighbors did not like the noise and increased traffic of trucks hauling materials to and from the 92-acre property.
They said the trucks operated at odd hours, and at times, trailer tires ran off the asphalt road surface into ditches.
They were also concerned about safety issues for people who run, walk or ride bicycles in the area where there are narrow road shoulders.
They also contended that unlike most grass seeding farms that operate seasonally, the straw compressing operation runs year-round.
Friends of Linn County opposed the operation.
Linn County Planning Director Robert Wheeldon said that at this point, he believes Gilmour can now operate the site like any other farming operation in the county.
“I haven’t heard from the county attorney, but for now, we will treat the operation as a farm use until told otherwise,” he said.
Gilmour and his attorney argued at an October 2015 public hearing that the operation in no way changed the straw, other than making bales tighter and heavier to maximize the amount of material that can be hauled in a shipping container.
According to Gilmour’s LUBA application, he compresses 3,000 to 5,000 tons of straw annually from his father’s grass seed farms. He also compresses another 15,000 to 25,000 tons of material from other farms in the area that he harvests as a custom baler. Nothing is added to the materials.
LUBA ruled that the basic definition of the word preparation is “the action or process of making something ready for use or service.”
A portion of the LUBA ruling noted: “As far as we are informed, the compression simply makes the bales easier to transport to their eventual end use as feed, but does not change the straw in any way, or change the fact that it is ready for use as feed after it is baled and remains ready for use as feed after it is compressed.”
Opponents had until 5 p.m. Thursday to appeal LUBA’s decision to the Oregon Court of Appeals.