12 minors cited in Ochoco Forest drinking party

Crook County sheriff’s deputies, acting on a tip, raided a party in the Ochoco National Forest near Walton Lake Friday night, citing a dozen minors for alcohol possession and arresting a 22-year-old Warm Springs man for furnishing alcohol to minors.

Many other young people fled into the woods, deputies said Monday.

Deputies were dispatched around 8:30 p.m. to a campsite along Walton Lake Road (Forest Service Road 22) on a report of a large underage drinking party involving a large amount of alcohol, said Undersheriff John Gautney.

The deputies found a large group of minors at varying levels of intoxication, Gautney said, while “numerous” others ran into the woods.

Deputies cited six minors under the age of 18, all from Redmond, for possessing alcohol. They were taken to the sheriff’s office and later released to their parents, the undersheriff said.

Six other Bend, Redmond and Tumalo minors under age 18, were cited on the same charge and left at the location, given a date to appear in circuit court, Gautney said.

Terence Wolfe, 22, of Warm Springs, was arrested by citation and released at the scene on the charge of furnishing alcohol to minors.

Each spring, sheriff’s deputies receive reports of underage drinking parties as the weather begins to improve and the end of the school year approaches, Gautney said in a news release.

“Each year, it seems that juveniles tend to move the parties father into the forested or other public lands to avoid detection,” he added. “This poses a significant hazard to the safety of the individuals that may leave the parties and try to drive home.”

Gautney noted there have been tragic crashes in the past after underage drinking parties, and said “the Crook County Sheriff’s Office is committed to trying to prevent tragedies in the future by rigidly enforcing underage drinking laws.”