WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2019 ❚ SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
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Pioneer BBQ family sued by company they founded
Bill Poehler
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Like a lot of retirees, Joe Traeger couldn’t walk away
for good.
After he and his family sold Traeger Pellet Grills —
the pellet grill company he founded in 2006 — Traeger
participated in charities such as serving free Thanks-
giving meals with turkeys cooked on pellet smokers.
In recent years Traeger tinkered with new designs
for pellet grills, something he invented in 1985.
In September 2018, Traeger and son Brian Traeger
took new jobs with Dansons Inc., a rival to Traeger Pel-
let Grills.
Now the company that bears his name has filed law-
suits against Joe Traeger and sons Brian Traeger and
Mark Traeger as well as Dansons, claiming the use of
the Traeger name and likenesses in Dansons’ market-
ing are in violation of the purchase agreements they
signed when they sold the company for $12.4 million in
2006.
Traeger Grills’ lawsuits do not specify monetary
damages sought.
“We deny all claims made by Traeger LLC, as they
are false and unfounded,” Dansons' president Jeff
Thiessen said in a statement. “We will vigorously de-
fend Dansons to protect our character and reputation.”
Traeger Grills has grown exponentially under its
current ownership in the past five years, selling more
than 2.2 million grills and amassing retail sales of
See LAWSUIT, Page 4A
Changes to law
could unseat
those now on
death row
Whitney Woodworth
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
North Willamette Valley Habitat for Humanity supporters and community members gathered for a Habitat
home dedication on Saturday, Aug. 24, 2019, in Mt. Angel. PHOTOS COURTESY OF DANIELLE ANDERSON / NORTH
WILLAMETTE VALLEY HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
Dedication ceremony
for Habitat home
Danielle Anderson
Special to Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Single mother Jessica Bomar and her children, Ab-
by, Chance and Cash, received the keys to their Habi-
tat for Humanity home in Mt. Angel on Aug. 24 during
a dedication ceremony attended by more than 50 peo-
ple.
Family, friends and North Willamette Valley Habi-
tat for Humanity donors and volunteers were there to
celebrate with the Bomar family and to see the com-
pleted home for the first time.
Like all Habitat partner families, Jessica had a
hand in building her home. She was there every step
of the way and completed hundreds of hours of “sweat
equity” as part of the partnership.
To see more photos from the dedication and to
learn more about the NWV Habitat homeownership
program, visit nwvhabitat.org.
North Willamette Valley Habitat for Humanity
supporters and community members gathered for a
Habitat home dedication on Saturday, Aug. 24,
2019, in Mt. Angel. PHOTOS COURTESY OF DANIELLE
ANDERSON / NORTH WILLAMETTE VALLEY HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
Big changes in top positions in Mt. Angel
Bill Poehler
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Rapid changes are coming to the highest positions
in Mt. Angel.
Mayor Andrew Otte has resigned and will be re-
placed by Kelly Grassman, and city manager Amber
Mathiesen has left the city’s employ in a one-month
span.
Otte, who held the position since 2013, resigned
Aug. 5, citing he moved outside the city limits for his
resignation.
Otte was the 2018 Mt. Angel First Citizen. He volun-
teers with the Mt. Angel Fire Department and coaches
football, basketball and baseball at Mt. Angel Middle
School.
At its Sept. 3 meeting, the city council selected
Grassman as mayor.
Gassman, who has been on the city council since
2009, has been the city council president since 2016.
She will serve as mayor until Otte’s term expires
See CHANGES, Page 2A
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Marion County veteran prosecutor Katie Suver
ticked off the names and crimes of various death row
inmates:
A father and son convicted of conspiring to blow
up a bank, killing two police officers in the process.
Another man sentenced to death for stabbing a
Salem woman then peddling her stolen jewelry.
Several inmates who killed while incarcerated for
other crimes.
All of these current death row inmates, Suver said,
stand the chance of skipping out on a death sentence
in the event their convictions are overturned if law-
makers don’t make quick changes before Senate Bill
1013 goes into effect on Sept. 29.
The bill narrows Oregon’s use of the death penalty
by whittling down the number of crimes that qualify
as aggravated murder — the only offense punishable
by death.
Previously, about 20 circumstances made a homi-
cide qualify as aggravated murder, including murder
for hire, murdering multiple people, torturing before
killing, the murder of someone under 14 and murder
during the course of a felony crime.
Oregon legislators voted to limit these aggravating
circumstances to only four: terrorist killings of two or
more people, the premeditated murder of police offi-
cers, murder committed in a prison or jail by some-
one who was already convicted of murder, and the
premeditated murder of a child under the age of 14.
According to the Oregon Department of Correc-
tions, 29 men and one woman are currently on death
row.
Suver said the changes mean most of the people
on death row, if tried under the new law, could not be
charged with aggravated murder and sentenced to
death. This includes a mother accused of torturing
and abusing her 15-year-old daughter to death, and a
man believed to be Oregon’s most prolific serial killer.
The only person Suver believes could still be
charged with aggravated murder is an inmate who
stabbed and beat another inmate to death at the Ore-
gon State Penitentiary while already serving a sen-
tence for aggravated murder.
“Jason Brumwell is the only defendant currently
on death row whose crime would fit under the new
definition of aggravated murder,” she said. “The only
one.”
Email sends leaders, legislators, lawyers
scrambling
SB 1013 passed the House 33-26 and the Senate 17-
10 in the 2019 Legislative session and was signed into
law Aug. 1 by Gov. Kate Brown.
The law attracted little attention until an Aug. 9
email from the Oregon Department of Justice
sparked debate and confusion.
The department reviewed the bill and a murder
case out of Washington County involving a teen
thrown off a bridge in 1998 only to find that they could
not defend a death sentence or even an aggravated
murder conviction.
The defendant in that case, Martin Johnson, was
convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to
death in 2001 but his conviction was overturned by
the Oregon Supreme Court in 2017. His retrial is set to
begin in October.
In an email to Oregon prosecutors, Oregon Depart-
ment of Justice Solicitor General Benjamin Gutman
said the new law would have a significant impact on
See DEATH ROW, Page 2A