The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current, April 15, 2019, Page 2, Image 2

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    ✷✡ ➋☛☞✌ ❖✍✌☎❱✌☎
▼ ✁✂❆❨✱ ❆✄☎✆✝ ✞✺✱ ✟✠✞✾
LOCAL
Bigfoot fans to descend on Baker City in June
D AILY
P LANNER
“A lot of people don’t re-
alize the popularity of Big-
íî ïðñòî ïóôõöòî
÷øùúûü ýøþù ÿø ✇✈ ✁ ø
❚❖❀❆❁
On June 15, Baker City
will become a center for
Bigfoot enthusiasts.
Scot Violette, a Baker
City resident and dedicat-
ed searcher for evidence of
the huge, hairy bipeds he
and others believe roam
mountain forests near
Baker and in other parts
of the Northwest, is plan-
ning the inaugural Blue
Mountain Bigfoot Fest.
The event, centered at
Geiser-Pollman Park, will
include a variety of Big-
foot-themed activities.
Among the highlights,
said Violette, who started
Blue Mountain Bigfoot
Research in 2017, is an
❂♦❃❄❅ ❈❊ ❋♦●❃❄❅❍ ■❏❑❈▼ ◆P❍
t◗❘ ◆❙Pt◗ ❃❄❅ ♦❯ ❱❙◆❳❨ ❂◗❘❑❘
❄❑❘ ❱❛❙ ❃❄❅❊ ▼❘❯t ❈● t◗❘ ❅❘❄❑❨
❚❖❀❆❁❩❬ ❭❪❫❭❴❪❫❭❚
❵● ■❏❑❈▼ ◆P❍ ◆❡❛P❍ ❢❑❘❊❈❃❘●t
■❣❑❄◗❄✐ ❥❈●♠♦▼● ❃❈❘❃ ●❈●❘
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❴❖❚❚⑦⑧❁
⑨⑩❶❷❸❹❻❼❽❾ ❿➀➁➂ ➃➄➅➅➄➆➇
✂✄✄☎✂✆✂✝✞☎
✟✠
✡✆☛
✖✎✎✒
☞☎✌
Meldrum, one of the most
prominent accredited sci-
entists who believes Big-
foot is a real species.
“What I wanted to do
is a festival, just kind of a
fun day, but also present
❛➈◆◆➈➉❙➈➊◆➈➊❱➈➊❛
⑨⑩❶❷ ⑨➋➌➌➋➍➎❽❾ ❿➀➏➐ ➃➄➅➅➄➆➇
◆➈❱➊➈❱P➈➊❙➈⑥❙➈➊➈➑❱
➒➍➓⑩➔❸❷➌➌❾ ❿➀➀→ ➃➄➅➅➄➆➇
➊➈◆⑥➈❱❛➈➉❱➈➊❳➈❢✇ ◆❙➈➑❱
➣➋➎ ↔➍➔ ↕➋↔⑩❾ ➙➛➜➄➅ ➀➝
✍✎✏☎
✍✞✑☎✝✒✑✓✞
☎✔✑✕☎✝✞☎
to our community,” said
Violette, 56.
He expects between
2,000 and 3,000 people
will attend the event. The
Oregon Bigfoot Festival
in Troutdale has attracted
about 5,000 people.
➉❳➈➊⑥➈PP➈❛❡
➒➋❻❼ ➟❾ ➙➛➜➄➅ ➀➂
➠ ➡ ➢➤➥➤➦ ➧➨➩➨➫➨➭
➠ ➯ ➢➤➥➤➦ ➫➨➡➨➲➨➫
➠ ➳ ➢➤➥➤➦ ➡➨➲➨➯➨➭
➠ ➡➩ ➢➤➥➤➦ ➵➨➵➨➸➨➩
➒➋❻❼ ➟❾ ➙➛➜➄➅ ➀➝
➠ ➡ ➢➤➥➤➦ ➵➨➸➨➫➨➭
➠ ➯ ➢➤➥➤➦ ➩➨➡➨➳➨➸
✍✒✗✌
✆✑✘✙✒
✝✎✚✛
✑✒✜✍
crazy,” Violette said.
The day starts with a
Squatch-Scramble 5K run
at 8 a.m., one of just two
events that aren’t free.
From 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
there will be vendors with
food, souvenirs and infor-
mation at Geiser-Pollman
Park.
The only requirement
for vendors is that they
sell at least one Bigfoot-
themed item.
Throughout the day
there will be several pre-
sentations on the main
stage at the Powder River
Pavilion, including a Big-
foot calling lesson and con-
test at 11 a.m., a presenta-
tion on evidence collection
techniques by Violette at
1 p.m., a presentation by
Meldrum at 3 p.m., and
a Bigfoot “town hall” at
5:30 p.m. with a panel of
Violette, Meldrum and
Jeremy Scott, who hosts
a three-hour radio show
about paranormal and ab-
normal topics. Scott will
also interview Meldrum
live on his show from
4:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.
The 5K run and a ques-
tion-and-answer
lunch
with Meldrum will cost
$20 per person.
Violette, who grew up
in Summerville but spent
many summers in Baker
City living with his grand-
mother, Donna Higgins,
said he was inspired to
plan the Baker City event
in part by his attendance
at Bigfoot festivals else-
where in Oregon.
“Having been to these,
I thought, we have a rich
history here too and we
need to present that to
people, a lot of people
don’t know,” Violette said.
Violette, who earned a
degree in theater arts at
Eastern Oregon State Col-
lege (now University) in
1984 and a master’s de-
gree in anthropology from
the University of Cali-
fornia-Berkeley in 1998,
dates his fascination with
Bigfoot to an afternoon
in the late 1960s when he
✚✂✒✞✙☎✕ ✂ ✍✙✎✆✒ ✓✢✏ ✂✒ ✒✙☎
Elgin Opera House.
✣✙✂✒ ✓✢✏
✑✍ ✒✙☎ ✆✎✗✘✙✢✠
minute-long clip, shot on
✤✞✒☛
✥✦✛
✧★✩✪✛
✂✢✎✝✘
✫✢✗✌
Creek in Northern Cali-
fornia, that’s known as
✒✙☎ ✬✂✒✒☎✆✍✎✝✭✮✑✏✢✑✝ ✓✢✏☛
Roger Patterson is the Big-
foot searcher who operat-
ed the 16-millimeter movie
camera, and Bob Gimlin
was his companion. Pat-
terson died in 1972 but
Gimlin, who’s 87, lives in
Yakima, Washington, and
remains a celebrity among
Bigfoot enthusiasts.
✣✙☎
✓✢✏✛
✯✝✎✚✝
✂✍
✒✙☎
“PGF,” shows what’s pur-
ported to be a female Big-
foot striding away from
Patterson as he stood on a
✍✂✝✕✟✂✆ ✑✝ ✫✢✗✌ ✰✆☎☎✯☛ ✱✒ ✑✍
by a wide margin the most
famous piece of evidence in
the Bigfoot mystery.
Violette’s Blue Moun-
tain Bigfoot Research, a
group of Baker County
residents dedicated to
pursuing Bigfoot, has a
website — squatchore-
gon.com — as well as a
YouTube channel. One of
his videos has more than
50,000 views.
Violette said he has re-
ceived about 120 reports
of sightings. He consid-
ers about 70 of these as
credible.
“There is a rich history
of Bigfoot here going clear
back to the early 1990s
when a bunch of casts
were found,” Violette said.
Violette says the event
is not just for those who
believe in Bigfoot. It will
include a scavenger hunt
and kids games along with
the 5K run that anyone
can enjoy. He also said he
wants to present evidence
to those who don’t believe.
He has lined up three
vendors from Washington
and at least one from Ida-
ho, as well as a plethora of
local vendors.
One local vendor, con-
tractor Pete Nelson,
plans to build a portable
museum booth with the
history of credible evi-
dence, hoaxes, and Big-
foot sightings in the Blue
Mountains.
Meldrum will also have
a booth where he will be
signing autographs in ad-
dition to the other parts of
the event in which he will
be involved.
Meldrum is a profes-
sor of Anatomy and An-
thropology at Idaho State
University in Pocatello.
He has appeared in more
than 20 documentaries
over the past 20 years.
He also wrote a book on
the subject — “Sasquatch:
Legend Meets Science” —
in 2007.
Violette has received
approval from the city to
use Geiser-Pollman Park
for the Blue Mountain
Bigfoot Festival.
➠ ➳ ➢➤➥➤➦ ➲➨➧➨➩➨➡
➠ ➡➩ ➢➤➥➤➦ ➫➨➵➨➩➨➵
O REGON IN B RIEF
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➠ ➡➩ ➢➤➥➤➦ ➡➨➫➨➫➨➸
Milwaukie police
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11:30 p.m. Saturday.
Police spokesman Brad
❅❁❂✼✿✾ ❀❄❆❇ ❈❁❈❉✾✽❆
●✂✢✒✙☎✆ ✍✂✑✕ ✒✙☎ ✎❊✞☎✆ ✒✆✑☎✕
PORTLAND — A spokes-
man for the Milwaukie
Police Department said
to stop a man who was walk-
ing. The man matched the
description of an armed man
reported in an earlier call.
✂✝
✎❊✞☎✆
✍✗✌☎✆☎✕
✂
✝✎✝✭
life-threatening injury in a
shooting near the Milwaukie
Safeway.
The Oregonian/Oregon-
Live reports the shooting
occurred shortly before
✣✙☎
✎❊✞☎✆
✒✆✑☎✕
✒✎
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the man and deployed a stun
-
cer and the man exchanged
shots two blocks away.
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✎❊✞☎✆✍
✖✎✗✝✕
✒✙☎
shooting suspect nearby hid-
ing under a truck and trailer.
They used a stun gun to take
him into custody.
The Clackamas County
major crimes team is lead-
ing an investigation into the
shooting.
■✺❏❄✽✾❑ ▲✿❁❂▼✾❂
❃✿❄◆✾✿ ✽✿❖❈❇✾❈ ❄❂❆✺
❈❆❖❆✾ ❆✿✺✺❉✾✿
PORTLAND — An Arizo-
na man was arrested in cen-
tral Oregon after police said
he crashed into an Oregon
State Police trooper while
driving drunk, causing the
patrol car to overturn onto
its side.
The Oregonian/Oregon-
Live reports the trooper,
who hasn’t been identi-
✓☎✕✛
✚✂✍
✕✆✑✔✑✝✘
✍✎✗✒✙
✎✝
South Highway 97 in Red-
mond while Christopher
Luna drove north and then
turned into a motel parking
lot, Redmond police said.
Police said Luna crashed
into the state trooper after
making the turn, sending
the patrol car into a nearby
vacant parking lot.
The trooper was driven
by colleagues to a hospital
for non-life-threatening in-
juries, and Luna was treated
by paramedics at the scene.
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