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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 2019)
2A — THE OBSERVER MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2019 LOCAL DA asks to consolidate stalking, indecency cases D aily P lanner TODAY Today is Monday, Dec. 2, the 336th day of 2019. There are 29 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT On Dec. 2, 1859, militant abolitionist John Brown was hanged for his raid on Harpers Ferry the previous October. By Sabrina Thompson The Observer ON THIS DATE In 1816, the first savings bank in the United States, the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, opened for business. In 1823, President James Monroe outlined his doctrine opposing European expansion in the Western Hemisphere. In 1942, an artificially cre- ated, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was demon- strated for the first time at the University of Chicago. In 1954, the U.S. Senate passed, 67-22, a resolution condemning Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., saying he had “acted contrary to senato- rial ethics and tended to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute.” In 1957, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first full-scale commercial nuclear facility in the U.S., began operations. (The reactor ceased operating in 1982.) In 1969, the Boeing 747 jumbo jet got its first public preview as 191 people, most of them reporters and photogra- phers, flew from Seattle to New York City. In 1970, the newly cre- ated Environmental Protection Agency opened its doors under its first director, William D. Ruckelshaus. In 1980, four American churchwomen were raped and murdered in El Salvador. (Five national guardsmen were convicted in the killings.) In 1993, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was shot to death by security forces in Medellin. 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QUOTE OF THE DAY ““When your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt.”” — Henry J. Kaiser, American industrialist (1882-1967) Staff photo by Dick Mason Denny Langford of Union shows one of his journals on Friday to Olivia Akers, second from right, and her son Mason and daughter Jamie. The Akers, who live in Western Oregon, are friends of Langford and his family. 48,000 pages and counting ■ ■ Union’s Denny Langford has kept a daily journal since March 1982 By Dick Mason The Observer UNION — It was a small step, taken quietly without fanfare. Thirty-seven years ago, Denny Langford of Union picked up a plastic black ink pen and began writing a daily journal. That pen soon disap- peared but not Langford’s growing passion for writing. Now, 48,000 pages later, he has an inspiring tale to share with fellow journal writers. Langford, 81, has written almost every day since March of 1982. His prose is rich in detail about his life, his family, local history, wildlife, the two bands he plays in, local rodeos and more. Langford speaks humbly of his work. “I am not a writer by any means, but I like to keep a record of events,” he said. The records he has kept now fill 96 250-page spiral notebooks. Both sides of all of the pages are filled, all with printed words. No cur- sive words are to be found. “I print because my handwriting is like a phar- macist’s. Nobody could read it,” Langford said. The only days Langford has missed writing since 1982 was during hunting trips. His journals do not reveal this, though, for he filled in the details of those days upon returning. Langford began keeping a journal when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints encouraged he and the rest of the member- ship to do so. He had never written extensively when he was younger. “I didn’t like writing when I was in high school,” Langford said. Now, though, he sees the benefits. “It helps me unwind,” he said. “I feel fulfilled after writing.” His journals often come in handy when his family Staff photo by Dick Mason Denny Langford looks over a portion of his 96 journal notebooks. Langford has been writing journal entries almost every day for almost four decades is debating details about things such as where they went on trips together years ago. “The journals have solved a lot of family arguments,” Langford said. Denny and Colleen Langford, who have been married 61 years, have four children, 11 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren. His journals also provide a look at wildlife and traffic in the High Valley Road area. For 17 years, the life- long Union resident walked 2 miles almost every day on High Valley Road and recorded how many deer and vehicles he saw. “Sometimes I saw cows chasing coyotes,” said Lang- ford, who worked for Union Pacific Railroad for 35 years before retiring about a dozen years ago. Information about major national events, such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon building, also are in Langford’s journals. Langford said he was talk- ing to a neighbor when the man received word of the World Trade Center attacks from a phone call from his wife. The neighbor he was talking with was not alarmed at first. “He said his wife thought it was probably an airplane that had gone off course,” Langford said. Langford’s journals also are a treasure for informa- tion about the two bands he has played in for many years, the Blue Mountain Old Time Fiddlers and the BlueMountaineers. Both groups play old-time country music and give a combined total of more than 100 performances a year. He recalled when some- one conducting an event the BlueMountaineers were performing at tried to pay the band, but Langford, one of its leaders, refused. “I said the applause and smiles we get is our pay,” he said. He also writes extensive- ly about Dottie Brown & Company, another old-time music group he played in. It became the BlueMoun- taineers after Brown died several years ago. Langford’s love of writing is stronger than ever, but he admits there are times when he has to battle fatigue at the end of a long day to make sure to get his writing in. The Union resident does not foresee a day in which he will not be penning journal entries. “If I don’t write,” Lang- ford said, “something is left out of my day.” LA GRANDE — The Union County District Attorney’s Office seeks to join two public indecency and stalking cases involving the same defendant, Denver Lane Knowlton. According to court records, the state has accused Knowl- ton, 31, of Caldwell, Idaho, of masturbating in public in front of a woman on March 28 in La Grande, and of following her in a vehicle, fol- lowing other females, includ- ing children, and of trying to entice a girl into a sexual act. The state charged Knowlton in one case with a single count of public indecency and four counts of stalking and in the second case charged him with one count each of stalk- ing, public indecency, luring a minor and endangering the welfare of a minor. Circuit Judge Wes Wil- liams on Wednesday will consider the state’s motion to consolidate the cases. But Knowlton’s defense attor- ney, Michelle Bartov of La Grande, is asking the court to deny the consolidation. She also wants the court to break up most of the charges into separate cases. Bartov in court documents asserted “Knowlton stands falsely accused” of the crimes and argued the court should create separate cases so her client could get fair treat- ment. If the charges were bundled under one case, she argued, the jury could ignore Knowlton’s claims of inno- cence with so many accusers telling similar stories. Those accusations, Bartov asserted, “will inevitably seem more credible when grouped to- gether than when evaluated on their own merits.” Deputy district attorney Ryan Rodighiero in his mo- tion to consolidate argued the cases involve the same defendant doing the actions on the same day with the only difference being there are different victims. Court records also show Knowlton remains free on a release agreement and can appear for the 9 a.m. hearing via phone. This offer won’t hang around long. Subscribe today! THE OBSERVER’S SPECIAL HOLIDAY GIFT TO YOU Buy a three month subscription to T HE O BSERVER and get one month free! Offer for new and existing subscribers Act fast - offer valid through December 31, 2019 To take advantage of this special offer please call the office at 541-963-3161 or our call center at 1-800-781-3214
