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FRIDAY-SUNDAY • December 27-29, 2019 • $1.50
Good day to our valued subscriber Fred Riggle of La Grande
Imbler cold case from 1927
Union County
S
E
T
I
EXC
La Grande writer
■ Number of
factors pushes
board vote to end
operations in 2019
By Dick Mason, The Observer
E
United
Way
calls it
quits
ight months ago, La Grande author Terrie Biggs took an unanticipated detour down a
road fi lled with potholes, speed bumps and intrigue. Biggs emerged from this journey
with a riveting story — one which may turn the thermostat up on one of Union County’s
oldest cold cases.
By Sabrina Thompson
The Observer
LA GRANDE — United
Way of Eastern Oregon will
close its doors the last day
of 2019.
Alex McHaddad, interim
president of the La Grande-
based charity, explained a
number of factors played
roles in pushing the organi-
zation’s board to vote to end
operations, including the
structure of United Way of
Eastern Oregon.
Rather than have a
specifi c focus or cause, he
said, United Way of East-
ern Oregon served as the
collection point that passed
contributions to other chari-
ties and service organiza-
tions in Union and Baker
county, including Baker
City Backpack program, the
Mount Emily Safe Center
and Shelter From the Storm.
“Today people aren’t as
familiar when funding is
See Closure / Page 5A
Staff photo by Dick Mason
La Grande author Terrie Biggs explores an unsolved murder in Imbler from 1927 in her latest book, “The Unsolved Murder of John
Mayfi eld and other stories and poems by Jerrold Winter Wright.”
Biggs’ latest book details the
1927 murder of John Mayfi eld, a
45-year-old Elgin man. Mayfi eld
was killed between 3 a.m. and 4
a.m. Dec. 27 by a gunshot to the
head while sleeping inside an
Imbler home not far from its front
door. Biggs said Mayfi eld was
sleeping in the home of Andy Coe,
a man Mayfi eld knew and had
been drinking with that night in
Elgin.
Nobody was ever charged for
the murder, although Coe, who
was in the home with his wife and
children at the time of the shoot-
ing, was held in a local jail as a
suspect. He was released after a
month behind bars, according to
a Jan. 25, 1928, Observer story
Biggs’ referenced in her book.
She learned of the 1927 murder
while working on a project about
Jerrold Winter Wright, who was
Mayfi eld’s great-nephew and
died in 2010. Biggs, as a favor for
Wright’s second wife, Carolyn
(Howard) Wright, was transcrib-
ing her late husband’s poems and
written stories.
“I volunteered because I
wanted to help his family share
his memories,” Biggs said.
Biggs learned of the Mayfi eld
homicide while transcribing
Wright’s works, then began tena-
ciously researching the murder
not long after. Her book includes
passages by Wright about the
murder and plenty more.
According to Wright, Mayfi eld
was a bootlegger who made and
sold alcohol during Prohibition.
“Although he was never ar-
rested for this, the law breathed
down his neck a number of times,”
Wright wrote.
He also wrote about a fi ght
Mayfi eld got into with two boys
when he was about 11. He was so
seriously injured a doctor thought
he might die. Biggs said the beat-
ing is believed to have had an
emotional impact on Mayfi eld the
rest of his life.
WEATHER
INDEX
Classified ..... 3B
Comics ......... 9B
Crossword ... 6B
Dear Abby .. 10B
Horoscope ... 7B
Lottery.......... 2A
Obituaries .... 3A
Opinion ........ 4A
MONDAY
Outdoors ..... 1B
Spiritual Life 6A
Sports .......... 7A
Weather ..... 10B
Oregon Capital Bureau
See Display / Page 5A
See Trainor / Page 5A
By Dick Mason
the roof of their home that are hard
to fi nd today.
“They don’t make these type of
lights anymore,” Jill McCraw said.
The display features thousands of
colorful lights on their front roof, in-
cluding heart-shaped confi gurations,
a mass of striking lights covering
the front exterior of their home, four
6-foot trees with strings of lights and
an infl atable Santa in a sleigh in the
front yard.
By Claire Withycombe
Jill McCraw credits her parents,
Sam and Kari Rosti of Star, Idaho,
with having a big infl uence on her
family’s display. Her father purchased
the infl atable Santa, and her mom
taught her a lot about the art of put-
ting up Christmas decorations while
she was growing up in Star.
McCraw also credits her husband
and their young sons — Joey, Jace
and Jordy — with providing her with
See Cold Case / Page 5A
■ Union County Chamber of Commerce honors those who brighten winter nights
LA GRANDE — Christmas lights
of the past are helping a Union home
sparkle in the present.
The lights on display at Joel and
Jill McCraw’s home at 780 Seren-
ity Lane in Union won the Union
County Chamber of Commerce’s
honor as best decorated home in the
county for 2019.
The McCraw family’s display
includes a type of fl ashing lights on
■ Graham Trainor
sees young
workers turning
to labor movement
PORTLAND — Graham
Trainor has taken the helm
at one of the state’s largest
labor groups at a time when
workers in Oregon — already
a strong union state — ap-
pear emboldened, engaging
in ambitious bargaining,
strikes and demonstrations.
Trainor was elected in Sep-
tember to become president
of the Oregon AFL-CIO, a
labor federation representing
the interests of about 300,000
private and public sector
workers.
A longtime Oregon AFL-
CIO staffer, Trainor is
described by some as the heir
apparent to Tom Cham-
berlain, a widely respected
labor leader who had led the
federation since 2005.
Union home has best holiday display
The Observer
Labor
unions
getting
younger
CONTACT US
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Friday
Saturday
Sunday
26 LOW
37/29
36/28
Low clouds
Partly sunny
A shower or two
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Issue 151
2 sections, 18 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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