DECADE IN REVIEW
21C — THE OBSERVER
MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2019
2017: Fires, escapees, an eclipse, and an embezzlement case
10 — Fire destroys
livestock show barns
A fast-moving fi re on July 24,
2017, ripped through Union’s
Eastern Oregon Livestock Show
Grounds. The roaring blaze
caused no injures but did signifi -
cant damage.
The fi re broke out around 5
p.m., destroyed three horse barns
and the goat barn, which were
empty of people and animals.
Roughly 40 fi refi ghters from
throughout Union County re-
sponded to take on the blaze. The
crews succeeded in extinguishing
the fi re in about 40 minutes, pre-
venting the fl ames from reaching
other structures, including the
nearby grandstands.
The ensuing investigation
determined the fi re was human
caused. The case has not been
solved.
9 — J.C Penney Co. closes
in La Grande after more
than 100 years
La Grande and Island City
experienced the closure of several
stores in 2017, but the end of J.C
Penney Co. in La Grande drew
the most attention.
The business was one of the
oldest operating in Union County.
It opened in 1914 and 16 years
later relocated to 1309 Adams
Ave., where it remained until clos-
ing day, Aug. 1. J.C Penney Co. in
March announced the La Grande
store was among the 138 the com-
pany would close nationwide.
Locals received a second jolt
about three weeks later when
Payless ShoeSource Inc. an-
nounced it would close its store in
Island City. And rue21 also shut
down in Island City after operat-
ing since 2013.
8 — Union city
administrator departs
Sandra Patterson was the city
administrator of Union for 12
years, and on June 13, 2017, she
announced she would resign in
a month. She reported she was
leaving out of concerns about a
third party’s unethical actions.
She consulted with an attorney
and on June 15 retracted her
resignation. But the Union City
Council in August voted to accept
her resignation.
Patterson then fi led a com-
plaint against the city council
with the Oregon Government
Ethics Commission, alleging the
council violated public meeting
laws in June when it discussed
matters beyond the scope of ex-
ecutive session regulations.
Patterson and the city did not
reach a settlement until April
2019, when the commission gave
Union Mayor Leonard Flint and
each of the six people who served
as councilors at the time a “letter
of education” explaining the law
they appeared to have violated
and how best to follow it.
7 — Harsh winter hits
Grande Ronde Valley
The harshest winter in more
than a decade pummeled North-
east Oregon in 2017.
Snowstorms left portions of the
Grande Ronde Valley buried in
snow for two months. Snowdrifts
in Summerville prevented resi-
dents from getting vehicles out of
driveways for days at a stretch.
Members of the Imber Rural Fire
Protection District worked long
but sometimes fruitless hours try-
ing to keep the roads clear.
The heavy snowfall forced mul-
tiple closures of Interstate 84, and
local school shut down for almost
20 days in December 2016 and
January 2017.
Observer fi le photo
Fire in July 2017 destroys four barns on the grounds of the Eastern Oregon Livestock Show, Union.
6 — New Central
Elementary opens
Construction of La Grande’s
fi rst new school in almost four
decades concluded in time for the
start of the 2017 school year.
Central Elementary School cost
about $14 million, a big chunk of
the $31.85 million school con-
struction bond voters passed in
2014. The school replaced the old
Central, which was more than 60
years old.
The new Central presented
the community with a striking
structure and more room, ending
the need to use modular buildings
as classrooms.
5 — La Grande man gets
31 years in prison for sex
crimes
Jacob Pomerleau went to trial
in July 2017 on multiple counts of
Measure 11 sex crimes, and a jury
found him guilty. Union County
Circuit Judge Russell West sen-
tenced Pomerleau, then 35, to 31
years in prison.
The victim, a minor, and her
mother were among those who
testifi ed against Pomerleau.
4 — Fire burns down
Quail Run Motel
Every guest and resident of
La Grande’s Quail Run Motel
escaped a fi re that consumed the
building April 29, 2917.
The cause was likely a water
heater. Every fi re department in
the county assisted at the blaze,
and even that was not enough.
Baker City and Haines got the
calls to help as well.
The fi re raged for more than
three hours, required 60-70 fi re-
fi ghters and displaced 36 people
and one dog.
3 — Two escape from
Camp Riverbend
Two escapees from the Camp
Riverbend Youth Transitional Fa-
cility near La Grande kept a step
ahead of the law in June 2017.
Brittain McAuliffe and Micah
West, both 18, took off from the
Oregon Youth Authority facility
and managed to evade capture for
weeks.
West ended up back in custody
fi rst, when Albany police in July
detained him for shoplifting
candy bars, according to Oregon
State Police.
The law caught up to McAuliffe
in September in Klamath Falls af-
ter he shot a woman and left her
for dead on a bike path. He went
to prison in 2018 for 23 years
Observer fi le photo
Oregon State Police in June 2017 survey the terrain along Interstate 84 during the search for two teen-
agers who escaped from the Camp Riverbend Youth Transitional Facility outside La Grande.
after pleading guilty to attempted
aggravated murder.
2 — Solar eclipse incites
major preparations
Public safety personnel of all
kinds readied for big crowds to
fl ood across rural Oregon counties
to watch the Aug. 21, 2017, solar
eclipse, the fi rst that would trans-
verse the length of the mainland
United States since 1918.
Most hotels in Northeast Ore-
gon were booked, and service sta-
tions and grocery stores prepared
for the infl ux of out-of-towners.
Local law enforcement, however,
reported little increase in crime.
The dread that campers could
spark a wildfi re in the midst of
mass crowds never came to realiza-
tion. But local businesses reported
signifi cant spikes in sales.
1 — Embezzlement ends
business partnerships
The Union County Economic
Development Corporation in 2017
dissolved its partnership with
the city of La Grande and Union
County after a tumultuous year.
In August, The Observer
reported the corporation failed
to reveal to its partners and the
public that a former employee
embezzled more than $21,000
over the span of two years. The
UCEDC relied on public funds
from the city and county, leading
its partners to question whether
they should have been informed.
But Dan Stark, the corporation’s
Observer fi le photo
J.C. Penney Co. in La Grande offi cially closed its doors in 2017 after
103 years in business. Customers stopped in to shop for the remain-
ing merchandise or to talk with the employees during the store’s fi nal
hours.
executive director, and Mark
Davidson, its president, said this
was a personnel matter and the
organization would handle it
internally.
In September, Davidson pre-
sented the idea for dissolution,
and the board agreed. The Union
County Economic Development
Corporation, however, did not go
away. The board was reduced to
seven members and no staff, still
owned industrial land and agreed
to work with the city and county
when a business interest wanted
to use the property.
Wishing you a safe and Happy New Year!