Chilling Out
in Home & Living
Paid for by committee to Re-elect Boyd Rasmussen.
Bruce & Karen Kevan, Bill Teeter and Guy & Peggy Weishaar
Follow us on the web
TUESDAY • April 21, 2020
• $1.50
Good day to our valued subscriber Linda Ables of La Grande
Eastern Oregon counties push to reopen
By Ellen Morris Bishop
EO Media Group
ENTERPRISE —
County commissioners
from Wallowa and other
Eastern Oregon counties
scheduled a conversation
Monday afternoon with
Gov. Kate Brown about
partially opening up busi-
nesses in Eastern Oregon.
Late last week, county
commissioners of Wallowa
County along with Baker,
Deschutes, Grant, Malheur,
Harney, Jefferson, Union,
Lake, Wasco and Klamath
counties asked Brown
for “a conversation about
partly opening up Eastern
Oregon.” Not every com-
missioner signed on to the
letter.
Wallowa County Com-
missioner Susan Roberts,
who initiated and wrote the
letter, stressed “this was a
letter asking for a conversa-
tion about a partial opening,
not at all a request to open.”
Wallowa County sent its
letter April 13. Eight other
Eastern Oregon counties
emailed another Thursday.
That afternoon, Roberts
said, the governor agreed
to talk with the counties
Monday.
“We pointed out that
Eastern Oregon’s small
business economy was
really hurting, a lot of
our small businesses are
hanging on by their teeth,
and in rural Oregon we
are pretty well distanced
anyway,” Roberts said.
“We know that to open, we
have to show a downward
trend in COVID-19 cases.
We think we can show that
here. We don’t have any so
we can’t get much farther
down than that.”
Some of Brown’s
thoughts seem headed in
the same direction.
In a Saturday, April
18, interview with Oregon
Public Broadcasting’s Dave
Miller, Brown said, “My
top priority right now is to
protect the health and safety
of Oregonians.... But we
also have to balance that,
at some level, with people’s
livelihoods. And I think
we can do this. We can do
it via geography, county
by county. We can do it
by region. ... We have to
try this. We know that not
everything we’re going to
do is going to work, but we
have to try something. We
can’t stand still.”
However, Brown
emphasized the capacity
See, Open/Page 5A
Team digs into local mystery
La Grande woman
seeks to name the
unknown Finley
Creek victim
By Phil Wright
The Observer
LA GRANDE —
Melinda Jederberg of La
Grande has a mission —
fi nd out the identity of a
young woman who was
found in a shallow grave
near Elgin.
And if luck prevails, fi nd
out who put her there.
Jederberg said she knows
that’s a long shot. The
case has been cold since
hunters in late August 1978
found the human remains
near a log on Finley Creek
some 18 miles north of La
Grande. The Observer cov-
ered the story at the time.
The woman was 18-25,
according to the report at
the time from state med-
ical examiner Dr. Wil-
liam Bradley, stood 5
feet 2 inches to 5 feet 4
inches tall, weighed 114-
140 pounds. She had light
brown or blond hair. She
was pregnant and likely
near delivery. And the
remains may have been
there for four years.
Jederberg, who earned
a bachelor’s degree in
criminology in 2007 from
Eastern Oregon Univer-
sity, La Grande, has long
kept her interest in crime.
She came across The Doe
Network last year, a web-
site devoted to cold cases
of missing and unidenti-
fi ed people. She said she
wanted to fi nd out whether
there were cases in Union
County. And at the top
of the list was the Finley
Creek case.
“I never heard of this,”
she said. “How is it possible
I never heard of this?”
She started to dig and
has not stopped. She took
to Facebook and created
the page Finley Creek
Jane Doe — Elgin, OR to
raise awareness and maybe
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The
COVID-19 pandemic has
likely robbed La Grande
High School’s seniors of a
traditional graduation cer-
emony but it will not steal
their spotlight.
For proof, check out the
expansive north windows
of La Grande High School’s
library. The names of all
of the approximately 170
LHS seniors set to grad-
uate in June are displayed
in the form of eye-catching
vinyl blue and white cutouts
attached to the windows
late last week.
“We are celebrating what
they have achieved,” said
Angie Malone, the coordi-
nator of LHS’s Career Tech-
nical Education program.
Malone is part of a
team of four La Grande
High staff members con-
ducting the library window
project, one which will be
Union County
has two cases
on appeal because
of the issue
By Conrad Wilson
Oregon Public Broadcasting
by, in most cases in motor
vehicles.
“Almost all of us got
choked up and so did a lot
of families,” Mayes said.
Cries from teachers
and staff of “We love you”
and “We miss you” could
be heard throughout the
parade.
Students and their fam-
ilies also displayed hand-
made signs with messages
WASHINGTON —
The U.S. Supreme Court
ruled 6-3 Monday that
the U.S. Constitution
requires unanimous jury
verdicts in state criminal
courts. The move ends
Oregon’s history of using
non-unanimous juries
to fi nd people guilty
of crimes other than
murder.
Specifi cally, the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled the
14th Amendment incor-
porates a person’s Sixth
Amendment right to jury
unanimity.
Oregon was the last
state in the country that
utilized a non-unani-
mous jury law, allowing
convictions in many
types of cases with an
11-1 or 10-2 decision.
Monday’s Supreme
Court case was out
of Louisiana, though
that state had previ-
ously ended the prac-
tice of non-unanimous
juries through a measure
approved by voters.
Union County Dis-
trict Attorney Kelsie
McDaniel is a board
member of the Oregon
District Attorneys Asso-
ciation, which since 2018
has supported efforts to
require unanimous jury
verdicts.
“While our offi ce is
currently analyzing the
opinion for how it will
impact pending and
closed matters, we do
know that only three
cases from Union County
were on direct appeal for
this issue, one of which
has already been closed,”
McDaniel said. “We
expect to receive addi-
tional analysis and guid-
ance from the Oregon
See, Parade/Page 5A
See, Courts/Page 5A
Staff photo by Phil Wright
Melinda Jederberg shows notes she has taken while working to identify the girl that hunt-
ers found in a shallow grave in 1978 near Elgin.
bump into a clue. Others
found the page, and now
Jederberg is part of a fi ve-
person team with mem-
bers throughout the West.
In March, they obtained a
copy of the Oregon State
Police fi le on the case with
details of the crime scene
such as what the young
See, Mystery/Page 5A
completed later when the
class of 2020’s individual
honors are added to the
library’s middle north win-
dows. Joining Malone on
the window salute project
are library assistant Juliette
Childs, secretary Patty
O’Reilly and Lezlie Wright,
coordinator of the ASPIRE
student mentoring program.
So striking are the dis-
plays that on fi rst glance
See, Seniors/Page 5A
Staff photo by Dick Mason
La Grande High School seniors Nicholas DuVernay and
Alyssa Schelin check out the school’s display honoring
graduating seniors on Monday.
Central conducts emotional spirit parade
By Dick Mason
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Mem-
bers of Central Elementary
School’s staff lined their
closed campus Friday and
opened their hearts to its
students and families.
Central’s campus,
closed for classes since
March 14 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, was
the site of a memorable
spirit parade.
About 40 of the school’s
teachers and staff stood
outside and greeted chil-
dren as they traveled —
via foot, bicycles and
motor vehicles — to pick
up free lunches and break-
fasts Friday morning. The
students have been picking
up free lunches and break-
fasts for most of the past
month and usually have
been greeted by about
half a dozen staff mem-
bers. On Friday though
they were met by many
of the school’s staff mem-
bers who stood at least six
feet apart on the sidewalks
in front of the school and
greeted students.
“We waved and
waved. The kids were so
moved that it was hard to
describe,” said Central
Principal Suzy Mayes.
Central’s staff mem-
bers, many who held signs
with heartfelt messages,
waved at students and their
families as they passed
INDEX
Classified ...... 4B
Comics .......... 7B
Community .. 3A
Crossword .... 5B
Worldwide cases:
2,314,621
Worldwide deaths:
157,847
U.S. cases: 746,625
U.S. deaths: 39,083
Oregon cases: 1,956
Oregon deaths: 75
Union County cases: 4
Union County deaths: 0
Wallowa County cases:
1
Wallowa County
deaths: 0
*As of 3 p.m. Monday,
April 20. Sources: World
Health Organization,
Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention,
Oregon Health Authority
High court
ruling aff ects
Oregon’s
verdict laws
Display at La Grande High School honors seniors
By Dick Mason
By the
numbers*
CONTACT US
Dear Abby .... 8B
Home ............ 1B
Horoscope .... 5B
Letters ........... 4A
THURSDAY
Lottery........... 2A
Obituaries ..... 3A
Opinion ......... 4A
Sports ........... 6A
GO! TO GO, PART 1
541-963-3161
Issue 48
2 sections, 14 pages
La Grande, Oregon
Email story ideas
to news@lagrande
observer.com.
More contact info
on Page 4A.
Online at lagrandeobserver.com