2A — THE OBSERVER
SATURDAY, JULY 11, 2020
LOCAL/REGION
DAILY
PLANNER
TODAY
Today is Saturday, July 11,
the 193rd day of 2020. There
are 173 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On July 11, 1804, Vice
President Aaron Burr
mortally wounded former
Treasury Secretary Alexan-
der Hamilton during a pistol
duel in Weehawken, New
Jersey. (Hamilton died the
next day.)
ON THIS DATE
In 1533, Pope Clement VII
issued a bull of excommu-
nication against England’s
King Henry VIII for the annul-
ment of the king’s marriage
to Catherine of Aragon and
subsequent marriage to
second wife Anne Boleyn.
In 1798, the U.S. Marine
Corps was formally re-es-
tablished by a congressional
act that also created the U.S.
Marine Band.
In 1859, Big Ben, the
great bell inside the famous
London clock tower, chimed
for the fi rst time.
In 1915, the Chicago Sun-
day Tribune ran an article
titled, “Blues Is Jazz and Jazz
Is Blues.” (It’s believed to be
one of the earliest, if not the
earliest, uses of the word
“jazz” as a musical term by
a newspaper.)
In 1936, New York City’s
Triborough Bridge linking
Manhattan, Queens and The
Bronx was opened to traffi c.
In 1955, the U.S. Air Force
Academy swore in its fi rst
class of cadets at its tempo-
rary quarters at Lowry Air
Force Base in Colorado.
In 1960, the novel “To Kill
a Mockingbird” by Harper
Lee was fi rst published by
J.B. Lippincott and Co.
In 1972, the World Chess
Championship opened as
grandmasters Bobby Fischer
of the United States and
defending champion Boris
Spassky of the Soviet Union
began play in Reykjavik,
Iceland. (Fischer won after
21 games.)
In 1974, the House Judi-
ciary Committee released
volumes of evidence it had
gathered in its Watergate
inquiry.
In 1979, the abandoned
U.S. space station Skylab
made a spectacular return
to Earth, burning up in the
atmosphere and showering
debris over the Indian Ocean
and Australia.
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DELIVERY ISSUES?
If you have any problems
receiving your Observer, call
the offi ce at 541-963-3161.
Man convicted of sex crimes out on appeal
The Observer
and living under the same
LA GRANDE —
roof as Altherr, court docu-
Michael Jacob Altherr of
ments stated. She revealed
La Grande faced 18
the abuse in 2017. A
years in prison for
Union County jury
sexual abuse but is
in July 2018 con-
now free on appeal
victed Altherr of
and waiting for a
three counts each of
retrial.
third-degree sexual
Altherr
The state accused
abuse and fi rst-degree
Altherr of abusing a
sexual abuse.
girl younger than 14 years
Circuit Judge Thomas
old on multiple occasions
Powers sentenced Altherr,
from 2013-16. At the start
now 35, to 18 years in
of the abuse, the girl was 11 prison.
This May, however, the
Oregon Court of Appeals
reversed the verdict and
sent the case back to Union
County.
According to court doc-
uments, the reversal was
due to a change in case law.
Powers did not allow
expert testimony from two
of the defendant’s wit-
nesses, and Union County
District Attorney Kelsie
McDaniel said while
Altherr was in the process
Minam curve construction complete
By Dick Mason
The Observer
Photo by Ellen Morris Bishop/EO Media Group
The Oregon Department of Transportation fi nished construction of the Minam curve on
Oregon Highway 82. “There is some miscellaneous clean-up left to do,” according to
Mike Remily, ODOT’s resident engineer in La Grande, “but the project is complete.”
Rated as a 45 mph curve, it is intended to be safer than the previous hairpin curve above
the Minam River, which was implicated in multiple crashes and deaths. The construction
of the new embankment completely fi lled in the old highway and curve.
No sign of missing teen in Baker County
By Chris Collins
The foster family, with
whom Bah had been living
RICHLAND — Baker
for a few months, told
County Sheriff’s Offi ce
searchers he had taken a
marine deputies
walk about 5:30 p.m.
were continuing to
on July 3. The family
patrol the waters of
reported the boy
Brownlee Reservoir
missing about 9 p.m.
on Friday but with no
Friday when he failed
success in fi nding a
to return to camp.
teenage boy from the
It was not unusual
Thierno
Portland area who’s
for Bah, origi-
Bah
been missing since
nally from the West
July 3.
African country of
The deputies are
Guinea, to take long walks,
focusing on areas of the
his family said.
reservoir around Holcomb
They are offering a cash
and Hewitt parks 3 miles
reward to anyone with cred-
east of Richland just off
ible information leading to
Highway 86, said Ashley
his whereabouts. To make
McClay, sheriff’s offi ce
a report, call Sheriff Travis
spokesperson
Ash at 541-523-6415.
“There have been no
Ash also has been in
sightings at this point,”
the Richland and Halfway
McClay said Friday
areas checking out reports
afternoon.
of possible sightings, none
Thierno Bah, 17, had
of which has panned out,
been camping at Hewitt
McClay said.
Park where his foster family
“We appreciate those
and friends were vaca-
tips coming in,” she said.
tioning, when he disap-
Chris Galiszewski,
peared, McClay said.
Baker County Sheriff’s
EO Media Group
Search and Rescue Team
coordinator, spent the week
in the Richland area inter-
viewing people and dis-
tributing fl iers that include
photos of Bah.
He is described as
having a thin build and
short hair. He is 5 feet, 2
inches tall, weighing 140
pounds. He was last seen
wearing gray pants and a
dark-colored T-shirt.
Bah speaks French and
Spanish fl uently, but is not
a fl uent English speaker, the
fl ier states.
More than 35 people
helped search for the teen,
McClay said.
Search and rescue teams
from Baker, Malheur and
Umatilla counties during
the weekend searched by
ground and air and used
sonar technology to scan
the waters of Brownlee Res-
ervoir trying to fi nd Bah.
Oregon State Police and
Oregon Department of For-
estry employees also partic-
ipated in the search.
EO Media Group
place the night of July 17,
2018.”
The fi re totally destroyed
the home, but Palmer later
discovered partial human
remains at the site, which
DNA testing identifi ed as
belonging to Terry Smith,
the release stated.
Palmer also discov-
ered other partial remains
that could not be identifi ed
but have been accepted as
belonging to Sharon Smith,
according to the release.
Evidence was found,
including witness testi-
mony and suspect cell-
phone locations, that place
Connery and his mother,
Gabrielle Connery, 46, at
the Smith home at the time
of the fi re, according to the
press release. The Connerys
had been associated with
La GRANDE
AUTO REPAIR
975-2000
the Smiths, both in Hawaii
and Oregon, prior to the
incident.
The Smiths’ pickup was
later discovered abandoned
in the Boise, Idaho, area
after the fi re, and follow-up
interviews with witnesses
indicated Isaac Connery
took the pickup the night of
the fi re, the release states.
He was indicted June 23
for unlawful use of a motor
vehicle, and a nationwide
warrant was issued for his
arrest.
Grant County Under-
sheriff Zach Mobley and
Sgt. Danny Komning, along
with FBI Special Agent Ben
Jones, traveled to Albu-
querque, New Mexico, to
interview Isaac Connery.
Mobley learned he and
his mother had dropped off
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The
Union County Sheriff’s
Offi ce reported arresting a
woman and fi ve juveniles
Thursday after a shooting.
The sheriff’s offi ce a
few minutes after 5 p.m.
Thursday received a report
of a light green vehicle
with juveniles inside
shooting in the 68200
block of Booth Lane,
Cove.
A witness to the
shooting began following
the vehicle, which reached
high speeds, according
to a press release from
the sheriff’s offi ce, which
identifi ed the driver as
Kari Ann Joseph, 38, of
La Grande.
The sheriff’s offi ce
reported she dropped off
fi ve juveniles with the
fi rearm at or near Riv-
erside Park, La Grande.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Ralph Graf-
funder spotted two of the
juveniles near the park’s
walking path bridge.
They fl ed. Law enforce-
ment caught them on the
walking path, but the pair
did not have a fi rearm.
The sheriff’s offi ce
reported bringing out
its police dog, Molly, to
search for the gun. It took
the dog about 6 minutes to
fi nd a .22 caliber revolver
handgun in tall grass
under the footbridge.
The sheriff’s offi ce
arrested Joseph and the
fi ve juveniles. Joseph is in
the county jail, La Grande,
on three counts of crim-
inal conspiracy.
The investigation is
ongoing, the sheriff’s
offi ce reported, and also
involved the La Grande
Police Department and
Oregon State Police.
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Shooting leads to arrest
of woman, fi ve juveniles
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Joe Horst
two Connery minor chil-
dren at a local campground,
likely Clyde Holliday State
Park, on the afternoon or
evening of July 17, 2018,
and then Gabrielle Connery
drove Isaac Connery to the
Smith home and dropped
him off, before returning
alone to the campground
to pick up the children,
according to the release.
“Isaac Connery went to
the Smith home and shot
Terry, then Sharon Smith,
and set fi re to their home,”
the sheriff and district
attorney reported. “Then
Isaac Connery took their
pickup and drove to meet
Gabrielle Connery” in the
Boise area.
The process to extra-
dite Isaac Connery to Grant
County has begun.
LA GRANDE — The
cost of lunches in the
La Grande School Dis-
trict likely will change in
2020-21.
The La Grande School
Board heard a proposal
Wednesday to boost the
price of lunches for ele-
mentary school students
by 10 cents to $2.75,
middle school students by
10 cents to $2.90 and high
school students by fi ve
cents to $3.
Chris Panike, the La
Grande School District’s
business manager, said the
increases are needed to
allow the district to con-
form to the federal 2010
Healthy Hunger-Free Kids
Act. The law requires
schools charge meal prices
that are within 40 cents
of the full reimbursement
rate the federal govern-
ment pays.
Panike said school dis-
tricts that charge less than
the reimbursement rate
must regularly increase
their prices. The proposal
would boost the average
price of La Grande school
lunches to $2.85.
The school board will
vote on the lunch price
increases in August. No
school board members
voiced opposition to the
plan during the meeting
Wednesday.
Panike also told the
school boar the district
might have the oppor-
tunity to provide free
lunches to all students
in kindergarten through
eighth grade in 2020-21.
The reason is that 41.5%
of its K-8 students are in
the Community Eligi-
bility Provision. CEP stu-
dents qualify for help from
at least one government
assistance program out-
side what school districts
provide.
The La Grande School
District is set to qualify
for 67% reimbursement
from the federal govern-
ment for meals for its K-8
students because 40%
are in the CEP category.
Panike said a reimburse-
ment rate of 67% would
not be high enough for the
La Grande School District
to afford to provide free
K-8 lunches.
However, it would be
able to do this if the state
provides a least $40 mil-
lion in funding to its
Fueling Students for Suc-
cess nutrition program in
the next special legislative
session, which could come
this month.
Such a step would
mean the La Grande
School District likely
would receive enough
funding to boost the total
federal and state reim-
bursement the district
would get for K-8 students
to 90%.
ALASKA, WASHINGTON, OREGON, IDAHO, MONTANA
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ACDelcoTSS
shortly after.
Since getting out,
Altherr has fi red two attor-
neys while awaiting his
retrial, court records show.
Jacklyn Jenkins, special
deputy district attorney for
Umatilla County, is han-
dling the prosecution.
Jenkins has extensive
courtroom experience and
has handled some of the
most signifi cant criminal
cases in recent years in
Umatilla County.
LG School District
lunch prices likely
to change in 2020-21
Suspect arrested for murder, arson in 2018 deaths
JOHN DAY — Almost
two years after a fi re
destroyed a home east
of Mount Vernon, a sus-
pect has been arrested on
two counts of fi rst-degree
murder and arson.
Isaac Connery, 23,
was arrested in Berna-
lillo County, New Mexico,
June 26, according to a
Wednesday press release
from the Grant County
sheriff and district attorney.
Connery is accused of
shooting Terry and Sharon
Smith on July 17, 2018,
and setting fi re to their
home on Nans Rock Road
in the Laycock Creek area
between Mount Vernon and
John Day, according to the
release.
“The Grant County
Sheriff’s Offi ce has worked
for the past two years in
solving this crime where
we have taken the lead in
this case, and our due dili-
gence and hard work never
ceased,” Sheriff Glenn
Palmer said in the release.
“With what we have in a
case like this, and as trau-
matic (as) it has been for
the families of Terry and
Sharon Smith, hopefully
this will be a step toward
understanding what took
of appealing his convic-
tion, case law that allows
for the expert testimony
was changed, thus the
higher court granted the
appeal.
McDaniel said the
change also provided
Altherr with conditional
release from Eastern
Oregon Correctional Insti-
tution, the state’s medi-
um-security prison in
Pendleton, and his mother
posted his $5,000 bail
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