THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2020
THE OBSERVER — 5A
RALLY
Continued from Page 1A
option in Wallowa County,”
Sheehy said. “Basketball
should be played in the
winter months to have the
most social, mental and
health benefi ts to students
and the community.”
Student athletes spoke
fervently in support of
returning sports to the
schools.
“I’ve been going to
wrestling tournaments
across the country, with
thousands of kids from
across all 50 states and
from all those tournaments,
not one participant has
gotten COVID-19,” Enter-
prise High School wres-
tling and football standout
Trace Evans said. “Sports
have always been a huge
part of my life. It’s been a
coping mechanism. Having
sports taken away from me
Ellen Morris Bishop/For the Wallowa County Chieftain
Rally organizer Dennis Sheehy addresses a crowd of more than 80 people who gathered
at the Wallowa County Courthouse on Monday, Dec. 28, 2020, to support high school
basketball and other sports this winter.
has made all parts of my
life extremely diffi cult. My
motivation to get school-
work done is way down,
and I need to fi nish that
online English course. It
can be done. And I hope
something is done about it.”
Carrie Hermens, Wal-
lowa assistant girls basket-
ball coach, spoke about the
damaging consequences of
the removal of sports and
other extracurricular activi-
ties are having on students.
SEWAGE
Continued from Page 1A
came spewing out of the
three-inch sewer pipe his
home had been connected
to, they knew they’d found
the problem.
“Right as we were done
re-plumbing it, it just blew
up out of the ground … and
just started, a full stream
ahead of wastewater on
us,” Butcher said. “It comes
fl ying out of there and (the
plumber) was like ‘Steve,
this isn’t your house.’”
The plumber removed
a clog of feminine hygiene
products from the main
sewer line more than 100
feet from Butcher’s home,
which had been blocking
the fl ow of sewage down-
stream and forcing his
neighbors’ waste back up
into his plumbing, causing it
to burst.
Butcher said he went
to Anita Smith, the owner
and landlord at Island City
Mobile Manor, immediately
to notify her of the problem
with the park’s sewer line.
A dispute soon broke out
between the two over who
would cover the cost of
the repairs to Butcher’s
plumbing, and the situation
began to escalate.
Shortly after, Butcher
said, the sewer line plugged
once again, and raw sewage
began spilling into his back-
yard from an access pit feet
from his home.
The issue persisted, and
in July 2020 — some 15
months after the sewage
debacle initially began —
Butcher decided to stop
paying rent until Smith
fi xed the problem. He said
he felt that she was not
upholding her responsibili-
ties as a landlord.
RELIEF
Continued from Page 1A
County who lost their jobs
due to COVID-19.
“Many are totally depen-
dent on unemployment ben-
efi ts. If they lost them they
would lose everything,”
Kleng said.
The EOU Head Start
director said he cannot
imagine what it would
have been like if the new
relief package had not been
passed by Congress.
“It would have been
truly devastating for Union
County and La Grande,”
Kleng said.
Spring Roberts, the
owner of Le Bebe Cakes
Bakery and the head of La
Grande Strong, a volun-
teer organization assisting
people in need, agrees that
the COVID-19 relief legis-
lation is a lifeline.
“The need is big in our
community,” Roberts said.
The business owner
credits the stimulus bill
Kaleb Lay/The Observer
Raw sewage seeps from the ground behind Steven Butcher’s home at Island City Mobile
Manor, Dec. 11, 2020, more than a year after a clogged sewer line in the neighborhood
fi rst caused the backup of human waste. Butcher said that at its worst the sewage created
a “pond” below his home, which still has not been cleaned up.
“I wasn’t getting no reso-
lution to asking … so I gave
her a letter that said I was
going to not pay rent any-
more,” he said.
On July 17, 2020,
Butcher received a “144
hour notice to vacate for
nonpayment of rent,” signed
by Smith, warning him to
pay his rent plus late fees
by July 23 and that failure
to do so would result in ter-
mination of his tenancy.
Butcher provided a copy of
the notice to The Observer.
Since April 1, 2020, late
fees, eviction and threats
of either for nonpayment of
rent have been prohibited by
Oregon law and executive
order. They remain prohib-
ited until June 1, 2021, fol-
lowing an extension during
the state Legislature’s Dec.
21 special session. The
notice was unlawful when it
was issued.
Butcher said that at least
one other person in the park
received an eviction notice
on the same day. Other res-
idents have asked not to
be identifi ed or declined to
speak with The Observer
due to fear of retaliation.
He did not pay and was
not evicted, but Butcher has
been accruing late fees ever
since. According to a Dec. 1
statement Butcher provided
to The Observer, the Mobile
Manor had charged him for
25 days of late fees and was
threatening to increase the
daily fee from $2 per day to
$20 per day.
Butcher also claimed
that Carol Partney, Smith’s
daughter and agent, came
to his home on Sept. 3
and threatened to burn his
house down if he did not
pay rent. Partney declined
opportunities to respond to
the accusation.
Smith told The Observer
there wasn’t a problem
with the sewer system in
her park and declined to
comment further. Partney
also denied there was any
sewer problem and accused
Butcher of dumping the
sewage outside his home
himself, then declined to
comment further.
“I don’t know why Steve
is doing this, but we have
a lawyer and he is gonna
get his ass in a sling here
pretty soon,” Partney said.
“As soon as all this COVID
is over with, that guy is
gonna get sued until the
cows come home, and he
doesn’t want to mess with
me because I’ll throw every
force after that (expletive
deleted) that I can.”
The Observer attempted
to contact Partney, Smith
and her attorney for addi-
tional comment and to
respond to Butcher’s accu-
sations. They did not reply.
The saga ultimately cul-
minated in a violent con-
frontation between Butcher
and Kelly Moore, Smith’s
grandson and plumber,
in November 2020 when
Moore came to the park
to work on the sewer line,
which continued to spill
waste into Butcher’s yard.
passed by Congress last
spring — the $2.2 trillion
Coronavirus Aid, Relief
and Economic Security Act
— with providing assis-
tance that allowed her to
keep Le Bebe Cakes open
while continuing to employ
all of her staff.
Roberts said that had
there been a delay in
passing the $900 billion
COVID-19 relief package,
which President Trump
had threatened to veto, her
bakery would have been in
serious jeopardy.
“Many businesses could
have closed, and mine
could have been one of
them,” she said.
She said the timing
of the passage of the
second COVID-19 stim-
ulus package comes at a
most opportune time for
business owners, not only
because benefi ts were set to
expire but because the post-
Christmas season is a time
when sales are often slow.
Mike Mallory, the
owner of La Grande Stereo
and Music, is hoping that
the second stimulus bill
will have the same posi-
tive impact as the fi rst one,
which was signed into law
on March 27, 2020.
“I noticed (a boost in
business) as soon as the
(CARES) checks started
coming out,” Mallory said.
“It made things a lot easier
for a lot people.”
Valerie O’Dai of Elgin,
the executive director of
Relief Angels, a nonprofi t
formerly known as Emer-
gency Equipment Solu-
tions that assists disaster
victims and those in need,
is fi nding that people have
mixed feelings about the
new COVID-19 relief
package.
“A lot of people are
super excited and eternally
grateful,” O’Dai said. “For
people on the brink, this is
massive.”
About half of those she
talks to, though, are wor-
ried about how much the
stimulus package will boost
the national debt.
“They are concerned
about the long -erm conse-
quences. They are worried
they will be paying higher
taxes (in the future because
of the stimulus bill),” O’Dai
said.
Kleng believes the long-
term impact will be posi-
tive because of how signifi -
cantly the stimulus package
will help the American
people.
“The government is
investing in its citizens
during a national emer-
gency. There will be a pos-
itive return on this invest-
ment,” Kleng said.
FAMILY
OWNED
According to an audio
recording of the incident
provided by Butcher, he and
Moore traded threats of vio-
lence that quickly escalated
into physical aggression.
The Observer attempted
to contact Moore multiple
times regarding the work he
did in the park and the alter-
cation with Butcher. He did
not respond.
Incredibly, Butcher had
tried to sell his home and
move out of the Mobile
Manor before his plumbing
burst in the fi rst place. He’d
reached an agreement with
a buyer, but Butcher said
the sale was blocked by
Smith because the buyer
would have children in the
home.
The Fair Housing Act
of 1968 prohibits discrimi-
nation based upon familial
status, except in housing
for persons 55 or older. The
park is listed as a 55-and-up
community by the state of
Oregon under the name
“Island Mobile Court,” but
Butcher noted that he him-
self was below that age and
children regularly reside in
several homes in the park.
Other residents of the
park, who spoke with The
Observer on the condition of
anonymity, said that Smith
does rent to people younger
than 55 and advertises the
park as friendly to all ages.
A page for the Island
City Mobile Manor on
mhvillage.com, a website
for buying and selling man-
ufactured homes, listed the
park as an “all ages commu-
nity” as of Monday, Dec. 28.
“She’s holding every-
body freaking hostage there,
and everybody’s scared
because they don’t want to
get kicked out,” Butcher
said of the landlord. “I’m
just done. This has really
been frustrating.”
Butcher said that he’s
been threatened, harassed
and subjected to uninhabit-
able living conditions at the
Mobile Manor — so much
so that he has opted to leave
the Grande Ronde Valley
to take a job out of state.
He said he feels that he’s
been run out of the park by
the owner, and he worries
about the other residents in
the park who can’t afford to
leave.
“I hope for the sake of
the people who can’t leave
that this changes. Because
they’re all living there in
fear, walking on pins and
needles and wondering
when and if Anita will dis-
like something and make
them move their home,”
Butcher said.
As recently as Dec. 29,
2020, Butcher said that fresh
sewage was still coming up
in his backyard.
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cases of COVID-19 or other
adverse effects.
“It has become clear
from the experiences
of other states that with
enhanced safety measures
in place, we can safely allow
these activities to resume,”
she said. “Our kids should
not have to suffer the con-
sequences of unimaginative
blanket decisions regarding
sports and other activities
that are handed down from
the state. There is no time to
waste. Please, please, please
let them play.”
“In this county and sim-
ilar counties in Eastern
Oregon, schools and
school sports are the back-
bone of the community,”
Sheehy said. “Without
school sports and other
and other extracurricular
activities, Wallowa County
will lose even more of the
fabric that connects and
sustains people in our
communities.”
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“The sudden loss of
young people’s most cher-
ished and anticipated high
school experiences is having
devastating consequences
on their mental and phys-
ical well-being. School is
more than just going to class
and turning in your home-
work,” she said. “It is get-
ting to be part of something
bigger than yourself, and
growing into a more mature
and well-rounded person.
That includes everything
from public speaking in
FFA to playing in a sports
game with your whole town
cheering for you.”
Hermens, like other
speakers, pointed out
that the few incidents of
COVID-19 among youths
made the ban on high school
sports somewhat irrational.
She noted that Oregon stu-
dents have been playing
basketball on “travel teams”
across Idaho every weekend
for months without any