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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 2, 2021)
2A — THE OBSERVER SaTuRday, JanuaRy 2, 2021 LOCAL/REGION History and More The ghost hunters of Milton-Freewater Today is Saturday, Jan. 2, the second day of 2021. There are 363 days left in the year. MILTON-FREEWATER — Sandy Fujan recalls that shortly after her father died, she saw her husband’s razor rocking back and forth on a table. As one who believes in the paranormal, the Mil- ton-Freewater woman assumed it was her late father moving the shaver. Indeed, she said, in almost every house she lived in she has encountered spirits. They have all been friendly so far, just coming and going within a few seconds. “At first, I thought it was the houses that we lived in, but I kind of think it’s me,” she said. “Probably because they say, there is a theory, that spirits know if you’re open to seeing them.” This year she’s taken that theory and founded a group of seven kindred spirits who tour private homes as para- normal investigators who attempt to make contact with the dead. Called Northeast Oregon Paranormal, the group started in January 2020 and conducted its first investiga- tion in early March. The crew went to the his- toric Frazier Farmstead in Milton-Freewater to see if they could find any ghosts in the 1880s home, now a museum. TODAY TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On Jan. 2, 1974, Presi- dent Richard Nixon signed legislation requiring states to limit highway speeds to 55 miles an hour as a way of conserving gasoline in the face of an OPEC oil embargo. (The 55 mph limit was effectively phased out in 1987; federal speed limits were abolished in 1995.) ON THIS DATE: In 1788, Georgia became the fourth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. In 1811, Sen. Timothy Pickering, a Federalist from Massachusetts, became the first member of the U.S. Senate to be censured after he’d improperly revealed the contents of an executive document. In 1921, religious services were broadcast on radio for the first time as KDKA in Pittsburgh aired the regular Sunday service of the city’s Calvary Episcopal Church. In 1959, the Soviet Union launched its space probe Luna 1, the first manmade object to fly past the moon, its apparent intended target. In 1960, Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts launched his successful bid for the presidency. In 1967, Republican Ron- ald Reagan took the oath of office as the new governor of California in a ceremony that took place in Sacramen- to shortly just after midnight. In 1971, 66 people were killed in a pileup of specta- tors leaving a soccer match in Glasgow, Scotland. In 1981, police in Shef- field, England, arrested Peter Sutcliffe, who confessed to being the “Yorkshire Ripper,” the serial killer of 13 women. In 1983, the original Broadway production of the musical “Annie” closed after a run of 2,377 performances. In 2007, the state funeral for former President Gerald R. Ford began with a service at Washington National Cathedral, then moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 2015, California began issuing driver’s licenses to immigrants who were in the country illegally. In 2018, Sen. Al Franken resigned from the Senate a month after the Minnesota Democrat announced his plan to leave Congress amid a series of sexual miscon- duct allegations. LOTTERY Megabucks: $6.4 million 5-10-34-36-42-44 Mega Millions: $262 million 1-31-35-48-62 — 19 x3 Powerball: $287 million 3-43-45-61-65 — PB 14 x2 Win for Life: Dec. 30 21-33-57-61 Pick 4: Dec. 31 • 1 p.m.: 6-9-9-9; • 4 p.m.: 7-3-4-1 • 7 p.m.: 5-7-0-4; • 10 p.m.: 0-8-5-2 Pick 4: Dec. 30 • 1 p.m.: 9-8-0-3; • 4 p.m.: 6-3-5-0 • 7 p.m.: 8-2-1-1; • 10 p.m.: 1-5-6-6 DELIVERY ISSUES? If you have any problems receiving your Observer, please call 541-963-3161. By CHLOE LeVALLEY Walla Walla Union-Bulletin “Hey, who’s here?” Fujan said she heard the question in a recording she was using in a bedroom, predicting it was one of the Fraziers who had lived on the property. Likely a father, based on the low tone. “That was so exciting to hear that because it was very clear you didn’t have to replay it,” Fujan said. “It’s exciting, for me anyway, when I get evi- dence like that because sometimes you think noth- ing’s happening,” she added. “And then you go back and listen to the recorders, and they’re answering you, answering Chloe LeValley/Walla Walla Union-Bulletin Sandy Fujan and her husband Roger explain how to use their thermal imaging camera below) to show temperature variations during paranormal investigations. would turn on, meaning “yes,” Fujan said. Gearing up your questions or some- times just talking between themselves.” Kathy Thorberg, a Walla Walla, Washington, resident and member of the group, said they also got to talk to someone who died in a war. Although they use sev- eral instruments in their investigations, they were using a simple flashlight in a room with military items. Asked yes or no questions, the spirit’s responses were based on light flickers, Thorberg said. The flashlight must be set with the switch almost to the on position, so when a spirit taps the flashlight it flickers on, Fujan said. The group asked ques- tions, such as “Were you in the war?” and “Did you die in the war?” The flashlight Much of what the group does is try to disprove evi- dence. That’s why they bring in Fujan’s husband Roger, the “tech guy” and “resident skeptic.” He said he has fun dis- proving evidence based on what else might have caused specific readings from their equipment, such as car driving by or a dog barking in the distance. As such, the investiga- tors must be aware of their surroundings so they can record when a seeming paranormal activity is actu- ally, for example, someone clearing their throat. Before an investigation begins, the group does an initial walk-through of a home with their equipment, such as an electromag- netic field reader to note emissions from appliances or electricity in the walls. That will help determine whether something beyond those readings might be paranormal activity, Sandy Fujan said. A digital video recording system, night vision camera and a thermal imaging camera are among other investigative tools. The latter indicates temperature variations and shows up on their phones as a heat map, with blue showing a cold spot in a room. Sandy Fujan said she is still skeptical about a recently purchased device that scans radio frequencies that supposedly ghosts can use to talk through. But the gear isn’t all hi-tech. They will take dowsing rods, tradition- ally used to detect under- ground water sources, on their next investigation. The person holding the rods will remain still, and a ghost is supposed to move the rods to answer questions and point to people. Learning the history of the place they will inves- tigate also is vital, group members said. It allows them to ask more specific questions if they encounter a possible paranormal activity. “We’re all kind of his- tory buffs, and so we want to know the history of the place, and some of the names so we’re familiar of who to talk to and who to ask,” she said. Reconnecting Like Fujan, Thorberg said she also has had expe- riences where she recon- nected with a departed loved one. She said she’s felt her mother stroke her hair, something she always used to do in her earthly life. The group recently conducted a paranormal investigation in a private home in Milton-Freewater, where a woman’s mother had died. The woman told them that when she left her kitchen the cabinet doors would be closed, and when she returned they would be open. Thorberg said a radi- ating electro-magneticity pod was used in the inves- tigation. The device lights up and makes a noise when there are activities, such as something touching it or moving within a certain perimeter of it. The pod was on the bed in the living room where the mother died. “I think the daughter was asking, ‘Mom are you here with us?,’ and the REM pod would go off, and I think she asked more personal questions,” Thorberg said. The daughter told them the answers confirmed it was her mother. The group’s electromagnetic detector also went off when the REM pod did. “There was activity in the home,” Thorberg said. No voices were picked up on the recorder, however. “I think she follows her,” Thorberg said of the moth- er’s spirit. “That’s what we thought, you know, it would stop when (the daughter) would go outside, and it would start back up when she would come back in.” Fujan said discovery of paranormal activity in a home can help bring clo- sure to people who call on Northeast Oregon Para- normal to investigate. “Who’s to say it’s a rel- ative or not,” Fujan said, “but sometimes ... you have a good judgment.” Enterprise council rescinds job offer to new police chief City to restart hiring process Jan. 4 By BILL BRADSHAW Wallowa County Chieftain ENTERPRISE — The Enterprise Police Depart- ment is still in the market for a new police chief, the city having rescinded its offer to Seaside Police Chief David Ham. City Administrator Lacey McQuead confirmed that in an email Wednesday, Dec. 30. “He will not be joining the Enterprise Police Department,” McQuead wrote. “I am not able to go into detail regarding this decision.” The vacancy arose because EPD Chief Joel Fish was elected Wal- lowa County sheriff in November. He was to be sworn into that office Monday, Jan. 4. Ham said by telephone Dec. 30 that the offer was conditional based on the city conducting a background check, medical check and other investigations. He said the city would not go into the details of why it News Briefs December warmer, wetter than average LA GRANDE — According to the National Weather Service, La Grande experienced an unusually warm and wet December. The average temperature in the last month of 2020 came in at 33.7 degrees, which was a whopping 3.1 degrees above the 30-year average. Average daily highs were even warmer: 4.6 degrees above normal at 42.2 degrees. Temperatures remained below freezing on only one full day during December 2020. Precipitation also exceeded the 30-year norm, reported to be 2.08 inches for the month. That’s 0.42 inches above the average for December. The NWS said the outlook for Jan- uary is similar, with above average temperatures and precipitation. Jan- uary is typically La Grande’s snow- iest month, and the winter of 2020-21 was forecasted to be a La Nina winter, which often brings heavy precipitation. Wallowa County hospital worker has severe allergic reaction to COVID-19 vaccine ENTERPRISE — The Oregon Health Authority announced in a press release a worker at Wallowa Memo- rial Hospital suffered a severe allergic reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine. The worker experienced anaphy- laxis after receiving their first dose of the Moderna vaccine earlier this week. That person was reportedly recovering in the hospital. Allergic reactions to the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, which are the only vaccines cur- rently approved for use in the United States, have been rare but not unheard of. Those who receive the vaccine are monitored for signs of allergic reactions after injection as a safety measure. “Those who have had an imme- diate allergic reaction — even if it was not severe — to a vaccine or inject- able therapy for any disease should ask their health care provider if they should get a COVID-19 vaccine,” the OHA stated in the release. “Your pro- vider will help you decide if it is safe for you to get vaccinated.” More common side effects of the Moderna vaccine include pain at the injection site, muscle pain, joint pain and chills. Oregon has lagged significantly behind its vaccination goals thus far. The state had aimed to have 100,000 Oregonians receive their first injec- tion by the start of 2021, but as of Dec. 31, 2020, the OHA reported that fewer than 40,000 had been administered. — The Observer rescinded the offer. “I think the best they fig- ured it is not the best per- sonality fit,” Ham said. McQuead wrote the chief-selection process will be restarted. “We will be reopening the position Jan. 4,” she wrote. “In the meantime, I will be working with the (police) department to keep things moving forward. Our hope is to have a chief hired sometime in February.” In the interim, the city will have no official acting police chief. McQuead wrote that she would be working with the three offi- cers along with some assis- tance from the Wallowa County Sheriff’s Office, if necessary. “The Enterprise Police Department will still be providing the same services we are providing now,” McQuead wrote. The city made the offer to the 25-year law enforce- ment veteran after dis- cussing the matter in exec- utive session Nov. 9. He accepted the conditional offer Nov. 13. The city’s decision was made after a three- part hiring process, which included an application scoring committee and interviews by a panel con- sisting of the council’s Executive Committee, law enforcement personnel and multiple community leaders and partners. The deci- sion was finalized through a formal recommenda- tion made to the council by the Enterprise Police Committee. Ham remains at his posi- tion in Seaside. “If they change their minds, they can give me a call back,” he said. Baker County’s COVID risk level drops Move to ‘high risk’ means indoor dining as well as gyms, theaters opening By JAYSON JACOBY Baker City Herald BAKER CITY — Baker County dropped from the extreme to the high risk cate- gory for COVID-19 spread on Friday, Jan. 1, which means restaurants can have limited indoor dining, and fitness cen- ters, theaters and museums can open, also with occupancy limits, for the first time in almost a month. Baker County had been in the extreme risk category, and thus subject to the most stringent restrictions on busi- nesses and other activities, since Oregon started the cur- rent four-level risk system on Dec. 3. And until late Wednesday morning, it appeared that the county would remain in the extreme category through at least Jan. 14. Baker County was one of the 24 counties slated to be in that category from Jan. 1-14, according to a Tuesday, Dec. 29 press release from Gov. 30,000 — Baker County has Kate Brown’s office. about 16,800 residents — two But then Baker County statistics determine the risk Commissioner Mark Ben- level. nett, in a Wednesday morning If the county, during the phone call with Patrick Allen, two-week measuring period, director of the Oregon either has 60 or more Health Authority (OHA), new COVID-19 cases, learned that state offi- or it has a test positivity cials had mistakenly rate of 10% or higher, inflated the county’s then it falls into the COVID-19 case total by extreme risk category. including recent infec- During the most Bennett tions among inmates at recent measuring the Powder River Correctional period, Dec. 13-26, Baker County had a positivity rate of Facility in Baker City. 7.9%, which qualifies for the Although the prison cases high risk level. But the total of are included in the county’s 68 new cases would have put overall total, when the inmate cases would push a county into the county in the extreme risk category. a higher risk category, then But Bennett said that total those cases are deducted from of 68 included nine inmates at the total that the state uses to determine a county’s risk level, Powder River who tested pos- itive. The minimum-security according to an email to the prison has had 29 inmates and Herald from Liz Merah, press four employees test positive secretary in the governor’s since Dec. 13. office. A press release from the Deducting those prison governor’s office Wednesday cases leaves the county’s two- afternoon stated that the week total at 59, just below inmate cases aren’t used in the 60-case threshold for the determining the county’s risk extreme risk category. level because the inmates “do “It’s not where we want to not interact with members of be, but it’s moving us in a pos- itive direction,” Bennett said. the broader community.” “This is so important to our For counties with a pop- ulation between 15,000 and businesses.”
