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LOCAL CROSS-COUNTRY RUNNERS ARE READY FOR STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS |
November 4, 2021
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Declaration from
sheriff’s sergeant
states Sanders said
he sacrificed his dog
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
ELGIN — An Elgin man
facing charges for killing his dog
and assaulting Union County
sheriff ’s deputies is back in jail.
Deputies picked up Paul Kevin
Sanders, 53, on Saturday, Oct.
30, on a warrant for missing his
arraignment on Oct. 26. The
arrest went down without inci-
dent, according to the declara-
tions sheriff ’s Cpl. Luke Stone-
breaker and reserve deputy Brad
Bell fi led in Union County Cir-
cuit Court, which was an about-
face from when the sheriff ’s
offi ce arrested Sanders on Sept.
14 following a gruesome fi nding.
Sheriff Cody Bowen said
Sanders had killed his dog and set
fi re to the dead animal.
Sheriff ’s Sgt. Travis Schaad
documented the arrest in a prob-
able cause declaration he fi led
with the circuit court on Sept. 15.
According to the declara-
tion, Schaad, two days earlier,
responded to Sanders’ home
on the 300 block of North 15th
Street, Elgin. Sanders was suf-
fering mental health issues, and
the sheriff ’s offi ce received a
report he killed his dog.
Schaad reported a state
trooper also responded to the
home and saw someone dash into
bushes, but a search did not turn
up Sanders. But according to
the document, Shadd and others
did smell “what I believed to
be burning hair and fl esh.” And
a relative of Sanders stated he
called her and said he had slit
his dog’s throat and burned the
animal as a sacrifi ce.
Law enforcement also
heard from an adjacent prop-
erty owner, who reported that
at about 4:30 p.m. that day he
heard a dog in distress and real-
ized the sounds came from
Sanders’ property.
ALASTINGIMPACT
Olan Fulfer/Contributed Photo
Olan Fulfer, center, demonstrates chess to a group of students at a combined school and orphanage outside of Arusha, Tanzania.
Joseph educator Olan Fulfer recounts summer service trip to Tanzania
He spent three weeks this
summer in the eastern Africa
city of Arusha, Tanzania,
just west of towering Mount
Kilimanjaro.
The trip started as one
where he would teach Tanza-
nian students.
But within just a few days
there, he saw he would have
an additional purpose above
education.
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — Olan Fulfer is
driven by a desire to make sure
those around him are taken
care of.
Fulfi lling that desire is part
of what got Fulfer, who is a
teacher and coach at Joseph
Charter School, into educa-
tion, saying he’ll do what is
needed to make sure the basic
needs of those under his tute-
lage or watchful eye have their
needs met.
“That’s actually my main
goal as a teacher here, why I
got into teaching, was to pro-
vide the basic foundations and
make sure that every one of
my students here, they’re going
to have shoes, they’re going to
have clothes, they’re not going
to have to go through what I
went through,” he said. “I want
to be that adult I needed as a
kid. That is why I am getting
more passionate about doing
that type of stuff .”
An opportunity
Olan Fulfer/Contributed Photo
Olan Fulfer puts a hat from a new school uniform on a student in a school
outside of Arusha, Tanzania.
He not only wants to help
anyone around him who is in
need, but hopes to instill that
willingness in others. That is
part of what has driven class
projects around the community
he had led, including by having
students engage in random acts
of kindness.
“The biggest thing I try
to instill in the kids is being
kind and helping others,” he
said. “If we can make that a
habit, then the world will be a
better place.”
Recently, Fulfer had an
opportunity to take this desire
halfway around the world.
Fulfer typically spends his
summers as a wildfi re fi re-
fi ghter for the Oregon Depart-
ment of Forestry, but in 2020,
an injury prevented him from
fi nishing the summer on the
front lines. Not wanting to
see the time lost or wasted, he
decided to begin researching a
possible Africa service trip.
“My foot was defi nitely
not ready, so I was like, ‘I got
time, fi nally,’” he said.
See, Impact/Page A5
See, Charges/Page A5
Union gym entry gets an upgrade
Bond-funded project boosts lighting, access at high school gym
By DICK MASON
The Observer
UNION — What a dif-
ference a summer makes.
The exterior of the main
entry point of Union High
School’s gym, once one of
the darkest places on the
school’s campus at night,
is now almost radiant on
nights there are activities in
the building, following the
completion of work done
over the summer and early
fall to completely refurbish
the main entry to the gym.
The work, funded with
money from an $8 mil-
lion bond package voters
approved in 2019, involved
the addition of a covered
outdoor foyer leading into
the gym building. The addi-
tion features approximately
20 lights and showcases
a painting of the school’s
bobcat mascot.
INDEX
Busines & Ag ........B1
Classified ...............B2
Comics ....................B5
Crossword .............B2
Dear Abby .............B6
Prior to the renovation
work the main entrance
was dark even on evenings
when activities were con-
ducted in the gym.
“If you held a candle out
there it wouldn’t have made
it brighter,” said Mendy
Clark, the Union School
District’s deputy clerk.
Now, the entryway also
illuminates the school’s
See, Union/Page A5
WEATHER
Horoscope .............B2
Local........................A2
Lottery ....................A2
Obituaries ..............A3
Opinion ..................A4
SATURDAY
Records ..................A3
Spiritual Life..........A6
Sports .....................A7
State ..................... A10
Sudoku ...................B5
Dick Mason/The Observer
The new indoor and outdoor foyer of Union High School’s gym is ac-
cessible and ready for all on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021. The exterior en-
try, along with several other improvements to the high school, were
made possible by an $8 million bond package approved in 2019.
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Friday
40 LOW
53/40
Some clouds
A shower
TAMARACKS BRIGHTEN FORESTS IN AUTUMN
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Issue 130
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