FROM PAGE ONE
A5 — THE OBSERVER
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2021
Judge:‘I thought I was in trouble with the Oregon State Bar’
Continued from Page A1
ceremony in October,
Wade described Johnson in
glowing terms.
“Twenty-fi ve years ago,
Judge Johnson began a
campaign to have tribal
court judgments be recog-
nized in Oregon courts,”
Wade said. “Judge Johnson
had built the Confederated
Tribes court into a profes-
sional organization worthy
of all the other courts in
Oregon. He faced immense
resistance, mostly borne of
ignorance about how tribal
courts operate. It took him
25 years, but in 2021, the
Oregon Legislature passed
the statute giving full faith
and credit to tribal court
judgments in Oregon courts.
Now tribal court defen-
dants cannot avoid support
awards or domestic violence
restraining orders simply
because they do not reside
on the reservation. It is a tre-
mendous achievement.”
Johnson keeps the shiny
plaque he received in his
offi ce at the Nixyaawii Gov-
ernance Center, perhaps as
a reminder to never stop
dreaming.
Johnson, the fi rst
member of the CTUIR to
graduate law school and
pass the Oregon State bar
exam, came to the law ser-
endipitously after he read
a Newsweek article in the
early 1970s that reported
there were only two Indian
lawyers in the country at
the time. Johnson liked the
idea of increasing those
numbers. The Pendleton
High School graduate did
his undergrad work at
Oregon State University
said, that ensured the court
and then studied law at the
was autonomous from tribal
University of Oregon.
government.
After a stint as a prose-
Behind the bench,
cutor for Lane County, he
Johnson has a reputation for
headed back home to prac-
being imposing yet cour-
tice. Still in his 20s, he
teous and respectful, and
simultaneously served
for injecting humor.
as both chairman of
He said he considers
the CTUIR Board of
tribal customs and tra-
Trustees and chairman
ditions while meting
of the CTUIR General
out justice and he is
Council — the only
mindful that his native
tribal member ever to
language has no word
Johnson
do that. In 1980, he
for judge, the closest
began serving as asso-
being a word that
ciate judge in the Umatilla
means decider.
Tribal Court and then acting
In his tribal courtroom,
chief judge. His fi rst term as Johnson presides over crim-
chief judge began in 1988.
inal cases, juvenile cases,
In 2011, at Johnson’s
traffi c infractions, contract
urging, the CTUIR Board of disputes and whatever else
Trustees voted to create an
lands before him. Behind
independent judiciary with
his bench hang three fl ags:
separation of powers. This
CTUIR, Oregon and the
was a necessary move, he
United States. While tribal
pate in the program.
Domestic violence is
the only crime for which
non-Indians currently can
be prosecuted. Clamping
down on domestic violence
remains one of Johnson’s
passions. Native Amer-
ican women are 10 times
more likely to be murdered
than other Americans. The
U.S. Department of Jus-
tice reports tribal women
are more likely to experi-
ence rape and domestic vio-
lence, often at the hands of a
non-Indian perpetrator.
This new Oregon law
off ers positive change.
“This is a long time
coming,” Johnson said, “and
benefi ts tribal nation judi-
cial systems as well as all
who use those systems by
promoting certainty and
uniformity.”
courts and non-tribal courts
aren’t mirror images of each
other, he said, many of the
codes are similar to federal
laws.
Johnson has long advo-
cated the federal Violence
Against Women Act, which
covers some of the same
ground as the new Oregon
law. The CTUIR was
selected for a pilot program
to prosecute non-Indians for
domestic violence against
Indians on the reservation.
When VAWA was reautho-
rized in 2013, it included
new provisions addressing
violence against Native
women by restoring tribal
jurisdiction over non-Native
perpetrators of domestic vio-
lence that occurred on tribal
land. In 2014, the CTUIR
was one of only three tribes
initially allowed to partici-
BACKED BY A YEAR-ROUND
Emile “Mo” Moured/Contributed Photo
Navy Chaplain Emile “Mo” Moured, left, stands with U.S. Marine First
Sgt. Rogelio Haro during a 2010 counterterrorism deployment to
Southeast Asia with the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment. Moured
will take over as executive director of Cross the Divide, formerly
known as Divide Camp, on Friday, Dec. 31, 2021.
where they want to be, and
then off er to walk through
that journey with them
across some challenging
personal terrain in order to
begin achieving that trans-
formation,” he wrote. “The
mission of Cross the Divide
will be to help veterans
and their families through
programming in outdoor
venues.”
New to the group
In addition to Moured,
new members are expected
to join the group’s board.
Among them are Kris
Crowley, the pastor of Ten-
derfoot Christian Fellow-
ship, Joseph.
“Veterans are in need of
spiritual care and guidance
to set them up for eternity,”
he said. “The new execu-
tive director approached
me because he wants to
see spiritual guidance for
veterans.”
Crowley, too, is eager
to see what the new group
will do.
“I think that Cross the
Divide is heading in a neat
direction,” he said. “We’ll
take some things that Julie
did and keep them going in
that direction.”
New board members are
retired Navy SEAL Jack
James and his wife, Stacey.
Jack James will be the sec-
retary and Stacey James,
who also is retired mili-
tary, will be the treasurer.
The couple, who live in
Wallowa, were unavailable
for comment.
Moured said other
members are from sev-
eral military veterans of
all branches of the Armed
Forces, including other
retired SEALs and a retired
admiral with the Navy
Chaplain Corps.
“Most important, all of
our prospective board mem-
bers are committed to the
ministry and mission of
supporting our veterans and
their families through the
power of outdoor venues,”
he said.
Andy Marcum, who
served as Divide Camp’s
vice president for hunting,
will step back to his
familiar role of hunting
guide instead of spending
time in meetings.
“I’m just going to step
back to doing what I do
anyway,” he said.
He said he welcomes the
widening of the group’s ser-
vices to other veterans, as
well as to their families.
“We realized the need
to expand from that group
of people,” Marcum said,
adding that such expansion
already had started.
He said the familiar
hunts for elk and deer will
be added to with bear and
turkey hunts and fi shing.
The fi rst six turkey hunts on
three weekends begin April
15, 2022.
Emphasis on families
One thing that’s new
will be a greater emphasis
BIRTHDAY
Continued from Page A1
always wanted to talk about
world events instead,” said
Ballard, who said her aunt
closely follows international
aff airs.
McMurphy grew up in
the Starkey area and was
the daughter of a letter car-
rier for the U.S. Postal Ser-
vice, said Dana Wright,
her grandson-in-law. She
remembers riding in a
horse-drawn buggy with her
father as he delivered the
mail.
McMurphy later was a
hairdresser for 47 years in
Union County, working at
the Union Hotel, a Union
Church and the Sacajawea
Hotel in La Grande,
according to Wright.
“I charged the lowest
rates in the county. Some
hairdressers didn’t like me
because of that,” she said.
McMurphy has been a
prolifi c letter writer much
Dick Mason/The Observer
Mildred McMurphy, left, speaks with Lodema Asper as they celebrate
their 105th and 104th birthday, respectively, on Tuesday, Dec. 28,
2021, at Wildfl ower Lodge in La Grande.
of her life. She continues
to pen three to fi ve letters
a day, many of which are
messages of encouragement.
She did not write any letters
on her birthday, though.
“I took the day off ,” she
said.
McMurphy was an active
walker for many years and
so was Asper, according
to their families. Today,
McMurphy uses a walker
but still gets around Wild-
fl ower Lodge on her own.
McMurphy said she
has never dwelled upon
reaching the 105-year-old
mark.
“I never gave it a
thought,” she said. “I just
live each day as it comes.”
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returning home and for the
next two years, the Navy
enabled me to lead fi ve-day
retreats in the woods
for caregivers and fi rst
responders.”
Although Divide Camp’s
name will change, much of
the focus will remain the
same. The new organization
will inherit the headquar-
ters building in downtown
Joseph. The land remains
under Wheeler’s owner-
ship and will be available
for use by veterans groups,
including Cross the Divide.
“(The headquarters) is
presently being operated as
an Airbnb,” Wheeler said.
“The main reason is to try
to fi nish paying it off . In
the future, it will provide
lodging for vets who are
coming to hunt and fi sh.”
But the change is
more than just the name.
It refl ects an increased
emphasis on the cross of
Jesus, according to Moured.
“The cross reminds of
Jesus — our Creator, our
Savior, the Author and Fin-
isher of our faith and the
only One who can provide
true power for real inner
change,” Moured wrote in
a newsletter announcing
the change. “Julie’s deepest
conviction has been that
Divide Camp focus more
and more on God in its
ongoing future growth. My
goals and desire are abso-
lutely aligned with hers.
“Cross the Divide
reminds us of the incredibly
rich history of Divide Camp
in the Wallowa Mountains,
where Julie and her family
laid the foundation for this
outreach to veterans. We
want to remember that our
future successes are built
on the vision and hard
work of those who laid that
foundation.”
There’s a direct tie
between the new and the
old, Moured said.
“The imagery of
crossing a divide helps us
intentionally communicate
what we do in the process
of helping veterans — that
is, we ask them to think
about where they are and
CLOG-FREE GUARANTEE
’S
Continued from Page A1
on and inclusion of family
members at Cross the
Divide activities. Everyone
involved recognizes that
war trauma aff ects more
than the veteran, trauma-
tizing the veteran’s loved
ones, too.
“I think that’s the direc-
tion we need to go in this
and that’s why it’s opening
up to families,” Marcum
said. “We’re going to be
walking with the Lord and
teaching them about the
Lord and showing them
what God has created for us
to enjoy.”
Moured said that in
his decades as a chaplain,
he has much experience
leading marriage retreats.
He’s well aware that one of
the worst postwar casualties
of going to war is the strain
on marriages.
“As a faith-based ser-
vice to veterans, it’s our
belief that we can get back
to living the way God
intended,” he said. “He cre-
ated us, and by aligning our
lives to biblical principles
and fi nding hope through
Christ, we can experience
growth, increase our resil-
iency and lead our fami-
lies and communities more
eff ectively.”
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