2021: YEAR in REVIEW
C4 — THE OBSERVER
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2021
NON-COVID TOP STORIES
Non-COVID stories: rock quarry, homelessness, new sheriff
erty. After the La Grande Plan-
ning Commission amended its
codes to allow for tiny homes
and cottage-style houses, the Vet-
erans Village serves as the fi rst
example of what can be done
to ease the city’s tight housing
market.
“I think the concept works
well in many applications, not
just veterans housing,” Tsiatsos
said. “I hope to see other smaller
units popping up here and there
where we can get some more
housing here.”
The Observer
ROCK QUARRY FIGHT
ENDS WITH PULLED
APPLICATION
LA GRANDE — James
Smejkal, of Banks, withdrew his
application for a rock quarry off
Robbs Hill Road before Union
County commissioners could
vote on Wednesday, April 7.
The Union County Planning
Commission on March 22 voted
to recommend the county com-
missioners reject Smejkal’s appli-
cation, citing the staff report that
found numerous defi ciencies in
the 400-plus pages of the doc-
ument. The county board had
scheduled a public hearing to
consider the application for the
rock quarry about 1 mile from
Perry. The quarry would have
been at least 250 acres.
But Bill Kloos, legal counsel
representing Smejkal, for-
mally withdrew the application,
according to information from
Union County.
Steve West of La Grande, a
member of the application team
for the Robbs Hill Rock Quarry
project, said the withdrawal is
only temporary. He said the team
wants to regroup and submit a
better application.
“This project is not dead, and
I want to thank the incredible
number of people locally who
support the project,” West said in
a statement.
West said one of his personal
goals is to get out fact-based
information to the public to off set
what he said is disinformation
from a small number of people
who oppose the project.
“They truly represent a small
percentage of the county’s popu-
lation, but they are loud and get
heard,” he said.
He said he believes a detailed
public information campaign that
outlines the facts will change
public opinion and silence critics.
West said the rock quarry project
will be approved in the near
future if such a public informa-
tion campaign is undertaken.
But the real work would have
to be a better application.
County Planning Director
Scott Hartell for the March 22
planning commission hearing
delivered a 17-page report that
went through the Smejkal appli-
cation and found it lacking
throughout, beginning with
proving a public need for the rock
quarry.
VETERANS VILLAGE
AND OTHER HOUSING
DEVELOPMENTS
LA GRANDE — A one-of-a-
kind neighborhood is offi cially up
and running in La Grande.
Veterans Village Union
County hosted a virtual rib-
bon-cutting event on Thursday,
Dec. 9, which acknowledged the
many entities that contributed to
the village. The 10-house neigh-
borhood is designed specifi cally
for veterans who otherwise might
not have a home.
“Through this amazing col-
laboration of eff orts, we created
something wonderful — perma-
nent, well-built and energy-effi -
cient homes for many veterans
who would not likely get this
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
A train in early March 2021 travels alongside Interstate 84 near Perry, the site
of a proposed 250-acre quarry that would ship 2,000 tons of material per day.
The Union County Planning Commission voted against the proposal March 22,
and the property owner withdrew the application ahead of the county board of
commissioners’ vote Wednesday, April 7.
Davis Carbaugh/The Observer
La Grande Police Chief Gary Bell speaks with downtown business owners at
Brother Bear Cafe on Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021, regarding recent concerns over
crime and loitering at Max Square in downtown La Grande.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Suzanne Timms poses for a portrait at her home in Walla Walla on Tuesday,
Oct. 26, 2021, alongside a missing person poster for her mother, Patricia Otto,
and a collection of documents pertaining to her disappearance. Timms believes
Finley Creek Jane Doe, discovered near Elgin in August 1978, is her mother, who
went missing in 1976.
opportunity without help,” said
Gust Tsiatsos, owner of GCT
Land Management, who coordi-
nated the project.
Tsiatsos and Veterans Village
Advisory Council Committee
Chair Lindsey Freeland hosted
the event, which was attended
via Zoom by about 40 people.
Attendees included La Grande
Planning Commission members
and county commissioners from
Union County as well as other
surrounding counties.
The Veterans Village, 0.83
acres at the corner of Russell
Avenue and North Pine Street,
features fully furnished homes
for veterans. Each unit is a cot-
tage-style small home that
includes a bedroom, living room,
fi replace, fenced-in backyard and
amenities. The 10-house village
also has a community center that
can serve as a gathering space for
fellow veterans to interact.
Tsiatsos recognized many
individuals and organizations
that assisted along the way in
developing the village, among
them Kevin Reed; Ace Hard-
ware; Bob Haley, job site superin-
tendent; Terri Bradley, marketing
consultant; Seder Architecture;
and Angel Smith, social worker.
“Through all the local group
and individual support, the state
of Oregon also recognized the
project as a frontrunner at the
state level and a worthy partner
through the Oregon Housing and
Community Services program,”
Tsiatsos said.
The HUD-Veterans Aff airs
Supportive Housing program
through Veterans Aff airs fi nds
individuals who meet the guide-
lines to live in the village, while
the Northeast Oregon Housing
Authority manages the prop-
BOWEN BECOMES SHERIFF,
RESTARTS RESERVES,
BLASTS KATE BROWN
LA GRANDE — It was a
busy year for new Union County
Sheriff Cody Bowen.
After unseating longtime
sheriff Boyd Rasmussen, Bowen
was sworn into the county’s
top law enforcement position
on Monday, Jan. 4. Bowen on
Facebook thanked his family
and friends for their support
and Union County voters for
believing in him.
“I won’t let you down,” he
promised.
A couple of months later,
Bowen revived the county’s
deputy reserve program. Bowen,
who started as a reserve offi cer in
2009, said the program is a crit-
ical way for the sheriff ’s offi ce to
get involved with the community
— a hallmark of his campaign to
bring transparency and openness
to the law enforcement agency.
“It’s an important way for
people to give back to the com-
munity,” Bowen said. “It’s a
necessity for this department to
be a part of this community, and
we have to have reserves.”
Bowen said he wasn’t sure
why the previous administra-
tion canceled the program, but
he hopes reviving it will provide
open channels for the community
to interact with the sheriff ’s offi ce
— and provide a way for people
interested in law enforcement to
become offi cers in the future.
Bowen said he hopes to add
about 10 reserve deputies to the
offi ce through the program. He
also said he’s looking to hire
more full-time staff in the future.
In August, Bowen made more
news by penning a personal letter
to Oregon Gov. Kate Brown
regarding the recent statewide
mask mandate for public schools.
Bowen listed his reasons for con-
cern and called for local control
on decision making in a letter
sent to Brown on Friday, Aug. 13,
and posted on social media.
“I believe that as Ameri-
cans, we have a right to choose,”
Bowen said. “This isn’t a law
and it hasn’t been voted on by the
people.”
Bowen, a parent himself,
advocated for parents making
their own decisions on whether
children in school should wear
masks. In the letter, Bowen wrote
that he hopes to open a dialogue
and speak on behalf of Union
County residents.
In the letter, Bowen said he
believes the governor’s mandate
is unconstitutional and that he
is against threatening the live-
lihoods of teachers, referring to
the potential fi nes and loss of
teaching licenses for teachers
Happy New Year!
Thank you from your
Hometown Orthodontist
La Grande
904 6th St
Baker City
2889 D. St
drmartinezbraces.com 541-963-3525
www.CountrysideSheds.com
Storage Solution
See our display lot at 10505 N. McAlister Road Island City
(Corner of Hwy 82 & N. McAlister Rd.)
(541) 663-0246 or toll free (800) 682-0589
Locally owned and operated for over 25 years
and staff who do not enforce the
mandate. This was a hot topic
of debate at recent school board
meetings in the area, with con-
cerned parents and commu-
nity members voicing their
opposition.
FINLEY CREEK JANE DOE
AND WALLA WALLA
CONNECTION
ELGIN — Suzanne Timms
was looking at a Facebook page
that lists missing persons when
she thought she saw someone
familiar — herself.
“I said, ‘Why am I there? I’m
not a missing person,’” she said.
A moment later the Walla
Walla resident became convinced
that the picture, which she fi rst
saw in July, was not of herself but
of her mother, Patty Otto, who
has been missing since Sept. 1,
1976. What Timms saw was not
a photograph but an image cre-
ated in May by a forensic artist
in Massachusetts, Anthony Red-
grave, the operator of Redgrave
Research Forensic Services.
Redgrave was assisting a local
group trying to identify a woman
found in a shallow grave 10 miles
northwest of Elgin in August
1978.
The group is led by Melinda
Jederberg of La Grande.
Timms’ mother, a Lewiston,
Idaho, resident whom Timms last
saw when she was 3 years old,
may have been the person discov-
ered in that shallow grave, which
was near Finley Creek. She has
since become known as the
Finley Creek Jane Doe. Timms
said the mystery involving the
woman’s identify is solved in her
mind.
“I am certain she is my
mother,” she said.
Re-creating the face of what
Timms believes is that of her
mother took some creativity on
Redgrave’s part. Redgrave had no
actual skull to work with, just the
digital copies of the photos the
Oregon State medical examiner
took of the remains after hunters
found her.
Timms is sure of Finley
Creek Jane Doe’s identity not
only because of the forensic
image but also the red pants and
white blouse a medical examin-
er’s report photo shows she was
wearing.
“That was exactly what my
mom had on the last time I saw
her,” Timms said.
A Sept. 8, 1976, story in the
Lewiston-Morning Tribune also
said that Otto was wearing red
pants and a white blouse before
she disappeared from Lewiston.
Other similarities include the
light brown or blond hair the
article described, the same color
Timms’ mom had. Size is another
common characteristic. Finley
Creek Jane Doe’s estimated
height was 5 feet, 2 inches to 5
feet, 4 inches, the same height as
Timms’ mother.
Timms now wants to get DNA
to verify that Finley Creek Jane
Doe is her mother, which might
prove challenging — Timms said
Finley Creek Jane Doe was cre-
mated in 1990 because her case
had been closed by the state.
See, Non-COVID/Page C5