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TUESDAY EDITION
May 31, 2022
Group
hosts
Lane Co.
in ranch
tour
MEMORIAL DAY
Stockgrowers event
brought diverse
ranch communities
together
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA COUNTY
— Cattle ranchers from
opposite ends of Oregon
got together here recently to
learn more about the chal-
lenges each faces and foster
a sense of unity among
the Oregon Cattlemen’s
Association.
Members of the Wallowa
County Stockgrowers Asso-
ciation hosted an exchange
with members of the Lane
County Livestock Associ-
ation mostly on Saturday,
May 22, consisting of a bus
tour of Wallowa County
sites, including ranches, the
Zumwalt Prairie, the his-
toric Buckhorn Lookout
and other sites pertinent to
the local livestock industry.
“I thought it was a great
tour,” said Todd Nash, a
Wallowa County commis-
sioner, rancher and presi-
dent of the OCA, on May
23. “We got to see some
really diverse ranching.”
More than 25 ranchers
from Lane County were
among the approximately
60 people who took part
in the tour. Three com-
missioners of the Oregon
Department of Fish and
Wildlife; ODFW staff ; state
Rep. Bobby Levy, R-Echo,
and an aide; and an aide
to Republican U.S. Rep.
Cliff Bentz also took part.
In addition to the bus tour,
there were meals and social
time at the Cloverleaf Hall
in Enterprise.
Lane County abuts the
Pacifi c Coast and is the
fourth-most populated
county in the state with the
highly urban Eugene at its
heart. This is in contrast
to Wallowa County tucked
away in Oregon’s northeast
corner and the state’s fi fth-
least populated county.
But both are known
for their fertile soil and
Dick Mason/The Observer
John Craig, left, of American Legion Post 43, and volunteer Lowell Knopp, of La Grande, help install the Avenue of Flags at Grandview Cemetery on Saturday, May 28, 2022.
Long history,
BRIGHT FUTURE
Interest in annual Avenue of Flags
ceremony in La Grande remains high
By DICK MASON • The Observer
L
A GRANDE — Ronald Reagan was completing
his second term as president when the first
Avenue of Flags program was conducted on
Memorial Day weekend in 1987 at La Grande’s Grand-
view Cemetery.
Each Memorial Day weekend
since then, Grandview Cemetery
has been a swirling sea of large
American fl ags, all donated by
families in honor of their loved
ones. Virtually all of the original
fl ags have been replaced after
becoming tattered, but the pas-
sage of 35 years has not frayed
interest in and enthusiasm for
the Avenue of Flags.
Indeed interest and enthu-
siasm appears to be growing.
“It keeps getting more rec-
ognition each year,” said Kevin
Loveland, a member of La
Grande’s American Legion Post
43, which again was in charge
Dick Mason/The Observer
Members of the La Grande Lions Club place fl ags at the gravesites of veterans at
Grandview Cemetery on Thursday, May 26, 2022.
of the Avenue of Flags program
this Memorial Day weekend.
Members of the veterans
organization and community
volunteers installed about 120
fl ags on poles at Grandview
Cemetery starting at 6 a.m. Sat-
urday, May 28.
See, Flags/Page A6
See, Ranches/Page A6
Police remain unsure why work truck was stolen
Walla Walla man crashes stolen vehicle
into truck driven by La Grande resident
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
WALLA WALLA —
Police say they don’t know
why Anthony M. Stalder stole
a U.S. Linen truck and drove
it down the wrong side of
state Route 125, crashing into
another vehicle and killing
himself and La Grande
man Jeremy S. Richards on
Tuesday, May 24.
Stalder, of Richland, Wash-
ington, was not being pursued
by police, Walla Walla Police
Sgt. Nick Loudermilk told the
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
on Friday, May 27.
Stalder, 28, stole the work
truck from the Gesa Credit
Union parking lot at 1355
W. Poplar St., Walla Walla,
Loudermilk said. And police
were just preparing to start a
search when the report that
it was involved in a crash on
the highway between College
Place and Walla Walla came
over the radio from dispatch.
Stalder drove the stolen
2014 Ford Econoline head-on
into northbound traffi c on
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state Route 125 and crashed
into 48-year-old Richards,
who was driving alone in
a 2022 Dodge Ram. Rich-
ards died on
the scene,
according to
Washington
State Patrol.
Stalder was
taken to Prov-
Richards
idence St.
Mary Medical
Center, where he died.
Richards was married
and had three young chil-
dren at home in La Grande,
according to a social media
post by his family.
The Richards family has
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started a Facebook fund-
raiser at bit.ly/jeremyrich-
ardsfund to help Richards’
wife, Kaylee Richards, with
expenses, including the grad-
uation of their oldest child in
the coming weeks.
His parents, Mickey and
Tawnya Richards, spoke
about their son on their
shared Facebook account.
“Jeremy (touched) lives
he didn’t even know he
touched,” the post reads. “He
is an example of someone
who choose to change his
direction in life at a vulner-
able age. He would see those
that struggled as he had and
always gave them an oppor-
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tunity to make the same
choice he did.”
Stalder was born and
raised in Walla Walla,
according to his obituary
posted online by Herring
Groseclose Funeral Home.
He played golf and was a var-
sity athlete in wrestling at
Walla Walla High School, his
family wrote.
But he got into trouble
with local police sev-
eral times over the last few
years, according to previous
Union-Bulletin reporting,
and his obituary notes that
he “battled substance abuse
and mental health for several
years.”
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541-963-3161
Issue 65
2 sections, 14 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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