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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (July 21, 2022)
INSIDE NEW ‘SAVAGE SERPENTS’ REPTILE SPECIALTY STORE A LONG TIME COMING FOR OWNER | BUSINESS & AGLIFE, B1 G July 21, 2022 IN R P S T E A W on for ains a bo nchers r d e d e e Much n rmers and ra fa lagrandeobserver.com | $1.50 THURSDAY EDITION SPRING RAIN DRIVES DROUGHT FROM UNION COUNTY INSIDE Police locate fi nal suspect in Island City episode ’ Gun shop owner thankful no one seriously injured The Hen Party, shown here circa 1936, was led by Jean Birnie, a La Grande woman known for her horse-riding skills, reverence for nature and rejection of modern conveniences. Hen Party helped women gain independence decades before the liberation movement By DICK MASON, ISABELLA CROWLEY and SHANNON GOLDEN The Observer LA GRANDE — The arrest of a third suspect involved in an attempted bur- glary and police chase brings an end to a dramatic manhunt that tied up police resources from several agencies. Demus Montez, 36, Hermiston, evaded offi cers following the events Sunday, July 17, that started in Island City. Police fi nally caught up with Montez during the early morning hours of July 19. Montez was identifi ed by a motorist who reported seeing an individual wearing a black hooded sweat- shirt crawl out of a fi eld outside Elgin, “I’m glad to Union that they got according County Sheriff him. He was Cody Bowen. Police scanner traffi c indi- a danger cated the caller reported the indi- to our vidual was walking community.” down Highway 82 near the Elgin Stam- — Rick Gorte, pede grounds. gun shop owner Deputies arrived on scene, took Montez into cus- tody and booked him into the Union County Jail. He was arrested on charges of attempted murder, fi rst-degree attempted robbery, unlawful use of a weapon, felon in possession of a fi rearm, criminal mis- chief, reckless endangering and misde- meanor fl eeing. Montez joins Jessica Spalinger, 31, of Walla Walla, Washington, and Ashtin Romine, 26, of Clarkston, Washington, who were arrested around 10 p.m. July 17 in connection with the episode that began with the attempted burglary of Bullseye Muzzleloader’s and More, 10201 W. First St., Island City, on July 17. The gun shop’s owner, Rick Gorte, was pleased to hear about the capture of the fi nal suspect. “I’m glad that they got him,” he said. “He was a danger to our community.” Store owner recounts fending off two masked men Gorte was cleaning up shattered glass on July 17 following a break-in at his gun store the night before. Gorte said around 2:30 p.m. two masked men attempted to enter the shat- tered glass door of his store. He and the Grace Carter McKennon family/ Contributed Photos By BRITTA LOKTING Special to The Washington Post L A GRANDE — For more than 30 years during the mid-20th century, a group of women who lived in Eastern Oregon went on an annual 10-day horseback ride through the Wallowa Mountains. The women called themselves the Hen Party, and they were led by Jean Birnie, a local woman known for her horse-riding skills, reverence for nature and rejection of modern conveniences. From its start in the 1930s, the Hen Party was an early and local- ized precursor to the women’s rights movement that would sweep the nation 30 years later. Now, nearly 50 years after Birnie’s death, her three adopted grand- children — sisters Melissa Over, 68; Sharon Mascia, 78; and Sally Flury-Deitchler, 77 — want to make the Hen Party archive public. Their biological grandmother, a friend of Birnie’s, passed away before the sis- ters were born, and Birnie — whose only child died at a young age from a horseback-riding accident — unoffi - cially became part of their family. “If we die,” said Over, and the archive “doesn’t get out there ...” She trails off over the possibility of the lost history. The Hen Party, the sisters recall, helped infl uence the preservation work of their father, Dan Reece — who, according to his obituary, Trail riders in the Hen Party avoided modern conveniences. From its start in the 1930s, the Hen Party was an early and localized precursor to the women’s rights movement that would sweep the nation 30 years later. worked with Sen. Mark Hatfi eld to protect 73,000 acres inside the state’s Eagle Cap Wilderness. The sisters possess the Hen Party’s surviving documents, including handwritten menus from the trips, photographs See, Hen Party/Page A7 See, Arrest/Page A7 State tackles transmission line project Energy Facility Siting Council to go over plans for B2H during July 22 meeting By ANTONIO ARREDONDO East Oregonian SALEM — The latest review of moving the massive Boardman to Hemingway power transmis- sion line from proposal to reality is this week. Originally proposed in 2010, the B2H line travels from the Longhorn Substation in Boardman to the existing Hem- ingway Substation in Idaho. Pri- marily 500 kilovolts, the line would be approximately 300 miles long. Idaho Power Co. is the primary energy producer The meeting The July 22 council meeting will not be the fi nal one; instead, it serves as an update point for Feb. 2, 2022, along the edge of Richard and Jean See, B2H/Page A7 Hemphill’s family property near Pilot Rock. WEATHER INDEX Business ........B1 Classified ......B2 Comics ...........B5 Crossword ....B2 the history of the line, which the council has offi cially labeled as contested since 2020 due to public opposition. According to a summary of the B2H line project on the Oregon Department of Energy’s web- site, 37 exceptions — public com- plaints on the lines — were fi led to the department. In most cases, there are only a few exceptions fi led. East Oregonian, File “In terms of this being a A fence line traces the approximate route of normal number — it’s absolutely the Boardman to Hemingway transmission line not,” ODOE senior siting analyst behind the project. The Oregon Department of Energy’s Energy Facility Siting Council meets is Friday, July 22, and B2H is on the docket. The council plans to go over the pro- posal for the project and its appli- cation history and conduct straw polls to determine if any changes need to be made. This review is the latest step in a checkered past for the transmission line. Dear Abby ....B6 Horoscope ....B3 Lottery ...........A2 Obituaries .....A5 Opinion .........A4 Spiritual ........A6 Sports ............A8 Sudoku ..........B5 Full forecast on the back of B section Tonight Friday 61 LOW 87/57 Clear Sunny and nice CONTACT US 541-963-3161 Issue 87 3 sections, 34 pages La Grande, Oregon Email story ideas to news@lagrande observer.com. More contact info on Page A4.
