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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
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Issue 87
3 sections, 34 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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