LOCAL
A2 — THE OBSERVER
Jack Black spends
weekend at
Wallowa Lake
By JEFF BUDLONG
By SHANNON GOLDEN
Wallowa County Chieftain
The Observer
JOSEPH — “School
of Rock” star Jack Black
proved to be a quick study
when it came to fishing les-
sons during his weekend
trip to Wallowa Lake.
Black and his family
were in Wallowa County,
where they dined and
enjoyed a day on the lake
with the help of marina
staff.
“(Store manager)
Duncan Christman met
him down at the (Glacier
Grill) and offered to have
him come out on a pontoon
boat with us the next day,”
said Brandon Keeling,
who is the Wallowa Lake
Marina Inc. vice president.
“We took them around the
lake, we took them fishing
and they went swimming.”
Black was there with
his family — which
included his parents, sib-
lings and aunts and uncles
— because his father had
Wallowa lake Marina/Contributed Photo
Actor Jack Black, fourth from left, visited Wallowa Lake over the weekend of July 16-17, 2022, with his
family for some fishing, swimming and sightseeing.
previously visited the
area with a hiking group.
A member of the group
recently died, leading to
the Blacks choosing Wal-
lowa County as a place to
come together as a family.
Keeling said the entire
party picked up on fishing
fast after he gave a quick
lesson. Black snagged the
biggest rainbow trout of the
group and his father a close
second. The entire family
reeled in at least one fish,
with Black’s father snag-
ging the first within 30 sec-
onds of dipping his line.
And, yes, both Black
Portions of the
Finley Creek site
could be excavated
By DICK MASON
The Observer
UNION COUNTY —
A four-decade-old Union
County mystery may be on
the verge of being solved
or taking another unforget-
table twist.
The Oregon State Police
are set, next month, to con-
duct an examination and
possible excavations at a
site near Finley Creek, 18
miles north of La Grande,
where the remains of an
unidentified woman were
found in August 1978.
“We are planning
on mid-August or late
August,” said Sgt. Sean
Belding, a member of
OSP’s major crimes
division.
Belding will be joined
by Calvin Davis, director
of the OSP’s crime lab in
Pendleton, and Dr. Nici
Vance, from the State Med-
ical Examiner’s office, plus
members of the Finley
Creek Jane Doe Task Force.
Belding, Davis and
Vance recently decided
to conduct the examina-
tion and possible digs after
learning of how a pair of
cadaver dogs responded
on Thursday, June 23,
at the Finley Creek site.
Each dog, trained to smell
human bones and brought
there by the task force,
indicated they had found
buried human bones at
the same two places while
operating separately.
Belding, who accompa-
nied the task force on its
June 23 visit, said he was
impressed with the interest
each dog showed in the two
sites. The canines, one of
which is a German shep-
herd, laid down at the same
place, an indication they
were positive human bones
were underneath the loca-
tion, said Melinda Jeder-
berg of La Grande, a leader
of the Finely Creek Jane
Doe Task Force, which she
founded in 2019.
This was the second
time the cadaver dogs were
brought to the Finley Creek
site by the task force. They
were also brought there
in the summer of 2021,
when they also indicated
they detected human bones
there.
The task force mem-
bers have never dug at the
Finley Creek site because
it is a crime scene and thus
it would be illegal to dis-
rupt it.
A daughter who will
not give up hope
Suzanne Timms of
Walla Walla, Washinhton,
who is assisting with the
search as a volunteer, is
elated that the OSP inves-
tigators will be examining
the site because she is cer-
tain the Finley Creek Jane
Doe is her mother, Patricia
“Patty” Otto, of Lew-
iston, Idaho, who has been
to-earth nature and will-
ingness to engage with
everyone who approached.
Black isn’t the first
celebrity to take in the
impressive nature views
the area has to offer.
Among them, “Napoleon
Dynamite” star Jon Heder
has hiked in the area,
but did not make it to the
marina.
The experience is some-
thing that the marina’s
staff, including Wallowa
Lake Marina Inc. President
Casey Barstad’s daughter,
Jaiden, won’t forget any-
time soon.
missing since Aug. 31,
1976.
“Oregon is giving
resources toward the case.
It gives me hope,” she said.
Timms first suspected
that the Finley Creek
Jane Doe was her mother
in 2021 when she saw
an image created by a
forensic artist in Massa-
chusetts, Anthony Red-
grave, the operator of Red-
grave Research Forensic
Services. Redgrave was
assisting the Finley Creek
Jane Doe Task Force,
and the image he cre-
ated looked very similar
to Timms’ mother. The
images were created based
on photos of the skeletal
remains found in 1978 —
those bones are believed to
have been cremated by the
state after they were found,
Timms said.
Other details have con-
tributed to Timms’ belief
that the Finley Creek Jane
Doe is her mother. The
remains were found with a
white shirt and red pants,
which is what Patty Otto
was last seen wearing
before she disappeared in
1976.
A possible Lewiston,
Idaho, murder
Timms believes her
mother was murdered in
Lewiston by her father and
then taken to Finley Creek
where he buried her in a
shallow grave.
The OSP’s autopsy
records for the Finley
Creek Jane Doe, however,
do not match those of Patty
Otto.
Timms believes the dis-
crepancy is due to an error
made by the OSP’s med-
ical examiner while doing
examinations of the skel-
etal remains of two Jane
Does in his office at about
the same time in 1978.
She suspects he assigned
his reports to the wrong
remains, because his
report for the second Jane
Doe matches her mother’s
autopsy photos and dental
records.
Should human bones be
found at the Finley Creek
site they will likely be
tested by the state to deter-
mine if their DNA indicates
they are those of Timms’
mother. Should such bones
turn out not to be those of
Patty Otto, another layer of
mystery will be added to
the Finley Creek case.
Timms is striving to
keep the memory of her
mother alive with a cere-
mony in Lewiston, Idaho,
set for Aug. 4, which
would have been her 70th
birthday. Seventy signs
with Otto’s name will be
carried by 70 people for 24
minutes down main street
in Lewiston. The time will
symbolize Otto’s age, for
she was 24 in 1976 when
she disappeared.
Timms is touched by the
number of people who are
volunteering to participate
in the memorial.
“It shows that my
mother is not forgotten,”
she said.
NEWS BRIEFS
‘American Pickers’ TV show
is coming to Oregon
brief description of their collection
must be included.
PORTLAND — “American
Pickers” is coming to Oregon. The
popular History Channel television
series is filming in October. Until
then, they are looking for stories
and characters to highlight on their
show.
While they’ve been to Oregon
multiple times since the show’s
release in 2010, the “Pickers” team
hopes to find large, rare collections
of antiques and items they’ve never
seen before.
The show only features private
collections, so flea markets, antique
stores and other businesses are
excluded from consideration. Col-
lectors interested in being featured
can contact the show at 646-493-
2184 or AmericanPickers@cineflix.
com. Full name, city/state of res-
idence, contact information and a
Police chase in Union ends
with wreck, arrest
UNION — Union County Sher-
iff’s Office caught a Coos Bay man
Monday, July 18, in Union after his
effort to flee in a vehicle ended with
a crash.
Ricky Leroy Potter, 35, then
ended up in the Union County Jail on
numerous charges.
Oregon State Police reported
troopers at 10:22 a.m. that morning
responded to assist a sheriff’s deputy
who was attempting to stop a vehicle
that was traveling toward Union on
Highway 302.
“The driver and sole occupant had
a valid warrant and was known to
flee,” according to state police.
The deputy entered into a pur-
suit with the vehicle and it eventually
crashed on the 200 block of Bryan
Street in Union. Law enforcement
officers chased the driver on foot and
eventually located him at a residence
in Union.
From there, the sheriff’s office
arrested Potter, the suspect, and
booked him into the county jail.
State court records show the Union
County District Attorney’s Office
has brought initial charges against
Potter for misdemeanor and felony
fleeing, hit-and-run involving prop-
erty, second-degree criminal tres-
pass and second-degree criminal
mischief. The sheriff’s office also
arrested Potter on two warrants. The
criminal mischief count stems from
Potter causing more than $500 to a
city sign.
Court records show Potter has a
hearing the afternoon of Aug. 15 to
enter a plea.
— The Observer
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Solar panels sold separately.
and his father cleaned the
fish they kept.
“The family was abso-
lutely wonderful and a joy
to be around,” Keeling
said. “He was out here
picking up kids and taking
pictures with everybody.
He is out here spending
hours out of his day doing
photo ops around the
community.”
A quick search of Face-
book reveals the numerous
Wallowa County resi-
dents and visitors who
got to snap a picture with
the actor. Keeling cred-
ited Black for his down-
OSP to examine site where Jane Doe was found
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LA GRANDE — With
dozens of new puppies and
kittens needing care, the
Blue Mountain Humane
Association is turning to
a classically reliable fund-
raising tactic — tunes and
brews.
The La Grande-based
shelter aims to raise much-
needed funds at their “Pints
for Paws’ fundraiser Sat-
urday, July 23. The benefit
concert will be held at HQ,
112 Depot St., La Grande,
and will feature live music
from local band Dr. J and the
Easy Riders. A range of local
beer, wine and cider selec-
tions will also be available
during the festivities.
BMHA is working hard
to make strides in its third
year of new management but
is still feeling the pandemic’s
strain. All profits from the
evening — including spare
change from HQ’s tip jars —
will go directly to the shelter.
“We’re very much strug-
gling financially,” said Maria
Carmichael, the board’s vice
president.
COVID-19 halted the
shelter’s volunteer system
and tamped down on its
fundraising efforts, leaving
the new board scrambling to
pick up the slack from negli-
gent previous management.
Carmichael said the
money raised July 23 will
go toward caring for a slew
of new animals that BMHA
recently rescued. Two weeks
ago, the shelter received
11 border collie mix pup-
pies ranging in age from
four months to one year. She
estimated that the cost for
spaying, neutering, vacci-
nating and housing the pup-
pies will cost up to $4,000.
Funds from the event will
also go toward what Carmi-
chael coined as the “huge
backlog of maintenance”
that the new management
has wanted to address since
BMHA changed hands in
2020. The animal shelter
board hopes to repair, repaint
and soundproof the kennels,
as well as renovate parts of
the facility that are open to
the public.
The changes will be
added to the long list of
ongoing improvements
BMHA has undergone over
the last two years. When the
new board first took over,
members and volunteers
hauled off more than 10,000
pounds of scrap metal, vehi-
cles and about 20 pickup
loads of garbage from the
property.
Carmichael emphasized
that this is hopefully the first
of many opportunities for
the La Grande community to
support the shelter. The board
is planning to hold a dog-
friendly “Doggy Dash” fun
run in September, revamping
a fundraiser that the shelter
held in previous years.
Tickets for “Pints for
Paws” are $15 and can be
purchased at La Grande
Stereo & Music, the BMHA
shelter or, if still available, at
the door on Saturday. Tickets
are limited, so BMHA rec-
ommends purchasing them
in advance.
“This is the first event
we’ve held since everything
was shut down because of
COVID,” Carmichael said.
“We’re hoping for a lot of
attendance.”
For more information on
the fundraiser, visit the Blue
Mountain Humane Asso-
ciation’s Facebook page. If
you would like to support
BMHA or adopt from the
shelter, visit www.
bmhumane.org.
2
CORRECTIONS
The Observer works hard to be
accurate and sincerely regrets
any errors. If you notice a
mistake in the paper, please call
541-963-3161.
Raising a
glass for
four-legged
friends
Hollywood actor visits Wallowa County
RD
In 1861, during the Civil War, the
first Battle of Bull Run was fought
at Manassas, Virginia, resulting in a
Confederate victory.
In 1925, the so-called “Monkey
Trial” ended in Dayton, Tennessee,
with John T. Scopes found guilty
of violating state law for teaching
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. (The
conviction was later overturned on
a technicality.)
In 1944, American forces landed
on Guam during World War II, cap-
turing it from the Japanese some
three weeks later.
In 1954, the Geneva Conference
concluded with accords dividing
Vietnam into northern and
southern entities.
In 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts
Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz”
Aldrin blasted off from the moon
aboard the ascent stage of the
lunar module for docking with the
command module.
In 1972, the Irish Republican
Army carried out 22 bombings in
Belfast, Northern Ireland, killing
nine people and injuring 130 in
what became known as “Bloody
Friday.”
In 1998, astronaut Alan Shepard
died in Monterey, California, at
age 74; actor Robert Young died
in Westlake Village, California, at
age 91.
In 1999, Navy divers found and
recovered the bodies of John F.
Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn, and
sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette, in
the wreckage of Kennedy’s plane
in the Atlantic Ocean off Martha’s
Vineyard.
In 2002, Ernie Els won the British
Open in the first sudden-death
finish in the 142-year history of the
tournament.
In 2008, former Bosnian Serb
leader Radovan Karadzic, one of
the world’s top war crimes fugi-
tives, was arrested in a Belgrade
suburb by Serbian security forces.
(He was sentenced by a U.N. court
in 2019 to life imprisonment after
being convicted of genocide,
crimes against humanity and war
crimes.)
In 2009, prosecutors in Cam-
bridge, Massachusetts, dropped a
disorderly conduct charge against
prominent Black scholar Henry
Louis Gates Jr., who was arrested
by a white officer at his home near
Harvard University after a report of
a break-in.
In 2011, the 30-year-old space
shuttle program ended as Atlantis
landed at Cape Canaveral, Florida,
after the 135th shuttle flight.
In 2016, Donald Trump accepted
the GOP presidential nomina-
tion with a speech in which he
pledged to cheering Republi-
cans and still-skeptical voters that
as president, he would restore
the safety they feared they were
losing, strictly curb immigration
and save the nation from what he
said was Hillary Clinton’s record of
“death, destruction, terrorism and
weakness.” The NBA moved the
2017 All-Star Game out of Char-
lotte because of its objections to
a North Carolina law that limited
anti-discrimination protections
for lesbian, gay and transgender
people.
Today’s birthdays: Movie
director Norman Jewison is 96.
Singer Yusuf Islam (also known as
Cat Stevens) is 74. Cartoonist Garry
Trudeau is 74. Comedian Jon Lovitz
is 65. Retired soccer player Brandi
Chastain is 54. Reggae singer
Damian Marley is 44. Former MLB
All-Star pitcher CC Sabathia is 42.
Actor Betty Gilpin is 36. Actor Rory
Culkin is 33. Actor Jamie Waylett
(“Harry Potter” films) is 33.
TH
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THuRSday, July 21, 2022
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