FROM PAGE ONE
Thursday, July 21, 2022
ARREST
Continued from Page A1
four family members and
two friends with him in
his shop yelled at the two
masked men who then fled
the scene.
The two individuals ran
to and entered a white sedan
— later identified as a 2005
KIA Spectra — parked west
of the gun shop. Gorte’s
daughter, Randi Jo Shafer,
then stood in front of the
sedan in an effort to stop
it from leaving. Its driver,
identified later during an
interview with Oregon State
Police detectives as Spal-
inger, attempted to run over
Shafer, Gorte said, but she
leaped onto the hood of the
sedan before being thrown
off as the vehicle’s driver
sped away. Shafer’s foot was
injured as a result, according
to arrest documents.
As the sedan’s driver
raced out of the parking
lot, Gorte’s son-in-law fired
three shots at it with a pistol.
Gorte said he believes at
least one of the shots may
have hit the sedan.
Gorte’s son-in-law got
into a vehicle and began fol-
lowing the sedan but pulled
back when a Union County
Sheriff’s deputy, responding
to a 911 call from the store,
took over the chase toward
Imbler.
Gorte said he thinks the
two masked individuals and
their driver were responsible
for the earlier break-in and
were attempting to rob the
store a second time.
The chase and gunfire
According to arrest
documents, shortly after
fleeing the gun store, Spal-
inger switched out from the
driver’s seat with Romine,
who then drove the vehicle
to Hunter Road where it
was located by pursuing
law enforcement near
Booth Lane.
“When the vehicle
passed me, I saw three
occupants in the vehicle;
a male in the driver’s seat
and a second male in the
back seat and a third person
in the front seat,” Union
County Sheriff’s Sgt.
Travis Schaad wrote in the
arrest document.
Schaad attempted a
traffic stop, but Romine
failed to yield and con-
tinued at speeds of approxi-
mately 105 mph.
The pursuit ended up
on Summerville Road,
where Union County Sher-
iff’s Deputy Dane Jensen
reported shots were fired
from the sedan, which
shattered its rear window.
One or two bullets hit Jen-
sen’s patrol vehicle, which
caused it to overheat.
The Observer Pub-
lisher Karrine Brogoitti
was at her Imbler home on
Summerville Road when
the suspects sped past.
She heard the sound of
the speeding vehicle long
before it flew by the pic-
ture windows of her living
room.
The pursuit continued
through Imbler onto Striker
Lane before turning north
on Grays Corner Road.
They took Rinehart Lane
to Indian Creek where
the vehicle crashed at the
bridge on Indian Creek
Road near Dutton Road.
Romine, Spalinger
and Montez fled from the
vehicle into the dense
brush and vegetation. As
a result, additional law
enforcement was called to
the scene and a perimeter
was set up.
HEN PARTY
Continued from Page A1
and a journal — called the “Log of
the Ladies” — that was written by
participants. One picture shows the
women standing in front of their
horses wearing coordinated outfits
of button-downs, ties, and jodh-
purs tucked into knee-high boots.
The three sisters want to keep
the spirit of the Hen Party alive
by donating the documents to a
library or university.
Part of the family’s effort
to memorialize the Hen Party
has included using a grant from
Oregon Humanities, a nonprofit,
to hire an outfitter and reenact a
andrew Cutler/The Observer
A law enforcement officer stands near a bridge over Shaw Creek outside of Elgin on Sunday, July 17, 2022.
Multiple law enforcements agencies were in the area searching for a suspect after an attempted robbery
in Island City followed by a high-speed chase that involved gunfire.
dick Mason/The Observer
Bullseye Muzzleloader’s and More, a store on First Street in Island
City, was the site of an attempted burglary on Sunday, July 17,
2022, that turned into a high-speed chase and a manhunt for three
suspects on foot outside of Elgin.
The Northeast Oregon
Regional SWAT Team and
the Oregon State Police
SWAT Team responded
to the area and ultimately
located and arrested Spal-
typical Hen Party trip. Along with
her husband — who worked on a
2004 oral history project featuring
the Hen Party — and several other
collaborators, Over rode along the
trails traversed by the women and
cooked the food from their menu.
They videotaped the experience
and want to use the footage for,
say, a documentary.
Birnie was born in 1885 in
Island City. Her grandfather,
Stukely Ellsworth, was a lawyer
and early Oregon settler who
served on the board of the Oregon
and California Railroad and
helped establish the University
of Oregon. In 1910, she married
George Birnie, a jeweler. In a 1956
article in the La Grande Observer,
B2H
Continued from Page A1
Kellen Tardaewether said. “This is the big-
gest case that the council has ever seen.”
Fourteen parties filed those exceptions.
Though numbers have changed since 2020,
the remaining exceptions were reviewed
in the Proposed Contested Change Order.
The PCCO, completed May 31, reviews the
appeals on the project and offers a solution
for them.
The time frame already has passed for
any remaining parties to file exceptions
against the project, so now Tardaewether and
her team can examine the case at hand. The
siting analyst said this is one of the “biggest,
most complicated” cases she’s ever seen.
The council will go over and review the
PCCO at its July 22 meeting. Tardaewether
said the next meetings will help the council
reach its final decision. There is not a sched-
uled time for any meetings after July 22,
but the decision should come in two to four
months.
“For those very curious about what will
happen, just know we really are working on
it,” Tardaewether said.
The opposition
Jim Kreider is one of the 37 excep-
tions noted by Tardaewether and one of the
driving forces against the B2H line. He and
his wife, Fuji Kreider, spearhead the Stop
B2H Coalition, a group that believes Idaho
Power Co. can look into other options rather
than put the line through the Eastern Oregon
area.
Located outside of La Grande, the
Kreiders said they know the area best,
claiming Idaho Power has connected the res-
idents of La Grande on this issue.
“It’s become a hotbed of resistance,” Jim
Kreider said.
The group has met with state leaders such
as U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley,
discussing different ideas.
One of the main points of contingency is
the perceived effect of the climate. The group
claims clearing out for the project will desta-
bilize soils and increase the risk for endan-
gered species, all while being louder than
safety standards for many households.
These complaints have not subsided for
either the Kreiders or their many other part-
ThE OBsErVEr — A7
inger and Romine late on
July 17.
Romine was arrested for
reckless endangering and
for misdemeanor and felony
fleeing, while Spalinger
Birnie said, “I was accused of
marrying George just so I could
go on a pack trip. That’s how we
spent our honeymoon.”
Around 1935 — it’s unclear
when precisely the group formed
— Birnie began leading the wom-
en-only trips into the moun-
tains. In 1943, Birnie’s husband
“invited himself,” according to
The Observer, but was only “toler-
ated” for two days; Birnie put him
in charge of wrangling the horses.
Though the main point of the party
was simply to get outside, sightsee
and live off the grid, Birnie — who
operated a jewelry store with her
husband in La Grande — helped
her friends gain autonomy long
before women’s liberation.
is in jail for first-degree
assault, hit-and-run with
injury, recklessly endan-
gering and misdemeanor
fleeing from police.
“Spalinger admitted
they knew the police were
attempting to stop them
when I turned on my over-
head lights on Hunter
Road,” Schaad wrote in
his report. “She stated
Romine was driving at this
time, which corresponds
with what I saw when the
vehicle passed me at Booth
and Hunter Road.”
The fallout
The owner of Bullseye
Muzzleloader’s and More
said he has been over-
whelmed by the expres-
sions of support his family
is receiving on social
media.
“It makes you feel like
“Wives were supposed to
do what their husbands wanted
them to do, the way the men
wanted things done,” said Gerda
Brownton, a Hen Party member, in
her oral history interview. “Much
to (my husband’s) surprise, after I
went on a horseback trip with Jean
Birnie, I was telling him how to do
things.”
Planning for the annual
summer Hen Party trips began the
previous November. The equip-
ment they took was minimal but
also afforded them pleasures, like
the cast-iron and enamel pans
they packed for baking cakes and
making buckwheat pancakes.
As the years went by, these
trips into the Wallowa Mountains
people care, for sure,”
Gorte said.
Gorte, who has owned
his shop for almost 10
years, said he finds it hard
to believe something like
this occurred in a place
like Island City.
“You would not think
this could happen in a
small town,” he said.
“Things have changed and
not for the best.”
Gorte said he is relieved
nobody suffered any major
injuries. His daughter
received medical treatment
at Grande Ronde Hos-
pital, according to police
documents.
“I’m glad that nobody
has been hurt,” he said.
“My daughter’s foot will
heal.”
Gorte lauded the work
law enforcement officers
did to apprehend the three
suspects.
“Our police force did an
exceptional job,” he said.
Gorte said he does not
feel relieved of all the
stress he’s been under,
though, because a lot
of work is ahead as he
pushes to get his store
back in order following
the break-in, but he said he
does feel better.
“I’m more hopeful,” he
said.
The court has appointed
attorneys for Spalinger
and Romine. La Grande’s
James Schaeffer is rep-
resenting Spalinger, and
Canyon City’s Kath-
leen Dunn is the attorney
for Romine. They have
hearing pleas scheduled
for Aug. 15 and Aug. 22,
respectively.
According to arrest doc-
uments, Montez is being
represented by Rick Dall
of La Grande. His plea
hearing is set for Aug. 17.
became multigenerational. The sis-
ters’ mother, Martha McKennon
Reece, was a Hen Party member.
When Birnie died in 1974 at the
age of 88, the party had dissolved,
but the legacy still lives on through
her friends and family.
Over’s daughter, Casey Jane
Reece-Kaigler, whose New Orle-
ans-based band the Lostines is
named for a river in the Eagle Cap
Wilderness, uses the “Log of the
Ladies” journal as a guide when-
ever she hikes in the mountains.
“She taught most of these
women how to do all of it,” Reece-
Kaigler told me. “Step out on their
own and do it without their hus-
bands — pretty cool, especially for
that time.”
CONTROVERSIAL
TRANSMISSION LINE
The proposed route for the 500-kilovolt
Boardman to Hemingway transmission line has
been the cause of much opposition, and the
Oregon Department of Energy’s Energy Facility
Siting Council meets Friday, July 22, 2022, in
Salem to discuss the project.
Oregon department of Energy/Contributed Graphic
ners in the coalition, though others have
waned.
“During the period, rulings, and motions,
it wore people down,” Fuji Kreider said.
“That’s their technique, to wear us down.”
Among the swath of complaints, both the
Kreiders and the coalition list several other
options for the line, including burying it
underground and increasing the production
of other transmission lines out of state.
The superhighway
Sven Berg is the communications director
at Idaho Power. He said the company has
dealt with other opposition groups in the past
— especially from Eastern Oregon — but
they have come to understand each other.
Idaho Power is one of the operators of the
B2H and owns 45% of the line. Along with
PacifiCorp, the companies hope the line can
become a “clean-energy superhighway.”
During the winter months, Berg said,
customers in Portland need more power to
handle the peak. Another goal for the com-
pany is to increase the nation’s Western grid,
something increasingly important as both
wind and solar power continue to rise.
“We have to build the grid for peak
need, not average need,” Berg said. “We
have to keep homes and businesses at room
temperature.”
Even with opposition to the project,
Idaho Power’s goal has not changed since its
filing in 2018. In fact, its tenacity toward the
project has only gotten stronger.
“The more we study, the more we are
convinced that this is the best option for the
Pacific Northwest,” Berg said.
With a response from the DOE in the
coming months, Berg said Idaho Power
is sticking to its plan of a 2023 start date.
He said he hopes that by October the com-
pany will get a building permit across to the
Oregon side of the project.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
The July 22 Oregon Department of Energy’s Energy Facility Siting Council meeting is from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The
Boardman to Hemingway transmission line is one of many items on the docket for the council, with others ranging
from wildlife protection to carbon dioxide emissions.
Attending the meeting is available online. People who want to participate may address the council during the
public comment portion and at other designated agenda points. For more information, visit www.oregon.gov/
energy/facilities-safety/facilities/Pages/Council-Meetings.aspx.