FROM PAGE ONE
SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2022
SHELTER
Continued from Page A1
emphasizing Olson’s “kind-
ness and her generosity to
care about people she didn’t
even know.”
Now, Maggie, her
daughter and Olson are
planning to move to the
East Coast together. Maggie
needs a liver transplant and
needs to live closer to a hos-
pital with a donor program.
For Olson, the move means
a fresh start after a divorce
— and a chance to expand
her eff orts.
Since starting Shotzy
Sanctuary in 2019, Olson
has helped provide a safe
haven for fi ve women,
four of whom brought
their horses with them —
Maggie included. She’s
hopeful that in less than 10
years, horsewomen in every
state will be able to fi nd
a safe haven in a Shotzy
Sanctuary.
“My motto is, if I can, I
will,” Olson said. “If I can’t,
I’m still gonna try.”
Assessing need
According to the National
Domestic Violence Hotline,
more than one in three
women and one in four men
in the United States have
experienced some form of
intimate partner violence,
including rape, physical vio-
lence and/or stalking. Nearly
half of all women and men
in the U.S. have experienced
psychological aggression by
an intimate partner in their
lifetime.
“Whether people realize
it or not, every single person
knows a woman who has
been battered and/or ver-
bally abused or emotionally
abused,” Olson said.
The Urban Resource
Institute and the National
Domestic Violence Hotline
released a survey in May
2021 that assessed the
impact pets can have on a
survivor’s ability to leave a
dangerous situation. Over
97% of respondents reported
that being able to keep their
pets is an important factor
in seeking shelter. Half said
they would not consider
shelter options for them-
selves without their pets.
Shelter From the Storm,
a La Grande-based organi-
zation that off ers services
for survivors of domestic
violence, sexual assault and
stalking, accepts mostly dogs
in their safe house — and
considers other small ani-
mals on a case-by-case basis.
According to the shelter’s
advocacy support coordi-
nator, Candi Nielsen, Shelter
From the Storm is one of the
only pet-friendly organiza-
tions in Eastern Oregon.
“A lot of people feel like
their animals are also part
SCHOOL
Continued from Page A1
School Principal Brett
Baxter is delighted that
he does not have to worry
about masks at this time.
“That is energizing
beyond what I can describe,”
he said.
Baxter said having to
deal with masks and other
COVID-19 protocols took a
toll on LHS.
“They were taking the
Shannon Golden/The Observer
Marjie Olson, right, poses with Maggie and her daughter in front
of one of several horse corrals on Olson’s property near Elgin on
Monday, Aug. 15, 2022. With the help of Olson’s nonprofi t, Shotzy
Sanctuary, Maggie and her daughter were able to leave a domestic
violence situation and take their animals with them.
THE OBSERVER — A3
and doctorates and all that,”
she said.
Olson has rescued
approximately 15 horses
since she arrived in Eastern
Oregon seven years ago. She
often takes in horses that
need extra support and care
that their previous owners
cannot provide them —
and fi nds them a new home
or cares for them herself.
And although she no longer
trains, she has no plans of
stopping her farrier services.
Creating a safe haven
Olson herself is a sur-
vivor of domestic violence.
She said that people who
know her to be a self-suf-
fi cient, outgoing and moti-
vated person are surprised
to learn about the abuse she
endured during her 20s.
“When you have that atti-
tude and you do go off and
do well for yourself, you
never expect that woman to
be the one that gets abused,”
she said.
Olson noted that she
was blessed to have been
raised in a loving family that
instilled in her a passion for
animals and people from an
early age — a passion that
helped her get through. She
endured what she did in part
because she had horses and
dogs that she didn’t want to
leave behind.
Many people see their
animals as their children and
protect them as any parent
would. Escaping domestic
violence can present an
Olson has spent most of
her life working with horses.
For more than 40 years, she
has owned and operated
Light Rein Farm and Far-
rier, through which she has
rescued and rehabilitated
horses, provided corrective
horseshoeing services and
off ered training and lessons
for students.
Her work has followed
her wherever she goes, from
Michigan to North Carolina
and beyond. Olson lived in
Belize for about six years,
rescuing horses and training
students for National Barrel
Horse Association events.
She currently lives in Union
County and provides shelter
and farrier services to horse
owners in Union County.
Throughout her 17 years
in Michigan, Olson trained
three dozen students, about
20 of whom stayed with her
from kindergarten until their
early 20s.
“They’re all married with
babies and master’s degrees
Remembering the sanctu-
ary’s namesake still brings a
smile to Olson’s face. More
than 30 years ago, she saw
an ad for a caramel-colored
pony that was “kind of plain,
nothing fancy.” The fi rst time
she met Shotzy, he was ema-
ciated and living without
water or shelter in the middle
of a Michigan winter.
“I’m amazed he was
alive,” she said.
Olson purchased him
for $250, and within a few
months of rehabilitation,
he became her top lesson
pony. When Olson moved
to Belize, a now longtime
friend — and one of the
sanctuary’s board members
— bought Shotzy for her
daughter.
“That same day that I
decided I wanted to do this,
I had to call it that, I had to,”
Olson said of the organiza-
tion’s name.
All seven of the Shotzy
Sanctuary board members
are horsewomen from around
Union County and beyond —
Olson said she’d like to keep
it that way.
Co-owner of Deer Creek
Stables Lora Bannan is one
of the newest board mem-
bers. She became friends
with Olson after Olson began
shoeing her horses more than
six years ago.
“A good farrier is hard to
fi nd,” Bannan said. “After we
found her we latched onto her
pretty tight.”
Bannan has supported
Shotzy Sanctuary ever since,
and runs yearly fundraisers
for the nonprofi t. Now, she
and her husband, Brent, are
expanding their boarding and
training facility — adding
new pens and shelters — so
they can take over the Union
County Shotzy Sanctuary
when Olson leaves.
“I’ve never been in an
abusive relationship, but I
know what it’s like to have
a hard time with some-
thing,” Bannan said, noting
her battle with breast cancer.
“We always like to give back
when we can, because so
many people helped us.”
When creating the non-
profi t, Olson and her board
created a four-tiered system
of support for women in
need, ranging from a facility
that can take in only a wom-
life out of our
school,” he
said. “Now we
can maximize
what we can
do.”
Cove
Pettit
School District
Superintendent
Earl Pettit said that in many
ways the state’s guidance is
allowing school districts to
return to where they were
before the COVID-19 pan-
demic hit in 2020. He said
the updated communicable
disease plan
his school dis-
trict submitted
to the state ear-
lier this week
was basically
the same as the
Wells
one his school
district had
before the pandemic began.
Pettit said the plan calls
for the school district to
take many of the same steps
to prevent the spread of
COVID-19 as it does other
communicable diseases. For
example, if
a student is
sick, he or she
is required to
stay home.
Union
School
District
Dixon
Superintendent
Carter Wells
said the state’s announce-
ment essentially indicates
things have not changed
since the end of the 2021-22
school year. He is glad the
state is continuing to give
school districts freedom with
of their family,” she said. “It
would probably make me
think twice about actually
leaving, and that’s scary.”
From the emotional sup-
port that animals provide
survivors to the fear that
their abusive partner may
harm or kill the pet, there are
many reasons those expe-
riencing abuse want to stay
close to their pets. But as of
2021, only about 250 shelters
in the U.S. — out of approx-
imately 2,000 shelters and
programs — are pet friendly.
Many others have arrange-
ments for pets through
animal shelters or veterinary
offi ces.
Olson decided to address
the gap she saw in the sup-
port being off ered to victims
of domestic violence. She
hadn’t found a shelter any-
where else in the country
that off ered services for
women, their children,
their horses and their other
animals.
“A horse is a big invest-
ment and to leave it behind
would just be devastating,
fi nancially as well as emo-
tionally,” Nielsen said.
impossible choice — seek
safety or stay, to protect the
animals who have helped
you through it all.
“That animal is who you
cry to,” Olson said. “They’re
also the one that gives you
the strength to say, ‘I can do
this.’”
While cleaning stalls on
her property, Olson had the
idea for the fi rst-ever safe
haven where horsewomen
could seek refuge from
domestic violence with their
children — that would also
off er shelter for their ani-
mals. She also wanted to
provide support for victims
who did have a safe place to
go but didn’t have the means
to transport their animals.
By the fall of 2019, Olson
had registered Shotzy Sanc-
tuary as a nonprofi t orga-
nization, with the long-
term goal of expanding safe
havens for horsewomen
across the country.
“We can start helping
hundreds of women to keep
their animals, whether it’s
a giraff e or a horse or a
donkey,” she said of her
hopes for the organization.
A vision for Shotzy
Sanctuary
Decades of devotion
FILM
Continued from Page A1
reimagining of the life of Edgar
Allan Poe will be for you,” writes
Phil de Semlyen, Time Out’s
global fi lm editor.
Hatton’s fi lm opens with Poe
and four other cadets on a training
exercise in upstate New York
when they are drawn by a grue-
some discovery — the sight of a
young man who has been beaten
and tied to an upright board.
Poe, played by William Moseley,
approaches the dying man and
asks what happened. He responds
with one barely audible word —
“Raven’’ and then dies.
The utterance sparks a search
by Poe and the four cadets that
takes them into a forgotten com-
munity where they fi nd a town-
ship guarding a frightening
secret, Hatton said.
A 1986 graduate of Imbler
High School and 1991 graduate
of Eastern Oregon University, La
Grande, Hatton said he believes
Chris Hatton/Contributed Photo
Chris Hatton, right-front, formerly of Union County, directs a scene in his new movie
“Raven’s Hollow,” which starts streaming in September 2022 on Shudder.
viewers will be mystifi ed by
“Raven’s Hollow” until the end.
“I would be surprised if
anyone gets ahead of the story,”
he said.
Hatton, who now lives in Sin-
gapore, said he began working on
the script of “Raven’s Hollow”
15 years ago. In this span he also
directed and wrote scripts for
“Battle of the Damned,” which
stars Dolph Lundgren and was
released in 2013, and “Robotropo-
list,” released in 2011. One of Hat-
ton’s earliest movies was “Sam-
myville,” whose fi ctitious story
is based in the small community
near Elgin, which the movie is
HOW TO SEEK HELP
If you or someone you know is
experiencing domestic abuse
or intimate partner violence,
help is available. For the
National Domestic Violence
Hotline, call 800-799-7233. For
local support, call La Grande’s
Shelter From the Storm at
541-963-7226. If you need
immediate assistance, call the
shelter’s 24-hour crisis line: 541-
963-9261. If you are an animal
owner seeking local domestic
violence support, contact
Shotzy Sanctuary at 704-677-
3261 or 509-420-0300.
legal challenges. Olson and
the board have to verify that
none of the animals legally
belongs to the partners of
the women they are helping.
If they did, or if the women
couldn’t prove ownership,
they might not be able to
help shelter the animals.
“My biggest fear is to
have to say no to someone I
can’t help,” she said. “But I
have to draw the line some-
where, I absolutely have to.”
Looking forward
When it comes to
funding, Olson admitted
that she’s put most of her
retirement funds into
Shotzy Sanctuary and the
work she does to shelter and
rehabilitate animals. She
works full weeks through
her Light Rein services to
fi nancially support the ani-
mals she cares for.
“It’s just the right thing,”
she said.
Much of the fi nancial
support Olson has received
over the past three years for
Shotzy Sanctuary has come
from acts of kindness both
large and small. Donations
have come in many forms,
from close friends leaving
money or horses to Olson
in their wills, and material
donations that could be sold
for funds.
Olson once received a
$50 bill from a woman in
the aisle of a Dollar General
who overheard her speaking
about the Shotzy Sanctuary
on the phone.
The nonprofi t has also
received a few small grants
in the last few years, but
due to the pandemic, Olson
was unable to do much of
the outreach that she had
planned. Still, she asserts
that she never wants to rely
on money from the women
she helps.
“All of that expense is
ours,” Olson said. “We don’t
expect anyone who needs
help to cough up anything.”
The work of Shotzy
Sanctuary does present
After a former client
and close friend of Olson’s
died in the fall of 2021
— leaving money for the
sanctuary in her will —
Olson knew it was time
to start establishing more
sanctuaries.
Olson is expanding
Shotzy Sanctuary to facili-
ties across the United States
this year. She is moving
to the East Coast soon and
will open a sanctuary wher-
ever she lands. She has
worked with Kick n Ass
Mule Ranch in Arizona and
Hawk Hill Farm in Mich-
igan to establish two more
sanctuaries by the end of
this year.
Bannan admitted that
she’s nervous Olson won’t
be around for in-person
support but knows that she
has big goals for the future
of the nonprofi t.
“This gives those women
an option, and Marjie is
very dedicated and just on
fi re with this idea,” she said.
“I really do see it growing.”
Olson said her goal for
the next several years is
to reach out for fi nancial
support from philanthro-
pists and grants in hopes
of expanding Shotzy Sanc-
tuary. Ideally, Olson wants
to provide $10,000 for each
new facility, so it can bol-
ster its existing resources
and build space — like
bunkhouses — where
women and their children
can stay.
As she prepares for
the move, Olson must say
goodbye to friends and cli-
ents around Union County
— and some of her horses
she will leave behind with
the Bannans. Yet, she is
eager to get started on her
nine-year goal of estab-
lishing one sanctuary in
every state.
Once settled on the East
Coast, Olson has plans to
fi ll one wall in her home
with an array of photos
from her last 40 years of
service — from her former
students and women she’s
helped to the animals she’s
rehabilitated.
“I love what I do and
God has blessed me to be
able to keep doing it,” Olson
said. “As long as he tells me
to keep going, I’m going to
keep going.”
regard to how they approach
COVID-19 protocols. This is
putting school districts in a
better position to return to a
sense of normalcy.
“We are moving in a
direction to where we were
before COVID-19,” Wells
said.
North Powder Superinten-
dent Lance Dixon also said
he likes the freedom school
districts will continue to have
to address COVID issues.
He said one of the programs
his school district will con-
tinue to have will be its test-
to-stay program. It allows
students to stay in school fol-
lowing a close contact with
someone who tested positive
for COVID-19 if they test
negative.
Dixon is happy he will not
have to worry about things
like state mandates requiring
students to wear masks
as the fi rst day of school
approaches.
“I’m looking forward to
a normal start of the school
year,” he said.
an’s horses and dogs to one
that can take in women, their
children and their animals,
including livestock. Olson’s
north Elgin location is clas-
sifi ed as the latter — a level
one facility.
For now, the Bannan and
her husband will run their
facility as a level four, taking
in horses, pets and livestock.
They also plan to establish a
connection with Shelter From
the Storm to provide ser-
vices for survivors who can’t
keep their pets with them.
And Bannan said they hope
to add tiny homes or campers
to their property in the next
year to off er shelter to people.
Hurdles along the way
named for.
“Raven’s Hollow” was fi lmed
in 2020 Latvia, a country on the
Baltic Sea, during a 30-day period
in autumn at the height of the pan-
demic. The cast had to stay in a
confi ned area near the movie set
throughout the fi lm’s shooting due
to the coronavirus. This meant the
cast spent a lot of time together.
“It drew us closer together,”
Hatton said. “It felt like family.”
Hatton made “Raven’s Hollow”
after becoming intrigued with
Poe’s story and his time at West
Point, which Poe attended after
serving in the Army. He was at
West Point for only seven months
before he left following a court
martial when he was tried on
charges of gross neglect of duty
and disobeying orders.
Hatton said what Poe expe-
riences in “Raven’s Hollow” is
totally fi ction and is not meant to
suggest what really happened.
Hatton said he sees Poe as a
fascinating historical fi gure. He
said Poe, best known for his 1845
poem “The Raven,” one of the
most well-known ever written, is
a tragic fi gure.
Poe received little money
for his works, including “The
Raven,” because laws that fully
protected artists’ fi nancial rights
were not fully in place in the
United States.
“At one point, he may have
been the best known writer in
the world but he had holes in his
shoes,” Hatton said. “He always
struggled to pay his bills.”
Hatton said his fi lm refl ects
Poe and his work in many ways,
including elements of horror and
detective fi ction. Poe wrote many
works of horror and was among
the fi rst to write detective fi c-
tion. His 1841 short story “The
Murders in the Rue Morgue” is
considered to be one of the fi rst
pieces of detective fi ction.
Hatton said that as a writer
himself, he has long been inspired
artistically by Eastern Oregon’s
landscape.
“The vastness and the scale
of the beauty,” he said. “I love it
there.”