The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current, September 01, 2022, Thursday Edition, Page 23, Image 23

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    FROM PAGE ONE
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2022
SHOOTING
Continued from Page A1
an initiative on the ballot.
They also fall during the
campaign season, with the
governorship, some state
races and key congres-
sional seats in competition.
Gun control and gun rights
divide Oregon voters and
candidates.
The shooting also comes
at a time of increasing gun
violence nationwide. As
Brown noted in her state-
ment, the Bend shooting
was just one of several this
weekend.
In Portland, three people
died in separate shootings
and offi cers responded to
seven others, according to
the Portland Police Bureau.
And Salem saw two sepa-
rate shooting fatalities, with
another person injured in a
third shooting.
“It was an exception-
ally violent weekend here in
Salem,” Salem Police Chief
Trevor Womack said in a
statement. “But I want to
assure the community that
we are responding appropri-
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin
Members of the Oregon State Police forensics team approach the
crime scene of Sunday night’s shooting at The Forum Shopping
Center in Bend on Monday, Aug. 29, 2022.
ately and that these incidents
appear to be unrelated.”
Portland is again on track
to break its annual homicide
record, which was set last
year. Of 61 homicides this
year, 56 involved fi rearms,
according to Portland Police.
There have been 875 con-
fi rmed shootings this year
in Portland and 271 that left
people injured.
INVESTIGATE
Continued from Page A1
determined to be of human origin,
according to an OSP press release.
Forensic scientists and detec-
tives conducted excavations at
the two points of interest from
the cadaver dogs. They also exca-
vated the original burial site. The
three locations were examined by
sifting dirt and material through
screens in an attempt to locate
even the smallest of bone frag-
ments or other evidence that could
be of use in determining an iden-
tity through DNA testing.
“Unfortunately, nothing of evi-
dentiary value was discovered
during the operation,” the press
release stated.
The OSP said the agency
and other law enforcement part-
ners will continue to stay in con-
tact with all interested parties in
hopes of successfully resolving
the identity of the Finley Creek
DEBT
Continued from Page A1
According to Bailey, stu-
dents classifi ed as being
from low-income families
are often eligible for Pell
grants. In 2021 33% of stu-
dents at Eastern were from
low income families and
65% were from rural areas.
These percentages were
higher when just looking
at the incoming freshman
with 40% from low income
families and 86% from
rural areas.
Undergraduate tuition at
Eastern for in-state students
— which includes Oregon,
Washington and Idaho — is
$25,506 a year.
Fewer community
college students
carry debt
Though community col-
lege is lower cost and has a
lower barrier to entry, it still
represents approximately
4% of federal student debt.
Matt Browning, president
of Blue Mountain Commu-
nity College, Pendleton, said
because federal regulations
are not out, it is too early to
tell how student loan relief
will benefi t students in a
community college.
“By and large, it will
be more impactful for our
Jane Doe and bringing closure to
her family, according to the press
release.
Melinda Jederberg, of La
Grande, a leader of the Finely
Creek Jane Doe Task Force,
which she founded in 2019, said
she appreciates the hard work the
OSP did at the site and said it has
helped the investigation move
forward.
“We are very thankful for the
work they did,” she said.
Jeberberg hopes OSP can
follow up its excavation work
with deeper digging at the two
sites where the two cadaver dogs
alerted handlers earlier that they
smelled human bones under-
ground. Jeberberg said that after
44 years, human bones at the site
may be deeper than the depth
excavated.
Investigators believe bones
of the Finely Creek Jane Doe
may remain near the burial site
because when her skeletal remains
were found in 1978 an arm was
students once they leave,
because it is an agreement
between the students and
the federal government,” he
explained. “What I think
it will help do is bring
emphasis to aff ordable
access to higher education,
which is something that
falls squarely in our focus
every day.”
He also said members
of Generation Z are more
aware of debt than pre-
ceding generations.
“They watched parents
and older siblings really
struggle during the great
recession,” he said, “they
saw parents and siblings
lose jobs and lose homes,
so I think they’re more debt
conscious.”
The independent, non-
profi t Institute for College
Access and Success com-
pleted a nationwide report
on student debt from the
graduating classes of 2020.
In Oregon 53% of students
graduated with federal debt,
and the average amount of
debt was $26,504.
Tuition has nearly
tripled since 1980
The total cost of tuition
for four-year public and pri-
vate college has nearly tri-
pled since 1980, according
to the College Board, a
nonprofi t organization that
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A range of reactions
The three gubernatorial
candidates also reacted to the
shooting.
“My heart hurts for
everyone aff ected by this,”
Tina Kotek, the Democratic
expands access to higher
education and the SAT and
other programs.
The White House in a
press release contended
federal support has not kept
pace with the increasing
price of tuition. Pell Grants
previously covered 80%
of the cost of a four-year
public degree. Now, it only
covers a third.
Biden’s plan also extends
the pause on repaying fed-
eral student loans one fi nal
time through Dec. 31.
And the plan aims to
make the student loan
system more manageable
FEEL THE SPEED,
EVEN AT PEAK TIMES.
candidate, tweeted Aug. 29.
“I will keep fi ghting to keep
guns away from those who
are likely to harm them-
selves or others.”
Christine Drazan, the
Republican candidate, said
in a tweet she was heart-
broken. “We need more
mental health support and
to ensure that we have law
enforcement available when
and where they are needed
to stop crimes before they
occur and enforce our laws
to ensure we have safe com-
munities and safe streets.”
Betsy Johnson, the non-
affi liated candidate, said in
a statement, “We must do
more to keep guns away
from people who should not
have them.” She said she
would support and enforce a
stronger background check
system and would raise the
age to buy certain semi-au-
tomatic weapons from 18
to 21.
Both Johnson and Drazan
support gun rights and have
“A” ratings by the National
Rifl e Association. Drazan
opposes more restrictions.
Kotek has called for
stricter state and federal reg-
before she disappeared in 1976.
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, how-
ever, do not match those of Patty
Otto.
Timms believes the discrep-
ancy is due to an error made
by the OSP’s medical examiner
while doing examinations of the
skeletal remains of two Jane Does
in his offi ce 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.
Timms applauds the work the
state police is now doing on the
case, especially that of Sgt. Sean
Belding.
“He wants to get this right,”
she said. “I have faith in him.”
said, adding she is hoping Ore-
gon’s state forensic anthropologist
will determine the Finley Creek
Jane Doe is her mother based on
the dental records.
Timms fi rst suspected that the
Finley Creek Jane Doe was her
mother in 2021 when she saw an
image created by a forensic artist,
Anthony Redgrave, the operator
of Redgrave Research Forensic
Services. Redgrave, who is from
Massachusetts, was assisting
the Finley Creek Jane Doe Task
Force, and the image he created
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 contributed
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
for borrowers by reducing
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The Department of
Education is proposing a
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ment plan that would cap
monthly payments for
undergraduate loans at 5%
of a borrower’s income
rather than the current
10% borrowers pay. For
example, a single borrower
making $38,000 a year
would pay $31 a month,
according to a government
press release.
The proposal also
ulations and proposed leg-
islation to expand back-
ground checks and ban gun
purchases by people with
domestic abuse charges.
Surveys show a majority
of Oregonians support
stricter gun laws. Sixty per-
cent of Oregonians polled
in June by the nonpartisan
Oregon Values and Beliefs
Center in Portland supported
tighter gun regulations at the
federal level, and 56% said
the same about the state’s
laws. The fi gures are consis-
tent across demographic cat-
egories including geography,
age, race and gender, and are
in line with recent nation-
wide polling by Pew.
Also on the November
ballot is a voter initiative that
would tighten gun laws in
Oregon. Measure 114 would
ban the sale of high-capacity
ammunition magazines,
require a fi rearm safety
course, tighten licensing and
create stricter background
checks on weapon pur-
chases. It would also close
the background check loop-
hole and require fi rearm
safety classes for people who
purchase fi rearms.
includes a new rule that
borrowers who have
worked at a nonprofi t, in
the military or for federal,
state, tribal or local gov-
ernment receive appro-
priate credit toward loan
forgiveness.
Congress has never
given the president the
explicit authority to cancel
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icle that pursuing legisla-
tion to prevent gun violence
will be a top priority for him
in the 2023 legislative ses-
sion. He and fellow Demo-
crats will look at closing the
background check loophole
and banning so-called ghost
guns, which are untraceable
fi rearms that can be privately
made.
“We’ll keep working
during the interim to bring
bills forward to stop the kinds
of tragedy that took place on
(Aug. 28),” he said.
In a news release, he
expressed sorrow: “My heart
breaks for my community in
Bend today. My deepest con-
dolences go out to the vic-
tims of last night’s attack
and their families, as well as
my appreciation for the fi rst
responders, hospital workers
and store employees who
acted swiftly to keep people
safe.”
missing, said Suzanne Timms of
Walla Walla, Washington, who
is assisting with the search as a
volunteer. Timms is certain the
Finley Creek Jane Doe is her
mother, Patricia “Patty” Otto, of
Lewiston, Idaho, who has been
missing since Aug. 31, 1976.
Timms also wants state police
to dig deeper at the two sites the
cadaver dogs alerted handlers.
“Cadaver dogs are right 95%
of the time,” Timms said, adding
dogs can smell human bones at
least 13 feet deep.
Timms said if bones cannot
be found at the Finley Creek site
that dental records could be used
to prove that her mother was the
person buried there. She said that
a forensic dentist has examined
photos taken of the Finely Creek
Jane Doe’s teeth in 1978 and says
that they match the X-rays of her
mother’s teeth her dentist in Lew-
iston had.
“He is convinced that they are
from the same person,” Timms
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At age 18, Oregonians can
purchase a gun after passing
a criminal background check.
A federal loophole allows
fi rearms dealers to sell guns
without a background check
if it takes longer than three
days to complete.
Kropf, a former prose-
cutor with the Deschutes
County District Attorney’s
offi ce, told the Capital Chron-
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