FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2015
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 5
Local
There and back again
Bank robbery
suspect caught
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
When the Hunstmas got
that initial call, most mis-
sionaries would have had
three to four months to pre-
pare for an adventure that
would carry them around
the globe. The Huntsmans
reminisce that they had
just seven action-packed
weeks.
After arriving in Yekat-
erinburg, they traveled to
Ufa, and then returned to
settle in Chelyabinsk.
Chelyabinsk was their
home until mid-August,
when they were transferred
to across the country to
Vladivostok via Moscow,
which was thousands of
miles on Aerofl ot, Betty
pointed out.
She said, “We worked in
the mission offi ce for about
a year. Then we were sent
to beautiful Khabarovsk
for the balance of our 23
months.”
David mentioned that
by law they were required
to leave and depart from
Russia every six months in
order to renew their visas.
Now, due to a change in
that law, he said, mis-
sionaries will be required
to renew those visas with
trips outside the country
every three months.
In all, the Huntsmans
took one visa trip to Hel-
sinki, Finland, where they
stocked up on chocolate.
Their next two trips were
to Seoul, Korea. That
trip, they said, took a full
hour more when they fl ew
Korean Air as opposed to
Aerofl ot—Korean Air is
required to circle around
North Korean whereas
Aerofl ot fl ies directly over
it.
They were also able to
visit Uchaly, a small town
in the Urals with a popula-
tion of around 40,000.
Betty said, “ As for a
new and improved world
view, we have it good here.
Not all hospitals in other
countries offer full service.
Many times I took fruits
and vegetables to a patient
in a mental hospital, along
with fi ltered water. Those
are considered extras and
must come from friends
or family. I am sad when
I remember how ecstatic
she was for strawberries.
Some (private) hospitals
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Kerry McQuisten / The Baker County Press
David Huntsman spoke to a packed house, explaining his walking routine for
the past six months in Russia included looking for lost coins along the way—
including denominations so small that people simply toss them away.
are great, but others may
require a patient to have
someone provide personal
care.
“The grocery stores are
decent, though they do
sell different quantities
of items. The cold cereal
aisle isn’t more than six
to eight feet long, on one
side. Brown sugar is hard
to fi nd and molasses, non-
existent. Dr. Pepper was
$1.50 per 12-oz. can. That
was hard for me! There is
no maple fl avoring, nor are
there Ticonderoga pencils.
The bread is the best and
the meat is not.”
Their presentation
Saturday focused on other
adventures over the past
two years, as well as fi nd-
ing joy and adjusting their
attitudes even when they
weren’t feeling particularly
“sunny” about their duties.
“Mostly, what we learned
is that Russians live and
love in oftentimes very
diffi cult circumstances,”
Betty said.
“We can learn from the
Russians in their patrio-
tism. I was sad to see how
much we take for granted,
but they remember those
who served. I watched
a rally of 20,000 people
celebrate Victory Day (sort
of like Veteran’s Day but in
May),” she added.
Both were quick to point
out the health benefi ts of
Submitted Photo
David and Elizabeth Huntsman two years ago as
they prepared for their two-year stay in Russia.
living in Russia including
the inevitable weight loss
from all that walking, and
some new muscle tone
from the amount of stairs
they climbed in their daily
comings and goings.
Betty concluded,
“Mostly, we remain grate-
ful for those who support-
ed us with love, prayers,
and letters. We had three
new grandbabies born in
the two years we were
gone. While we were sad
to ‘miss out’ we are very
grateful for the opportu-
nity we were given and
the faith we had to accept
it. We didn’t do it alone.
Never alone.”
The Huntsmans are
both native Oregonians.
The two married in 1971
and together, have raised
12 children—biological,
adopted and foster. David
and Betty have both been
extensively involved with
the prison ministry. Betty
served as a leader in The
Compassionate Friends, a
group dedicated to helping
parents who have experi-
enced the death of a child.
Betty is the author of “The
Fine Art of Being Vertical:
Surviving the Loss of a
Child.”
Christmas dinner in the Panhandle
Carmelita Holland / The Baker County Press
"There is so much great food here, I'm going to have to go through the line three times," said one man at
the Annual Christmas Dinner, prepared by members of the New Bridge Church of the Nazarene for the
community, which was held at the New Bridge Grange Hall, Sunday, December 13. An estimated one hun-
dred, twenty-nine diners were served with nine meals taken to those unable to come to the hall. Food was
heaped on the serving tables which were placed end to end across the hall. As guests arrived from Half-
way/Pine Valley, Richland and other parts of Eagle Valley and Powder River, the number of dishes on the
tables increased. Outside there was not a parking space left on Main Street.
Newman said as luck would have it, as he was scop-
ing out the Super 8, he spotted Price’s vehicle actually
across the street at Chevron. “He was a danger here—and
wherever he goes,” Newman said. “We knew we were not
letting him go back into that hotel. Then we would have
had a suspect in a barricade situation and the people in
the hotel would have been in danger.”
“The super nice thing about being here,” added New-
man, “ is that the agencies all work really well together
here. I was on the phone and we had a plan. If the situ-
ation goes one way, I’ll run it. If it goes another way Lt.
Jayo would. It could have gone really, really bad, but it
went smoothly.”
Newman, along with the Baker County Sheriff’s De-
partment and Oregon State Police (OSP), initiated a “high
risk traffi c stop” in the Chevon parking lot, with guns
leveled on Price.
He described Price as easy to get along with, someone
who would have appeared “nice” had they not known he
had an extensive criminal history.
Price had purchased beer at the Chevron, and had eaten
a mushroom swiss burger at The Sumpter Junction earlier
in the day. Staff at the restaurant posted on Facebook that
he tipped very well, and questioned where the money had
come from. During the lengthy booking process, Price is
said to have liked that burger so much that he asked for
another as the evening meal.
Price was initially housed at the local jail. The Offi ce
of the Idaho Attorney General will coordinate extraditing
Price back to Ada County.
Newman, who is relatively new to the BCPD, said he’s
heard about the two prior stories from 2004 and 2008 in
which bank robbery suspects, also from the Boise area,
were apprehended in Baker City.
According to BCPD Chief Wyn Lohner, “On November
30, 2004, there was the husband and wife team of Charles
and Erin Bagwell.”
The female Bagwell was driving, the husband seated
shotgun, when OSP spotted them driving on I-84. The
BCPD and Sheriff’s deputies corralled the Bagwells at
gunpoint in the former Shell parking lot—now known as
Jacksons—before the couple hit the gas and sped away,
fi rst headed east on Campbell Street.
Charles Bagwell had something of an arsenal in the car
with him, and was heard stating that his wife either better
drive so that they escaped, or they were both going to die
in a shoot-out with police.
Offi cer Wayne Bailey was fi rst in pursuit behind the car
as Charles Bagwell indeed opened fi re at the offi cer and
his patrol car.
The suspects sped toward the property owned at the
time by Blue Mountain Asphalt, crashed through a gate
and headed across a fi eld.
“They had a four-wheel-drive vehicle,” said Lohner,
“and I think they thought they could get away over the
fi eld. It was winter. There was some snow on the ground.
They actually drove over a berm and launched into the
air.”
The vehicle came down and landed in the middle of an
ice-covered pond, from which the suspects were retrieved
and arrested.
The male Bagwell reiterated that if the icy water hadn’t
been the only thing to ever “kick his ass,” that he would
have fought police to the death during the pursuit.
In 2008, Kenneth Mitchell Casey was wanted in sus-
picion of robbing two Boise-area banks after escaping
from the Idaho Department of Corrections. Local police
initiated a traffi c stop when they saw his green mustang
with no license plates. Casey sped away and eventually
crashed on the freeway, fl eeing on foot.
An observant off-duty dispatcher spotted him behind the
Post Offi ce and called it in.
Police set up a perimeter, and Casey was arrested in
the Powder River right behind the Police Department on
Auburn.
Chief Lohner and Detective Jay Lohner also recall
another robbery from May of 2005 that actually occurred
in Baker City.
Stephen Peters, said both Lohners, had embarked on a
crime spree from Renton, Washington all the way down
that state into eastern Oregon.
Addicted to hydrocodone, Peters’ targets of choice were
often pharmacies. Unable to score enough of the pain-
killers that way, he frequently opted for plan B, which
included knocking over local credit unions for cash to
buy more of the drug on the streets. On May 16, Peters
targeted the local Safeway grocery store. A store clerk
noticed his suspicious behavior as Peters hung back in the
produce section watching the pharmacy and waiting for
the line of customers to clear. Peters then moved in and
robbed the pharmacy, but before the investigation was
over, the clerk remembered that Peters had picked up and
held two bags of lettuce, putting them both back.
Det. Lohner said they were able to obtain clear fi nger-
prints from the lettuce.
The next day, Peters walked away with $8,167 dollars
from the Old West Federal Credit Union in Baker City.
The bank clerk who was robbed, Julie Gerber, believed he
had a gun in his jacket pocket, as did others in the bank.
His image, caught on video, was eventually spotted by
a family member who knew his whereabouts and turned
him in.
“Because it was a credit union that he robbed,” said
Det. Lohner, “it was a Federal crime. The investigation
was interesting because of that.”
Peters was fi nally located and arrested in the Tri-Cities
area, put there in large part by the physical evidence—
those fi ngerprints on the two bags of lettuce—gathered
from the Baker City Safeway.