FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2016
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 5
Local
Easter Bunny visits Huntington Shooting
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Eileen Driver / The Baker County Press
David Hanks and his daughter Carly.
BY EILEEN DRIVER
Eileen@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Early in the morning of
Saturday, March 26, the
Easter Bunny arrived in
Huntington and left 180
beautifully decorated
real Easter eggs and over
1,000 candy-filled plastic
eggs hidden all over the
lower field at Huntington
Elementary School.
On that cool but sunny
morning at 10:00 a.m. all
the children in town, from
barely walking to 10 years
of age, gathered at the edge
of the field with their
buckets and baskets in
hand and stared in awe
and wonder at the bounty
before them.
At just the right moment
they were let loose on that
field and enthusiastically
hunted down all the eggs
that were hidden on the
side of the hill, buried in
large tufts of grass, cradled
in small holes in the earth
and hidden by rocks, while
their parents, grandparents
and friends watched and
encouraged them from the
sidelines.
The field was divided
into three sections walking
Eileen Driver / The Baker County Press
L-R: Cole Waldrup, Gage Roby and Josie Larsen.
to preschool, Kindergarten
to 2nd grade and 3rd grade
to 10 years of age.
Three lucky kids found
special Easter eggs, which
said “Grand Prize” on
them.
They each were allowed
to trade those Grand
Prize eggs for a large Eas-
ter Basket full of goodies.
The lucky Hunters were
Gage Roby for the
preschool section, Cole
Waldrup kindergartener
hunting in the K2 section
and Josie Larsen 3rd grader
hunting in the 3rd through
10 years-old section.
All the children went
home with their baskets
and buckets full of Easter
Eggs and bright, shiny
smiles on their faces.
The annual Easter Egg
Hunt is organized by
Sterling McKinney, 4th
and 5th Grade Teacher at
Huntington Elementary,
with the help and assis-
tance of many community
members, the Huntington
Historical Society and the
generosity of the Hunting-
ton School District’s loan
of the field, for the benefit
of the children of the com-
munity.
BMCC small business services
sees staff, offering changes
BY SUNNY WERNER
Sunny@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Dr. Daniel Koopman,
Director of Blue Moun-
tain Community College
(BMCC), Baker, said he
is pleased with the ability
BMCC has to offer local
residents the opportunity to
“earn their entire Associate
of Arts Oregon Transfer
degree (AAOT) while
never leaving Baker City.”
This goal can be accom-
plished through face-to-
face, streaming video and
online courses.
Collaborative ef-
forts between numerous
community partners and
BMCC allow more op-
portunities for students to
gain knowledge and credits
towards their degree or
certification. The col-
lege has agreements with
Robbins Farm Equipment
(diesel technology), Behlen
Country (welding certifi-
cation), Baker City Fire
Department ( Basic Emer-
gency Medical Technician
certificate)
The BMCC Baker Coun-
ty Small Business Devel-
opment Center (SBDC)
works closely with county
businesses and numerous
agencies to assist Baker
County residents with
small business proposals
and short-term trainings
in a variety of business
related topics.
Jeff Nelson, current Se-
nior Advisor at the SBDC,
is very excited about some
of the new directions and
opportunities available to
local residents.
In collaboration with
Hatch Innovation, the
Small Business Adminis-
tration, and the Chamber of
Commerce BMCC SBDC
is currently working with
five business people on a
new approach to fundrais-
ing for capital to start their
business.
“We are the first Center
in Eastern Oregon to be
able to offer this,” said
Nelson. “I can’t tell you
the names of the par-
ticipants yet, as the State
insists they must submit
their proposals before their
names can be released.”
The project that Nelson
and the other Advisors,
Phillip O’Reilly and Glen-
nis Orcutt, are working on
with the five participants
will lead to a Community
Public Offering.
This project allows the
small business owners to
sell shares of the business-
es to Oregonians wishing
to invest directly in their
local economy.
The shares average
$100, and will be sold as
either an Equity Offering
in which the shareholder is
buying into the bricks and
mortar, or a Debt Offering,
which can raise capital at a
lower rate that a traditional
bank loan.
“Individual inves-
tors can only invest up
to $2,500 per business,”
Nelson explained.
The cohort of business
people with whom Nelson,
Orcutt, and O’Reilly have
been working is par-
ticipating in a three-month
workshop to put proposals
together. Once completed,
they will submit their pa-
perwork to the State. Fol-
lowing that, they will be
able to begin their public
offerings.
“ We have some much
going on!” enthused Nel-
son. He went on to list the
Pub Talks he and the staff
will host in the community.
“April 20, at Lefty’s,
we will have a talk called
‘Meet Our Team.’ We will
have advisors and clients
who are participating in the
current workshops. They
will be able to present their
proposals to the public.”
He added, “In May, here
at SBDC, we will offer
Economic Development,
All Phases,” which will
feature staff from Greg
Smith’s office speaking on
how this relates to Baker
County.”
There will be more Pub
Talks in the autumn.
Following up on work
originally begun by Jake
Jacobs, Nelson will be
working next month with
a group of prisoners at
Powder River Correctional
Facility, helping them
develop business plans of
their own.
He said, “We did this last
year, and already have a
couple of success stories.
We have one of the gradu-
ates who completed his
term working successfully
building his own business
in the community.”
This collaboration
between prison and the
SBDC was so successful,
similar programs are being
planned across the state.
The SBDC also offers a
number of courses de-
signed especially for busi-
nesspeople. These include
a four-week tutorial on
QuickBooks, one on how
to utilize Social Media
platforms for advertising,
and another on how to use
Google Maps to expose
a business to the largest
number of customers.
Nelson points out that
the majority (75%) of his
clients are women. He
said that surprised him
originally, as did the fact
that many retired people
had such an interest in the
programs.
“A lot of the proposals
are for a ‘second income’
kind of business,” he
explained. “Many are
online-based, not so much
the bricks and mortar kind
of businesses people have
been interested in, in the
past.”
But who was the victim? Or was there really one?
Bonnie probably never knew for sure. Aumiller really
didn’t either.
Bonnie told a story of her family members being
uprooted from their Denver home after Schoeberlin, a
known alcoholic, lost his job at the police department
there. They ended up in La Grande living with a family
member while Schoeberlin secured employment with the
Baker City Police Department.
Aumiller transcribes Bonnie’s testimony as: “All I
remember is him coming home telling us to hurry up
and pack—this was like one o’clock in the morning, that
we had to get out of there, because if this guy died, he’d
go up for murder. Someone he’d shot on the job. Never
heard any more about that.”
Bonnie describes fleeing for Denver in the middle of
the night after her father had been employed in Baker
City “three or four months.”
Knowing memories can sometimes prove faulty, Lohner
set out for the basement at City Hall where he spent a
couple hours digging through archived personnel files. He
soon came across a “Personnel Questionnaire” showing
one Cris Andrew Schoeberlin, a former patrolman of 14
years from Denver, Colorado, had begun employment
with the Baker City Police Department on July 17, 1952,
with then Chief of Police Fred Hunt as his immediate
supervisor. While the spelling of Schoeberlin’s first name
differed from the book, most of the other identifying
details lined up precisely.
“So when I came across his personnel file,” said
Lohner, “at least we had confirmation that Schoeberlin
existed and had been employed here as claimed. The top
of the questionnaire stated that he left without giving the
City any notice, worked seven days, drew what the City
owed him, and then left town.”
That timeframe, along with Schoeberlin taking the op-
portunity presumably during work hours to draw his pay,
didn’t quite match Bonnie’s account.
So Lohner did some more legwork at the Baker County
Public Library and came up with an article from the July
25, 1952 Democrat Herald. He’d hit pay dirt.
The article describes a shooting during which brothers
Luke and Bob Smolich, ages 27 and 23 respectively, were
shot by officers Schoeberlin and Dave Gray at the Royal
Cafe that morning.
Hunt is reported as saying that Luke was shot by Gray
as the two wrestled on the ground, and Bob was shot by
Schoeberlin as he ran through that officer’s line of fire.
The article states, “All four were engaged in an alterca-
tion stemming from an earlier disagreement between the
Smolichs and four other men.”
Hunt said the four had been accosted by the Smolichs
as they sat having coffee. Local “golf pro” Julius Vander-
wiele was knocked unconscious in the altercation.
When the two officers arrived, Bob knocked Schoeber-
lin into a block of meat in the kitchen area—hard enough
to break the block. Luke charged at Gray, who pulled his
gun—and then the shootings quickly occurred as de-
scribed earlier.
Lohner took one last step in his research, contacting
Lloyd Cook who had worked as an officer for the Baker
City Police Department in the 1950s and served as Sheriff
in Baker County for a brief time. Cook, now in his nine-
ties and unavailable for an interview in time for print,
spoke to Lohner last week.
“He didn’t recall Schoeberlin or that particular incident,
but he remembered the Smolich brothers. According to
his recollection, they were pretty bad news back in their
day.”
The Smolichs eventually recovered from their wounds
and were charged with assault and battery of a police of-
ficer, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
And then a surprise twist.
Lohner found a second article, this time dated August 1,
1952, just about one week after the shootings. According
to that article, Hunt walked into City Hall, resigning from
his position, citing “political issues.”
Two officers resigned with him. The first, Tom Muillen-
berg. The second, Cris Schoeberlin.
Muillenberg and Hunt remained on duty until August
15.
Schoeberlin left immediately.
Hunt’s resignation is documented as a conflict between
himself and City Council. The reason behind Schoeber-
lin’s hasty departure is still largely unknown, but if the
shooting Bonnie recalls was the Smolich shooting, which
seems likely, there was no murder from which to run.
Bob Smolich was released from the hospital roughly
two weeks after Schoeberlin’s return to Denver.
From there, Aumiller picks up the story again in his
book. Once in Denver, Schoeberlin’s life took a turn for
the better. With no further indication of drinking, Schoe-
berlin and his wife separated before her death.
“No longer trapped in a loveless marriage,” writes Au-
miller, “he (Schoeberlin) returned to his former self—a
kind and gentle man.”
According to Aumiller, Schoeberlin died in 1970 at the
age of 62.
“Earth Angels” is available at Amazon.com.
Mining summit April 26
A free mining and aggregate summit will be held at the
Baker County Events Center, 2600 East on April 26.
The event is sponsored by the Oregon Mining Associa-
tion, Oregon Concrete and Aggregate Producers Assoc.,
Oregonians in Action, Baker County Economic Develop-
ment, and Eastern Oregon Mining Association. This will
be an opportunity to meet and hear from people involved
in the mining industry. The latest on the legislative front
will be discussed and this will be an opportunity to find
out what is going on in the industry.