NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Friday, August 30, 2019
Walden acknowledges gun bill error
Oregon representative
inaccurately describes
House-passed bill in
radio interview
their ranch.”
Jenkins
added
that
Walden was also concerned
that, under the bill, ranchers
could face penalties if they
loaned an employee a gun
to protect livestock from
predators.
The Eastern Oregon leg-
islator has walked a careful
line on gun issues. Walden
said he’s willing to tighten
some gun laws. But he has
also maintained an “A”
grade from the National
Rifle Association, which
has taken a hard line against
attempts to tighten restric-
tions on guns. The group
strenuously lobbied against
the background checks bill
that passed the House.
Following the mass shoot-
ings earlier this month in El
Paso and Dayton, Walden
declined several requests by
OPB to discuss gun issues.
He did release a statement
last week that defended his
overall approach, but he did
not address gun legislation
now under discussion by
President Donald Trump and
congressional leaders.
In an interview Tuesday
with KEX Radio talk show
host Mark Mason, Walden
said he supported efforts to
“clean up the background
check system” and ensure
that “we can keep the guns
By JEFF MAPES
Oregon Public Broadcasting
PORTLAND — Ore-
gon Rep. Greg Walden
acknowledged
Wednes-
day that he inaccurately
described a House-passed
bill he opposed that calls
for expanded criminal
background checks on gun
purchases.
In an interview this week
on KEX Radio in Portland,
Walden said he voted against
the measure because it would
make it illegal for some-
one to swap shotguns with a
companion while hunting if
they didn’t first go through a
background check.
However, the bill explic-
itly exempts the temporary
transfers of firearms for
hunting, fishing and trap-
ping purposes.
Walden
spokeswoman
Molly Jenkins said in an
email that the Republican
congressman
“acknowl-
edges that he misspoke on
KEX. What he was intend-
ing to reference was if they
were out shooting around
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Rep. Greg Walden answers a question Wednesday at a town
hall in Heppner.
out of the hands of the crim-
inal elements.”
But he defended his Feb.
27 vote in the House against
a measure that would expand
background checks to cover
private transfers of firearms.
“I admit I voted ‘no’ on
it and here’s why,” Walden
told Mason. “You know, if
I’ve got a farmer out in East-
ern Oregon and his son-in-
law shows up and they go
out pheasant hunting, under
their law they tried to pass
in the House, if he loaned
his son-in-law his shotgun
— they just traded shotguns
— without going some-
where and getting a back-
ground check, it would be a
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one-year [in prison] felony,
$100,000 fine.”
However, that legisla-
tion, H.R. 8, says someone
can temporarily transfer
their firearm if it is “reason-
ably necessary for the pur-
poses of hunting, trapping,
or fishing.”
During the debate over the
House legislation, Repub-
licans repeatedly sought
broader exemptions for
farmers and ranchers. They
also wanted to expand the
exemption from background
checks for family members
to include a broader circle of
those with family ties, such
as in-laws. Democratic lead-
ers refused, saying they did
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NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
dren and six adults.
A bill requiring back-
ground checks on all firearm
sales at gun shows, spon-
sored by Democratic Sen.
Joe Manchin of West Vir-
ginia and Republican Sen.
Patrick Toomey of Pennsyl-
vania, failed to gain the 60
votes needed to overcome a
filibuster in the Senate. And
when Democrats took con-
trol of the House following
the 2018 elections, one of
their first priorities was to
pass a more expansive back-
ground check bill.
Following the violence
in Dayton and El Paso,
Trump and congressio-
nal leaders have been dis-
cussing whether they can
reach agreement on gun
legislation.
Walden told KEX that he
might also support national
legislation on so-called
“red flag” laws. Those
allow judges to temporarily
remove firearms from peo-
ple deemed to be in immi-
nent danger of violent action
against themselves or others.
Walden noted that Ore-
gon has a red flag law that
has raised some questions but
that “seems to be working.”
At the same time, Walden
said he also has “an obliga-
tion to stand up for the Sec-
ond Amendment.”
Union County man pleads
not guilty to murder charge
By SABRINA
THOMPSON
La Grande Observer
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not want to introduce too
many loopholes.
Still, the first example
that Walden mentioned —
a rancher and a son-in-law
out shooting on the ranch —
could be covered by the hunt-
ing exemption. And depend-
ing on the circumstances, so
could the second example.
Robin Lloyd, manag-
ing director for the Giffords
Law Center, a gun-control
group, said the exemption in
the bill is intended to cover
limited loans for hunting.
What would not be covered
is a long-term loan, she said.
“It was not meant to bur-
den everyday Americans
who are passing firearms
along to their sons or daugh-
ters, or who use them regu-
larly for hunting and trap-
ping,” Lloyd said, adding
that “it was meant to create
a system that does not have
the loopholes that exist in
our system today.”
The legislation passed
the House last February
on a 240-190 vote, with
only eight Republicans in
support. Democratic and
Republican leaders have
been heatedly wrangling
over background checks
ever since the 2012 shoot-
ings in Newtown, Connecti-
cut, that led to the deaths of
20 elementary school chil-
LA GRANDE — Ronald
Lee, who was arrested in Feb-
ruary and charged with mur-
der and conspiracy to com-
mit murder of his soon-to-be
ex-wife, Loretta Williams, in
November 2018, pleaded not
guilty in a hearing Tuesday.
Lee, 71, has remained in
the Union County Jail since
his arrest. Tuesday’s hearing
was to state his plea, and for
the state of Oregon to prove
that he is rightfully being held
without bail.
Lee is accused of having
shot and killed Williams at
her Cove home. She called
911 about 1:40 a.m. about a
man in her yard, and dispatch-
ers overheard a confrontation
in the background and a loud
noise before losing contact
with her, according to the 911
call. When officers arrived
they found Williams dead of
one or more apparent gunshot
wounds, The Observer previ-
ously reported.
During the hearing, the
state submitted 50 pieces of
evidence in addition to wit-
ness testimony to prove there
is reason to hold Lee without
bail. Evidence included the
911 call Williams made, tes-
timony from Union County
Sheriff’s Office lead detective
Jason McKaig and ballistics
information.
When McKaig took the
stand, Union County Dis-
trict Attorney Kelsie McDan-
iel asked him to detail the
events that led up to, during
and after Nov. 17, 2018, when
Williams was killed in her
home. McDaniel asked Det.
McKaig questions regard-
ing the case and the evidence
they had found as part of the
investigation.
Prior to her death, Wil-
liams and Lee were going
through a tumultuous divorce,
McKaig said. The record and
testimony by McKaig showed
Williams filed for divorce on
July 18, 2018.
According to McKaig’s
investigation and court doc-
uments, during this time
Lee had hired an associate,
Deva Williams, to drive him
around because Lee’s license
had been suspended for driv-
ing under the influence of
intoxicants.
According to McK-
aig’s testimony, Williams
recalled Lee making state-
ments about wanting to kill
his wife and saying he could
kill her and get away with it.
Also according to McKaig’s
testimony, Williams said
Lee’s behavior was getting
increasingly erratic and vio-
lent in November 2018, and
he planned to stop acting as
Lee’s driver.
During this time, Loretta
Williams’ friends and family
said, she had begun making
plans for the future, including
getting a new job and selling
the house. The divorce depo-
sitions were set for a week
after Thanksgiving, five days
before she was killed.
The audio of the 911 call
Williams made the night she
was murdered was played for
the court Tuesday. In it Wil-
liams can be heard talking
about a man in her yard wear-
ing a black jacket. The dis-
patcher asks for her address,
and Williams identifies the
man in her yard as her hus-
band, Ron Lee, according
to McKaig and the judge’s
remarks regarding the 911
call, which lasted about two
minutes.
In the recording, Williams
yells, “Ron Lee, stop!” The
sounds of gunshots and glass
breaking are heard, and Wil-
liams cries out that she has
been shot. In all, a total of
five shots can be heard on the
audio.
“It’s the victim of a homi-
cide speaking beyond the
grave,” McDaniel said.
When the Union County
Sheriff’s deputies and Oregon
State Police troopers arrived
at the scene, they found the
house’s sliding glass back
door had been shattered and
Williams was dead on the
floor between the dining room
and the kitchen, according to
McKaig’s testimony.
Within a few hours, the
police found Lee in his trailer,
McKaig said Tuesday. When
told of his wife’s death, Lee
did not seem upset by the
news, McKaig said. Lee later
agreed to an interview with
the police. In the interview
he described Williams as
“crazy” and as having suicidal
tendencies, and he claimed he
was the one who wanted the
divorce, according to McK-
aig’s testimony.
BRIEFLY
Magnitude 6.3 earthquake
rumbles 150 miles off
Oregon coast
COOS BAY — An underwater earth-
quake with an initial 6.3 magnitude has
struck off the Oregon coast.
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