NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Tuesday, May 25, 2021
La Grande man describes gunpoint encounter with Sprague
By PHIL WRIGHT
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Gary
Hatch said he was just turn-
ing off his outside light on
Wednesday, May 19, when
he heard a tapping at the door.
He lives in the 1700 block
of Claire Street, a neighbor-
hood on La Grande’s east side
that he said tends to be quiet.
What he said happened next
shattered any solace.
Hatch opened the door,
and a man with a sawed-off
shotgun burst through.
“When he came here,
he just busted the barrel
against my forehand and
then lowered the barrel to my
chest,” Hatch recalled. “He
said he was
going to kill
me.”
Hatch, 59,
said he has
a gun, but it
was in his
bedroom,
Sprague
and nothing
prepared him
for this encounter.
“It had to be one of the
scariest moments of my life,”
Hatch said. “A sawed-off
shotgun. And I still have the
bruise on my forehead.”
The purple semicircle on
Hatch’s forehead was evident
on the late afternoon of May
20. Hatch also said the man
at the trigger end of that
shotgun was the same man
Phil Wright/The Observer
Gary Hatch, of La Grande, on Thursday, May 20, 2021, demonstrates where he said a man burst
into his home and “busted” the end of a shotgun barrel against his forehead. Hatch said the
man was Travis James Sprague, 24, of Baker County, who local law enforcement arrested early
that day in connection with a shooting and break-in a block from where Hatch lives.
police arrested on May 20
in connection with a May 19
shooting and break-in just a
block over on East Glacier
Street.
Police identified that
suspect as Travis James
Sprague, 24, of Baker County,
who is now in custody in the
Baker County Jail. Sprague
had a Baker County warrant
for his arrest on numerous
felonies, including burglary,
attempted kidnapping and
assaulting a police officer, the
latter charge stemming from
Forecast for Pendleton Area
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WEDNESDAY
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THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
the allegation that Sprague
sprayed bear spray in the face
of Baker City Police officer
Koby Essex on May 14.
Hatch said Sprague
wanted the keys to the car in
his vehicle port. But that car
belongs to a neighbor, Hatch
Sunshine and
pleasant
68° 46°
75° 50°
Mostly cloudy
Clouds and sun;
winds subsiding
Partly sunny and
warmer
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
69° 48°
75° 44°
68° 41°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
75° 51°
79° 54°
71° 50°
81° 46°
74° 44°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
57/46
57/43
70/42
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
67/50
Lewiston
61/47
76/53
Astoria
58/48
Pullman
Yakima 76/45
63/43
64/51
Portland
Hermiston
64/49
The Dalles 75/51
Salem
Corvallis
61/42
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
60/42
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
63/43
59/37
57/38
Ontario
67/47
Caldwell
Burns
71°
53°
75°
49°
97° (1928) 35° (2010)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
61/43
0.13"
0.42"
0.87"
1.70"
1.38"
4.86"
WINDS (in mph)
63/44
59/32
Trace
0.46"
1.01"
4.02"
7.48"
6.12"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 55/39
64/46
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
68/46
70/50
70°
44°
73°
49°
93° (1928) 34° (1920)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
63/46
Aberdeen
63/46
68/49
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
63/49
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
69/44
Wed.
WSW 8-16
W 7-14
SW 6-12
WSW 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
61/32
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
5:14 a.m.
8:31 p.m.
7:58 p.m.
4:47 a.m.
Full
Last
New
First
May 26
June 2
June 10
June 17
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 98° in Thermal, Calif. Low 18° in Bryce Canyon, Utah
hensive search commenced
immediately,” the press
release stated. “La Grande
police officers and detectives
received assistance from
Union County sheriff’s depu-
ties and K-9 Molly and from
Oregon State Police troop-
ers.”
No one was injured at
either residence on Glacier,
according to police, and the
suspect did not make off
with the vehicle because it
was inside a garage. Police
found the keys to the vehi-
cle and “the illegally altered
shotgun that had been fired at
the first caller” within a short
distance, along with other
items of evidence.
La Grande police then
reported a Union County
sheriff’s deputy a little after
noon on May 20 saw Sprague
walking on 22nd Street near
East L Avenue, contacted him
and told him he was under
arrest.
“He attempted to flee,
but was quickly subdued
and taken into custody with-
out further incident,” police
reported.
On Tuesday, May 18, the
Baker City Police Depart-
ment issued a public notice
aler ting residents that
Sprague was wanted on
multiple charges and was
“armed and dangerous.” He is
accused of threatening some-
one in a Baker City home on
May 14.
New shelter now open at MERA
By DICK MASON
The Observer
Pleasant with
clouds and sun
said, so he didn’t have any
keys to give.
“It was bad, yeah,” he said.
Hatch said he saw
Sprague’s hand tremble as
he held the pistol grip of the
shotgun, and he feared one
shaky finger could end every-
thing for him. So he talked to
the man holding his life in the
balance.
“I don’t know how I did
it,” Hatch said, “but I talked
him down.”
Sprague took off, Hatch
said, hustled to the house next
door and dumped the shotgun
in a trash container.
Local police began look-
ing for Sprague in the wake
of a 911 call on May 19 at
8:56 p.m., according to a
press release from La Grande
police, when a person in the
1700 block of East Glacier
Street reported they had just
been shot at while standing in
front of their residence.
While off icers were
responding, an additional
911 call came from a separate
residence in the same block
on Glacier. The second caller
reported the suspect entered
their residence and held them
at gunpoint while demanding
keys to their vehicle.
La Grande police officers
arrived within moments and
contacted the callers. Police
named Sprague as the suspect
and said neither 911 caller
knew him.
“A multi-agency, compre-
UNION COUNTY —
Exhausted hikers and moun-
tain bikers at the Mount
Emily Recreation Area now
can recharge in a new build-
ing at the edge of Caffeine
Trail.
The structure is not
a coffee shop but a large
lean-to type of building that
provides protection from the
sun and rain. Forrest Warren
of Summerville constructed
the structure. He is a retired
educator, a farmer and the
Imbler Rural Fire Depart-
ment’s assistant chief.
“I thought this might be a
nice addition; it seemed like
something was needed, so I
said, ‘Lets give this a try,’”
Warren said.
The wooden structure
is 12 feet by 16 feet with a
metal roof 10 feet high at
its top point. Warren said it
is designed so visitors will
receive shade in the summer
because of a hillside to the
west and much sun exposure
in the winter because it faces
south.
“It will provide summer
shade and winter sun,”
Warren said.
The shelter also is posi-
tioned so people looking
south receive an excellent
view of La Grande.
Warren received funding
help for the project from the
Blue Mountain Singletrack
Trails Club.
“Its support was great, it
made it happen,” Warren said.
The shelter is 2 miles
by trail from the Owsley
Canyon Trailhead and where
the Caffeine and MERA Loop
trails connect. Warren chose
the location because it is in
the middle of MERA’s trail
network for non-motorized
uses.
“It is super centralized,”
Warren said.
Jeff Crews, who helped
deposit bark chips in the
shelter on Saturday, May 22,
agreed.
“It is in the middle of
everything,” Crews said.
Warren said he spent “a
long six days” constructing
the shelter. He said the help
from several volunteers —
Bart Barlow, Dave Larman,
Micha Anderson, Tom Guth-
rie, Steve Stanhope, Dusty
Fitzgerald and Ed Mosiman
— played a big role in the
completion of the project.
The shelter has a first aid
kit that includes splints and
slings. Warren asks those who
use the kit to call him so he
can replace materials.
“I have been an EMT
for 21 years,” he said. “I am
an avid believer in being
prepared, first aid is huge.”
Warren used live edge
siding so that it would look
natural. Live edge boards
are cut to leave one side with
the natural curves of the tree.
In addition to the shelter’s
boards, its wood slab seats,
which Stanhope cut and
provided, also have live edge
siding.
Elijah Romer, a member
of the Blue Mountain Single-
track Trails Club, said the
shelter’s live edge siding helps
it blend in perfectly.
“Instead of looking like an
eyesore it looks like it is meant
to be there,” Romer said.
Romer also said he is
impressed with the structure’s
overall appearance.
“I told Forrest it is a work
of art,” Romer said.
Romer said the shelter will
serve many functions. He said
he plans to take his family
there for picnics and may
teach outdoor classes there.
He also said it will be a great
place for people to stay while
they wait for help to arrive
if they have a bicycle break-
down or such.
Bill Gerst, a member of the
trails club network, said the
shelter has a reassuring pres-
ence.
“It is comforting to know
it is there,” he said.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
IN BRIEF
Amtrak restores service on
routes after COVID cutbacks
SEATTLE — In another hopeful sign that
the travel industry is bouncing back in Wash-
ington state after pandemic-induced lows last
year, Amtrak says it will restore daily service
on 12 long-distance routes across the country,
including two that run through Seattle.
Starting Monday, May 24, the Empire
Builder — Chicago to Seattle/Portland —
and Coast Starlight — Seattle to Los Angeles
— routes will resume daily service, giving
passengers on the West Coast more travel
options, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.
The routes previously were operat-
ing three times a week due to low ridership
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
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