REGION
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Music helps teen fi nd her identity
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
PILOT ROCK — JoJo
Jeffers credits her escape
from depression to an old
guitar and a song that she
says God planted in her
heart.
The song, “Identity,” came
out April 19 and is available
on Spotify and eventually on
other platforms.
Jeff ers, 19, started sing-
ing as a tiny girl who used
her toothbrush as a micro-
phone. She helped lead sing-
ing in church from age 13,
sometimes performing solos
with the worship team at Life
Church in Pilot Rock where
her father is pastor.
JoJo’s str uggle with
depression started during
her freshman year at Pilot
Rock High School. She often
holed up in her bedroom
after school, sitting on the
carpeted fl oor and writing
into a black leather journal.
The turmoil raging inside
seemed more serious than
typical teenage angst. She
considered suicide and tried
cutting. She carefully hid her
struggle from her parents,
Harley and Dawn Jeff ers.
“Once they found out,
they loved me through it,”
Jeff ers said.
But, in the midst of it, her
thoughts took her to painful
places.
“I just started believ-
ing these lies that I was
unloved,” she recalled. “That
I was unworthy. I just closed
myself off from the world.
I’d sit there and dwell on my
feelings.”
One day, Jeff ers picked up
a beat-up guitar that some-
one at church had given
her after rescuing the dusty
instrument from the attic
where it had sat for years.
With her fi ngers becoming
calloused from playing, the
teen mastered chords learned
from YouTube videos. She
accompanied herself singing
while sitting crosslegged on
her bedroom fl oor. Over time,
depression loosened its grip.
In her sophomore year,
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
JoJo Jeff ers sings and plays her guitar on her bedroom fl oor in Pilot Rock on March 30, 2022.
she decided to write a song.
This fi rst stab at songwriting
came after a heartfelt prayer
in which she told God she felt
lost and like a stranger lived
in her head. Though she had
stepped back in her Christian
faith at the time, she believed
the song that fl owed out was
God’s response to her prayer.
“He just took my hand and
wrote it all on paper for me,”
Jeff ers said. “It doesn’t really
feel like it’s mine.”
The lyrics seemed to
speak directly to her, telling
her she was worthy and loved.
Jeff ers, now a freshman at
Blue Mountain Commu-
nity College, sang the song
to her parents and they were
impressed. Encouraged,
she shared a video on Face-
book of herself singing the
song. A woman Jeff ers didn’t
know messaged that the song
helped her deal with her own
struggle. Family friend and
professional singer Ericka
Corban saw the video too and
encouraged her.
Corban had originally met
Jeff ers in 2010 when Corban,
her husband and their young
children stopped at McDon-
ald’s in Pendleton on their
way home to the Washing-
ton coast from a concert. She
started chatting with Dawn
Jeff ers and 9-year-old JoJo.
Corban has since performed
at the Jeffers’ church and
mentored JoJo, who she says
has music in her bones. After
seeing the video, she pushed
the teen to record it.
“When something moves
you like that, you know it’s
special,” Corban said.
She connected Jeff ers with
Brandon Bee, a Kennewick
producer, singer and song-
writer. Last fall, Jeff ers met
Bee on Zoom and then trav-
eled to Tri-Cities in Febru-
ary to record her song in his
studio.
“She’s a natural,” he
said afterwards. “When I
see a natural, it’s typically
somebody who really has a
connection with their songs
and they don’t care who’s in
the room. They’re just going
to present the song in the
most authentic way.”
To calm Jeff ers’ nerves,
the producer urged her to
imagine herself back on her
bedroom fl oor.
“It was just her and her
guitar,” Bee said. “I added
some production for sure,
but I really did try to paint
around what she already had.
I wanted to keep it close to
what she did naturally.”
Bee said he normally
tells aspiring singer/song-
writers that their fi rst song
is something they need to
get through so they can get
to their next thing and then
the next.
“But I don’t really think
that was the case with this
one,” he said. “The song was
so good all on its own. This
wasn’t just something she had
to get done. It’s the real deal.”
At BMCC, Jeff ers serves
as an ambassador for the
school. She plans to work
toward a degree in coun-
seling. Jeff ers doesn’t know
where music will take her,
but envisions nothing with
big stage lights, fame and
fortune.
“If this is something that
glorifi es me, I don’t want it in
the long run,” she said. “The
goal is to glorify God and not
me.”
She continues to write
songs for a future album.
Her twin, Trent, who has
a passion for photography,
is shooting photos for the
album cover.
East Oregonian
Hermiston man faces
murder charge in death
of Kennewick musician
By CAMERON
PROBERT
Tri-City Herald
time,” said the release.
They had been seen
together at the house at least
one other time, Kiel said.
KENNEWICK — A
Hermiston man is accused
of the violent attack that
killed a well-known Kenne-
wick musician.
Christopher R. Calvert,
44, was caught in rural
Skamania County, Wash-
ington, driving Clayton
“Clay” Wick’s car about
3 p.m. Thursday, May 5,
Kennewick police Lt. Jason
Kiel said during a media
briefi ng May 6.
Wick was a former bass-
ist for the Walla Walla
Symphony.
Calvert was an acquain-
tance of Wick’s, police said.
Police think Calvert
took the 2012 Honda CRV
after killing the man inside
Wick’s Buchanan Street
home.
A housekeeper discov-
ered Wick’s body two days
earlier, according to Kenne-
wick police. Investigators
suspect the 76-year-old,
who lived alone, had been
dead for three to fi ve days
before she found his body.
Police said it appears
Wick died after a “violent
assault and blunt force
trauma.” The results of an
autopsy conducted May 5
have not returned, said offi -
cials.
Washington State Patrol
crime lab technicians spent
two days documenting and
gathering evidence from the
“violent encounter,” said a
news release.
Many of the details about
Wick’s death remain under
investigation, including the
reason for the attack and
how they knew each other.
“The motive is not
completely known at this
Missing car
When police began
investigating, they noticed
Wick’s CRV was miss-
ing and thought Calvert
had stolen it, Kiel said. A
warrant for car theft was
issued for his arrest May 3.
After more investigating,
detectives were able to link
him to the murder investi-
gation and a judge agreed
to issue a nationwide, $1
million fi rst-degree murder
warrant for his arrest.
Police tracked him to
Stevenson, Washington, a
small community about an
hour east of Vancouver, on
May 5.
Skamania County Sher-
iff’s deputies along with
the U.S. Marshals Fugitive
Task Force and Kennewick
detectives found Calvert
driving around that area
around 3 p.m. May 5.
When police tried to
pull him over, Calvert sped
away, starting a fi ve-min-
ute chase that ended when
offi cers forced the car into
a ditch in a rural area of
Skamania County.
Calvert was arrested and
taken back to the Benton
County jail were he was
booked on suspicion of
auto theft and fi rst-degree
premeditated murder with
the aggravating circum-
stances of invasion of
privacy, lack of remorse and
excessive injuries.
Calvert has a lengthy
criminal history, mostly
from Oregon that includes
convictions for elud-
ing police, possession of
meth and manufacturing a
controlled substance.
VISIT US ON THE WEB AT:
www.EastOregonian.com
Pendleton city manager looks
to boost police department
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Pend-
leton City Manager Robb
Corbett’s 2022-23 budget
proposal boosts public safety
and brings changes to city
spending.
The proposal calls from
adding two new positions for
police offi cers for the upcom-
ing fi scal year with plans to
add two more positions the
following year. Corbett said
the last time the Pendleton
Police Department saw an
increase in positions was
nearly a decade ago.
“We used to get 20 or 30
qualifi ed applicants per job
listing, now we are lucky to
get four or fi ve,” he said. “But
with a mixture of increased
calls, family medical leave
and young people not inter-
ested in entering the profes-
sion, we commonly find
ourselves understaff ed.”
Corbett said he is hopeful
increasing the department’s
staff will help alleviate these
problems.
Police Chief Charles
Byram echoed Corbett’s
ideas.
“Ultimately the impact
will allow for police to be
proactive,” he said. “An
increase in officers would
allow us to respond to situa-
tions faster and keep up with
the workload.”
While the increase in
patrolling offi cers will help
the department, the other
issue to address is retain-
ing offi cers the city already
has. The police department
is short staff ed, and Byram
made no bones about not
dropping standards.
“You have to have the
right people with the right
temperament for this job,” he
explained, “we will not lower
our standards just because we
need a body.”
Corbett also is proposing
a complete remodel of how
Pendleton disburses funds
between departments. He
referred to this as a “cash
carry over system” that
allows departments to keep
what they didn’t spend last
year for the upcoming year.
“This system will hope-
fully end the use-it-or-lose-it
mentality,” he said, “In the
past, departments would
spend the money before the
end of the year, so it stayed
in their department.”
Corbett said the move is
about incentivizing depart-
ments to spend less and
prevent frivolous overspend-
ing at the end of the year.
Public Information Meetings
US Army Corps
of Engineers ®
Walla Walla District
McNary Master
Plan Revision
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District is revising the
McNary Master Plan for Corps lands behind McNary Dam and surrounding
Lake Wallula on the Columbia River near Umatilla, OR. We invite you to an
open house scoping meeting to learn about the Master Plan and to comment
on how you would like to see these lands managed for the next 20 years.
The scoping comment period is open from May 2 to June 2, 2022.
To submit a comment or for more information, visit the Walla Walla District
website at: https://www.nww.usace.army.mil. You may also mail comments
to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District, ATTN: McNary Master
Plan, 201 N. 3rd Ave., Walla Walla, WA 99362-1876, or email comments or
questions directly to McNaryMP@usace.army.mil.
Meeting 1
Date:
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Time:
Open House 4-7 p.m.
Presentation 5 p.m. & 6 p.m.
Location: Red Lion Inn Columbia Ctr.
1101 N. Columbia Center Blvd.
Kennewick, WA 99328
Meeting 2
Date:
Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Time:
Open House 4-7 p.m.
Presentation 5 p.m. & 6 p.m.
Location: McNary Lock & Dam Visitor Ctr.
82790 Devore Road
Umatilla, OR 97882
A3
Good Shepherd
Outreach & Events
May is Older American's Month
Good Shepherd’s Community Health & Outreach
offers free health screenings for community
members of all ages!
Healthy Cooking on a Budget
Second Tuesday of the month (May 10, 2022)
Walk with Ease
May 23 – July 1, M/W/F
GOOD SHEPHERD
COMMUNITY HEALTH & OUTREACH
541-667-3509 | healthinfo@gshealth.org