Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current, November 02, 2016, Page A14, Image 14

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    A14
News/Sports
wallowa.com
STATE
Continued from Page A11
“Every girl knew they had
a job to do, who they had to
go after,” Moody said. “Ev-
eryone did what they had to
do to a T. They know they
have to do the same thing at
ROUNDUP
Continued from Page A11
The Outlaws led nearly ev-
ery offensive category other
than rushing yards and com-
piled 315 yards of offense to
Imbler’s 307.
Defensively, Bales led with
six solo tackles, including a
sack and four assists. Senior
Matt McTee had six solo tack-
les, while Walker racked up
EAGLES
Continued from Page A11
Sykora recorded four kills
and a team-high seven blocks.
Senior Ally Cooney added
five kills and seven digs. Tori
Suto led the team in digs with
eight.
TRIAL
Continued from Page A1
And supporters of other
movements — #BlackLives-
Matter and #NoDAPL to
name two — wondered aloud
about the meaning of justice.
But 41 days and eight
months later, the leaders of the
armed occupation in eastern
Oregon were found not guilty
by a jury of peers.
Still, questions remain:
How did it happen? And what
happens next?
The Charges
Ammon Bundy, Ryan
Bundy and five others were
charged with conspiracy to
impede federal employees
from doing their jobs by force,
threat or intimidation.
“It’s a favorite charge of
prosecutors,” said Portland
defense attorney Kevin Sali
before the trial began. “When
people are involved in a con-
spiracy they can be liable …
for things their co-conspira-
tors did.”
The Bundys, Fry, Banta
and Cox also faced weapons
charges. (Prosecutors dropped
those against Cox.) Ryan
Bundy and Kenneth Meden-
bach were also charged with
theft of government property.
Internet radio show host Pete
Santilli also faced a conspir-
acy charge but it was later
dropped.
The jury found the defen-
dants not guilty on all but one
charge. They failed to reach
consensus on Ryan Bundy’s
theft charge stemming from
the removal of government
surveillance cameras at the
refuge.
In light of the verdict, ques-
tions swirled about whether
the prosecution brought the
proper charges.
Williams, the U.S. Attor-
ney for Oregon, said prosecu-
tors could have brought crim-
inal trespass charges and tried
the occupiers in state court.
But misdemeanor trespassing
didn’t seem to pass for mus-
ter — prosecutors wanted to
bring felonies.
“If there had been some
other federal statute that spe-
cifically addresses the con-
duct, we would have consid-
ered using it,” Williams said
in an interview with OPB’s
Amelia Templeton. “We have
and still believe we brought
the most applicable and ap-
propriate charges under the
evidence, which is our duty.”
The Prosecution
Some described the pros-
ecution’s case as a “slam
dunk.” In basketball, a slam
dunk is a show of force.
Mike Arnold, Ammon
Bundy’s previous attorney,
told OPB’s Anna Griffin he
thinks the prosecution brought
felony charges to make a pow-
erful statement with “serious
prison time.”
“Their goal is to prevent
any sort of activity like this in
the future from the actual de-
fendants themselves and other
like-minded folks,” Arnold
said.
Prosecutors
brought
mounds of evidence to the
state next weekend.”
The boys also fared
well, placing third with 128
points behind Nyssa’s 58 and
Union’s 41. There were 11
boys teams competing.
Tops among the boys
were Jacob Evarts (18:16.3)
at 17th, Brycen Locke
(18:16.3), 18th, and James
Madsen (18.40.6) at 25th. All
three posted personal bests.
Despite the great times,
no boys from Wallowa
County qualified for the state
meet.
“Our boys really stepped
up,” Moody said. “I’m so
proud of them. They knew
they had to run their best, and
they did.”
Moody said he’s im-
pressed and pleased to see his
runners peaking at just the
right time of the season.
“It really comes down to
the kids and how hard they
worked. They knew it would
pay off in the long run, and
they proved it on Friday.”
five solo tackles and an assist.
“We were down five players
from the start of the year due
to injuries,” Rowley said. “A
bunch of those kids stepped up
and played awesome. I thought
it was a really good game.”
The Outlaws compiled an
0-3 league record and were 1-6
overall.
Despite the record, Rowley
said his team made strides for-
ward this year.
”The kids made big im-
provements over last year, and
I think a lot of people can see
that. We scored more points in
our first three games than in all
of last year. ... To be honest, we
just had a pretty good group of
kids. I give them all the credit
and always will.”
Eagles bow out
Joseph traveled to Adrian
for a league playoff game Fri-
day night and came up short in
a 40-36 loss to the Antelopes.
“We had the ball twice with
four minutes remaining, and we
just couldn’t keep our drives
going,” Joseph head coach
Toby Koehn told The La Grand
Observer.
Joseph trailed 34-28 at half-
time and neither team managed
a score in the fourth quarter.
Senior running back Cayden
DeLury rushed for 349 yards
and three touchdowns, and
Logan Welch added 71 yards
and two scores.
“We’re hitting good right
now,” Coach Hite said.
“They’re very focused on
what they want to do.”
With the win, the Eagles
earned a Saturday road game
at Crane, the No. 1 seed out
of the High Desert League, in
the second round of the state
tournament. Going into the
match, the Mustangs had won
their previous 11 matches and
lost just two sets during that
span.
The Mustangs maintained
their momentum and elimi-
nated the Eagles in three sets:
25-16, 25-19, 26-16. Individ-
ual stats for the match were
not provided.
The Eagles finished with
an overall record of 21-7 and
went 11-3 in regular-season
league play.
Powder Valley, the top
seed out of the Old Oregon
League, also lost Saturday.
The Badgers were upset by
Adrian in four sets: 25-27, 25-
20, 25-22, 25-21.
table — sometimes literally,
like when they brought a large
display of firearms and am-
munition into the courtroom.
And rarely did defendants
dispute the facts of the case.
They admitted to illegally
taking over a federal facility,
even to bringing their arms.
“It didn’t bother me to be
arrested because I’m where I
want to be right now,” Meden-
bach said on the stand. “Like
the Bundys, I’ve been called
by a higher power ... we all
know this is what God called
us to do.”
But prosecutors missed
the dunk. And just like in bas-
ketball, a missed dunk in the
courtroom can be humiliating.
Juror No. 4 — who ear-
lier sparked a fellow juror’s
dismissal by questioning his
impartiality — wrote the Or-
egonian/OregonLive saying
the prosecution came off as
arrogant in its case.
“The air of triumphalism
that the prosecution brought
was not lost on any of us,” the
juror wrote.
The prosecution moved
through its case quickly. Pros-
ecutors rested after 13 days.
They cross-examined Ammon
Bundy for just 15 minutes.
Their closing argument lasted
less than two hours.
Williams admitted the
hurry with which prosecutors
prepared their case may have
hurt it. He called the legal
timeline “extraordinary.”
The prosecution focused
heavily on the occupiers’ in-
tent behind the refuge take-
over. But the jury ultimately
determined the prosecution
failed to prove impeding fed-
eral employees was the occu-
piers’ goal — even if the oc-
cupation actually did impede
employees.
Bundy’s attorney, told the
jury. “Our trust is in you.”
white.
“Forty-one days at a com-
pound on federal land,” Rai-
ford said, pointing to weapons
at the refuge, occupiers’ refus-
al to leave, and threats made
by occupiers against the FBI.
“The difference is we
would have been murdered,”
Raiford said.
Jarvis Kennedy, of the
Burns, Oregon, Paiute tribe
told OPB’s Amanda Peacher
he was angry with the verdict.
Kennedy and the Paiute tribe
have been vocal opponents of
the Malheur occupation from
the start. However, Kennedy
added he was now more moti-
vated to fight for Native lands
and rights.
Don’t Shoot PDX eventu-
ally marched past the occu-
pation supporters’ barbecue
Friday, where they staged a
die-in near the courthouse
steps and burned an American
flag.
After a brief shouting
match, Bundy supporters
went back to the grill and
Don’t Shoot PDX continued
to City Hall.
The Defense
Matt Schindler, Meden-
bach’s hybrid counsel, deliv-
ered a thunderous closing ar-
gument on Oct. 19.
The charge all seven oc-
cupiers faced was conspiracy
to impede federal employ-
ees from doing their jobs by
threat, force or intimidation.
“I just sat through five
weeks of a trial about threat-
ening federal employees with-
out hearing a single threat,”
Schindler said in his closing
argument.
The defense tried to make
its case bigger than the Bureau
of Land Management and U.S.
Fish and Wildlife employees
in Harney County.
Five defendants ended up
taking the stand, speaking at
length about the U.S. Consti-
tution, land management, di-
vinity, and the 2014 standoff
in Bunkerville, Nevada. Ryan
Bundy questioned his wife on
the stand. David Fry giggled
when prosecutors asked him
about using government com-
puters. Medenbach reveled in
the glory of public testimony
after decades of protesting the
federal government.
In their closing arguments,
defense attorneys attempted to
instill into the jurors a sense of
political responsibility.
“We’re counting on you to
stop government overreach,”
Marcus Mumford, Ammon
The Verdict
Defense attorneys ex-
pressed shock at the verdict;
even they did not expect such
a result. It came despite scru-
tiny from U.S. District Court
Judge Anna Brown and prose-
cutors for lack of organization.
Defendants and their sup-
porters erupted into tearful
celebration outside the fed-
eral courthouse in downtown
Portland (and streamed it live
online, just like much of the
occupation).
“We came to Oregon —
to Harney County — seek-
ing justice,” defendant Neil
Wampler said after his acquit-
tal, “and today we found it.”
But despite defendants’
and supporters’ cries of vic-
tory, Juror No. 4 wrote in his
letter to the Oregonian that the
verdict was not an endorse-
ment of the occupiers’ politi-
cal beliefs.
“It should be known that all
12 jurors felt that this verdict
was a statement regarding the
various failures of the prose-
cution to prove ‘conspiracy’
in the count itself — and not
any form of affirmation of the
defense’s various beliefs, ac-
tions or aspirations,” the juror
wrote.
The Celebration
The mood was jubilant
among occupiers and their
supporters, who grilled,
milled and posed for cameras
in downtown Portland on the
Friday following the verdict.
Many people have said
they fear the verdict will em-
bolden defendants and their
supporters. Cox and Fry both
said they would participate
in protests like the Oregon
Standoff again.
“If I have a compelling
urge to come out here to join
a protest, if I think it’s a legiti-
mate reason to come, I’ll abso-
lutely protest,” Fry told OPB.
The reaction was different
just a few blocks away.
Don’t Shoot PDX, a Port-
land activist group support-
ive of the Black Lives Matter
movement, was holding what
was supposed to be a rally, un-
related to the trial, at Portland
State University.
“I don’t know how I can
keep telling people to protest,”
lead organizer Teressa Rai-
ford told the crowd. Raiford
seemed exhausted.
The occupiers’ acquittal
came the same day more than
100 protesters in North Dako-
ta were forcibly removed from
the construction site of the
Dakota Access Pipeline and
arrested. It came weeks after
Don’t Shoot PDX protesters
were pushed out of City Hall
and pepper-sprayed by Port-
land police.
Raiford expressed anger at
having to discuss the Malheur
trial verdict. She and count-
less others on social media
highlighted what many see as
a double-standard in how law
enforcement and the justice
system punish people of color.
With the exception of David
Fry, defendants in the occu-
pation case were all white.
All jury members were also
The Implication
Ammon and Ryan Bundy
are still in federal custody,
despite an animated effort by
Marcus Mumford to win his
client’s release upon receiving
the verdict.
After arguing with Judge
Brown for Ammon Bundy to
be let go, Mumford was tack-
led by U.S. Marshals, alleged-
ly tased, briefly detained and
later released.
The Bundy brothers still
face charges for the 2014
standoff in Bunkerville led by
their father, Cliven Bundy.
Seven Oregon occupiers
still await trial in February,
though the status of those pro-
ceedings could be in limbo.
Shawna Cox called Thurs-
day’s outcome “just one
win” in a larger movement to
change how the federal gov-
ernment manages land in the
American West.
U.S. Attorney Billy Wil-
liams seemed to hope more
people would shun the Bund-
ys’ form of protest.
“There are a good num-
ber of folks in rural America
who are of the mind that you
don’t take arms and take over
a federal facility to prove your
point,” Williams said.
The Oregon verdict will
certainly color the conversa-
tion around the impending tri-
al in Nevada. The result there
— where the penalties for al-
leged crimes are slightly more
harsh than Oregon — has the
potential to make even bigger
waves in the so-called patriot
movement.
But occupiers and their
supporters cooking out in
downtown Portland took heart
in the Oregon verdict and en-
visioned a long fight ahead of
them on behalf of rural Amer-
icans.
Under downtown shade-
trees, defendant Jeff Banta
approached supporter David
Zion Brugger, who decorated
his hat and shirt with “NOT
GUILTY” buttons, and shook
his hand.
In a hushed voice, Banta
said, “See you down the road.”
November 2, 2016
Wallowa County Chieftain
LEGAL NOTICE
NOTICE TO INTERESTED PERSONS
Erl H. McLaughlin has been appointed Personal Representative
of the Estate of MARY ANN McLAUGHLIN, Deceased, Probate
Case No. 16PB07034, Wallowa County Circuit Court, State of
Oregon. All persons whose rights may be affected by the
proceedings may obtain additional information from the records
of the Court, the Personal Representative or the Attorney for the
Personal Representative. All persons having claims against the
estate must present them to the Personal Representative at:
Alyssa D. Slater, P.C.
Alyssa D. Slater, Attorney for Personal Representative
107 Depot Street – P.O. Box 729
La Grande, Oregon 97850
(541) 663-8300
(541) 663-8298 Fax
within four months after the first publication date of this notice or
they may be barred.
Dated and first published October 26, 2016.
LEGAL NOTICE
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE STATE OF OREGON
FOR THE COUNTY OF WALLOWA
In the Mstter of the Estste of
RODNEY T. ENCE, Decessed.
Csse No.: 16PB07045
NOTICE TO INTERESTED PERSONS
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Chase Taylor Ence has been
appointed personal representative of the above entitled estate.
All persons having claims against the estate are required to
present them, with vouchers attached, to the personal represen-
tative at 301 West Garfield, Enterprise, OR 97828 or to the
personal representative's attorney, Rebecca J. Knapp, at PO Box
236, Enterprise, OR 97828, within four months after the date of
first publication of this notice, or the claims may be barred.
All persons whose rights may be affected by the proceedings
may obtain additional information from the records of the Court,
the personal representative, or the lawyer for the personal
representative.
Dated and first published on November 2, 2016.
Rebecca J. Knapp, OSB #012754
Attorney for Personal Representative
LEGAL NOTICE
PUBLIC NOTICE
The Troy School Board will meet for their Regular Meeting on
Tuesday, November 8, 2016 at 4:00 pm at the Troy School
House. A copy of the agenda may be seen at the Wallowa
Education Service District administrative office at 107 SW First
Street #105 in Enterprise.
LEGAL NOTICE
PUBLIC NOTICE
Notice is hereby given of a public hearing to be held by the
Wallowa County Planning Commission on Tuesday, November
29th at 7:00 p.m. in the Thornton Conference room of the
Wallowa County Courthouse. The agenda for this meeting will
include, but is not limited to, the following items:
Rails & Trails AMD#16-01 –To allow the placement of a non-
motorized trail in the Wallowa Union Railroad right-of-way
(Joseph to Enterprise section), update the County’s
Transportation System Plan and adopt the Joseph Branch Rail-
with-trail concept plan and other related documents. The
provisions which govern this review are Goal 12 of the Wallowa
County Comprehensive Land Use Plan and any other applicable
goal, regulation or ordinance of Wallowa County or the State of
Oregon.
Minutes: For the Planning Commission meeting of October 25,
2016.
The December Planning Commission meeting is scheduled for
December 27, 2016.
This matter will be reviewed for conformance to the WCCLUP
and the WCLDO and any other applicable goal, regulation or
ordinance of Wallowa County or the State of Oregon. All
applications and draft staff reports may be reviewed in the
Planning Department Monday – Friday from 8:30am – 5:00pm.
Written comments must be received by the Wallowa County
Planning Department -101 S. River St. Room B-1, Enterprise,
OR 97828 - by 5 p.m. on Monday, November 28, 2016. Oral
comments may be given at the time of the hearing which is open
to the public. Those interested in attending are encouraged to
do so.
Ramona Phillips, Chairman
Wallowa County Planning Commission
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