NEWS
BlueMountainEagle.com
Couple
Continued from Page A1
after the fi re that cadaver
dogs had searched the debris
from the house fi re and
found no human remains.
Several weeks later, Palmer
said the FBI and state police
were assisting in the investi-
gation. The case was labeled
a homicide investigation on
Sept. 5 after evidence found
at the site was confi rmed to
be of human origin.
The Smiths bought the
80- to 100-acre property
on Nan’s Rock Road in the
mid-1990s, Sharon’s sis-
ter Cathy Hinshaw told the
Eagle. Hinshaw, who lives
in Hawaii, said she spoke
to Sharon the evening of the
fi re, and Sharon had said
they were heading to bed.
Contributed photo
The cabin owned by Terry and Sharon Smith on Nan’s
Rock Road burned July 17-18 and the case was later
declared a homicide.
Hinshaw said she spoke to
her sister sometimes two to
three times a day.
A man who watched the
Smiths’ property when they
were in Hawaii or other
locations had traveled to
Idaho for his wife’s medical
appointment and was return-
ing the next day, Hinshaw
said. The Smiths planned
to clean up the caretaker’s
house the next day before he
returned.
Hinshaw
said
she
received a call at about
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
4 a.m. from a friend of Sha-
ron’s who lived near Nan’s
Rock Road and learned
about the fi re. She later told
the Eagle that she suspected
the couple were dead from
the very beginning, despite
offi cial law enforcement
reports.
Terry and Sharon Smith
fi rst met in junior high
school in Springfi eld when
he was 13 and she was 12.
Terry was a “go-getter” at
that age, Hinshaw recalled.
He found a job as a bus boy
at a restaurant in a large
hotel in Eugene and worked
his way up to assistant man-
ager within a month.
Sharon was a cheerleader
in high school but left with
Terry before graduating after
he was hired to help man-
age a hotel at Seattle-Ta-
coma International Airport
in Washington.
Later, the Smiths returned
to Oregon to operate two
trading posts or second-hand
stores and then two restau-
rants. They later followed
Hinshaw to Hawaii, where
Terry made numerous real
estate investments over the
years.
The couple also started
a clothing business in Bali,
designing and manufactur-
ing clothing they later sold
in Birch Bay and the San
Juan Islands in Washington.
The Smiths never had
children but always kept
busy and were a happy cou-
ple, Hinshaw said. Terry
kept an eye on his numer-
ous business interests and
was an active hunter and
fi sherman. Sharon reuphol-
stered furniture and worked
in senior homes and hospice.
Hinshaw recalled the
Smiths serving food at home-
A3
less shelters on Thanksgiv-
ing and Christmas. She said
Terry would “give you the
shirt off his back.”
Sheriff
Palmer
announced two major break-
throughs in the case on Oct.
24. First, the missing pickup
truck had been found by
police in Boise, Idaho. Sec-
ond, the Oregon State Med-
ical Examiner had tested
DNA from human tissue dis-
covered at the burned cabin
and found it conclusively
matched Terry Smith’s
DNA.
The
Grant
County
Sheriff’s Offi ce has not
announced if any human
remains matched DNA
from Sharon Smith, and the
investigation continues with
assistance from the FBI,
Oregon State Police, Boise
Police and the Hilo Police in
Hawaii.
Site
Continued from Page A1
Zhongzhen has encour-
aged every travel agency
in China to promote visits
to Kam Wah Chung.
Two months later, a
film crew from Beach
House Productions of Sin-
gapore came to John Day
to work on a documentary
for the American version
of Discovery Channel.
Brand and Beth Howlett,
from the Oregon College
of Oriental Medicine in
Portland, were presenters
in the video.
The Kam Wah Chung
site had been featured on
Oregon Public Broadcast-
ing in 2009, but Merritt
anticipated a significant
boost in tourism as a result
of the documentaries and
promotions in China.
To accommodate bus-
loads of tourists at the
small and fragile historic
site, the Oregon Depart-
ment of Parks and Rec-
reation plans to build a
new interpretive center
that will be larger and fea-
ture sophisticated lifelike
exhibits.
The state’s plan for the
site includes acquiring
city-owned park land adja-
cent to the state heritage
site — including Gleason
Pool. John Day officials
welcomed the state’s pro-
posal as a way to boost
economic development,
but the state’s plans set
Eagle fi le photos
A cameraman from Yiping Media Group fi lms Professor Zhao Zhongzhen from the
School of Chinese Medicine in Hong Kong at the historic Kam Wah Chung store in
John Day on Aug. 1.
in motion a number of
actions by the city.
The city announced in
July plans to hire consul-
tants to look at options
for replacing Gleason
Pool. The city expected
to receive about $1 mil-
lion from the state for
the city park land, which
would help pay for a new
pool. On Sept. 11, the John
Day Planning Commission
took a first look at rezon-
ing the city and state park
land at Kam Wah Chung.
Meanwhile, the Grant
County Chamber of Com-
merce helped establish
a sister-city relationship
with Ha-Pen, a village
in Sijiuzhen where Ing
“Doc” Hay and Lung On,
owners of the Kam Wah
Chung business, lived
before coming to the U.S.
Former chamber president
Jerry Franklin led an effort
to construct a new sign on
Main Street for the historic
site featuring Chinese-style
tigers and dragons.
Merritt reported that
8,851 visitors came to the
site in 2018, slightly down
from 2017, which was bol-
stered by the eclipse. For
the first time, the interpre-
tive center took reserva-
tions for tours this year.
Merritt said guides con-
ducted 16-20 visitors per
hour through the small
store, and some visitors
were turned away.
Merritt also said he
fields numerous requests
from researchers inter-
ested in the site. A 10-year
project to scan about
20,000 documents discov-
ered in the store has been
completed — three years
ahead of schedule, he said.
Outside the store and
interpretive center, Chel-
sea Rose, an archaeologist
from the Southern Oregon
University Laboratory of
Anthropology, who con-
ducts digs at Chinese min-
ing sites in the Malheur
National Forest, led a crew
in early October that used
ground-penetrating radar
to look for buried artifacts.
The Portland Lee’s Association Dragon & Lion
Dance Team performed during a celebratory dinner
recognizing the 140th anniversary of the Kam Wah
Chung business in John Day.
Left to right, Eric Brand, a consultant on Chinese herbal
medicine, and Beth Howlett, director of communications
at the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine in Portland,
discuss their roles during production of the Discovery
Channel Asia fi lm about the Kam Wah Chung Co. in John
Day.
A man wakes up in
the morning after
sleeping on an
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in ADVERTISED
PAJAMAS.
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a Member Services Representative in Burns,
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Visit any OTEC office for an application or
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an equal opportunity employer. Rate of pay:
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He will bathe in an ADVERTISED TUB, shave with an ADVERTISED RAZOR,
have a breakfast of ADVERTISED JUICE, cereal and toast, toasted in an
ADVERTISED TOASTER, put on ADVERTISED CLOTHES and glance at his
ADVERTISED WATCH. He’ll ride to work in his ADVERTISED CAR, sit at an
ADVERTISED DESK and write with an ADVERTISED PEN. Yet this person
hesitates to advertise, saying that advertising doesn’t pay. Finally, when his
non-advertised business is going under, HE’LL ADVERTISE IT FOR SALE.
Then it’s too late.
Blue Mountain Eagle
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Intermountain Law, PC
Welcomes Sean M. Jorgensen & Kimberley M. Mosier
Attorneys at Law
Sean has joined our firm effective November 06, 2017.
He is licensed in Idaho and Oregon has been practicing law since 2016.
His practice will focus on Civil Litigation, Construction Law, Family
Law, Labor and Employment, and Landlord-Tenant Law.
We appreciate your business & support.
Kim has joined our firm effective September 17, 2018.
She is licensed in Oregon and began practicing law in 2003.
Her practice will focus on Estate Planning and Municipal Advising.
Intermountain Law, PC
David R. Auxier ~ Andrew G. Martin
Martin Leuenberger ~ Krischele Whitnah ~ Sean M. Jorgensen ~
Kimberley M. Mosier
3370 10 th Street, Suite H, Baker City, Oregon 97814 (541) 523-6535
1513 North Whitley Drive, Fruitland, Idaho 83619 (208) 452-6535
Babette Larson,
Broker, GRI
Office: 541-987-2363
ddwr@ortelco.net
Lori Hickerson,
Principal Broker, GRI
Office: 541-575-2617
ljh@ortelco.net
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Broker, GRI
Office: 541-932-4493
sknowles@ortelco.net
www.dukewarnerrealtyofeasternoregon.com
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