100 years ago — 1922

The Umatilla county women who have been picked to serve as jurors during the April term of court are sticking to their first decision not to serve, as expressed to newspapers when the venire was drawn, is what the sheriff’s office is finding. A dozen of the 19 women drawn have balked when it comes to the duty of jury service, and Deputy Sheriff Jake Marin is getting cold feet about the chances of securing women to serve on such cases as the recent law says they must help decide. “It looks to me as if we will have to draw one venire after another at this rate,” Sheriff Houser declared this morning.

50 years ago — 1972

A call was issued today for volunteers to clear debris at Three-Mile Dam on the Umatilla River. The debris is blocking steelhead passage. Three-Mile Dam is located along the old highway between Hermiston and Umatilla. Wayne MacAskill, Pendleton, alerted the game commission to the problem. Debris carried into the dam area by high waters has formed a pool that has confused the migrating steelhead. Instead of using the fish ladder on the west bank of the river, they have been attempting to leap the dam — and falling back. MacAskill said he saw as many as three steelhead in the air at a time as they engaged in the fruitless attempts to head upstream. Mike Golden, Pendleton district fishery biologist for the game commission, said it is important that the debris be cleared away immediately before another surge of high water makes the problem worse.

25 years ago — 1997

While police officials from some of the county’s east-end communities say their towns have little or no gang activity, Milton-Freewater freely admits it has a problem with gangs. “They’re growing rapidly,” said Milton-Freewater Police Officer Michelle Neissl. Juvenile crime in Milton-Freewater has almost doubled in the past three years. While much of the activity involves graffiti and car thefts, “we’ve had a couple of drive-bys (shootings) and assaults,” she said. Neissl recognizes close to 100 gang members, associated with four sects of gangs, ranging in age from 11 to 25. The younger ones do the shooting and carry the guns because they won’t be charged as severely as older gang members, she explained. Gang activity also includes violence from a rivalry between a local gang and one in Walla Walla, 10 miles away. The Walla Walla and Milton-Freewater police departments have developed a cooperative relationship to deal with the problems caused by proximity and gang rivalry. Neissl also hopes to combat gang influence with the Gang Resistance Education And Training (G.R.E.A.T.), which she will teach to students, and she has scheduled meetings and training with parents. In the meantime, Neissl hopes to see community support continue to increase for gang prevention efforts.