LOCAL
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2019
THE OBSERVER — 5A
Big air at the skate park
SESSION
RALLY
Continued from Page 1A
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for working to get a special
session organized.
An Aug. 15 letter from
the Oregon District At-
torney’s Association urged
Prozanski and Rep. Jennifer
Williamson, D-Portland, to
call a special session after
the DOJ declared the bill
retroactive.
“This law is a failure on
multiple levels — a failure
to respect the will of voters,
a failure to draft a clear law
for Oregon’s most dangerous
criminals, and a failure of
trust by telling voters it is
not retroactive
when the oppo-
site is true,” the
letter said.
The ODAA
also suggested
Smith
that six of the
current 31
death row inmates in Or-
egon would be considered for
aggravated murder prosecu-
tion under the new law.
Prozanski and Hansell
both expressed concern over
the families of victims who
might be affected by the
retroactivity.
Hansell said there was
widespread bipartisan sup-
port in the Senate to hold
the session, and that he
thought there was support
among both parties in the
House as well.
“It doesn’t take a rocket
scientist to fi x this, but there
were people who were un-
willing. I thought there was
support on the House side.
I don’t know if the governor
was dodging it,” he said.
Prozanski agreed that
Senate was ready to make
the quick change in a special
session on Sept. 27, two days
before the bill is set to go into
effect. But he didn’t think it
was Brown’s fault that the
session never happened.
“The Senate, as far as
I’m concerned, stepped up
to the issue that needed to
be taken care of,” Prozanski
said. “From my perspective,
the reason it couldn’t go
forward because the House
was playing politics.”
Prozanski said he thought
Monday’s republican leader-
ship shakeup, which re-
sulted in the election of Rep.
Christine Drazan, R-Canby,
as minority leader, was the
reason the House couldn’t
convince Brown there was
enough support to hold quick
and easy special session.
“We tried and we just
weren’t able to convince her
and her caucus to say yes,”
Prozanski said of Drazan.
“I personally encouraged
Brown to bring us in any-
way. I can also understand
that when you call a special
session, there are some
things that can happen.”
Rep. Greg Smith, R-
Heppner, said he didn’t
think a special session was
necessarily on the table in
the fi rst place, although he
would have liked to see the
bill amended.
“We heard rumors about
the special session, but I
never heard from leadership
that it was a go,” he said.
Smith said he thinks vot-
ers will petition to overhaul
the legislation. Hansell said
he is hopeful, but hasn’t
heard any evidence that this
will happen.
“There’s always that op-
tion. There’s been no effort
because everyone assumed
that legislature can fi x it.
Now that we’re not moving
in that direction, I would
think there’s certainly a pos-
sibility,” Hansell said.
fi ghting and dying to
defend it. For the future
generations who will defend
it,” Anchors said. “It is our
responsibility not to live in
apathy with the assumption
that the laws and the Con-
stitution work for us while
we sit idly by. But, that we
keep democracy alive with
our own ability in defending
our nation’s path to a more
perfect union.”
Anchors urged elected
offi cials to come forward and
listen to the people.
“We are demanding it now.
We are demanding that our
public offi cials not hide from
us, (that they do not) only
select a certain few of their
constituents that they would
prefer to represent but not
others. We demand that our
public offi cials defend our de-
mocracy and not contribute
to breaking it down,” Anchors
said.
Bill Whitaker of La
Grande, a member of the
Union County Progressives,
spoke at the rally of the need
to get “dark money” out of
politics. Dark money is a
term used to describe politi-
cal spending by groups whose
own donors are allowed to
remain hidden because of
loopholes in disclosure laws.
“(The donors of dark
money) are very rich people
who hide contributions so
money cannot be traced to
them,” Whitaker said.
He said dark money is put-
ting our nation at risk.
“Dark money is a real
threat to democracy,” Whita-
ker said. “It is not acceptable.
We have to get rid of it if we
are to defend democracy. It is
absolutely essential that we
do this.”
Whitaker also took on
Trump, criticizing him for
continuing to try to dis-
mantle the Affordable Care
Act, which allows millions of
Americans to have affordable
health insurance.
“What Trump is doing is
just terrible,” Whitaker said.
Nora Croucher of La
Grande also spoke at the
rally. Coucher said that it
is the responsibility of the
people of the United States to
take steps to get the country
moving in a better direction.
She said it would not be wise
to wait for our elected leaders
to take action.
“The leaders are our-
selves,” Croucher said.
A number of messages
were posted on the door
outside of Walden’s offi ce at
the rally. One was a “Ban
Assault Weapons” sign
put up by Anchors. When
discussing her support of
the proposed ban before
the rally, Anchors said that
people have to put their
fears aside if they want to
make a difference in curbing
gun violence in America.
“If we are to do our part to
save lives in the future, we
cannot be afraid,” Anchors
said.
Sabrina Thompson / The Observer
La Grande Parks and Recreation
hosted its annual Skateboard
Tournament Saturday. Though no
skateboarders competed, 11 BMX
and scooter riders showed off
their skills with tricks in intermedi-
ate and advanced divisions.
TOP PHOTO: Zachary Swartout
took fourth place in the BMX inter-
mediate division.
RIGHT: Colton Fender took fourth
place in the Scooter Advanced
division
BOTTOM: Ethan Johnson won
fi rst place in the BMX advanced
division after landing a tailwhip
during his fi nal run.
Sabrina Thompson / The Observer
Sabrina Thompson / The Observer
STRIKE
Continued from Page 1A
senior citizens — were also there
to hear him and La Grande Mayor
Steve Clements speak about the
effect that climate change is having.
DuVernay also read aloud a letter
written by Senator Merkley. Once
they walked to the County Clerks
offi ce on 4th Street, DuVernay spoke
again about the importance of mak-
ing a change, and then opened the
MERA
Continued from Page 1A
about the event.
MERA MTB Day was
also a great way to show-
case the recent award
given to Union County for
MERA’s multi-use trails by
the Coalition for Recre-
ational Trails.
“The award is for excel-
lent use of funds through
the Recreational Trails
Program and managing a
shared corridor of multi-
use,” Sean Chambers,
Union County Parks and
MERA coordinator, said.
“That is speaking to our
motorized facing and non
motorized facing usage.
Another layer is how well
the bikers and equestrians
and hikers come together
within that.”
The RTP provides funds
to the States to develop and
mic to anyone who wanted to talk
about the issue.
DuVernay wore a fl ag with the
Earth on it as a cape during the
march. He said he thought it would
be nice for people to see while they
walked. He said it was given to him
by Fuji Kreider, who DuVernay said
was very helpful during this process.
According to the Climate Strike
website, protests took place in 150
countries across the globe, with some
gatherings having turnouts of more
maintain recreational trails
for both non motorized and
motorized trail use, accord-
ing to the Federal Highway
Administration website.
The trails on MERA are
not segregated by usage,
something Chambers said
is intended to give all recre-
ationists equal access.
“Everyone is getting
along really well and
the sharing is a success,”
Chambers said.
Chambers went to
Washington, D.C., in June
to accept the award on the
county’s behalf. He was also
at Saturday’s event with
his family, which was fi tting
because his two young chil-
dren — who are beginners
than 100,000 people. While DuVer-
nay’s protest wasn’t as grand in scale,
he was still proud of the work he did
in informing the community about
the importance of demanding urgent
action on climate change.
According to an NPR article,”
Millions of people raised their voices
at protests around the world Friday in
a massive display meant to demand
urgent action on climate change.”
“I would call the event a success,”
the student activist said.
— often bike alongside him
on MERA’s trails.
Chambers said an event
like the MERA MTB Day
encourages riders of all
ages and abilities to take
the opportunity to see what
MERA has to offer.
“We all start somewhere,”
Chambers said. “The earlier
in life you start (mountain
biking), the more likely you
will be to make that a part
of your daily living.”
The Blue Mountains
Singletrack Trails Club is a
nonprofi t organization that
works to create and main-
tain trails in Northeast
Oregon. One aim of Satur-
day’s MERA event was to
recruit new members and
fundraise by selling T-shirts
and shuttle passes.
“(The club) was a way to
organize our efforts as we
try to develop trails and
have a sense of group work
and group think so that
everyone appreciates what
we’ve got up here,” Mosinan
said.
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