The Observer., October 14, 2019, Page 5, Image 5

LOCAL
MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 20190
THE OBSERVER — 5A
PROGRAMS
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advantages, all the impacts that athlet-
ics like baseball have on athletes,” Insko
said.
And Fetz wasn’t the only one.
Union County Commissioner Matt
Scarfo — himself a former Eastern
Oregon baseball player — was at the
breakfast and announcement Saturday,
and he told The Observer he has been
making a case for baseball’s return for
years.
“Baseball literally brought me here
from Phoenix, Arizona,” said Scarfo,
who played in the mid-1990s. “I came
here to play baseball, and look where I
am now. I thank Eastern and Eastern’s
baseball (program) for giving me the op-
portunity. It made me who I am today.
“I kept going, ‘What’s taking so long
on baseball?’ I’ve been really pushing it.
Really glad. Really excited about this.”
In the “State of the University” ad-
dress given by Insko — during which
he announced the additions — the
president described the university as
being in solid financial shape. He said
he had to tell Fetz no on several prior
occasions because “we weren’t in a posi-
tion to do it.”
Along with the improved financial
status, Eastern also received a major
financial boost in its efforts to add base-
ball and lacrosse.
“We were able to get an enhanced
allocation in what’s called sports lottery
funding,” Insko said. “Sports lottery
funding in the state of Oregon goes
to the public institutions to support
what they call non-revenue-generating
sports.”
Insko said the university was able
to get the additional funding through
advocating to state legislators, includ-
ing Rep. Cliff Bentz, Rep. Greg Baretto,
Sen. Bill Hansell and Gov. Kate Brown,
to name a few.
Insko told The Observer following
the announcement that EOU received
$760,000 in funds from the state.
The one-time investment, he said,
will offset the startup costs of the two
sports. Insko anticipates that EOU will
be able to bring on 40-45 student-ath-
letes for the two sports by the beginning
of the 2020-21 school year, and 20-25
more the following year.
Insko told The Observer that EOU
“analyzed more than just two sports”
but decided at this time baseball and
lacrosse are the best decision.
“We looked at the potential for more,
and ultimately what came out was these
were the two that made the most sense
financially, as well in terms of connection
with the community or, in the case of
lacrosse, potential for something exciting
and new in the community.”
Weissenfluh added that the univer-
sity will keep analyzing options to add
other sports.
“We’ll continue to look at sports and
how to grow and be able to provide
opportunities. It made sense for us to
add lacrosse right now,” she told The Ob-
server, noting that Eastern isn’t the only
school in the Cascade Collegiate Confer-
ence considering bringing the sport on.
“A lot of schools are looking to add it.”
Community excited for return
Community support for baseball
is something La Grande High School
baseball head coach Parker McKinley
has seen firsthand. The coach told The
Observer he’s excited about the reality
of EOU reinstating the program.
STATION
Continued from Page 1A
would be superior to the previ-
ous one on Willow Street also
because it is only a block or
two from important services.
These include Cook Memo-
rial Library where people can
search for and apply for jobs
via computers, a Northeast
Oregon Public Transit bus
stop and medical offices.
The new UC Warming
Station, if no appeal is filed,
would likely open next
month.
“(Nov. 15) is our goal,”
Smith said.
The shelter would remain
open through the winter.
Dick Mason/The Observer
Observer file photo
The Eastern Oregon University baseball team is shown during its final
homestand in May 2006 before the sport was cut. The university announced
Saturday it will bring baseball back after the 13-year hiatus. EOU will also
add women’s lacrosse.
Ronald Bond/The Observer
Eastern Oregon University President
Tom Insko speaks during a an-
nouncement of the school bringing
back baseball and adding women’s
lacrosse Saturday morning.
It creates a “sense of community
pride in the kids and players when they
know there’s a lot of care about what
they are doing,” he said. “I think all of
our sports programs feel that. In base-
ball we’ve been fortunate to have that.”
Scarfo added that with the recent
success of baseball programs in La
Grande — the high school team reach-
ing the playoffs on a consistent basis
and winning state two years ago, and
the Little League team making deep
summer runs — baseball as a sport is
strong in the area.
“We have a lot of good baseball (play-
ers) here (but) we had a university
where they couldn’t come play. Now
we do. It’s going to be fantastic. Now
instead of maybe some of these high
school students not going to college,
they can stay here, stay home, and have
baseball right here in La Grande, which
I think is fantastic.”
McKinley added that EOU will have
a solid local base to pull baseball play-
ers from.
“Not even just from our high school,
but all our Eastern Oregon teams,
we have a good group of baseball kids
around that can contribute,” he said,
speaking not only of local high schools,
but of regional community colleges like
Treasure Valley, Blue Mountain, Walla
Walla and Columbia Basin.
EOU will also be able to take further
advantage of the turf field installed at
Community Stadium a year ago, as
the lacrosse team will play on the new
surface.
“We can leverage what we already
The UC Warming Sta-
tion had 112 total guests in
2018-19, 75 of whom were
La Grande residents, Smith
said. Each guest stayed an
average of 12.5 total nights
at the shelter. Those who
came included people who
live in Cove but could not
get home because roads
were closed and individuals
who did not have access to
housing.
A number of those who
stayed at the shelter were
school-age children.
“None of them missed a
single day of school (after
spending the night at the
shelter),” Smith said.
She explained that the
have,” Insko said.
The sport could also extend the reach of
where Eastern can look to pull students
as coaches recruit for the new program.
“It’s going to be from areas where
students traditionally aren’t looking at
EOU,” he said.
Fetz also spoke to the added draw
Eastern will now have with lacrosse.
“It’ll give a whole new set of student-
athletes some place (to go),” he said.
“Probably not too many lacrosse players
come to Eastern for any purpose. That
can change.”
The EOU baseball team, Insko said,
will play its home games at Optimist
Field inside Pioneer Park, the home
of the LHS baseball team. He said the
university will also look at options to
play home games in Baker City.
In the tong term, though, EOU will
look to build a new baseball field on
campus. With the university’s new
fieldhouse set to soon break ground at
Snowflake Field — the Mountaineers’
old baseball facility — Weissenfluh said
the hope is for a baseball park to be
built adjacent to Eastern’s softball field.
“(We are) hoping to make it a joint
complex. That way they can share
amenities,” she said, noting it would
be where the current practice fields for
soccer are.
And how soon could EOU add a
baseball field?
“To be realistic, we’re probably look-
ing at a four-year plan,” Weissenfluh
said. “We’re going to be out there ag-
gressively asking and cultivating people
that are interested in helping us with
that prospect. Hopefully it’s sooner. But
I’d say a four- or five-year plan.”
She added that the school is opening
a nationwide search for both coaching
positions and hopes to fill them by the
end of the year to allow coaches time to
begin recruiting.
“We’ll have it open for 30 days,” the
athletic director said. “We’ll give people
the opportunity to submit their materi-
als and really open it up to whoever
feels they are qualified to apply.”
Once the sports are in place, it will
give the athletic department 15 sports.
Baseball will be the seventh men’s
sport, joining football, basketball,
wrestling, cross county, track and field
and soccer. Eight women’s sports will be
available, as lacrosse joins softball, bas-
ketball, wrestling, cross county, track
and field, soccer and volleyball.
EOU most recently added men’s and
women’s wrestling, bringing them on in
2016. Men’s soccer was added in 2015.
children were ready for
school because they had a
chance to wash up, eat a
good meal and have a com-
fortable night’s sleep. Many
of these children would not
have gone to school the next
day if they had not spent the
night at the warming sta-
tion, Smith said.
Food the warming station
will be stocked with this
winter will include quick prep
meals that can be prepared
with a microwave oven or
hot water. The UC Warming
Station will always accept
donations of food, Smith said.
Information on donating food
can be obtained by emailing
Cami Miller, one of the warm-
ing station’s volunteer staff,
at cmiller@neonoregon.org.
Smith said that the warm-
ing station board wants to
be responsive to the needs of
the community and wel-
comes any input from the
public. People with ideas or
comments about the warm-
ing station are encouraged
to share them by emailing
Miller.
Smith said the warming
station is a step in the right
direction but it is not the
answer to meeting all the
needs of those who do not
have shelter.
“La Grande needs a bigger
solution so that our neigh-
bors don’t freeze,” Smith said.
Roberto Arceo, right, a co-owner of the El Erradero
Restaurant, receives a payment for a meal from Rus-
sell Lawson of Elgin, shown with his son Lane, on
Saturday.
OPEN
Continued from Page 1A
Island City where it had
been since 2001, because
Bearco Loop offered greater
visibility.
The restaurant is part
of a chain of El Erradero
restaurants the Arceo
family founded. The others
are in Ontario, Baker City
and Stanfield. El Erradero
in Baker City opened in
1993, followed by the one
in Ontario in 1998 and the
restaurant in Stanfield in
2003.
“They have been success-
ful throughout. Eastern
Oregon has been very good
to us,” said Arceo, who is a
co-owner of the four restau-
rants along with his father
and mother, Elvira.
The fire that struck the
Arceos’ La Grande El Er-
radero on Aug. 23 began
outside the restaurant in a
travel trailer parked in an
adjacent storage facility.
Alfredo Arceo said if
not for the quick action of
firefighters from the La
Grande and La Grande
Rural fire departments,
El Erradero would have
suffered far more extensive
damage. He said a por-
tion of its roof had started
to burn when firefighters
arrived but was then im-
mediately extinguished. He
shuddered to think what
would have happened if the
roof had been engulfed in
flames.
“You are done if the roof
starts burning (extensive-
ly),” Arceo said.
The water used to ex-
tinguish the blaze caused
much of the damage to the
kitchen and its equipment
and the bathrooms. The
impact would have been
worse if not for a drain
system in the kitchen that
much of the water flowed
into.
“Otherwise the water
would have moved in a dif-
ferent direction,” Arceo said.
The smoke damage
in the dining area was
successfully addressed
by cleaning its walls and
carpet.
Arceo said there was nev-
er any doubt in his mind
that El Erradero, which
means the cattle brander in
Spanish, would reopen.
The co-owner said that
even if the fire had de-
stroyed the building, the
restaurant would have
eventually reemerged.
“We are so committed
to the community,” Arceo
said. “We would have found
some way to rebuild it.”
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