Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 2019)
EOU GAMEDAY Inside Lockdown defender FRIDAY-SUNDAY • October 18-20, 2019 • $1.50 Effort made to restore funding ■ Dispute resolution funding was cut 14% by Legislature Eagle Cap Extreme looking for volunteers, 2A EOU ready to run, 7A Good day to our valued subscriber Richard Taylor of La Grande UNION COUNTY A LONG BUT REWARDING JOURNEY ■ ‘Showcase’ $5 million Grande Ronde Rappel Base opens at regional airport Film festival set for 10th year ■ Eastern Oregon Film Festival opens Oct. 24 in La Grande By Dick Mason By Sabrina Thompson The Observer The Observer Nancy Gromen of La Grande, executive director of the Eastern Oregon Media- tion Center, felt optimistic about her agency’s budget for the 2019-21 biennium as the Legislature’s session neared its conclusion in mid-July. Then the unexpected hap- pened: The budget for the Oregon Offi ce for Community Dispute Resolution, which funds the Eastern Oregon Mediation Center, was cut by about 14% by the Legis- lature. This means that total funding for the Eastern Or- egon Mediation Center in the 2019-21 biennium will drop $5,200 to $46,800. Gromen said that prior to the cut, the Oregon Offi ce for Community Dispute Resolu- tion had been told by the Legislature it would receive a 5.5% increase. She said the cut occurred when a Ways and Means subcommittee reallocated $349,000 that was to have gone to OOCDR to a higher education program. The fund- ing OOCDR receives is from the state’s higher education budget because the program is administered by an offi ce at the University of Oregon, Gromen said. The Eastern Oregon Mediation Center and other meditation centers supported by OOCDR are now trying to get the Legislature to restore the $349,000. Gromen asked the Union County Board of Commissioners on Wednes- day to send letters to Rep. Greg Barreto (R-Cove), Sen. Mike Hansell (R-Athena) and members of the Ways and Means committee request- ing the funding be restored during the one-month 2020 session of the Legislature in February. The Union County Board of Commissioners voted to began working to get the rappel base built about seven years ago. He was inspired to do so because he said that La Grande is centrally located within the area of the Wallowa Whit- man and Umatilla national forests and because its operation would bring additional money into Union County. He said that La Grande was in competition with Baker City and Pendleton for the rappel base. McClure said that he accompanied many Union County offi cials on trips to Portland and Salem to talk with legislators and government represen- tatives about getting state funding for the project and designing it. “We often left at 4:30 in the morn- ing (on trips to Western Oregon),” McClure said. In 2009 Ian Clark and Mike Surber founded the Eastern Oregon Film Festival as a way to provide an outlet for local fi lm productions and viewings. What was once a two-day event of movie screenings has turned into a weekend long festival includ- ing conversations with the artists, after-parties and live local music. EOFF 2019 will be hosted at three locations on Depot Street in La Grande Oct. 24-26, plus a screening at Eastern Oregon University on Friday night. This year’s festival includes 10 feature- length fi lms and 24 short fi lms by local, national and international artists. The festival has grown in many ways, according to Festival Director Christopher Jennings. From the size of the audience to the number of movies being shown and submitted, Jennings said the festival continues to evolve with each year. “Our region is packed full of creative individuals. We’ve been building and cultivat- ing an audience over the 10 years,” Jennings said. “We’ve really worked on building a quality and intimate connec- tion with the audience, the fi lmmakers and fi lms.” The fi lms shown come from a mixture of curated content and submitted works. The movies submitted range in content and quality, according to Jennings, and those select- ed are chosen by a committee made up of EOFF members and the board of directors. This year’s committee was made of approximately 30 members who spent several days viewing more than 100 of the submissions. “We think it’s important to have that mixed blend so people who come to the festi- val know they are going to see good fi lms,” Jennings said. According to Jennings, topical documentaries are what were the biggest in terms of submission and selections this year. Some of the documentaries chosen include “Pigeon Kings,” about a group from South Los Angeles who train pigeons for the sport of Aviation Acrobat- ics, and “I Am Human,” a female-produced and directed sci-fi documentary about the co-evolution of humans and technology. This fi lm will be shown at EOU in the hopes of bringing the community and the college students to- gether. Festival-goers this year See Base / Page 5A See Festival / Page 5A See Funding / Page 5A Dick Mason/The Observer Features of the new Grande Ronde Rappel Base include an operations room where helicopter take offs and landings are monitored and directed. Kyle Johnson, an assistant foreman at the base, checks the operation room’s equipment on Wednesday. By Dick Mason, The Observer A race against winter and the fear of ominous fog in Pendleton. Both are parts of a lively story behind the creation of the new $5 million Grande Ronde Rappel Base next to the La Grande/Union County Airport. The story was celebrated Wednes- day during an open house for the Grande Ronde Rappel Base, which was offi cially completed Sept. 1 but which has been operating since April. The base features a 10,000-square- foot building and four helicopter landing pads. “It is a showcase,’’ said Noel Liv- ingston, Wallowa Whitman National Forest forest fi re staff offi cer. The base is for helicopter rappel- ling fl ights to wildfi res. For a rappel, a helicopter hovers over the intended spot and the rapellers slide down ropes up to 250 feet with the help of a descent device. The base’s building features include a ready room fi lled with gear fi refi ghters don before fl ying to a blaze, an equipment room, offi ce space, a training room and an opera- tions room fi lled with high-tech radio equipment. The operations room has striking angled windows that provide operators a degree of peripheral vision, allowing them to look south and north for additional helicopters coming in or taking off. Construction of the rappel base was funded with a $4 million loan Union County received from the state and a $1 million Connect Oregon grant. The U.S. Forest Service is leas- ing the building from Union County. The building of the new rappel base started in the late summer of 2018. Wellens Farewell Construction of Enterprise, the contractor for the project, was able get the shell for the base’s new building fi nished before winter hit. This made it possible Dick Mason/The Observer Miles Hancock, a member of Grande Ronde Rappel Base’s staff, examines one of the new base’s four helipads. for interior work to be conducted in the winter when the weather was inclement, said Union County Public Works Director Doug Wright. Wright was impressed with the perseverance Wellens Farwell staff showed in getting the shell of the building up before winter. “At one point they had 35 people working at the site. They really did an outstanding job,” Wright said. Wallowa-Whitman National Forest Supervisor Tom Montoya said that completion of the rappel base is a cred- it to unwavering cooperation between the county and the Forest Service. “We have had a really strong and vital relationship,” Montoya said. Steve McClure, who retired in January after a three-decade career as a Union County Commissioner, WEATHER INDEX Classified .......2B Comics ...........7B Crossword .....4B Dear Abby .....8B Horoscope .....4B Lottery............2A Obituaries ......3A Opinion ..........4A Outdoors .......1B Record ...........3A MONDAY Spiritual Life ..6A Sports ............7A Sudoku ..........7B Weather .........8B CONTACT US Full forecast on the back of B section Friday Saturday Sunday 39 LOW 48/36 49/41 A little rain Showers Brief showers WHO WINS EOU-SOU BATTLE? 541-963-3161 Issue 124 3 sections, 20 pages La Grande, Oregon Email story ideas to news@lagrande observer.com . More contact info on Page 4A. Online at lagrandeobserver.com
