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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 2019)
2A — THE OBSERVER WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2019 LOCAL Turnout sparse for ATV meeting D AILY P LANNER TODAY Today is Wednesday, Nov. 13, the 317th day of 2019. There are 48 days left in the year. By Bill Bradshaw EO Media Group TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT On Nov. 13, 1982, the Viet- nam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. ON THIS DATE In 1789, Benjamin Frank- lin wrote in a letter to a friend, Jean-Baptiste Leroy: “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a mea- sure lowering the minimum draft age from 21 to 18. In 1956, the Supreme Court struck down laws call- ing for racial segregation on public buses. In 1969, speaking in Des Moines, Iowa, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew accused network television news departments of bias and distortion, and urged viewers to lodge com- plaints. In 1974, Karen Silkwood, a 28-year-old technician and union activist at the Kerr- McGee Cimarron plutonium plant near Crescent, Okla- homa, died in a car crash while on her way to meet a reporter. In 2000, lawyers for George W. Bush failed to win a court order barring manual recounts of ballots in Florida. Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris announced she would end the recounting at 5 p.m. Eastern time the next day — prompting an immedi- ate appeal by lawyers for Al Gore. LOTTERY Megabucks: $6 million 3-17-19-25-27-47 Mega Millions: $178 million 19-30-44-56-65-24-x2 Powerball: $60 million 14-17-35-38-60-25-x2 Win for Life: Nov. 11 6-9-15-58 Pick 4: Nov. 12 • 1 p.m.: 1-5-2-1 • 4 p.m.: 5-8-2-2 • 7 p.m.: 3-9-8-3 • 10 p.m.: 8-4-1-7 Pick 4: Nov. 11 • 1 p.m.: 9-3-7-5 • 4 p.m.: 8-7-4-6 • 7 p.m.: 7-2-2-3 • 10 p.m.: 8-4-2-4 Courtesy photo A dark-colored Toyota Tacoma truck travels the wrong way in the eastbound lane of I-84 near milepost 224 in this image captured on Brad Samuelson’s dashcam on Nov. 7 on Cabbage Hill near Pendleton. Wrong-way driver on I-84 ■ Utah man faces charges after driving westbound in eastbound lanes on Interstate 84 around a blind corner near milepost 224 and saw the Toyota pickup moving PENDLETON — Cody Vela of the opposite direction in the far left La Grande was returning home on lane. Nov. 7 with his girlfriend and their fi ve “At fi rst it didn’t even register children when he saw the dark pickup because he passed me on my left,” bearing down at them on Cabbage Samuelson said. “Then I went, wait a Hill. second.” “I was like, what the heck is that? He got on his CB radio and asked Was that guy in the lane?” he recalled other drivers if he saw what he Monday. “It takes you a second.” thought he saw. Truckers confi rmed The 6-mile-long grade on Interstate it, he said, and one claimed the pickup 84 east of Pendleton spans three lanes driver had a bottle of whiskey to his along the climb into the Blue lips. Mountains. Vela and his family Samuelson said he pulled over were heading east in their SUV as soon as he as could and called in the far left passing lane. The 911, then realized how close a Toyota Tacoma was in the same call this was. lane, but heading west, directly “Just moments before that, I Field toward them. Vela estimated he was in lane 1,” he said. was going about 70 mph and Samuelson’s dashcam cap- the pickup was zooming along at 80-85 tured video of the pickup at 3:36 p.m. mph. going west in the eastbound fast lane. “Luckily, we didn’t have anybody to He provided the video to the East the right of us in the second and third Oregonian, which shared it on Face- lanes,” he said. “I told everybody to book and with other company news- hang on.” papers. Vela crossed out of the way and State police trooper Jeremy Gunter watched the Toyota Tacoma zoom by responded to the emergency calls and noted the driver, a man, was the about the wrong-way pickup and found lone occupant. Vela said he was able it near milepost 219, where other to pull over about a quarter-mile later motorists had forced it to stop after a and called 911. He said he overheard minor collision. another dispatcher talking to another The driver, Kenneth Oscar Field, motorist about the same wrong-way 50, of St. George, Utah, appeared driver. impaired, according to state police, Brad Samuelson of Pocatello, Idaho, and Gunter arrested him for driving may have been the fi rst to call 911 under the infl uence of intoxicants and about the wrong-way driver. booked him into the Umatilla County Samuelson, a pilot car driver, said Jail, Pendleton, on the DUI charge and he left a manufactured home in The charge of reckless driving and four Dalles that day was heading up the big counts of reckless endangering. Each hill in the far right lane when he came reckless endangering charge relates By Phil Wright EO Media Group to someone who had to share the road with Field. More charges could be coming. Gunter contacted the East Oregonian, which provided him with Samuelson’s contact information. Samuelson said he talked to state police and handed over a copy of the video. Kristi Flanagan is glad she started her drive from Pendleton to her home in Baker City as late as she did. Flanagan, whose daughter is a student at Blue Mountain Community College, said she was ascending the curves of Cabbage Hill when she saw the pickup parked on the left shoulder of the eastbound lanes. The pickup was nose-to-nose with an Oregon State Police car and point- ing downhill. Flanagan said she was curious because the pickup seemed to have been heading downhill when it stopped. It wasn’t until the morning of Nov. 8, when she saw the Facebook post on the Baker City Herald’s page, that Flanagan realized what had happened not long before she passed that pickup. Flanagan said that’s quite likely the lane she would have been driving in — going the opposite direction. “There’s usually trucks in the right two lanes,” she said. “Thank good- ness we weren’t going up 20 minutes earlier.” Vela said he was glad state police took the driver off the road. Samuelson expressed a similar sentiment. “I’ve never encountered anything like that,” he said, “and I’m just glad no one was hurt.” Baker City Herald editor Jayson Jacoby ENTERPRISE — Only four members of the public showed up at Enterprise City Hall on Nov. 6 for a town hall forum for the city council to take comments from the pub- lic on a proposed change to the city ordinance governing the use of all-terrain vehicles within city limits. “I was hoping we’d have a bigger turnout to get more comments,” Councilman Chris Pritchard said. City Administrator Lacey McQuead emphasized that the town hall was an offi cial meeting, but it was not an offi cial council meeting and no decision on the ordinance was to be expected. It was simply an opportunity for members of the public to speak out on changes to the ordinance. She said that while the council can be expected to discuss the town hall, it’s un- likely they’ll make a decision at the next meeting Nov. 18. Of the suggestions made at the meeting, she expects most to be considered for in- clusion in the new ordinance. Mayor Stacey Karvoski read aloud the two letters the city has received on the issue. One of the letters was from a coalition of groups generally opposed to the relaxation of regulations on ATVs and was received three times. McQuead said she knew of only one of the people sending the letter to be from Oregon, and that person from Portland. The oth- ers listed as backing the letter were from numerous places around the country. The fi ve-page letter — including the list of those supporting it and a list of sources for its statistics — cited numerous statistics on deaths and injuries involving crashes of ATVs and similar off-road vehicles. City resident Dennis Burt said the long letter was “obviously written by some corporate lawyer and the logic for that is totally inane. If we’re going to cite deaths for a certain vehicle, then we should ban all vehicles, including bicycles and roller skates.” WE’VE MOVED! Same great service. ϔ Ǥ NEWSPAPER LATE? Every effort is made to de- liver your Observer in a timely manner. Occasionally condi- tions exist that make delivery more diffi cult. If you are not on a motor route, delivery should be before 5:30 p.m. If you do not receive your paper by 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, please call 541-963-3161 by 6 p.m. If your delivery is by motor carrier, delivery should be by 6 p.m. For calls after 6, please call 541-975- 1690, leave your name, address and phone number. 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