in Go!
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‘Nuncrackers: The Nunsense
Christmas Musical’
NORTHEAST OREGON
Page 9
DECEMBER 11, 2019
www.gonortheastoregon.com
Inside
Hermiston slips by Tigers, 6A
Huskies top TigerScots, 6A
USMCA moves forward, 1B
‘Nuncrackers’
Also inside:
Lanetta Paul and Friends: Page 8
Handel’s ‘Messiah’: Page 10
‘A Christmas Carol’: Page 11
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WEDNESDAY • December 11, 2019 • $1.50
Friend
recalls
former
neighbor
Good day to our valued subscriber Susan Snow of La Grande
LA GRANDE SET TO
SILENCE WHISTLES
■ Life of man
found dead in
storage unit
remembered
Levy
seeks
seat in
House
■ Echo woman
seeking to fill seat
vacated by Cove’s
Greg Barreto
By Sabrina Thompson
The Observer
By Kathy Aney
LA GRANDE — Larry
Miller met Stephen Slodow-
ski when they lived two
doors apart in an apart-
ment complex in Beaverton.
Slodowski was intense and
passionate about music, Mill-
er said, and the two got along
and were good neighbors.
Slodowski, 59, was found
dead last week in a unit at
Eastern Oregon Storage,
1410 21st St. La Grande.
Lt. Gary Bell of the city
police department reported
Slodowski had been living
in the unit. He also said the
investigation did not reveal
much about the man.
“Slodowski information
was challenging to get,” Bell
said.
Slodowski was born Oct.
11, 1960, in Washington
County, according to police,
but neither police nor Miller
knew much about his early
life.
“He was a man who
kept to himself, but he was
friendly,” Miller said.
He added the last few
years of Slodowski’s life had
been a struggle.
Miller and his wife
moved to Cove in 2016, and
Slodowski soon followed
despite Miller’s warnings to
Slodowski that it wouldn’t be
a good fi t.
“He didn’t drive, and just
had a bicycle,” Miller said.
“I told him that it is a harsh
winter here in Eastern Or-
egon and would be diffi cult to
get around.”
Slodowski arrived in La
Grande in the spring of 2017.
He soon had issues with
landlords including missed
rent payments. Slodowski
received monthly allowances
from his mother in Swe-
den, according to what he
told Miller. However, as his
mother aged and developed
Alzheimer’s, payments
became less frequent. By the
time he moved to La Grande,
EO Media Group
See Neighbor / Page 5A
Staff photo by Sabrina Thompson
A train Tuesday passes behind Calvary Chapel in downtown La Grande. Train whistles are an all-day occur-
rence that routinely interrupt sermons at the church. This will change on Dec. 27 when La Grande’s Quiet
Zone fi nally becomes offi cial.
By Sabrina Thompson, The Observer
LA GRANDE — Life in La Grande is about to get a bit quieter. The city
announced the train whistle Quiet Zone will take effect Dec. 27 at 12:01 a.m.
“I am ecstatic,” Mayor Steve Clements said after the
Dec. 5 city council meeting when he announced the ap-
proval for the whistle ban. “It shows the commitment of
the city, and how when we had something we needed in
place, we followed the rules and it got done.”
Conversation about the ban on most train whistles
goes back to the early 1990s, and the city offi cially began
discussions on the matter in the early 2000s, according
to Father Hank Albrecht, former pastor of the Our Lady
of the Valley Catholic Church. Strides toward the instal-
lation of safety devices and measures required began in
2017, with the completion early this fall.
To qualify for a Quiet Zone — in which trains are not
required to blow their whistles at traffi c crossings — the
intersection of railroad tracks and roadway must be safe
enough for vehicles and pedestrians to cross without be-
ing warned by a train whistle. To receive Federal Railroad
Administration approval, the city installed barriers to
prevent cars from going around the arms and made any
needed improvements within the Quiet Zone — encom-
passing the crossings at Fir, Greenwood, Cherry and
Willow streets, and H Avenue.
The need for a Quiet Zone has been the subject of much
debate. Some long-time residents told The Observer previ-
ously they did not want the Quiet Zone, stating they got
used to the sound and didn’t notice it.
Online, many people posted they would like the whistles
to remain, saying the sound doesn’t bother them and they
are needed for safety reasons.
“I lived right next to a train station,” Faith Amanda
commented in a previous Observer Facebook post about
the Quiet Zone. “I’m so used to the horns, I would hear
him everyday at 5 in the morning getting ready to leave.
See Levy / Page 5A
Observer fi le photo
Train whistles throughout the day and night are on
the verge of extinction in La Grande. The new Quiet
Zone prohibiting most train whistles in town goes
into effect Dec. 27.
“I am ecstatic. It shows the commitment of the city,
and how when we had something we needed in
place, we followed the rules and it got done.”
They would blow and blow and blow and never stop. It’s
important to have the whistle. It’s for safety, to let people
know they’re coming. I’ve always loved them. I can still
hear them. It may be faint where I live now but I can
See Whistles / Page 5A
■ Former candidate for
Oregon governor seeks
to replace Greg Walden
By Kyle Spurr
EO Media Group
BEND — Knute Buehler, an
orthopedic surgeon who represented
Bend in the state House until an un-
successful run for governor in 2018,
announced Tuesday he will seek the
Republican nomination for Oregon’s
See Buehler / Page 5A
Business ...... 1B
Classified ..... 3B
Comics ......... 7B
Crossword ... 5B
EO Media Group fi le photo
WEATHER
Dear Abby .... 8B
Horoscope ... 5B
Lottery.......... 3A
Obituaries .... 3A
FRIDAY
Opinion ........ 4A
Sports .......... 6A
Sudoku ........ 7B
Weather ....... 8B
WINTER MUST-READS
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Thursday
38 LOW
46/34
Rain
Cloudy, showers
Liberty
Complex
taking
shape
■ Putnam Building
could be ready in
the spring
By Dick Mason
The Observer
— Steve Clements, La Grande mayor
Buehler announces congressional run
INDEX
ECHO — Barbara “Bobby”
Levy announced Tuesday
she will run for the Oregon
House of Representatives.
Levy hopes
to replace Rep.
Greg Barreto, R-
Cove, who said
in November
he won’t seek
Levy
re-election. She
said her bid to
represent District 58 stems
from a desire to give Eastern
Oregon a strong voice.
“Eastern Oregon is too
often overlooked and under-
valued by Salem,” she said.
“People here know better
than anyone how special
our land and resources
are and how to best utilize
them.”
Levy, whose resume
includes farming in Echo,
rejects the stereotypes thrust
upon farmers and ranchers.
“There is a misconception
that if you are a farmer or
rancher that you’re not a
conservationist,” she said.
Oregon Re-
publican Knute
Buehler, who
said in October
he was consid-
ering running
for retiring
U.S. Rep. Greg
Walden’s seat in
Congress, de-
clared Tuesday
that he has of-
fi cially entered
the race.
LA GRANDE — The Lib-
erty Theatre soon will have
a complementary sidekick,
just as Paul Newman had
Robert Redford in the 1969
fi lm classic “Butch Cassidy
and Sundance Kid.”
Renovation of the
historic Putnam Building,
which is next to the Liberty
Theatre on Adams Avenue
in La Grande, will be
fi nished by early spring of
2020, said Dale Mammen,
who owns the building with
his wife, Ginny.
The Putnam will be
part of the future Liberty
Complex, made up of the
Mammens’ building and
the theater, which closed
in 1959 but will reopen in
late 2020 after extensive
renovation work.
Dale Mammen said his
See Liberty / Page 5A
CONTACT US
HAVE A STORY IDEA?
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Call The Observer newsroom at
541-963-3161 or send an email to
news@lagrandeobserver.com.
More contact info on Page 4A.
Issue 147
3 sections, 28 pages
La Grande, Oregon
Online at lagrandeobserver.com