2A — THE OBSERVER
D AILY
P LANNER
TODAY
Today is Friday, Dec. 13,
the 347th day of 2019. There
are 18 days left in the year.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2019
LOCAL
School board
names firm to
oversee work
IN BRIEF
Hoskin makes
annual ‘Who’s Who’
publication
■ Wenaha Group to lead Union School
District’s three-year $8 million
renovation project
By Dick Mason
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
The Observer
On Dec. 13, 1981,
authorities in Poland
imposed martial law in a
crackdown on the Solidar-
ity labor movement.
UNION — The Union
School District is a big
step closer to getting work
started on major bond-fund-
ed renovation work in the
summer of 2020.
The board Wednesday
night named the Wenaha
Group as the construction
management provider for
the school district’s three-
year $8 million renovation
project.
The Wenaha Group, a
construction management
and consulting fi rm, will be
in charge of making sure
the Union School District
follows all rules and regula-
tions for bids, the hiring of
subcontractors and much
more. It also will be respon-
sible for hiring construc-
tion and design teams and
keeping them progressing in
synchrony.
“It will be working to keep
ON THIS DATE
In 1862, Union forces
led by Maj. Gen. Ambrose
Burnside launched futile
attacks against entrenched
Confederate soldiers dur-
ing the Civil War Battle of
Fredericksburg; the soundly
defeated Northern troops
withdrew two days later.
In 1918, President
Woodrow Wilson arrived
in France, becoming the
fi rst chief executive to visit
Europe while in offi ce.
In 1944, during World
War II, the light cruiser
USS Nashville was badly
damaged in a Japanese
kamikaze attack off Negros
Island in the Philippines that
claimed 133 lives.
In 1977, an Air Indiana
Flight 216, a DC-3 carrying
the University of Evansville
basketball team on a fl ight
to Nashville, crashed shortly
after takeoff, killing all 29
people on board.
In 1997, a ribbon-cutting
ceremony was held in Los
Angeles for the $1 billion-
dollar Getty Center, one of
the largest arts centers in
the United States.
In 2000, Republican
George W. Bush claimed the
presidency a day after the
U.S. Supreme Court shut
down further recounts of
disputed ballots in Florida;
Democrat Al Gore con-
ceded, delivering a call for
national unity.
everyone on the same page,”
Superintendent Carter
Wells said.
The Wenaha Group,
based in Tacoma, Washing-
ton, with a satellite offi ce
in Pendleton, will receive
$110,000 for the fi rst two
years of the project. Wells
said the hope is after two
years the project will be
mapped out to the point
the Wenaha Group’s ser-
vices will be needed on a
more limited basis or not
at all.
The fi rm, which has
a project manager in La
Grande, was one of two that
applied for the Union School
District project but the only
one to meet all fi ve criteria
the school board stipulated.
“I have heard good things
about the job it has done in
other communities it has
worked with,” said Union
School Board member
Macey Clark.
Observer fi le photo
Bond funds will pay for major renovation work on
Union High School’s gym. The school board Wednes-
day night named the Wenaha Group as the construc-
tion management provider for the school district’s
three-year $8 million renovation project.
Wenaha Group has
done work for multiple
Eastern Oregon school
districts, including Imbler,
Pendleton, Baker City and
Hermiston.
Wells said Wenaha
Group has managed a lot
of projects similar to the
one it will be taking on in
Union.
The renovation work the
Wenaha Group will oversee
will be funded by a $4
million bond school district
voters approved 66% to
34% on the Nov. 5 election
and another $4 million in a
grant from the the Oregon
School Capital Improve-
ment Matching Program.
The Union School District
received the matching
grant due to the passage of
the bond.
The school district, under
state law, has three years to
spend 85% of the $8 million
in funding it will receive.
The money will cover an
array of upgrades, such as
security and handicapped
accessibility, which are need-
ed primarily because of the
age of the school district’s
buildings. The high school
was built in 1912, the J.F.
Hutchinson Building in the
late 1920s or early 1930s.
The S.E. Miller building and
the high school gym were
built in the 1950s.
Library adds music streaming service
Observer staff
LA GRANDE — The Cook Memorial
Library is growing its digital offer-
ings. Library director Kip Roberson
announced this week the addition of
Freegal Music Service for patrons.
“Freegal is kind of like Spotify or
Apple Music, where you can create
playlists and stream music,” Roberson
said in a news release. “I often fi nd
that Freegal Music also helps me dis-
cover new artists and recall songs that
I have long forgotten.”
Anyone with an active Cook Memo-
rial Library card has free access to
more than 15 million songs from more
than 28,000 labels, including the Sony
Music catalogue.
With the Freegal Music Service,
Cook Memorial Library cardholders
can stream up to three hours of music
a day and download up to three songs
a week. Users also can download
music videos, but that counts as two
song downloads. (You’ll be unable to
download a music video without two
available downloads.) The Freegal
website allows users to keep track of
their downloads snd listen to samples
of songs before completing a download,
but that requires logging into the
website.
Library cardholders can start by
going to the Library’s Freegal web-
site at http://CML.freegalmusic.com.
Downloads on the website are in MP3
format, and music videos in the MP4
format.
Users also will discover an eclectic
collection of eAudiobooks.
This service will work on almost any
computer, player, tablet or smartphone.
The Freegal Music mobile app is free
in the Apple App Store and Google
Play. Library staff can assist patrons
with their fi rst download and/or set up
an app for their device.
“I use this service almost every day,
and I’m certain our library patrons will
use it often too,” Roberson said in the
announcement.
For more information about this
and other library programs, visit the
library at 2006 Fourth St., La Grande,
or call 541-962-1339 or view the
library’s website at www.cookmemori-
allibrary.org.
LOTTERY
Megabucks: $7.3 million
20-21-27-28-34-48
Mega Millions: $340 million
18-31-46-54-61-25-x2
Powerball: $150 million
24-29-42-44-63-10-x4
Win for Life: Dec. 11
28-49-56-60
Tree removal near
Meacham prompts
I-84 slowdowns
Observer staff
Pick 4: Dec. 12
• 1 p.m.: 2-1-2-5
• 4 p.m.: 3-7-1-7
• 7 p.m.: 6-5-1-8
• 10 p.m.: 7-9-1-8
Pick 4: Dec. 11
• 1 p.m.: 3-6-8-1
• 4 p.m.: 5-0-6-4
• 7 p.m.: 9-6-4-5
• 10 p.m.: 8-0-4-7
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.
Your paper will be delivered
the next business day.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“An orator without judgment
is a horse without a bridle.”
— Theophrastus,
Greek philosopher
La GRANDE
AUTO REPAIR
975-2000
www.lagrandeautorepair.com
MOST
ADVANCED
TECHNOLOGY
AVAILABLE
Joe Horst
ACDelcoTSS
MEACHAM — The Or-
egon Department of Trans-
portatio announced another
round of rolling slowdowns
is coming for westbound In-
terstate 84 to accommodate
the removal of hazard trees
between mileposts 231 and
234, about 22 miles east of
Pendleton.
The state road depart-
ment has schedule several
slowdowns to take place
Wednesday between 8 a.m.
and 3 p.m. that will effect
traffi c for about 15 minutes
each occurrence. The slow-
downs will begin at milepost
248 near the Spring Creek
Interchange for westbound
traffi c only, with pilot cars
slowing motorists to about
35 mph. Once traffi c has
passed the work site, the
pilot cars will exit the free-
way and you can return to
posted speeds.
ODOT advised westbound
drivers to plan for extra
travel time in this area. The
eastbound freeway will not
be impacted.
The operations involve
the temporary closures of
on-ramps in the slow down
zones until the pilot cars and
traffi c have passed. Travelers
will be able to exit the free-
way in work zones but may
experience delays in getting
on the freeway toward the
direction of the work zones.
The rolling slowdowns
will create a window of time
when no vehicles will be at
the work sites for approxi-
mately 10 minutes. This will
allow crews to safely fell the
hazard trees without traffi c
in the area.
“We really appreciate
everyone’s patience and sup-
port,” said ODOT Meacham
maintenance manager
Randy Randolph. “The slow-
downs we performed last
week enabled us to safely
remove several. We hope to
get more hazard trees down
on this coming Wednesday.”
The work is weather
dependent and could be
rescheduled if conditions
are not favorable for the
operation.
ODOT also will continue
the Interstate 84 westbound
lane restrictions through
Ladd Canyon for the next
two to three weeks.
Motorists should slow
down and be prepared for
congestion 10 miles east
of La Grande between
mileposts 273 and 270, from
the top of the steep downhill
grade to the bottom, accord-
ing to the announcement
from the state road depart-
ment. The two eastbound
lanes in this area will
remain open.
Mike Remily, ODOT
project manager, said the
plan was to remove the
westbound lane restrictions
by November, but crews in
late October ran into some
unexpected conditions.
“The fi nal 120-foot-long
section of the new Brush
Creek alignment we are
FAMILY
OWNED
constructing was supposed to
have bedrock, but it didn’t,”
he said. “The solution is to
construct a concrete lined
channel, which required one
lane to remain closed for part
of December.”
The project created a
detour for Brush Creek,
Remily said, which includes
a section of pipe not large
enough to handle spring-
time water fl ows.
“We need to complete the
Brush Creek realignment
now and our contractor,
Knife River Construction,
is putting in the extra time
needed to get the work done
as soon as possible,” he
explained. “We plan to have
the freeway completely open
by Dec. 21.”
MURRAY, Kentucky —
McKayla Hoskin of Sum-
merville has made this
year’s edition of “Who’s
Who Among Students in
American Uni-
versities and
Colleges.”
Hoskin, the
daughter of
Rick and Con-
Hoskin
nie Hoskin, is
majoring in en-
gineering physics at Murray
State University in Kentucky.
She is involved in several ac-
tivities on campus, according
to the university, including the
honors college, Association for
Women in Mathematics and
Society of Women Engineers.
The Who’s Who pro-
gram has been recognizing
outstanding college and
university students since its
fi rst edition in 1934.
Hoskin will receive an
award certifi cate from the
publication to symbolize the
achievement.
OSP brings on new
police dog
LA GRANDE — Oregon
State Police announced its
La Grande Area Command
has a new police dog.
K-9 Buddy retired as the
local field office’s police dog, ac-
cording to state police, and K-9
Ore has stepped into the role.
Ore is a Belgian Mali-
nois, a popular breed for
police dogs, and came to the
Oregon State Police as a
rescue from the Woof Project
Rescue.
The Woof Project Rescue
is a nonprofi t dedicated to
the caring for and placing
of Belgian Malinois. Ore is
trained to detect the odors
of controlled substances.
Ore and his handler, senior
trooper Charles Rohlf,
became certifi ed on Nov. 15
and are assigned to the La
Grande Area Command.
Energy Facility Siting
Council to meet in
Pendleton
SALEM — Oregon’s En-
ergy Facility Siting Council
will meet Dec. 19-20 in
Pendleton. The public meet-
ing begins at 5 p.m. Dec. 19
and will reconvene Dec. 20
at 8 a.m. at the Red Lion
Inn, 304 S.E. Nye Ave.
The main item on the
council’s agenda is the Board-
man to Hemingway Trans-
mission Line. The council will
receive a presentation Dec.
19 from Oregon Department
of Energy staff, reviewing the
B2H Draft Proposed Order,
comments received on the
DPO and responses from
the project’s applicant, Idaho
Power, to those comments.
The agenda item continues
Dec. 20 and the council may
provide staff comments they
would like to see refl ected in
the proposed order.
— Observer staff
Händel’s
MESSIAH
Community Performance
Sun, Dec. 15 th , 2019 @6:30 pm
Performance will be in
La Grande High School Auditorium
2nd Street & J Avenue
Conductor: Dr. Edward Dixon
Choir & Orchestra are volunteers from Eastern Oregon and Washington
O Our
u r b banquet
a n q u e t r room
o o m is
i s
ready
r e a d y for
f o r your
y o u r
h holiday
o l i d a y gatherings.
g a t h e r i n g s .
Soloist in order of appearance:
L Let
Le
e t u us s c cater
at ter t to o your
yo o ur h holiday
olid
ol
i ayy n needs.
id
eeeds
ds.
541-963-8766
tendepotstreet.com
215 Elm Street La Grande (541) 963-5440
northwestfurnitureandmattress.com
Jared Hylme, Wes Rampton, Trina Butler, Chris Blair,
Brianna Waddoups, Jeannette Rampton Smith, Kristen
Rushton, Jocelyn Berado, Brent Smith, and Becky
Mullarkey (trumpet).