2A — THE OBSERVER
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2019
LOCAL
Officials
get look
at new
fire truck
D AILY
P LANNER
TODAY
Today is Wednesday, Dec.
18, the 352nd day of 2019.
There are 13 days left in the
year.
By Bill Bradshaw
EO Media Group
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On Dec. 18, 1998, the
House debated articles
of impeachment against
President Bill Clinton. South
Carolina carried out the
nation’s 500th execution
since capital punishment
resumed in 1977.
ON THIS DATE
In 1787, New Jersey be-
came the third state to ratify
the U.S. Constitution.
In 1865, the 13th Amend-
ment to the Constitution,
abolishing slavery, was de-
clared in effect by Secretary
of State William H. Seward.
In 1916, during World War I,
the 10-month Battle of Verdun
ended with French troops
succeeding in repulsing a
major German offensive.
In 1917, Congress passed
the 18th Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution prohibit-
ing “the manufacture, sale,
or transportation of intoxi-
cating liquors” and sent it to
the states for ratifi cation.
In 1940, Adolf Hitler
signed a secret directive
ordering preparations
for a Nazi invasion of the
Soviet Union. (Operation
Barbarossa was launched in
June 1941.)
In 1944, the U.S. Supreme
Court upheld the govern-
ment’s wartime evacuation
of people of Japanese de-
scent from the West Coast
while at the same time rul-
ing that “concededly loyal”
Americans of Japanese
ancestry could not continue
to be detained.
In 1956, Japan was admit-
ted to the United Nations.
In 1957, the Shippingport
Atomic Power Station in
Pennsylvania, the fi rst
nuclear facility to gener-
ate electricity in the United
States, went on line.
In 1972, the United States
began heavy bombing of
North Vietnamese targets
during the Vietnam War.
Staff photo by Sabrina Thompson
Union County deputy sheriff Tony Humphries helps Owen Quintanilla shop for his family Tuesday at the Island
City Walmart during Shop with a Cop.
Bringing Christmas joy
■ Local law enforcement officers hold annual Shop with a Cop event at Walmart
By Sabrina Thompson
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Fifteen local
elementary school students had the
opportunity Tuesday to shop for their
family alongside local law enforce-
ment offi cers at Walmart during La
Grande’s 11th annual Shop with a
Cop event.
Members of the La Grande Police
Department, Union County Sheriff’s
Offi ce and Oregon State Police took
children around the store with $150
each to spend on parents, siblings and
other relatives. Once the children com-
pleted their lists, they could pick out
an item for themselves. Each child also
went home with a $100 Safeway gift
card, and those whose family did not
have a Christmas tree received one.
“It is a great one-on-one relation-
ship we get to have with the kids while
they’re shopping,” La Grande police
Sgt. Jason Hays said. “We build that
relationship and they can see the po-
lice are someone safe they can go to.”
Hays has been coordinating the
event since 2008 when he heard about
other police departments offering shop
Eastern students
help feed hungry
By Sabrina Thompson
The Observer
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with a cop programs. Hays said public
support for the event has grown over
the years with businesses and pri-
vate donations occurring year-round
to supplement a $2,000 grant from
Walmart. The offi cers who participate
volunteer their time in helping the
kids shop, wrap their gifts, eat lunch
with them and help bring the kids and
the gifts back home after the event.
“We get to give back something
positive to the community,” Hays said.
“Everyone benefi ts from this, the par-
ents, the offi cers, the kids, they all get
something out of it.”
Most of the children did not need the
full two hours they had to shop, though
many wandered back and forth around
the store. Toys and clothes fi lled the
carts that each offi cer pushed around,
and as the morning went on the youth
opened up, their timid greetings at the
beginning of the morning evolving into
camaraderie.
“It is so fun to see (the children’s
comfort level change). When they
fi rst get off the bus they aren’t sure
about giving you a high fi ve, and then
as the day goes on they warm up to
LA GRANDE — An
Eastern Oregon University
sociology class did its part
in helping those in need
by collecting nearly 500
pounds of food and toiletries
during a project partnering
with Haven from Hunger,
an emergency food pantry
started by EOU students.
Bill Grigsby, EOU
professor of sociology who
teaches the social welfare
class, assigned his students
a project regarding the
topic, and after conversa-
tion about the needs of the
community, they selected a
food drive.
“The project has multiple
goals,” Grigsby said. “One, to
alleviate household food in-
security. Two, to build social
capital — that is, work with
community partners such
as schools, public agencies,
nonprofi ts. Three, to raise
awareness of the problem in
the community and dispel
the notion that it is some-
how caused by laziness and
lack of motivation, rather
than poverty, struggle and
hard choices. Four, to reduce
the stigma people feel
around asking for help.”
Students visited 99
houses in the Eagle Cap
area and along N Avenue
in La Grande to speak with
residents about the need
for food and toiletries in the
community. They left bags
for those who were not home
to put items into and came
back on a third day to collect
donations.
They gathered a total of
496 pounds of donations
that will stock the food pan-
try at the Koinonia House,
or K House, at 900 Sixth St.,
where Haven for Hunger
operates its pantry.
“It started out as another
grade in the class (but) it
FAMILY
OWNED
you more,” said state trooper Kainoa
Delatori.
During the shopping trip, Alicia
Wimer, mother of student shopper
Tobias Wimer, ran into her son and
the offi cer with him, joking she wasn’t
looking into the cart. She said she is
grateful her son has the opportunity to
participate.
“I’m really happy for him,” she said.
“It feels really good. The idea that he
can give gifts to his family makes my
heart melt.”
Once the children had selected their
gifts, they had pizza and drinks with
their shopping partners. Hays said this
allows the children even more time
to get to know the law enforcement
offi cers and form a bond with them.
Many of the offi cers at the event said
interacting with the kids and seeing
the joy on their faces is the reason they
participate in the annual event.
“My favorite part was getting myself
a gift,” said Matthew Lopez, who was
paired with state trooper Chas Koenig,
then added, “and getting my family
things because Christmas is about
family and giving.”
became more interesting,”
sociology junior Megan
Boals said. “We are alleviat-
ing the need for those who
are hungry and helping
keep the pantry going.”
In the study of sociol-
ogy, students are working
toward understanding
different perspectives that
make up society, including
the perspective of those who
can’t afford basic needs.
“Food is essential to life,
and I believe that everyone
should have access to it,”
junior Maliah Russell said.
“I am humbled that I am
doing my part in helping
our community, and I am
humbled in the fact that so
many community members
were willing to donate and
help make this small food
drive successful.”
This drive is one of the
smaller ones, compared to
the multiple drives hap-
pening during the holiday
season. However, according
to Grigsby, no matter the
size of the drive, it helps
provide a vital service to
those who need food in case
of emergency.
“We are a small player
in the overall food bank
system,” Grigsby said. “But
we do fi ll a niche for those in
urgent need of a few days’
worth of food, when food
stamps may be exhausted
and the monthly food bank
has not yet arrived. But it’s
been good for those students
who have participated.”
ENTERPRISE — Enter-
prise city offi cials got their
fi rst look at the Enterprise
Fire Department’s latest ad-
dition Monday, Dec. 9 —
a new pumper/tender truck
made by Pierce Manufactur-
ing in Florida.
The truck, which holds
3,000 gallons of water for
extinguishing blazes, arrived
Nov. 25 to replace a 1978
tender in which the engine
blew a year and a half ago,
Fire Chief Paul Karvoski
said. He showed the truck to
the offi cials before last week’s
city council meeting.
The $272,000 truck was
paid mostly through a federal
Assistance to Firefi ghters
Grant, but only cost the city
$11,000, he said, adding the
annual competitive grant for
$500 million had 45,000 ap-
plications this year.
“We got lucky,” he said.
“I’m glad we fi nally got a new
truck.”
The department’s fl eet now
is comprised of two 1,600-gal-
lon pumper/tenders, one of
which is considered the “fi rst-
out truck,” Karvoski said. The
new truck, also a pumper/ten-
der, holds nearly double the
water. The fl eet also has two
rescue trucks, a ladder truck
for reaching tall structures,
a city pumper designed to
connect to city fi re hydrants
and a wildland truck with a
350-gallon tank designed for
use on grassfi res.
Karvoski said the new
truck brings the department
up to speed. While it was
down a truck, the depart-
ment was able to rely on the
two other pumper/tenders
and, he said, in an emergen-
cy, they have a mutual-aid
agreement with the Joseph
Fire Department.
Although the department
now is fully equipped, there
are needs for the future,
Karvoski said. He’s prepar-
ing to apply for another grant
through the same program to
replace old, underperforming
extrication equipment often
used to extract people trapped
in crashed vehicles, but also
to tear through metal doors,
cages and anything else fi re-
fi ghters need to get into.
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