MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2019
2019: YEAR IN REVIEW
THE OBSERVER — 2C
Counting down: The Observer’s top 10 stories of 2019
10 — The purchase of
the Flying J
The restaurant at the Flying
J truck stop on the outskirts of
La Grande was a popular eat-
ery and meeting spot. But on
Nov. 3, owner Brian Waldrop
shut it down with little notice
to the community.
Public records, however,
revealed Pilot Travel Centers
— which does business as
Pilot Flying J — bought
the place for a mere $10,
although there could have
been other parts of the
transaction that were just
between the parties. Records
with the La Grande Building
Department showed Pilot
Flying J plans an $800,000
remodel of the restaurant
interior, including putting in
a Subway restaurant and a
Mama Deluca’s pizza place,
effectively nixing the estab-
lishment for meetups.
After The Observer pub-
lished the story, Pilot Flying
J sent a news release about
the acquisition and coming
renovations.
9 — Union passes
school bond
Staff photo by Phil Wright
Pilot Travel Centers — which does business as Pilot Flying J — became the new corporate owner of the Flying J truck stop on the outskirts of
La Grande. The restaurant was a popular eatery and meeting spot. But on Nov. 3, local owners shut it down with little notice to the community.
Voters in the Union School
District in November over-
whelmingly approved a $4
million bond to help pay for
major upgrades to its build-
ings. The passage — 65.7%
to 34.3% — in the small
district qualified for a match-
ing grant from the Oregon
School Capital Improvement
Program, thus giving the
district $8 million.
The Union School Board
developed a list of 18 projects
for the funds, from security
improvements to repairing
roofs and crumbling concrete
stairs. The board in December
selected the Wenaha Group as
the construction management
provider for the three-year
renovation plan.
8 — Market Place
Fresh Foods opens in
downtown La Grande
The grocery store at the
corner of Fourth Street and
Adams Avenue in La Grande
re-opened its doors to custom-
ers in May, giving downtown
a place to shop and dine in.
New co-owners Marco
Rennie and David Yount
bought the business in May
2018 and rebranded it with
a focus on community while
keeping it part of the larger
Market Place complex, along
with Le BeBe Cakes and the
Market Place Underground.
7 — Boardman
to Hemingway
transmission line
moves forward in
state approval process
The massive project to
build a 293-mile, 500-kilovolt
transmission line across much
of Eastern Oregon continued
to trudge through the Oregon
Department of Energy’s
multi-year review. Even so,
the La Grande City Council in
April declared its opposition to
the project, which would pass
through Union County and
the La Grande area.
Two groups based in La
Grande — Stop B2H Coalition
and Greater Hells Canyon
Council — filed a lawsuit in
federal court in November
to block the project, contend-
ing the Bureau of Land
Staff photo by Dick Mason
Staff photo by Ronald Bond
Chop Shop knife artist Derrick Erickson cuts a yellow watermelon soon after the 2019
opening of Market Place Fresh Foods in downtown La Grande.
Management and U.S. Forest
Service, which authorized the
transmission line, failed to
adequately review the poten-
tial environmental and other
effects of the power line that
Idaho Power Company wants
to build.
The state energy depart-
ment’s Energy Facility Siting
Council met in Pendleton
in December to review the
project’s draft review order
and take comments from the
public and Idaho Power.
6 — Union County
Sheriff’s Office
makes arrest in 2018
Cove homicide
Loretta Williams was at
her home in Cove on the
phone with 911 early Nov.
18, 2018, when dispatchers
heard her confront a man
and then the sound of a loud
noise. Law enforcement
arrived moments later. Wil-
liams was dead, the victim of
at least one gunshot.
The Union County
Sheriff’s Office on Feb. 21
Students exit from the north entrance of Union High
School Nov. 18. Union voters passed a $4 million bond
Nov. 5 to help pay for major upgrades to the school.
arrested Ronald Dwight
Lee, 72, of La Grande, for
her murder. Lee and Wil-
liams were getting a divorce,
according to Union County
Sheriff Boyd Rasmussen.
The following month, the
sheriff’s office arrested Steve
Edward Hamilton, 66, of La
Grande, also for the murder
and for conspiracy to commit
murder. Rasmussen said the
two men knew each other,
but he has not divulged de-
tails of that relationship.
The district attorney’s office
at that time amended its
charges against Lee to include
conspiracy to commit murder.
State court records show
Hamilton’s defense attorney,
Kara Davis of Pendleton,
asked for a conference to settle
the case. Umatilla County
Circuit Judge Dan Hill is pre-
siding over that meeting on
Jan. 7, 2020, in La Grande.
Lee and his defense at-
Staff photo by Sabrina Thompson
torney, Dean Gushwa of
A train in early December passes behind Calvary Chapel in downtown La Grande. The
Pendleton, meanwhile, are
blare of train horns were an all-day occurrence that interrupted sermons at the church. That
heading to trial beginning
changed Dec. 27 when La Grande’s quiet zone, banning most train horns, went into effect.
April 1, 2020.
Happy New Year *
The old is gone
And the new is here.
Thank you for your Business in 2019!
1401 Adams • La Grande • 541-963-6402 • www.claudsons.com