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WEDNESDAY • January 1, 2020 • $1.50
City
drops
ball on
2020
■ La Grande
celebrates new
year with annual
block party
Good day to our valued subscriber Terry Gray of La Grande
PUBLIC SAFETY
THAT’S A
WRAP:
Eric Madsen
of Elgin retires
after 23-year
career with OSP
The Observer
“He checked on us every hour and brought us hot coffee. If
it were not for him, I would have had a miserable experience,”
Madsen said.
Fast forward, and Madsen is a retiring OSP senior trooper
who wrapped up a 23-year career Tuesday, one in which he
tried to touch the lives of others the way that trooper did his
in the late 1980s.
Madsen succeeded in a big way in the eyes of people such
as Wade Foersterling of Baker City. Madsen helped Foerster-
ling change a blown tire Dec. 21 on I-84.
“Not only did he get down in the dirt and rocks to help us
change the tire. When the spare was (found to be fl at), he
offered to call the tire store to see if we could fi nd a used tire
and give me a ride to get it,” Foersterling wrote in a letter
sent to The Observer. “He tried to help us in any way he
could. He didn’t need to do as much as he did, and for that, we
will always have his kindness in our hearts.”
Madsen said the opportunity to help people often made his
job a joy.
“I have been blessed to have a career I loved,” he said.
Madsen’s law enforcement career dates back to 1988 when
he began serving as a reserve offi cer for both the Union Coun-
ty Sheriff’s Offi ce and the La Grande Police Department. He
later worked for the Portland Police Bureau and the Umatilla
County Sheriff’s Offi ce before joining OSP in 1997. Madsen
has been in the state police La Grande offi ce since 1999.
Sgt. Kyle Hove credits Madsen with being an outstanding
UNION — Jane and
Frank Wentzel of Baker City
in August 2018 bought land
in Union they hoped to build
a home on.
The property at 103 N.
Bellwood St. is near Cath-
erine Creek and close to their
daughter. The Wentzels, both
in their 70s, saw it as an
ideal spot.
What happened with
trying to build there was far
from ideal. After fi ghting for
more than a year to live on
the land, the Wentzels ended
the effort.
“The most maddening part
was we wanted to use that
land and live there, right by
the riverfront,” Jane Wentzel
said. “But we came to a dead
end.”
Union City Administra-
tor Doug Wiggins said the
Wentzels purchased the land
knowing they would have to
get a conditional use permit
in order to build a home
there. The city zoned the 2.2
acres the Wentzels purchased
as commercial property in
2015 after completing a near-
ly $30,000 study to develop a
zoning map of the city.
Jane Wentzel said she
thought getting the permit
would be a “no-brainer” be-
cause two houses were estab-
lished nearby. The Wentzels
submitted an application for
the permit Oct. 10, 2018. The
city’s planning commission
considered the matter a week
later at a public hearing.
Prior to and during the
hearing, locals spoke for and
against the permit. Busi-
ness owners who shared the
road with the property were
concerned about their ability
to grow their businesses and
stood in opposition. Other
locals were concerned it
would take away land from
new businesses that might
revitalize the community.
“You will add another nail
in Union’s coffi n if this is
approved,” Dick Middleton,
See Madsen / Page 5A
See Fight / Page 5A
The Observer
See New Year / Page 5A
■ Baker City
couple had looked
to build in Union
By Sabrina Thompson
By Sabrina Thompson
LA GRANDE — Despite
the rain, the crowd in down-
town La Grande rang in the
new year and new decade
as part of the annual New
Year’s Eve Block Party.
At midnight, a metal ball
covered in lights descended
the fl agpole atop the Johnson
building. The crowd joined
in counting down from 10 to
one, then burst out in whoops
and shouts of “Happy New
Year” to mark the start of
2020.
Ashley O’Toole of La Grande
founded and organized the
event, now in its sixth year,
which the La Grande Main
Street Downtown organization
hosts. O’Toole said he came
up with the idea for the block
party after seeing a rendering
in 2014 for the refurbishment
of the street corner where a
flagpole and clock topped the
building.
“It reminded me of a New
Year’s Eve party I went to
when I was deployed in
Spain,” said O’Toole, a U.S.
Navy veteran. “They had a
clock and everyone gath-
ered around to watch the
clock turn to midnight and
celebrate.”
He said the ball drop is
based on the famous New
Year’s Eve party in New York
City’s Times Square. This
year, the La Grande ball,
which local contractor Bryan
Grimshaw constructed, has
new light ropes. In previous
years it was decorated with
around 1,500 Christmas
lights.
“The ball looks completely
different,” O’Toole said.
The La Grande Rural Fire
District used one of its ladder
trucks Sunday morning to
reach the top of the build-
ing and place the ball on the
fl agpole. La Grande Main
Street Downtown posted on
Couple
ends
fight
to build
Staff photo by Dick Mason
Oregon State Police senior trooper Eric Madsen communicates Tuesday using his police car’s radio. Madsen
worked in the agency’s La Grande offi ce and retired Tuesday after 23 years on the job.
By Dick Mason, The Observer
LA GRANDE — Three decades ago
in far from ideal circumstances, Eric
Madsen, then a National Guardsman,
received a glimpse of his future.
Madsen was stuck in a ditch
in a fi ve-ton unheated military
vehicle that had $2 million worth of
equipment. A careless truck driver
had forced the rig off Interstate 84
near Meacham. Madsen and another
Guardsman faced a seven-hour
wait for a tow in frigid conditions. A
generous Oregon State Police trooper
made that wait bearable.
Truck inspections crucial to ODOT’s ‘vision zero’
■ State wants zero deaths on its roads by 2035, but
an increasing number of trucks is taxing inspectors
Editor’s Note: This is Part 2 of a two-
part series on crashes involving trucks
and the inspections completed by the
Oregon Department of Transportation
to prevent them.
By Sam Stites
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Truck inspections
are the primary tool for prevent-
ing accidents that disrupt Oregon’s
highways, hospitalize thousands
and leave hundreds dead each year.
The Oregon Department of
Transportation raised the bar for
safety in adopting a new action
plan in 2016. The agency envisions
a future with no deaths from traffi c
accidents on Oregon’s roads.
While crashes involving commer-
cial trucks account for only a small
portion of the state’s annual death
INDEX
Business ...... 1B
Classified ..... 4B
Comics ......... 7B
Crossword ... 5B
WEATHER
Dear Abby .... 7B
Horoscope ... 5B
Lottery.......... 2A
Obituaries .... 3A
FRIDAY
Opinion ........ 4A
Sports .......... 6A
Sudoku ........ 7B
Weather ....... 8B
toll — only 58 of the 502 fatalities
in 2018 involved a truck — ODOT’s
Motor Carrier Division takes seri-
ously the inspection of trucks as a
means of prevention.
The number of vehicle miles
traveled by trucks in Oregon has
increased by 181 million miles the
past decade.
With an increasing number of
trucks on the road, state truck in-
spectors have become smarter about
how they carry out their work, using
data to target repeat offenders and
keep both trucks and drivers with
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Thursday
29 LOW
38/32
An evening
shower
A snow shower
LACK OF SNOW DOESN’T DETER ELK
chronic issues off the road.
In 2018, state specialists com-
pleted 18,549 inspections and issued
more than 3,500 citations and
warnings.
Through November, there have
been more than 16,500 inspections
and 2,900 warnings or citations is-
sued to drivers or trucking compa-
nies this year. A majority of those
inspections are done at ports of
entry at Woodburn, Klamath Falls,
Huntington, Ashland and Cascade
Locks.
See Vision / Page 5A
CONTACT US
HAVE A STORY IDEA?
541-963-3161
Call The Observer newsroom at
541-963-3161 or send an email to
news@lagrandeobserver.com.
More contact info on Page 4A.
Issue 1
3 sections, 24 pages
La Grande, Oregon
Online at lagrandeobserver.com