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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 2020)
COFFEE BREAK 6B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 2020 Ashes have waited 30 years His air dwindling, avalanche to be scattered over Hawaii PACIFIC NORTHWEST DEAR ABBY: Thirty years ago, a friend of my husband’s roommate passed away of AIDS and was cremated. His family had ostracized him. I have no idea who they are or where they are. The roommate left and later died, also from AIDS. He left his friend’s ashes in his old room in my husband’s house in the San Francisco Bay area with instructions to scatter them in Hawaii. The ashes have been sitting reverently in a cardboard box on a shelf in our several homes for all these 30 years. We are still together, but getting old. There is no paperwork of any kind. All we know about the deceased is his name and the fact that he was a friend. Before I die, I would like to resolve this problem and arrange for the ashes to have a permanent resting place, preferably in Hawaii. I have a nephew who lives on the Big Island, where the scattering should take place. How should I proceed, in light of the no paperwork problem? — MIKE IN CALIFORNIA DEAR MIKE: I applaud your caring heart and your determination to carry out this man’s last wishes. I took your question to Joshua Slocum, executive director of the Funeral Consumers Alliance, and this is what he told me: “There is no impediment to your taking the ashes and placing them where you wish since there are no relatives who have an interest in them. If you plan to carry them on an airplane, be sure to have them in a scannable container — nothing metal or such heavy earthenware that an X-ray scanner would be prevented from seeing inside. There is no requirement that you carry a death certifi cate, or any other cer- tifi cate, with you. You do not need ‘papers’ to walk around with an urn or to travel with one. “As far as scattering goes, people scatter ashes all the time. Cremated remains are sterile calcium and no threat at all to the environment. While public lands usually discourage, or prohibit by rule, scattering of ashes, it is common practice that cannot be stopped. Use discretion and care — there is no such thing as ‘ashes police.’” survivor faced ‘the inevitable’ DEAR ABBY: I am older and on a fi xed income. At times I still date, and I’m not sure how to handle this. After one or two dinners out or glasses of wine, etc., I feel my dates are waiting for me to treat them, and I can’t afford it. I don’t know how to explain that I don’t have enough money to do that. I’m a very giving person, and I would love to make them dinner if I knew them better. One time I brought someone a huge amount of beautiful DEAR organic vegetables, but that ABBY wasn’t enough. He was really upset I didn’t buy him wine on one of the dates. What to do? — REALLY WISH I COULD DEAR REALLY WISH: The person who was really upset that you didn’t buy him wine on one of those dates should have been told that you are on a fi xed income and it wasn’t within your budget. You should also have told him you were reciprocating within your ability. If he needed a drink that badly, he could have paid for his own. You’re lucky to be rid of him. In the future, tell the man you are seeing that after you know him better, you would love to treat him to some home-cooked meals, which might actually be nicer than what you can afford to buy him in a restau- rant. He might appreciate both your candor and the food. If he doesn’t, I think you will be lucky to be rid of him, too. By Nicholas Geranios The Associated Press KELLOGG, Idaho — Buried under about 10 feet of snow after an avalanche this week at an Idaho ski resort, Bill Fuzak made peace with his predicament and prepared for death. ‘’Ï had already relegated myself to the inevitable as I knew the air would not last long,’’ Fuzak, 62, wrote on a public Facebook page for skiers. “I’m really surprised how calm I felt but knew there was nothing I could do but wait and pray.’’ His prayers were an- swered and Fuzak became one of four survivors extricated from Tuesday’s avalanche at the Silver Mountain Resort near Kel- logg, Idaho. Two other skiers were killed and one is still missing. The resort re- mained closed on Thursday as about 120 searchers with dogs and a helicopter tried to fi nd the missing skier presumably buried in snow. Fuzak, a skier who lives in the nearby Spokane, Washington, area, could easily have been killed. He was entombed in the snow for about 50 minutes, much longer than most avalanche survivors. Unable to move anything but his right hand, he cleared snow from his face and mouth. At some point, he passed out. “The fi rst thing I remem- ber when coming back to consciousness was a group of rescuers cheering that a survivor had been located, me,’’ Fuzak wrote in what he DEAR ABBY: How do you cut off a person who talks constantly without a break? By the time a lull in her speech, I have forgotten what I wanted to add to the conversation. — WORD IN EDGEWISE IN PENNSYLVANIA DEAR WORD: I have encountered compulsive talkers like her. They are exhausting. Remember, she has to breathe sometime. The minute she starts to inhale, start talkin’! Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069. weather The Associated Press The Coeur d’Alene Fire Department K-9 Team responds to Silver Mountain for an avalanche in Kellogg, Idaho. Offi cials are searching for a person who was skiing at an Idaho resort near where avalanches killed two skiers and injured fi ve others. called a ‘’personal summary’’ on Facebook about the ordeal. Fuzak wrote that he was among a group of skiers and snowboarders he knew, heading down Wardner Peak on a diffi cult run called 16-to-1 at about 11 a.m. “’The snow started to fracture above us as well as below us and the slide started to propagate and accelerate,’’ he wrote. Fuzak then fell and said he started “swimming to try and stay on top of the slide.” The slide eventually stopped. Completely buried, Fuzak managed to punch a hole through the snow that let air fl ow in. “Within seconds, another, more powerful slide hit and buried my breathing hole under what felt like feet of snow,” Fuzak wrote. “At this point I tried to calm my breathing and conserve air.” He passed out and then woke up to cheers from the AROUND OREGON AND THE REGION Astoria Longview 43/48 Kennewick 44/46 St. Helens 43/47 40/47 36/48 44/48 44/47 Condon SAT SUN MON TUE Snow at times, 1-3” Chilly with snow Very cold with snow 40 27 36 19 0 0 0 39 27 33 14 21 -1 0 0 0 Baker City 30 39 30 Comfort Index™ La Grande 0 32 39 31 Comfort Index™ Enterprise 0 0 0 30 37 27 Comfort Index™ 0 29 0 0 0 0 WED. EXTREMES TEMPERATURES Baker City La Grande Elgin NATION (for the 48 contiguous states) High Wednesday Low Wednesday High: 79° Low: -30° Wettest: 1.21” 42° 27° 43° 31° 43° 33° PRECIPITATION (inches) Wednesday Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Normal year to date 0.01 0.02 0.23 0.02 0.23 0.12 0.54 0.45 0.54 0.45 0.12 1.48 0.85 1.48 0.85 AGRICULTURAL INFO. HAY INFORMATION SATURDAY Lowest relative humidity Afternoon wind Hours of sunshine Evapotranspiration 60% W at 10 to 20 mph 2.8 0.05 RESERVOIR STORAGE (through midnight Thursday) Phillips Reservoir Unity Reservoir Owyhee Reservoir McKay Reservoir Wallowa Lake Thief Valley Reservoir 23% of capacity 43% of capacity 68% of capacity 21% of capacity 40% of capacity 101% of capacity STREAM FLOWS (through midnight Wednesday) Grande Ronde at Troy 1140 cfs Thief Valley Reservoir near North Powder 41 cfs Burnt River near Unity 10 cfs Umatilla River near Gibbon 153 cfs Minam River at Minam 126 cfs Powder River near Richland 74 cfs Deaside Crater Lake Brookings The heaviest snowstorm ever to affect the Southeast coast of the United States struck on Jan. 10, 1800. The port of Charleston, S.C., received 10 inches. SUN & MOON FRI. 7:31 a.m. 4:29 p.m. 4:33 p.m. 7:33 a.m. SAT. 7:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. 5:44 p.m. 8:25 a.m. MOON PHASES Full Jan 10 Last Jan 17 New Jan 24 Beaver Marsh 43/49 First Feb 1 nee R d E O M u, k o d u S , s g n Show Listi , Crosswords rts o p S , h c r a e Word S re...? o M & s e z z i Qu Burns Jordan Valley 29/35 Paisley 30/38 Frenchglen 30/38 City Astoria Bend Boise Brookings Burns Coos Bay Corvallis Council Elgin Eugene Hermiston Hood River Imnaha John Day Joseph Kennewick Klamath Falls Lakeview Hi/Lo/W 48/42/sh 40/28/sn 40/32/sn 48/40/r 39/26/sf 48/43/sh 48/41/sh 35/19/sn 39/31/sn 49/41/sh 52/42/sh 47/39/r 40/27/sn 39/29/sn 37/25/sn 51/41/sh 38/25/sn 37/21/sf Hi/Lo/W 48/35/r 41/24/sn 36/32/sn 49/41/sh 37/23/sn 50/41/r 48/37/r 33/20/sn 38/26/sn 48/38/r 52/32/sh 46/33/sh 37/21/sh 40/23/sn 35/20/sn 52/31/sh 38/28/sh 36/26/sh Diamond Grand View Arock 29/36 30/42 33/42 30/41 Klamath Falls 31/38 Lakeview 29/37 McDermitt Shown is Saturday’s weather. Temperatures are Friday night’s lows and Saturday’s highs. SUN. Boise 34/40 Fields Medford SAT. 33/43 Silver Lake 31/36 39/44 43/48 Juntura 30/39 42/48 Brookings Ontario 32/42 31/37 28/37 RECREATION FORECAST SATURDAY REGIONAL CITIES WEATHER HISTORY Sunrise Sunset Moonrise Moonset 44/46 31/36 29/33 Roseburg Powers Brothers 39/41 Coos Bay Huntington 30/34 36/40 Oakridge 27/35 30/42 Seneca Bend Elkton Grants Pass OREGON High: 51° Low: 20° Wettest: 0.66” Florence Council 30/39 36/39 36/41 Chiloquin Hollywood, Fla. Kabetogama, Minn. Brookings, Ore. 28/34 John Day 36/44 Sisters 45/48 Comfort Index takes into account how the weather will feel based on a combination of factors. A rating of 10 feels very comfortable while a rating of 0 feels very uncomfortable. ALMANAC Eugene 44/48 19 -2 29/39 Baker City Redmond 43/48 47/48 Halfway Granite 42/48 Newport 43/49 31 14 36/41 37/40 44/48 Corvallis Enterprise 30/37 32/39 Monument 38/47 Idanha Salem 7 37 22 Elgin 31/39 La Grande 36/41 Maupin Occasional snow, 1-3” 39/46 Pendleton The Dalles Portland Newberg Lewiston 36/44 Hood River 39/46 TIllamook 2-4” of snow Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020 Walla Walla 41/51 Vancouver 42/46 44/46 TONIGHT rescuers and a ski patrol member holding his hand. ‘’My hands and feet were extremely cold but I was uninjured, breathing and moving well,’’ Fuzak wrote. “’I was more than ready to get out of my encasement, afraid that a 3rd slide would bury me again.’’ The avalanche came after the ski resort in the Idaho Panhandle, received heavy snow and resort crews used explosives the morning of the slide to try to reduce avalanche threats on Ward- ner Peak, where all of the runs are rated as diffi cult. Fuzak and three other skiers who were not identi- fi ed were rescued, but two skiers died. They were identifi ed by the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Offi ce on Thursday as Carl Hum- phreys, 58, of Liberty Lake, Washington, and Scott Par- sons, 46, of Spokane Valley, Washington. City Lewiston Longview Meacham Medford Newport Olympia Ontario Pasco Pendleton Portland Powers Redmond Roseburg Salem Spokane The Dalles Ukiah Walla Walla SAT. SUN. Hi/Lo/W 44/35/sn 46/41/sh 37/29/sn 44/35/r 48/43/sh 46/39/c 42/32/sn 52/42/sh 46/35/sh 48/42/sh 46/41/sh 44/29/sn 49/40/sh 48/42/sh 37/28/sf 48/39/sn 36/28/sn 46/37/sn Hi/Lo/W 44/32/sh 46/34/r 36/24/sn 44/37/sh 48/39/r 44/30/r 41/30/sn 53/34/sh 47/29/sh 48/38/r 48/39/r 45/27/sn 48/40/r 48/37/r 38/17/sn 49/34/sh 36/20/sn 46/30/sh Weather(W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice Check out our new TV Magazine ANTHONY LAKES PHILLIPS LAKE Windy Snow, 1-3” 22 11 36 25 MT. EMILY REC. BROWNLEE RES. Snow, 1-3” Snow showers 31 23 39 22 EAGLE CAP WILD. EMIGRANT ST. PARK Snow, 2-4” Snow, 1-3” 27 16 33 26 WALLOWA LAKE MCKAY RESERVOIR Snow, 2-4” Windy 37 25 45 34 THIEF VALLEY RES. RED BRIDGE ST. PARK Snow, 1-3” Snow, 1-3” 39 30 39 31 Y R E EV Y A D I FR BL E LOGO REVERS R - COLO B
