Sports
Inside
Hitting the ground running
FRIDAY-SUNDAY • January 17-19, 2020 • $1.50
Union County
Dancer
Moore-
Hemann
Telling
stories
across
the area
Joseph gym decimated, 2A
Skiing Meacham Divide, 1B
Good day to our valued subscriber Kim Justice of La Grande
Union County
NORTHEAST OREGON
BETTER
ROADS:
A little salt
seems to make
for safer winter
road conditions
■ Agency looking
for volunteers in
NE Oregon
By Phil Wright
The Observer
■ News anchor-
turned-travel-
vlogger Rick Dancer
visits Union County
By Jayson Jacoby
EO Media Group
BAKER CITY — Rick
Dancer likes to tell stories,
and some of his favorite
chapters are from Eastern
Oregon.
He’ll be adding several
new ones over the next week
and a half or so as he and
his wife, Kathy, travel across
Baker, Union and Wal-
lowa counties to showcase,
through videos on Facebook
Live and Instagram, some of
the region’s winter recreation
pursuits.
“We feel like rural Oregon
has all these great stories
to tell, but they don’t have a
voice in the Valley,” Dancer
said.
He’s referring to the Wil-
lamette Valley.
Dancer lives in Eugene,
where he worked for 25 years
as a TV news anchor. He also
ran against Kate Brown for
Oregon Secretary of State in
2008.
Dancer’s Facebook home —
he describes it as an “experi-
ential travel vlog” — is PNW
BackStories.
The tourism marketing
agencies for Baker, Union
and Wallowa counties are
sharing the $6,500 cost to
bring Dancer to the region for
the winter tour.
Suzannah Moore-Hemann,
executive director of the
Union County Chamber of
Commerce, explained she,
Timothy Bishop, director of
Travel Baker County, the
county’s contracted tourism
promoter, and Vicki Searles,
executive director of the
Red
Cross in
need
of help
Staff photo by Dick Mason
Sean Rohan with the Oregon Department of Transportation moves salt Wednesday afternoon with a loader.
The state road agency keeps the salt it distributes on Interstate 84 between Boardman and Ontario at a
number of large sheds, including this one in La Grande.
By Dick Mason, The Observer
LA GRANDE — A mineral best
known for adding zest to meals is being
welcomed again this winter by motorists
who have no taste for adventuresome
driving.
The Oregon Department of
Transportation has been using rock salt
to reduce ice on Interstates 84 and 82
in Northeast Oregon for the past three
years. Statistics are not yet available to
indicate if the salt is reducing crashes,
but anecdotal information about the
effectiveness of its use is promising.
“I don’t get as many calls at night as I used to about
the interstate being closed because of serious crashes,”
said Oregon Department of Transportation spokesper-
son Tom Strandberg. “There is less ice and snowpack on
the roads.”
Karl Farber, lieutenant at the Oregon State Police
command in Pendleton, said he has noticed a difference
since the transportation department began using salt.
“It just seems like it clears up the roads faster,” Farber
said.
Ace Clark, manager of ODOT’s District 13, agrees
roads clear up faster after storms now. That’s because
salt prevents ice from forming under the snow. This
means when crews push away snow with plows after a
storm the road under it is often instantly clear of snow
and ice.
Clark said ODOT snowplow operators “say it comes
off like sheets.”
ODOT received permission to begin using rock salt in
Northeast Oregon after a pilot project on two roadways
in Southeast and Southern Oregon were successful: the
120-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 95 in the southeastern
corner of Oregon between the Nevada and Idaho borders
and an 11-mile section of Interstate 5 over Siskiyou Pass
on the southern end of the state.
See Salt / Page 5A
LA GRANDE — Nadine
McCrindle hasn’t been with
the Red Cross for very long,
but she’s facing a challenge.
The new executive director
of the Red Cross region in
Central and Eastern Oregon
is in need of disaster
response volunteers.
“The people we have who
are specifi -
cally involved
in these types
of disaster
responses are
really, really
McCrindle special human
beings,” she
said. “On a larger scale, they
are often the same people
who will be deployed to
natural disasters that hap-
pen across the country, like
hurricanes, wildfi res, those
types of things. And when
you meet them all in a large
group, there’s a specifi c type
of person who does this type
of volunteer work, and yeah,
it’s really special.”
Red Cross has four volun-
teers in Union County, Mc-
Crindle said, but the county
optimally needs a total of 14
volunteers. Baker County
has six but needs six more.
Wallowa County has zero
Red Cross volunteers and
needs 11.
The volunteers support
the community across three
main roles: sheltering people
in need, government liaison
work and serving on the Di-
saster Action Team to handle
local emergencies. Being
down 27 people in Northeast
Oregon, she said, means the
few volunteers are handling
more calls for help, and that
can wear people down.
“What we want to make
sure is we don’t burn out
volunteers,” she said.
Since July 1, 2019, Red
Cross volunteers have re-
sponded four times in Union
See Stories / Page 5A
See Help / Page 5A
The Nation
Trump’s trial begins at the start of an election
By Lisa Mascaro
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Sen-
ate opened the impeachment trial of
President Donald Trump with quiet
ceremony Thursday — senators
standing at their desks to swear an
oath of “impartial justice” as jurors,
House prosecutors formally reciting
the charges and Chief Justice John
Roberts presiding.
The trial, only the third such
undertaking in American history, is
unfolding at the start of the election
year, a time of deep political division
in the nation. Four of the senators
sitting in judgment on Trump are
running for the Democratic Party’s
nomination to challenge him in the
fall.
“Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye!”
intoned the Senate’s sergeant at
arms, calling the proceedings to
order just past noon.
INDEX
Classified ..... 2B
Comics ......... 5B
Crossword ... 3B
Dear Abby .... 6B
WEATHER
Horoscope ... 3B
Lottery.......... 2A
Obituaries .... 3A
Opinion ........ 4A
MONDAY
Outdoors ..... 1B
Sports .......... 7A
Sudoku ........ 5B
Weather ....... 6B
Senators fi lled the chamber,
an unusual sight in itself, sitting
silently under strict rules that
prohibit talking or cellphones,
for a trial that will test not only
Trump’s presidency but also the
nation’s three branches of power
and its system of checks and bal-
ances.
The Constitution mandates the
chief justice serve as the presid-
ing offi cer, and Roberts made the
See Trump / Page 5A
CONTACT US
Full forecast on the back of B section
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
29 LOW
36/27
38/31
Snow, up to 1”
A bit of snow
Cloudy
CELEBRATING JACK BURNELL
short trip across the street from the
Supreme Court to the Capitol. He
has long insisted judges are not poli-
ticians and is expected to serve as a
referee for the proceedings. Senators
rose quickly when he appeared in
his plain black robe.
“Will all senators now stand, and
remain standing, and raise their
right hand,” Roberts said.
“Do you solemnly swear that in
541-963-3161
Issue 151
2 sections, 18 pages
La Grande, Oregon
Email story ideas
to news@lagrande
observer.com .
More contact info
on Page 4A.
Online at lagrandeobserver.com