The Observer., January 24, 2020, Page 5, Image 5

LOCAL
FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2020
THE OBSERVER — 5A
CARRIERS
Continued from Page 1A
newspaper outside her back door.
“I don’t want her to slip and fall
(walking down her driveway),” he said.
The carrier often checks in on
this woman and others with fragile
health to make sure they are okay.
Smith will sometimes call the fami-
lies of someone living alone who is
in need of assistance.
Leana Vanderbilt also frets about
the customers on her route.
“I like to check in to see how they
are doing,” Vanderbilt said.
She has provided some with fi re-
wood and often shovels snow from
the driveways of others.
Vanderbilt makes her deliveries
with one of her two dogs, Apollo, a
Border collie, or Sophie, a Chihua-
hua-dachshund mix, in her car.
“They are my co-pilots,” she said.
Many of The Observer’s carriers
need multiple hours to complete
their deliveries, sometimes longer
if they meet a customer who wants
to engage in conversation. Melissa
Depuy said many of her customers
are eager to talk to her and she is
glad to lend an ear.
“It is too bad we don’t get paid
by the hour,” said Depuy, who often
makes her deliveries with the help
of her father, Ralph.
Depuy has a total of 200 papers
on her four routes and said they
take about three hours to complete
when her father helps and four
hours when alone. Her father’s help
makes a big difference because a
portion of her routes are on foot.
One of Depuy’s more unforgetta-
ble delivery experiences was the day
a friendly Yorkshire terrier jumped
into the front seat of her vehicle
through an open window. Depuy
soon returned the dog to its relieved
owner but not before a delightful
few minutes with the canine.
Unfortunately, not all of the dogs
on Depuy’s routes are as delightful.
She said cantankerous dogs on her
route at times have briefl y delayed
her deliveries.
RATES
Continued from Page 1A
Mendoza said the district,
though it would like to see
perfect completion rates,
understands students may
need to go down a different
path to succeed.
“We are focused on helping
students complete school
in a way that best fi ts their
needs,” Mendoza said.
Mendoza said there are
several steps the district will
need to take to bring gradua-
tion rates back up, including
improving attendance rates,
communication with students,
parents and staff and imple-
menting more concrete plans
for graduation and completion.
“These are things we do
but we need to do them bet-
ter,” Mendoza said. “We need
to help students get wher-
ever it is they want to go.”
The district already is mak-
ing efforts toward improve-
ments with its new strategic
plan, he said, and maintain-
ing a school nurse and thera-
pist can help students achieve
success.
“There is a story for every
child and every situation,”
Mendoza said. “We want to
work with our children to get
them where they want to go.
We want to pressure them to
do a good job and graduate
but support them along the
way.”
Elgin came in lowest in
the county with a gradua-
tion rate of 75%, down 11%
from the previous year. Elgin
superintendent Dianne Greif
said she did not want to com-
ment until she had a chance
to review the state’s data.
State education depart-
ment spokesperson Peter
Rudy said the data regarding
graduation rates is reported
by the individual school
districts, which could request
an embargoed release of
statewide data.
Union School District also
Staff photo by Ronald Bond
Lonnie Dayley counts copies of Monday’s edition of The Observer in La Grande before hitting the deliv-
ery route. His brother Clifford Dayley is a paper carrier, and their father was as well.
“Sometimes I will walk around the
block until a dog is gone” and then
deliver the customer’s paper, she said.
Problem dogs are not an issue for
all Observer carriers because some
have routes that do not require foot
deliveries. However, bad weather
challenges all of them. Few have had
more unnerving experiences than
Bruce Lovan, who once had a fright-
ening moment on an icy hill in Cove.
“I slid down sideways,” Lovan said.
He said he emerged from the
harrowing experience unscathed
because he is an avid video game
player. Lovan credited the dexterity
he developed from his hobby with
preventing him from getting into
an accident on the icy hill.
“It really made a difference,”
Lovan said.
The key to driving successfully
in bad conditions while delivering
newspapers is understanding the
capabilities of your vehicle, said
Lonnie Dayley.
“You can’t be afraid,” Dayley said.
Dayley said his late father
taught him many tricks of the art
Graduation rates
for 2018-19 school
year
Imbler: 100%
North Powder: 100%
Cove: 93.1%
Union: 91.18%
La Grande: 79.87%
Elgin: 75%
Statewide average: 80%
Source: The Oregon Department of
Education
had a decline in its gradua-
tion rate, although the district
remained above the state
average. The district fell from
100% in 2017-18 to 91.18%.
Superintendent Carter Wells
said the district attributes the
change to people moving in
and out of the district.
“There are all kinds of
variables to student graduation
rates,” Wells said. “Each situa-
tion and each child is different.”
Wells said despite this drop,
the high rate is attributable
to having a good staff that
cares about their students.
“Kids are not considered
numbers in the Union School
District,” he said. “We try to give
every kid every opportunity we
can to get them to graduation.”
One of the ways Union is
looking to help with student
success is the adoption of a
new math curriculum that
teaches the subject through a
workforce lens, such as using
algebra in construction work.
Wells said the new state
regulations and require-
ments for math can create a
barrier and having this class
can help get students past
that barrier. The district also
has a connections class that
brings together students
and teachers to help keep
students on track.
Cove had a rate of 93.1%.
The Observer was unable
to speak with Cove and
North Powder school district
superintendents by the time
of publication.
of delivering newspapers.
“He taught me everything, and I
mean everything,” Lonnie Dayley
said.
Dayley said his father did not
like it when carriers rolled up
newspapers and then put rubber
bands on them because this creates
too many creases. Rather than roll-
ing the newspapers, he preferred
to fold each into a square, using
a relatively complicated process, be-
cause it resulted in fewer creases.
Darold Dayley would quickly fold
the newspapers as he carried them
from the street to people’s houses.
“I don’t see how he did it,” Lonnie
Dayley said. “It was amazing.”
But he most remembers his
father for his compassion.
“He was there for you no matter
what,” Lonnie Dayley said of his
father, who came to La Grande from
The Dalles where he had worked in
the circulation department and as a
pressman for The Dalles Chronicle.
Observer carrier Clifford Dayley,
who more than two decades ago
served as circulation manager of
MORAINE
Continued from Page 1A
according to a news release from the
Moraines Partnership, and will manage
the area “as a working community forest,
protecting native plants, wildlife habitat
and cultural resources while providing
non-motorized recreational access and
returns to the local economy through
sustainable forestry and grazing.”
The Wallowa Lake Moraines Part-
nership reached a deal in January 2019
to buy the land from the family trust
for $6 million. But the partnership had
until Jan. 31 to raise the money.
The group launched into pedal-to-the-
metal fundraising. Individual donors
contributed more than $1.1 million to
the purchase. The Oregon Parks and
Recreation contributed $1 million and
its staff is helping to draft the land’s
recreation plan. The Nez Perce Tribe
gave $300,000 to the campaign and also
is helping with the management plan.
The tribe considers the land sacred, and
it offers a valuable habitat connection
between the Wallowa Valley fl oor, the
Wallowa-Whitman National Forest and
the Eagle Cap Wilderness Area.
Nez Perce Tribe Executive Direc-
tor Rebecca Miles in the news release
described the purchase as a dream
come true that erases fears of potential
development on the moraine.
“This is a historical feat for the
permanent protection of such sacred
lands,” she stated. “The protections of
this property will ensure our ancestors
and our way of life are forever protect-
ed and continue on.”
Most of the money came in the form
of a $3.5 million federal Forest Legacy
grant.
Amy Singh with the Oregon Depart-
ment of Forestry worked on two sepa-
rate applications for the federal grant
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Ellen Morris Bishop/EO Media Group
Nearly 1,800 acres of the East Moraine on the left side of Wallowa Lake
now is under the ownership of Wallowa County. In the near future, the
county and other members of the Wallowa Lake Moraines Partnership
will develop a plan for public access and sustainable grazing and timber
harvest that will be available for public review.
funds that provided more than half of
the purchase price.
It was a huge sum relative to the
Forest Legacy grants Oregon has
received in the past. To date, the state
has secured $8.2 million from the For-
est Legacy Fund to protect forestland
on four different properties. The fund
draws from offshore drilling fees col-
lected in the federal Land and Water
Conservation Fund.
“This property exemplifi es every-
thing Forest Legacy looks to protect,”
Singh said, noting that the fund aims
to preserve a working forest landscape
with public access. “It’s unique and
different in terms of the iconic, scenic
landscape, geologic and cultural his-
tory of the property.”
The grant funding comes with some
strings attached, requiring forested
areas on the property remain 75%
forested with a sustainable timber
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management plan the Oregon Depart-
ment of Forestry will help develop.
Kathleen Ackley, executive director
of the Wallowa Land Trust, said Wal-
lowa Lake is a textbook example of a
lake formed by the retreat of glaciers.
“Even when you’re standing at
the foot of the lake it almost looks
fake — like it’s an artifi cially created
landscape. It’s so perfect,” she said. “For
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Ackley said it’s rare to see most mo-
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Nicole Cathey
The Dalles Chronicle, echoed his
brother’s comments about his fa-
ther’s compassion. He said Darold
Dayley had an uncanny ability to
work with young people, which was
critical during his tenure because
then many of The Observer’s car-
riers were boys and girls, unlike
today when all carriers are adults.
Clifford Dayley said his father was
able to keep routes fi lled because
he was a high school sports referee,
which helped him get to know many
young families in the Grande Ronde
Valley who had sons and daughters
who could serve as carriers.
“He knew everybody,” said Clifford
Dayley, an Observer carrier since 2007.
Clifford and Lonnie Dayley
and all of The Observer’s carriers
recently received the sobering news
that the newspaper will switch to
mail delivery Feb. 4 as a measure
to boost effi ciency. This means car-
riers will no longer make home de-
liveries. The paper will retain some
carriers to deliver to newspaper
racks and help with other distribu-
tion work, but the majority will no
longer be doing work connected
with this newspaper.
Craft said her carriers responded
to the adverse news not with anger
but empathy.
“They wanted to know if I would
be okay. They were more worried
about me than themselves,” said
The Observer’s regional circulation
director, who will retain her job.
When one person quit after hear-
ing the news, Craft said the others
volunteered to help take over the
carrier’s routes.
“They are a great team,” she said.
The Observer published six days
a week through 2009, then shifted
to fi ve days a week and in 2012
moved to the present three days a
week schedule. Observer publisher
Karrine Brogoitti explained the pa-
per has had a diffi cult time fi nding
carriers for routes after going to the
three-day schedule. With fewer de-
liveries, carriers made less money.
Brogoitti said the diffi culty in
recruiting carriers created many
challenges, especially when there
weren’t enough carriers to cover
all the routes. Often carriers would
take on additional routes to help
out. Brogoitti said she could not be
more pleased with how The Ob-
server’s long-standing carriers have
stepped up during multiple changes.
Moving to a same-day mail
delivery system means Observer
customers will receive editions the
same day they are published.
Brogoitti said The Observer’s
change may not impact overall em-
ployment in Union County since the
La Grande offi ce of the U.S. Postal
Service will be hiring extra staff to
deliver the newspapers. La Grande
Postmaster Kelly Carreiro said
Thursday that additional delivery
staff will be brought on after The Ob-
server’s switch to mail delivery and
the offi ce can evaluate the effects.
Brogoitti and Craft both said
making the switch to mail delivery
has been heart-wrenching because
they think so highly of their carriers.
“I hope nothing but the best for
them, the very best,” Craft said.
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