2A — THE OBSERVER
D AILY
P LANNER
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020
LOCAL
Air Quality
Rory Becker at EOU Colloquium
Eastern Oregon Univer-
sity associate professor of
anthropology Rory Becker
discusses the technique his
team of researchers devel-
oped to measure electrical
resistance in sediment to
help answer two key ques-
tions at archeological dig
sites: Where to dig and how
deep? Becker presented the
research Thursday at the
campus in La Grande. He
and the team used the electri-
cal resistance tomography to
map cave dig sites in Croa-
tia. Becker told the crowd
the work proved promising
enough to receive funding
for four more years.
TODAY
Today is Saturday, Feb.
15, the 46th day of 2020.
There are 320 days left in
the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On Feb. 15, 2018, the
last of the bodies of the 17
victims of a school shooting
in Florida were removed from
the building after authorities
analyzed the crime scene; 13
wounded survivors were still
hospitalized. In response to
the Florida school shooting,
President Donald Trump, in
an address to the nation,
promised to “tackle the dif-
fi cult issue of mental health,”
but avoided any mention
of guns. Nikolas Cruz, the
suspect in the shooting at
Marjory Stoneman Douglas
High School, was ordered
held without bond at a brief
court hearing.
ON THIS DATE
In 1933, President-elect
Franklin D. Roosevelt
escaped an assassina-
tion attempt in Miami that
mortally wounded Chicago
Mayor Anton J. Cermak;
gunman Giuseppe Zangara
was executed more than
four weeks later.
In 1961, 73 people,
including an 18-member
U.S. fi gure skating team en
route to the World Champi-
onships in Czechoslovakia,
were killed in the crash of a
Sabena Airlines Boeing 707
in Belgium.
In 1989, the Soviet Union
announced that the last of its
troops had left Afghanistan,
after more than nine years of
military intervention.
In 2004, Dale Earnhardt
Jr. won the Daytona 500 on
the same track where his
father was killed three years
earlier.
In 2005, defrocked priest
Paul Shanley was sentenced
in Boston to 12 to 15 years
in prison on child rape
charges.
Staff photo by Phil Wright
Union School District
Bend firm lands design bid
■ BLRB Architects will design Union School District’s $8M renovation project
By Dick Mason
The Observer
UNION — The Union
School District is another
step closer to starting major
bond-funded renovation
work this summer.
The school board Wednes-
day night named BLRB
Architects of Bend as the
fi rm to design the district’s
$8 million renovations.
Funding comes from the
$4 million bond voters ap-
proved in November plus a
$4 million matching grant
the district received from
the state.
“We feel it would best
meet the needs of the com-
munity and the district,”
superintendent Carter Wells
said of BLRB, which has
offi ces in Portland, Tacoma
and Spokane.
BLRB was one of two
fi rms that put in bids for
the project. A committee
composed of Union teachers,
staff, school board members
and an administrator plus
community members inter-
viewed the two fi rms earlier
this week.
The architects during the
interviews had to come up
with plans for making the
foyer of Union High School’s
Observer fi le photo
Bond funds will pay for major renovation work on Union High School’s gym. The
Union School Board named BLRB Architects of Bend as the fi rm to design the
district’s $8 million project to improve school buildings.
gym more accessible. This
is one element the $8 mil-
lion worth of projects will
address. BLRB’s work on
the foyer design was a
factor in it winning the con-
tract for the Union project.
Other projects the renova-
tion work will cover include:
• Safety improvements
at all schools, including
secure entries and key card
systems for better access
control
• Energy effi ciency
improvements at all schools,
including upgrading the
heating and ventilation
systems
• Improvements to the
district gymnasium and
athletic complex
Wells said he hopes the
schedule for all the projects
will be devised this spring.
The majority of the work
will be done over the next
two summers, he said, but
some could occur when
school is in session as long
as it is safe for students.
“This would speed up the
process,” Wells said.
The school board’s next
step in the renovation
project is to fi nd a general
contractor. The district’s
oversight committee will
begin screening applicants
at the end of the month and
interview fi nalists in early
March.
Elgin
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Powerball: $40 million
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Win for Life: Feb. 12
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Pick 4: Feb. 13
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• 1 p.m.: 4-0-4-7
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DELIVERY ISSUES?
If you have any problems
receiving your Observer,
please call the offi ce at 541-
963-3161.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Like all dreamers I con-
fuse disenchantment with
truth.”
— Jean-Paul Sartre, French
philosopher (1905-1980)
Town rallies to help flood victims
By Sabrina Thompson
The Observer
ELGIN — Despite deal-
ing with fl ooding in their
own backyards after severe
weather last week, Elgin
residents have come together
to help the fl ood relief efforts
in Pendleton.
Locals as of Friday morn-
ing gave enough items to
fi ll about a third of a 30-foot
trailer outside Cowboy and
Angel’s restaurant.
“Elgin is full of good
people who just want to help
each other out,” donation or-
ganizer Dave Fuhrman said.
Fuhrman started collect-
ing items Tuesday and the
local Lions Club provided
the trailer. Donations
include clothing, bedding,
furniture, food, cleaning
supplies and pet supplies.
Fuhrman on Facebook
FAMILY
OWNED
stated there remains a need
for coffeepots, toasters, ev-
eryday household items and
baby formula.
Donations can be dropped
off outside the restaurant
at 795 Alder St., between
8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. until
Sunday, when the trailer
will be taken to Pendleton.
Fuhrman has collected
$100 in person to purchase
additional items. There also
is the “Umatilla County
Disaster Relief Fund” on
the fundraising website
gofundme.com. As of Friday
morning, the fund has
received $2,060 toward its
$5,000 goal.
L
Photo contributed by Dave Fuhrman
As of Friday morning, this 30-foot trailer is about one-
third full of donations of items to be donated to fl ood
relief efforts in Pendleton and Umatilla County.
Take a
deep
breath,
La Grande
■ Air quality
generally good,
state report finds
By Phil Wright
The Observer
LA GRANDE — La
Grande’s air quality was gen-
erally better than air quality
in Portland and The Dalles, ac-
cording to a report the Oregon
Department of Environmental
Quality released Thursday.
The department an-
nounced the release of its
“2018 Oregon Air Toxics
Monitoring Summary” for six
locations around the state —
The Dalles, La Grande and
four sites in the Portland-
metro area. The goal was to
determine concentrations in
certain communities, includ-
ing urban and rural areas,
and compare the results.
DEQ selected fi ve represen-
tative air toxics – benzene,
acetaldehyde, formaldehyde,
arsenic and cadmium – to
track over time.
“With the exception of
acetaldehyde and formalde-
hyde,” the report stated, “the
La Grande site experienced
some of the lowest levels of
air toxics among all six of the
monitoring locations.”
The levels of acetaldehyde
and formaldehyde in La
Grande were higher than all
four of the Portland-metro area
sites, as well as the national
urban average, but lower than
levels found at The Dalles.
“While most sources of air
toxics are human-caused,
smoke from wildfi res can
increase the levels of some
air toxics and contribute to
the overall average concen-
trations throughout the year,”
the report stated.
Sampling schedules at each
site generally consisted of one
24-hour sample every six days
for a minimum of one year of
a total of 109 analytes, includ-
ing PM10 metals — that is,
inhalable coarse particles
smaller than 10 micrometers
in diameter, volatile organic
compounds, polycyclic aromat-
ic hydrocarbons and carbonyl
compounds.
Results showed that 36 of
the air toxics tested for were
below the detection limit in
at least 90% of the samples
across all sites. Six air toxics
— arsenic, benzene, carbon
tetrachloride, naphthalene,
acetaldehyde and formal-
dehyde — were found at
levels above their ambient
benchmarks at all monitor-
ing locations, demonstrating
these pollutants are present
at levels of concern in both
urban and rural areas.
DEQ will use the informa-
tion to track pollution and
determine ways to reduce
air toxics in Oregon. Data
showed that no air toxics
were found at levels that
would pose an immediate
health risk.
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Tuesday, February 18th @ 6pm
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