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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 2020)
2A — THE OBSERVER D AILY P LANNER TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2020 LOCAL Giving Back Public Safety Police must start ‘profiling’ TODAY Today is Tuesday, Feb. 25, the 56th day of 2020. There are 310 days left in the year. By Bill Bradshaw EO Media Group TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT On Feb. 25, 1964, Muham- mad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) became world heavyweight boxing cham- pion as he defeated Sonny Liston in Miami Beach. ON THIS DATE In 1793, President George Washington held the fi rst Cabinet meeting on record at his Mount Vernon home; attending were Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Trea- sury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of War Henry Knox and Attorney General Edmund Randolph. In 1862, Nashville, Ten- nessee, became the fi rst Confederate state capital to be occupied by the North during the Civil War. In 1913, the 16th Amend- ment to the U.S. Constitu- tion, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox. In 1964, Eastern Airlines Flight 304, a DC-8, crashed shortly after taking off from New Orleans International Airport, killing all 58 on board. In 1986, President Ferdinand Marcos fl ed the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the wake of a tainted election; Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency. In 1991, during the Per- sian Gulf War, 28 Americans were killed when an Iraqi Scud missile hit a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. In 2018, China’s offi cial news agency said the country’s ruling Communist Party had proposed scrap- ping term limits for China’s president, appearing to lay the groundwork for Xi Jinping to rule as president beyond 2023. LOTTERY Megabucks: $4.8 million 13-15-25-29-43-47 Mega Millions: $55 million 4-7-13-16-60-6 x4 Powerball: $70 million 25-37-39-61-62-11 x3 Win for Life: Feb. 22 11-63-66-75 Pick 4: Feb. 23 •1p.m.:8-7-3-2 •4p.m.:5-7-5-4 •7p.m.:4-6-8-3 •10p.m.:9-7-0-8 Pick 4: Feb. 22 •1p.m.:9-5-7-4 •4p.m.:5-5-8-5 •7p.m.:7-6-4-8 •10p.m.:1-7-5-6 Pick 4: Feb. 21 •1p.m.:6-4-5-5 •4p.m.:2-6-6-9 •7p.m.:0-3-7-8 •10p.m.:4-6-0-6 DELIVERY ISSUES? If you have any problems receiving your Observer, please call the offi ce at 541- 963-3161. QUOTE OF THE DAY “Hero-worship is stron- gest where there is least regard for human freedom.” — Herbert Spencer, British philosopher Staff photo by Sabrina Thompson Community Kindness at 1315 Adams Ave., La Grande, is a nonprofi t thrift store that donates to local charities, organizations and those in need. The store opened last summer. Kindness matters ■ Nonprofit thrift store in downtown La Grande works on giving back to the community By Sabrina Thompson, The Observer LA GRANDE — In its fi rst seven months, Community Kindness of Eastern Oregon has established a reciprocal relationship with the community it aims to support. The organization donated the profi ts from its thrift store, at 1315 Adams Ave., La Grande, to local charities, organizations and people. “The community didn’t have to wel- come us, but they did,” said Liz Meyer, president of Community Kindness. “And we are just amazed and grateful for the support we have received.” A small board of seven volunteers oversees Community Kindness, with Meyer’s husband, Grant Meyer, serv- ing as executive director and as the board’s treasurer. The couple explained honesty and honor are vital to main- taining the nonprofi t’s reputation and fi nances, as the board alone has oversight over fi nances. “It is about integrity,” Liz Meyer said. “We hold that extremely high here.” Her husband agreed. “Our board is the security to the pub- lic in saying (the money) is going where it should be going,” Grant Meyer said. Grant Meyer could not provide a total amount for the funds the store has raised, but he and his wife talked about what the organization has done so far. During the holiday season, the store hosted a free Christmas dinner; used donations to purchase memory dolls for residents at Wildfl ower Lodge; provided donated clothing and furniture directly to those in need; and gave money to others in need in the community. Liz Meyer said one of her favorite ways to give back has been random acts of kindness. “It’s things like buying a bunch of Starbucks cards and just handing them out to people we pass, or paying for people’s meals at Denny’s,” she said. “We do it to say, ‘there is somebody here, we care about you.’” The nonprofi t’s board plans to go on sharing kindness as its fi rst year continues and to establish new events, including a fashion show in April that will feature clothing the store sells and a birthday celebration in July with music, dancing and food. Weather Windstorm leaves damage in wake ■ Sunday afternoon storm shuts down Interstate 84 between La Grande, Pendleton By Dick Mason The Observer LA GRANDE — A windstorm that gusted up late Sunday morning and extended into the afternoon took out power and shut down Interstate 84 and Highway 204 in Union County. The storm blew down a power line along Interstate 84 near Meacham, forcing the Oregon Department of Transportation to close the freeway’s eastbound and westbound lanes between Pendleton and La Grande from 12:45 until 2:31 p.m., the state road agency reported. The department selected La Grande and Pendleton because they are good places for motorists to wait during closures. “We didn’t want motorists to get stranded (between La Grande and Pendleton),” said ODOT spokesperson Tom Strandberg. The strong winds also caused the shutdown of Or- egon Highway 204 between Elgin and Weston from about 1:30-3:44 p.m. The high winds created hazard- ous conditions, including blowing dust and debris, and even knocked over semitrail- ers and blew down power lines, Strandberg said. Crashes and wind-blown debris also led to the closure of Highway 11 between Pendleton and Milton- Freewater for a portion of Sunday afternoon. Power outages occurred throughout the Grande Ronde Valley as a result of the storm, according to an Oregon Trail Electric spokesperson. In the Middle Road area north of Elgin, 151 OTEC members lost power from about 1:20-4:39 p.m., and in Summerville, another 71 members were without power from 2:36-5:47 p.m. There also were other loses throughout the Grande Ronde Valley, none of which affected more than 20 members. The storm started in the Grande Ronde Valley between 10:30-11 a.m. and ran to about 2:30 p.m., according to Ann Adams, an assistant meteorol- ogist for the National Weather Service office in Pendleton. The Weather Service recorded a top speed of 47 mph for a gust at the La Grande/Union County Airport. The peak veloc- ity at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport, Pendleton, was a gust of 63 mph. ENTERPRISE — Enter- prise police will be required to begin profi ling motorists July 1 when they make traf- fi c stops, according to Chief Joel Fish. But “profi ling” is not the dirty word some make it out to be, as it is often a useful and necessary tool for law enforcement, Fish said. “To say a guy looks white is part of the information we get and collect,” he said. “But to stop someone solely based on race is illegal.” In his Feb. 10 report to the city council, Fish said the state requirement began in 2018 with the largest law enforcement agencies such as Portland. Now, it’s the turn of smaller agencies — such as Enterprise — with one to 24 offi cers. The chief told the council he was recently contacted by the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission grant coordinator to ensure his department was on track to comply with state require- ments in time. “They just want to make sure we’re doing it correctly,” he said. According to the Crimi- nal Code of Oregon, data collection in offi cer-initiated traffi c and pedestrian stops is designed to identify and address problems with bias- based policing, Fish said. Offi cers are to report to the Criminal Justice Commis- sion: •Thedate,locationand time of the stop. •Theapparentrace, ethnicity, age and sex of the pedestrian or the operator of the motor vehicle stopped, based on the observations of the offi cer responsible for reporting the stop. •Thenatureofandthe statutory citation for the al- leged traffi c violation or other alleged violation that caused the stop to be made. •Thedispositionofthe stop, including whether a warning, citation or sum- mons was issued, whether a search was conducted, the type of search conducted, whether anything was found as a result of the search and whether an arrest was made. Data acquired under the code is allowed to be used only for statistical purposes. Fish told the council, “There’s a right way and a wrong way,” Honoring National Heart Month—Supporting Stroke Awareness There’s treatment if you act FAST!! F A S T FACE DROOPING ARM WEAKNESS SPEECH TIME TO CALL 9-1-1 DOES ONE SIDE OF THE FACE DROOP OR IS IT NUMB? IS ONE ARM WEAK OR NUMB? IS SPEECH SLURRED? DOES ONE SIDE OF THE FACE DROOP OR IS IT NUMB? Ask the person to smile. Is the person's smile uneven? Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward? Is the person unable to speak or hard to under- stand? Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence, like “The sky is blue.” Ask the person to smile. Is the person's smile uneven? Call 9-1-1! Time is critical when a stroke occurs. Time lost is brain lost. Join us at one of our Stroke Education Seminars on Tuesday, March 3: Grande Ronde Hospital: 10 AM—12 PM -or- La Grande Fire Department: 2 PM—4 PM Visit grh.org/actFAST for full event details.
