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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (April 7, 2020)
Inside Pantry pickings Cautious optimism on Oregon’s readiness for virus, 2A Daggett signs to play volleyball at Corban, 6A In Home & Living Follow us on the web TUESDAY • April 7, 2020 • $1.50 Good day to our valued subscriber Gregory Jensen of La Grande By the numbers* Worldwide cases: 1,214,466 Worldwide deaths: 67,767 U.S. cases: 330,891 U.S. deaths: 8,910 Oregon cases: 1,132 Oregon deaths: 29 Union County cases: 3 Union County deaths: 0 Wallowa County cases: 1 Wallowa County deaths: 0 *As of 3 p.m. Monday, April 6. Sources: World Health Organization, Cen- ters for Disease Control and Prevention, Oregon Updates for Tuesday Observer staff These are the latest local and regional developments of the coronavirus outbreak. Look for more coverage of these and other COVID-19 stories on our website, www.lagrandeob- server.com, and in subsequent issues of The Observer. LA GRANDE The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and Friends of Ladd Marsh announced Mon- day there will not be a Ladd Marsh Bird Festival this year. State fi sh and wildlife has canceled all outdoor education events through May 31, includ- ing hunter education classes, outdoor workshops, family fi shing events and the local birder festival. ODFW said the step is to protect participants, volunteers, staff and others and in compliance with the Gov. Kate Brown’s executive order regarding group gatherings and social distancing. The state rescheduled the 15th Ladd Marsh Bird Festival for May 14-16, 2021. More information can be found on the Friends of Ladd Marsh Facebook page. Staff photo by Dick Mason Travis Hansen, a co-owner of Side A Brewing, La Grande, works in his restaurant’s kitchen early Monday after- noon. Side A is among the restaurants preparing dinners this month for children in Union County. Program helps keep kids fed Local restaurants help — and benefit from — Kids Immediate Dinner Solutions By Dick Mason The Observer UNION COUNTY — The doors to their dining rooms may be closed, but this is not preventing Union County restaurant owners from opening their hearts to hundreds of local children during the COVID-19 crisis. The restaurant owners are a key part of a new program run by Emer- gency Equipment Solutions, a non- profi t emergency response organi- zation that is providing free dinners to children this April throughout Union County while schools are closed due COVID-19. The pro- gram, Kids Immediate Dinner Solu- tions — KIDS — delivers a free dinner each week to any child in ISLAND CITY Walmart on Saturday began limiting the number of custom- ers who can be in a store at one time. Stores will now allow no more than fi ve customers for each 1,000 square feet at a given time, roughly 20% of a store’s capacity. Once a store reaches its ca- pacity, customers will be admit- ted on a one-out, one-in basis. The company also announced it will institute one-way move- ment throughs store aisles tin a number of stores, using fl oor markers and direction from associates. the county age 12 or younger whose family requests one. Those supporting KIDS include the La Grande McDonald’s, which is donating 1,000 eight-ounce cartons of milk each week, and Spring Rob- erts, the owner of Le Bebe Cakes Bakery Coffee House of La Grande, who helped found the program and is one of its leaders. “She is playing an integral role,” said Valerie Odai of Elgin, a leader of Emergency Equipment Solutions. Odai said the objective of KIDS is two-fold — to help children and local restaurants during the COVID-19 crisis. She said children need help because although government pro- grams are doing an excellent job of providing free lunches and break- fasts for youths, they are not able to provide dinners. “We want to fi ll this gap,” Odai said. KIDS also is providing dinners to the children of health care profes- sionals and fi rst responders. Chil- dren age 12 and under are also being provided one free dinner a week. This is being done to relieve their parents of some of the added stress they are experiencing during the COVID-19 crisis, Roberts said. Certifi ed teachers are volun- teering to deliver all the KIDS meals weekdays between 3 and 7 p.m. Roberts said that makes sure People in other nations share observations of living life in a COVID-19 world By Kathy Aney EO Media Group PENDLETON — We are not alone. In almost every other country in the world, people are experiencing pandemic and the restric- tions and terror that come with it. The EO Media Group reached out to indi- viduals in Italy, France, Japan, Madagascar and Panama to get a snapshot of what people around the world are experiencing in a time of COVID-19. David Newport, Akashi, Japan Former EO Media Group page designer David Newport now lives in Akashi, Japan. The home he shares with his wife and three young daughters is a 45-minute train ride from Osaka. As a translator for the Ida Corporation, he spent La Grande Quilt Shop owner spurs mask-making initiative See, ACE/Page 5A EO Media Group photo by Kathy Aney By Ronald Bond The Observer LA GRANDE — A local business is doing what it can to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. The La Grande Quilt Shop, owned by Patti Anderson, recently began putting together kits and providing instructions to any individual who wants to make reusable face masks. “We had people asking us if we had stuff to make masks,” such as elastic, fabric and interfacing, Anderson said. The outreach sparked concern for Anderson and the staff at the quilt shop. “We quickly realized people were going to start making masks, and they might not be the best to make safe (masks),” she said. “We were concerned people would have this false sense of security with wearing masks (not made with the proper materials).” Anderson, who is a friend of the owner of Washington quilt shop The Fabric Patch, learned of their crusade not only to provide the needed mate- rials to make high-quality masks, but also patterns. INDEX Classified ...... 4B Comics .......... 7B Crossword .... 5B Dear Abby .... 8B Home ............ 1B The Observer See, Masks/Page 5A Nick’ii Scott, of Madagas- car, worked as a tour guide on the island nation until corona- virus brought tourism to a standstill. Sewing masks to slow the coronavirus By Sabrina Thompson Anderson tracked down as much material as pos- sible, from fabric to a non- woven interfacing to metal for nose pieces to elastic. “We started cutting kits, and we’re still cutting kits,” Anderson said. The interfacing material has fi bers that keep corona- virus germs from passing through. “They are better than just cloth alone,” she See, KIDS/Page 5A the fi rst two weeks of the country’s coronavirus outbreak translating clo- sure announcements for hotels and restaurants. He said the prime minister quickly closed schools and asked residents to refrain from unnecessary outings. Japan, he said, has so far avoided the explosive out- breaks of Italy and the U.S. Large attractions, such as Tokyo Disneyland and Universal Studios Japan, are shuttered. Sumo wres- tling matches were held See, Share/Page 5A Fundraising efforts keep art center operating during virus outbreak LA GRANDE — Art Center East is staying open through April. The La Grande arts center in March closed as a response to COVID-19 measures. Shutting the doors meant cutting off its main source of funding. The center reached out to the community to help raise money to pay for utilities, insurance and general oper- ational costs. People answered, with donations exceeding $18,000. More than $10,000 came from a fundraiser initiated by Don Gray. Gray is a former arts center board member, former resident of La Grande and a painter. He sold 30 paintings on his website and through a link on the ACE website, with 100% of the proceeds going toward helping the center. “When I heard about ACE’s struggles, it occurred to me that, while I don’t have deep pockets for a large donation, I do have paintings available,” Gray said. Community donations brought in another $8,700 directly to the center. ACE is using all of the donations into pay for util- ities and insurance to min- imally maintain opera- tions during the closure. To further save money, the center has furloughed all employees with hopes of bringing employees back in May. “The reasoning for this decision is that currently ACE cannot earn income,” the center stated in a news release. The center had planned to rent out studios, but plumbing issues led the city to shut off water to the site, which means no one Despite dire situation, some still hope for the best ACE will remain open CONTACT US Horoscope .... 5B Letters ........... 4A Lottery........... 2A Obituaries ..... 3A THURSDAY Opinion ......... 4A Sports ........... 6A Sudoku ......... 7A Weather ........ 8B TRUE VALUE BUSY IN NEW SPACE 541-963-3161 Issue 42 2 sections, 14 pages La Grande, Oregon Email story ideas to news@lagrande observer.com. More contact info on Page 4A. Online at lagrandeobserver.com
