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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (May 12, 2020)
2A — THE OBSERVER TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2020 REGIONAL DAILY Grant gives aging building a new lease on life PLANNER Baker Technical TODAY Today is Tuesday, May 12, the 133rd day of 2020. There are 233 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT On May 12, 2002, Jimmy Carter arrived in Cuba, becoming the fi rst U.S. president in or out of offi ce to visit since the 1959 revo- lution that put Fidel Castro in power. ON THIS DATE In 1780, during the Revo- lutionary War, the besieged city of Charleston, South Carolina, surrendered to British forces. In 1922, a 20-ton meteor crashed near Blackstone, Virginia. In 1937, Britain’s King George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey; his wife, Elizabeth, was crowned as queen consort. In 1943, during World War II, Axis forces in North Africa surrendered. The two-week Trident Conference, headed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, opened in Washington. In 1949, the Soviet Union lifted the Berlin Blockade, which the Western powers had succeeded in circum- venting with their Berlin Airlift. In 1958, the United States and Canada signed an agreement to create the North American Air Defense Command (later the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD). In 1970, the Senate voted unanimously to confi rm Harry A. Blackmun as a Supreme Court justice. In 1982, in Fatima, Portu- gal, security guards over- powered a Spanish priest armed with a bayonet who attacked Pope John Paul II. (In 2008, the pope’s longtime private secretary revealed that the pontiff was slightly wounded in the assault.) In 2001, singer Perry Como died in Jupiter Inlet Colony, Florida, at age 88. In 2008, a devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake in China’s Sichuan province left more than 87,000 people dead or missing. In 2009, fi ve Miami men were convicted in a plot to blow up FBI buildings and Chicago’s Sears Tower; one man was acquitted. Suspected Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk was deported from the United States to Germany. LOTTERY Megabucks: $1.2 million 7-12-16-19-20-41 Mega Millions: $248 million 5-20-22-61-70-4 x2 Powerball: $77 million 12-18-42-48-65—PB-19 x5 Win for Life: May 9 5-26-33-51 Pick 4: May 10 • 1 p.m.: 9-8-6-7 • 4 p.m.: 3-9-8-3 • 7 p.m.: 0-3-3-5 • 10 p.m.: 5-1-1-0 Pick 4: May 9 • 1 p.m.: 2-5-9-5 • 4 p.m.: 7-6-9-1 • 7 p.m.: 0-6-2-1 • 10 p.m.: 0-5-8-1 Pick 4: May 8 • 1 p.m.: 5-3-8-9 • 4 p.m.: 0-0-1-9 • 7 p.m.: 4-8-6-0 • 10 p.m.: 8-3-1-5 DELIVERY ISSUES? If you have any problems receiving your Observer, call the offi ce at 541-963-3161. TODAY’S QUOTE “Mistrust the man who fi nds everything good; the man who fi nds everything evil; and still more the man who is indifferent to every- thing.” — Johann Kaspar Lavater, Swiss theologian (1741-1801) Institute gets grant to clean up historic school, enters into deal with EOU By Chris Collins EO Media Group BAKER CITY — Baker Technical Institute has been awarded a $500,000 federal grant for its Brownfi elds Program to continue work to clean up the historic Central School building in Baker City. The grant award was dis- cussed during a half-hour conference call Thursday that included representa- tives of the institute, mem- bers of the U.S. Environ- mental Protection Agency’s Region 10 Brownfi elds Team, Oregon Business and the local media. BTI President Doug Dalton and Sandy Mitchell, marketing coordinator, were on the call. Dalton explained how the insti- tute, a career and tech- nical training center that is part of Baker High School, developed its Brownfi elds Program. What began as an envi- ronmental science class with an emphasis on cleaning polluted proper- ties in Baker City about six years ago has developed into a nationally recog- nized program. And it now includes a partnership with Eastern Oregon Univer- sity, La Grande, which will begin offering a sustain- able rural systems degree to its students in September, Dalton said. Science teacher Robbie Langrell oversees the BTI program. “Students who were here at the time helped write this grant and led commu- nity meetings,” Dalton said. “Now with the EOU part- nership, we’re looking at other projects in the Eastern Oregon community.” The $500,000 EPA grant to BTI, most of which will be used to clean up contam- inants at the former Central School built in 1917, was one of fi ve grants totaling $2.65 million awarded to Oregon communities. Most of the contami- nation at the site consists of materials used to con- struct the building, such as asbestos and lead-based paint, with some amount of PCB in light fi xtures, Dalton said. The money also will be used for community out- reach activities to help determine a future use for the building. Both high do well in the competitive process. “It’s great redevelop- ment for the community and the level of commu- nity engagement is quite strong,” Griffi th said. That the building already has been through preliminary assessment and will soon be ready to go forward with the cleanup process also gained the application favor from reviewers. “The engagement with students is a strong com- ponent as well, and the tie-in with economic devel- opment,” Griffi th said. “Overall, it really mea- sured up well with the grant criteria.” Dalton expressed appreciation to Business Oregon, which provided grant funding for the ear- lier assessment of the Central Building. Karen Homolac, brownfi elds spe- cialist for Business Oregon, also attended Thursday’s meeting telephonically. Dalton said he expects the actual cleanup of the historic building to begin in the fall of 2021. “When you use students it does change things a little bit,” Dalton said. Federal funds help transit systems respond to COVID-19 challenges By Alex Castle EO Media Group MISSION — Kayak Public Transit has been sidelined since March 23 due to the COVID-19 pan- demic, but some extra pre- cautions and federal funds from the coronavirus relief bill have the vital regional resource preparing to offer free rides again soon. “Our primary concern was the health of our pas- sengers and staff,” said J.D. Tovey, who is the planning director for the Confed- erated Tribes of the Uma- tilla Indian Reservation and oversees the transit pro- gram. “We understand that our passengers and com- munities rely on us as an economic lifeline in the region, and we’re doing everything we can to be able to provide those ser- vices again.” Photo by Ben Lonergan/EO Media Group A sign posted on a Kayak Public Transit bus stop in Herm- iston advises the route is not running due to COVID-19 concerns. The transit operator is working to reopen as soon as it is possible to do so safely. Tovey said Kayak, which regularly provides free rides on three fi xed routes and four commuter bus services that connect 16 different communities between Umatilla, Morrow, Union and Walla Walla counties, is coordinating an eventual return to service with the CTUIR’s Incident Command Team and its reopening committee. After initially increasing sanitation protocols in the fi rst weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tovey said the CTUIR didn’t want the service to be the source of the virus spreading throughout Eastern Oregon. While Tovey said Kayak won’t return until it’s con- sidered safe to do so, more than $306,000 earmarked for the tribes’ transit ser- vices have them preparing measures to make that happen sooner rather than later. For starters, Tovey said they recently placed large orders for personal pro- tective equipment, such as masks and gloves, that will be worn by every driver and available to every rider. The transit service also plans to continue its initial rigorous sanitation methods, which Tovey said included staff going from completely wiping down the bus the regular two or three times a week during fl u season to every single day. According to Tovey, Kayak is also looking into installing plexiglass shields that would, in theory, pro- tect bus drivers from inter- acting with members of the public. “We want to be prepared for whatever the long- term effects of this all will be, and begin serving the region again as soon as we can do so safely,” he said. The federal funding has also helped Kayak keep all of its drivers and employees on the payroll during its extended closure. “Fortunately, one of the allowable uses for that funding was to help keep staff employed,” Tovey said. Head Start preschoolers have an unusual commencement By Bill Bradshaw EO Media Group ENTERPRISE — It was all smiles, purple hair and multicolored tutus Thursday as Head Start workers in Enterprise and Wallowa held unconven- tional graduation cere- monies for their charges in these days of school closures because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with everything else, Head Start has been closed since March on state orders in order to maintain social distancing for fear of the coronavirus outbreak. Thursday would have been the normal last day for 3-year-olds, while the 4-year-olds were sched- uled to attend through June Umatilla County records second COVID-19 death EO Media Group PENDLETON — Uma- tilla County reported its second death of a con- fi rmed COVID-19 patient on Sunday. According to a news release from Umatilla County Public Health, the patient was a 64-year-old man who tested positive on April 29 and died May 9 at Providence St Mary Med- ical Center, Walla Walla. The individual had under- lying health conditions. “We recognize that we are in a very abnormal situ- ation with an unknown end- point and as such, increased stress, fear and anxiety among Umatilla County residents is to be expected,” the release said. “UCo Health encourages Uma- tilla County residents to EO Media Group fi le photo The Central Building was built in 1917 and originally served as Baker High School in Baker City. The Baker Technical Institute received a $500,000 federal to continue work to clean up the aging structure. school and college students will participate with project consultants in that work, Dalton said. Tim Hamlin is the director of the EPA’s Region 10 Land Chemicals and Redevelopment Division, which includes Oregon, Idaho, Washington and Alaska, and has its head- quarters in Seattle. Hamlin also attended Thursday’s meeting by telephone. Hamlin said the goal is to clean up and redevelop properties, which leads to job development and eco- nomic development in communities. Hamlin noted grants are awarded through a very competitive application process. The BTI grant was among 155 awarded nation- wide in 151 communities totaling more than $65.6 million in EPA brown- fi elds funding through the Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund and Cleanup grant programs. Terri Griffi th, a Brown- fi eld Project manager for EPA’s Region 10, said the community involve- ment aspect of the Cen- tral Building project helped BTI’s grant application continue to prioritize your physical and mental health during this time. Watch for common signs of dis- tress, such as changes in appetite, diffi culty concen- trating, diffi culty sleeping, worsening of chronic health problems, increased use of tobacco, alcohol or other drugs, and seek help if needed.” La GRANDE AUTO REPAIR 975-2000 www.lagrandeautorepair.com Joe Horst 30, said Lisa Collier, Head Start education manager for Wallowa and Union coun- ties. Children turning 5 in time will go on to kinder- garten in the fall. But there was no fear Thursday, as workers smiled, danced and sang to their students as they handed out completion cer- tifi cates, packets of “readi- ness materials” for the kids going into kindergarten, “summer fun buckets” and resources for the families. Among those resources, Collier said, were toilet tissue, food, soap, hand sanitizer and “anything a family discloses that they need.” She said Head Start workers have been deliv- ering such items to their students’ homes weekly since the coronavirus forced school closure. Collier said 20 students who live from Wallowa to Wallowa Lake were invited to the drive-through grad- uation at the Head Start center on NW 1st Street. She said they planned to drive to the home of any child who was unable to come to graduation, “so nobody misses out.” Earlier Thursday, in Wallowa and Lostine, another 17 students were included in a “reverse parade,” where workers drove to each of their homes to present the items. It was evident the workers were doing their best to give the kids an upbeat Starting the funnest phase of your life experience. “We sure miss them,” Collier said. “This is not the ending we were hoping for and we hope it’s special for them.” It appeared it was special and the feeling of missing each other was mutual. Not only did the kids enjoy going through the fun buckets and other materials, some — like young Ellie Washington — sported a heart-shaped sign that said, “I miss you so.” Collier deemed the day a success. “It’s such a positive thing. It’s fun,” she said. “And right now, we need positivity.” VOTE FOR CHANGE, VOTE FOR EXPERIENCE INTEGRITY TRANSPARENCY HARD WORK EXPERIENCED VETERAN PRO 2ND AMENDMENT BILL MILLER FOR SHERIFF “In my mind there is only one candidate with the experience, certifica- tion and, more important, the life experience to be in command of the most important department in Union County government. Join me in supporting and voting for Bill Miller for Union County sheriff.” ~ John Coote “As I drive around our county, I see lots of signs that say “elect” someone. This is not an election about who has the most or the biggest signs, but it is about who has the qualifications, experience, integrity, honesty and leadership to do the job. Bill has all of these things, and he will always do the right thing.” ~ Bob Nelson A few of my priorities: PROTECTING our Residents during this Pandemic MOST ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY AVAILABLE 1809 Gekeler Ln. La Grande ACDelcoTSS 541-963-4700 Expansion of the drug task force, bring back a comprehensive Reserve Program, full support of Union County Search & Rescue, and better policing/visibiliy in all communitties Look me up on Facebook: Bill Miller For Union County Sheriff Email me: billmillerforucsheriff@gmail.com Paid for by Committee to elect Bill Miller, Sheriff. Jared Rogers - Treasurer, 73001 Palmer Junction Rd., Elgin, OR 97827
