2A — THE OBSERVER
SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2020
LOCAL
DAILY Nontraditional graduations set in Union County
PLANNER
By Dick Mason
TODAY
The Observer
Today is Saturday, May
16, the 137th day of 2020.
There are 229 days left in
the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On May 16, 1943, the
nearly month-long Warsaw
Ghetto Uprising came to
an end as German forces
crushed the Jewish resis-
tance and blew up the Great
Synagogue.
ON THIS DATE
In 1770, Marie Antoinette,
age 14, married the future
King Louis XVI of France,
who was 15.
In 1939, the federal gov-
ernment began its fi rst food
stamp program.
In 1988, Surgeon General
C. Everett Koop released
a report declaring nicotine
was addictive in ways simi-
lar to heroin and cocaine.
In 1990, death claimed
entertainer Sammy Davis Jr.
in Los Angeles at age 64.
LOTTERY
Megabucks: $1.4 million
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Mega Millions: $266 million
7-16-27-44-52-5 x5
Powerball: $86 million
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Win for Life: May 13
15-23-26-72
Pick 4: May 14
• 1 p.m.: 8-7-5-7; • 4 p.m.: 9-2-0-5
• 7 p.m.: 4-0-1-6; • 10 p.m.: 5-3-1-1
Pick 4: May 13
• 1 p.m.: 8-1-1-8; • 4 p.m.: 4-8-6-7
• 7 p.m.: 6-1-6-5; • 10 p.m.: 3-1-1-3
DELIVERY ISSUES?
If you have any problems
receiving your Observer, call
the offi ce at 541-963-3161.
TODAY’S QUOTE
“Work is about a search
for daily meaning as well as
daily bread, for recognition
as well as cash, for astonish-
ment rather than torpor; in
short, for a sort of life rather
than a Monday through
Friday sort of dying.”
— Studs Terkel, American
author and historian (born
this date in 1912, died 2008)
I-84
eastbound
rolling
slowdowns
underway
The Observer
LA GRANDE— The
Oregon Department of
Transportation crews will
conduct occasional rolling
slowdowns at locations
between Pendleton and La
Grande during the next two
months to accommodate
the installation of new vari-
able message reader boards
along Interstate 84.
According to an ODOT
press release, the fi rst slow-
downs began Thursday
morning between milepost
200 west of Pendleton and
milepost 221 near the top
of Cabbage Hill. The slow-
downs resume May 18, 20
and 22. The traffi c control
will continue through the
month of May in the east-
bound lane at the same or
other locations. Similar
operations will take place
in late May through June
for the westbound freeway,
according to the press
release.
Drivers can expect
delays of 30 minutes or
more.
During the rolling slow-
downs, pilot cars will slow
traffi c to 30 mph along a
20-mile section of the inter-
state ahead of the project
location, creating a short
window of time at the con-
struction site with no traffi c
and allowing crews to
safely work on and over the
freeway.
Eastbound freeway
on-ramps at exits 202, 207,
209, 210, 213 and 216 will
be temporarily closed in
the slowdown zone until
the pilot car traffi c passes
the interchange. The work
does not affect freeway
off-ramps.
Several work areas
between Exit 216 and La
Grande will require rolling
slowdown operations over
the next two months.
UNION COUNTY —
Football fi elds, a towering
outdoor movie screen and
the Fourth of July.
All are elements of some
of the upcoming gradua-
tion ceremonies for Union
County school districts.
Their commencement exer-
cises promise to be exciting
but anything but traditional
due to the COVID-19 crisis.
They will have dramati-
cally different twists due to
social distancing standards
imposed by the state pro-
hibiting large gatherings.
Commencement exer-
cises among the school dis-
tricts will kick off May 30 at
Cove High School’s football
fi eld. Vehicles, each with
a CHS graduate and their
family, will be driven along
the gridiron where diplomas
will be presented at 11 a.m.
Once all 17 graduates have
received their diplomas,
they will walk through Cove
High School, many for the
fi rst time since all schools
were shut down in Oregon
in mid-March.
Members of the CHS
Class of 2020 then will join
their families and be driven
through Cove in a parade.
Cove Fire Department per-
sonnel and offi cers from
the Union County Sheriff’s
Offi ce will provide assis-
tance with traffi c control,
said Cove School District
Superintendent Earl Pettit.
Cove High School’s
Observer fi le photo
Imbler High School is planning to celebrate graduation this
year on July 4, with the seniors riding in the town’s annual
parade following a traditional commencement exercise in
the IHS gym. Union County’s other school districts have
organized nontraditional spring ceremonies, in keeping
with the current COVID-19 restrictions.
graduation May 30 will be
one of two public schools
in Union County, for La
Grande High School will
also have its commence-
ment that day. LHS gradu-
ation will begin at 10 a.m.
at the main entrance of
the school, where gradu-
ates in vehicles with their
families will be awarded
their diplomas. Other com-
mencement activities will
take place at the La Grande
Drive-in theater.
Union County grad-
uation ceremonies will
resume June 1 with Elgin
High School’s commence-
ment. Activities will begin
at 6 p.m. when a parade
through town will be con-
graduation speeches will be
among what is shown.
The following day,
Powder Valley’s graduation
ceremony starts at 1 p.m.
On June 6, graduates will
go to their school’s gym one
at a time to receive their
diplomas with their fami-
lies and then leave, allowing
the next senior to come in.
After commencement, the
graduates will go to PVHS’s
football fi eld and toss their
caps into the air. A gradu-
ation parade through town
will follow. The seniors will
ride on a semi trailer so they
can be seen by everyone,
said North Powder School
District Superintendent
Lance Dixon.
Imbler High School’s
graduation is set to start
at 10 a.m. July 4. Imbler
School District Superinten-
dent Angie Lakey-
Campbell hopes that by
July 4 the COVID-19 social
distancing rules will no
longer be in place, allowing
for a traditional com-
mencement exercise in the
IHS gym. Following the
commencement, gradu-
ates will be saluted while
riding in Imbler’s Fourth
of July parade, an event
Lakey-Campbell also said
she hopes can be conducted
then. Should COVID-19 still
be a serious issue July 4,
Lakey-Campbell said IHS
will conduct a nontradi-
tional graduation ceremony
that will conform to social
distancing standards.
‘Move Oregon’s Border’ petition gets OK in Union County
By Phil Wright
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The
latest petition from the
group seeking to move Ida-
ho’s border west to include a
large part of Oregon gained
approval in Union County.
Union County District
Attorney Kelsie McDaniel
approved “Requires Com-
missioners Hold Meetings
Regarding Relocation of
State Borders” as a ballot
title for the petition and
Friday morning notifi ed
county Clerk Robin Church.
Church in March rejected
the petition from Michael
McCarter of La Pine
seeking to create the new
state of Greater Idaho using
most of Oregon, including
Union County. Church was
among 11 county clerks who
denied that petition, which
demanded county boards of
commissioners hold public
meetings to discuss the idea
of moving the border. That
process was administra-
tive rather than legislative,
as the Oregon constitution
requires.
McCarter said the new
petition, however, asks
counties to form a com-
mittee to fi nd out what the
public thinks about moving
the Idaho border, and then
have the group present its
fi ndings to county commis-
sioners, who in turn would
advise state and federal rep-
resentatives and senators.
“If people are against
it, at least they had the
opportunity to voice their
opinion,” McCarter said.
“Give your opinion, folks.”
The Move Oregon’s
Border group would reduce
Oregon to only 17 counties,
all on the state’s west side.
The other 19 counties along
with several in northern
California would become
part of the new state of
Greater Idaho. McCarter
said 12 of the 19 counties
Public part of Union County Fair canceled
By Dick Mason
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The
public portion of the Union
County Fair has been can-
celed due to the COVID-19
pandemic.
The decision was made
by the Union County Fair
Association, following
Gov. Kate Brown’s May 7
announcement regarding
crowd sizes and events in
the midst of the COVID-19
pandemic. The governor
announced that large gath-
erings such as conventions,
festivals and major concerts
and live-audience sporting
events will not be allowed
at least until September.
The Union County Fair
has been running for more
than 100 years. It was set
for July 29-Aug.1.
Amy Horn, president
of the Union County Fair
Association, said the fair’s
livestock show and auction,
major events for 4-H and
FFA, will continue in some
format.
“Something will happen,
we just don’t know what
that will look like,” Horn
said.
She said possibilities
include a virtual livestock
show and auction or ones
conducted with a limited
number of people. The 4-H
and FFA are in charge of
determining how the events
will be set up.
Horn said the Union
County Fair Association is
a strong backer of 4-H and
FFA.
“The board (also known
as the Union County Fair
Association) is fully com-
mitted to the 4-H and FFA
members and their fami-
lies,” Horn said.
Horn said the association
is grateful for the help it is
continuing to receive from
the public.
“We would like to thank
our community for their
continued support, not just
for the fair but our local
youth and the agricultural
education programs that are
so vital to our country,” she
said.
have approved the petition,
with Jackson County on
Thursday giving its OK.
“So that’s a big one,”
McCarter said, because
Jackson County’s popula-
tion accounts for 25% of the
total population for the 19
counties.
Church said Thursday
her offi ce received the
newer petition on April 30,
which she approved and for-
warded May 8 to the district
attorney for the ballot title.
Now, Church explained,
Union County has to pub-
lish legal notices about the
ballot title for seven busi-
ness days, including in The
Observer, to allow any voter
an opportunity to chal-
lenge the title. Church said
that clock is likely to start
ticking Tuesday.
If there is no challenge,
she said, McCarter’s group
can gather the 705 signa-
tures in the county to get
the proposal on a ballot.
But which election remains
a question. Church said
McCarter and company
have not specifi ed.
According to the Oregon
Secretary of State Elections
Division, the signatures
would be due Aug. 5 for
verifi cation to get it on Nov.
3 ballot.
Michael
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ducted for its class of 2020.
The graduation ceremony
will start at 7 p.m. at the
EHS football fi eld, where
seniors will be in vehicles
with their families. Gradu-
ates will come out one at a
time to get their diplomas.
EHS’s Class of 2020
completed plans for their
commencement Thursday.
Elgin School District Super-
intendent Dianne Greif
said the students are disap-
pointed they will not have
traditional graduation but
they are in good spirits.
“They were saying that
when they get together 10
years from now they will
have memories that nobody
else (at Elgin High School)
has,” Greif said.
Powder Valley and Union
high schools will conduct
their graduation ceremonies
June 6.
Union’s ceremony starts
at 10 a.m. in the UHS
gym, where seniors will
be awarded their diplomas.
Only the graduate and their
family and school district
offi cials will be present
when each diploma is
awarded because of social
distancing rules. All com-
mencement walks in the
gym will be streamed live
on the Union School Dis-
trict’s website.
At the conclusion of the
awarding of the diplomas,
graduates will be driven
through Union with their
families while participating
in a wave parade.
UHS commencement
activities will continue the
evening of June 6 at the La
Grande Drive-in. A senior
slide show will be shown
there plus pre-recorded talks
by UHS’s valedictorian and
salutatorian.
“We are excited to honor
our graduates in a new way
in this crazy world we live
in,” said Union School Dis-
trict Superintendent Carter
Wells.
Powder Valley High
School’s graduation activi-
ties will start the evening of
June 5 when all seniors and
their families will gather at
the La Grande Drive-in. At
the theater site a pre-
recorded video of student
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