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TUESDAY • May 26, 2020
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Good day to our valued subscriber Tina Baxter of La Grande
Baker County judge taken to task on ruling
Oregon Supreme Court gives him until Tuesday to
explain or vacate his ruling on virus restrictions

If the judge declines to do so,
justices said Saturday that Baker
County Circuit Judge Matthew
Shirtcliff must explain why and
give the state and churches who
sued over the stay-at-home direc-
tives an opportunity to make fur-
ther arguments.
By Gillian Flaccus
Associated Press
PORTLAND — The Oregon
Supreme Court is giving a Baker
County judge until Tuesday to
toss out his ruling that found the
governor’s coronavirus restric-
tions are invalid.
Shirtcliff ruled May 18 that
Gov. Kate Brown exceeded
her authority by shutting down
in-person religious services to
slow the spread of the novel coro-
navirus. Ten churches around
Oregon brought the lawsuit, which
several local elected offi cials and
business owners later joined.
Shirtcliff’s broad ruling also
invalidated many of the other pro-
visions of Brown’s stay-at-home
order, including a ban on public
gatherings and a ban on non-es-
sential businesses and sit-down
service in bars and restaurants.
The Supreme Court quickly
stayed Shirtcliff’s order, keeping
Brown’s directives in place.
Saturday, the justices sent the
case back to Shirtcliff with orders
to expunge his ruling or explain
why not.
In his opinion, Shirtcliff wrote
the damage to Oregonians and
their livelihood was greater than
the dangers the coronavirus pre-
sented. He also noted other busi-
nesses deemed essential, such as
grocery stores, had been allowed
to remain open even with large
numbers of people present and
have relied on masks, social dis-
tancing and other measures to
protect the public.
“The governor’s orders are not
required for public safety when
Enterprise
man in
custody for
ax assault
Union
school
project
starts
in June
By Ellen Morris Bishop
EO Media Group
ENTERPRISE —
Enterprise police Sunday
night arrested a man for
using an ax to assault his
roommate.
Michael Zanello suf-
fered serious injuries in
the attack. Police arrested
Phillip Evans on accusa-
tions of carrying out the
assault.
The attack came to light
when a family driving past
Video Buffs on West North
Street noticed Zanello bent
over and staggering down
the street toward Safeway.
The family stopped to pro-
vide help, then called 911.
The Enterprise police
department, Wallowa
County Sheriff’s Offi ce
and Wallowa Memo-
rial Hospital ambulance
arrived minutes later.
Zanello, who was
bleeding from multiple
wounds, told offi cers
Evans attacked him with
an ax.
Wallowa Memorial
Ambulance took Zanello
to the hospital, where
an emergency helicopter
fl ew him to a Boise hos-
pital facility, according
to Enterprise Chief Joel
Fish, who did not disclose
the full extent of Zanello’s
injuries.
Enterprise police and
Wallowa County sheriff
deputies went to Evans’
nearby rental house on
North Street, where at
about 9 p.m. the team of
law enforcement offi cers
broke down the dead-bolt-
locked front door, entered
the building and emerged
about 10 minutes later with
Evans in handcuffs.
Fish said he requested
the Oregon State Police
Crime Lab assist in the
investigation. The crime
lab team was on the scene
Monday morning.
See, Judge/Page 5A
Superintendent
says COVID-19
should not affect
this summer’s work

By Dick Mason
The Observer
Staff photo by Ronald Bond
La Grande High School freshmen Jace Schow, left, and Owen Rinker attach grommets Thursday to a banner for
Cove High School seniors. Northwood Manufacturing and Outdoors RV, La Grande, designed and printed the
banners and donated them to Union County high schools.
Businesses turn out banners for seniors
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
LA GRANDE —
Two area businesses that
recently were able to
resume operations after
Oregon began to lift
COVID-19-related restric-
tions are behind a project
to support Union County
high school seniors.
Each of the six Union
County high schools
either already has or
will in the coming days
receive banners from
Northwood Manufac-
turing and Outdoors RV
to commemorate the class
of 2020, which is set to
graduate in the coming
weeks.
Lance Rinker, North-
wood and Outdoors’
Staff photo by Ronald Bond
La Grande High School freshmen Jace Schow, left,
and Owen Rinker attach grommets to a banner Thurs-
day that honors area high school seniors.
director of purchasing,
marketing and informa-
tion technology, said com-
pany owner Sherry Nash,
CEO Craig Orton and
CFO Cerise Smallwood
discussed what the busi-
nesses could do to support
the seniors.
“What can we do to
help these people while
they’re going through all
this?” Rinker said was the
question Nash posed. “We
employ like 550 people in
this valley between North-
wood and Outdoors. To
support those families —
almost 550 people, they’re
all over this county. It’s
somebody’s grandkid, it’s
somebody’s nephew, it’s
somebody’s neighbor. It’s
hard on all of them. So
I started kicking around
ideas.”
The idea Rinker and
marketing supervisor
Rich Zinzer formulated
was to use the company’s
UNION — The
COVID-19 pandemic is
taking a terrible toll on
schools everywhere, but it
is not derailing plans for
the Union School District’s
bond project work — at
least not yet.
Work will start next
month with the replace-
ment of the roof on Union
Elementary School’s J.F.
Hutchinson classroom
building. The building’s
roof is about 20 years old
and needs replacing, said
Mendy Clark, the district’s
deputy clerk and a member
of its bond design team.
Phase I of the bond
project will continue
this summer when crews
remove the Hutchinson
building’s old windows and
install more energy-effi -
cient ones. A third bond
project, which has not been
fi nalized but may be done
this summer, would be the
painting of the Hutchinson
building, Clark said.
Money for the proj-
ects come from the $4 mil-
lion bond for maintenance
See, Banners/Page 5A
See, Bond/Page 5A
Grand Army of the Republic honors local Civil War vets
Union County
Memorial Day
history goes back
to the beginning

By Dick Mason
The Observer
LA GRANDE —
Trumpets, bagpipes and
the voices of eloquent
speakers were not heard
Monday at La Grande’s
cemeteries.
Pageantry-fi lled
Memorial Day ceremo-
nies saluting the sacrifi ces
made by our nation’s vet-
erans were canceled in La
Grande because of state
rules prohibiting large
public gatherings due to
the COVID-19 pandemic.
Still, many families
and members of local vet-
erans groups visited local
cemeteries, which the
many fl owers and fl ags
placed at the headstones
of veterans attest to. Most
of the fallen veterans
saluted for their sacrifi ces
are those who served in
the U.S. Armed Forces
after 1900.
Ironically, in the midst
of this outpouring of love
and respect, veterans who
participated in the Civil
War, the confl ict that gave
rise to Memorial Day,
were overlooked.
Precisely how many
Civil War veterans are
buried in Union County
is not known, but those
laid to rest here are among
20,000 in Oregon ceme-
teries according to ore-
gonlive.com.
This much is also
known — 110 years ago
the focus of Memorial
Day in Union County was
on honoring Civil War
veterans.
Stories in May 1910
issues of The Observer
make this apparent. A
May 30 article states
Observer fi le photo
that members of the
Veterans salute during the 2016 Memorial Day ceremony
local post of the Grand
in La Grande. Such gatherings did not take place Monday
Army of the Republic, a
to honor the nation’s war dead due to prohibitions against
See, Honors/Page 5A spreading the coronavirus.
INDEX
Classified ...... 4B
Comics .......... 7B
Community .. 3A
Crossword .... 5B
CONTACT US
Dear Abby .... 8B
Home ............ 1B
Horoscope .... 5B
Lottery........... 2A
THURSDAY
Obituaries ..... 3A
Opinion ......... 4A
Sports ........... 6A
Sudoku ......... 7B
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541-963-3161
Issue 63
2 sections, 14 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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