Inside
Defining disturbances
Suspects identifi ed in homicide, 2A
State solicitor speaks on church case, 6A
in Outdoors
Weekend
Edition
SATURDAY-MONDAY • May 30, 2020
COVID-19
by the
numbers*
Worldwide cases:
5,704,736
Worldwide deaths:
357,736
U.S. cases: 1,719,827
U.S. deaths: 101,711
Good day to our valued subscriber Dave Bingner of La Grande
• $1.50
Total U.S. tests: 15,766,114
Oregon cases: 4,131
Oregon active cases: 1,999
Oregon deaths: 151
Total Oregon tests: 122,579
Union County cases: 6
Union County active cases: 1
Union County deaths: 0
Total Union County tests: 403
Wallowa County cases: 2
Wallowa County active cases: 1
Wallowa County deaths: 0
Total Wallowa County tests: 128
*As of 2:45 p.m. Friday, May 29.
Sources: World Health Organiza-
tion, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, Oregon Health Authority
and Oregon Military Department.
La Grande
storyteller
publishes
fi rst book
Evelyn Donnell
writes inspirational
stories of survival

By Dick Mason
The Observer
facturing industry has been partic-
ularly hammered, with 540 of the
county’s 1,271 continued claims
for the month of April coming
from people in that industry.
Several laid-off Union County
residents have been left without a
payment, some for as long as the
entire length of the shutdown that
Gov. Kate Brown ordered to slow
the spread of the coronavirus.
Emily Turley was laid off for
exactly two months from her posi-
tion at Lucky’s Pub & Eatery in
LA GRANDE — A
93-year-old La Grande sto-
ryteller has published her
fi rst book, and she is just
getting started.
Evelyn Donnell is the
author of a new book that
tells inspiring stories of sur-
vival: “Mandated Miracles:
How God Leaves His Fin-
gerprints on Our Lives —
My Story of Miracles.”
The new book details
the many miracles Donnell
has experienced, ones she
credits to God’s interven-
tion and not simply good
fortune.
“There are no coinci-
dences,” said Donnell, who
plans to write a romance
novel next.
She said if people refl ect
upon their lives, they will
fi nd God’s direction at work
in remarkable ways. Don-
nell understands this from
fi rsthand experience.
“My life has been an
amazing amount of excite-
ment, tears wiped away,
laughter and underserved
faithfulness from someone
who can demolish fear with
a whisper or a shout, when
needed,” Donnell writes.
She penned her book
in response to surviving
emergency surgery that
involved the insertion of a
pacemaker a year-and-half
ago at St. Luke’s Medical
Center, Boise. While on the
surgery table, she knew her
condition was serious, but
she was not concerned.
“I was at total peace
knowing that I might be
soon hopping on God’s
helicopter to heaven,” she
wrote.
Then she heard someone
ask, “Evelyn, do you want
to go to heaven now, or do
you want to stay longer here
on Earth?”
Donnell wrote she did
not know where the query
came from.
See, Checks/Page 5A
See, Miracles/Page 5A
Staff photo by Ronald Bond
Ben Herron, 10, shaves the neck of his goat, Jimmy, in preparation for the Eastern Oregon Livestock Show’s Jr. Market Auction, which this year will
be virtual due to the coronavirus restrictions.
Gett ing set for a virtual auction
EOLS Jr. Market
Auction set for June 13
“It was interesting. It was weird. I’m not used
to cutting hair. It was kind of fun.”
By Ronald Bond
Ben Herron, after shaving his goat in preparation for an online auction

The Observer
LA GRANDE — With the
Eastern Oregon Livestock Show
canceled for the fi rst time ever,
the event’s Jr. Market Auction is
going digital.
The 4-H sale will take place
June 13, and the company Vir-
tual Stockshow will be providing
the platform for the nearly 250
entries that buyers will be able to
bid on.
“There wasn’t any other option
but to go virtual,” Union County
4-H extension agent Carole Smith
said, noting 4-H remains under
closure orders because it is part of
the university system.
Rather than showing their
animals to judges and, later, to
prospective buyers in person
at the livestock show, every-
thing for this year’s auction
will be uploaded through links
on the Oregon State Univer-
sity extension offi ce’s web-
site. That includes the 248 show
animal entries for Union County
youth and buyers, down from an
average of about 400 in recent
years.
Youth looking to sell their
market animals — hogs, goats,
lambs and steers — are in the
fi nal stages of preparing them for
sale. Starting Monday, the 4Hers
can begin fi lming their offi cial
90-second videos showing the
animals and then June 7-8 they
can upload the videos. Sample
videos on the website show con-
testants walking their animals.
Horse exhibitors will be able to
do up to two 90-second videos
for their pattern, according to the
extension offi ce website.
Judges then will view and
rank the animals June 11-12 for
the sale at 9 a.m. June 13. Each
animal will be up for auction for
90 seconds, Smith said.
Smith said linking up with
Virtual Stockshow was a major
plus.
“We were going to make it up
ourselves,” she said. “This was a
good option to go with.”
See, Auction/Page 5A
Feeling the pinch without an unemployment check
About half of Oregon residents who have filed for
unemployment have yet to receive payment

By Ronald Bond
The Observer
LA GRANDE — More than
400,000 Oregonians have fi led
unemployment claims since the
start of the coronavirus pandemic
in late March, but roughly half of
them have not yet received a single
check from the program.
The Oregon Employment
Department Wednesday told a
legislative hearing that about
220,000 claims have yet to be paid,
according to The Oregonian. It
later said the real number is closer
to 200,000.
Regardless, there is a large por-
tion of Oregonians without work
who have not received a payment,
some of whom have been on the
unemployment dole for about 10
weeks.
The Oregonian report stated
OED director Kay Erickson said
the department has ramped up the
number of people in the depart-
ment who are processing claims
from 100 prior to the pandemic to
700. Still, roughly 10%, or more
than 40,000 initial claims, since
March 15 have yet to be processed,
according to the Employment
Department website.
Union County is among the
hardest-hit areas in the state with
an unemployment rate of 19.3%,
according to OED data, and a total
of 1,873 initial claims from the
county have been fi led since the
start of the outbreak. The manu-
Union County Fourth of July events canceled
COVID-19 limits
on gatherings mean
no fireworks shows

Dick Mason
The Observer
UNION COUNTY —
Union County will have its
quietest Fourth of July in
many years.
The two cornerstones
of Union County’s Fourth
of July activities — the
midday Imbler parade and
the evening fi reworks show
in Union — have been
canceled because of the
COVID-19 pandemic. Both
were canceled because it
would be diffi cult to con-
duct them in a manner that
meets state standards for
social distancing and group
gatherings.
“There is no way we
could guarantee that people
would stay the right distance
from each other. We don’t
want to endanger anyone,”
said Pat Lang, president of
the Union County Fireworks
Action Committee.
Lang said the 2021 Union
County fi reworks show
will have added features to
compensate for this year’s
cancellation.
“It will be an extra good
show to make up for (the
2020 cancellation),” Lang
said.
This year’s fi reworks
show would have been the
third straight in Union.
See, Fireworks/Page 5A
INDEX
Classified ..... 3B
Comics ......... 7B
Community . 3A
Crossword ... 5B
Observer fi le photo
Union’s Fourth of July fi rework show is on hiatus due to
the fallout from the coronavirus, and Imbler canceled its
Fourth of July parade as well.
CONTACT US
Dear Abby ... 8B
Health .......... 2B
Horoscope ... 5B
Lottery.......... 2A
TUESDAY
Obituaries .... 3A
Opinion ........ 4A
Outdoors ..... 1B
State ............. 6A
GRADUATION CEREMONIES
541-963-3161
Issue 65
2 sections, 14 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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