2A — THE OBSERVER
DAILY
PLANNER
TODAY
Today is Thursday, June
18, the 170th day of 2020.
There are 196 days left in
the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On June 18, 1983, astro-
naut Sally K. Ride became
America’s fi rst woman in
space as she and four col-
leagues blasted off aboard
the space shuttle Challenger
on a six-day mission.
ON THIS DATE
In 1812, the War of 1812
began as the United States
Congress approved, and
President James Madison
signed, a declaration of war
against Britain.
In 1815, Napoleon Bona-
parte met defeat at Waterloo
as British and Prussian
troops defeated the French
in Belgium.
In 1940, during World War
II, British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill urged
his countrymen to conduct
themselves in a manner that
would prompt future gen-
erations to say, “This was
their fi nest hour.” Charles de
Gaulle delivered a speech on
the BBC in which he rallied
his countrymen after the fall
of France to Nazi Germany.
In 1945, Gen. Dwight
D. Eisenhower received a
tumultuous welcome in
Washington D.C., where he
addressed a joint session of
Congress.
In 1953, a U.S. Air Force
Douglas C-124 Globemas-
ter II crashed near Tokyo,
killing all 129 people on
board. Egypt’s 148-year-old
Muhammad Ali Dynasty
came to an end with the
overthrow of the monarchy
and the proclamation of a
republic.
In 1992, the U.S. Supreme
Court, in Georgia v. McCo-
llum, ruled that criminal
defendants could not use
race as a basis for excluding
potential jurors from their
trials.
In 1996, Richard Allen
Davis was convicted in San
Jose, California, of the 1993
kidnap-murder of 12-year-
old Polly Klaas of Petaluma.
(Davis is on death row.)
In 2018, President Donald
Trump announced that he
was directing the Pentagon
to create the “Space Force”
as an independent service
branch.
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DELIVERY ISSUES?
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TODAY’S QUOTE
“Most of the successful
people I’ve known are the
ones who do more listening
than talking.”
— Bernard M. Baruch,
American businessman and
statesman (1870-1965)
THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2020
LOCAL/REGION
Summer lunch program a hit at Riveria
By Dick Mason
The Observer
LA GRANDE —
Many summer traditions,
including festivals, parades
and sporting events, are
on hold in La Grande this
summer because of the
coronavirus pandemic, but
at least one is continuing
in a big way — the serving
of free lunches at the
Riveria Activity Center.
Community Connec-
tion of Northeast Oregon
is again providing free
midday meals at Riveria
to all youths age 1-18
each weekday just as the
nonprofi t has done each
summer since 2005.
The program got off
to a bit of a slow start its
fi rst day on June 8 when
just 40 youths showed up
for lunch. But it gained
momentum with micro-
wave-like quickness.
Now an average of close
to 100 youths a day have
been coming for lunch
with a high of 144 on June
12.
Loran Moltman, the
summer food program
supervisor at the Union
County Senior Center,
credits the increase to rapid
communication among the
families the program is
helping.
“The word got out,”
Moltman said.
The lunches Moltman
helps prepare are available
on a grab-and-go basis.
Nobody is allowed to eat
meals inside the Riveria
Activity Center because
of state social distancing
rules to protect people from
the coronavirus pandemic.
The food service staff at
Staff photo by Dick Mason
Marissa Johnson and her brother, Braden, step out of the Riveria Activity Center, La
Grande, on Tuesday with their free lunches provided by Community Connection.
Staff photo by Dick Mason
Volunteers Gerry Montgomery, right, and Jeanette Wilson
prepare meals Tuesday for children at the Riveria Activity
Center, La Grande.
the Union County Senior
Center prepares the meals
under the leadership of
Sydney Gleeson, the cen-
ter’s food service manager.
In previous summers,
staff prepared the meals for
youngsters at the Riveria
Activity Center. This year,
however, workers are pre-
paring the meals at the
senior center. The staff
already prepares the meals
for seniors, so preparing
the meals for youth boosts
effi ciency.
Moltman serves the
meals at Riveria with assis-
tance from volunteers,
including Gerry Mont-
gomery, who is heart-
ened by the enthusiastic
responses she receives from
children.
“Their faces light up,”
Montgomery said.
Montgomery noted
during one particu-
larly busy day a boy who
appeared to be 9 or 10
asked her if she was being
paid. When Montgomery
said she was a volunteer,
the boy seemed upset.
“He said, ‘You should
get paid, you work too hard
not to be paid,’” Mont-
gomery recalled.
She said children like
that make working as a vol-
unteer a joyful experience.
Jeanette Wilson, a fellow
volunteer, shared this senti-
ment, noting that time fl ies
for her because she so likes
helping others.
“An hour (assisting at
Riveria) seems like a few
minutes,” Wilson said.
Judy Sherman, also a
volunteer, offered a similar
expression.
“I have so much fun I
can’t stand it,” Sherman
said.
The lunches Sherman
helps serve are funded
by the U.S. Department
of Agriculture, which
reimburses Community
Connection.
The lunches are avail-
able each weekday from
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
As 12:30 p.m. approaches
Moltman goes outside and
announces that second
servings are available.
The main courses of the
meals served include enchi-
ladas, roast pork, chicken
and hot dogs. Moltman
said hot dogs have proven
the most popular entree
this summer. They were
the main course on Friday
when the lunch program
had its highest turnout of
144.
Like her volunteer staff,
Moltman indicated her
work is a labor of love.
“It is super fun,” she
said. “I have always liked
cooking because I like
making people happy.”
Superintendents already planning for next school year
School reopening
recommendations
prompt concerns
By Sabrina Thompson
The Observer
UNION COUNTY —
The Oregon Department of
Education and the Oregon
Health Authority June 10
delivered requirements and
recommendations for the
reopening of schools in a
guidebook titled, “Ready
Schools, Safe Learners.”
Guidelines include 35
square feet per person when
determining room capacity,
minimizing time standing
in lines and ensuring stu-
dents stay 6 feet apart.
The Oregon Department
of Education has identifi ed
three models a school can
adopt with the recommen-
dations. Schools can return
to in-classroom instruc-
tion as long as they meet
requirements or schools can
go to online instruction, and
the third is a mixed model
with some days in the class-
room and some learning
from home.
Superintendents from
La Grande, Elgin and Union
school districts shared their
districts’ progress and their
thoughts on the regulations.
La Grande School
District
Superintendent George
Mendoza said the district is
looking into how to follow
the state’s regulations, par-
ticularly in regard to the
amount of space in the
school buildings. He said it
is the school district’s pri-
ority to serve as many stu-
dents as possible.
Mendoza said the district
is working with local health
offi cials to determine if the
schools can meet guide-
lines to bring all students
back into the classroom full
time. If that requirement
can’t be met, Mendoza said,
the school will likely adopt
an attendance model with
select students in the build-
ings on alternating days.
“Ultimately our goal is
to ensure we have a plan
that allows for distance
learning options, hybrid
options based on learning
needs and all students back
at school as options in our
community,” Mendoza said.
Elgin School District
Superintendent Dianne
Greif posted on the school’s
Facebook page as a way of
updating the community on
the school’s plan.
Greif said the district is
creating plans for multiple
scenarios with the worst
case being school at home
and the best case being
everyone back in the class-
room as usual. She said her
biggest concern is the pos-
sibility these guidelines
could change again. While
parents normally would be
involved in reviewing the
plans, the district will wait a
few weeks before engaging
in parental review. In the
meantime, staff and faculty
are developing potential
plans for reopening.
“Near the end of July, I
will invite parents to come
in and review the plans our
District has developed,”
Greif said. “You will have
the opportunity to respond,
offer your ideas, and par-
ticipate in fi nalizing the
draft we send in to the state.
Some of our best ideas this
spring have come from par-
ents’ feedback. ”
Union School District
Superintendent Carter
Wells echoed Mendoza’s
concern about the square
footage of the school build-
ings. While La Grande
schools have around 2,000
students compared to
Union’s 375, the Union
School District has one
location for its students. La
Grande has multiple sites.
To combat this issue, Wells
said the district is looking at
potential hybrid models that
allow students to spread out.
“Trying to create a
model where the envi-
ronment is as clean and
hygienic as possible is
going to be a barrier for us,
and we are going to have to
do some outside-of-the-box
thinking,” Wells said.
The district is developing
models for the school board
to consider when it meets in
July. Parents and students
during that meeting also
can provide input regarding
the proposals.
Once the school boards
approve plans and receive
approval from the Oregon
Department of Education,
students and parents will
have a better sense of what
the 2020-21 school year
will look like.
Oregon lawmakers ready to meet in special session next week
By Peter Wong
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Bills to
tighten the accountability
of police after the death
of George Floyd in Min-
neapolis would lead a list
of about two dozen action
items proposed for a spe-
cial session of the Oregon
Legislature targeted for
Wednesday, June 24.
Gov. Kate Brown called
for a session Tuesday
morning. The session will
exclude talks of potential
spending cuts in the current
two-year state budget. Leg-
islative budget subcommit-
tees are just starting to look
at the cuts submitted by
agencies, hearing from the
public and coming up with
their own proposals. Two
of them have scheduled
meetings.
Topping the list are
bills dealing with police
accountability, as proposed
by the nine-member People
of Color Caucus and sup-
ported by Brown and Dem-
ocratic legislative leaders in
the aftermath of street pro-
tests in Portland and other
cities. Floyd died May 25.
One bill would bar
a labor arbitrator from
reducing discipline against
a police offi cer if the
employing agency con-
cluded there was miscon-
duct on the offi cer’s part.
This bill has passed the
Senate without dissent in
2019 and 2020, but failed to
reach a vote in the House
before the abrupt close of
the 2020 session on March
5.
Others may prove to be
more controversial. There
are proposals to set up
a statewide database for
police disciplinary cases,
designate the attorney gen-
eral instead of district attor-
neys to investigate police
when use of force results
in death or serious inju-
ries, require police to
report misbehavior by other
police, and outlaw the use
of chokeholds, tear gas and
other methods.
Several proposed action
items stem from Brown’s
executive orders during the
coronavirus pandemic, such
as moratoriums on residen-
tial and commercial evic-
tions, changes to public
meeting requirements, and
shielding payments made
under the federal corona-
virus aid act.
Others are bills that
were proposed but failed
to advance in the 2020 ses-
sion. One of them would
make technical changes
in the commercial activity
tax that Oregon lawmakers
enacted in 2019. Business
groups have urged a sus-
pension of the tax for the
fi rst two quarters of 2020,
but Brown has declined so
far to do so. The Depart-
ment of Revenue did defer
payments by the smallest
businesses subject to the tax
to April 2021, and it will not
penalize businesses for late
reports if they show good-
faith efforts.
One bill would adjust
deadlines for court cases,
particularly for some
crimes that are subject to
speedy-trial requirements.
The courts do not have the
legal authority to change
the deadlines, which were
affected when courts cur-
tailed operations during the
pandemic.
Charles Boyle, spokes-
FAMILY
OWNED
person for the governor,
said her offi ce expected to
make an announcement on
special session this week.
Once a session is
underway, issues are not
limited, but legislative
leaders can control the fl ow
of bills through the com-
mittee system.
Oregon has had 41 spe-
cial legislative sessions
since statehood, ranging
from one to 37 days in
length, the latter during
the 1982 recession. More
than half of them (22) have
taken place since 1980. The
governor has called all but
three of them, although leg-
islators called themselves
into session in 2008 and
2010 to test the concept
of annual sessions. Voters
decided in 2010 to move to
annual sessions; only four
states still have legislatures
that meet every other year.
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