The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current, July 23, 2020, Image 3

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The Observer., July 23, 2020, Page 3, Image 3

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Newspaper Page TextRECORDS & MORE THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2020 OBITUARIES COMMUNITY Briefs Island City experiences power outage BAKER CITY — Accord- ing to a press release from the Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative, a power out- age in Island City Tuesday affected approximately 860 members. The outage was reported at 7:40 p.m., and power was restored to most members at 8:17 p.m. Power was restored to the remain- ing members at 8:35 p.m. The outages were caused by debris in the line. OTEC, based in Baker City, reminds residents in its coverage area to stay away from downed power lines. To report an outage or the cause of any outage, call 1-866-430-4265. Bandits rumored to be planning train robbery SUMPTER — The Sumpter Valley Railroad is offering round-trip train robbery excursions from McEwen Depot this weekend, July 25-26. Trains depart at 10 a.m. and at 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. These excursions take about two hours and in- clude a layover in the historic mining town of Sumpter. Tickets may be purchased in advance at www.sumpter- valleyrailroad.org (under the 2020 Calendar tab; must be printed and presented at the depot). Fares are $24 adults, $20 military and seniors, $14 age 4-18; age 3 and younger ride free. For more information, email info@ sumptervalleyrailroad.org, call 541-894-2268 or see the railroad’s Facebook page. Brown Bag looks at Wal- lowa County’s hydroelec- tric generation programs JOSEPH — The guest speaker at the Josephy Center’s next installment of its Brown Bag lecture series will be Matt King, Wallowa Resources’ renewable energy program manager. Beginning at noon next Tues- day, July 28, via Zoom, King will address the fast-growing small hydroelectric gener- ation programs happening now in Wallowa County. For the time being, Brown Bags will be held online, twice a month. For the Zoom link and information on future talks, go to www. josephy.org/brown-bags. La Grande oﬃ cer graduates from police academy The Observer LA GRANDE — La Grande police ofﬁ cer Colton Wright graduates this month from Oregon’s Public Safety Academy. Wright, from Oregon City, joins 36 others graduating from the Oregon’s Department of Public Safety Stan- dards and Training 398th Basic Police Class. The 16-week course covered numerous training areas, from survival skills and ﬁ rearms to ethics and cultural diversity. La Grande Police Lt. Jason Hays said Wright already has proven him- self to the La Grande Police Department. Wright started as a cor- rections deputy for the Union County Sheriff’s Ofﬁ ce after graduating from Lewis and Clark College, and the police department hired him ﬁ ll to a vacant position in November 2019. In addition to the police course, Wright has completed nearly a year of training, including three months on the job. THE OBSERVER — 3A Roy H. Booth Sr. 1933-2020 • Meacham Roy Herbert Booth Sr., 86, of Meacham, died July 19. A graveside service will be held July 24 at 10 a.m. at Grandview Cemetery, La Grande. Attendees must wear a mask and practice social dis- tancing. The service will be livestreamed for those who cannot attend. Go to www. lovelandfuner- alchapel.com and click on the “Funeral Video” button near the bottom of the home page just before the service begins. Roy was born July 22, 1933, in Finley, Oklahoma, to Hal and Mary (Wil- liams) Booth. He resided in Lakeview and Prineville; Dayton, Washington; and La Grande. He attended school in Prineville. Roy served in the U.S Army 1953-1955. On March 12, 1953, he married Joan Reeves. Roy was a timber feller and owned Booth Chain Saws. He was an avid hunter and ﬁ sherman and enjoyed camping and dancing. He received numerous trophies for log- ging sports including World Champion Homelite Tour- nament of Kings in the 1970s and ’80s. He also received numerous trophies at archery tournaments in the 1990s and 2000s. Roy was a member of the Grande Ronde Bowman and Old Time Fiddlers. Surviving relatives include his daughters and sons-in-law, Nita and Lloyd Baker of La Grande, Car- olyn and John Stewart of Cove, and Jolene Smith of Meacham; sisters and brothers-in-law, Linda and Ted Jewett of Dayton, Washington, Barbara and David Phinny of Dayton, Washington, and Sandra Hanson of Kennewick, Washington; 12 grandchil- dren and eight great-grand- children; and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Hal and Mary; wife, Joan Booth; son, Roy Booth Jr.; and three sisters and one brother. In lieu of ﬂ owers, memo- rial contributions can be made by donating a tree for a dollar in Roy’s name at www.teamtrees.org. Online condolences may be made to the family at www.lovelandfuneral- chapel.com. Natasha Roba Elgin Natasha Roba, 35, of Elgin, died July 20 at her residence. Arrangements are by Loveland Funeral Chapel & Crematory of La Grande. Glen R. Marshall 1929-2020 • Formerly of La Grande Glen Raymond Mar- shall, 90, of Sumpter and formerly of La Grande, died July 9 at his residence of natural causes. At his request, there will not be a service. A family gath- ering will take place for the spreading of his ashes at a later date. Arrangements are by Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, Baker City. Glen was born Dec. 5, 1929, in Pitts- burgh, Penn- sylvania, to Floyd and Amanda “May” Marshall. He joined the U.S. Army at the age of 17 and served as a paratrooper in the 11th Airborne Divi- sion, receiving a World War II Victory Medal. Fol- lowing his honorable dis- charge, he held a variety of jobs including working on the Hanford Nuclear Plant and the Bonneville Dam. In 1952 he went to work for the Union Paciﬁ c Railroad. Glen married Pauline Gardner in 1953 and they raised ﬁ ve children. They separated in 1987. Glen was passionate about music and enjoyed dancing, socializing and meeting new people. While living in La Grande and working for the UPRR, Glen owned the Mt. Emily Cycle shop, where he sponsored himself and his sons as a competitive racing team. Glen was highly rec- ognized in the sport and was very proud of his sons’ accomplishments. After 35 years, he retired from the railroad as the manager of the Portland Terminal Rail- road Company. Upon his retirement, Glen made his home in the Sumpter/Baker Valley where he enjoyed the hunting, ﬁ shing, snowmo- biling and beautiful scenery of the Elkhorn Mountains. He served as the presi- dent of the local snowmo- bile club, and in his later years he could often be seen riding on the mountain trails near his home in his side-by-side with his dog and constant companion, Biscuit. Survivors include his partner, Berta Goodin; children and their spouses, Larry and Diane Mar- shall, Paula and Tom Hat- ﬁ eld, Lane and Brenda Marshall, Randy and Karen Marshall, and Scott Marshall; and seven grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. Upcoming local services July 24 — ROY BOOTH SR.: 10 a.m. graveside service, Grand- view Cemetery, La Grande; masks and social distancing required; watch the livestream at www.lovelandfuner- alchapel.com (click on “Funeral Videos” near bottom of page). July 24 — IRMA ROGERS: noon graveside service, Hillcrest East Cemetery, La Grande; please wear a mask. July 25 — DAVE MURRILL: 11 a.m. grave- side service, Enterprise Cemetery. — Calendar cour- tesy of Loveland Funeral Chapel, La He was preceded in death by his parents and older brother, Edward. To light a candle in Glen’s memory or leave a condolence for the family, visit www.grayswestco. com. Eye to the sky: What meteorologists really do hen you tell someone you’re a meteorologist, the ﬁ rst thing you’re likely to hear is, “Really? What channel are you on?” fol- lowed by, “I sure wish I could ﬁ nd a job where I was W MARC AUSTIN METEOROLOGIST wrong 50% of the time and still got paid.” These are musings we weather profes- sionals are used to, and as someone who really enjoys engaging the public, they don’t bother me. In fact, I use them to better inform people on what meteorolo- gists really do, and how our forecasts are actually right most of the time. The truth is, the world of meteorology careers is more diverse than people think. First, you have your aca- demic meteorologists who largely work in public and private universities. Thank God they exist or nobody would ever understand how weather works. There are literally dozens of complex equations and atmospheric laws. Without researchers and professors, we would never understand these con- cepts, and I assure you our forecasts would be about as accurate as Bob’s Weather Forecasting Stone. Then there are the pro- grammers — the ones who are con- stantly seeking to improve numerical weather models and developing apps and tools to aid in weather fore- casting and warning deci- sion-making. More on this in a future column. There’s just way too much to expand upon here. Then you have your TV meteorologists. Believe it or not, some of the most famous TV personali- ties don’t actually have a degree in meteorology, but rather one in com- munications. You com- bine this with formidable people skills and a great smile, and amazing things happen. A heavy majority of the folks who go into TV are meteorologists, and all of them do a fantastic job because most people are mortiﬁ ed to get in front of a dozen people, much less an unknown number of critics watching from home. Finally, you have your operational meteorologists or weather forecasters. A large number of us work in the private sector for com- panies like AccuWeather or Weather Underground, but a sizable number are employed by the govern- ment. Most federal posi- tions are in the military or the National Weather Ser- vice, which is made up of meteorologists, program- mers and technicians. We all work diligently toward a uniﬁ ed mission of saving lives and protecting prop- erty from potential damage or loss due to adverse weather. While many in the gen- eral public have heard of the NWS, not all are aware of the variation or techni- cality of the work we do, so it’s worth touching on. We put together fore- casts out to the next seven days for that weekend barbecue, outdoor wed- ding, or upcoming trip you have planned. We know weather impacts every facet of life, whether it is life-threatening or not. More importantly, we issue watches and warnings for hazardous weather, such as severe thunder- storms, winter storms, and ﬂ ooding. We also work hard to educate people on the dangers of weather and how they can stay safe and prepare ahead of time to prevent any potential harm to themselves or their families. More recently, the NWS has embarked on a mission to provide weather infor- mation to decision makers. We call this Impact-based Decision Support Ser- vices, and the goal is to provide partner agencies in emergency management and public safety infor- mation on threatening weather well in advance. This enables them to posi- tion resources and employ mitigation strategies to minimize potential dam- ages and casualties. We will discuss IDSS fur- ther in a future article, but the bottom line is there’s a lot more that goes into forecasting than simply reviewing a model, com- posing a forecast, and transmitting it. Interpretation of impacts-based weather information has become a cornerstone of NWS oper- ations. Helping our core partners make better deci- sions enables them to do their jobs more effectively, and keeps you and your families safer during dan- gerous weather. So the next time someone tells you they are a meteorologist, instead of settling for the traditional quips about forecast accu- racy, what channel they work for, or recanting the “Great Storm of ‘93,” ask them what they actually do in weather. I’m certain most would be happy to oblige, and you’ll probably learn something new about the fascinating world of weather and the people who make it their life’s work. ——— About the Author Marc Austin is the warning coordination mete- orologist for the National Weather Service in Pend- leton, the station that pro- vides weather forecasts for Union and Wallowa counties. OHA publishes COVID-19 test site locator EO Media Group SALEM — The Oregon Health Authority announced it has published a COVID-19 test site locator to help Ore- gonians across ﬁ nd testing sites in their community. The OHA in a press release Tuesday, July 21, reported the interactive map is available on pages in English and Spanish and can be toggled into mul- tiple other languages. The webisites are healthoregon. org/covid19testing or healthoregon.org/pruebasde- covid19 (Spanish). Union County has two testing sites: Center for Human Development, 2301 Cove Ave., La Grande, 541-962-8800; and Grande Ronde Hospital Community Clinic, 570 S. Eighth Ave., Elgin, 541-437-2273. The Grande Ronde clinic requires an appointment and a screening and limits testing to individuals iden- tiﬁ ed through investigations or individuals that meet Oregon State Public Health Lab criteria. For Wallowa County, there are two testing sites in Enterprise: Winding Waters Community Health Center, 603 Medical Parkway, 541-426-4502, and Wal- lowa Memorial Hospital, 601 Medical Parkway, 541-426-3111. Both require appoint- ments, a physician order and other restrictions. Winding Waters also requires screening. There also are several testing sites in neighboring counties, according to the website. People who experience COVID-19 symptoms, including fever, cough or shortness of breath, should contact a health care pro- vider to discuss whether to be tested. Health care pro- viders determine whether testing is appropriate based on symptoms and test avail- ability in their area. “Removing barriers to testing is important to help Oregonians stay healthy and to slow the spread of COVID-19,” said Dean Sidelinger, MD, state epi- demiologist and state health ofﬁ cer. “This new resource can help people ﬁ nd ongoing testing locations in their community.” La GRANDE AUTO REPAIR 975-2000 www.lagrandeautorepair.com MOST ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY AVAILABLE Joe Horst ACDelcoTSS STORAGE BUILDINGS www.CountrysideSheds.com Start Growing Season in your NEW Greenhouse (541) 663-0246 FAMILY OWNED Locally owned and operated for over 25 years La Grande’s Most Trusted Hearing Care Experts Since 1982 Old-Fashioned Service with Innovative Hearing Care Solutions 10505 N. McAlister Road • • • • 215 Elm Street La Grande (541) 963-5440 northwestfurnitureandmattress.com (Corner of Hwy 82 & N. McAlister Rd.) 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