Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 6, 2020)
2A — THE OBSERVER Daily Planner TODAY Today is Thursday, Aug. 6, the 219th day of 2020. There are 147 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT On August 6, 1945, during World War II, the U.S. B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb code-named “Little Boy” on Hiroshi- ma, Japan, resulting in an estimated 140,000 deaths. (Three days later, the Unit- ed States exploded a nu- clear device over Nagasaki; five days after that, Imperial Japan surrendered.) ON THIS DATE In 1809, one of the lead- ing literary figures of the Victorian era, poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England. In 1911, actor-comedian Lucille Ball was born in Jamestown, New York. In 1926, Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel, arriving in Kingsdown, England, from France in 14½ hours. In 1930, New York State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Force Crater went missing after leaving a Manhattan restaurant; his disappearance remains a mystery. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Vot- ing Rights Act. In 1973, entertainer Stevie Wonder was seriously injured in a car accident in North Carolina. In 1978, Pope Paul VI died at Castel Gandolfo at age 80. In 1986, William J. Schroeder died at Humana Hospital-Audubon in Louis- ville, Kentucky, after living 620 days with the Jarvik 7 artificial heart. In 1991, the World Wide Web made its public debut as a means of access- ing webpages over the internet. TV newsman Harry Reasoner died in Norwalk, Connecticut, at age 68. In 1993, Louis Freeh won Senate confirmation to be FBI director. In 2009, Sonia Sotomay- or was confirmed as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice by a Senate vote of 68-31. John Hughes, 59, Hollywood’s youth movie director of the 1980s and ’90s, died in New York City. In 2013, U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan went on trial at Fort Hood, Texas, charged with killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in a 2009 attack. (Hasan, who admitted carrying out the attack, was convicted and sentenced to death.) LOTTERY Megabucks: $4.8 million 1-5-7-12-32-34 Mega Millions: $20 million 2-22-30-42-62—20 x3 Powerball: $137 million 6-25-36-43-48—PB-24 x3 Win for Life: Aug. 3 28-45-46-50 Pick 4: Aug. 4 • 1 p.m.: 4-6-9-7 • 4 p.m.: 1-2-9-3 • 7 p.m.: 1-0-2-9 • 10 p.m.: 3-2-3-1 Pick 4: Aug. 3 • 1 p.m.: 0-4-5-6 • 4 p.m.: 1-4-6-8 • 7 p.m.: 5-4-2-2 • 10 p.m.: 9-0-6-4 DELIVERY ISSUES? If you have any problems receiving your Observer, call the office at 541-963-3161. THuRSday, auguST 6, 2020 LOCAL La Grande, Eastern make baseball deal By Dick Mason “It is awesome that we have a facility like this already in La Grande that the team can use.” The Observer LA GRANDE — The city of La Grande will be helping Eastern Oregon University revive its base- ball program. The La Grande City Council voted Monday, Aug. 3, to enter into a three-year agreement with Eastern Oregon Univer- sity that will allow it to play games and practice at Pioneer Park’s Optimist Field starting next spring when Mountaineer baseball returns. EOU announced in 2019 it would reinstate baseball after cutting it in 2006 for financial rea- sons. Eastern, however, does not have a home field because the field house is set to be built where its old diamond, Snowflake Field, once was. La Grande Parks and Recreation Director Stu Spence said he is glad to help Eastern revive its base- ball program. “We all want baseball,” Spence said. Eastern, however, will not be able to practice or play games at Optimist Field in the late winter and early spring when condi- — Tim Seydel, EOU vice president Staff photo by Ronald Bond The La Grande City Council has approved a three-year plan for Eastern Oregon Universi- ty’s baseball team to play at Optimist Field in Pioneer Park when it takes the field in 2021. tions are very wet and the field more vulnerable to damage. “We will be protecting the field,” said Spence, noting this will be crit- ical because others also use Optimist Field, including La Grande High School. Tim Seydel, EOU’s vice president for university advancement, said Tuesday he is pleased with the agreement. “It is awesome that we have a facility like this already in La Grande that the team can use,” Seydel said. He said Eastern is plan- ning to build a baseball facility on campus. One site under consideration is near the softball field, which is in the southwest corner of campus. Seydel said one advantage of building a baseball diamond there would be sharing resources, such as water and parking. In another move Monday night, the city council voted Free ride program expands News Briefs Hunting class canceled, changes to requirements CAT Link now gives rides every weekday By Dick Mason The Observer LA GRANDE — The weekly window of oppor- tunity for the homebound in Union County who need assistance traveling is expanding. CAT Link, a program run by Northeast Oregon Public Transit that pro- vides free rides any- where in Union County to anyone, now is offering service five days a week. CAT Link — short for Connecting All Towns — began operating July 1, 2019, and provided rides three days a week its first year. The expansion now offers rides Monday through Friday. Heath Sell, the director of Northeast Oregon Public Transit, said his agency always intended to expand to five days a week but started at three days to give it a better chance to work out and possible glitches. “We wanted to test it out,” Sell said. CAT Link provided 100 rides in July. People can get a CAT Link ride for any purpose, but Sell said most people use it to get to medical appointments, pick up medications at a pharmacy or go to a gro- cery store. “Our goal is to pro- vide mobility to everyone in the community so they to table a proposal to have La Grande residents decide on a 3% tax on marijuana. The city had scheduled a second reading for the tax ordinance for Monday’s meeting, which would have allowed the council to vote and put the measure on the ballot for the Nov. 3 gen- eral election. The council though, acting on the advice of City Manager Robert Strope, decided to table the measure. Strope said he made the Staff photo by Dick Mason Steve Konopacky and Breanna Harvey, both of North- east Oregon Public Transit, set up a ramp for a car used by the agency’s CAT Link free ride program. Call Northeast Oregon Public Transit at the following: Union County — 541-963-2877 Wallowa County — 541-426-3840 Baker County — 541-523-7433 can get the services they need,” Sell said. All of the vehicles that provide CAT Link rides are handicapped acces- sible and have ramps to help people get in and out of vehicles. Everyone wanting a ride on CAT Link must schedule a time to leave (and to be picked up if it’s a round trip) at least a day in advance. The program offers rides between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. However, people who get a ride that starts late in the after- noon but before 5:30 p.m. will continue to receive service past 5:30 p.m., until they arrive at their destination. To schedule a ride, call Northeast Oregon Public Transit between 7:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. at least one day before you plan to travel. People canceling rides are encouraged to call at least an hour in advance. Everyone getting a ride must wear a mask and sit in the back because of COVID-19 restrictions. Multiple people riding all must be from the same household, Sell said. Breanna Harvey, an office assistant and dis- patcher with Northeast Oregon Public Transit, said people are apprecia- tive of the service. “They are so happy when they call,” she said. “They are so grateful.” recommendation because there is now no need the measure. Earlier this year Rona Lindsey, owner of HWY30 Cannabis, the La Grande medical marijuana dis- pensary, started a petition asking residents to con- sider repealing the local ban on the sale of recreational marijuana. Lindsey had until July 6 to submit her petition to the city, but she did not submit a petition by the dead- line. Strope said it would not make sense to have the measure on the ballot because there would be nothing to tax. Strope added that having the measure on the ballot also could confuse voters by making it appear the sale of recreational marijuana in La Grande is legal or about to be. LA GRANDE — The Oregon Department of Fishing and Wildlife announced it has canceled the Aug. 15 hunting class at Ladd Marsh, La Grande. “Due to the uncertainty and changing status of the virus and county phases, other hunter education classes may be cancelled suddenly,” ODFW spokes- person Michelle Dennehy. “For example, we are can- celling the class scheduled in Umatilla County soon due to the county returning to Stay Home status. ODFW will notify students when classes are cancelled.” Due to the class cancel- lations, the department also is not requiring students to attend a field day. “Students who com- plete the online course or workbook course may hunt without taking the field day this year,” according to Dennehy. “So these field day cancellations will not mean a youth cannot hunt this fall.” Three candidates seek La Grande City Council Position No. 6 LA GRANDE — The filing deadline for La Grande City Council Posi- tion No. 6 closed Thursday, July 30. The three eligible candidates who will be on the November ballot are John Bozarth, David Moyal and Max Koltuv. The position became vacant with the resignation of Councilor Jim Whitbeck, who stepped down at the beginning of July to move to Corvallis and pursue a Ph.D at Oregon State University. The candidate who takes Whitbeck’s place will com- plete the four-year term and hold the city council seat until December 31, 2022. The mayor’s position and council positions 2, 3 and 4 also are on the November ballot. Partnership leads to more eBooks LA GRANDE — Cook Memorial Library, La Grande, has announced a partnership with publishing company Unite for Lit- eracy that has made more electronic books avail- able through the library’s website. According to a press release from the library, the partnership will provide “a multilingual collection of children’s eBooks,” which will encompass “a variety of topics.” The stories “are told by native speakers in celebration of their lan- guage and culture.” Part of the library’s goal is to reach non-English speaking families, and the library is looking for indi- viduals to help bridge the gap between non-English- speaking and immigrant communities and its staff. For more information on the program call the library at 541-962-1339. — EO Media Group New La Grande Parks and Rec program a summer hit with kids By Dick Mason The Observer LA GRANDE — Paper rockets have helped the La Grande Parks and Recreation Department launch a new summer activity, one whose popu- larity is climbing beyond expectations. The Summer Camp Take Home Kits program was designed to make up for the summer day camps the La Grande Parks and Recre- ation Department canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. The program provides children with kits with themes based on the department’s original day camp schedule for 2020. Each kit costs $5. “People are really excited about it,” said McKayla Nitz, recre- ation supervisor for the department. The outdoors is the theme for this week “We will keep doing it as long as we can. We like to help the community and the kids.” McKayla Nitz, La Grande recreation supervisor and bags children have received contain items for scavenger hunts. Engi- neering was the theme for last week when children picked up bags with sup- plies to construct a rocket out of card stock and straws. The theme for the first week was arts and crafts. Children received bags packed with items for dec- orating masquerade masks and sand art projects. Nitz and Jessie Wilson and Sean Crews of the Parks and Recreation Department prepare the bags each week. The con- tent is for children in kin- dergarten through fifth grade. The crew provides about 40 bags a week, a process that takes about five hours. The kits are available at the Parks and Recreation Department office, 2402 Cedar St. (in Pioneer Park next to the tennis courts), on weekdays 3-5:30 p.m. Nitz said she initially planned to conduct the program for about two weeks but is extending it because of the response it has received. “We will keep doing it as long as we can,” Nitz said. “We like to help the community and the kids.” Contributed photo by Nicole Gilbride Analisia Smith, 5, of Cove, works on an art project with materials from a Summer Camp Take Home Kit the La Grande Parks and Recreation Department provided earlier this sum- mer.
