2A — THE OBSERVER
SaTuRday, auguST 8, 2020
LOCAL/REGION
Daily Imbler schools face challenges of mask mandate
Planner
TODAY
Today is Saturday, Aug. 8,
the 221st day of 2020. There
are 145 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On August 8, 1974, Pres-
ident Richard Nixon, facing
damaging new revelations
in the Watergate scandal,
announced he would resign
the following day.
ON THIS DATE
In 1973, Vice President
Spiro T. Agnew branded as
“damned lies” reports he
had taken kickbacks from
government contracts in
Maryland, and vowed not
to resign — which he ended
up doing.
In 2003, the Boston
Roman Catholic archdiocese
offered $55 million to settle
more than 500 lawsuits
stemming from alleged sex
abuse by priests.
LOTTERY
Megabucks: $4.9 million
3-7-14-27-32-41
Mega Millions: $20 million
2-22-30-42-62—20 x3
Powerball: $147 million
7-14-17-57-65—PB-24 x5
Win for Life: Aug. 5
20-36-43-77
Pick 4: Aug. 6
• 1 p.m.: 4-6-1-6; • 4 p.m.: 7-2-4-8
• 7 p.m.: 4-5-7-7; • 10 p.m.: 0-2-4-8
Pick 4: Aug. 5
• 1 p.m.: 1-7-1-8; • 4 p.m.: 4-0-0-4
• 7 p.m.: 5-4-2-1; • 10 p.m.: 2-4-0-9
DELIVERY ISSUES?
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By Sabrina Thompson
The Observer
IMBLER — Imbler
Superintendent Angie
Lakey-Campbell said she
wants to see students return
to in-person classes starting
Aug. 31, but at the school
board meeting Wednesday,
Aug. 5, it sounded like that
was a less likely option.
Lakey-Campbell said
several parents have noti-
fied the district their child
would not attend classes
if they are held in person.
The main reason: Most of
the parents don’t want their
children to wear masks,
one of the state’s require-
ments for schools to allow
students and staff in class-
rooms in the fall. As a
result, the district is looking
at ways for students at home
to receive their education
from Imbler teachers.
The school board
liked the idea of teachers
streaming their classes
from their classrooms.
This would mean students
who are attending class
online would get the same
instruction as students
who are on site, rather than
from another teacher via
distance education with the
InterMountain Educational
Service District.
Staff photo by Sabrina Thompson
The Imbler School Board discusses plans for reopening in the fall at its meeting Wednes-
day, Aug. 5, at Imbler High School.
“You have people who
don’t want to do on-site
schooling because of the
masks, but they want Imbler
teachers,” Lakey-Campbell
said. “So how can we make
this work?”
However, this option
comes with concern
about students’ privacy.
Lakey-Campbell explained
if a teacher is streaming
from a classroom and a stu-
dent is called away for spe-
cial education services,
there is concern that infor-
mation will reach those who
are not privy to the student’s
special education status.
“We don’t know who
is watching at home,”
Lakey-Campbell said.
“Mom and dad or someone
in background may hear
‘so-and-so, you need to go
to Ms. Creech’s class,’ and
now they know that kid is
in special ed. And that is a
Dust storm leads to 5-car pileup
By Sabrina Thompson
The Observer
IMBLER — A dust
storm the evening of
Wednesday, Aug. 5,
blew across Highway 82
between La Grande and
Imbler and led to a
five-vehicle pileup.
Oregon State Police
reported the series of
wrecks involved 10
people, including three
minors ages 4, 16 and 17.
One juvenile passenger
received medical treatment
at Grande Ronde Hospital,
La Grande.
The crashes started
around 6:48 p.m., state
police reported, when
Veronique Voltaire of La
Grande stopped in the
highway’s eastbound lane
in a black Jeep Patriot
because blowing dust
reduced visibility to near
zero. Dennis Cline of
Imbler was driving a white
Ford F150 eastbound and
stopped behind the Jeep.
Winona Gaston of Elgin
was heading east as well in
a white Chevrolet Tahoe,
according to state police,
and drove into the rear of
the Ford, which pushed the
pickup into the Jeep.
Dustin Phillips of Elgin
was driving east in a black
Sorento and crashed into
the Tahoe. And Bruce
Rogers of Elgin was trav-
eling east in a silver GMC
Yukon and collided with
the Sorento.
The La Grande Rural
Fire Department was
one of the agencies that
responded. Fire Chief
Craig Kretschmer said
when the cars collided
there was zero visibility
from the dust.
“You are in a tough spot
when something like wthis
Photo contributed by La Grande Rural Fire Department
Above, an emergency vehicle stops Wednesday, Aug. 5, at the scene of a five-vehicle
pileup on Highway 82 between La Grande and Imbler. Oregon State Police reported a
dust storm reduced visibility led to the series of crashes. Below, emergency personnel
work at the scene of the crash.
“You are in a tough spot when
something like this happens. Do
you go forward and maybe run
into somebody, do you stop and
maybe get hit by someone else?”
— Craig Kretschmer, La Grande Rural Fire
Department chief
happens,” Kretschmer
said. “Do you go forward
and maybe run into some-
body, do you stop and
maybe get hit by someone
else? You can’t really see
the side of the road, so it
is hard to pull off to a safe
spot.”
Kretschmer said vis-
ibility improved by the
time emergency personnel
arrived. He also said
these kinds of calls about
crashes due to windstorms
are infrequent.
The crashes and cleanup
led to the closure of the
highway for approximately
two hours. The first two
cars drove from the scene,
but wreckers towed the
other three.
The La Grande City
Fire Department, Imbler
Rural Fire Department and
Union County Sheriff’s
Office also responded.
Pandemic does not deter Baker County Fair youths
By Sam Anthony
EO Media Group
BAKER CITY — For
more than a century the
Baker County Fair and
the youth-raised livestock
that go along with it have
been a part of the county’s
culture.
While COVID-19 has
shut down event after
event this year, community
members and participants
were determined not to let
the pandemic dismiss the
hard work of 4-H and FFA
members in raising and
training their animals.
Although the fair this
week is not open to the
public and does not have
its usual attractions,
youngsters still have the
opportunity to show and
sell their pigs, sheep, steers
and other animals.
The morning of
Photo by Sam Anthony/EO Media Group
Baker County youths show their pigs the morning of
Wednesday, Aug. 5, near the Baker County Fairgrounds.
Wednesday, Aug. 5. youths
gathered in a temporary
ring at the Leo Adler base-
ball field near the Fair-
grounds to show the swine
they raised from piglets.
Thursday the sheep,
goats and small animals
were display, and Friday
the steers entered the ring.
Terri Siddoway, presi-
dent of the Fair Sale Com-
mittee, said while the fair
is different, some aspects
are familiar.
“The sale part is fairly
normal, with the excep-
tion of not having all of the
buyers in the barn,” Sid-
doway said.
Recent high school
graduate Shane Cun-
ningham, who has shown
animals at the fair for nine
years, said this year’s event
wasn’t like any other he
had competed in.
“It’s a lot different obvi-
ously with all the restric-
tions, but I’m still glad
we’re able to do it,” he
said. “I’m happy we’re
still having it and they’re
doing as much as possible
to make it as normal as
possible.”
Madison Yencopal, who
will be a sophomore, has
been involved in 4-H for
four years.
“I really appreciate the
leaders this year, I think
they’re working ten times
harder than they have in
the past to make this year
as normal and fun as pos-
sible,” she said.
privacy issue.”
The school board cir-
culated suggestions about
how to protect students’ pri-
vacy, including waivers and
arranging students who are
in a special education pro-
gram into a separate cohort.
School board members
said the biggest problem
they have is trying to
finalize plans while the
rules keep changing. Board
members also brought up
the concern that teachers
were not trained in dis-
tance learning and virtual
teaching.
While many of the
teachers have taken it
upon themselves to learn
about best practices,
Lakey-Campbell said, they
need more support. The
InterMountain Educational
Service District is sched-
uled to teach a one-day
course about comprehensive
distance learning. While
Lakey-Campbell said this is
a good thing, she and board
members don’t believe it
will be enough.
“None of us have been
trained to teach in a dis-
tance-learning situation,”
Lakey-Campbell said.
“We have been trained (for
in-person teaching), and
we went into the profes-
sion because we wanted
to work with kids in the
building.”
The Oregon Depart-
ment of Education will
drop its next school metrics
update on Tuesday, Aug.
11. Lakey-Campbell said
the district will continue to
work toward an education
plan. Oregon school dis-
tricts have until Aug. 15 to
submit those plans to the
state for approval.
News Briefs
Union schools plan
to reopen Aug. 31
UNION — The Union
School District is set to
begin the school year for all
students Monday, Aug. 31.
Union School District
Superintendent Carter
Wells said there is a pos-
sibility that on-site classes
will be conducted for stu-
dents in kindergarten
through third grade. How-
ever, all other courses
will be taught via dis-
tance education because of
COVID-19 restrictions.
Wells said new rules the
Oregon governor’s office
recently released — known
as the School Health and
Safety Metrics — make
it much easier for schools
with students in kinder-
garten through third grade
to meet standards than
schools with older stu-
dents. Wells said, though,
Union will not be able to
have on-site K-3 classes
unless Union County gets
below the 5% threshold for
new cases in the next three
weeks.
Wells still is hopeful all
students will have on-site
classes when school begins
because the state’s rules are
regularly changing.
“This has a high poten-
tial to change and we are
hopeful for less restrictions
but we are preparing mul-
tiple scenarios for opening
in the fall,” Wells said
in a letter to parents and
guardians.
The superintendent
noted the state plans to pro-
vide an update on Aug. 11
on how schools will operate
this fall. Wells said the
direction the state provides
for Eastern Oregon may be
different than the rest of the
state.
Cove High School’s
Mat Miles to retire
COVE — The Cove
School District will soon
be searching for a new high
school principal.
Mat Miles has
announced he will retire
at the end of December.
Miles has been Cove High
School’s principal for the
past 10 years.
He said he is retiring
because he wants to be
available for members of
his family if they need
assistance. Miles said his
decade serving as CHS’s
principal was a tremendous
experience.
“I liked the kids, the
families and the small
school environment,”
Miles said. “Cove is a great
community.”
Miles came to Cove
from the La Grande School
District where he worked
for 11 years. In the La
Grande School District he
held a number of positions,
including as La Grande
Middle school vice prin-
cipal and special education
director.
Miles, who has a bach-
elor’s degree in education
from Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity and master’s degree
from Eastern Washington
University, came to Union
County after working as an
educator in Washington.
Cove School District
Superintendent Earl Pettit
said Miles has many skills
as an educator.
“He is very good at
addressing students’ indi-
vidual needs,” Pettit said.
Pettit said this skill is the
reason he had Miles also
serve as the Cove School
District’s special education
director. Pettit also credits
Miles with being willing
to do whatever it takes to
move the school district
forward.
The superintendent
added that Miles is out-
standing to work with.
“We complement each
other very well,” Pettit said.
Motorcycle chase
ends in crash, arrest
LA GRANDE — An
attempt at a traffic stop in
La Grande led to a police
chase, crash and arrest.
The La Grande Police
Department in a press
release reported officer
Ryan Herbel tried to stop
a motorcyclist Thursday,
Aug. 6, at 3:08 a.m. on
North Depot Street near
V Avenue after the driver,
John Fine, 52, of Joseph,
committed several traffic
violations.
Fine was operating
a 1987 Suzuki motor-
cycle and failed to yield,
according to La Grande
police, and led officers on a
low-speed pursuit, exiting
town and heading north
on Mount Glenn Road. He
then left the road and con-
tinued to flee through a
farmer’s field near Lizabeth
Lane.
“Fine crashed his motor-
cycle after driving into an
irrigation ditch,” the police
department reported, “and
continued to attempt to
elude officers on foot.”
Herbel, though, caught
the fleeing Fine.
Fine suffered non-
life-threatening injuries,
according to the press
release, and an ambulance
took him to Grande Ronde
Hospital, La Grande.
The La Grande Fire
Department, Union County
Sheriff’s Office and Oregon
State Police assisted La
Grande police, which also
reported Fine faces charges
for multiple traffic viola-
tions and crimes upon his
release from the hospital.
— Observer staff