2A — THE OBSERVER
Daily
Planner
TODAY
Today is Thursday, Aug.
20, the 233rd day of 2020.
There are 133 days left in
the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On August 20, 1964, Pres-
ident Lyndon B. Johnson
signed the Economic Oppor-
tunity Act, a nearly $1 billion
anti-poverty measure.
ON THIS DATE
In 1862, the New York
Tribune published an open
letter by editor Horace
Greeley calling on President
Abraham Lincoln to take
more aggressive measures
to free the slaves and end
the South’s rebellion.
In 1920, pioneering
American radio station 8MK
in Detroit (later WWJ) began
daily broadcasting.
In 1940, exiled Commu-
nist revolutionary Leon
Trotsky was assassinated
in Coyoacan, Mexico by
Ramon Mercader, a Spanish
Communist agent working
at the behest of Josef Stalin.
(Trotsky died the next day.)
In 1953, the Soviet Union
publicly acknowledged
it had tested a hydrogen
bomb.
In 1955, hundreds of peo-
ple were killed in anti-French
rioting in Morocco and
Algeria.
In 1968, the Soviet Union
and other Warsaw Pact
nations began invading
Czechoslovakia to crush the
“Prague Spring” liberaliza-
tion drive.
In 1981, Michael Devine, a
member of the Irish National
Liberation Army, died after
a 60-day hunger strike at
the Maze Prison in Northern
Ireland; he was the tenth
and last hunger-striker to die
that year.
In 1986, postal employee
Patrick Henry Sherrill went
on a deadly rampage at a
post office in Edmond, Okla.,
shooting 14 fellow work-
ers to death before killing
himself.
In 1989, entertainment
executive Jose Menendez
and his wife, Kitty, were shot
to death in their Beverly Hills
mansion by their sons, Lyle
and Erik. Fifty-one people
died when a pleasure boat
sank in the River Thames in
London after colliding with a
dredger.
In 2005, Northwest
Airlines mechanics went on
strike rather than accept pay
cuts and layoffs; Northwest
ended up hiring replace-
ment workers.
In 2008, a Spanish jetliner
crashed during takeoff from
Madrid, killing 154 people;
18 survived.
In 2017, actor, comic and
longtime telethon host Jerry
Lewis died of heart disease
in Las Vegas at the age of 91.
LOTTERY
Megabucks: $5.4 million
3-9-20-21-43-48
Mega Millions: $40 million
4-18-26-27-58—23 x4
Powerball: $20 million
5-12-34-45-56—PB-3 x3
Win for Life: Aug. 17
10-54-55-58
Pick 4: Aug. 18
• 1 p.m.: 3-2-1-0
• 4 p.m.: 4-5-7-5
• 7 p.m.: 8-7-5-1
• 10 p.m.: 6-5-7-6
Pick 4: Aug. 17
• 1 p.m.: 2-4-5-0
• 4 p.m.: 4-3-3-7
• 7 p.m.: 8-3-8-3
• 10 p.m.: 3-7-9-9
DELIVERY ISSUES?
If you have any problems
receiving your Observer, call
the office at 541-963-3161.
THuRSday, auguST 20, 2020
LOCAL/REGION
Pendleton teen makes face masks
High school
student makes face
coverings for
students, staff
EO Media Group
Photo by Ben Lonergan/EO Media Group
Chloe Taber poses for a portrait outside of Pendleton High School on Friday, Aug. 15.
Taber plans to print and distribute 1,000 masks for the students and staff at Pendleton
High School.
to life. That’s when they
began contacting friends,
family and community
members to request dona-
tions. Taber said everyone
has been really supportive
of the project and has
donated, including Altrusa
International of Pendleton
and the Pendleton Rotary
Club.
Michael Williams,
president of the Pendleton
Rotary Club, said he felt it
was important to support
community projects, such
as Taber’s, and after she
reached out to the club,
they were happy to help.
“We have a good strong
club here in Pendleton
and we like to be able
to support community
endeavors,” he said.
According to John
Taber, they have raised
enough funding to cover
just more than $2,000 of
the roughly $3,500 project,
and they are hoping more
donations will come
through to cover the full
cost ahead of the school
year.
For the Taber family,
the mask-making project
has become a family affair
with everyone chipping
in to help out whenever
possible.
“We’ve helped where
we can and I’m very proud
of her,” Terri Taber, Chloe
Taber’s grandmother, said.
“I hope she ends up get-
ting all of the dollars she
needs to pay for the mask,
and if and when those
kids go back to school,
everyone will have one,
including staff.”
Taber plans on handing
out the masks before fall
term for students and fac-
ulty to wear once school is
back to holding in-person
classes. Although changing
rules surrounding face-to-
face classes have made the
timeline a little uncertain,
Taber said ideally there
would be some form of
drive-thru supplies pickup
before the school year
where she could distribute
masks.
If no such event exists,
she said she would dis-
tribute masks in person
when the school year even-
tually gets underway.
She said the mask
project is a community
effort that would not have
been possible without
everyone’s support.
“We’re wearing masks
because we care about
others,” she said. “A lot of
people have helped me and
donated to me. Friends of
friends, community mem-
bers, family. It’s really cool
to see people that actu-
ally care. It seems like
the community actually
cares.”
Elgin to start year with closed campus
By Dick Mason
The Observer
ELGIN — The Elgin
School District will have
a closed campus for at
least the first month of the
2020-21 school year.
The Elgin School
Board passed a resolu-
tion Monday, Aug. 17,
requiring all students to
stay on campus for their
full school day for the
first month of the school
year after school starts on
Aug. 31. The board passed
the resolution while dis-
cussing reopening plans.
Students will be on
campus for the first time
in more than five months
when classes start in 11
days. The Elgin School
District, like all of those
in Oregon, have been
closed since mid March by
state order because of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The Elgin School
Board discussed the pos-
sibility of allowing high
school students to leave
campus during lunch but
decided against it because
that might create confu-
sion, said Dianne Greif,
the school district’s super-
The Observer
Passing
thunderstorms ignite
fires across Eastern
Oregon
By Nada Sewidan
and Ben Lonergan
PENDLETON — What
if everybody had the same
face mask?
Pendleton High School
student Chloe Taber asked
that question to Pend-
leton High School biology
teacher Stacy Hansen,
before embarking on a
project that would eventu-
ally create 1,000 identical
masks for all of the high
school’s students and staff.
Taber created the
mask project as a way to
encourage everyone to
wear masks. If everybody
had the same mask, she
thought, they’d be more
likely to wear it, not only
because they’ll have the
resource more readily
available, but also no one
would feel singled out or
awkward about wearing
masks at school. The
masks will all be screen
printed with “I (heart) my
Bucks.”
“It’ll make it where
everybody has the same
mask,” Taber said. “It’s
also for school spirit, too.
Some people might think
it’s embarrassing to wear
one or it’s not cool, but
having everyone have the
same one might make
some people feel better.”
John Taber said once
his daughter came up
with the idea, they brain-
stormed ways they could
bring the mask project
News Briefs
Staff photo by Dick Mason
Students in Elgin will attend classes in person when
school resumes Aug. 31, but they will have to remain on
campus for the full day of school during the first month
of the new school year.
intendent. The board will
evaluate how having a
closed campus is working
a month into the school
year and then decide on
whether to open the dis-
trict’s campus for a por-
tion of students.
The school district’s
reopening plans call for
cohorts of students at
Stella Mayfield School
to stay primarily in their
classrooms throughout
Lightning over Chief Joseph Mountain
the day. The same will
hold true at Elgin High
School, where students
will stay in cohorts while
teachers move among the
classrooms to provide
instruction.
Cohorts at Stella May-
field and the high school
will be assigned to spe-
cific entrance and exit
points to prevent students
in different cohorts from
mingling.
Micah Agnew to leave
Enterprise City Council
By Bill Bradshaw
EO Media Group
Photo by Ellen Morris Bishop/EO Media Group
Lightning strikes the east slope of Chief Joseph Mountain at about 6:45 p.m on Monday,
Aug. 17. Red-flag fire warnings accompanied the belt of thunderstorms and disturbanc-
es that extended from northern California across Oregon and into northern Idaho. The
storm delivered winds of more than 50 mph, according to josephoregonweather.com,
knocking over trees and causing power outages around Joseph.
Stella Mayfield prin-
cipal Tom Sorensen told
the board that informing
all children of the new
rules will be challenging
because he does not have
the option of telling all of
them at once. The state’s
COVID-19 rules prohibit
large school assemblies.
The school district’s
plans for reopening with
on-site education could
change if there is a spike
in COVID-19 cases, which
would force the district
to again provide only dis-
tance education, just as it
did in the spring.
To prepare for this pos-
sibility, Greif said the
district will be making
sure all students become
familiar with Google
Classroom, an internet
tool for distance educa-
tion. Greif said the school
district also is trying to
make sure all families
have internet service. She
said the district has found
a handful of families with
students without internet
access, and they will be
assisted if it becomes nec-
essary to again provide
only distance education.
ENTERPRISE — The
Enterprise City Council
agreed to fill its most
recent vacancy, Monday,
Aug. 10, after Councilor
Micah Agnew announced
his resignation.
Agnew’s announce-
ment was made at the
August council meeting.
“We are packing as we
speak,” Agnew said. “It’s
been a real privilege, and
this experience has helped
prepare me for the next
stage in my life.”
He is the pastor of the
Abundant Life Assembly
of God Church in Enter-
prise and recently
accepted a position to
begin Sept. 1 at a church
in Grants Pass.
The council made
quick work to fill Agnew’s
position. The outgoing
councilor nominated
Brandon Miller to fill the
seat through the end of the
year. The council voted to
approve the nomination.
Miller noted he ran
unsuccessfully for the
council once before and
remains eager to serve.
“We just really love the
city,” he said.
Miller will take his
oath of office at the next
council meeting and take
over Agnew’s duties,
serving on the city’s
library, public works and
fire committees.
But Miller’s appointed
seat will be up for election
in November, as will the
position of mayor and two
other council seats.
Since former Mayor
Stacey Karvoski stepped
down in June, Councilor
Jenni Word has served
as mayor pro tem. Word
plans to return to her
council seat once a new
mayor is elected and is
sworn in.
LA GRANDE — The
Oregon Department of For-
estry reported thunder-
storms caused several fires
the night of Tuesday, Aug.
18. Fire crews in north-
east Oregon and southeast
Washington responded to
multiple reports of smoke
and fire Tuesday night and
during the day Wednesday.
Around 40 incidents were
reported, with 16 confirmed
fires.
“Currently, fire danger
in the Blue Mountains
ranges from high to
extreme,” according to
the report from the for-
estry department. “Public
Use Restrictions involving
campfires and chainsaw use
are in effect. Regulated clo-
sures have also been imple-
mented on State and private
lands protected by Oregon
Department of Forestry
in northeast and central
Oregon.”
The National Weather
Service is not forecasting
any thunderstorms through
Tuesday, Aug. 25. However,
a red flag warning for fires
remains in effect.
Baldy fire growing
near Baker/Malheur
county border
BAKER COUNTY
— A wildfire that started
Monday evening near the
Baker/Malheur county
border north of Ironside is
growing, producing a tow-
ering smoke plume.
Al Crouch, fire mitiga-
tion/education specialist
for the Bureau of Land
Management’s Vale Dis-
trict, said additional fire-
fighters, including aircraft
and ground-based crews,
were en route to help those
already working on the
blaze, which is burning in
sagebrush and grass.
The fire was estimated
at 475 acres early Tuesday,
Aug. 18, but Crouch said it
has grown beyond that.
The fire started near
Baldy Mountain, about a
mile and a half south of the
county border, but it has
burned north and crossed
into Baker County.
Larisa Bogardus, public
affairs officer for the BLM’s
Vale District, said the fire
has two main areas that are
advancing, one toward the
northwest, the other toward
the northeast.
The fire is about 10 air
miles southeast of Here-
ford, 6 miles southwest of
Bridgeport, and about 4
miles south of the junction
of Highway 245 and the
Burnt River Canyon Road.
That junction is about 20
air miles due south of Baker
City.
Suzan Ellis Jones,
who lives east of Bridge-
port, said strong winds are
blowing in that area, and
smoke is settling in the
Burnt River Valley. Jones
said at least one rancher
was moving cattle that were
grazing in the area.
Lostine man faces
charges of coercion,
witness tampering
LOSTINE — Wallowa
County deputies arrested
Russell J. Hanson, 39, of
Lostine, at a home north of
Lostine on Sunday, Aug. 16,
according to an arrest report
with the sheriff’s office.
The man faces prelim-
inary charges of coercion,
tampering with a witness,
resisting arrest and inter-
fering with a peace officer.
The coercion and tam-
pering charges are fel-
onies, the other two are
misdemeanors.
According to state court
documents, the Wallowa
County District Attorney’s
office has accused Hansen
of threatening to harm a
woman’s minor child if the
woman testified.
The sheriff’s office late
Sunday booked Hanson
into the Umatilla County
Jail, Pendleton, according
to the booking report, and
state court records show he
bailed out Tuesday.