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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 29, 2020)
Switchback elegance In Outdoors Inside Vietnam vet gets diploma, 2A Oregon provides grants for Black residents, 6A Weekend Edition SATURDAY-MONDAY • August 29, 2020 • Good day to our valued subscriber Pat Goss of La Grande $1.50 Union County Warming Station may open this fall State pushes limits on holiday events By Dick Mason The Observer Oregon health officials: ‘Please rethink your Labor Day plans’ By Courtney Vaughn Oregon Capital Bureau SALEM — Oregon’s COVID-19 case rate seems to be in decline, but state health offi cials are nervous about a potential uptick in cases fol- lowing the upcoming Labor Day holiday weekend. Noting separate out- breaks tied to a 10-person family get-together earlier this summer, and a weekend at the beach where 20 people gath- ered, the state’s top health offi - cials cautioned that outbreaks happened when people were infectious, but asymptomatic. “As we head into the upcoming Labor Day hol- iday, I want to caution people to strongly rethink your cel- ebrations,” Patrick Allen, director of the Oregon Health Authority, said Thursday. “Limit your social gather- ings outside your household. The governor has made indoor social gatherings of more than 10 people off limits. “Wear a face covering out- side or indoors when you can’t maintain 6 feet of physical dis- tance. If you have a small gath- ering, consider hosting it out- doors, rather than indoors and, of course, wash your hands frequently.” Allen and Oregon Public Health Director Dr. Dean Sidelinger said last week was the third consecutive week the state saw a decline in cases, but Oregon isn’t out of the woods yet. Allen said Oregon’s positive test rate fell from 5.4% to 5.1% last week. “Hospitalizations offer fur- ther encouragement,” Allen noted. “Since Aug. 14, we’ve seen a 41% decrease in cur- rently hospitalized COVID-19 patients from 167 to 118.” Allen cautioned that OHA still needs to confi rm the trend with additional data. “We’re headed in the right direction, but we need to keep the pressure on to further slow the spread of the virus,” he added. Staff photo by Dick Mason La Grande Middle School School social studies teacher Anne Marie Fritz on Thursday, Aug. 27, explains some of the virtual tools students will use this fall term during online education. La Grande School District begins the academic year Monday, Aug. 31, with its new and improved virtual Comprehensive Distance Learning program. A VIRTUAL START La Grande teachers anticipate unusual September By Dick Mason What they said: The Observer LA GRANDE — Three months can make a world of difference. School begins in the La Grande School District on Monday, Aug. 31, and its teachers will again be providing only virtual instruction to its students, just as they were doing at the end of the 2019-20 school year. But the quality of the distance edu- cation program the district will be pro- viding this fall — Comprehensive Dis- tance Learning, or CDL — will be signifi cantly better, according to La Grande teachers, especially in terms of the live instruction and opportu- nities for teacher-to-student and stu- dent-to-student interaction it will provide. This has faculty such as La Grande Middle School social studies teacher Anne Marie Fritz excited. She is looking forward to the chance to see and communicate directly with her students and for them to have the chance to get reacquainted with their classmates. — Anne Marie Fritz, La Grande Middle School School social studies teacher “All of the students I’ve talked to wish they could be back in the classroom.” — John Lamoreau, La Grande High School social studies teacher “I’m excited and terrifi ed. I have so much to learn, and I’m afraid I will let students and parents down.” — Pat Des Jardin, La Grande High School science teacher See, Teachers/Page 6A See, Warming/Page 5A Firefi ghting crews rescue newborn Charolais calf By Jayson Jacoby EO Media Group See, Holiday/Page 5A “Students will be able to be reunited with their friends. Classes will be building relationships.” LA GRANDE — The Union County Warming Station may begin operating at its new location as early as mid-November. Contractors have completed almost all renovations to bring the warming station up to code in Suite B of the business building at 2008 Third St., La Grande, said Audrey Smith, acting chair of the station’s board. All that remains, Smith said, is to re-stripe the warming station’s parking lot and add a handicapped parking space. Then the city of La Grande’s building department will give the shelter an inspection. Should it pass, the warming sta- tion will be able to have overnight guests starting Nov. 15. The shelter would be allowed to have overnight guests from then until March 15, which are the dates the organization’s board requested when it fi led for a condi- tional use permit, said city planner Mike Boquist. The renovations include the installation of a fi rewall separation Suite B from Suite A. “It goes through the attic,” Smith said. Further fi re protection was installed in the form of a sprinkler system. This was one of the most time-consuming projects because it involved plumbing and electrical alarm work. The system will auto- matically notify emergency ser- vices when the sprinkler system is activated. Handicapped accessibility upgrades were also a major part of the renovation project. This involved remodeling the warming station’s restroom so that it meets Americans with Disabilities Act standards and expanding portions of the warming station so that it is wheelchair accessible. Other work included the instal- lation of exit signs and new out- door lighting to make it easier for neighbors to see an alley behind the building. The capacity of the warming station will be determined by the city building department. This will be based in part on the size of its rooms and the number of exits. The COVID-19 pandemic, of BAKER CITY — The Indian Creek Fire scorched grass that would have fat- tened the Charolais cattle that Jeff Romans’ family owns, but Romans was still thankful about one aspect of the blaze. Its timing. Had the fi re started not on Sunday, Aug. 16, but a week or so later, Romans, whose family’s ranch is at Westfall, about 50 air miles south of Baker City, would have had a much bigger problem. More than a hundred newborn calves likely would have been in the path of the fi re, Romans said, and possibly unable to fl ee the fl ames. Some of the Romans family’s purebred Charolais deliver their calves in late winter and early spring, as is typical in the region, but part of the herd is bred to calve in late summer. And that’s the part of the herd — about INDEX Classified ..... 2B Comics ......... 5B Crossword ... 2B Dear Abby ... 6B Just The Facts •The Indian Creek Fire about 50 air miles south of Baker City started Aug. 16 and threatened more than 100 newborn Charolais cattle on grazing on a Bureau of Land Management allotment. The fi re has burned across more than 48,000 acres as of Friday, Aug. 28, according to the Incident Information System, involves 381 personnel and is 65% contained. 175 cows — that was grazing on a Bureau of Land Management allotment when the Indian Creek Fire started late on the morning of Aug. 16 just north of Highway 20 between Juntura and Vale. That’s about 30 miles southwest of the Romans Ranch. Westfall is an unincorporated town See, Calf/Page 5A WEATHER Horoscope ... 2B Lottery.......... 2A Obituaries .... 3A Opinion ........ 4A TUESDAY Outdoors ..... 1B Sudoku ........ 5B Weather ....... 6B Full forecast on the back of B section Tonight Sunday 45 LOW 73/48 Clear Cooler MIDDLE SCHOOL LIBRARY MURAL Photo contributed by Jeff Romans Mollie Romans with the calf from her family’s Cha- rolais herd that was rescued from the Indian Creek fi re in Malheur County on Aug. 22, 2020. CONTACT US 541-963-3161 Issue 103 2 sections, 12 pages La Grande, Oregon Email story ideas to news@lagrande observer.com. More contact info on Page 4A. Online at lagrandeobserver.com
