2A — THE OBSERVER
Daily
Planner
TODAY
Today is Saturday, Aug.
29, the 242nd day of 2020.
There are 124 days left in
the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On Aug. 29, 2005, Hur-
ricane Katrina hit the Gulf
Coast near Buras, Louisiana,
bringing floods that devas-
tated New Orleans. More
than 1,800 people in the
region died.
ON THIS DATE
In 1862, the Bureau of En-
graving and Printing began
operations at the United
States Treasury.
In 1877, the second presi-
dent of The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints,
Brigham Young, died in Salt
Lake City, Utah, at age 76.
In 1966, the Beatles con-
cluded their fourth American
tour with their last public
concert, held at Candlestick
Park in San Francisco.
In 2012, the NFL an-
nounced it would open the
regular season with replace-
ment officials.
LOTTERY
Megabucks: $1 million
2-5-17-28-30-34
Mega Millions: $57 million
8-10-15-17-57—12 x3
Powerball: $37 million
8-12-19-47-58—PB-2 x2
Win for Life: Aug. 26
19-44-54-74
Pick 4: Aug. 27
• 1 p.m.: 1-0-1-8; • 4 p.m.: 1-8-3-6
• 7 p.m.: 0-3-2-6; • 10 p.m.: 2-8-1-7
Pick 4: Aug. 26
• 1 p.m.: 3-8-4-1; • 4 p.m.: 4-8-0-2
• 7 p.m.: 8-6-6-3; • 10 p.m.: 1-7-6-9
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SaTuRday, auguST 29, 2020
LOCAL/REGION
Vietnam-era vet gets high school diploma
By Ben Lonergan
EO Media Group
ATHENA — Just more
than 50 years after he would
have graduated from high
school, Reed McCracken
stood in front of Weston-
McEwen High School
in Athena on Tuesday,
Aug. 25, and received his
diploma to the cheers and
applause of several family
members.
In the fall of 1969,
McCracken left Athena to
join the Marines in lieu of
his final year of high school.
He said he was starting to
form bad work habits in
high school and decided
to join the Marines to help
straighten himself out.
“I got to work with some
really good people while I
was in there and had really
good leadership,” he said.
McCracken said he
was next in line to go to
Vietnam, but had nine
sets of orders turned down
because his commanding
officers didn’t have
enough personnel state-
side. McCracken went on
to serve in the Marine dis-
ciplinary command at the
Portsmouth Naval Prison in
New Hampshire for several
years.
Following his enlisted
service, McCracken served
in the National Guard until
1981, racking up 11 years of
service between reserve and
enlisted time.
Since then, McCracken
has driven trucks locally
and nationally and said he
has crossed more than 5
Photo by Ben Lonergan/EO Media Group
Reed McCracken of Athena, left, receives his diploma Tuesday, Aug. 25, from Weston-McE-
wen High School principal Rob Shell in front of the school in Athena. The diploma comes
50 years after McCracken departed high school to serve in the Marines.
million miles around the
lower 48 states. He said
retirement is not his style.
“I was retired for a
bit, but I’ll go back,” said
McCracken. “I’ve been a
workaholic all my life and
it’s hard to sit still.”
McCracken’s diploma
was issued under Oregon
Revised Statute 332.114,
which allows for select vet-
erans who were honorably
discharged and enrolled
in a high school prior to
their service to receive
a high school diploma.
Libraries cope with COVID-19
Weston-McEwen Principal
Rob Shell presided over
the unorthodox gradua-
tion ceremony in full aca-
demic regalia, pausing at
the end to lend his gown
to McCracken so he could
get the full graduation
experience.
“I really enjoy when I
can give back to my fellow
veterans and community
members,” the principal
said.
Shell said the initial plan
was to present the diploma
during the class’ 50-year
reunion during a track meet
back in May, but COVID-19
threw that plan out the
window.
“I wanted to do it ear-
lier, and I could’ve mailed
it to him,” he said. “But
I couldn’t, as a veteran,
mail another veteran their
diploma.”
Among the small group
of attendees was state Sen.
Bill Hansell, R-Athena, who
attended the ceremony to
represent his sister, Kathi
Hansell Hendrix, who had
been pivotal in pursuing a
News Briefs
Dam repairs come as big wheat
crop heads downriver
By Sabrina Thompson
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Despite COVID-19,
Elgin Public Library and Cook Memorial
Library are doing their best to continue to
serve the public.
While the doors to La Grande’s library
remain closed, the staff are inside man-
aging some of the same services, with a
safe twist. Elgin’s library reopened to the
public May 11 with a 10-person limit on
capacity.
“It is very important to have an acces-
sible library, especially during this time
we are in,” Elgin Public Library Director
Michele Timmons said.
Circulation at each library has been
down, according to Timmons and Cook
Memorial Library Director Kip Rob-
erson. From March to August 2019, Rob-
erson said, patrons checked out 52,000
books. In 2020, checkouts were on hold
due to complete closure of the library
from March to May. Since reopening, the
La Grande library has checked out 7,000
books.
Roberson said Cook Memorial
Library’s alternative borrowing programs
— including regular curbside pick-up
and Tuesday’s Take-Out(side) outdoor
browsing — have helped with circulation.
The numbers could get another boost
with the library’s most recent offering:
home delivery.
“It’s good,” Roberson said. “But of
course you still have people wanting to
come inside and use the computer or
print something.”
And Elgin Public Library and Cook
Memorial Library are striving to meet
the public’s needs beyond lending mate-
rials. Timmons said the library offers
the computer for use by appointment,
and Roberson said Cook Memorial soon
will as well. The La Grande library is
providing free WiFi outside the building
for anyone, and for those with a valid
library card there are some Chrome-
books and hotspots available to borrow.
“People are still living their lives
and need to be able to email, fax, make
copies, and relax while reading a good
book,” Timmons said.
Cook Memorial Library also is part-
nering with local schools to ensure all
students have access to the technology
they need for distance learning.
Staff photo by Sabrina Thompson
Aiyana and Valerie Colwell browse Cook
Memorial Library’s young adults collec-
tion July 28 in La Grande, during the li-
brary’s first Take-Out(side) event. While
the library remains closed to the public,
staff are working to provide services in
innovative ways.
“We are working to make sure every
student has an e-card,” Roberson said.
“That way students can still check out
books to read and utilize any of our many
databases and resources.”
The director also reported Cook
Memorial Library’s financials are
looking OK. The city of La Grande,
Roberson said, has not reduced the
library’s funding for this fiscal year. But
the library has cut out a small revenue
stream.
“We have temporarily stopped putting
fines on overdue books,” Roberson said.
“We still put a charge on the account for
lost books but we are not collecting the
money yet. The amount we make (from
fines) is unsubstantial when compared to
our budget.”
Cook Memorial Library is staffed
Monday through Saturday 10 a.m.
to 6 p.m. Although you cannot yet
go inside the building, Roberson
said staff are ready to help whatever
way they can. Elgin Library is open
Monday and Friday 1-6 p.m., Tuesday
and Wednesday noon to 6 p.m. and
Thursday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
diploma for McCracken.
Hendrix, a classmate
of McCracken’s, knew of
the statute allowing for the
administration of degrees
to veterans as a result
of Hansell’s work, and
began pursuing the idea
that McCracken deserved
a diploma after a conver-
sation with him at a class
reunion a few years ago.
Hendrix sent a letter
last fall requesting the Ath-
ena-Weston School Dis-
trict issue a diploma for
McCracken. Hendrix, who
spent more than 30 years
as an instructor and admin-
istrator for a career and
technical education pro-
gram, said she recognized
McCracken’s work, as
with that of many others,
was equally as educational
and beneficial as school
programs.
“I completely believe
that life experience plays
into education,” said Hen-
drix. “His career and
service was an educa-
tion, and that needs to be
recognized.”
Despite his excitement
over receiving his diploma,
McCracken looks back
fondly over his years of ser-
vice and his time as an hon-
orary member of the Class
of 1970 and acknowledges
that, given the opportu-
nity, he wouldn’t change
anything.
“If I had it to do over
again I’d probably go do
the same thing,” he said.
“They really straightened
me out.”
KENNEWICK, Wash. — The naviga-
tion lock at the Lower Monumental Dam
on the Snake River will be closed during
daylight hours for emergency repairs to a
floating guidewall, but wheat industry rep-
resentatives say they expect only minor
delays as they ship this year’s harvest to
ports downstream.
A tugboat is holding the floating guide-
wall in place to prevent it from breaking
loose and causing damage to the dam,
according to the Pacific Northwest Water-
ways Association.
The navigation lock will be closed
8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Aug. 31 to Sept. 16.
“Delays appear at this point to poten-
tially be a matter of hours,” said Dan Hart,
general manager of the Almota Elevator
Co., in Colfax, Washington. “As far as cur-
tailing shipping, we don’t expect any effect
from it.”
Hart said the U.S. Army Corps of Engi-
neers will alert carriers on the days they
might be able to open early.
The closure comes at a time when some
Washington state farmers are seeing an
exceptionally big harvest.
“This one is really big, and we weren’t
expecting it,” Hart said. “There is a major
yield bump, and for some folks it’s an
all-timer.”
As a result, some elevators will push
wheat into storage that hasn’t been used in
years, Hart said.
Jennifer Riddle, senior marketing and
communications specialist for Tidewater
Barge Lines, said while the closure comes
at a challenging time, the company will
meet its commitments downriver and
upriver. In some instances, Tidewater has
been able to provide short-term storage
barges for some elevators, Riddle said.
August and September are typically the
busiest times of the year for grain traffic on
the Snake and Columbia rivers.
At 153 million bushels, Washington’s
harvest is about 10 million bushels more
than last year, said Glen Squires, CEO of
the Washington Grain Commission.
But Squires doesn’t consider it a bumper
crop for the whole state. It’s actually the
10th largest harvest since 1978.
Idaho’s harvest of 104 million bushels
would be the eighth largest since 1978.
Oregon’s harvest, at 43 million bushels,
would be 38th largest since 1978 due to
moisture concerns.
Squires doesn’t expect the closure to
affect deliveries to overseas customers and
praised the Corps for its transparency and
swift work to make repairs.
“We appreciate the fact they’re able
to keep it open half the time,” he said.
“Barges will still be able to transit the
lock.”
Attention shifts to fire in
Pomeroy Ranger District at
Meacham Complex
PENDLETON — The fires about
20 miles southeast of Pendleton in the
southern branch of the Meacham Complex
are 100% contained and have not grown in
size for three days as of Friday, Aug. 28,
according to a press release.
Fire managers declared the southern
branch contained at the end of operations
on Wednesday, Aug. 26, and have since
shifted personnel and resources to the com-
plex’s northern branch where the Rattle-
snake Fire continued to burn at 475 acres as
of Aug. 28 on the Pomeroy Ranger District
in Washington.
“Several of the contained fires within
the Meacham Complex southern branch
will be unstaffed and patrolled or con-
tinue to have limited staffing,” the press
release stated. “However, firefighters will
continue to grid for and mop up hot spots
in the Horse and 896 fires, where heavy
fuels continue to smolder near containment
lines.”
As of Aug. 28, estimates put the Horse
Fire at 169 acres, the Hager Ridge Fire at
57 acres and the 896 Fire at 40 acres. Some
crews will remain stationed in the southern
branch to monitor containment lines closely
on Aug. 29, when winds are expected up to
20 mph and gusts up to 30 mph.
“Containment lines could be tested
(Aug. 29) due to the forecasted gusty
winds, so crews will be especially vigi-
lant, watching for possible spot fires or new
fire starts,” the release stated. “In addi-
tion, crews will also continue working on
suppression repair activities, as well as
patrolling unstaffed fires and remaining
ready for initial attack if a new fire were to
start in the area.”
U.S Forest Service Road 3128 no longer
is closed due to the fires, though those in
the area are asked to yield to fire traffic and
exercise caution while traveling.
— EO Media Group
Developer turns cottages into apartments
By Bill Bradshaw
EO Media Group
JOSEPH — Longtime devel-
oper John Beardsley is returning
to his Wallowa County roots and
reopening the East Street Cottages
in Joseph as apartment units.
Scott and Becky Rushton,
owners of the Indian Lodge and
the Outlaw Restaurant, formerly
owned the cottages and managed
them as seven motel-like units.
Beardsley has purchased the cot-
tages and said he plans to turn
them into eight apartments.
“There’s a shortage of rental
units in the county,” he said. “I’m
a developer and I want to take
advantage of opportunities.”
Though he has yet to determine
the rental cost, he said the apart-
ments won’t be subsidized.
“They’re going to be free
market,” he said. “I’ll see what I
get invested in it and then I’ll see
what the numbers tell me.”
The eight units at 2651 S. East
St. will include four studio apart-
ments, three one-bedroom apart-
ments and one two-bedroom
apartment. Each will come fur-
nished and have a storage unit
available. They also will share a
common backyard.
Beardsley said he hopes to have
them ready by October.
“We haven’t hit any big sur-
prises yet,” such as major repairs,
he said. “Scott left them in very
good shape.”
Though based in Portland and
running Fountain Village Devel-
opment, his grandparents, Frank
and Lora Boyd, operated Boyd
Dairy on Hurricane Creek Road
where Wallowa County Grain
Growers in Enterprise is now.
“I’ve been part of this county
myself for a long time,” Beardsley
said, “and now I get a chance to
give back to it.”
Photo by Bill Bradshaw/EO Media Group
Developer and new owner of the East Street Cottages in Joseph,
John Beardsley stands in front of the eight-unit building.