2A — THE OBSERVER
DAILY
PLANNER
TODAY
Today is Tuesday, Sept. 29,
the 273rd day of 2020. There
are 93 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On Sept. 29, 2005, John
G. Roberts Jr. was sworn
in as the nation’s 17th chief
justice after winning Senate
confi rmation.
ON THIS DATE
In 1789, the U.S. War
Department established a
regular army with a strength
of several hundred men.
In 1910, the National
Urban League had its
beginnings in New York as
The Committee on Urban
Conditions Among Negroes.
In 1975, baseball manager
Casey Stengel died in Glen-
dale, California, at age 85.
In 1978, Pope John Paul I
was found dead in his Vati-
can apartment just a month
after becoming head of the
Roman Catholic Church.
In 1982, Extra-Strength
Tylenol capsules laced with
deadly cyanide claimed the
fi rst of seven victims in the
Chicago area.
LOTTERY
Megabucks: $2.3 million
1-17-28-29-30-42
Mega Millions: $24 million
20-36-37-48-67—16 x2
Powerball: $25 million
11-21-27-36-62—PB-24 x3
Win for Life: Sept. 26
15-53-55-72
Pick 4: Sept. 27
• 1 p.m.: 1-5-3-3; • 4 p.m.: 6-7-8-2
• 7 p.m.: 9-4-3-4; • 10 p.m.: 0-4-3-9
Pick 4: Sept. 26
• 1 p.m.: 7-0-6-3; • 4 p.m.: 2-4-5-6
• 7 p.m.: 6-2-9-8; • 10 p.m.: 4-9-7-4
Pick 4: Sept. 25
• 1 p.m.: 9-7-4-0; • 4 p.m.: 9-0-4-9
• 7 p.m.: 6-8-7-3; • 10 p.m.: 7-0-8-4
DELIVERY ISSUES?
If you have any problems
receiving your Observer,
please call 541-963-3161.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020
LOCAL/REGION
Presidential candidates visited Union
County prior to historic 1948 debate
By Dick Mason
The Observer
UNION COUNTY —
When President Donald
Trump and his democratic
challenger Joe Biden meet
in a nationally televised
debate Tuesday night,
Sept. 29, Northeast Ore-
gonians with long memo-
ries may fi nd themselves
refl ecting back to 1948.
History was made on
May 17 of that year in
Portland when the fi rst
presidential debate ever
broadcast on radio was
conducted, according
to npr.org. The debate
matched two candi-
dates who had both cam-
paigned in La Grande less
than a week earlier —
Republican front runners
Thomas Dewey and Harold
Stassen. The face-off was
broadcast on Portland’s
KEX radio and picked up
by four national networks.
Forty million listened to
the debate, conducted four
days before the Oregon
primary.
Dewey appeared in
Union County on May 11,
1948. He fi rst spoke in
Union and then La Grande.
He arrived in Union late
in the morning and he
spoke to a capacity crowd
in the high school gym,
according to the May
12, 1948, Observer. He
accepted a large cowboy
hat and a placard sized
ticket to the Eastern
Oregon Livestock Show.
Bettmann/Getty Images/TownNews.com Content Exchange
Republicans Thomas Dewey and Harold Stassen participated in a presidential primary
debate broadcast by radio in 1948. The candidates each visited Union County leading up
to the debate on May 17. During the debate, the men traded barbs over the legal status of
the Communist Party of the United States.
Doran Hopkins, who
now lives in Texas near
San Antonio, said on
Sunday, Sept. 28, that he
was a student at Union
Elementary School in
1948 when Dewey spoke.
He said students were let
out of class so they could
listen.
“He was very dignifi ed,
very studious and a no non-
sense type of person,” said
Hopkins, who was the son
of the late Albert Hopkins,
then superintendent of the
Union School District.
Albert Hopkins was
responsible for getting
Dewey to come to Union,
his son said. He was able
to get Dewey with the help
of state education offi cials
in Salem.
“He (his father Albert
Hopkins) was very well
connected,” Doran Hop-
kins said.
He said his dad asked
Dewey, during his Union
County stop, how his pres-
idential campaign was
going.
“I’ve got it,” Dewey told
NEWS BRIEFS
Albert Hopkins.
The UHS gymnasium
Dewey spoke in had been
built less than two years
earlier. Unfortunately it
was destroyed by a fi re
about two years later,
Doran Hopkins said.
After speaking in
Union, Dewey went to La
Grande, where he spoke
to the Rotary Club at a
luncheon that about 200
people attended.
Next he addressed a
crowd of about 2,000 at a La
Grande High School fi eld.
Dewey told his audience the
United States cannot “buy
peace through appease-
ment, but must do it through
strength and vigor.”
Dewey took a plane to
Pendleton following his
fi nal presentation in La
Grande.
Dewey’s chief oppo-
nent in Oregon, Minnesota
Gov. Harold Stassen, made
a campaign stop in La
Grande on May 15, 1948.
Stassen addressed an audi-
ence of about 400 at La
Grande High School.
He lost to Dewey in the
Oregon Primary on May
21, 1948. Stassen, however,
did beat the New York
governor in Union County.
Dewey, of course, went
on to win the Republican
nomination and later lost
to incumbent President
Harry Truman. His tri-
umph is considered one
of the great upsets in U.S.
political history.
Dewey (1902-71), an
attorney, served as gov-
ernor of New York from
1943 to 1955. Presi-
dent Richard Nixon later
offered him a position on
the U.S. Supreme Court,
which he declined.
Stassan served as gov-
ernor of Minnesota from
1939 to 1943. He later
became a perennial pres-
idential candidate in the
Republican Party, running
for offi ce in 1952, 1964,
1968, 1980, 1984, 1988 and
1992.
EOU student testing
event an opportunity
to give back
LA GRANDE — Com-
munity Connection of
Northeast Oregon hosted
a pop-up food pantry for
college students Sept. 21
during Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity’s mass testing event.
All students who
planned to attend classes
on campus had to take a
COVID-19 test. Commu-
nity Connection in a press
release stated the pop-up
food pantry gave students
the opportunity to access
food and learn about the
resources available to
them.
The university asked
students who are attending
classes on campus to quar-
antine for the fi rst week of
the fall term, and the food
pantry was a way for them
to get groceries without
going out into the com-
munity to help mitigate
the spread of COVID-19.
Community Connection
reported the pantry dis-
tributed 12,000 pounds
of food to 629 students
during the event. The gro-
ceries included fresh pro-
duce, canned food and
pantry staples.
The Union County
COVID Wraparound
Support Group, which
Photo contributed by Ella Mae Hayes
Passersby help the driver of a semitrailer out of his vehi-
cle Thursday, Sept. 24, after the rig rolled on Highway 82
northwest of Wallowa.
Photo contributed by Katie Harris Murphy
Eastern Oregon University students could pick up free groceries during the mass
COVID-19 testing event on campus Sept. 21. Community Connection of Northeast Ore-
gon hosted the event and reported the pantry distributed 12,000 pounds of food to 629
students.
includes Community
Connection of Northeast
Oregon and the Center for
Human Development, La
Grande, partnered with
EOU’s Offi ce of Student
Diversity and Inclusion
and Career Services to
provide the testing, food
distribution and resource
fair.
Semi rolls northwest
of Wallowa
WALLOWA — A semi-
trailer overturned on state
Highway 82 near mile-
post 38.5 northwest of Wal-
lowa on Thursday, Sept. 24,
when the driver lost control,
according to Oregon State
Police.
Amrik Singh Badwal,
55, was cited for failure to
drive within the lane, OSP
reported. Although it was
deemed an injury accident,
the driver declined trans-
port to a medical facility,
OSP reported.
A witness said two pass-
ersby helped Badwal from
the semi.
OSP said no other vehi-
cles were involved, but a
second vehicle, a utility
van, was damaged and
had to be towed. OSP did
not say how the van was
involved in the crash or how
long traffi c was blocked.
Joseph to hold
special tech meeting
JOSEPH — The Tech-
nology Committee of the
Joseph City Council will
meet Tuesday, Sept. 29,
at the Joseph Community
Events Center.
The meeting will be
open to public comment
beginning at 6 p.m. in the
Events Center, at 102 E.
First St.
Committee members,
including city Adminis-
trator Larry Braden and
Councilwoman Kirsten
Rohla, will discuss tech-
nology information with
members of the public.
Due to COVID-19, the
maximum number of occu-
pants for this meeting will
be 10. A six-foot distancing
requirement will be in
effect for those not in the
same household. For people
wanting to provide input,
please provide it before
4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 29, at
Joseph City Hall, or email
cityofjosephoregon@gmail.
com or the city adminis-
trator directly at cityadcoj@
gmail.com. For questions
regarding this meeting, call
city hall at 541-432-3832.
— EO Media Group
Umatilla National Forest vies for Great American Outdoors Act funding
By Katy Nesbitt
For the EO Media Group
WALLA WALLA —
Three years after it was
condemned, the Burnt
Cabin Creek Trail bridge
on the popular South Fork
Walla Walla trail system
is on a priority list to be
replaced with funding
through the Great Amer-
ican Outdoors Act.
Darcy Weseman, public
affairs offi cer for the Uma-
tilla National Forest, said
U.S. Forest Service staff
discovered the bridge was
deteriorating in 2013. Fol-
lowing that discovery, it
was periodically inspected
by engineers to determine
whether or not it was safe
for public use until its per-
manent closure.
“In 2017, forest trail
crews discovered that
some of the structural sup-
ports had collapsed and
other beams were severely
rotted out,” she said. “This
prompted the forest to
implement the initial clo-
Photo contributed by U.S. Forest Service
The Burnt Cabin Trail Bridge, closed in 2017, was pro-
posed for funding under the Great American Outdoors Act
passed in August. The bridge is access to popular areas
used by motorcyclists, hikers, horseback riders and moun-
tain bikers.
sure for public safety.”
The 120-foot-long
bridge’s structural sup-
ports are severely rotted
and could fail at any time,
Weseman said. The bridge
sustained some addi-
tional damage during this
past winter’s fl ooding.
If funding is approved,
she said the bridge will
be replaced with glulam
stringers, multiple layers of
solid wood lumber bonded
together with high-strength
adhesive to form a single
structural unit.
The Burnt Cabin Trail
provides access to hunting,
fi shing, camping and back-
packing and is open to
hikers, horseback riders,
mountain bikers and motor-
cyclists. The trail, near Toll-
gate, is roughly 25 miles
from Weston. It is part of
the South Fork Walla Walla
trail system, accessed from
either Target Meadows or
at the intersection with the
South Fork Walla Walla
Trail No. 3225.
“The South Fork Walla
Walla trail system also has
regional signifi cance due to
its concentration of motor-
ized single-track routes and
the Burnt Cabin Trail and
bridge are a critical compo-
nent of that trail system,”
Weseman said.
The bridge is six miles
up the South Fork Walla
Walla Trail at the junction
of the Burnt Cabin Trail
and South Fork Walla Walla
Trail. The easiest access
to the trail would be from
Highway 204, to Forest Ser-
vice Road 64 and then onto
Forest Service Road 6401.
Weseman said alternate
access to the South Fork
Walla Walla Trail is avail-
able via Rough Fork Trail-
head or Deduct Trail.
The entire trail is cur-
rently closed, Weseman
said, due to the bridge
damage as well as fl ood
damage that occurred in
February.
The bridge and trail clo-
sure is hampering access to
popular areas, prompting
some to use the bridge
anyway or ford the river, yet
Weseman said going around
the bridge is not recom-
mended due to high water.
The Umatilla National
Forest applied for funding
through the Great Amer-
ican Outdoors Act,
Weseman said, because
repairing the bridge would
improve visitor experience,
access and safety while pro-
tecting the stream from fur-
ther resource damage from
users attempting to ford the
river.
“Repairing this bridge
has been of high public
interest,” she said. “The
forest has been unsuc-
cessful in acquiring ade-
quate funding to complete
critical repairs, which has
diminished public access.”
The Great American
Outdoors Act, enacted Aug.
4, was passed to “address
the maintenance backlog
of the National Park Ser-
vice, the United States Fish
and Wildlife Service, the
Bureau of Land Manage-
ment, the Forest Service,
and the Bureau of Indian
Education, and to pro-
vide permanent, dedicated
funding for the Land and
Water Conservation Fund.”
In all, the Forest Ser-
vice’s Pacifi c Northwest
Region prioritized 15 proj-
ects for funding under the
act, which will help federal
land managers catch up on
deferred maintenance and
other projects.