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In Outdoors
Weekend
Edition
SATURDAY-MONDAY • October 3, 2020
•
$1.50
Good day to our valued subscriber Gary Wright of Union
Monthly
COVID-19
cases drop
in Oregon
September sees fewer
than 7,000 new cases
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
Dick Mason/The Observer
Valerie O’Dai of Emergency Equipment Solutions checks items Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020, that will be sold at an upcoming yard sale
to raise money for fi re victims in Western Oregon.
Reaching out to help
Regional yard sale will raise funds for people hurt by wildfires in Western Oregon
By Dick Mason
The Observer
ELGIN — The most heartfelt of
actions sometimes can miss the mark.
For a classic example look no fur-
ther than local efforts to help the thou-
sands of fi re victims in Western Oregon.
Many of those reaching out to the vic-
tims have given items that can’t be used
— but their good intentions will not go
to waste. These items will be sold at a
huge yard sale Oct. 9-10 in Walla Walla,
Washington.
The sale, which will raise money for
fi re victims, is necessary because many
of the donations from residents in North-
east Oregon and Southeast Washington
during the past month will not benefi t the
people who need help, said Valerie O’Dai
with the nonprofi t Emergency Equipment
Solutions.
Emergency Equipment Solutions and
the American Legion Auxiliary in Mil-
ton-Freewater are putting on the yard
sale. La Grande Strong, which O’Dai and
Spring Roberts co-chair, also are pitching
in.
The sale will feature at least 10 trailer
loads of items that include skis, chairs and
mattresses.
“Nobody who has just lost their home
and is living in a tent will need items like
these,” said O’Dai, who lives in Elgin and
is the senior disaster relief coordinator for
Emergency Equipment Solutions.
The revenue from the sale will go
toward the purchase of what the fi re vic-
tims need: toiletries, pots and pans, hay
for livestock, pet supplies and more, par-
ticularly wood boards and galvanized
screens for making sifters. Fire victims
LA GRANDE — The number
of COVID-19 cases in Oregon
dropped month-over-month
for the second month in a row.
The Oregon Health Authority
reported fewer than 7,000 new
cases in September and less
than 100 deaths attributed to the
virus.
The fi nal day of the month,
Wednesday, Sept. 30 — which
OHA reported Thursday —
saw the state add 363 cases and
round out with an overall total of
6,916 in September, down from
a peak of nearly 10,000 cases in
July and from more than 8,000
additional cases in August, a
decrease in total cases of about
15%. The average daily total in
September was 230.5 cases per
day.
See, Cases/Page 5A
State
balks at
inmate
release
By Alex Castle
East Oregonian
Dick Mason/The Observer
This is one of three trailers transporting local donations from Union County to a large
yard sale happening Oct. 9-10, 2020, in Walla Walla to raise money to help the victims
of fi res in Western Oregon.
need sifters to sort through ashes looking
for heirlooms such rings and jewelry.
“These are items they didn’t have time
to grab before fi res hit,” O’Dai said. “We
need thousands of them.”
O’Dai is frustrated when people donate
items fi re victims can’t use, but she also is
buoyed.
“People are well intentioned. They
want to help. They are incredibly gen-
erous,” she said.
Observing this fi rsthand makes
reaching out to victims of tragedy an
uplifting experience, O’Dai said.
“What I get to see are communities
pulling together,” she said.
While refl ecting on this recently, a jolt
of realization struck O’Dai.
“Neighbors are not fi rst responders but
they are the fi rst to respond,” she said.
“That hit me hard.”
Three of the trailer loads bound for
Walla Walla are coming from Union
County, two are from Umatilla County,
PENDLETON — Gov. Kate
Brown announced a second round
of early releases for individuals
incarcerated in Oregon prisons
who are medically vulnerable to
COVID-19 or within two months
of release on Tuesday, Sept. 29,
this time commuting the sen-
tences of 66 people.
Brown has granted the release
of 123 people from the state’s
prisons since the start of the pan-
demic — less than 1% of the
state’s prison population — after
offi cials with the Oregon Depart-
ment of Corrections said in April
that up to 5,800 people would
need to be released to allow for
adequate social distancing.
For families with those incar-
cerated and the attorneys fi ghting
for prisoner’s rights to not be
exposed to a deadly virus, the
announcement was a disheart-
ening show of political will
See, Sale/Page 5A
See, Inmates/Page 5A
Get out the rod and reel — coho make an appearance
“We’re excited to offer the fi rst opportunity to
harvest these fi sh in the Grande Ronde in over
40 years.”
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
ENTERPRISE — For the fi rst
time in four decades, anglers
have the opportunity to harvest
coho salmon on the northern end
of the Grande Ronde River.
The Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife in a press
release this week said fi shermen
were able to throw lines out for
the reintroduced fi sh beginning
Thursday, Oct. 1.
The release said coho have
made a “strong appearance” in
— Kyle Bratcher, assistant district fi sh biologist for ODFW
the Columbia River system, and
counts of the fi sh at the Bonne-
ville Dam are above the 10-year
average.
The fi sh in that group include
the Lostine River coho, which
in 2017 were reintroduced by
INDEX
WEATHER
ODFW and the Nez Perce Tribe.
The release said the Lostine coho
are set for their highest numbers
since reintroduction after fewer
than 200 returned to the Lostine
River in adult runs in 2018 and
2019.
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“We’re excited to offer the
fi rst opportunity to harvest these
fi sh in the Grande Ronde in over
40 years,” Kyle Bratcher, assis-
tant district fi sh biologist for
ODFW, said in the release.
As many as 3,000 coho orig-
inating from the Lostine River
are estimated to make it past the
Lower Granite Dam and reach
the Grande Ronde River. That
estimate is based on Lostine
River coho that are tagged, and
See, Coho/Page 5A
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Issue 118
2 sections, 12 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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