2A — THE OBSERVER
DAILY
PLANNER
TODAY
Today is Saturday, Oct. 24,
the 298th day of 2020. There
are 68 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN
HISTORY
On Oct. 24, 1972, Hall
of Famer Jackie Robinson,
who’d broken Major League
Baseball’s modern-era color
barrier in 1947, died in Stam-
ford, Connecticut, at age 53.
ON THIS DATE
In 1931, the George Wash-
ington Bridge, connecting
New York and New Jersey,
was offi cially dedicated (it
opened to traffi c the next
day).
In 1940, the 40-hour work
week went into effect under
the Fair Labor Standards Act
of 1938.
In 1945, the United
Nations offi cially came into
existence as its charter took
effect.
In 1962, a naval quar-
antine of Cuba ordered by
President John F. Kennedy
went into effect during the
missile crisis.
In 1992, the Toronto Blue
Jays became the fi rst non-
U.S. team to win the World
Series as they defeated the
Atlanta Braves, 4-3, in Game
6.
In 1996, TyRon Lewis, 18,
a Black motorist, was shot
to death by police during a
traffi c stop in St. Petersburg,
Florida; the incident sparked
rioting. (Offi cer James
Knight, who said that Lewis
had lurched his car at him
several times, knocking him
onto the hood, was cleared
by a grand jury and the
Justice Department.)
In 2002, authorities
apprehended John Allen
Muhammad and teenag-
er Lee Boyd Malvo near
Myersville, Maryland, in
the Washington-area sniper
attacks. (Malvo was later
sentenced to life in prison
without the possibility of
parole; Muhammad was
sentenced to death and
executed in 2009.)
In 2005, civil rights icon
Rosa Parks died in Detroit at
age 92.
In 2018, authorities said
they had intercepted pipe
bombs packed with shards
of glass that had been
sent to several prominent
Democrats, including Hillary
Clinton and former President
Barack Obama; none of the
bombs went off, and nobody
was hurt. (Cesar Sayoc, who
admitted sending the bombs
to Democrats and to CNN,
was sentenced to 20 years in
prison by a judge who con-
cluded that the bombs were
not designed to explode.)
LOTTERY
Megabucks: $3.4 million
1-12-29-31-32-42
Mega Millions: $86 million
46-54-57-58-66 —10 x3
Powerball: $91 million
1-3-13-44-56—PB-26 x3
Win for Life: Oct. 21
9-23-63-70
Pick 4: Oct. 22
• 1 p.m.: 9-1-9-1; • 4 p.m.: 1-0-1-9;
• 7 p.m.: 7-8-7-6; • 10 p.m.: 5-2-0-9
Pick 4: Oct. 21
• 1 p.m.: 9-6-2-5; • 4 p.m.: 1-1-0-9;
• 7 p.m.: 4-1-9-1; • 10 p.m.: 8-6-3-2
DELIVERY ISSUES?
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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2020
LOCAL/REGION
Elgin Opera House reopens
Season premieres with socially distanced performance of a Sherlock Holmes tale
By Sabrina Thompson
The Observer
ELGIN — The game
soon will be afoot at the
Elgin Opera House.
The performance center
at 104 N. Eighth St., Elgin,
has fi gured out how to
put on a live stage perfor-
mance while following all
state and local coronavirus
safety guidelines.
The stage adaptation
of “Sherlock Holmes: A
Scandal in Bohemia” will
be the fi rst socially dis-
tanced performance at
the theater since it closed
in March. The show
opens Friday, Oct. 30, at
7:30 p.m., and will run for
two weekends.
Grant Turner is por-
traying the titular char-
acter. He also adapted the
piece and directed it. In
deciding what show would
reopen the Opera House,
Turner said he felt com-
fortable putting on this
particular play in any
format, including fi lming
and livestreaming. He said
he is happy it will be in
front of a live audience.
“We have been starting
and stopping this project
for a while, looking at dif-
ferent options for shows
and ways to put them on
safely,” Turner said. “A
few months ago we set-
tled on this show and have
been rehearsing sporadi-
cally since.”
Turner said the big-
gest hurdle in the produc-
tion is having to rethink
all of the show’s elements
— including costumes,
staging and the script — in
By Sabrina Thompson
The Observer
Sabrina Thompson/The Observer
The cast of “Sherlock Holmes: A Scandal in Bohemia” rehearse Wednesday night,
Oct. 21, 2020, at the Elgin Opera House. The show will premiere at the reopening of the
theater Oct. 30 and adhere to social distancing requirements.
IF YOU GO
The show will premiere Friday, Oct. 30, at 7:30 p.m. with addi-
tional showings on Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and Nov. 6-8 at 7:30 p.m.
with a 2:30 p.m. matinee Nov. 1 and Nov. 8. Tickets, $19 gen-
eral admission, are available at www.elginoperahouse.com.
a way that maintains social
distancing and safety for
the cast, crew and the audi-
ence. On stage, the actors
will remain 6 feet apart at
all times, each in a desig-
nated section of the stage,
and will read their lines
out to the audience. Turner
is using projections and
sound effects to help tell
the story.
“When fi guring out the
particulars for the show,
I realized the best way
would be to do it without
having the actors move,”
Turner said. “Doing so
unlocked more things we
could do visually and with
sound effects.”
To keep audience mem-
bers at least 6 feet apart,
the theater is blocking off
certain seats and capping
the total at 50 people per
night.
Cassandra Johnson,
who portrays Irene Adler
in the show, said this has
been a very “go with the
fl ow” experience, some-
thing Turner is known for.
“But it has still been a
fun production,” Johnson
said. “This will be my fi rst
time performing in the
Opera House space, and
my fi rst time performing
in front of a live audi-
ence since March. I am a
little excited and a little bit
nervous.”
In addition to Turner
and Johnson, the play fea-
tures Michael Cooper
as Dr. Watson, Liberty
O’Dell as the King of
Bohemia and Sam Miller
as multiple characters.
Turner noted that
both actors and audi-
ences benefi t from live
performances.
“There is a hunger for
theater that needs to be
fi lled,” Turner said, “but
we don’t want to just
give people anything to
fi ll that hunger. We want
to give them something
good.”
Virtual symphony performance a success
Grande Ronde Symphony’s Night In
with the Symphony hits all the right
notes
By Sabrina Thompson
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The
Grande Ronde Sym-
phony’s concert Oct. 3
reached more than 700
people, showcasing the
success of holding virtual
performances.
“It was great to give
people a connection back
to the joy of listening to
classical music,” Grande
Ronde Symphony Asso-
ciation President Alice
Trindle said. “I am abso-
lutely delighted by the
response.”
The best thing about
the “Night In with the
Symphony” performance,
Trindle said, is the audi-
ence could experience the
music anywhere. While
she didn’t have a particular
number of people she was
hoping to see engaged,
Trindle was excited to see
so many people attending
the event, which featured
Viet Block on violin, Matt
Cooper on piano and Zach
Banks on cello.
Trindle said she also
was happy there weren’t
any technical problems
during the show, although
reading off a teleprompter
was new for her and
Banks, the symphony’s
music director — who
together provided com-
mentary during the lives-
tream — and it took some
getting used to.
Due to the success of
the virtual concert, Trindle
said it is likely the sym-
phony will continue pro-
ducing shows in a vir-
Screenshot from YouTube
Viet Block performs as part of the Grande Ronde Sym-
phony’s virtual concert Oct. 3.
tual format, even when
attending live performance
is safe again.
“This show being
received so positively will
defi nitely impact how
we present future shows
including our chamber
concerts,” Trindle said.
“We are so grateful for our
patrons and their support.”
The virtual concert took
the place of the Grande
Ronde Symphony Associ-
ation’s annual fundraiser,
and the event raised more
than $4,000 in donations.
This funding, in addi-
tion to Oregon Cultural
Trust funding and private
donations and grants, puts
the organization in good
standing.
“We are fortunate,”
Trindle said. “Larger sym-
phonies are still having
diffi culties with funding.
But because we are small
I feel very good about our
funding.”
Hermiston Christian School alleges discrimination in lawsuit
By Antonio Sierra
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — A
Hermiston private school,
with an enrollment of 51, is
suing Gov. Kate Brown and
several state agencies with
the help of a conservative
legal organization.
Attorneys from the
Arizona-based Alliance
Defending Freedom fi led
a complaint on behalf
of Hermiston Christian
School in federal court in
Pendleton on Oct. 16. The
complaint alleges the gov-
ernor violated the school’s
constitutional rights by
forcing it to remain closed
during the COVID-19
pandemic.
“After 41 years of
faithful service, Herm-
iston Christian School …
could be forced to shut its
doors for good unless the
court stops an obvious case
of discrimination: Defen-
dants’ COVID-19 orders
and guidance generally
prohibit in-person instruc-
tion but grant a ‘small
school’ exception to public
schools, while denying
the same exception to pri-
vate religious schools …
in Umatilla County,” the
attorneys wrote in the
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A sign directs visitors to the entrance of the Hermiston Christian School in Hermiston.
The Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom fi led a lawsuit on behalf of Hermis-
ton Christian School on Oct. 16, 2020, in federal court in Pendleton alleging Gov. Kate
Brown and several agencies violated the school’s constitutional rights by forcing it to
remain closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
introduction. The lawyers
wrote the state’s actions
violated the school’s First
Amendment right to
freedom of religion and
14th Amendment right to
due process.
In the complaint, the
alliance draws compar-
isons between Herm-
iston Christian School
and Ukiah School, a
public school 80 miles
away. While Ukiah was
included in a list of small
and remote schools that
COVID-19
cases spike
Thursday
in Union
County
were allowed to reopen
for in-person instruction,
no private schools in the
county, all of them reli-
gious, were afforded the
same opportunity.
The fi ling also lays out
a timeline of changing
reopening standards,
the lawsuit alleging the
state had advised private
schools they could reopen
in the fall before changing
course on July 29.
The school’s law-
yers argue the gover-
nor’s administration was
motivated by a fear that
allowing private schools to
remain open, while most
public schools stayed close,
would lead to major disen-
rollment from the public
schools. One Brown staffer
allegedly said it would
cause a “mass exodus”
in a conference call with
administrators.
The alliance is asking
the court to not only issue
a temporary restraining
order that would allow
Hermiston Christian
School to reopen, but also
grant the school damages
for the social distancing
measures it installed in its
facilities and for the poten-
tial enrollees who decided
to go elsewhere because of
the closure.
The attorneys argued
in-person instruction was
essential to the school
staying open but also its
affi liate church’s ability to
practice its faith.
“In-person education is
essential for (the school’s)
free exercise of religion,”
the complaint states. “(The
school’s) mission is to teach
its students what it means
to be a disciple of Jesus
Christ, not only through
classroom education, but
also through prayer, wor-
ship, and religious forma-
tion that occurs in-person.”
The alliance not only
sued Brown, but also the
leaders of several state
agencies, including Oregon
State Police, Oregon
Health Authority and the
Oregon Department of
Education. All, including
the governor’s offi ce,
declined to comment or
didn’t return a request for
comment.
UNION COUNTY
— The Oregon Health
Authority on Thursday,
Oct. 22, reported Union
County has six new cases
of coronavirus.
The new cases is the
largest number reported
in a day since July 3. The
county added one new case
Friday, bringing the total
number of cases in Union
County to 465.
Local public health offi -
cials are not calling this
spike an outbreak.
“This jump has been
expected due a number
of factors causing an
increased risk to the com-
munity,” said Carrie Bro-
goitti, public health admin-
istrator for the Center for
Human Development, La
Grande. “We have con-
sistently had cases every
week, students are back
in school and at Eastern
Oregon University, and
people are indoors more as
the weather cools. These
can increase close contact,
which increases the risk
for exposure.”
Brogoitti added that the
risk of infection will con-
tinue to increase with the
onset of cold weather and
the holiday season begins.
She also said testing
capacity is increasing and
the people receiving a
test at this time often are
symptomatic. According
to the Oregon Health
Authority, Union County
reports testing 5,407
people, and 8% tested
positive.
“We want to remind
the community we are
not immune. COVID-19
is in Union County and it
is spreading in the com-
munity,” Brogoitti said.
“People should take mea-
sures to protect them-
selves, the community,
family and people we care
about and help keep hos-
pital capacity low.”
Union County has had
two deaths. The OHA
also announced Baker
County’s third death
related to COVID-19 —
an 83-year-old man who
tested positive Oct. 4
and died on Oct. 18 at St.
Alphonsus Regional Med-
ical Center in Boise. He
had underlying conditions.
Island City
approves
Panda
Express
By Sabrina Thompson
The Observer
ISLAND CITY — A
Panda Express may be
coming to Island City in
the northeast corner of the
Walmart parking lot.
The Island City City
Council at its Oct. 12
meeting gave a unani-
mous vote to approve the
construction of the eating
establishment.
The project is more than
a year in the making as
Panda Express has been
working with city staff,
engineers and the city con-
tract planner Jesse Winte-
rowd to bring an application
forward, according to the
staff report to the city.
Construction includes
building the 2,381 square-
foot drive-thru Panda
Express, updating the
parking lot to include two
spaces compliant with the
Americans with Disabilities
Act, four bicycle spaces and
a new sign along Highway
82.
Now the project
goes before the Union
County Building Divi-
sion, which will provide a
building permit to begin
construction.